SWNOVELS Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Dan flew to the head Kinsmen home and outside. They were just coming back with all their dead and wounded. Dan folded his wings up and walked towards a group of Kinsmen, “Where is Habib?”
All of them drew their swords ready to fight when a voice behind them said stop. They turned around and John pushed through the group, “Dan where have you been?”
“It’s a long story, but my father is gone.” Dan’s voice cracked.
“Gone as in gone, gone.”
“Yes.”
John felt sad and angry all at the same time, “What happened?”
“He did what his was predestined to do. Where is my sister, I need to tell her.”
John’s face turned even more concerned, “We can’t find her, she was fighting with me and Chaza’el and then she was just gone.”
“Where is Habib, I need to speak with him now.”
“He is almost here; he was helping with the wounded Kinsmen. What happened to the blood rock?”
“It was destroyed.”
John looked at Dan strangely, “Well shouldn’t you be dead or hurting, or something.”
Dan was thinking how it was possible that he was still alive if the blood rock was destroyed, since it was the source of the Shurod power.
“It must not be destroyed,” Dan scratched his eyebrow, “It must mean that the rock isn’t destroyed. That is the only logical explanation. But I saw my father fight against Lucifer and he was, just gone.”
“I smell deception in the air.” John looked off to the side, trying to figure what happened to Jerom.
“I need to find my sister.”
“I know, I am worried that something bad has happened to her.”
Horses rode up and Habib and slipped off his horse along with a multitude of Kinsmen.
Dan and John turned around, “Shurod, are you ok?”
“Yes, just banged up a little.”
“This is good news, where is your father?”
“Umm he is gone.” he hung his head.
“Where has he gone?”
John put his hand on Habib’s shoulder and whispered. Habib’s face changed, and he bowed his head, “I am sorry for your loss Shurod.”
“Thank you Habib, but we need to find my sister, do we have any info about her.”
“Nothing yet, she seemed to just vanish. I questioned all of my men and no one saw or heard anything. It was pretty smoky down there and the visibility was not good.”
“Maybe she is hurt somewhere; send some men out to check around Golgotha.”
Habib threw his arm up in the air in a circular motion, and yelled out in his native tongue, “Search the area and find the female Shurod.”
A bunch of men left on horseback, kicking up dirt clods as they rode away. Some of them picked up some extra guns as they rode off, just in case they had to fight some more.
One of the Kinsmen ran up from behind Habib, “We know where the female Shurod is.”
Dan and John both said, “Where?” at the same time.
“I just got word from another brother that they are back in the states, heading for a small town in New Mexico.”
“Where?” Dan couldn’t make out what he said because of his accent.
“New Mexico.” Habib answered.
“New Mexico, what’s in New Mexico?”
John pulled out one of his guns and stroked it a few times, “Joe, and I think I know where he is going. He has just a few locations in that state.
“Well what are we waiting for, let’s go. Habib do you have Kinsmen in or close to that state?”
“Yes, a few, but we have another group of gentile men that are dedicated to our cause. They are led by an original Kinsmen named Jacob.”
“I didn’t know that.” Dan said.
“Well we have never had to use them before, but it is helpful to be prepared in any situation.”
“You guys are amazing. I’m glad you’re on our side.”
“Well you can bet that Miller is also prepared.”
“No doubt about that. John you ready?”
“For what?”
“A quick trip back to the states.”
“What do you mean a quick trip.”
Dan smiled and stepped closer towards John.
“Dan what are you doing?” He held his arms out in front of him
“Come on, it’s not going to hurt, much.”
Dan lunged at John and swooped him off the ground. Habib and the Kinsmen watched as they flew out of site.
“Whew the Shurod is fast.” Habib said aloud.
The pilot of Joe’s plane put down his radio mic. He cracked the cockpit door and looked down the small hallway. He turned on the intercom system so that he could hear what was going on. He heard Joe say that they were going to kill the flight attendant. He quickly flipped the switched off and started to worry for his own safety.
They were getting close to landing, but they were still about three thousand feet in the air.
All the sudden a warning light started beeping loudly, that one of the doors of the plane was opened.
The flight attendant ran toward the cabin to find out what was going on. The wind was blowing fiercely. As she passed into the main cabin, Omar grabbed her around the neck, she tried to scream but couldn’t because Omar had her mouth covered. He had a rope tied around his waist connected to a metal pole of a table, so he wouldn’t be sucked out of the plane and Joe was fasten to the chair securely.
