An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 6

  What do drunk lizards have to do with this? Does this have anything to do with that insurance company’s mascot? Did that gecko get pulled over for speeding and get a DUI? With hookers and blow in the car? He seems like that kind of guy… I get lost in thought for a time while trying to decipher this Australian idiom based on his tone and context clues. About fifteen minutes later, I realize that he was confirming that they’ve been busy, but too much time has passed for me to say anything now.

  I look into the back seat and find that both of the girls are resting against each other, out cold… funny, ‘cause they’re both snow elves… never mind.

  “The two sheilas are a bit bushed, eh?” Simmons quietly says while glancing at the rearview mirror.

  “Yeah, they just came from another assignment and this is Chezarei’s third assignment in a row; I’m not sure if she’s had much time for sleep.” I reply.

  “What about you? You’re looking a bit knackered there, mate.” Simmons points out.

  “Now that I think about it, I guess I haven’t slept in two days.” I admit.

  “Feel free to get some rest; I can handle the drive.” Simmons says as we drive through a small town; must be Wentworth.

  “I think I’ll give that a shot.” I reply, lean back in the seat, and close my eyes as I try to relax.

  …

  [December 21st]

  I awaken as the Jeep pulls to a stop in a concrete parking garage.

  “I take it we’ve arrived?” I groggily ask.

  “Correct.” Natasha says as she opens up the rear passenger door and exits the Jeep before I follow suit. I notice that Cheza isn’t exiting the car so I go around to the driver’s side and open up her door.

  “Cheza… Wake up, Cheza; we’re here.” I softly say while gently shaking her, but she remains dead to the world.

  I reach around her, unbuckle the seatbelt, scoop her up, and carry her. Simmons walks toward the elevator as Natasha and I follow him.

  “A room has been prepared for you, but since we are short on space, the three of you will have to share a room. We can drop Operator Vaele off before I take you to meet the director.” Simmons comments as we step into the elevator and he presses a button marked G.

  The elevator ascends one floor and dings to the hot, moist, night air. We walk thirty feet to the entrance of the large, white, three story building; one of four on the compound that are connected via sky bridges. The compound is surrounded by a twenty foot tall fence made of large steel posts and steel cables that seems to be electrified, if the hum is anything to go by; the fence reminds me of something from Jurassic Park. We enter the industrial white lobby and head to a bank of elevators, where we head up one floor and walk across a sky bridge to get to what must be the residential building since it has slightly more color than the other building. Simmons walks down a hallway, stops in front of a door marked 35, swipes a cardkey through a black sensor to the right of the doorknob, and opens the door once a click signifies that it’s unlocked.

  “Here we are. Sorry about there being only one bed.” Simmons says to me as we walk into the room that is set up like a studio apartment with a single king-sized bed; I think what he really means is ‘sorry you’ll be sleeping on the floor.’

  “Just like old times, eh Cole?” Natasha asks with a sly grin as I set Cheza on the bed.

  “Yeah.” I halfheartedly reply as I think about how things between us might’ve been had I just kept my mouth shut at the wedding and pretended like I didn’t know anything. Would the last four years have played out any differently? Would we have stayed close friends like we were, or would we have drifted apart like we did?

  (If it makes you feel any better, had you not addressed the situation and remained close to Natasha, she would have snapped and sawed your head off while giggling psychotically to herself; followed by having sex with your body while cradling your decapitated head to her chest)

  “Shit! Seriously!?”

  (No, not seriously, but you were getting all moody so I had to say something)

  “I can understand why you did it, but that is pretty fucking psychotic, Airi.”

  (Thanks, Master!)

  “Not a compliment!”

  “Shall we go?” I ask as I turn from the bed.

  “Before I forget, here.” Simmons says and hands a card key to Natasha and another one to me.

  “Thanks.” We reply.

  Natasha and I follow Simmons out the door, down the hall, across a different sky bridge, and into another industrial white building. We take an elevator up to the third floor and walk over to a reception desk.

