Chapter 15-1
Mission Impossible
Part 2
Man, I hoped I didn't have to kill anyone because that really would make my day suck even more. Yet, I didn't know how any of us were going to come back from this one, not after seeing that short film and the video. Or that dead boy's head on my plate. It spoke loud and clear that if we even tried something, or made it look like we did, we all would be dead. I needed to have faith in Stringham and the plan that this guy was going down and he was going down hard. What was worse was that everyone was counting on me and Eli so they can do their jobs and bring down his people that are entrenched to capture and kill.
I was only glad that none of them knew what was outside their houses, none of them saw the film, none of them saw the video, but most of all … most of my friends except the Vincent's and those that were with me which was a very small portion didn't see the boy's head on my plate. It was an image I will never be able to get out of my head or the way he was killed right in front of us. They had their damn proof; they had everything they needed to say he was truly guilty, but he wouldn't spend one day in prison because tonight he would be dead.
Dad met me and Eli as we were about to board the chopper. He quickly took off my watch and put on another one on me. He placed another on Eli explaining the watch had a trigger that would go off and it would tell them we were in trouble and that it had a location device. Eli looked at me and I nodded, giving him time to realize that all this time, people knew where I was and him considering he was with me. It stated no one trusted me or him, but now our butts were in the fire.
Dad said. "Just in case they make you take them off," Placing a button size chip in each of our hands and said. "Drop these in the car and outside the house. You are being taken too, so we know where you are. If not, we must rely on Jeff, and the only one here that can see him and communicate with him is Stringham. Who everyone thinks has gone crazy, because he is talking to no one that we can see.
"I now know what it must have been like for you when people were staring at a crazy person. Except you weren't crazy, you just hadn't learned how to talk to him inside your mind. So, I am a little worried, actually, I am a lot worried because it if we lose you Stringham is going to go off the deep end and by then I will have killed him for letting you boys go into the beast's lair in the first place. Even if you are going to save those boys and their parents … your lives are not worth it. We can take down his people before he knows what has happened, but everyone else wants to save everyone. I may not like it and wish you two wouldn't go, but I cannot live another hour knowing if I held you back, I would be responsible for all those deaths.
"So, I am trusting you and Eli to do whatever is necessary and kill that son of a bitch and put his own deadhead on a plate for his friends to see it. I promised your mother, and I promised your grandmother that we wouldn't put you in danger where it could cost you your life. It looks like I am about to break that promise and I am going to spend the next few hours as family and friends on our knees praying that God and your friend Jeff will pull your bacon out of the fire one last time.
"Then when you come back to me; I am going to never let this happen ever again. Period; I don't care about the money; I don't care about anything about the world outside my walls. Not when I have to put my sons at risk like this. Now go before I can stop you." Dad quickly hugged us both and kissed us, taking our breath away, and turned around and walked back to the bunker.
The girls each took our hands as we climbed into the chopper. I said. "So much for a Cinderella wedding."
Rhoda said. "Oh, it was. Where else would you get to get married and then fight for your lives three hours later? Cinderella had it soft. She got her prince charming for doing nothing but losing a shoe. We girls got our prince Charming's that knows how to fight, and protect us from bad men, that rape and kill children. So, Jackie and I are more than satisfied, because we have boys that can kick some ass; instead of looking pretty for their pictures."
Eli said. "One problem with that; Eric's the only one that can kick that ass. I, on the other hand, have very little fighting skills compared to him. If you haven't noticed it in Gym class and during the library incident that he is a one-man fighting machine."
I took Eli's hand. "There are many ways of fighting a battle; hand to hand combat is only one of them. The other is being able to read a room and its people and then make an assessment on how to maintain it. You have the ability to make sure that people around you are doing what it takes to maintain the boundaries. So, we don't end up getting ourselves killed for not knowing the rules of the game. I have never prepared another person to be violated like you have, so I need to learn that quickly so I can do my job of keeping us alive when the fighting starts. We have three hours to do so and I have three hours where I need to get over the fact that not only am I going to force myself to rape someone for the first time, I need to know how to keep them calm and relaxed enough to keep us all alive while our teams locate us and take them down."
Eli said. "I can do that. Oh, God, may he forgive me, but I know how to do that. It starts by letting the person trust you enough so they know that it's ok when it will never be ok again. You can't count on not feeling anything. You must learn to control the pain, and the only way to do that is to let someone like me violate you repeatedly until you feel nothing but pleasure. Yet I don't know how to make the pleasure part happen. It's always been rough and very sexual. You will have to teach me how to take my time, so we are not rushing. We cannot afford to rush … not without knowing if our friends have neutralized the problems.
"Your friend Jeff is the person I am counting to give us an idea regarding on how things are going and when we need you to start kicking some ass. The worst thing about preparing new boys like the ones we will be preparing is doing it in front of the parents. The High Bishop lied; the parents of the boys will be inside the room watching helplessly as we prepare their boys. In most cases, we not only prepare the boys but their parents as well. So, we will have to earn their trust first, which is the hardest.
"Normally we have days, but tonight we only have a few short hours. I wish I knew where we were going so your friend could have a little look-see to see what we are facing, but it doesn't really matter because. If the High Bishop stays true to the form as he has been taught. He'll have their parents in the room and want them to participate. As I have said, it's a special moment. It may seem to you as raping and violating them. We view it as a coming-of-age test.
"The pain is trust, and the pain they will feel is real. You have experienced the pain of being prepared by Gloria, but you haven't been prepared to feel the emotion of pain the parents are going through as their child is screaming in mortal pain and fear. You haven't been prepared to let it happen or comfort the parents and the child that everything will be all right. There are no shots, no medicated lube or laxatives, so they do not feel the pain as you prepare them. The pain is life, and it is as you know life-changing experience; not only for the child, or the parents, but for you as well.