“Don’t fight little lady, just accept it, you are going to die.” He kissed her on the cheek, “I hope a little fine angel like you has wings.” She kicked and squirmed but Omar was to strong. He moved closer to the door and she was crying, and bit his hand. He jerked back his hand, and lost his grip on her. She screamed as she was being sucked out the door. She managed to grab a hold of the plane door frame. Her body was flopping wildly as she hung on for dear life. Omar saw her hands holding on and kneeled down and bit one of her fingers which made her loose her grip and fell from the plane. He looked down and yelled, “Teach you to bite me.” Her screams faded off in the distance. Omar watched until she disappeared into a cloud. He wiped his hands together, and looked at Joe, held up his hand and said one more.
“CLOSE THE DOOR!” Joe yelled
Omar slapped a button on the wall and the door closed.
“I’m going to miss her, she was a cutie, she had the face of an angel.”
“Never mind, get me a drink, I hate killing women.”
“Joe, you going soft on me?”
“Na I’m just joking, now go and get me a drink.”
Omar smiled and shook his head and thought, “That is one crazy dude.” And went to get Joe’s drink.
The flight attendant fell towards the earth, looked up at the plane, and smiled. Then transformed into an angel, opened her wings and came to a halt. She darted back up to the plane and flew beside it until she was even with the Kinsmen pilot. She pushed her head through the cockpit of the plane. The Kinsmen jumped back due to the angel being almost in his face, “You need to get out of here.” The Kinsmen said, “How?”
“Use your parachute and get out of here, those men are going to kill you.”
“I think they already killed the flight attendant.”
“No she is ok.” She winked at him. He made a weird face at the angel, and she left.
The angel knew that Joe was going to kill her and the Kinsmen, that’s why she tipped them off so that he could get out alive. She had paved the way for the Kinsmen to escape.
The Kinsmen pressed a few buttons on the control panel and opened a small closet and pulled out a parachute. He turned on the intercom and said, “Mr. Miller is everything ok?”
“Umm, yes it is alright now.”
“I had a warning light come on, and it showed that one of the doors was opened.”
“It was my associate checking the hull integrity.”
“Ok, but something is still showing wrong, I need to come and check it out.”
“No need for that.”
“Sir, it’s my duty to make sure that this plane is operating normally.”
“Oh, alright do what you must.”
“I need for you and your guest to move back to the back compartment so I can run a test on that door.”
Omar whispered, “Let me kill him, please.”
Joe waved him off, “You can kill him when we land, and not a moment sooner.”
“You’re the boss.”
“Don’t forget it either.” He pointed at Omar.
Omar saluted him; Joe was not amused at his attitude.
“Sir please move back, so I can run a pressure test.”
The both got up and walked into the back compartment.
“Ok, we are here.”
“Excellent, you may hear a lot of noise but that will be normal for a few seconds.”
“Get on with it.”
The Kinsmen unbuckled his seat belt and walked into the main cabin. He moved cautiously, keeping his eye on the door that led into the back compartment.
He slapped the button on the door and the wind was howling. The Kinsmen clinched to the opening until the door was fully open, and then jumped out.
After a few minutes Omar said, “How long is this going to take, he said it would only be a few seconds.”
“Go check it out.”
Omar opened the door and he looked and saw the door was wide open, and nobody around. He looked down the small hallway and the cockpit door was swinging back and forth hitting the wall. He looked closer and noticed that the pilot was gone. He quickly shut the door, and starred at it.
“Well?” Joe said in a sarcastic tone.
“We might have a problem.”
“What might that be?”
Omar swallowed the lump in his throat, “Our pilot is.”
“Ok the pilot, is what?”
“Gone.” He said in a high-pitched tone.
“Get out of the way.” He pushed Omar aside and opened the door. The wind continued to blow. He looked for himself and shut the door.
He appeared to be very concerned, took a deep breath, “First we need to get the door shut, and then you need to fly this plane.”
“I think I can get the door shut, but flying isn’t one of my specialties.”
“Get the door closed.”
Omar looked around to see if he could find anything in the room that he could use to shut the door.
“What are you doing? Shut the freaking door”
“Trying to figure out what to do, give me a second.”
Omar walked back to where his gear was and pulled out a small device. He clinched in his hand, “This ought to do it.”
“Stand by Joe.”
“What is that thing?”
“This, thing is going to save our bacon.”
