Tortured Spirits (43 page)

“Thanks for busting me out of prison,” Andre said.

“You're welcome.”

The first machete blade ruptured the roof.

“Done!” Maria said.

Some 1,300 candles burned on one half of the chamber, their flames steady and yellow. She ran past Catoute, who sat cross-legged on the floor of her summoning circle, frowning.

“All of you move over to your right,” Maria said. “Draw an imaginary line down the middle. You take half and I'll take half. We can
do
it!”

Six machetes broke through the roof, withdrew, and reappeared, the sound of their blades grinding against the plastic roofing almost unbearable.

Andre aimed his machine gun at the roof.

“Don't do it,” Stephane said. “You'll do more damage than they are.”

Andre held still.

“How're you guys doing?” Jake said to Louider's men at the door.

“Fine,” one of the men said.

Then a loud crack echoed through the building, and the first zonbie dropped through the ceiling.

Jake shoved his flashlight in his belt, drew his Glock, pressed it against the zonbie's left temple, and fired. He heard the spewing of liquefied brain, then the zonbie collapsed and his soul rose.

Two more zonbies fell to the floor around him. Stephane's laser sight cut the room in half. Two muzzle flashes later, Jake stood alone again.

“Thanks,” Jake said, spots flashing in his eye.

“Don't mention it,” Stephane said.

The door crashed open, and Louider's men screamed in stereo.

Maria finished lighting her candles, then checked out what
remained to be done. Pharah, Jorge, and the others had completed lighting one-third of their remaining candles.

Sighing, she started at the top and worked her way down. The blowtorch ran out of gas. “Goddamn it!” She adjusted the valve, but her well had run dry.

Catoute's cackling echoed around her.

She's doing that on purpose to psych us out.

Looking around, Maria spotted a torch burning on the wall and snatched it. She had to stand back, and it took longer to light the wicks, but it was still faster than using matches.

“Everyone—grab a torch!”

Zonbies wielding machetes flooded through the doorway and jumped through the hole in the ceiling.

Jake, Stephane, and Andre ran to the rear of the building. Stephane opened fire, the intense muzzle flash of his ATAC illuminating the approaching zonbies. Heads exploded, sawdust billowed, and bodies toppled. Then darkness.

“I'm out of ammo!” Stephane said.

“Andre,” Jake said, “shoot!”

The muzzle flash from Andre's machine gun revealed the number of zonbies inside the building had doubled.

“Shoot your grenade,” Jake said.

“I don't know how!”

Stephane seized Andre's weapon. In the darkness, Jake heard a cocking sound. He smelled smoke, and the center
of the building erupted with a flash of light. Jake felt the concussion, then chunks of flesh and bone pelted him, and burning bodies staggered around. He was about to suggest they flee out the closest window when half a dozen arms reached through it and clawed at him.

“We did it,” Pharah said. “They're all lit!”

All six of them held flaming torches as they admired their handiwork: 2,500 candles filled the chamber with a golden glow.

“Now what?” Maria said.

“We deal with my mother.”

They strode to the summoning circle, where Catoute sneered at them.

Pharah crossed her arms. “Well, will you help us in exchange for saving your own skin?”

“Go to hell,” Catoute said.

Jorge retrieved his machine gun and aimed it at Catoute. “If we kill you, we stop Malvado's slaves in their tracks.”

“That would free the zonbies' souls, but it wouldn't increase our troop levels. I'll just have to change their orders myself.” Pharah turned to Jorge and Maria. “Gag her.” Then she crossed the chamber and kneeled down on the floor, facing a section of candles.

“Use your hand while I get a rag,” Maria said.

Wrapping one arm around Catoute's shoulders, Jorge placed his other hand over her mouth.

Maria returned to the cabinets and retrieved the longest rag she could find, an old bandana.

Catoute's eyes grew wild at the sight of the rag in Maria's hands.

Jorge winced and removed his hand. “Bite me again, and you'll lose what teeth you still have.”

Catoute sputtered, but Maria silenced her with the rag, which she tied behind her head. “Let's hear you cackle now.”

Pharah raised her arms and chanted.

Mother and daughter,
Maria thought.
They have the same bloodline.
She leaned close to Jorge. “If this works, will we control the zonbies?”

Jorge shook his head. “Jake and Pharah agreed it was better to give them a choice.”

“I sure hope he knows what the hell he's doing.”

The zonbies slammed Jake against the wall below the window. They pulled at his hair and scratched his face with long fingernails. He felt cool metal graze his skin, then saw a machete pass before his eyes.

Stephane jumped beside him and triggered Andre's ATAC. Even with the silencer on, Jake winced at the suppressed gunfire as well as the muzzle flashes. The smell of gun smoke filled his nostrils, which he preferred to the smell of rotting flesh and human waste. The gun clicked, but the zonbies released him and he slid down the wall.

Holding the ATAC with its barrel pointed at the ceiling, Stephane reached down for Jake. “On your feet, soldier.” Stephane's eyes bulged at the sight of the machete blade sticking out of the middle of his chest, and he dropped to his knees, which brought him face-to-face with Jake.

“Stephane!”

Stephane's eyes rolled up, and blood seeped out of his mouth. He slumped forward, and the ATAC struck the floor.

Jake drew his Glock and stood, allowing Stephane to slump over. He aimed the Glock at the forehead of the zonbie who had killed Stephane and squeezed the trigger.

The zonbie's scalp and skull fragmented, blowing brain fluid out the back of his head. When the zonbie's soul flickered out of his skull, Jake glimpsed Andre backing away from two zonbies in the opposite corner. Jake put a bullet in both zonbies' heads, dropping them.

“What happened to Stephane?” Andre said.

“He's gone and we're surrounded. By my count, I have one round left. Do you want it for yourself?”

Andre hesitated before answering. “No. You do it for me.”

“When will we know if it's working?” Maria said.

Jorge stared at Pharah's back. “We won't know one way or the other until this is over.”

Maria hated waiting.