Ancient Enemy (2 page)

CHAPTER THREE

Cody’s Pass, Colorado

Not even ten
minutes after Stella left the gas station, three snowmobiles raced across the field of snow towards the main street of Cody’s Pass. The snowmobiles held two men each on two of them and one man on the other one with two large metal cases strapped to the back.

Inside Cody’s Pass Farmers’ Trust Bank, two tellers waited on customers. Four other people waited patiently in line, snow dripping from their boots and pants. One of the customers was Jed, the old man from the gas station store.

The bank manager sat at his desk in the office right off the lobby. He shuffled through some paperwork, but there wasn’t much to do – he’d already announced that they were going to be closing early due to the snowstorm, and he couldn’t wait to get out of here, get home, and start his three-day weekend.

Moments later the quiet morning was shattered as the five men from the snowmobiles exploded through the front doors. They were dressed in dark coats, gloves, and ski masks; two of the men carried large metal briefcases and all of them carried guns. They moved like a military unit, fanning out in different directions. One of the masked men stayed back by the lobby doors, he locked the doors and stood guard in front of them.

Another masked man, the leader of the men, aimed his gun at the tellers as he approached them. “Nobody move!”

The tellers and customers let out short screams of shock, but they froze and watched the robbers with wide eyes.

“Open the money drawers and back away!” the leader barked at the tellers. “Don’t touch anything else!”

The tellers did as they were instructed. Both of the cash drawers popped open and the tellers raised their hands as they backed away from the counter.

Another masked man, a tall and lanky man, rushed over to the customers still in line, his semi-automatic pistol aimed at them. He herded the customers to the wall. “All of you down on the floor now!”

The Leader nodded at the two men with the metal briefcases.

One of the men hopped the teller counter with ease and began emptying the money from the teller drawers into his metal briefcase.

The other man with the case rushed to the bank manager’s desk, his gun trained on the man who already had his hands up, already surrendering.

“Was the alarm triggered?” the masked man yelled.

“No,” the bank manager answered, shaking his head almost violently. “I … I didn’t – ”

“Get up,” the masked man growled at the manager. “Open the vault.”

“It’s already open.”

“Take me there.”

The masked man followed the manager behind the teller counter, around a corner to a short hall where a metal door was wide open. The manager gestured at the door with a trembling hand. “There it is.”

The masked man pushed at the manager. “Get in there.”

The manager’s legs felt like jelly, his heart pounded so hard he thought he was going to have a heart attack. His mouth had gone so dry he could hardly spit out any words. “Please don’t.”

“I’m not going to kill you. Nobody’s going to get hurt, I swear. As long as everyone cooperates.”

The masked man’s words calmed the manager down a little. He nodded and entered the vault. The masked man held his metal case open. “Fill the case up. Take from different stacks.”

Back in the bank lobby, the Leader glanced down at his wristwatch. “Ninety seconds! Let’s move!”

The Leader looked over at the tall lanky man who held his gun on the customers; all of the customers were on the floor except one old man who stood his ground. “What’s going on over there?” The Leader growled.

The tall masked man stepped towards the old man and jabbed his weapon at him. “You hard of hearing, old man?”

The old man showed no fear of the gun pointed at his face. His ice-blue eyes had a blank look in them, like he was lost in a daydream. Or a trance. He stared at the tall masked man, but he seemed to stare right through him.

“Get down on the fucking floor!”

The old man made no move to get on the floor; he made no move of any kind. But he did smile at the masked man, his eyes still so far away, seeing something nobody else there could see. “You’d better get right with the Lord, boy,” the old man said in a low voice.

“What the fuck are you babbling about?”

“You better get right with the Lord, because something real bad is coming for you.”

In the vault, the bank manager stuffed stacks of cash into the masked man’s metal case. “Please,” the bank manager whispered. “I have a wife. Kids.”

“Everything’s going to be fine,” the masked man told the manager. “You’ll see your wife and kids again. I promise.”

The other masked man with the metal case entered the vault, there was money in his metal case from the cash drawers, but there was room for much more. The bank manager stuffed his case full of stacks of money. The masked man closed the full case and handed it to his partner. “Get back out to the lobby.”

The other masked man ran out of the vault with his metal case.

The masked man pointed his weapon at the bank manager who closed his eyes as tears slipped out. His lips whispered silent prayers.

“Open your eyes,” the masked man growled.

The bank manager did as he was told.

“Get out in the hall, get down on the floor and just stay there. Don’t follow me out, don’t make a sound. Got that?”

