Redemption (The Alliance Series Book 1) (14 page)

              I could feel the weariness from the day’s activities and decided to get some rest. I made my way back to my room. I lay on the bed, thoughts jumbled in my head. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to fall asleep. I lay there for what may have been hours or just minutes. It's weird how time seems to lose all meaning when you are waiting for sleep to take you. Eventually, darkness took me as I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 13

Afghanistan, four years ago.

              "Adams, pay attention." Captain Crowley growled. "We can't afford any lollygagging on this operation. This is the real thing so get your head out of your ass."              

              He was a serious man, not prone to lollygagging of any sort. Average height, dark black hair cut short and dark skin. He wasn't an imposing figure really, but he had the presence of command, when he ordered something to get done it got done A.S.A.P.

              I put the notepad away. I was working on some ideas for a way to increase my energy levels. I had been sketching some things down that had just come to me. I had found a supplier of some power crystals I’d been looking for and had an idea on how to increase the amount of energy they could store.

              "This should be a pretty routine operation. We have a local family that Intel says have been holding information for the terrorist group that has been operating in this region. There is supposed to be a good chance that we might find recruitment names and numbers on equipment and locations of weapons stashes."

              "I also want everyone to be aware that we have a new engineer on this mission. First Lieutenant Blackcrow will be assigned to Adams. Adams he is your new battle buddy. You two need to get to know each other real quick. We move out in twenty, any questions?" Capt. Crowley finished.

              He looked around and finally settled on me.

              I guess he thought I was going to ask something that did not pertain to the mission at hand and tended to raise his blood pressure.

              Normally he'd be right. I was regarded as a wiseass and had a tendency to get on commanders nerves. I personally thought the stigma was unfair, it isn’t my fault if people can’t take a little jazz. I just happened to have already taken out my notepad and was finishing writing down a thought that had come to me.

              Lt. Blackcrow walked over to me and said. "Hey, I guess you and I will be working together?"

              I looked at him. He was kind of skinny at first glance. Tall and dark skinned. I could tell by his high cheekbones and slightly hawkish nose that he definitely had some Native American blood in him. His thick black hair done in a tight ponytail and small black feather stuck in it kind of helped tip me off also. Most military policy required short-cropped hair, but allow waivers in matters of religion and some cultural exceptions.

              "Why do I always get the new guys?" I asked more to myself.

              I swallowed a not so friendly greeting and

decided if I was going to be shackled with him, I would at least try to make it as painless as possible.

              "The name is Adams, John Adams. Please call me either John or Adams, I hate being referred to as a rank. What do you want me to call you?" I asked as I reached out my hand for a shake.

              He took it with more strength than I would have imagined. We looked at each other and I noticed that there was more to First Lt. Blackcrow than meets the eye. Call it intuition. My intuition and I are intimately acquainted, when it talks, I listen. I didn't know of anyone who had a talent in this unit, but sometimes those things lay dormant until the right situation presents itself.

              "Nathan's fine." He responded.

              I nodded in acknowledgement and said. "So, Nathan, how many ops have you been on? I imagine as an engineer, you wouldn't see much action. Aren't most engineers with the units making bridges over streams or turning pond water into potable?" I asked.

              Nathan looked at me with a small smile and said. “Not all engineers are created equal. This is my first op."

              Cocky, confident, I liked that. I looked a little closer at him, this being his first time out I would expect him to be a lot more agitated. Shaky hands, nervous movements, that sort of thing.

              Nope. He seemed as calm as he would have been sitting in a park watching the birds. I could respect that. Never let em see you sweat, I say.

              "Well, this one is supposed to be relatively easy, in and out. Let’s just hope it stays that way." I said.

              He nodded and sat down, pulled out his 9mm Beretta and began checking it over.

              I really hoped this thing went well. I was here because there was a pretty good chance it might not. No one except Crowley knew about my abilities. It was easier that way. Soldiers don’t tend to react well when they find out that magic is real and there is a wizard covering their backs. I've worked with this unit before and they have proven to be reliable in a pinch. We haven't run into anything weird yet, but if and or when the supernatural shit hits the fan, they'll probably be too freaked out to worry about the guy who shoots lightning bolts from his hand.

              "All right ladies, let's get ready to move." Crowley ordered.

              I closed my notebook. I noticed Nathan had been looking at my drawing.

              "Thinking of a new tattoo." I said offhandedly. It's easier to hide what I could do than try and have the conversation that magic is real and I was a wizard. For some reason, that didn't always go over to well.

              "Better than a tribal band I guess." Nathan responded.

              I smiled. I couldn't help it. I liked this guy. He nodded back and we got ready to move out.

              We left the small abandoned building that we had used as our prep site. We moved in a tight formation, using standard leapfrog tactics; we slowly made our way to the target house. Keeping our movements coordinated we easily traversed the quite village. It was odd that there were no people milling around. Usually there would be someone out getting water or washing clothes. That was one of the things that made these situations so dangerous, it wasn't always the objective that we had to worry about, a lot of times the neighbors were more of a threat. The terrorists didn’t wear uniforms, they blended in with the local population and it was hard to know if the guy going to get a coffee or the woman hanging her laundry wasn’t an enemy waiting for an opportunity to strike.

