The Belial Rebirth, page 21
Chapter 53
The night was quiet. Lou put down the phone as she leaned back against the wall of the Motel 6. She closed her eyes, letting the cool night breeze roll over her. Rolly had paid cash for a room and charmed the cashier into not requiring they provide a driver’s license.
With Danny holding open the door to the room and playing lookout, Lou and Rolly had quickly carried the guys into the hotel room. They tied them up with rope they’d stopped to grab at a hardware store.
The bar, the hardware store, and the hotel: Lou was a little worried about the trail they were leaving. But there wasn’t much help for it. Everything had been necessary.
Once the guys were settled in the room, Lou had stepped outside to call Laney but hadn’t gotten an answer, so she’d reached out to Ralph. Damien had indeed gone to Laney’s family’s home, but they had lost him. They were all out searching for him now.
It looked like Laney had been right to go protect her family. Lou rolled her hands into fists, imagining a little girl with bright-red hair. It wasn’t hard. She simply pictured Suzie and Nyssa. She couldn’t imagine someone intentionally targeting them, although when Elisabeta had been alive, she had done just that. Azazael was just as bad as Samyaza. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself off the wall. Focusing on what Laney was going through would only make her angry. Or angrier, when she thought about what the two men tied up in the room had in store for her. And right now, she needed to be calm. She walked along the perimeter of the parking lot, checking if there was anyone about, but everything was quiet.
She headed back to their room and knocked softly on the door.
Rolly let her in. “Everything okay?”
Lou shook her head. “No.” She briefly gave them a rundown on what Ralph had told her.
Rolly slumped on the bed. “God, that’s awful. How’s Laney?”
Lou took a seat on the other one. “I don’t know. Ralph isn’t big on emotional analysis. He said she’s searching.”
“We need to do something to help her,” Rolly said.
“And we will,” Danny announced. “We’re going to get the Bell.”
“Without Laney?” Dolly asked.
Danny nodded. “We’ve already been here too long. If we wait for Laney, it will be at least another day before we get the Bell. We can’t risk it. We need to get home now. I’m already worried about the damage we might have done.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Lou asked.
Rolly stood up from the bed. “No, Danny’s right. What do we do?”
Danny nodded to the two guys tied up and unconscious in the corner of the room. “I guess we wait for these guys to wake up, right?”
Lou looked at her two best friends and then thought about Laney right now, trying to keep her family safe. Laney had enough on her plate. She grabbed the ice bucket and walked to the bathroom. After placing the bucket in the sink, she turned on the faucet.
Once it was filled, she turned the water off and walked back to the room. Without a word, she dumped it over the head of the nearest grunt.
Jeffries’s eyes flew open, and he sputtered, “What the—”
“Morning, sunshine.” Lou flung the bucket onto the bed. Rolly stood in front of him, his arms over his chest.
The soldier blinked, his gaze going back and forth between Rolly and Danny before turning his head and catching sight of Lou. “You.”
“Yeah, me. Now you can answer some questions.”
The guy shook his head. “You’ve got to be kidding. I’m not telling you anything.”
“Save it,” Rolly said. “You’re about to get your asses handed to you … again. So now you answer some questions like she said.”
Jeffries gritted his teeth. “I’m not answering any questions.”
Rolly looked over at Lou. “Would you like the honors?”
“Don’t mind if I do.” She reached behind the guy and grabbed his pinky, yanking it back as far as she could toward his wrist without breaking it. She leaned down closer to his ear. “Let me make this clear: If you don’t answer our questions, I’m going to break every bone in your hand one by one. If you still don’t answer my questions, then I’ll move on to other body parts you might like to remain intact.”
He leaned forward, sweat rolling down the side of his face. “What do you want to know?”
Danny stepped forward. “There’s an object that was brought to your base today. We want to know where it is.”
The guy frowned. “You mean that thing they found in the field?”
Rolly nodded. “That’s it.”
The guy closed his mouth. Lou grabbed his finger. “Don’t make him repeat the question.”
“Okay, okay. I wasn’t part of the acquisition team, but I know some of the guys. They said it’s being held in Hangar 12. There are some bigwigs coming in from DC to grab it tomorrow.”
Lou looked at Danny and Rolly. They all were thinking the same thing. They couldn’t let that happen.
Danny pulled out the map of the base. “You need to show us exactly where it’s being held and how many people are guarding it.”
Chapter 54
Dewitt, New York
The lights of the school parking lot were on but looked dim compared to the bright lights coming from the gymnasium. Damien slowed to a walk as he reached the edge of the parking lot and began to wend his way through the cars. He sensed no other Fallen nearby and didn’t spot any police cars.
The doors to the gym opened, spilling light and noise out into the lot. A man stepped away from the door, which he left open, and lit up a cigarette.
Through the door, he could see and hear children playing, and hear the low murmur of conversation.
Damien grinned. It sounded like the whole neighborhood was here.
He pictured Delaney’s face when that boy had biked toward them. You could kill a dozen people in front of Damien, and he would barely blink. He certainly wouldn’t put himself at risk to help them. But Delaney would risk her very life to save a complete stranger. People were her kryptonite. And it sounded like there was a lot of kryptonite here.
