Episode Six
Dateline: Basra Air Strip - Southern Iraq - Nov 6, 9:35 p.m.
Down through the clouds the jet descended, its inhabitants heading to a fate unknown. Soon the landing lights came into view and in the darkness the Lear Jet touched down on the rugged concrete, screeching to a halt in front of the same makeshift terminal left over from Gulf War II. The plane glided smoothly to a stop in exactly the same spot where, on the night of November 1st it had discharged Pat Gallagher into a world gone mad. Now Gallagher was back, and he'd brought the madness with him.
There were the ever-present limos waiting for Edwin.
"Fenton, Marinko, Ah need ya now," snapped Blix, knocking on the cockpit door while Macelli and Vendhem both sporting hangovers, lumbered down the steps to the first limo carting off suitcases and vestment bags with Ans and Soto's help in placing them in the spacious trunk.
"Yes, sir," Derrick Fenton responded, with Marinko behind him.
"There's an old truck parked over there by the hangar," Blix indicated. "Soto will be bringin' the driver to the base of the stairs. Ah want ya and what's his face heah -"
"Marinko, sir." Ogidi reminded him.
"Yeah, whatever. Just bring the three prisoners in the back down the stairs. Leave their hands and arms securely bound, only undo their feet so they can walk. If they talk, pop 'em a good one to remind 'em whose in charge. Ya think ya can do that, pahdnuhs?"
"Yes, sir." Fenton snapped to attention.
"Good, then git," Blix cracked.
With Marinko and Fenton heading to gather the three prisoners still trussed up inside the cabin, Blix hurried down the steps to the driver's side of the limo. He spoke briefly but sharply to the driver. It didn't matter if the Iraqi man behind the wheel thought Edwin was strange, eccentric or bizarre. The wad of money Blix put into his hands as payment for services rendered made all the difference in the world. Blix could be crazier than the Mad Hatter or a crazed Shiite, but the driver of the limo didn't care. It was more than enough money to feed his family for a year. He'd do what he was told, and keep his mouth shut.
Soon an old Soviet convoy truck rumbled to a halt at the base of the ramp as first Corrie, then Niki and finally Pat appeared at the door, shoved forward roughly by Fenton and Marinko. Waiting at the bottom with Blix was none other than Colonel Juri Hudec who had hunted Niki down to no avail when Niki escaped by a whisker in the belly of the coffin.
"You know where to take 'em, Juri," Blix instructed. "Do it."
"I see you have the Greek. He is mine. Give him to me," demanded Hudec.
"Not yet, Juri, but soon."
Hudec caught the drift and, with Fenton and Marinko's help they shoved the three into the back of the truck roughly, making sure their ropes were tight. The Legion indeed had the upper hand as Hudec jumped into the driver's seat of the rig, Fenton in the passenger's seat while Marinko was ushered to the limo to go with Vendhem and Macelli. The chubby Italian eyed the co-pilot shrewdly. Something familiar about that face, thought Antonio. But he couldn't put his finger on it as Ans drove off towards the palatial palace on the outskirts of New Nasiriyah. Blix and Soto would join them later. First Blix had some preparations to do at the Field of Death.
A few minutes after the first limo had left, the truck pulled out into the dusty climes, followed by the second limo with Blix on board. It stayed back a good distance.
Within an hour Hudec passed unchecked to the Field of Death. Blix was setting the stage for the Master's entrance, even to the point of providing an audience to witness the arrival.
The truck pulled to a halt at the first security check point. In the eerie darkness the place was nothing more than a deserted field which stank of death and destruction. The limo pulled up to the side as the guard sought to question Hudec.
"State your purpose here," demanded the guard. "Your papers?"
The tinted window lowered and Edwin hollered. "Turn around."
The guard spun and looked squarely into the barrel of Hudec's gun. Blam. He fired pointblank into the guard's face. There was a horrible scream, and Fenton quickly turned his head so he wouldn't be sick as the guard's face exploded in a bloody mess that splattered the side of the truck and turned the dust crimson.
"Drive on," Blix ordered and Hudec's foot soon found the accelerator, shifting into second as he spun out of there.