"It's not to be taken lightly. It should never be rushed, but the High Bishop is only doing it because he knows who you are. He knows that you have never been properly prepared. He knows that if you do it, he will have something over you for the rest of your life. It will be recorded, and it will be watched. He and his people will use it as leverage to get you to do the other things as they have done with me and my father … it's all about power and greed, to help further his cause. He wasn't lying when he said the money was going to help him reach his goal of joining the council of nine.
"It is his ticket in, then the next power play will be the next step where he becomes untouchable as one of the ten prophets, but to get there he needs money, he needs power using you and me and the people that he has gotten to get them to do these things knowing there is no way out. However, he must kill and sacrifice people to prove his worth to his peers. That's how he got the job in the first place. That's how my father got the job and the respect he needed to become the High Bishop.
"Yet it was also how he was going to lose his job because he was no longer a major player in the game, and he wanted out before they killed him. Stringham is right, taking him out now will cause the next person to rise. We don't know who that is, we haven't been in the position to play the game to know the players, but we cannot worry about that, because if we do not stop him from rising and being placed in the council of nine this is only the beginning. He will have to prove his self-worth to his new peers quickly and precisely or they will kill him for it, stating he was weak and unworthy to sit with them.
"What happened in Texas has opened the eyes that someone is seeking to take the next throne. It would have been better if it had never happened. It would have been better if my father died because it now opened the bid to the next person and there are now several vacancies open. So tonight, will also be a stepping stone. He is willing to sacrifice or clean-house to make that happen. He doesn't care about the men he has sent out to do his bidding.
"He only cares if they are successful. Those that aren't he is willing to get captured and killed so the next ones can rise; taking their place as promised. So, if you can communicate to Jeff in some form and help locate his lead men at each location without getting caught. Neutralize them all at the same time and take their place and wait until we are inside with the beast. He'll never know what's coming."
I linked with Jeff, asking him if he got that. I smiled and said. "Ok, what are we looking for?"
Eli gave me a heavy sigh and said. "A marking on the wrists and their forearms. Which would be impossible to see in the dark or while they are dressed as assassin guards."
I nodded said. "Ok impossible. I like it. Jeff likes the challenge, so show me what we are looking for."
Eli said. "I can't be certain because I have only seen it once, but resembles a five-pointed star with three rings around it. In the center of the star is an upside-down cross with a snake wrapped around it. Each point has smaller stars giving a rank to each person. You are looking for a needle in a haystack. You are looking for the ones with the most stars because those are the soldiers sent to kill and capture. The one with the third ring in around the star is inked in three colors, but I don't know the colors because I have never seen them. My father has because he is the one who has placed the circle in a special ritual.
"I have been told they cut all ties from this life, and I mean that literally. No family of any kind, nor do they have any friends other than in their circle. So, no one can betray them. We sometimes call them witches and warlocks, our battle soldiers. It is impossible to be seen when they are in combat. Using black magic and charms like a talisman to hide their true appearance, the one you met was a first-degree witch. There are five degrees and again each is more deadly than the other and harder to kill without a powerful counterbalance of white magic. To stop them is making them visible to the naked eye."
I said. "Ok, the challenge just became a little more impossible, but Jeff and I can do the impossible; providing we have something to help break the challenge into smaller pieces." I linked with Jeff, telling him that he needs to update Stringham and somehow work his magic in retrieving the information from Eli's father. Not a big deal, right? Noticing we had arrived at the destination as we were about to land the chopper, we had borrowed that had no military markings of any kind. Jeff came back by the time we had reached the lobby and hopped into the car that was waiting for us to take us to the Marriott Hotel.
I quickly told everyone, letting them know that everyone who'd previously fled the building had safely escaped. Except for my mother, and the Cranny's, and my Highland friends known as the three musketeers, and their families. Everyone else was either at the Army barracks or inside Stringham's fortified bunker, locked in nice and safe. The thought of those left behind—my family in Santaquin, Bishop Earl's family, my grandmother, brother, Ben, Heidi, Lori, and their parents—weighed heavily on me, especially those who didn't attend the wedding. Everyone else from Highland, including the Adams family, was sheltering in the dimly lit, damp bunker. The friends I had recently made but weren't close to … we're the ones in danger by association, and would be killed as collateral damage if anything goes wrong. It was mine and Eli's job to make sure that didn't happen.
The first casualties have already been taken care of in a way that made no sense. Jeff told me the ones who had participated in the robbery and the takeover at the reception hall had all died violent deaths by poisoning themselves. Once they had done their job by sending someone from their group to deliver the money they had fleeced from our wedding guests; and had taken off in a chopper before anyone could stop them. Yet Jeff was good. He was a better soldier than 100 good men because he could go anywhere and be unseen as he rode along and fiddled with the instruments, downing the chopper in some field not only killing the pilot but the bad men inside.
I could only guess how the news went over to the High Bishop knowing because of a pilot error that his chopper crashed. He couldn't blame the US Government; he could only blame the dead pilot and the chopper that had malfunctioned. The money had been retrieved, as the news reported the chopper had crashed because of a malfunction because of a gas leak that had caused the crash. The other piece of good news was the money he wasn't going to get from the ransom of our wedding guests.
By that time, he would be about ready to be taken down. He'll learn that a computer hacker has returned the funds to its owners, but for the moment they are only sitting in his account, doing nothing, but giving him the illusion that he was successful in becoming one of the richest and powerful men in the world. I can't wait to see the look on his face as he watches his well-thought-out plan cost him everything, including his life. Again, he won't see prison; he'll either take his own life or be captured and interrogated then killed; not in that order. Greed is his ticket, and it is about to be punched.