  “Director, Agent Simmons has returned. Shall I send them in?” the female werewolf receptionist asks into an intercom with a British accent and the door automatically opens.

  “He will see you now.” The receptionist says with a pleasant smile and waves toward the door.

  Natasha and I follow Simmons into the office of the AUSSIE director. Sitting behind the ornate maple desk is a short, blocky, man with cropped salt and pepper hair. The most surprising thing to me is the fact that he’s human.

  “Director Gracie, this is Natasha Holmstrom and Agency consultant, Cole Vaele.” Simmons introduces.

  “I was informed of a Chezarei Vaele, but not of a Cole Vaele.” Director Gracie says with an Australian accent as he eyes me suspiciously.

  “I’m a bit surprised that Carla didn’t anticipate that I would be coming too. Chezarei is my wife. She fell asleep on the drive here and wouldn’t wake up so we dropped her off in the room before coming here.” I explain.

  “I see… so what kind of consulting do you do, Mr. Vaele?” Director Gracie asks.

  “Well I’ve done some interrogation work, some undercover work, and some general operator type work for The Agency. I also consult for the Queen of the Azeman, but that is more of bodyguard work.” I reply.

  “So are you here at the request of The Agency, or the Azeman Queen?” Director Gracie inquires.

  “The Azeman Queen, but I wouldn’t have come if Chezarei hadn’t also been assigned here. Speaking of, what’s the situation?” I ask.

  “The vampires have been running amok across the country. I’m told that they captured the azeman embassy in Adelaide a few hours ago, so they will most likely be coming here next.” Director Gracie replies.

  “Damn… well, I may have made it too late to protect the embassy, but at least the AUSSIE headquarters won’t fall as long as Chezarei and I are here.” I confidently say.

  “How can you be so sure?” Director Gracie asks.

  “Chezarei is The Agency’s top operator and excels in execution tactics. There is no one at The Agency that is better suited for attacking an enemy.” Natasha says and a siren goes off.

  “What about defense?” Director Gracie questions as he turns toward his computer monitor.

  “Director! The vampires are attacking the base!” I hear a frantic male voice say from the monitor.

  “Damn, I thought they would take at least a day to regroup. How many are there?” the director asks rather calmly.

  “Before the sensors went offline, the number reported was in the low thousands. We are currently accessing the satellite images… okay, they’re up. What!? The vampires are attacking from all sides! At the rates they’re traveling, they’ll be here in less than thirty minutes!” the frantic voice reports.

  “Planning to siege us, eh? Mobilize the diggers, turn the fences up to maximum power, and get the 50 caliber automated turrets online.” Director Gracie orders.

  “The targeting software still isn’t running efficiently enough to use the turrets, sir!” the frantic voice replies.

  “Cole, what’s going on?” Cheza thinks.

  “The base is about to come under siege by vampires. Exit the room, cross any sky bridge you can find, ride an elevator down to the ground floor, and go outside; I’ll meet you there.” I reply.

  “I guess that’s my cue.” I announce and start to head out the doo
r.

  “I’ll stay here and relay information to you.” Natasha calls out after me.

  “Thanks!” I reply and sprint for the elevator.

  I head down to the ground floor and run around the outside of the building, past the armed soldiers setting up sand bags for cover in certain locations. I find Cheza standing near the front gate, dressed in her armored suit with the Synergistic blades on her right hip.

  “So what’re the specifics?” Cheza asks.

  “About a thousand vampires are moving in from all directions.” I reply.

  “Is that all?” Cheza lightheartedly inquires.

  “I know, right? What are they getting so worked up over?” I chuckle.

  “Cole, where do you and Cheza want to be?” Natasha thinks.

  “Wherever the most enemies will be, I suppose.” I reply.

  “Okay, I’ll let you know.” Natasha says and the connection closes.

  I look at the geography around the compound and notice a large number of green hills, indicating that we are in a small valley. We stand around waiting for twenty minutes until a wave of bronze auras appears on the tops of some of the hills and the wave continues to flood in until a bronze ring is around the compound. Three lone auras slowly approach the compound and stop about a hundred feet from the front gate.

