Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) (24 page)
Read Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) Online
Authors: Richard M. Mulder
Chapter Forty Four: You’re No Jack
Kennedy
Preach
ye unto the righteous that they may escape the wrath of God. For verily, the
whole earth shall be destroyed. A deluge shall come upon all the earth; and all
that is in it shall be destroyed by way of a great flood…
Commander
Arlington reviewed the surveillance data again. Brittany Parker’s GFID
signature had abruptly registered high levels of stress just before her heart
monitor flat-lined. It wasn’t the first time her GFID signature had registered
something odd. Earlier that week her signature had entirely disappeared when
she entered a home in south-side Chicago, only for it to re-emerge out the back
side of the building several minutes later. Naturally they began tracking her
movements more closely as a result, and
had
activated the bug in her cell phone.
Later
that morning he was horrified to learn from Chief Herbert that she had
confessed her knowledge of NSA operations to him. As could be expected, he
issued a detail team to dispose of her. Unfortunately however, she narrowly
escaped her assassination by jumping into a taxi. His agents reported a male
passenger in the car, but when he ran a GFID scan he was disturbed to learn
that it only reported Brittany and the taxi driver in the vehicle.
After
running a skip trace using traffic cameras and FBI tracking software, he
quickly learned that the passenger was none other than the elusive Doug Carter.
They had been searching for him for years since the day he suddenly blipped off
their radar, but
as
of yet
they
had been unsuccessful in capturing him. Somehow he had figured out how to
deactivate the GFID Nano-chips in his bloodstream. Commander Arlington
suspected that Doug had also passed this knowledge on to Brittany, as it seemed
clear now that she had just figured out how to deactivate hers too.
What
was most disturbing to him however was her location when the GFID Nano-chips
registered her ‘heart failure’.
A detail team had followed her to the headquarters of
Motif Global Encryption, Inc. What this meant, Commander Arlington didn’t know.
But the location was suspicious and they no longer had any inside eyes to
determine exactly what had happened. Unfortunately, Agent Wilson, a.k.a. Lily
Thatcher was their only inside operative and she was still missing in action.
Why
hasn’t she made contact with the base?
He
remembered looking at her data files several days ago when she went missing.
Upon the disappearance of her GFID signature, he sent a detail team to her home
where they found the home cordoned off by police tape. He contacted Chief
Herbert for an explanation, and learned about the pool of Lily’s blood. This
concerned the commander immensely, for her GFID signature registered high
levels of anxiety just prior to her disappearance. He knew she couldn’t be
dead, for the GFID signature would have indicated it. Instead, her signature
had simply disappeared off the face of the planet until it blipped back on the
radar late last night.
He
didn’t learn of her re-emergence until he arrived this morning. The entire
office scrambled to study the reports that had auto-generated last night. Her
signature had originally appeared off the coast of Pakistan, and throughout the
night she had travelled a great distance westward. At the speed she was
travelling, she had to be in a commercial jetliner; but yet he hadn’t been able
to locate a single airliner following her trajectory. His frustration had
reached the point where he was about to dispatch the Air Force to intercept
her.
Suddenly
a red light began strobing overhead as an automated voice squawked over the
intercom repetitively, “WARNING. UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY DETECTED.”
By
instinct, Commander Arlington whipped out his gun and ducked behind his desk. He
heard several gunshots ring out from another room as he stealthily crawled out
of his office.
“Stay
here.” he whispered to his secretary, who was cowering behind her desk.
She
nodded fearfully as he continued to crawl across the floor and then stood up
quickly on the other side of the wall. With gun drawn in front of him, he
peeked around the corner. A hailstorm of bullets was being exchanged between
several of his agents and a group of hooded individuals near the elevator.
Between the alarm sounding above and the bullets ricocheting off the walls, he
couldn’t hear himself think. He popped off multiple rounds from his handgun and
quickly downed several of the assailants. As he reached around for another shot
however, a bullet suddenly implanted itself in his chest.
He
gasped for air as he stumbled backward in shock. Blood spilled out onto the
carpet where he lay, and it took every ounce of effort he had to continue
breathing. His mind flashed images of his beautiful wife and daughter. His wife’s
blonde hair shined brilliantly in the sunlight as they walked hand in hand
along the shore of Santa Cruz beach. It was their honeymoon twenty years ago,
and they were young and in love. His mind flashed forward four years to the
birth of their only child. Melissa was a beautiful baby, and he remembered she
was born with a layer of thick black hair on her tiny head. The hair shed after
about a week, but it gave them the opportunity to capture some beautiful
photos.