In the bed of the truck the shot had echoed with all the percussion of a sub-woofer at ground zero. Corrie sat frozen. Beside her was Pat who couldn't even put his arms around her for comfort. He cursed Blix again as the pain in his jaw seared through to the brain. Despite the intense suffering, he hoped with all his heart to have a chance to fight it out mano-a-mano with Blix.
As the entourage approached the second check point, they discovered it abandoned except for one guard. Most likely the other guards were out partying or screwing around, was the consensus as the poor wretch met the same fate the first guard did. Fenton, knowing what was coming, looked the other way when Hudec fired again. Blix motioned the truck to keep on going.
As the truck rumbled forward Derrick Fenton started to wish to God he'd never been born to see these things...and having no courage whatsoever to stop them.
Several more miles of rutted road found the truck and limo descending into the open pit where the massive circular stage had stood so majestically a week ago. Now there was nothing left now except the high rise of ground covered with ashes. But it was sufficient.
"Get 'em out of the truck," Blix shouted to Hudec. "Bring 'em around to the front." The ghostly glow of headlights against the evening fog mixing with the stirred up ashes and dust from the traffic, cast a surreal nightmarish scene as Pat, Niki and Corrie were dragged into the light and pushed down on the ground.
With the shots that had been fired echoing in their memories, the three resisters were relieved to be released from their cargo cage. Until they saw their destination. Even Corrie recognized it. It was like no other place on the face of the earth. Its odor unmistakable. Its utter devastation portending the aura of evil that permeated this place.
Hudec prodded them forward to stand in the glare of the headlights as Blix bellowed out: "Ah've brung y'all heah to await the Master," he informed them haughtily. "See..." and he pointed a short distance away to a spot directly beneath the center of the hill where a post had been left standing in the ground at the far end of the light. "Take 'em to the post, Juri. Fenton, help him tie 'em up."
They complied, mostly out of fear for their lives as they were herded forward with Blix wielding his Beretta 92FS, the barrel glistening in the headlights. "Y'all see to it that all three are securely tied to the post. Ah want their feet bound as well, good and tight."
Fenton bent to his task. His face was wet with perspiration. He wanted to do the right thing, but Blix's eyes were everywhere. There seemed no chance to leave the bonds loose, to tie a knot carelessly. Blix or that maniac Hudec would kill him instantly. And the last thing Fenton wanted was to die.
"Father, forgive them," Niki uttered, looking up at Fenton, "for they know not what they do."
Derrick Fenton felt a lump in his throat as the priest's words hit a soft spot in his heart. The pilot gazed into the face of Corrie, Gallagher and finally Andriopoulos and realized there was no malice in their hearts for him. They realized too well the predicament he was in. Maybe, Fenton thought, if the circumstances in their individual cases were different, they, too, would have fought for survival as Fenton did.
He finished binding Pat, and then tied Corrie while Hudec pulled the hemp tight on Niki's wrists. "It's done, sir," Fenton announced. "You want to check the ropes?"
Blix came over to do just that, which gave Corrie a chance to chide him further. "What's the matter, Blix? Can't find good help anymore? Can't trust anyone can you? I'd say that's the Master's problem, too. Tough to find loyal followers who'll work themselves to the bone and get nothing in return. Ah, whatever happened to the good old days."
"Yeah, an honest day's work," Pat teamed up with Corrie, "You wouldn't know what that is, butt-head."
Blix deliberately tightened the ropes around Corrie's wrists. "How 'bout a little more pain, bitch," Blix drawled and with tremendous force snapped her arm, deliberately fracturing the bone at the joint.. Corrie moaned, biting her lip. The pain was excruciating as her left arm hung limp.
"There. That should see ya through til dawn," Blix gloated. "After that, ya can take all the pain ya want with ya ta hell."
"No thanks, " she managed to say through clenched teeth, the pain becoming almost unbearable. "I prefer to travel light. I'll leave the pain behind for you, Blix. It's the least I can do."
"Let's go," Edwin said, for some reason wanting to get away from Corrie as fast as he could. He didn't like her gamesmanship. "Ah'll return in the mornin' with Vendhem, Macelli and the others. Together y'all watch Christianity die and our Master rise at last from the ashes. You might wish to keep that thought in mind as ya wait out the night. Yer last night, "he added gleefully, sadistically looking directly at Corrie while addressing the others. "Oh, by the way, since misery loves company, Missy, it may ease the pain to know Ms. Morelli heah vowed she'd see me dead. The last time Ah looked in a mirror, and as you can see now...A'hm quite alive. You have all failed. How does that make you feel??" he chided.