  “The director is requesting that you and Chezarei accompany Agent Simmons to meet the vampires.” Natasha thinks.

  “Can do.” I reply.

  “We’re going to meet the vampires with Agent Simmons.” I relay to Cheza while pulling the bandages off of my left arm and stuffing them into my jacket pocket; I consider unzipping my sleeve, but it will probably be better to not advertise my identity with my noticeable silver arm.

  Cheza nods as I notice Simmons approaching the gate in the same clothing he was wearing a moment ago i.e. not combat attire. Simmons nods at us in greeting and takes point as we head through the gate, Cheza on his left while I take the right. The vampires stand at attention with their hands behind their backs as we approach.

  “Our commander wanted us to relay a message before the engagement. Ahem… surrender and we won’t kill all of you. If you choose to fight, we will kill every last one of you.” The lead vampire says.

  “Did you really think we’d surrender?” Simmons asks, his Aussie accent quite noticeable.

  “I was actually hoping you wouldn’t.” the vampire replies, the moonlight gleaming off his eyes and the white fangs he displays with his smile.

  The vampire on the right pulls a short sword from behind his back and starts to move towards Simmons until I throw a left punch into his face. The other two vampires start to move as their friend’s head explodes. My left arm flushes black as I turn and blast the last two with a torrent of water strong enough to knock them over.

  “It’s salt water so you’re going to have to dip the temp below negative two degrees Celsius.” I report to Cheza as I hear several sickening pops behind me and to my left.

  “I know.” Cheza replies and encases both of the vampires in ice that has spikes along the interior in a move that I’ve aptly named ‘the iceron maiden’… I said aptly named, not well named.

  “Nice!” I tell her as the sound of a sniper rifle rings out.

  Since the round didn’t hit me or Cheza, I look to my left and see that it did hit Simmons right in the heart, or at least it would have if the bullet had been able to penetrate the scaly hide of his now seven foot form with crocodile head and tail as his clothes lay in tatters at his feet.

  “Fall back.” Simmons orders with a gravelly tone and heads back to the gate.

  We run back through the gate and take cover behind one of the sandbag mounds as the vampires open fire on the compound while advancing forward. The ‘diggers’ start returning fire on the vampires, but the bullets do little to halt their advance because of the vampires’ bronze aura enhancements. A few vampires try to climb the electrified fence, only to get zapped and fall down, but they manage to get back up a few seconds later. The way the vampires have packed around the fenced compound reminds me of something out of a zombie movie. I pull my silver, .460 S&W handgun from my back and fire through the fence from behind the sandbags. My gun packs enough of a punch to kill the vampires with every shot, but I only have about forty rounds, so it’s not going to be much help.

  An explosion to my left attracts my attention, followed by a scattering of explosions around the compound as I realize that they’re launching mortars at us. Shit, that’s going to be trouble. I hear the faint sound of a suppressed sniper rifle ring out from the roof of the building behind me. Fifteen rounds later and the sounds of the mortars stops.

  “I’ll take care of the mortars and other snipers.” Natasha thinks to me and I feel that something is off about her.

  “Tasha, you didn’t…” I sadly reply when I realize what she’s done.

  “Don’t worry; it’s just the normal injection, not the special one that utilizes your blood.” Natasha replies.

  “Good.” I think with a sigh of relief. Now after her adrenaline runs out, she won’t slip into a coma like she did four years ago.

  “You and Chezarei focus on the infantry. The force has centralized at the front gate since they’ve apparently realized that the entire fence is electrified, so give them all you’ve got!” Natasha responds.

  I’m about to follow Natasha’s advice when I look towards the fence and see what appears to be a severed torso with giant bat wings flying over the fence.

  “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?” I shout over the sound of the gunfire.

