The high pitched whine of motorcycle engines that begged to be let go filled the air. Eight of the bikes cruised down the street, their riders clothed in a riot of color. Jose sat on one of these, wearing leathers he thought he had escaped wearing. They weren’t his, but they fit well enough. Matt drove one further back. It wasn’t his first time on one but it had been a while.
Matt wasn’t comfortable with this idea, but he had to admit that it was ingenious. Not only could they hide in plain sight, it provided them some good transport that couldn’t be traced to Lee. All eight men were armed and Jose had secured a promise that they would be a help should it be necessary. Matt hoped that it wouldn’t be. If things got that bad then too many innocent lives would be lost.
Jose motioned for them to pull to a stop a few blocks from the café. Matt got off and walked up leaving his helmet on. They could both see from here that the shade had been pulled. “That’s not a good sign,” Jose said. “Crap.” He felt his cell start to vibrate. He dug it out from a slit pocket and saw that he had a voicemail. The message played through his Bluetooth earpiece. “Oh this is really not good.”
“What is it?” Matt asked.
“Lee’s gonna be late and somehow Sanders knows that you’re coming. I smell a big damned rat. We need to get out of here.”
“We can’t.”
“The hell we can’t. No telling what’s going on in there. We had no stakeout. We have no idea how many goons he has in there or what he’s gonna do. I’m calling Robin and telling her to bug out too.” Jose started to dial.
“You do what you need to man. I’m going in.”
“Okay, wait damn it, just wait.” The phone went straight to voice mail. “Oh this is really not good. She’s not there. Something’s going on Matt. We need to rethink this.”
Matt flipped his visor up. “You rethink this. That man in their killed a good friend and wants me dead, wants Robin dead. He may even be responsible for her not answering. Maybe Lee did something stupid, but I can’t blame him for that. Sanders is damned good at manipulating. I mean it. I’m going in. You and your men stay out here. If you need to come in then I’m sure I can arrange a signal.” He broke into jog and ran down a side alley, unzipping his jacket as he went. He had one advantage, he knew about a way into the store that Sanders probably didn’t.
The back door was intimidating looking with its thick steel construction and the warning labels about alarm systems that plastered it. He reached above it to a loose brick. Once that was gone he felt for the key. Robin had left one here once she locked herself out of the shop for the third time. The finger length piece of steel fit snuggly in the lock and didn’t even make a clicking noise as he turned it. Matt left it in place as he opened the door a crack. Before he went in he pulled his H&K Mk. 23 pistol.
The door led into a narrow hall flanked by stacks of paper goods, bulk bags of coffee and other dry goods, and an ice machine that sounded like Darth Vader chewing on rocks. Between the wheezing and crunching he felt pretty sure that he’d go unheard. He tried to picture the layout of the store. The kitchen was just through the swinging door. Unless someone was standing at just the right spot behind the counter he could open it enough to go through and not be seen. Past the short extended hall to the kitchen everything opened up and nothing would keep him from being seen as long as he stood.
Matt took his helmet off and rested it on the floor. He got down and felt the cool linoleum through thin leather gloves. Slowly crawling he listened for voices, unfortunately the ice maker noise cut both ways. The swinging door opened under his gentle push and he slid through on his side, curling around it like a snake. Once on the other side he was able to look into the kitchen proper. A mobile proofing rack and a couple of cooling racks looked like good cover. He couldn’t see anyone from his vantage point.
He continued to crawl across the floor, thankful that Robin kept a clean shop. He went nearer the ovens along the right side. From there he should be able to see if anyone was behind the counter and possibly even in the front of the store proper if they were standing. No one was, but one thing did catch his attention. There was a fist sized gray block attached to the gas main that ran into the kitchen. Stuck into it was a timer that was slowly counting down from a little over an hour. That much explosive wouldn’t bring the entire building down by itself, but attaching it to a gas line would give it an added punch.
