Plague of Coins (The Judas Chronicles #1) (22 page)

My immediate thought was this must be Viktor’s and Petr’s ‘Plan B’. They didn’t sound like they believed in angels earlier when they disparaged my mention of Ophanim, and perhaps they still didn’t. But evil conniving miscreants are the same as the not-so-bad cunning guys—like me. Sometimes we have no choice but to come up with an alternate plan of action on the run. Hey, if it works for star quarterbacks and parachuting CEOs then it should work fine for the rest of us. Right?

Just as long as it doesn’t mean trying to outfox the more powerful beings in the immortal world. I’d much rather go toe-to-toe with the oldest, most blood thirsty vampire than an angel who’s been scorned. Hell, maybe that’s where the popular adage comes from after all.

“Petr, bring them to me!” Viktor advised, motioning with his arm holding the rocket launcher for his boss to bring Amy and Jeremy to a nearby Jeep where he was attempting to drag me. Meanwhile, Ophanim was ripping through the rest of the mercenaries still trying to follow their boss’s orders to bring the angel down. “We need to crack the crystal to get the
djavol
to stop!”

Huh?

Apparently our Russian counterparts
do
believe in something—just not a protector assigned by God. Just another instance where accepting the devil is an easier deal than God Almighty.

Petr Stanislav picked up Amy and Jeremy with no more effort than a nursemaid holding a couple of newborns. But before he took a step toward the Jeep, the angel was upon him. Unlike the shimmering blur that had nearly destroyed his entire army, Ophanim rose into the air above him, eyeing Stanislav in anger. Even the angel’s full wingspan mimicked its owner’s disdain, twitching noticeably. The sword gleamed in his left hand as he pointed it at the Soviet billionaire.

“Fuck you, djavol!” Petr sneered, aiming his weapon at the angel’s face.

He laughed contemptuously while Amy and Jeremy squirmed to escape his gasp. Jeremy’s determination allowed him to slip free, and that was enough to distract Stanislav. Before he returned his gaze to Ophanim, the angel had brought the sword down, severing Stanislav’s arm at the shoulder. The gun fell harmlessly to the ground, as did Amy.

Petr Stanislav fell to his knees, screaming in agony while he struggled to grab his severed right arm with his left. I expected Ophanim to finish the job on him, perhaps bringing the sword straight down again and splitting the hefty Russian in half. But the angel ignored him and leapt over to where Viktor was losing his battle to get me to cooperate.

Ophanim glared at all three of us, and for a moment, I thought he had decided to kill all trespassers instead of sparing the ones anointed by Zoran. Instinctively, I moved to shelter Alistair, fairly certain I could survive the attack from one of God’s special servants. But don’t think I wasn’t praying harder than I had in years...centuries, actually.

For the first time in I don’t know how long I cringed, like a mange-infested dog about to get kicked. I even almost closed my eyes...but I didn’t. Good thing, since I would’ve missed all the fun of Viktor Kaslow’s death dance with his djavol.

I have to hand it to my nemesis. He somehow managed to keep his wits long enough to point the rocket launcher at Ophanim’s midsection as the twelve-foot angel towered above him. But before he could get the damned safety released, Ophanim knocked the launcher out of his hands. Viktor’s death would’ve happened quickly, perhaps even painlessly at that point. If only the release on his weapon had remained closed.

It didn’t. As soon as the rocket launcher fell to the ground, a rocket screamed past Ophanim’s head. The swerving sucker raced toward the Tree of Life. When it hit the upper ‘branches’ of the immense crystal, Ophanim let out a gut-wrenching cry and immediately flew toward the gaping wound in the Tree of Life. A blast of glowing crystals flew out of the tree in all directions. Sharp shards ranging in color from brilliant green to soft purple flew all around us. Most were fairly large, measuring several feet in length, though I saw some fist-sized fragments whiz by. As tempted as I was to linger on the angel’s extraordinary image as it drifted toward the brilliant hole in the Tree of Life with its full wingspan glowing in magisterial beauty, the survival of Alistair, Amy, and Jeremy overrode all else.

A large stalagmite I’d noticed earlier offered the best protection. Before the heaviest onslaught of shards reached us, I urged everyone to race over to it with me. Luckily, the stalagmite bore a crevice on its eastern side with just enough room to shelter us all. Jeremy pulled his leg inside it as a barrage of crystal splinters began to fall around us.

Like a heavy hailstorm, the assault lasted for nearly twenty minutes until the eruption from the Tree of Life finally waned, which gave us a chance to loosen and remove each other’s bonds. Luminous fragments rested in haphazard piles around us. Being the one with the least chance of getting hurt, I ventured out from our shelter first.

The stillness was unsettling, and even the birds and other singing creatures from earlier were dormant...or did they even survive the crystal shard assault? When I looked around, the army of mercenaries and scientists lay dead around me. Even the hole created by the FGRs had shrunk significantly, as apparently the fragment shower had somehow affected the time it took to reverse the fusion machine’s effects.

Petr Stanislav lay motionless near the Jeep, a deep crimson pool still spreading around the back of his head.

Dead.

At least the world was a better place again, although time would tell if it was safer. It would be only a matter of time before some other megalomaniac obtained this technology and used it for ill gain.

I ventured a short distance further to make sure the area was safe enough for the others to emerge from their present hideout. As I turned to go back and let them know the coast was clear, I saw Viktor Kaslow lying in his own pool of blood. One of the crystal shards had pierced his heart and he was near death, his eyes already glazed over.

“So you win...you win this time, William,” he whispered, between coughs of blood. “Perhaps it will be different when...when we meet again....”