              I thought about the reports that prompted my involvement. Apparently, there was a new player in the local terrorist community. For the most part the fundamentalists in this area kept to themselves.

              They had their own laws and culture that they lived by and tended to keep things in house. They kept a sort of balance within their society.

              Recently, however, there had been evidence of a buildup of power here. The contacts that had fed us information came back with fantastical tales of beings with immense power involving themselves with the locals’ activities. More times than not it was a wild goose chase, faulty info gleamed from erratic accounts or scared informants.

              This one was at least credible enough to send me.

              We made it to the house where our reports said the information was being hidden.

              The Captain gave hand gestures, motioning for three soldiers to go around back to secure the rear exits, and for two on either side to secure the east and west walls. He then motioned for Nathan and me to go in the front, initiating the raid.

              Of course, I always had to go first.

              I wasn't going to make the new guy lead us in so I stepped up, with a strong kick broke the meager lock on the door, and entered with my .44 leading the way. I liked carrying the .44. It allowed me the ability to have a lot of firepower in the conventional sense. Still giving me the freedom to bring my main weapons to bear if need be.

              Nathan was right behind me, covering the areas I could not. We entered a square house with an open floor plan. A single large room made up the bulk of the house. Directly opposite the front door there was wooden door with a window in it leading into the back patio. On the left of the room, there was a small area in the far corner where an iron potbelly stove was set up.

              It was currently not in use.

              On the same side but closer to the front was the kitchen area. There was a sink, a small cabinet and countertop. Maybe four feet of cabinet space all together on one wall with an ivory refrigerator in the corner closest to the door.

              In these areas, meals were cooked and the house heat was generated on the same stove. To the right of the living room was an open door frame with a beaded curtain. I quickly checked all the corners and made sure there was no threat in the living room/kitchen as I went and cleared the only bedroom and adjoining bathroom.

              I came back in to the main room while Nathan covered me. It was one of the smoothest entries and clearing of a target’s location I had ever done. That didn't bode well. Usually when things seem too good to be true they usually are. I raised my voice and said, "Clear!"

              The captain came in and began going through drawers and potential hiding places for valuable information. Nathan and I stood over him, keeping watch. You could never be too cautious, someone always kept watch. There sometimes were surprisingly well-hidden hidey-holes from which someone could ambush us when we were distracted looking for information.

              I heard a noise that seemed to come from outside the house. It may have even originated from outside the village. It was similar to the sound a hawk makes, only deeper and made the hairs on my arms stand on end. I tensed up, feeling as though things might get complicated.

              I noticed Nathan was looking at me, apparently, he had heard it also. There were sounds outside, thumps that ended with what I would have guessed were bodies falling to the ground.

              They happened to come from the same locations that the soldiers were keeping secure. I saw the three men at the back of the house turn, one towards one end of the house the other turned the opposite way. They raised their M-14’s in a standing shooters stance, preparing for something. The third man began to reach out and grab for the back door when I saw a movement from the left side of the house racing past the backdoor window and taking all three men with it out of sight to the right of the house.

              I immediately looked at the captain and said. "We definitely have something from the dark side out there. I can't tell what it was but it was fast and strong." I looked at Nathan and he seemed to appear even calmer than he did earlier, if that was possible.

              The captain turned at me and said "What is it Adams? Can you take it?"
              "I don't know, hell, I never even got a look at it, I think it took out all our men." I answered.

              There was a much louder squall from right outside and the backdoor along with half of the back wall imploded as if an eighteen-wheeler had hit it doing fifty miles per hour.

              During the impact, I had ducked behind the couch and raised my head to see what the hell had happened.

              There, amidst the dust and falling debris was a silhouette of a man. At least I would have thought it was a man from its proportions, as the dust settled I could tell that his body was composed of rock the same color as the sands outside in the desert. His face was an approximation of what a man looks like, two eyes, a nose, mouth and ears. Only it was as if it had been chiseled from the rock with bad tools.

              Deep within its eye sockets there was a fire burning. Two flames the color of deepest crimson raged within their depths. 

              Its frame was rather average in height and width. You got the sense that it could as easily crush your spine as you would an aluminum can, despite its average build.

              Crowley rose up from where he had been knocked on his back and began firing his machine gun from about five feet.

              The Jinn didn't like being shot at.

              He answered by engulfing his entire body in smokeless flame and took one step towards the Captain, seized Crowley by the neck and threw him into the opposite wall.

              Crowley landed with his head at an awkward angle, dead.

              The Jinn, creature from Middle Eastern folklore, has been many things. Some have known them as genies, others as spirits. The reality is that they are all kinds of bad. They are creatures of the Otherworld, ancient and powerful. The most reputable claims are that they were summoned ages ago, by the mystics of this region and never sent back. Now they live in our world, spending centuries sleeping in the desert’s caves only to appear periodically, seeming to enjoy meddling in the affairs of men. They are drawn to regions that are beginning to reject the more radical elements of their culture. The Jinns help bring them back to the path of chaos.