Chapter 6

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to life taking the form of a readiness to die."

-G.K. Chesterton

3:15 pm

The door shuddered and the wooden chair that Lola had used to brace it closed went flying into a pile of boxes. Voices from the other side screamed and cursed her name as they relentlessly pounded on the locked door. It wouldn't be much longer now. Any second that door would burst open and whoever was on the other side would come barreling in. They would be on top of her before she had a chance to run. Then they would drag her kicking and screaming back down to the cells or off to some worse fate that she couldn't imagine.

Another blow knocked a panel loose on the door and an arm snaked through the hole. It failed left and right, reaching for the doorknob.

This is it, Lola kept thinking to herself. No where to run, no where to hide. The helplessness of her situation nagged at her mind. Out of desperation she began tearing through the storage boxes around her, searching for a weapon. When she pushed aside one of the boxes she noticed a large, round metal dish set into the floor.

"Sewer hole?" She said to herself as she stared at the words stamped into the cover. She grabbed the small hand-holds of the cover and tried to lift it up as the door was almost cut into as an axe slammed into it.

Words like grunts flowed from the other side as her pursuers closed in on her.

"Come on!" Lola breathed as she managed to lift the sewer cover and slide it aside, straining all the strength that she could muster. The foul smell that rose up from the black deeps beneath her was more than enough to make her nose crinkle.

Lola covered her mouth with her hands once she had moved to cover enough for her to slip through. "Dear god..., and I've got to jump into that?!" She muttered as the door shuddered under another blow from the axe. This time it was split almost into and she could see shadowy shapes on the other side.

The argument was made up in Lola's mind as she slide herself down into the murky depths just as the door exploded open in a hail of wooden shards. Lola landed in polluted water as people poured into the room above her. She slipped on a handrail and landed face first in the terrible water. She coughed and spurted, but she knew that she couldn't stay still. Already she could hear them above her, noticing the opened sewer cover. No matter how disgusting it was, now was no time to worry about it.

Lola stumbled to her feet, still coughing, and dashed down the dark passageway in front of her. She could barely see through the darkness. The only light that illuminated the tunnel was coming from the cover that she had removed. Twice she lost her footing because it was getting to dark and fell into the water. Scratching her knees and elbows on the hard concrete walls. Every time she stopped, she could her footsteps splashing her way. She knew they were close, but it was so dark that she couldn't see anything. Only her the footsteps closing in on her.

She began a frantic surge of speed. Desperate to get away, Lola almost didn't see the curve in the tunnel. She ran straight into the wall, slamming her forehead against the hard brick. The impact not only dazed and knocked the wind out of her, but also sent her skidding into the ankle deep water.

At first Lola was so stunned that she could hardly move. She just lay on her back in the freezing water. After a few moments she managed to stumble to her knees, just as two large men came up behind her in the tunnel.

Both of them probably smelled more horrible than the sewer. Each had a handgun with a small flashlight mounted on the barrel and a stun baton slung on their belts.

Lola backed herself up to the wall that she had ran into. It was funny, from the sounds she could have sworn that there were more than just two chasing her. Though, the way her vision was dancing around, there might has well been four standing in front of her.

"There she is." One of them called. "Thought you'd give us a run for our nuyen, heh? Now if it t'was up to me, I'd off you right here. Thing is, I can't do that. Dervish has something planned for you. So I don't think he would be to happy to have you returned all full of holes and such." He unhooked the stun baton from his belt. "In that case, we'll be handling this the hold fashion way." He grinned wildly as he lite the end of the baton and made a jab for Lola.

The other man immediately shuddered as his partner pulled his stun baton. "You fool! Have you gone mad?"

Lola couldn't understand at first. What's he talking about?

"Don't use that baton here!"

"Why the frag not?" He scolded as he charged Lola.

"Because we're all standing in water!"

