Jose and Robin both busied themselves by shutting down and packing all of the computer equipment. Matt collected the various weapons they had pulled off of the assassins and created an armory of sorts. None of them wanted to think about burning down the house.
Jose ran down the plan verbally to help make sure they didn’t forget anything. “Robin, you made sure to route any new messages from that web drop box to my smart phone, right?”
She nodded. “Hopefully that Sanders guy will be too busy doing whatever it is he does to look closely at the architecture. I tweaked some of the existing software to get that to work. If he or someone else does try and take it apart it should take them a couple of days at least.”
“I’ll also get any updates from my buddies on the phone too. But with what Lee just filled me in on I don’t think that we need too much more. Hey Matt, tell me again why we’re burning down Mama’s place.”
Matt looked up. “If Sanders or anyone comes out here to find us it will at least cover our tracks and confuse things. I’m a wanted man and if they connect the dots with you two, then you’ll be accomplices. We need as much obfuscation as possible. I grabbed a bunch of her pictures and documents that I know you and I might want. She also had about two grand in cash tucked under her mattress. Until we figure out where we’re going to land it might come in handy.”
Robin stopped what she was doing. “I can’t tell you how much I hate this whole business.”
“I know baby, but with Lee’s help and Jose’s posse I have no doubt that at least you and Jose will be in the clear soon enough. And if everything goes according to plan then they won’t be looking for me.” They had all agreed that until the scope of Sanders’ influence was known that it would be best if Matt just disappeared.
Several trips back and forth to the Jeep and to Lee’s muscle car and they had everything that they wanted to take. Both men looked up at the place that was their only real home. With a glance in one another’s direction they went their separate ways. Jose went to the car and got in. Robin was already in the Jeep waiting. Matt waved them on and went into the house. He opened up the knobs on the gas stove and blew out the pilot light for the water heater.
He ran outside and waited for a bit. He could envision the gas slowly filling up the lower floors. The mason jar filled with gasoline in his right hand had an old rag for a wick. He lit it and threw it through the front door. It broke easily spilling its contents all over the wall and floor. Flames ate at the old wood and began to spread easily.
Matt turned and ran as fast as he could. It took a bit longer for the whole works to go up than he thought. When it did it still picked him up and tossed him a couple of yards. He got up and dusted himself off. The first floor was a huge fireball. He imagined that the whole house would be gone before the volunteer fire fighters got here. A quick jog up the road and he jumped into the car. The backseat was filled with guns and ammo. Beefy back tires bit into the surface and the men were off.
Robin had already driven on. Her part at this point was to secure a base of operations. The state line was only about two hours away and there were plenty of hotels along the interstate. She would get one and wait to hear from them. It gave her the distance she needed and she didn’t want any part of the testosterone laden events that were probably going to transpire. Besides, she could continue hacking through backtrails to see if the server that housed the drop box had any other secrets to reveal.
The rumbling of the Cuda’s powerful engine was the only noise for some time. Its passenger and driver were both lost in their own world, but from time to time they would look back at the column of smoke that rose behind them. Eventually it became only a smudge on the horizon. They were passed by two of what Jose liked to call “Redneck Specials”, trucks that had every conceivable geegaw and bauble that a good ole boy would want. Both had stickers on them that proclaimed them to be part of the local volunteer fire department.
“At least we gave them something to do besides hunting down innocent fauna.” Jose said, the first words in twenty minutes.
Matt smiled, the barest sliver. “Yeah.” He looked in the rearview and caught a glimpse of the hardware in the back. “I prefer my prey to be a little less cute.”
“So Matt, what do you think we’re facing here?”
“Well bro, I don’t know. I mean I was convinced that Owen was a demon. And I was wrong. Then I was convinced that he was possessed. Maybe that was wrong too. There’s every possibility that I have more than a few screws loose. I do know that he was an incredibly bad man, evil as most men can be. And based on what you and I know of the world men like that rarely see the punishment they deserve in this life anyway.”
“That makes you Frank Castle then?” Jose asked without any real malice.
Matt shook his head. “I don’t want to think so. God didn’t send me to punish men. We need to leave that to him. I still think that there’s a purpose here though and I don’t think that Sanders is a man.”
“Gets back to my original question then. What is he?” Jose kept an eye on the speed, not wanting to get stopped at this point.