His
mind continued to flash memories of his little family as he rasped for breath.
It was his daughter’s sixteenth birthday next week. He and his wife had planned
the perfect party for her. He had reserved a wedding hall to use for a dance,
and had hired decorators and a deejay. He had also arranged for a caterer to
bring food from her favorite Italian restaurant. Though it would be expensive,
he knew she was worth every penny.
After
several minutes of extreme agony, the bullets in the other room died down. A
cloaked individual stepped around the corner with his gun drawn.
“My,
my.” he spoke menacingly, “What do we have here?”
Commander
Arlington struggled to focus, “Who… who are you?”
The
man removed his hood to reveal a shockingly familiar face.
“Senator
Davies.” he choked in horror, “What… what are you doing?”
“I’m
just following orders.” he cocked the pistol and aimed at the commander’s head,
“Any last requests?”
“Why?
What…” he stammered in confusion.
“Let
me guess.” he flashed an evil grin, “Why would a Senator be involved with the
Creed of Nephilim?”
He
took the commander’s silence as confirmation.
“I
think the real question should instead be: how did a member of the Creed become
a U.S. Senator?” he tilted his head menacingly, “You see, I wouldn’t be in such
a position of high prominence if it wasn’t for the help of the Creed.”
Commander
Arlington was unable to think rationally anymore, “But my daughter’s party…”
“You’re
not even listening to me, are you?” the senator huffed and cocked his pistol, “Don’t
worry. I’ll see to it personally that your family receives my deepest
condolences in regards to your untimely death.”
Chapter Forty Five: Unexpected Visitor
And
God said: Restore the Earth which the Nephilim have ruined. And announce the
restoration of the Earth. For I shall restore the Earth so that not all the
sons of men shall be destroyed…
Timur was watching the sunset from the balcony of his penthouse
when Senator Davies arrived to deliver his report.
“I trust the extraction went well?”
“Without a hitch.” Senator Davies greeted him, “We were able to
obtain the necessary codes to activate the machine.”
“Excellent.”
“And here’s something else that might interest you.” he pulled a
laptop out of the bag on his hip, “Do you mind if I sit?”
Timur nodded.
Senator Davies booted up the laptop, and logged into the NSA’s
GFID Nano-chip tracking software. He then slid the laptop toward Timur.
“It seems that not only is a certain friend of ours still alive,”
he smiled, “but she seems to be flying an unregistered aircraft in our
direction.”
Timur stared that the screen in shock.
Abner was right. She survived!
“Assemble the Creed.” Timur commanded, “Looks like we’ve got a woman
and her dragon to catch.”
Senator Davies looked alarmed, “She brought a
dragon
to
Earth?!”
“It would appear so, yes.”
“How are we supposed to catch
that?
”
“Get creative.”
Chapter Forty Six: Motive Ascertained
And it
came to pass that I, Methuselah, the son of Enoch, returned to Earth, that the
covenants of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made with my father Enoch;
that the prophet Noah should be of the fruit of his loins…
Lily guided Tiamat as they flew northbound toward downtown
Chicago. Two days had passed, and the sun was setting on the horizon as Lily
and Tiamat flew high above the Chicago Skyway. She knew Commander Arlington had
to have tracked her GFID Nano-chips by now, and was likely awaiting her arrival
despite the late hour.
As they approached the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building where
the secret headquarters of her district of the National Security Agency (NSA)
was hidden however, Lily’s eyes blurred and she saw a most disturbing sight. It
was daytime in the vision, and nearly twenty cloaked men climbed out of the
back of a large delivery truck and entered the building from the service
entrance.
“Take me down there.” Lily spoke with alarm, “I need to go inside.”
I cannot go with thee. Thine entrances art too small. Where shall
I await thy return?
Lily’s eyes blurred again and the darkness of the night returned.
She looked around for a moment and determined that there shouldn’t be many
stragglers in the offices this late, so the parking garage should be a safe bet
for Tiamat to hide.
“Down there.” she pointed to the garage entrance.
Tiamat snorted in reply and descended to the garage. Lily guided
her to a set of stalls between a wall and a stairwell that would help conceal
Tiamat from any potential stragglers still remaining in the Federal Building.
“If anyone spots you, get out of here.”
Yes, dear child.
“Don’t worry. I shouldn’t be long.”
Lily dismounted Tiamat and made her way to the garage elevator.