Lola's eyes flashed as the thought dawned on her. Water! And that baton uses electricity!. Instead of breaking into a panic at what might happen, Lola went into action. She jumped up and grabbed a pipe that was running along the ceiling. She then swung her legs up and slammed her foot into the man's noise.

He immediately blurted out a cry as there was a definite crack from the impact. He tumbled backwards into the water, triggering his baton. The second the baton hit the water, the whole tunnel lite up with a brilliant flash. Lola was almost blinded as the baton discharged through the water on the floor. The hair on her arms rose and a tingling ran through her fingers as she hanged onto the pipe.

The two mean screamed in agony as the electrical charge passed through the water. The collapsed into the filthy water. The effect the baton had on them weren't the same as a direct shock, but it would keep the two of them out for a precious few seconds. Just the time that Lola needed.

She dropped herself down to the floor, splattering water as she fell. The two men moaned at her feet. One of them was face down and didn't look like he was breathing. Lola wouldn't worry about it now. She headed off down the tunnel to the opening she came in at. Wondering around in the sewers would only get her lost. If she could just find her way into the house, she could waltz right out the front door.

3:20 pm

"At least it looks like a wizzer place to raise a family." Smiley scorned as Fulcrum shook his head. "Did you expect them to put a big sign on the door that says' Here we are! Come and arrest us! to Lone Star?"

The house that the group had been brought to was a far cry from the ruined remains of the store in Loveland. The building stood two floors tall with a contemporary red brick layering around white shudders. Sunlight found its way through the overcast to gleam off the shiny windows on the second floor. It looked like something straight out of the last century. A massive front porch dominated the part of the house facing the road. On the outside, though, the house didn't appear threatening at all. It didn't compare much to any of the other houses on the street. Most of them looked weather beaten. Only a few looked like people were still living in them.

Remy had Hamish to pull the van across the street. Hamish eventually parked in a house that looked abandoned. The van still had the "Frankie's Cable Repair Service" decal on the side. Hamish broke out his Condor drone once he had the van settled on the driveway where it would be blocked from sight be the empty house. Fulcrum projected himself into the astral. His comatose body sat with legs crossed in the back of the Bison.

Guido grunted and stuffed a Savalette Guardian into a shoulder holster. The troll begin shifting through a set of duffle bags until he came across one that was labeled Guido's Stuff. "Me, Guido, dink that dere be lots and lots of little heads to punch in dere. So, Guido dink that he need his woodsplitter." He gave a broken-toothed grin as he pulled a sinister looking axe from the bag. "Guido go chop-chop." He said, giving a few practice swings.

Smiley crouched as the troll swung the axe in a slow arch. "Watch it stupid! Before you take my head off."

"Guido make a smiley face?" The troll said moronically.

"That's enough you two." Remy snapped. "We got a job to do here. That doesn't include your ranting. Now suit up, we got five minutes."

"Oh I am suited up, fearless leader." Smiley said, propping up his Franchi assault shotgun. "Maybe we'll get to have some fun today, neh? Only thing I've had to look forward ta' is Loveland."

Shard shook her head at Smiley. The eccentric samurai was the same as ever.

"I'll give you something to look forward to. You can flatline this Dervish if your good." Remy groaned.

"Begging you pardon, mate." Hamish said as he removed the datacord from his jack. "But how are ye planning to take us in?"

Fulcrum came back to his senses and trotted a short distance to the front of the Bison.

"I'll let you know in a second, Ham." Remy settled himself into the passenger seat and turned his attention to Fulcrum. "What you find?"

"There's a mage inside. I don't know where, but the entire house is protected by a barrier. Bad kami is floating around this place." Fulcrum shrugged.

"Bad kami?" Smiley whined.

"Astral static, strong emotional acts have occurred here. There are also a few spirits around the grounds. About three of them. They appear like they are on guard in the astral, but I do not know how they will react to physical incidents. I could not penetrate the barrier without alerting the occupants to our presence. Nor could I locate Lola Domingo inside."