“Yes. Yes, thank you.” The bank manager hurried out of the vault and got down on the floor. He closed his eyes and he continued his whispered prayers to a God he hadn’t prayed to in a long time. But he felt okay. He believed the masked man’s words. Something in his voice told the manager that the man was telling the truth. He could hear the masked man walking away. “Thank you, God,” the bank manager whispered. But seconds later the manager would hear gunshots and his whispered prayers would be back on his lips.

Back in the lobby, the Leader watched the old man still standing his ground as the tall masked man pointed his gun at him. “What’s the problem over there?” the Leader growled.

“No problem,” the tall man spat out as he glanced at the Leader, and then he looked back at the old man. “I’m only going to tell you one more time – get down on the floor!”

“The devil himself is coming for you,” the old man whispered. “For all of you.”

The masked man jabbed his gun at the old man. “One last chance, old man.”

“I’ve seen what’s going to happen to you,” the old man whispered with a creepy smile still on his face. In a flash of movement, the old man grabbed the masked man’s arm.

Suddenly, the masked man could see what the old man could see. Images flashed through the masked man’s mind at lightning speed: a rustic cabin in the middle of a snowy field, puddles of blood in the snow, pieces of a dismembered body, a shadow moving down a wall.

The masked man pulled the trigger.

The back of the old man’s head exploded as the bullet tore through his head, knocking him back into the wall where he slid down, leaving behind a smear of blood, his eyes still wide open, still staring right at the masked man, a ghost of a smile still on his face.

The Leader rushed over to the masked man who stood frozen as he stared down at the old man’s dead body. The other customers on the floor screamed in horror and panic; they covered their heads in protection.

But the masked man only stood there, shocked by what he’d just done. He couldn’t even remember squeezing the trigger.

The Leader grabbed the man’s shoulder, turning him around to face him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

The masked man’s eyes bulged with confusion behind the eyeholes of his ski mask, his mouth moved, trying to talk. “I … I don’t know…”

The other two masked men with the metal cases of money hurried out from behind the counters. “What the fuck happened?” one of them screamed.

The Leader turned and motioned towards the front doors where the last masked man was already unlocking them. “Let’s move!”

The masked men fled the bank and ran down the sidewalk towards an alley that led to the back of the building where their three snowmobiles waited, a field of snow beyond the bank, a line of trees in the distance. They strapped the briefcases down to the back of the Leader’s snowmobile, and then they hopped on the snowmobiles, two men each on two of the snowmobiles, and the Leader and briefcases on one snowmobile. They took off for the snowy field.

CHAPTER FOUR

The three snowmobiles
raced across the snow-covered field that stretched out underneath a sky of gray clouds that promised more snow. Once they reached the cover of the unending evergreen trees, they parked and cut the engines. The world was suddenly silent around them. But not for long.

The Leader, Frank, jumped off of his snowmobile; he tore off his ski mask and marched through the snow towards the snowmobile that Jose and Needles sat on. Everything about Frank was hard and lean, his eyes were like glittering black stones set deep in a face that seemed like it was carved from granite. His dark eyes never left the two men as he raced through the snow at them.

Jose, small and twitchy, dismounted the snowmobile and stepped aside; he knew Frank was coming for Needles and he wanted to put some distance between himself and Needles right now.

Needles, a tall and wiry man, lifted up his ski mask. Prison tattoos peeked out from underneath his coat collar and wound their way up the sides of his neck. His long, unruly hair cascaded down to his shoulders. Usually Needles was an imposing figure; the kind of man you thought twice about messing with, an air of danger and violence about him. But right now he looked stunned; his eyes were wide and nervous, his mouth hung open slightly. He watched Frank march towards him.

“What the fuck, Needles?!” Frank yelled. “What the fuck happened back there?”

Needles shook his head no as he stared at Frank with lost eyes. “I don’t know, Frank. That old man, he wouldn’t get on the floor. He … he grabbed me. Tried to attack me.”

“So you kill him?”

Needles didn’t have an answer for Frank.

Frank was only a few feet away from Needles, insane fury dancing in his eyes.

Cole and Trevor dismounted their snowmobile and Cole pulled up his ski mask, revealing a handsome face and close-cropped dark hair. He rushed over and stepped in between Frank and Needles at the last second. “Come on, Frank. Let’s think about this for a minute.”

Frank turned to Cole – they locked eyes. Cole’s muscles tensed; he was ready for anything right now. He’d seen Frank angry before, but never this angry. Finally, Frank stepped away. He paced through the snow for a moment, breathing out a long slow breath.

Cole watched Frank, still a little unsure about him for a moment. “What now, boss?”

Frank looked at Cole, then at the others. “Change of plans.”

“Change of plans?” Jose yelled.