The device was a hand held rappel device that had a blunt end on it. He aimed it at the button and fired it, hitting the close button for the door. The door sealed and the cabin began to pressurize again.
“Get up there and fly this plane.” He demanded.
“I’ll do what I can.”
Joe looked out the window, “We are close to our destination.”
“Good.”
Just before coming into the small town of Quemado, the locals called a small mesa airplane hill.”
A rancher was driving down the highway in his old beat up truck when he saw Joe’s airplane about to crash. He watched it to see what was going to happen. He stopped his truck and got out. The door on the truck squeaked loudly as he shut it. He put his hand on his forehead to block the sun out and the plane crashed on the hill.
“Welp, that’s why they call it airplane hill,” Then he spit out a mouth full of tobacco juice on the road and it splattered.
He reached into this truck, got on his CB, and called the local police to report what he had seen.
Omar and Joe piled out of the beat up plane unharmed. Joe slapped Omar on the head, “Nice landing Omar.”
“I told ya, hey look at it this way, we are still alive.”
“Shut up. We need to get out of here, someone was bound to see us, the town isn’t far from here.”
Off in the distance the sound of a truck coming got their attention.
“Great, now what.” Omar said.
The truck pulled up close to them and the rancher got out of his truck, “Ya’ll fellas ok?”
“Yes, we are fine.” Joe answered
“You need and ambu-lance?”
“No, no it’s alright.”
“Well hop in and I’ll give ya a lift into town.”
“Well thank ya there partner.” Omar said in a condescending manner.
Joe looked at Omar and nodded, Omar knew what to do. They all piled into the truck and Omar was sitting in the back seat behind the rancher and Joe in the passenger seat.
“You’re not from around here are you?” He looked in his review mirror.
“Nope!”
“Ya’ll sure were lucky to survive that crash.” He chuckled and readjusted his cowboy hat.
“Some of us are lucky.”
They were just about to take off when the rancher was shot numerous times in the back through the seat.
“Dang it Omar, you got blood all over me, one or two shots would have done it.”
“Just maken up for not gettin to kill that pilot.” He said making fun of how the rancher was talking.
“Let’s go and get our little friend.”
Joe pushed the dead rancher out of the truck and wiped the blood off the inside of the windshield with a pair of old work gloves. Omar checked to make sure Jamie was still alive. She had no marks on her body at all and she was breathing normally.
Omar threw her up over his shoulder and put her in the bed of the truck.
“We ready?” Joe asked.
“Good to go.”
Joe and Omar sped down a dirt road in the middle of the mountains, trying to get to the secret lab.
“It’s been a long time since I was here, the landscape has changed.”
“So we lost, or what?”
“No Omar we are not.” He turned to look at him.
Omar pointed and yelled, “WATCH OUT!!.”
Joe slammed on the breaks but it was too late, they had hit a bull elk and messed up the front end of the old truck.
Omar hit his head on the windshield when Joe slammed on the breaks. Joe slid sideways on the dirt road and came to a stop in a pile of dust.
“I hate NATURE.” Omar shouted, as he wiped blood off his forehead.
“Pipe down there.” Joe said as he peeled his fingers off the steering wheel of the truck, “I don’t think we are that far now. Come on, let’s get out and walk, this looks familiar.”
“Joe I didn’t figure you as an outdoor type of person.”
“There are a lot of things that you don’t know.” He smiled half heartily, “Now pick up girl and let’s a move on”.
After about twenty minutes had passed, the Kinsmen that parachuted out of the plane came across the truck and the wounded elk. He looked on the ground for tracks when he found some and took off after them.
Omar and Joe started hiking up the dirt road. After about thirty minutes, they came to the top of a hill on the road and looked over. Omar plopped Jamie on the ground, put his hands on his side, and took a deep breath. Joe tried to block the sun out of his eyes and said, “We are here.” Omar walked closer to Joe and below them was a lake.
“This is Quemado Lake Omar, just look how beautiful it is,” He took in a deep breath, “You don’t get fresh air like this in the city now do you Omar?”
“No, but I can get a hotdog without traveling twenty miles to the nearest store.”
“Hold on a second and listen to what is around you.”
Omar looked around, “Nothing is around me.”
“Precisely, close your eyes for a moment and drink in the wonders of nature.”
“Ok. I’ll play a long.” Omar looked at the black body bag Jamie was in then closed his eyes.