Remy nodded. "Okay, Hamish, what've you scanned?"

"Oh I seen a lot, boss." Hamish cleared his throat. "For starters," The dwarf pointed out the windshield "The top two windows up there on the second floor, well there's two wee lads up there. Both of them got some kind of large bang-bang. Probably a sporting rifle of some kind. There's also a back door to this place. Out where thers a small yard, but it all be fenced in. Not your regular country fence ta' boot. Chained linked with what looks like razor wire on top."

Remy nodded and reloaded his Predator II with an explosive clip.

"Wiz, so we're going in the back." Smiley said as he reached to open the door. "I always loved going in through the rear." He giggled carelessly.

Remy shook his head and motioned at Guido. The troll's massive hand clasped around Smiley's shoulder and pulled him back.

"We're not going in the back. We're taking the front door in."

Smiley shrugged off the troll's hand.

"What're you thinking, boss?"

"For one most places like this are always hit from the rear because to many dumb slots think the front security is to heavy. Some security systems are even keyed for it."

Hamish nodded. "Aye, so we set their focus on the back and we move in and hit them right in the guy."

"That's the idea, Hammie, think you can handle it?"

The dwarf rubbed his bearded chin with a stubby finger. "I do believe so. I need a little time to put some special boom-booms on a drone. After that, I'm all ready to go."

"What about the spirits?" Fulcrum asked.

"That's Shard's department." Remy smiled. "Can you put them out."

Shard shook her head. "I can do it, but we won't have any astral forces inside. I'll send them after the spirits."

"What about the two snipes on the second floor? You weren't planning on forgetting them, fearless leader?"

"No, I haven't forgotten them" Remy cupped his hands. "They're going to be a real frag to deal with. They'll have us in their sites before we can closer the distance to the front door. We can't line up a shot without them getting the drop on us."

Shard nodded in agreement.

"I'll take care of the snipers." Fulcrum said calmly. "As long as I can see them."

"Hamish," Remy said. "Give Fulcrum those thermo binoculars."

Guido grunted loudly. "Now we go smash things. Guido like that." The troll gave a broken-toothed grin. "Guido wuv smashing things."

3:30 pm

It had taken Lola longer that she thought to make her way out of the sewers and through the basement of this place. A few times she had gotten lost and ended back where she started, near the cells. Fortunately she didn't run into anyone. There were no guards or dogs to be seen. Lola caught a break when she found a stairway that lead up to the next floor. When she came to the top of the stairs, she found herself facing a long corridor that had a few doors on either side, and a large pair of heavy, wooden doors at the end.

Lola darted down the hallway, moving as fast as she dared to. Constantly concerned that she was making too much noise and fearing that she was giving herself away. When she came to a pair of large, oak doors, she stopped dead in her tracks. Something about the doors called at her. Lola didn't feel anything bad or dangerous about them. They were a far cry from the cell she had came from earlier. She placed the tips of her fingers up against the real wood. It felt rough, yet smooth to the touch.

With as much courage as she could muster, she turned the latch and opened the door. On the other side bright light beamed through large bay windows and blinded Lola's eyes. The ceiling rose twenty feet above her in a brilliant skylight. The skylight's stained glass was painted with various symbols and mythological figures. On the floor an elaborate circle was drawn in a blue chalk. Candles, bones, and strange statues dotted it. There was a balcony ten feet above Lola's head. On it massive bookcases could be seen containing scores of ancient, paper books.

"Welcome," A voice said from the bookcases. "I was beginning to think that you wouldn't be arriving. Now that you have......" There was a slight pause. "....I have something you will find most interesting in mind......."

3:35 pm

Outside the house, the rear fence burst into flames as drones dropped grenades and fired small arms. Two guards on the top floor quietly fell asleep. The front door shattered into splinters as a troll's axe buried itself into the weak wood.

The assault was on.....