Robin had driven for about an hour before she started to see signs of civilization. There was still no sign of her being followed so she breathed a sigh of relief. She cursed the fact that she’s forgotten her phone. Even if she could find a payphone she didn’t have any change. And if the cops were after her she didn’t want to risk being seen. Then she had an idea, one that should have occurred to her earlier. She booted up her laptop and started rooting through its case. After a minute she produced a slim PC card. It was designed to let her access the net via cellular towers. This was the boonies and hardcore, but hopefully she could get a signal. The screen came up and she popped the card in. A happy chirping noise told her that it was recognized and searching for a signal. Ten seconds later it showed two small red bars. It wasn’t much but she’d give it a shot.
She connected to the net and fired up her internet phone call software. The built in mic and speaker weren’t great, but they had to be enough. Robin punched in Jose’s number and heard it ring.
“Jose.” Came the terse answer. “Who the hell is this?”
“It’s Robin, Jose. Look I don’t have much time. I’m running from the cops right now. No idea how they found me or why they are. I bolted and am heading back toward syou guys.”
“Robin, don’t come back here. Things are hairy but you need to stay safe.” There was a pause on Jose’s side. “Can you get to the webcams from where you are?”
“I can try.” She fired up the browser. It was slow thanks to the cellular signal. “Are you guys going in?”
Jose grunted. “Matt’s in there solo right now. I told him to wait but he wouldn’t. I want to go in, but really need to know what we’re up against.”
Robin logged in to the site and pulled up the first camera, the one that covered the counter. She saw someone crawling on the floor. She wasn’t sure if it was Matt or not. “Keep in mind I’ve got a lag here and the picture’s not the greatest. I’ve got someone crawling on the floor near the register. There’s what looks like four people bound and gagged to chairs and Sanders looking down at the floor. From the angle I have I can’t make out what he’s looking at. It’s not much, sorry.”
“That’s okay sis, more than we had to go on thirty seconds ago. Find some place to go to ground. Call in a half hour and keep calling every fifteen minutes until you get me.”
“Alright. Good luck.”
Jose tucked his phone back into a pocket. “Okay guys in about two minutes we’re going to go over there and start raising some hell.”
Matt finished his crawl to the counter. From his point of view at floor level he could see feet and chair legs. There also looked to be someone lying on the floor. He couldn’t tell who thanks to the narrow gap. Then he heard the chanting begin. It was in a voice that was no doubt Sanders, but what disturbed him most was that he couldn’t understand what the man was saying. They didn’t sound like distinct words, just a bass rumble of fluctuating exhalations. He slowly came up to his knees and brought the gun up. Coming to his feet without making a noise was hard, especially in biker leathers that were a little snug in spots.
Still he was able to come to his feet and brought the gun to bear on where he thought the man was. The scene that met his eyes filled him with terror. Sanders had scrawled a thaumaturgic circle, this one a triangle inside a double circle. Each point of the triangle touched the inner circle and the space between inner and outer was filled with an illegible scrawl. Susanna was inside the triangle. Her feet together and arms outspread touching each vertices. It was a summoning ritual for certain. Sanders stood at her feet holding a large pistol pointed at her chest. Four blindfolded people sat in chairs around her. There heads were bowed as if in prayer. He couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead in the dim light.
Matt brought his gun sites in line with Sanders head and his finger tightened on the trigger. Then he saw something in Sanders other hand. It looked suspiciously like a detonator. He lowered his own pistol slightly.
“Good choice Mr. York.” Sanders had stopped chanting. “You kill me and the detonator drops blowing us all up.” Matt saw several more of the large gray bricks flashing countdowns were stuck to the wall in what he was sure were strategic places. “You don’t and this young lady dies.”
“Then I guess we have a stand off.” Matt snapped the pistol back up to site on Sanders head.
“Not quite. You see in just a few moments I will kill her no matter what. I feel the need to move on from this place and what I do here will enable that. I do offer you a choice though. You take her place.” Sanders turned his head to look at Matt. His eyes had neither pupil nor iris. They were solid white. “I imagine you have the purity of heart necessary. You do that and I let these nice people go.”
“What about the bombs?” Matt tried to ignore the eyes, but it was hard.