“I hesitate to guess. Given what happened the last time I did that, but I’ll take a stab. I think that he might be a son of Belial. Belial represents lust and greed and his offspring are responsible for taking men down that path.”
“What makes you think that?” Jose was interested, but religious as he was he wasn’t ready to buy into the literal existence of demons.
Matt blew out hard. “It’s difficult to condense all of my studies into an elevator pitch, but I’ll try. I still believe that there are evil creatures that exist in this universe of ours. We call them demons. Other cultures and religions have their own names for them. So all I have is a classification system that’s filtered through my research. Any demon that seems to push men to extremes in the direction of lust, greed, power hunger is a Son of Belial. Considering Owen’s desire for money and the defiling of children it makes sense.”
“Assuming you’re correct then, what does that mean? Can he like breathe fire, or what?”
Matt chuckled. “Well I don’t have a Monstrous Compendium, so details like that aren’t at my fingertips. Based on just what I’ve seen and experienced of Sanders I can guess that he doesn’t age, he’s tough and strong, and no doubt he’s an excellent con man. My research leads me to think though that even demons, provided they’re in physical form, can be killed. It may not be permanent, but I’m betting they don’t come back right away.”
“So no fire, no brimstone, no magic?”
“You sound disappointed. If it makes you feel better I think that magic is possible and there are creatures that can breathe fire and change shape. It just doesn’t happen that this is one.” Another laugh chuffed out. “This is the first time I’ve said most of this out loud and it’s pretty crazy. Look, Jose if this guy’s just a guy, like you and me, then we still take him down. If that’s the case I’ll sign into the first mental hospital we see. Deal?”
“Deal.” Jose found some classic rock on the radio, bringing some mundanity to the atmosphere. A few minutes later his phone blasted out a tune of its own. He pulled over to the side of the road and checked it out. It was an email from the drop box. “Holy crap.”
“What is it man?” Matt leaned over.
“It’s from Sanders. He says that we need to meet him at this place at eight tonight.”
“What’s the place?”
“It’s Robin’s coffee shop. Why the hell would he want us to meet there?” Jose asked.
Matt felt the pit of his stomach bubble. “I don’t know. I’m sure that he knows Robin isn’t there. Could be just a place to meet us or maybe he knows that he’s communicating with us and is calling us out.”
“That or anything in between.” Jose put the car back in drive. “We need to do it, whatever the reason may be. Good thing is we can maybe get the jump on him, scope the place out first.” He handed Matt the phone. “Call Lee and let him know what’s going down. Get his take.”
Matt dialed and waited.
“This is Lee.”
“Lee, it’s Matt. Where are you?”
Lee sat behind the wheel of a Lincoln Continental that was almost as old as he was. “Visiting an old friend. What’s new on your end?”
“We know that Sanders wants us to come to the coffee shop that Robin owns tonight at eight. We aren’t sure if he knows who he invited though.”
“We have slightly bigger fish to fry.” Lee said.
“What’s that?” Matt caught the genuine concern in the other man’s voice.
Lee turned down the scanner. The Lincoln belonged to one of his Dad’s old cop buddies. One who hated what the force had become over the last couple of decades. “We’re both now wanted for the murders. Apparently, we’re also connected to the disappearance of Robin Delaney. You know where our little lady is?”
“She should be safe and sound in a Motel 6 somewhere. I’ll check when we get off the phone.”
“Good. I’m sure if they find her they’ll bring her in for questioning and something unfortunate will happen. Jose’s in the clear as far as I know since he hasn’t been made yet. We need to make sure that he stays that way.”
“Well that’s up to him and knowing him as I do, he’ll want to be involved.”
Lee sighed. “Okay well I’ll leave that to you. Eight o’clock you say. That gives us a considerable chunk of time, but we need to move carefully. Every cop in this city, good or bad, will be looking for us. They know what we look like, though not what we’re driving or even if we’re in the city. That gives us a slight edge. We stake out the coffee shop and try and get ready for what ever Sanders wants to dish out to us.”
“All that and don’t get caught. God help us. Jose and I will meet you there in two hours. That’ll give us a chance to work some magic and maybe we can get some more information.”
“Call me in two hours. We’ll work out some more details.” Lee hung up.
“Jose, we need some camouflage. Lee and I are on the hot seat for everything bad that’s happened since the Great Depression. If I’m gonna operate I need cover.”
“I think we can make that work.” The brothers slapped hands. “Sanders doesn’t know who he’s messing with. I say we teach him.”
