Fallen Gods, page 13
“You’re really going to buy illegal guns?”
“We have to, Grace. This can’t be tied to us. And we need some serious firepower.”
“Isn’t that going to be expensive?”
Thanatos unzipped the bag between them. It was stuffed with bundles of cash.
“Where did you get that?”
“It’s not difficult to get money when you’re a god,” replied Thanatos with charm in his voice.
Grace looked to the two police officers.
“You’re still buying all this? You really believe there are gods walking among us?”
“After the things I’ve seen, until someone has a better explanation for it all, yeah,” replied Aaron.
They all fell silent as Luca drove them to a rough suburb. Thanatos look enthralled by it all, but it was clear none of the others wanted to be there.
“Okay, we’re coming up on the spot. Just remember to stay cool.”
They rolled into an abandoned refinery. It was run-down and lined with abandoned cars and other junk.
“Nice place,” Aaron said sarcastically.
Despite that, the track was well used, and they came around a tower. They drew to a halt at a large caravan with an ex-military Hummer parked outside, and several military trucks around the back.
“How did I not know about this place?”
“Max Carter? He lays low. Far as most folks know, he’s just a mechanic that works on old jeeps and Hummers. No one really gives a shit about that around here. They just know to stay away.”
“And that works? He doesn’t get any trouble all the way out here?”
“Word gets around, you know. Someone tried to rob Max once. It didn’t go so well for them.”
“And still he flies under the radar? How did I not hear about this?”
“He doesn’t exactly call the cops when trouble finds him, Aaron.”
“Great, another vigilante.”
“Isn’t that what we are now?”
Aaron shook his head, but realized to at least some degree, that was true.
“This man can sell us some serious weapons of war?” Thanatos asked dubiously as he looked around at how run down the location was.
“Bet your ass he can. If you’ve got the money to pay, he can get you anything short of a nuke.”
“Nuke?”
“Nuclear weapon. You know, split the atom, blow up an entire city, boom, just like that.”
“Such a weapon exists?” Thanatos’ eyes lit up.
“Yeah, but you won’t ever see it,” replied Luca.
“Why not?”
“Because those things, they could end the freaking planet. Nobody has let one off in anger in any of our lifetimes.”
“Why not?”
“Because most of us don’t want to see an end to this planet,” replied Grace as if understanding his ignorance of the subject.
“But why would you not use such a great weapon?”
Luca laughed that he didn’t get it, but Aaron just rolled his eyes.
“Do you still think we picked the right side?” Luca asked quietly.
Thanatos had overheard him.
“Don’t take it from me. I’m just here to enjoy myself. If you want to know right from wrong, you talk to Theodosia.”
“Theodosia, really? She’s real, too?” Grace asked Aaron.
“Damn right, she is, and tough as hell. I saw bullets just bounce right off her.”
“So, it’s all real? All the things I’ve been studying all these years?” Grace gasped.
“Don’t believe everything you read.”
“But if you are real, and Zeus and Olympus, what else is?”
“Not everything you have read, but more than you can imagine,” he replied as they climbed out.
That left her puzzled, with more questions than ever before, but there was no time for it. They were standing before an old refinery building with large roller shutters. One was open, and they could see sparks where someone was welding something beside a vehicle inside the bay.
Thanatos strode in toward him without any caution whatsoever.
“Hey, wait!” Luca insisted.
But Thanatos was through the door in no time. The place was a mess, and the old man welding hadn’t even noticed them. Something caught Thanatos’ eye, a rack on the wall with old swords. All of them Japanese antiques, military swords of the 19th and 20th century. He reached up and took one off the wall.
“Put it down. Are you crazy? What did I tell you?” Luca yelled.
Thanatos was so enthralled with the delicate sword that he drew it from its scabbard.
“Put that down!”
That’s when they noticed the welding had stopped, and the old man had a pistol in hand, trained on Thanatos.
“Why?” Thanatos answered innocently.