“Can’t do anything about those. They’ll go off either by my trigger or by their timer, whichever comes first. Make your decision Mr. York.”
“And if I put my gun down then what? You just pop me between the eyes and carry on. Your kind aren’t very good at keeping your word.”
“My kind?” Anger crept into Sanders voice. “You don’t have any idea what my kind is. Oh you think you do. You call us demons, monsters, even gods. You know nothing York.” He stopped and took a breath to calm down. “So no more platitudes. You come over here and lie down or I end this girl’s existence right now.”
Matt put the gun down and came around the counter. Sanders didn’t shift his gun from her in the slightest. He looked a little bemused and perhaps disappointed. Matt knelt down beside Susanna and scooped her up. She didn’t seem to weigh anything at all. “I’m going to put her over here.” He nodded over towards the trash cans near the bar. The small cannon followed every move.
It was then that a series of loud revs came from outside. Sanders pivoted to bring his gun back towards the front door. Glass blew in as the front tire of a motorcycle came busting through. Riderless it didn’t stay upright once inside, instead landing askew and banging into the counter. Two men came in behind it large pistols in their hands. Matt had time to see that they were riders from Jose’s old gang.
Sanders laughed and pulled the trigger twice. The sound was incredible and after each shot flame grew six inches from the black steel barrel. Both men were wrenched back as their chests literally exploded. Their bodies tried to exit the way they came in but got tangled and fell, blocking the entrance.
Matt jumped over the counter and snatched his gun landing solidly on the other side, behind cover. A loud crack from where the evil man stood laughing and a huge chunk of countertop disintegrated into wood and formica shrapnel. He looked into the kitchen and saw Jose. His brother had one of the scatterguns out and was walking in a squat. He motioned for Jose to flatten. Then he felt a hollow, rotten pain tear though him. Just over that he heard Sanders chanting loudly.
Jose spread out on the floor and continued his approach.
Robin watched something on the screen that puzzled her. After a sharp burst of static on her windows, she saw the four people in the chairs break whatever bonds held them and stand up. Each had some sort of haze surrounding them. She brought the phone screen back up and hit dial.
Jose heard his phone chirp and poked the button on his headset. “This had better be good.”
Robin spoke loudly into her mike. “I think those hostages are under Sanders control. They’re coming towards the counter. He isn’t looking in your direction. He’s moving the girl.”
Jose got back to his knees and saw that she was right. The four were coming his way, their eyes rolled back into their heads. Sanders was placing the girl back inside the triangle. “I see it.” He motioned for Matt to rise.
Matt poked his head up. He couldn’t get a clear shot at Sanders, between the four moving his way and the way Susanna was being held. Matt jumped over the counter, intending to blow past Donna and get Susanna or take Sanders out at the knees. Instead Donna grabbed him by the collar and waist and through him against the wall, just above the espresso machine. He was pretty sure that he heard something snap inside him. Cups and saucers came down onto the floor with him clattering and breaking. Adrenaline flooding his system kept him from feeling most of the pain.
“Holy Jesus.” Jose said. He stood fully and watched as the four human puppets stood to block any access to their master.
Sanders placed the redhead back into the triangle. He kept an eye on the door, but it looked like no one else wanted to try that entrance. Kneeling beside her, he drew the hidden knife from his belt buckle and began to chant.
Jose went through the break in the counter and tried to get a bead on Sanders. A skinny, blond man moved to block his way. “I’ll shoot you man, get out of my way.”
The customer stared vacantly, unimpressed. One of his arms snapped out faster than Jose could follow and caught him square in the chest. It felt like a crowbar hit his sternum. He went down coughing and the enslaved customer kneed him in the face.
Zach was coming up the alleyway and had already been in a rush because he was late to work. When he heard the crash from the front of the store he broke into a run. Everything blurred as he saw that the back door was open a crack. He came through it and through the kitchen door. Broken crockery, Matt on the floor, a busted in front door, all of these things assaulted him as he came into the back of the café proper. Then he saw Susanna on the floor and someone cutting open her clothing.
He launched himself on to the counter and a second jump carried him over the heads of the customers.