That was the last thing he said, and I could almost see his spirit withdraw. To Sheol, or do other cultures have their own hell to reside in? I don’t know...maybe it’s all the same. Both for hell and heaven. I’d like to think so.

As a gesture of respect, I squatted down beside him and closed his eyes. Then I called to the others, letting them know it was safe enough to join me. Amy and Jeremy ventured first, followed by my boy—always the gentleman.

“Well, I guess we need to find a way out of here.” I glanced back at the hole in the cave wall across from us. It was still shrinking, and at a rate that was quicker than I thought we could beat. My instincts told me that we’d find a solid wall of rock waiting for us by the time we reached the spot that still allowed the late afternoon sunlight inside this place. “Maybe one of the waterfalls will have an exit behind it that—”

“Oh, my God—watch
out!”
Amy shrunk back to where Alistair stood.

My son wrapped his arms around her protectively. If not for the knowing, peaceful smile upon Jeremy’s face, I would’ve whirled around defensively, expecting an attack from some new menace. But when I looked over my shoulder, I found Ophanim looking down at me.

Seeing an angel up close has always been a bit intimidating, and I’m sure most folks would feel the same way. Unless, I suppose, one was to hobnob with a creature like this on a daily basis. Standing a dozen feet tall with wings rising another four feet above his shoulders, Ophanim studied me, wearing a curious look upon his face. As I mentioned before, his incredible eyes could easily fool someone into thinking he favored them, and then find out all too late that it wasn’t the case at all. I worried he might fault us for what happened to the Tree of Life. Fortunately, when I glanced at the crystal tree, it was hard to detect where the wound from the rocket had been. The Tree of Life appeared to have healed itself!

“You must all leave here,” said the angel, his voice musical in its timbre. “Very soon, the place where you now stand will be no more. The garden must be protected, as it is Elohim’s will to do so. Jeremy can lead you out of here, as he knows the way. The magi—Zoran, Gaspar, and Balthasar will aid you from there. Go quickly!”

Before any of us could engage him in further conversation, Ophanim suddenly disappeared. It wasn’t until I felt the soft rumbling in the ground beneath my feet that I saw him again, flying toward the swirling sky colors far above us.

“Did you feel that?” Alistair was the first to voice a concern about what was happening beneath our feet. “It feels like the ground is moving. I say we get going now.”

Amy offered an emphatic head nod.

“I feel it too,” I said. “So, Jeremy, is it true what Ophanim just told us?”

“Yes...I know how to get out of here,” he said, pausing until a louder rumble passed. “Follow me!”

We moved back to where we first entered the cave, passing through the lovely gardens and the woods with resolute purpose. I noticed the panther from earlier, high up in another tree. With the ever increasing disturbances in the earth below, if it had any interest in pursuing us earlier, it had none now. In fact, all of the deer-like critters were absent, and other than a few birds that had returned, the area ahead of us was deserted.

“I think we should pick up the pace a bit,” I said, once we reached the meadow.

The ground around us was rising, and I saw cracks in the earth beneath the weird grass. At the same time, small explosions had begun along the stream near the wooded area. Looking over my shoulder, I saw deep orange patches where lava had surfaced from far below the earth. It was just a matter of time before the entire cave floor collapsed into a fiery abyss.

“On second thought, I believe we should skip the lollygagging and start running!”

“I think Pops is right!” said Alistair, anxiously looking around him. More cracks were forming in the ground. “Where is the exit that Ophanim referred to, Jeremy?”

“It’s just up ahead!” He pointed to a clump of trees just past the stone chute we took to get there. “The exit is beyond the trees.... Look for the iron door!”

“What?!
You’re saying this place can be accessed by a frigging
medieval
door?”

I couldn’t believe my ears, though it wasn’t an opportune time to question anything. Especially since another part of the cave floor fell away less than a hundred yards to our right. We wouldn’t have much longer to escape this place before the ground completely gave way beneath us.

“Pops, stop it!”
Alistair shouted at me.
“Just run!!”

The kid was right. Or, I should say the
old
kid still had it in him. He gave a hearty push to Amy and Jeremy, and we ran as fast as our legs could carry us to the trees while the earth around us began to give way in huge chunks. The door was there—just as Jeremy said it would be. Not quite medieval, which Alistair was quick to point out later on, once we were safe and sound again.

For a moment, I thought the heavy door might be locked, since it wouldn’t budge. But after Jeremy and I applied all of our might, with Alistair and Amy adding the final pushes to get it to move, we slipped into the passageway behind it.

A slight coolness greeted us, and it felt like a breeze moved through the tunnel—a noticeable contrast to the heated and now fiery world behind us. As we moved down the passageway, a massive crash announced that the entire cave floor behind us collapsed deep into the earth. The disruption almost landed us all on our asses. Keeping our feet became tenuous. If nothing else, the splashing lava behind us provided enough light to see where we were going...at least for a moment.

“How far do we have to go to get out of here?” Amy sounded fearful. New rumbles resounded under our feet, and a sudden turn in the tunnel left us in near darkness. “It can’t be that far away, can it?”

“I’m pretty sure we’re almost there,” said Jeremy, still leading the way.

Amy grabbed onto his shirt, and Alistair held onto her waist as they moved along. Me? I followed close behind, not near as freaked out by the lack of light. I remember chuckling to myself at how spoiled we’d become in modern society, as less than two hundred years ago, dim passageways were the norm. One had no choice but to develop skills to get around in such places.

“Pretty sure?!” retorted Amy. Her fear was escalating, made worse by the tremors in the passageway’s floor, as if it might buckle and collapse at any moment.