Upon entering, she struggled to turn the ‘Fire Service’ keyhole past the ‘On’
slot using just her fingernails. Unfortunately, the nail on her index finger
snapped in the process, and now it throbbed as blood oozed out from underneath
the jagged remains of her nail. With a considerable amount of effort, she was
successfully able to get the retina scanner to pop out from the wall.
Upon completing the scan, the elevator plummeted to the hidden
subterranean offices of the NSA. When the elevator door opened, she was greeted
by a horrifying sight. Bodies of NSA agents riddled with bullets lay crumpled
to the floor, and the smell was nauseating. She stumbled through the graveyard
of bodies in shock.
“I’m too late…”
Turning a corner she found Commander Arlington’s body lying in a
heap. She stumbled to the ground and began vomiting violently without warning.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she knew without a doubt that Timur and his
Creed were the culprits of this carnage.
After several minutes she wiped her tears away. Her face was
rigid, and her eyes were set. Timur had gone too far. These colleagues had been
her friends, and arguably the closest thing to a family that she would ever
have. Now they were all gone.
“Timur will pay!” she seethed through gritted teeth.
Rising to her feet she resolved to defeat Timur at whatever cost,
even if it meant sacrificing her own life in the process. She ran past the
strewn bodies and back into the elevator. Her nose burned from the smell of
decaying flesh, and she was happy to breathe the stale air of the parking
garage when the door finally opened. She rushed back to where she had left
Tiamat, and was relieved to see that she hadn’t been spotted. Without realizing
what she was doing, she found her arms wrapped around Tiamat’s torso and the
tears began to flow freely.
Pray tell, what is the matter?
Tiamat paid careful attention as Lily’s recent memories flashed
through her mind.
Forgive me, but I understandeth not the images I doth see in thine
recent memories.
“They...” Lily continued to sob uncontrollably, “They’re all...
they’re all
dead
.”
Tiamat stood in silence as Lily’s breathing slowly returned to
normal. After a few minutes Lily regained her composure again, and her eyes
were set with a fierce determination.
“Timur did this.” she spoke matter-of-factly, “And I suspect he’s
the one who killed Jason Bridger too.”
Over the past several days she had seen many visions of the past,
and she had quickly figured out that in order to see these visions she had to
be standing in the precise location where the event had once occurred.
Together they left the garage and took off into the sky. Lily
guided Tiamat toward Grant Park, knowing innately that she would find the
answers she needed there.
As they neared the park, Lily’s eyes blurred again as if on cue.
It was still night in the vision, and cascading turrets of Buckingham Fountain
glowed brilliantly.
Art thither fish in danger?! They doth dance in fiery waters!
“No.” Lily chucked, “First of all those are
statues
of
dolphins and giant seahorses. They aren’t real fish. Second, that’s not fire.
It’s light powered by electricity.”
Pray tell, is this a form of Earth magic?
“I guess you could put it that way, yes.”
They touched down on the north side of the fountain just as Lily
heard Jason’s voice approaching from the dark. She watched the vision play out
as Jason walked briskly toward the fountain with his cell phone against his
ear. He seemed jittery, and appeared not to have gotten any sleep that night.
It was disturbing for Lily to know that she had rescued him from the
headquarters of Motif Global Encryption just the night before.
“Allan, this is Jason. I know we haven’t spoken in a long time,
but I need your help. I’ve stumbled across some disturbing information that
involves one of your firm’s clients. I need to speak with you in private
immediately. As soon as you get this, meet me on the east side of Buckingham
Fountain. There’s little time.”
She watched
Jason
spin around with his concealed pistol cocked and ready, “Back off, old man!”
“Ah,”
Timur brandished a handgun of his own, “Not until you return what belongs to
me.”
“I’m
not letting you get away with this.”
“This
scene is all too familiar.” Timur chuckled and cocked his handgun, “This is
exactly how your colleague died.”
Jason
fired immediately, and Timur fell backwards. Lily watched in confusion as a
strange greenish glow surrounded the body, and then it disappeared. From out of
nowhere, Timur reappeared behind Jason and fired his weapon twice. Jason fell
to his knees, clutching his wounds as blood pooled around him.
Timur
picked up the thumb drive that had fallen out of Jason’s hand and placed the
tip of his handgun against Jason’s forehead.
“As
I said earlier, you indeed have very little time.” he sneered, “And I might
add, your friend Allan has very little time as well.”
Lily watched the scene in horror as he embedded another bullet in
Jason’s skull.