The lake was beautiful and surrounded by mountains and camping areas. There were a few people out in canoes fishing. The clouds moved overhead slowly and casted shadows on different parts of the lake. There was a cool breeze blowing that made ripples in the water. An occasional eagle flew over the surface of the lake a snatched up a trout from the lake. On the edge of the lake, kids were skipping rocks across the water. Shouting and making loud noises having fun. This lake wasn’t known very well, so there were never many people there at one time. Mainly people that were retired and the locals visited the lake. It was so peaceful and serene. Gray squirrels played with each other and ran up and down the pine trees. A deer was getting a drink from the edge of the water, but under watchful eye of a predator. Chipmunks darted from rock to rock on the ground, picking up scraps of food that campers left behind.
A small stream ran down the side of the mountain that emptied into the lake. Small fish were swimming against the current trying not be launched out into the lake where the bigger fish were waiting for a meal. The trickling of the water was soothing to the ear, as it passed over the rocks and the sunlight glistened off the cold mountain water. The pine trees swayed back and forth in the mountain wind, and pines cones and needles blanketed the forest floor below. Every so often, the sound of the trees cracking and limbs falling to the earth made the forest floor come alive for just a moment.
“Enough of this, I need some chaos in my life.” Joe blurted out.
“Now that’s what I’m talkin bout.”
Joe tapped on his watch and a few times and looked around for a moment.
“What are you doing?” Omar asked.
“Trying to get us a ride.”
“Why didn’t you do that earlier?”
“Had no signal, but now I do.”
A strange noise was coming up from behind them, Omar whipped out his gun and pointed in the direction of the sound. Joe put his hand on top of the gun and pushed it down.
“That is our ride coming.”
“Ok”, he put the gun back in its holster.
A beat up green forest truck pulled up to Joe and Omar. The driver stuck his elbow out the window and looked them up and down, “You, Mr. Miller?”
“Yes, now take me to the lab.”
“Well pile on in then, what’s in the black bag there?”
“Never mind, take me to the doctor now.”
“Ok, man don’t gotta be rude.” The driver started the truck back up.
Joe and Omar walked around the back of the truck and Omar said, “He must be a local also.”
“What gave you your first clue?” Joe looked at Omar strangely.
Omar smiled and shook his head and snickered.
The man took off in the truck throwing dirt into the air, which made Joe mad,
“What do think you are doing?”
“I have to build up a little speed to clear the side of the mountain.”
Omar licked his lips, “What do you mean, clear the side of the mountain.”
The man slammed on the gas and Joe put his seat belt on, “Things aren’t always what they seem Omar.”
The man pushed a button that was on the stirring wheel and the truck began to transform into a bullet like shape. A canopy covered the back of the truck to keep Jamie from drowning. The car rocketed of the side of the road and head for the lake. Omar put his hands against the roof of the car to brace himself and held his breath. As the car flew through the air, the wheels retracted and it hit the water like a torpedo and headed down deep into middle of the lake. Below the surface of the water was a labyrinth of caves that led to the secret lab.
“There it is.” Joe said excitedly.
A faint light of in the distance exposed the location of the secret lab.
“Dang its dark down here.” Omar said
“Are we almost there yet?” John yelled out.
“I think so.” Dan look way out in front of him and saw an angel in shadow mode coming right at them, “I think we are about to have some company.”
“Good or bad?”
“Don’t know John.”
Dan slowed down and so did the angel. Dan wasn’t sure if the angel had seen him so he engaged the shadow on and off, kind of like flicking headlights at oncoming traffic. The angel did see him and banked in his direction. Dan stopped and hovered, and John looked down and he thought, “Man that is a long ways to fall.” The angel looked at John then back at Dan, “Oh its okay he is one of us.”
The angel revealed herself; both Dan and John hadn’t seen an angel with female traits before. They stared at her with awe in their faces. The angel cleared her throat, “Shurod?”
“Oh, Oh yeah what’s up?”
“I was just about to report to Goleg about the location of the man that is called Miller.”
“TELL US!” John shouted.
“Where is my sister?”
The angel’s hair blew in the wind and her face radiated with soft glow, “They are headed for the lake outside of the town of Quemado. There is a Kinsmen named Jacob who is waiting for you over there.” The angel pointed, “Those are called the saw tooth mountains, hence their shape.”
Dan and John looked off in the distance and saw a mountain range that resembled the teeth of a saw.
“I can see why they call them the Saw Tooth Mountains.” John said.
