INFERNO (New Perdition's Gate Omnibus Edition) Read online

  “Yes, John, that’s correct. Another unsuccessful attack has been mounted against these two problematic religious leaders. For two years now these two enigmatic terrorists have been foretelling great plagues that have, supposedly, come from God at their word including: droughts, famine, fire and the like. Scientists have been laboring to discover the true nature of their power, but have been hampered by the attacks of these men toward all who approach who aren’t their followers. Today’s latest attempt to forcibly remove these men, by the military, was met with utter chaos as weapons failed to fire when aimed at the men. An apparent equipment mishap caused the Alliance soldiers to burst into flames. Once again, the entire platoon of soldiers was killed in the attempt.

  “High Representative candidate, Oliver Theed, has pledged more troops to the area to deal with this problem. Secretary General Theed is expected to finish his term in December with his uncontested appointment to the office of High Representative of the New Eden Alliance. The head of the Council for World Unity and Faith, Jacob Stein, claims that these men, “are nothing more than spiritual charlatans, attempting to deceive the world, by their pseudo-miracles, into believing that their so-called God is going to destroy the world, when nothing could be further from the truth.”

  “In other news, here in Jerusalem, the second meteor fragment, struck yesterday by Russian ICBM’s, has caused unexpected problems after being pulverized by the warheads. The resulting massive debris cloud has begun to spread ash over North Africa and the Middle Eastern countries that lie east of Israel, and is presently threatening India and Pakistan. The cloud is not dissipating as scientists originally predicted. The fresh water lakes and rivers in these countries are being turned blood red and radioactive due to the fallout associated with the cloud. At present, scientists estimate the cloud could, with favorable wind currents prevailing, circumvent the globe before dissipating completely. We’ll have more news after messages from our sponsors.”

  Jason watched the Café Shalom from across the crowded street, in the city of Jerusalem. He and his team had ridden up to the outskirts of the city on the camels generously provided by the men who had thought to take them prisoners.

  They had twenty minutes before the meeting was supposed to take place. Jason and the other team members remained veiled with perceptor disguises. He had them stationed in places where they could easily access the Café from either direction up and down the street. If either the mole or Solomon Gauge tried to escape, one of his men would take them down personally. Rogue finished their setup in the confiscated apartment three stories up.

  They had secured the apartment from its occupant several hours earlier. Upon knocking on the door and inquiring about a local survey, Jason had moved in on the middle-aged Israeli man and subdued him. He had been tranquilized and never saw the others. If they allowed him to live, it would only be after the administration of a drug, called Solothol, which had the ability to wipe memories for days at a time.

  Jason walked across the busy street to the Café, bypassing the outdoor tables loosely organized outside of the storefront. He didn’t see Gauge anywhere and proceeded inside. There were many people seated in the Café eating sandwiches, salads and similar menu items, but none of them were Gauge. There was no picture provided to his team for the mole, but Gauge’s image had been burned into Jason’s photographic memory.

  Whoever sat with Solomon Gauge had to be the mole and eliminated along with the preacher. Jason approached the counter where a weather beaten Israeli woman took his order for a chocolate milkshake. He glanced around the restaurant while waiting for the dessert.

  By the time the cool treat arrived and was paid for, Jason had still not spotted Solomon Gauge. At 3:54pm Jason took his shake, heading back outside. He waited for an opening in the traffic then made his way back across the street to the apartment building. By 3:58pm, Jason had ascended to the third floor of the apartment building with the majority of the milkshake already gone.

  Jason entered the room in the apartment with the window facing the Café Shalom below. Rogue stood behind a rifle turret—one of two set up at the window. Rogue would take down the preacher, Solomon Gauge, and Jason would eliminate the mole.

  “I’ve got Gauge.” Rogue remained calm as he targeted the preacher.

  Jason smiled as he approached the other turret. “Good, now we just need our rodent.” He called to the others on the street through his comm-link. “Wraith, Hatter, we’ve got Gauge sighted. Remain in position until further notice.”

  Jason mounted the other gun next to Rogue. He peered through the sight and found Solomon Gauge sitting inconspicuously at one of the outdoor tables of the Café. The man sipped on a bottled beverage from the restaurant. A plate of food sat on the table before him.

  Had they not been looking for him, Gauge never would have stood out. His shaved head and graying goatee were his only distinguishing characteristics.

  “Where’s our mole?” Rogue maintained his bead on Gauge.

  “I don’t know.” Jason looked away from his gun sight, scanning the street for anyone suspicious. The street remained busy with people having left their day jobs. They now made rounds to pick up items for dinner, or just make the trip home.

  A large two-tiered bus lumbered down the road, obscuring their view for a moment as it passed before the Café. The bus slowed and came to a halt thirty yards away at the bus stop.

  People stood assembled under a small canopied shelter that provided minimal relief from bad weather when necessary. Jason watched the bus as it stopped and passengers exited. He wondered if the mole might be arriving on it.