Timur then approached a park bench to the east of the fountain. As
he curiously held up the small object he had picked up, Lily recognized it
immediately. It was the mini R2D2 thumb drive that she saw plugged into Timur’s
laptop several days ago when she came to present her morning report.
“No wonder he was acting so strange that morning.” she shook her
head in disgust as the vision faded and her eyes blurred once again.
Timur still sat on the park bench, and the sky was turning a dark
blue as sunlight was just barely beginning to peek over the horizon.
“Jason?” Lily spun around in surprise when she heard Allan’s
familiar voice approaching.
Timur stood, “I’m afraid Jason won’t be joining us today.”
“Mister Demyan?” Allan stammered, “I thought we were meeting in a
few hours?”
“I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone that.”
Lily watched in horror as Timur raised his handgun, “No!”
Allan threw up his hands and staggered backwards, “Wha...”
“What else did Jason tell you?”
“He didn’t... didn’t tell me... didn’t tell me anything.”
“I don’t like people who lie to me.”
“All he said... he said that one of my clients... you?”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Timur sighed heavily and aimed his handgun,
“It’s a
shame I have to kill you now.”
“Wait!” Allan stammered too late as the bullet pierced his chest
and his body was thrown violently to the concrete.
Tears streamed down Lily’s cheeks as she realized to her horror
that Allan had likely been dead for a week. Several days ago Commander
Arlington had announced that Allan was their primary suspect for Jason’s murder
because they had tracked Allan’s phone to the scene of the crime. Now she knew
the truth. Timur had killed both of them, and had likely dragged Allan’s body
away. She turned her eyes away and sobbed against Tiamat’s scaly chest.
Alas, I doth understand. ‘twas thine companion and love interest.
Thine sorrows are mine as well.
Lily cringed as she heard several more bullets dislodge from Timur’s
gun.
“Impossible!” Timur shrieked.
She heard Timur pop off several more rounds of bullets, followed
by the audible click of unsuccessful attempts.
Confused, she stopped sobbing and turned to face the scene again.
To her surprise, Allan was sitting up on the concrete with a silver bubble of
light surrounding him. Allan then opened his eyes as well, and the aura of
light dissipated, sending the full round of spinning bullets clacking to the
ground. Allan appeared to be breathing normally again, and somehow unwounded.
“How is this even possible?” Lily stammered.
Timur tossed the gun
and raised one arm in the sky toward the rising sun and aimed the other at
Allan. The green glow of his eyes burned brighter, and with a flash, a beam of
white light burst from his extended fist. Lily watched in horror as Allan
shrieked in pain with the searing of his flesh.
But then an aura of
silver light ballooned around Allan, shielding him from the inferno blasting
from Timur’s fist. Allan stopped screaming, and then Timur began to shriek in rage.
The blinding light
stopped flowing from Timur’s fist, and he instead raised both hands high in the
air. Shadows all around them began to stretch and grow ominously. Several
tentacles reached out from a shadow next to Allan and grabbed him by his ankles.
Allan kicked and
screamed in terror as the tentacles dragged him into the heart of the shadow.
Seconds later, Timur disappeared.
Lily’s eyes blurred and the vision faded from her mind. Tiamat
faithfully stood by her side as she looked on at the police tape that cordoned
off the section of sidewalk where the scene had taken place.
“How did…” Lily shook her head in confusion, “What just happened?”
Verily, I doth suspect this Allan art the Final Seraph. Only
Seraphim have powers to avert death while they are commissioned as a Guardian.
“You’re kidding.” Lily scoffed, “So you’re telling me that my boyfriend
is supposed to somehow go up against Timur and save the world? I’m sorry, but I’m
having an extremely difficult time imagining that.”
Verily, but didst thou ever imagine that one day thou would become
an Oracle and see visions of the past, present and future?
“Okay. You have a valid point there.” she nodded, “We need to get
to Timur’s penthouse. I need to see what’s on that thumb drive.”
Lily mounted Tiamat’s saddle again, and they were airborne.
Moments later they arrived on the balcony of Timur’s penthouse. Lily’s eyes
blurred and she found herself enveloped in another vision. Dawn was breaking
across the sky, and Timur sat at his patio table with the familiar thumb drive
plugged into his laptop.
A surveillance video was playing, and Lily leaned over to get a
better view while still holding her left hand against Tiamat’s scaly chest. The
video portrayed Timur aiming his gun at a man who Lily recognized almost
immediately. It was NSA Agent Michael Thornton who had gone missing several
years ago.