The angel saluted Dan, “Shurod I must go to, I need to get back to my division.”
“Alright, thank you for the information.” She flew off out of site as quickly as she came.
John’s body was dangling in the air and he looked up at Dan, “Well?”
“Well what.”
“Are we just going to hang out here all day long? Let’s go.” John kicked his feet in the air.
Dan smiled and they both took off towards the mountain range. He flipped around so that John was on his back.
Low-lying clouds caused poor vision as Dan approached the mountains. Mist was covering their bodies at first, and then rain poured on them.
“Little chilly” John said.
“We will land over there.”
John nodded his head. “We aren’t going to be able to find anyone up here. The fog is too thick.”
They landed and John became suspicious immediately.
“Calm down John.”
“Someone is here or very close.”
John turned his head to the side, “Do you hear that?”
“Yes I do.” Both of them drew their swords, “What is that noise?”
“I don’t know but it is getting louder.”
BANG! Something hit against the side of the mountain and lodged into the rock. A cable was attached to it. Dan looked to see where it came from but it vanished into the clouds. Dan and John were ready to fight at any sign of. An arrow whizzed between the both of them and stuck in a tree. Dan walked over to the arrow as John watched the steel cable, grabbed a hold of it, and gave it a good shake. It was very taught and long as far as he could tell. It looked like some kind of zip line.
“It’s ok.” Dan said as he pulled the arrow out of a tree.
“How do you know?”
The arrow had a Kinsmen scarf wrapped around it. Dan had un-wrapped it from the arrow and was twirling it around his head. John turned to look at Dan when he felt the steel cable vibrating. John raised his sword just in case, because he was going to cut the cable in case something not too friendly came down off it.
A man appeared out of the midst of the clouds, standing up in an apparatus that allowed him to shoot if he need to. He put out his feet and came to a sliding stop, and hopped out of the harness.
“I am Jacob,” he said.
“I am Shurod, and this is John.”
“Hey, how ya doin?” John said as he turned around, raised his arm, and put his sword away.
The cable began to shake again and many other men came bursting through the fog and landing in front of them.
“Look more company.” John whispered
Dan folded his wings into his back, so he just looked like an ordinary man as the men started to appear.
One by one that just kept coming at least fifty of them. Some of them fully armed with bulletproof vests and assault rifles.
“We are here to assist you anyway that we can.” One of the men pushed his way through to the front of the pack, held out his hand, and introduced himself, “My name is Peter.” He was a middle-aged man that lived off the land his entire life. Peter reminded Dan of Jerom a little due to his mannerisms. He had a ball cap on that said, “Finish the task or die trying.”
John pointed at his hat, “Excellent motto you got going there.”
“Thank ya.”
“We need to get you to some reasonable accommodations. Let us go into town, find you a hotel, and maybe get some food in your bellies. Sound good?”
John looked at Dan, “Yeah I could devour something right about now.”
Jacob blew on the same kind of whistle that the Kinsmen used in Israel and announced that they were going into town. He told most of the men to go home but be ready for anything. Then men starting jumping off the side of the mountain and disappearing into the clouds.
“What are they doing” Dan appeared worried and so did John because they knew they didn’t have wings, or did they?”
“Ha ha, my men are always prepared, I few of the men work for the forest service. The forest service has re-invented the miniature hang glider that can be easily hidden under clothing with some Kinsmen modifications of course. All my men have these; they come in handy when trying to catch poachers and special operations like this one. They are equipped with a low caliber machine gun and night vision goggles.”
“I’m impressed.” John said, as he watched the last few jump off the mountain.”
“How do you get around in the air John?” Jacob asked.
He looked down and kicked at the dirt, then Dan, “I hitch a ride with him.”
“Oh I see, maybe we can get you a pair of you own wings.”
“I have the wing packs back at home….”
“No, no those are too loud, with these hang gliders you can hear nothing, not even the wind blowing over the wings. The only way you would be noticed, if you were seen by someone, because they won’t hear you at all.”
“If you don’t mind I would like to get a pair from you sometime.”
“No problem now let’s head towards Quemado and see about you getting some rest.”
John stretched out his arms and yawned, “Sounds like a plan to me.”
Jacob pulled his grappling device from the rock and hung it on his belt and said lets go.
He leap of the side of the mountain, the miniature wings popped out from each side, and after a few moments Dan, grabbed John and they jumped off the side of the mountain. As they fell, John saw a few of the men were still in the air, but some were also landing on the ground by some trucks.