  “That’s a Manananggal, mate! A Filipino vampire that can sever its torso to fly! Watch the tongue! It’s got a proboscis like a cone snail that’s capable of puncturing sheet rock!” Simmons warns me as I see a dozen more flying over the fence.

  They all seem to be wearing modified combat vests that remind me of the ones that the ifrits wore in Shehar. The vests are useful from stopping lethal shots, but they don’t do shit for the manananggals’ wings, which are torn apart by gunfire, causing them to drop out of the sky. The manananggals hit the ground with their wings torn to shreds; without legs, I think this threat is neutralized… until the manananggals get up and continue their advance by hopping around with their severed torsos, which is infinitely more terrifying, even if they are moving rather slowly.

  “They’re all like the dad in that show The Oblongs!” Cheza giggles and I start laughing loudly, no longer seeing them as threatening. Two manananggals stop hopping and look at each other.

  “Are they laughing at us?” one manananggal asks the other (although this is just speculation because I can’t really hear them) so I start pointing at them while laughing.

  Then they both get shot in the head… which only makes me laugh even harder. The snipers on the roof quickly drop all of the other manananggals with headshots.

  “Focus on the brunt of the force! We can take care of any minor threats like that!” Natasha thinks. Looks like Cheza and I should get to work.

  “Place your right hand on the back of my left and get frosty.” I tell Cheza while engaging my helmet; Cheza does the same and grabs my left hand as it flushes black.

  We stand up and I raise my hand (and thus Cheza’s) towards the sky over the vampires. Several rounds hit my jacket, but nothing gets through as a torrent of water explodes out from my left palm and shoots into the air over the vampires. The water starts freezing as I concentrate it into a large mass in the air. The blood in my left arm starts turning to slush due to Cheza’s power as the giant mass in the sky grows to the right size.

  “Go for it.” I tell Cheza once I stop the flow of water.

  Cheza raises her left hand into the air, pointing it towards the mass of ice, and quickly closes her fist. The mass of ice explodes and rains six foot shards of ice down on the vampires. Once the shards make their impact with the ground and a few unlucky vampires, Cheza points her fist forward and flicks all of her fingers outward. The six foot
shards explode into hundreds of daggers all over the battlefield. Cheza’s legs buckle as she sits down to rest behind the sandbags.

  “Are you alright?” I ask with concern as I kneel down beside her while listening to the screams and gurgles of agony from the vampires.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine… just a bit tired after manipulating that much ice.” Cheza replies.

  “Go ahead and rest; I’ll take care of the remnants.” I tell her.

  I peek over the sandbags and see that the remaining vampires are retreating while the AUSSIE diggers continue firing at them; looks like we’re done for the day.

  “The vampire forces are in a full retreat, for now.” Natasha reports.

  “We’re going to go get some rest before they regroup.” I tell Simmons and he nods his large head.

  I scoop Cheza up so she doesn’t have to walk, and head inside the building. I carry her into the elevator, across the sky bridge, and to the door marked 35. The card key is pulled from my pocket and swiped through the reader before the door clicks open. I carry Cheza to the bed and set her down as Natasha walks through the door, looking absolutely exhausted as a side-effect from the enhancement injection. We all strip down to our underwear and pile into the bed before passing out in mere minutes.

  …

  Chapter 7: Mappa Tassie

  I awaken the next morning to a pounding at the door. I notice that the girls haven’t woken up yet so I quickly jump up and grab the door.

  “We’ve got a couple of predator drones inbound and we need help.” Simmons reports. I look over my shoulder at the girls and there state of peaceful sleep.

  “I can handle it. Get a vehicle and meet me at the gate.” I tell him.

  Simmons nods and runs off while I quickly put on my armored jeans and jacket, forgoing my t-shirt. I stick my pouch on and run out the door, across the sky bridge, down the elevator, and over to the front gate. After waiting for just under a minute, Simmons pulls up in the red Jeep Wrangler. I hop in the passenger seat and Simmons takes off down the road.

  “I need a place in the drones’ flight path, preferably on a hill top.” I tell Simmons.