The old man fired two shots at his chest and another to the head. He went down, dropping the sword as he hit the deck.
“Jesus, Max, he’s with me!” Luca rushed in between them.
“What the hell was your friend doing touching my stuff and brandishing a weapon in my place? Didn’t you warn him before bringing him in here?”
Max was in his early sixties. He had a gray beard and two scars on his face. He looked like he’d been through more than a few wars. Battle hardened and tough. With little tolerance or patience for anyone.
“Really, you really had to shoot me?” Thanatos called out from the ground as he got back up. Max could hardly believe it. Thanatos wiped a little blood from his head and looked nothing more than a little stunned.
“What the hell is this?”
“Our boy here has armor on, just as well, isn’t it?” Aaron replied, trying to hide the truth.
“No way in hell. The two in the chest maybe, but I put that third shot right between the eyes. I know what I saw.”
“My name is Thanatos. I am a god. Your weapons can’t hurt me, not really. Nothing more than a stun gun can hurt you.”
“Bullshit.”
“Yeah? Take your shot again, right here.” Thanatos pointed to his forehead.
Max still couldn’t believe it, but he could see Luca and Aaron were serious.
“I don’t want no body to clean up,” he replied.
“Just do it.”
“Hell, no, what is this, some kind of entrapment?”
Luca sighed, drew his pistol, and shot Thanatos in the head.
Grace gasped in horror as Thanatos went down, and Max rushed forward to see for himself. There was a gunshot wound on Thanatos’ head where he lay lifelessly on the ground.
“What the hell were you thinking? Look what you’ve done! This is your mess to clean up, not mine!”
Thanatos’ eyes opened, and as he picked himself back up, the wound began to heal before Max’s eyes.
“What in God’s name?”
“What, you want to try that again, just to be sure?” Thanatos asked playfully.
“No, no, I, ah…I trust you,” he replied in a shocked tone. He holstered his pistol, but he kept looking at Thanatos in disbelief.
“So, this is legit? You aren’t pulling some stupid prank?”
“I’m not dumb enough to pull any kind of prank on you, Max. I’d be too worried about getting shot in the ass. Clearly, my concerns were warranted. Jeez, you know you can’t just shoot random people.” Luca replied.
“He came into my place and brandished a weapon. One of my own, no less!”
“It was a justified shooting,” Aaron said in support, finally lowering his own weapon.
“Can everyone please just stop shooting,” pleaded Grace.
Max looked even more surprised to see her than the encounter with Thanatos.
“Now what in the hell are you doing hanging around with these lowlifes?” He looked at her smart clothes and perfect make up.
“If you haven’t already noticed, we’re into something deep here. Something we don’t have enough time to explain, and you wouldn’t want a part of it anyway. Short story is we need some serious firepower.”
“On a cop’s salary, Luca?”
Aaron laughed, as the joke was painfully true. Thanatos picked up the bag beside him and tossed it over. Max opened it, and his eyes lit up. He finally had a smile on his face.
“What did you boys do, rob a bank?”
“Come on,” Luca answered.
“Yeah,” Thanatos said.
“What?” Aaron demanded, “No, forget that. I don’t want to know. The less I hear about this the better. Jesus, it doesn’t get any better, does it?”
“You really robbed a bank?” Grace asked.
“Being a god comes with some benefits,” he replied with a smile.
“No, seriously, you robbed a bank?”
“Yeah, but not the kind you’re going to hear about on the news.”
“So, what, you stole it from criminals? And you think that makes it okay?”
“Is it okay that so much of that art you look after was stolen from people who want it back?”
“That’s not the same thing.”
But Thanatos just smiled.
“He’s got a point. The best stuff in museums around the world, you know how much of it was acquired fair and square?”
“I know things weren’t always done the right way, Aaron, but now it’s about protecting what we have. We don’t work like that anymore. You’re talking about something that happened today.”
Thanatos merely shrugged as if he had no care in the world.
“Somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here,” demanded Max.
