Demon completed his quick check of Waters. “All right, boss. Time to check out of this dive hotel.”
Waters gave a sudden cough. “Zero out of five stars.” He inhaled with a gasp. “Do not recommend.” He exhaled, and a rattle accompanied the noise. “Roll me over.”
Without question, Demon leaned him on his side, just in time for Waters to heave violently. Other than a small spot of stomach bile, there was nothing to come up.
Demon put some water into a bottle cap and dribbled it onto Waters’ lips and into his mouth. “Try not to puke that up, yeah?”
His sharp inhales and exhales continued every few words. “Never was very good at following orders.”
“You really know how to pick your hellholes, you know that?” TB joked. “Just once, I want to haul your ass out of a five-star joint. This is some fucked-up shit in here.”
“Well, you know me. I had some vacation days to burn, and this was the closest place that accepted my hotel points.” Waters immediately started coughing violently, and bile and water came back up. Then he passed out again.
“Sounds like pneumonia. He’s never going to hold anything down. I need to IV him, stat. We gotta get him to the truck.”
TB hoisted Waters over his shoulders with barely a grunt, and Demon quickly repacked what he’d pulled from his bag. He double-checked his handgun, handed it to Ka-Bar, then proceeded down the passage back toward the crypt with his rifle in hand.
Grabbing Daleyza’s hand, Steel pulled her along with him and said, “Stay between me and Demon at all times,sí?TB’s going to have his hands full. If I have to drop back, Ka-Bar will stay with you, and the two of you keep going.”
They pushed through the crypts, through the baptism antechamber, and out into the church proper.
TB tried reaching out to Midas on the comms. “Midas, you copy?”
“Where the fuck have you been?”
“No time to chitchat. We’ve got two new bodies, both injured, one immobile. We’re pinned inside the church.”
“Well, we’ve all got our little problems, then, don’t we? We’re still pulling fire at the main entrance. You’re going to need to go back the way Steel and Daleyza came. Meet Medusa on the beach and head to the rendezvous point. She has new coordinates.”
The line of men and Daleyza made their way up the aisle and toward the door. When they arrived, they could hear people outside the doors.
“Sounds like we have immediate gunfire just outside,” Steel told him.
“Shit! Nemo! Gem! Any way you can draw those asshats away from the front of the church?”
“We’re trying, but they’re well covered, and they won’t move. It’s like they’re making their last stand, and these fuckers must be shitting ammo because they never run out.”
“How many are there?” Demon asked.
“Fourteen was my last count.”
TB looked at Steel. “We’re trapped in here if they can’t pick theseguys off. And if we open this door, we’ll either be flooded with soldiers, picked off, or both.”
“Where’s everybody else?” Steel shouted over the gunfire.
“Loki and Gilgamesh are picking off security one by one from the main entrance towers, but they’re finally running low on ammo. God disappeared into the third tower, and we haven’t heard from him since. Medusa’s been dealing with her own problem on the beach, but she’s your best bet at getting out of there. When Cerberus’ party favors went off, it created a blockade up front, which is why they have a group keeping you hemmed in. We’re either outside and can’t get in, or inside and can’t get out.”
He racked his brain to come up with their best contingency option.
Daleyza called out, “Nemo! Gem! Where are the men positioned in front of the church?”
“They’re in a relatively straight line, north to south, behind the short walls under the overhang.”
He watched her roll her bottom lip between her teeth. He could almost hear her brain running a hundred miles an hour. “Where are you located?”
“We’re on the third floor of the residence. Closest window. Angle is shite, but the best there is without being in the wide open,” the pixie told her.
She whirled around on Demon. “Give me your rifle.”