Perhaps this would be better. The other way, it would have been over too quick. This way, he got to draw out the suspense, the anticipation. He smiled as he broke into a jog and then finally a walk. The parking lot was filled with old cars, though he supposed they were actually new. He trailed his hand along the windows as he passed. The man smoking was joined by another man, who lit up as well.
Damien walked toward the door with a smile on his face, the noise from inside getting louder. Yes, this was probably better. After all, an audience always made a performance better.
Chapter 55
They had lost him. Laney ran her hands over her face. She stood outside the Range Rover, which was parked across the street from her childhood home. The scent of Mrs. Gomez’s lilac bushes drifted through the air. The smell brought her back to lying in bed, her teddy, Blue Bear, curled in her arms as the wind blew over her from the open window. She would imagine her and Blue Bear escaping out the window, down the drainpipe, and disappearing into a door in the old oak in Mrs. Gomez’s front yard. There, she and Blue Bear would meet talking gnomes, herds of pegasi that flew through the air, and a magical world filled with mythical creatures. Now, she breathed in deep, finding comfort in the scent.
Laney’s phone beeped, and she glanced at it in surprise. She’d missed two calls from Lou. She quickly brought up the recordings, her mouth falling open as she listened to the second message. “Laney, we know where the Bell is. We’re going to retrieve it tonight. We’ll let you know when we have it.”
Laney immediately started to call them back and then stopped. What could she say? That they needed to wait for her? She couldn’t leave here until she knew her family was safe. And they couldn’t leave Damien back in this time to wreak havoc. Besides, Danny, Lou, and Rolly were smart. And with their powers back, they should be safe. So Laney lowered the phone to her lap, exhaling deeply. They had this. She needed to focus on Damien.
Susan and Ralph were still out searching. Laney had driven up and down all the streets but seen and sensed no one. She didn’t know how, but somehow he’d gotten away.
Her stomach was tied up in knots. She tried not to be angry at Billy Hopkins, but she wasn’t succeeding. If he hadn’t shown up, she would have been able to finish this.
A tingle ran over her. Her head jolted up, her eyes narrowed.
Susan sprinted out of the darkness and up to Laney, who met her gaze. Susan immediately shook her head. “No sign.”
“Dammit.” Laney stared at the street. What was she going to do? She couldn’t leave them here unprotected. She needed to find Azazael. And she needed to find him now.
She felt time ticking away. Rolly, Lou, and Danny would go for the Bell tonight. And Laney couldn’t help but think that the longer they were stuck back in 1996, the worse it was going to be. They needed to get back to their own time before they massively messed up this one.
Already she was worried about the ramifications for that poor nurse back at the hospital. She wasn’t supposed to get injured. And the sheriff had seen Azazael jump out a window. Who knew what had changed now because of that? And she doubted Damien had been keeping a low profile.
God, it was so infuriating. She had gone to school and gotten a doctorate in criminology to try and figure out why people did horrible things, and yet still, when faced with evil, she struggled to comprehend it. Damien Swann had grown up with all the privilege he could want and way more than he needed. He had power and resources at his fingertips with absolutely zero effort on his part.
But it still wasn’t enough for the boy. He wanted more.
Susan walked up to her and nodded toward her car. “I’m going to head out of town, see if maybe I can sense him somewhere along the way.”
“Do you think he left?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t know where else to check.”
Laney nodded. She nudged her chin toward Ralph’s Range Rover. He’d left her the keys. “I’ll drive around town myself to see if I can sense anything too.”
Susan raised an eyebrow. “Sense anything?”
Laney winced. She’d forgotten that Susan wouldn’t know about the ring bearer for decades. And she could tell Laney wasn’t a Fallen. Laney shrugged. “You know, just see if anything feels off.”
Susan looked into Laney’s eyes for a long moment before nodding. “Sure.”
Susan was not a stupid woman. She knew there was something else going on here. Laney was grateful she didn’t ask because she really didn’t want to lie to the woman.
Laney hopped into the driver’s seat of the Range Rover, and after adjusting the seat and mirrors, pulled out onto the street. Instead of feeling nostalgia, the sights from her childhood town left her feeling tense and worried.
Susan had followed him, and he’d been heading west toward the next town. So they’d searched up in that area.
But what if that was what he intended? What if he’d somehow doubled back, avoiding them? Damien wasn’t someone who gave up easily.
“Stupid, stupid,” Laney whispered as she yanked on the wheel, initiating a U-turn. It was only a quick drive to the elementary school. Even from a distance, she could see it lit up with bright lights. That was where they’d evacuated everyone from the neighborhood to.
Down the road, she could see all of the cars in the parking lot. And when she reached the edge of the parking lot, a tingle of electricity buzzed over her skin.
She pulled into the nearest parking spot and grabbed the phone, quickly dialing as she hopped out of the car. “Ralph, he’s at the school.”