“Let’s go, we need to get into town.” Peter said to Dan and John. “Pile in the truck and we will get out of here.”
“Okay, Peter.” Dan said.
“I will meet up with you later, something has come up that I need to look into.” Then Jacob ran to catch a little speed and launched into the air and flew off.
They all got into the truck and headed for the small town of Quemado. It was a very quaint small town with a couple of cafes and hotels. It was the kind of town that if you blinked while passing through it, you would miss it. Quemado had one country store that everyone went to get groceries without having to drive sixty miles. It was home to about two thousand people give or take a few. It had only one school with an abandoned football field. On one the football field goal post sat a demon perched like a bird appearing to be cleaning himself like a cat. Tumbleweeds blew across the field and onto the track that surrounded the field. Small dirt devils swirled around in various places.
Quemado was home to mostly ranchers and down home people that would help you with anything, you needed. It was a simple life for sure, not much to do in a small town, especially if you were a teenager. However, an ideal place for older people that wanted to retire and enjoy nature and the great weather.
The town got its name because Indians burned it down back in the Wild West days. Quemado means burnt in Spanish. The town was rebuilt and been there out in the middle of nowhere ever sense
Peter was driving the truck; he was actually a local and well known in the area. They pulled into the first hotel they came across. Almost instantly, some people in the town noticed that they were some strangers with Peter. John was the one that stood out the most because he was oriental. People in Quemado don’t see many foreigners come through.
Peter whipped into the motel and stopped, then told Dan and John to wait there and he would get a room for them. He hopped out of the truck, and paid for a room. The desk clerk asked Peter what he was doing and he said that he had some friends come in from out of town and was putting them up for the night and that they were looking at some property in the area to purchase.
He walked out and motioned for Dan and John to follow him. They got out, walked quickly into one of the rooms, and closed the door. Peter peeked through the curtains to see if anyone was watching.
In a small town news spreads fast about visitors. Everyone knows everyone’s business.
A few minutes later Jacob showed up and tapped on the hotel door. John stood up and pulled out one of his many guns and aimed it at the door. Dan had opened one of his wings and was aiming at the door also. Peter asked who it was then heard the reply, “I am the wings helper.” Peter motioned for them to drop their weapons and took a double take at Dan and his one wing.
“It’s ok, it is Jacob.”
Jacob walked into the room and said that he had an idea where Joe was. John perked up, I know where they are going.”
All the men looked at him puzzled, “How do you know this?”
Dan interrupted, “He has inside information that is all you need to know right now.”
“As you wish Shurod.”
Dan didn’t want to get into a long explanation about John and how he knew so much about the Joe’s whereabouts.
Jacob got a text message and he read it, and then looked at Dan.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Joe has your sister, the one they call Jamie.”
“WHAT! HOW! That explains her disappearance. Where are they?”
“Somewhere in the mountains a little north of here.”
“They are headed towards the lake.” John said, “We need to get there as soon as we can, Joe has a secret facility in the mountains near Quemado lake.”
“There is nothing up there around the lake; I know every square inch of that lake and area up there. I hunt and fish up there from time to time.” Peter said gruffly.
John walked in front of him and looked him in the eye and told him that he was wrong.
Peter began be suspicious about John and asked how he knew this place.
“There isn’t enough time for this we need to go and get my Jamie back.” John replied.
“What do you mean your Jamie?” Dan asked.
“Huh, what do you mean?”
“You said, get my Jamie back.”
“No I didn’t.”
“Yes you did.”
John shrugged his shoulders, “I said lets go get Jamie back.”
“John do you have feelings for my sister?”
“No, no of course not, although she is a good fighter.”
“Uh huh.” Dan smiled
John said nothing else and went into the bath room. His shoulder was hurting where he got shot by one of the demons arrows. He pulled back his shirt and his skin was turning black and looked infected at best. He took out a small laser device that was used to cut through metal. He made a few adjustments on it and cauterized the wound. He moaned in pain and Dan heard him, and opened the door to the bathroom. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to heal this wound, I took a couple of demon arrows earlier.”
“Why didn’t you tell someone about it, I have no idea how it will affect you.”
“I’ll be fine for now.”
Then a voice said, “There has been a murder of a local rancher, and a plane crash outside of town.”
Both of them walked out of the bathroom and saw Jacob standing in the room.
“What has happened?” Dan asked.