“There’s a war going on. A war like you’ve never seen,” said Aaron.
“I’ve seen a lot.”
“A war of men. This is something else. Higher beings, powers that you’ve never seen.”
“Better yet, don’t tell me. I’m not sure I want to know, or if you’d even give me the honest truth. Maybe I just don’t give a shit. You’ve got money, and that’s enough for me.”
He went behind the counter, pulled open a hidden door on the wall, and pressed in a few keys. There was a large grinding sound like hydraulics activating, and suddenly the walls behind him separated and opened. They were in fact two large heavily reinforced doors carefully concealed by posters and shelving.
Aaron looked at Luca with surprise. He looked impressed; as if he’d doubted this was the man he’d made him out to be. Fluorescent lights spluttered as they came to life. They revealed a large armory packed with hundreds of weapons, from handguns to heavy machine guns.
“Jesus, who the hell do you sell this kind of hardware to?”
“You,” replied Max with a straight face.
Aaron couldn’t help but groan as he had him bang to rights.
“How much of this are you looking to spend?” Max rifled through the bag that was brimming with bundles of notes.
“Whatever that will buy,” replied Thanatos.
Max’s eyes lit up, but he shook his head as he looked out to the vehicle they’d arrived in.
“You’re gonna need more than that pickup to take away the sort of firepower you’re looking to buy. Hell, for this kind of purchase I’ll throw in a Humvee for you. Serviced and ready to go.”
“Jesus, you could start a war with this stuff.”
Aaron was marveling at the arsenal. He was looking at a Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun. On a shelf behind it was a Barrett rifle in the same caliber.
“I’ve only ever seen this kind of hardware in the movies. Where did you get all this stuff?”
“Some of it’s legal, and the rest…”
“Yeah?”
“Well, you know.”
“No, I don’t.”
“A good man lives by his own morals, not by the laws of the land,” replied Thanatos.
“Oh, yeah? And how did that work out for you last time? You said you fought the law on that.”
Thanatos shrugged.
“A good man isn’t always right,” he replied with a cheeky smile.
“Look, you guys. With the money you came in here with, you can take as much as you can carry. Just forget where you found it, you hear?”
“What are you worried about?” Luca asked.
“That nobody like you buys this much gear if they aren’t going to war. Most of the folks I sell to just want to live life their own way. You get me, outside the rule of law and big government? They won’t want trouble, but they’ll give it to you if you go looking. But you lot. You’re going looking for that trouble, aren’t you?”
Most of them looked sheepish, apart from Thanatos.
“Are you scared of a war?”
“You’re damn right I am. I’ve seen what they can do. The kids around here, they’ve seen street gang shit, few losers doing drive-bys and talking tough. They think that’s a war, but that ain’t nothing. First sign of a real war, and they’d be running home crying.”
There was a roar of engines outside, and Max’s face turned to stone.
“They with you?” Max looked to a computer monitor by his desk, and spun it around for the others to see his CCTV screens. A line of black SUVs were pulling onto the site. He could tell by the look on their faces.
“Luca, you’ve brought this to my door?”
“Max, we didn’t know. But you’ve got to trust me. This is big, and we need your help.”
“You’ve got a whole goddamn city police department, why don’t you call them?”
“This is bigger than that. Believe me. Real good and evil stuff, in a biblical way.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in all that,” he growled.
“Yeah, well, seeing it with your own eyes can make you a believer.”
“We need your help. Will you give it?” Thanatos asked in a serious tone.
“Why? Who are you?”
Thanatos held up his arms and erupted into a ball of light that made them all look away until it died down. They looked back to see him in all of his glory in his gleaming armor. Shield on his back and sword in hand.
“What in God’s name?” Max muttered.
“Max, he’s one of the good guys, but we don’t have time to talk about it. We need to win this fight.”
Max staggered back in shock.
“The gear is yours. You paid for it.”
“Come on!” Luca rushed into the armory.