Chapter 56
Sellersville, Pennsylvania
The two soldiers had indicated on the map where they thought the object was being held. It was deep inside the base. Getting on base would probably be the easiest of the activities. Actually staying there for a couple of hours to figure out how the thing worked and not getting discovered, well, that was pretty much going to be impossible.
Which meant they had to steal it back.
“Oh, this is not good news,” Lou said, shooting a glance at the two soldiers. They had muzzled them and tied them up in the corner. Both now lay sleeping. Or maybe they were feigning sleep. Lou didn’t care either way.
Rolly was outside keeping an eye on the motel while Danny and Lou discussed what the next steps were going to be.
“Okay, so we have to get a truck, grab the Bell, load it onto a truck, and then get off base without setting off any alarms.”
Danny nodded. “Looks like.”
Lou shook her head. How was it that as soon as she got her powers back, she was right back in the middle of more craziness? Her life had been rather quiet for the last couple years. “We’re only a couple hours into getting back our powers, and already we’re hip deep in an impossible situation.”
“Technically, I think the impossible situation began before that, when we all got caught up in that time wave,” Danny said.
Lou raised an eyebrow. “Time wave? Is that what we’re calling it?”
Danny shrugged. “Rolly mentioned it earlier, and honestly, it sounded kind of good.”
“Okay, time wave it is.” She moved over to the window, shifted the curtain back, and stared out over the parking lot. It was getting late, and most of the lights in the motel were off, which was good because it would probably be better to go to the base later at night. During the day, there would be way too many eyes.
But she still wasn’t sure how they were going to accomplish this.
She watched Danny from the corner of her eye. He’d been so different since the events in Egypt, more serious. He’d actually shown more excitement, more engagement in this situation than she’d seen in a long time. Maybe shy, quiet Danny was actually an adrenaline junkie.
She supposed they’d all been changed by those events. But the last couple years, Danny had become more and more withdrawn. Lou worried about that. Part of her knew what he was doing. He was closing himself off so that he didn’t lose anyone else. She couldn’t blame him for that. She completely understood it.
But in doing so, he was cutting himself off from her and Rolly. The two of them had had to drag him out the last couple of times that Danny had left work behind.
Now, though, there was a spark of light in Danny’s face. As much as these situations might terrify him, they also energized him. Danny’s intellect was off the charts. She and Rolly would never be able to compete with him when it came to brains. But in this situation, it wasn’t just brains that were going to be needed. It was brawn. She took a deep breath. “I don’t think you should go onto the base with me and Rolly.”
Danny nodded immediately. “I agree.”
“Wait, you do? I-I was expecting to have to argue with you about it.”
Danny shook his head. “We’re in entirely uncharted territory here. And worst-case scenario, you two can just sprint out of there. But if I’m with you, I’ll just slow you down. So I figure I’ll keep these guys under wraps while you two grab the Bell. And then we can meet up somewhere.”
Lou nodded. “Actually, that’s okay, that’s good. Should we get Laney’s advice on how to go about it?”
Danny shook his head. “No. She’ll just worry about us. You know how she is. And I think right now she’s got enough on her plate, don’t you?”
Chapter 57
Dewitt, New York
Fiona stepped out of Delaney’s classroom and closed the door behind her. She felt more settled now. She headed down the stairs and back toward the gymnasium when a voice from behind stopped her. “Mommy!”
She turned around, spying Delaney and Patrick walking hand in hand down the hall. Patrick released Laney, and she sprinted forward, hugging Fiona around the waist. Fiona ran a hand over Delaney’s hair. “Hey, snug bug. What are you two doing?”
Patrick smiled as he joined them, his blue eyes twinkling even in the dim light. “She needed to go to the bathroom. I elected to take her.”
Delaney still held on to her mom, leaning up to look at her. “It’s cool being in the school when it’s dark.”
Fiona knew what she meant. As a kid, anything out of the ordinary seemed cool. She glanced toward the gymnasium and then back at the darkened halls. “How about if we go for a walk through the dark into the halls of the school?” she said, dropping her voice into a creepy tone.
Delaney shivered, her smile growing. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Fiona glanced at her brother. “Are you coming, brother, or are you too scared?”
“What? Me, scared? Not when I’ve got you two to protect me.” He held out his hand to Laney, who gripped it before reaching her other hand out to Fiona. Together, the three of them headed down the hall, away from the gym.
Chapter 58
Damien walked into the gym. He blinked hard in the bright lights for a moment before his eyes adjusted. A group of kids were playing soccer on the basketball court while parents and older people sat in the bleachers along the sidelines. He scanned the crowd, looking for Delaney.
She wasn’t there. Not that he knew exactly what she looked like. All he really knew about her was that she had bright-red hair and was about six or seven years old. He had no idea what her parents looked like either, but he assumed at least one of them had red hair. But there were no redheaded adults in the room. He frowned. Where was she?
She wasn’t a Fallen, so he wasn’t able to sense her like he could other Fallen. Had they gone somewhere else? Had McPhearson contacted them and told them to run? That seemed unlikely. This was a world where the Fallen didn’t exist. She wouldn’t want to tell them about the future for fear of changing it. They would have listened to the authorities when they said it was a gas leak.