"It only grieves us more," Niki winced.
"Good," blared Blix. "The more grief, the better. Until mornin'...sleep well. It shall be yer last sunrise. It shall be Christianity's last sunrise. By sunset tomorrow the Basilisk shall rule...forever!"
"Like hell it will!" Pat cursed at Blix.
Hudec retaliated for Blix, ramming his fist into Pat's other jaw - the good jaw. Then Juri turned to Niki. "Finally, Greek, you will not elude us this time." Wielding his knife, he gestured by Niki's throat. "Do you know what it is like to be sliced here, and here, and here? You die slowly, wretched, wreaking pain where you will beg me to shoot you. But I will. No, I will watch you die a slow, miserable death."
"Time's wastin'," Blix yelled after Hudec. "Let's git goin'."
Reluctantly Hudec shot Niki a menacing glance and spit in his face, then swung around and eyed Corrie. Her eyes met his menacing, blood shot pupils. The pain for Corrie was excruciating and she was helpless as his leering look searched her body. She knew it was fruitless to fight intelligence with this creature for any intellect was noticeably missing. She said a silent prayer as Hudec drew closer, lechery and lust on his mind, but thankfully for Corrie Blix would have none of that until his mission was accomplished.
Sharply he rebuked the Colonel. "Ah told ya, Colonel, enough! Ah don't want spoiled goods for tomorrow mornin', ya heah?"
Hudec and Fenton returned to the truck and Blix ordered the limo to take the lead. As they retraced the path the driver of the limo deliberately ignored the shattered remains of the second guard who lay a few feet away. It wasn't any of his business anyway he rationalized as he drove on.
Presently, the headlights of the truck bobbed along in the darkness and it pulled out onto the main road behind the limo, continuing its course. After three miles, the limo slowed to a stop and Hudec brought the lumbering rig to a halt. As the driver of the limo watched in his rear-view mirror, Blix called Hudec and Fenton forward. Hudec jumped from the cab and started forward when he realized he had left his rifle in the truck. It was too late. Blix held the Beretta 92FS in his cold hands.
Derrick Fenton also knew the inevitable. The old guy wasn't going to show any mercy. His only chance was to run. The pilot took off into the darkness, stumbling and racing over the rocks and debris. Hudec tried to reason. That was useless as shots rang out in the stale night air. The velocity of the bullet carried through the muscles and lung tissue of the Colonel and directly into his heart. He had time for one scream of agony and then he toppled forward on the road, blood pouring from his mouth.
The echo of Hudec's death cry rattled in Fenton's ears as he kept running, sweating profusely. Shots zinged past him as he dropped to the ground in the darkness, crawling through the muck to wherever he could to escape the demon to whom he'd almost sold his soul. Blix emptied his ammo, and then could be heard some profanities and Blix returned to the limo. From his low bunker position 150 feet away in the darkness he could see the headlights and account for all persons. That was a consoling thought, the only consoling thought for Derrick Fenton this night. A few minutes and the driver of the limo was ordered out of the driver's seat and marched to the truck where Blix ordered him to drive the truck off the road into the ditch. Hey, if Blix was paying for it, the driver would do anything.
Another minute and an explosion mushroomed into the sky, lighting up the whole field. Fenton ducked lower as he could see Blix scanning the area still in hopes of eliminating his pilot as the driver returned to the limo. Thankfully the flames died down and the smoldering caused darkness in the area once again. Blix's former pilot breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Blix get in the limo and head off.
Fenton didn't know it, but Blix's destination was his palatial home on the outskirts of Nasiriyah where Lords Vendhem and Macelli, already there, awaited his arrival.
Once the car was out of sight, Fenton sat up, brushed himself off and stood up to stretch. He hated being here on this godforsaken Field of Death, but at least he was still alive. That sure beat the alternative.
Next: Part VI - The Unveiling SIXTEENTH CHAPTER - Episode Seven
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