“Yes, a change of plans,” Frank growled at Jose. “Since that psycho motherfucker over there decided to kill someone, every cop in the state is going to be looking for us now.”

A silence blanketed them for a moment. Frank glanced at Trevor, a pale but athletic-looking man who looked more like a grad student than a bank robber. Trevor pulled out a pair of glasses from his coat pocket, completing the look. He took a folded paper out of his jacket, unfolded it, and studied it for a moment. It was a hand-drawn map. He looked up and pointed at the dark woods. “If we go through those woods for about half a mile, there will be a road.”

*

Stella’s rusty Chevy Suburban rumbled down the lonely snow-covered road, walls of evergreens lined both sides of the roads; it made her feel like she was driving through a gigantic maze, a white path that twisted through big green walls. She concentrated on the road, gripping the steering wheel as the windshield wipers struggled to push the falling snow out of the way.

The heater blasted warm air at Stella and David as the radio played classic rock and roll. The song ended. “That was Fleetwood Mac,” the DJ on the radio said. “Looks like there’s no end in sight for the big series of snowstorms moving through. Some areas can expect at least another foot of snow and possible whiteout conditions.”

“Yeah, we know,” Stella muttered at the radio.

Stella watched the road, slowing down a little as they rounded a curve which revealed more trees. More and more trees. Unending trees. No buildings. No other cars in sight. No signs of human life. She hadn’t seen another vehicle for the last twenty minutes. That was probably because everybody else knew about the snowstorm; they were already tucked safely inside their homes, ready to ride out the storm. They weren’t driving through it like idiots.

She glanced at David who stared out the windshield, his body rigid, his face tense. He looked out the passenger window and watched the dark green blur of trees whip by, then he turned around and stared out the back window of the Suburban, watching the road and dark trees disappear into a mist of white snow.

Stella forced a smile – hopefully a reassuring smile. “David, don’t worry. It didn’t follow us.”

David turned and stared at Stella with his dark eyes, searching her eyes for the truth.

Stella smiled and changed the subject. “Don’t you want to know where we’re going?”

David nodded. “Where?” he whispered.

“My aunt’s house. She lives in northern Colorado. We’ll be safe up there. I promise. Then we’ll figure out what to do next. We’ll call someone for you.”

David looked down at his coat and toyed with one of the buttons.

Stella watched the road for a moment as she rounded a bend. She glanced back at David as she talked to him. “There has to be someone I can call for you.”

No answer from David.

“David, why won’t you tell me?”

Still no answer from David.

“You need to talk to me,” she said a little louder and sharper than she had intended.

David looked at Stella. His eyes drilled into hers, they seemed to burn into her mind for a split second. “My parents aren’t here anymore.”

The words shocked Stella. “What do you mean? What happened to them?”

David looked out the windshield, his eyes widened in shock. “Look out!!”

Stella looked back at the road and saw a man dressed in a dark coat standing in the middle of the snow-covered road; he waved his arms, trying to flag her down. She stomped her foot on the brake. Too hard. The tires locked up; the Suburban skidded along the snow and ice, sliding helplessly.

“Hold on!” Stella shouted at David as she muscled the steering wheel, trying to turn the truck, watching in horror as the man only stood there, perhaps frozen with fear. The truck got closer and closer to the man, and then it slid right past him, barely missing him.

Her truck slid off the side of the road and ran down through a ditch where it crashed through snow drifts and shrubs, running some of the shrubs over, crunching them to the ground, before finally coming to a stop with a jolt.

Stella sat there for a moment in shock; her fingers gripped the steering wheel like she was still driving. The windshield wipers thumped back and forth, the headlights stabbed through the murky daylight, one of the headlight beams at a crazy angle now.

For a moment Stella’s mind buzzed with panic. It was him, her mind whispered, it was the person she’d seen standing in the road when they’d left the dig site. But her rational mind fought back. It wasn’t the same person. She’d seen the man’s face for a split second as she slid past him.

She turned to David. “Are you okay?”

David nodded as a shudder of breath escaped him, his eyes still wide with shock.

Stella looked back out the windshield as she exhaled a long breath. “What … who was – ”

A rapping at her driver’s window cut her words off, a small scream escaped her throat. She turned and stared straight into Cole’s ruggedly handsome face.

“Are you okay?” Cole called through the driver’s window. He bent down, his face close to the glass, his breath coming out in plumes, fogging the glass a little.

Stella nodded as she rolled down the window; the freezing air invaded the truck immediately. “Yeah, we’re okay. What were you doing in the middle of the road? Is something wrong?”

Cole winced as he pulled his pistol out from his coat pocket. “I’m sorry, lady.” He pointed the gun at her. “We need your vehicle.”