“You got ammo for this?” Luca was looking at the Browning.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Aaron saw Max pointing to a stack of ammo boxes.
“Come on. Help me get this outside,” said Luca.
Thanatos sheathed his sword and lifted the Browning still on its mount, hauling it over the counter top like it was made of plywood. He placed it down just outside as Luca rushed to it. He ripped open the breech and an ammo box and began feeding in ammo.
“You know how to use one of these?”
“It’s a long story, Aaron.” He looked like he knew exactly what he was doing.
“We’ve got about a minute before those assholes get here. Grab whatever you can. We’re going to war,” he said.
Aaron couldn’t believe it. The younger man sounded like an old veteran, but he snapped out of it, and rushed back inside to get whatever he could.
“Over there, loaded and ready to go.” Max pointed to a rack of military grade M4 carbines and a pile of loaded magazines. Beside that were vests with ballistic plates in and loaded magazines stuffed into every pouch.
“What were you ever prepping for?” Aaron asked in amazement as he grabbed a vest and strapped it on. He took another and two of the carbines. He headed out to Luca, passing Grace on the way.
“You know how to shoot?”
She was flustered and didn’t know what to do.
“Rifles, shotguns, but not this, Aaron.”
“Grab something you can use from back there, and stay behind the counter, you hear me?”
She nodded, shaking with fear, but she did as he said. He could see the regret in her eyes that she’d ever signed up to come along. It was too late to change that now.
“These are definitely the bad guys, right?” Luca asked as the SUVs stormed into view. They were riding far too fast for the terrain, bumping up and down on the rough ground, and sliding about on the dirty road, barely in control. They were moving with purpose; that much was certain.
“Yes.” Thanatos stepped up beside them. He was holding the Barrett rifle at his hip like it was a submachine gun. The hulking anti-materiel rifle looked ridiculous held by a man who at least looked human in size.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, Aaron, I’m sure.”
“Light ‘em up,” he said softly, with sadness in his voice.
Aaron felt way out of his depth, although his younger partner was taking it in his stride as if it were all just a game. He primed the Browning and hunkered down beside it before depressing the trigger. The heavy machine gun sprang to life with a deafening roar as the huge bullets spat from the muzzle. The first few smashed through the grille of the lead vehicle and punched huge holes through it. Smoke poured from the engine bay, and one of the wheels blew out. The vehicle turned sharply and flipped, rolling several times to a standstill. Luca didn’t let up, and turned the gun on the second vehicle as the driver slammed on the brakes. The doors opened as the occupants tried to flee. The SUV was ripped open like a tin can. The third vehicle smashed into the rear of it, and they too quickly abandoned their truck as the machine gun spat fire at them.
Muzzle flashes lit up the scene as those huddling behind the wrecked vehicles returned fire. They couldn’t hear the sound of the shots over the deafening roar of the Browning as Aaron took cover by their own truck and took aim. Before he could fire a shot, he noticed a shot strike Luca in the chest. He staggered back and dropped to one knee. His vest had taken it, but the shock had stunned him and the wind had been taken out from him. He was fighting to get back to his feet, and back to the Browning, but was struggling as more shots landed all around them. Sparks flashed on the ground, and more bullets slammed into the roller shutter, the Humvee, too. One hit the receiver of the Browning and glanced off. It skimmed Aaron’s arm and cut open his sleeve. He winced in pain, but it was only surface damage.
“Luca!”
His partner had tunnel vision as he continued to get back up to the machine gun. Aaron looked out at their attackers, and one was taking careful aim at them. He fired a burst that struck the hood and windshield of the vehicle and made him duck back down. He then ran out from cover and tackled Luca at full tilt. They both slammed down to the ground behind Max’s caravan as a hail of bullets landed all around the Browning. One struck the mount, and other went right through the ammo box. He hauled Luca in a little further as more shots landed around the weapon, but the battle had reached a natural pause as both sides licked their wounds and got ready for what was to come.