“It appears that a plane crashed and one of the local ranchers was killed.”
“Take us to the crash site. If there has been a killing, you can bet Joe is involved.” John insisted.
“Ok, let’s go to the crash site and see if there are any clues to what it going on.” Peter glared at John.
For some reason John felt uneasy about Peter, so he was going to watch and study him to see if his gut feeling was right. John assumed that Peter was a spy for Joe, but he couldn’t prove it just yet.
All the men piled out of the hotel room into one vehicle. They pulled out of the hotel and sped down the highway towards airplane hill. As they passed the high school John said, STOP!” Peter slammed on the breaks and turned around and said, “What is it?”
The demon that they saw when they came into town was still hanging around the old football field.
“John, its only one.” Dan said comically.
John pulled out a grenade launcher with a D.R. In it. Dan smiled, “Just can’t let it go can ya John?”
“Nope!” He took close aim through his scope and watch the hideous creature for a moment. He took a deep breath and whistled. The demon looked at John and opened his mouth and hissed. John aimed carefully and shot the grenade at the demon. The demon was just about to take off when it was hit right in the mouth with the grenade, and exploded into many pieces.
“What was that all about, there was nothing out there.” Peter said.
Dan patted Peter on the shoulder and said there was a demon over there and John just took it out.”
“A demon? You’re kidding right.”
John flipped the gun open and the smoking shell ejected onto the ground, “Ok we can go know, and no he wasn’t kidding.” John got back into the truck and stared straight ahead.
“Can we go know?” Peter asked. John waved his hand and they took off.
After a short drive the reached the crash site they could see that the volunteer fire fighters were already on scene putting out the fire. It was out for the most part and smoldering. One of the fire fighters said that there was no one around and maybe that they took off on foot. Another one picked through the wreckage with an ax looking for any remains of people.
The all got out of the truck and went towards the burned up plane. All except John, he walked around looking for clues on what happened and which way Joe went.
Peter walked up to the two fire fighters and started to talk with them. They asked who the other people were and again he told them that they were looking to buy some land around the lake. They said great, more newcomers I hope they are good people. Dan walked up and shook both of the fire fighters hands and asked if they found any survivors.
John yelled out, “Got something over here.” Everyone looked and ran over to see the dead rancher that was covered with some sage brush. One of the fire fighters said that is Jeb the owner of the La Mesa ranch. They pulled the brush off of him and saw that he was shot. John looked on the ground and saw tires tracks leading off towards the dirt road, “We need to go now.”
“What’s going on here?” one of the fire fighters said.
“Call the state police and get them out here. I am going to take these gentlemen to look at some property.”
“Already did they should be here any moment.”
“Ok, see you later.”
Once again they all got back in the truck and drove off out of sight. Once they were a few miles away Dan rolled down the window and said that he wanted to get a bird’s eye view of the area. He crawled out of the window and opened his wings and flew in front of the truck. He flipped over and waved at them and shot up into the air with impressive speed.
“Now that is something you don’t see every day.” Peter said as he leaned forward to see Dan flying off.”
“Speak for yourself.” John said.
A few miles later Jacob pointed, “What is that?”
Peter pulled up to the rancher’s truck that had been wrecked.
“Stay here Peter” Jacob told him forcefully.
John got out and they approached the truck, “What happened here?” John asked.
Jacob didn’t say anything for a few moments, trying to figure out what had happened to the truck. He walked over to it and felt the hood to see if it was still warm and it wasn’t. John watched Jacob investigate the wreck quietly as he looked around for anything out of place. Suddenly John heard a noise off in the trees; he quickly pulled out his gun and pointed it in the direction of the sound. Jacob told John to wait; the sound was getting louder when the wounded bull elk stood up and limped off slowly.
“Well now we know what happened to the truck.” Jacob scratched his head.
“What do you mean?”
“They hit that elk over there.”
“Dang! It jacked that truck up.”
“That’s what twelve hundred pounds will do to a truck. Lots of wildlife in these parts that many people don’t know. It looks like they went that way on foot. By the looks of it two people, one big man and a smaller man.”
“Yeah, I have a good idea who it is too.”
“Joe?”
“Yes and one of his assassins.”
“Let’s go they probably followed the road so it will be easy to track them.”
“What are we waiting on? let’s beat feet, come on.”
Jacob looked at John strangely because of his comment, “Ok, I think.” with a halfhearted grin on his face.