  Jason wanted to know who would make the bold move to act against Babylon from within and provide secret information to the leader of an infamous religious terror cult like the Christians. It was amazing their groups were still able to survive at all after the monstrous attacks they had carried out several years ago all over the world.

  Rogue spoke up. “I think we’ve got our mole.”

  Jason instantly snapped back to his gun sight and zeroed in on the table where Solomon Gauge was sitting. Another person, of smaller build, had seated themselves at the table. To Jason’s disappointment, the mole wore a black hooded jacket and sunglasses.

  Jason placed the infrared laser sight on the mole’s back, right between the shoulder blades. The shot wasn’t ideal, but he and Rogue were using acid rain capsules with just enough explosive power to shatter the ribcage from within and eviscerate every major organ in the torso. With any decent shot, the victim would buckle and land on the ground instantly dead from vicious internal bleeding.

  The mole’s feminine hand reached out across the table with something under her outstretched palm, sliding it toward Solomon Gauge’s waiting hand.

  Jason perked up. “That’s it. She’s giving him a disc.” Something caught Jason’s eyes as he watched the slick exchange between their hands on the table. A glimmer of light flashed back at him through the gun sight. He tapped the magnification switch on the laser sight and it zoomed in on the object.

  It was a ring on the mole’s left hand. Jason thought momentarily about the mole having a husband somewhere then dismissed it—the woman had brought this action upon herself by betraying Babylon.

  Jason spoke to Rogue in the room and through his comm-link to the rest of the team. “Let’s do it. Hatter and Wraith, you two retrieve the disc from Gauge’s body once he’s down.”

  Jason put his index finger to the trigger and prepared to squeeze off a perfectly placed shot through the mole’s back. A horrendous BOOM sounded down on the street as the two tiered bus, sitting at the stop, exploded. The structure blew outward like a blossoming flower, spraying shrapnel in every direction.

  Jason’s ears rang, and his head pounded. He picked himself up and saw Rogue lying on the floor covered in glass fragments from their shattered window. Rogue groaned and tried to get up. Jason quickly got to the window to see what had happened.

  The bus down the street s
at engulfed in flame with a plume of black smoke spiraling skyward from the wreckage. The streets were filled with shredded metal and glass. The bomb had shattered every window in sight.

  Bloody, burnt bodies lay everywhere around the bus and on the sidewalks up and down the street. The Café’s outdoor eating area was in shambles. Solomon Gauge and the mole were no longer seated there.

  Then Jason spotted Solomon crouched behind an overturned table. He appeared to plead with someone else behind another overturned table—it had to be the mole.

  She wasn’t visible at all. Rogue sat up with glass cuts bleeding across his face and head. Jason yelled into the comm-link. “Hatter, Wraith, are you two all right?”

  Hatter replied. “I’m good, boss, just shaken up from that blast. What happened? My ears are still ringing!”

  “I don’t know. It looks like a terrorist hit, maybe.”

  Wraith replied. “I’m here. I’m all right.”

  “Move in before those two escape…Gauge is bolting!” Jason watched the preacher roll fast and jump through the shattered storefront out of sight. “Hatter, Gauge is going through the restaurant. Stop him and retrieve that disc!”

  “I’m on it, boss!”

  “Wraith, move in on the mole. She’s wearing a black, hooded jacket.”

  “I’ll gut the little piggy.”

  Jason saw a flash of motion. The mole stood up from behind the table, preparing to run amid the chaos. Bomb victims screamed, and distant police sirens wailed.

  Jason jumped back behind his gun sight, determined to get the shot on this traitor. He peered through the sight and found the woman. Her sunglasses had fallen. She had several glass cuts trickling blood down her face from her forehead. Her blonde hair fell around her shoulders, unhindered by the black hood she had been wearing before.

  Jason thought his heart had stopped beating in his chest. He felt faint. Sarah Cross stood in the crosshairs of his sniper rifle. She had betrayed Babylon.

  His finger sprang out of the trigger guard, fearing he might squeeze off the shot accidentally. This, apparently, was the business trip she had referred to when holding her answer to his proposal. This had to be the reason another handler had assigned him to this mission.

  Then Jason remembered Wraith! He would be on his way to intercept Sarah and kill her before she could escape. Sarah limped down the street away from the cafe. Jason looked for Wraith in the street, but in the chaos of frantic bomb victims and those trying to help them, he could not find him. “Wraith, stop! Do not intercept the mole—repeat—do not intercept the mole!” No Answer.

  Jason bolted for the apartment door, leaving a half conscious Rogue moaning on the floor. He hit the steps like a madman, taking each flight of stairs in great leaps. Jason almost fell when he landed the last time. He ran frantically through the building’s front door where a large pane of glass had once been.

  Sarah stammered against a hip wound. It might have been a piece of shrapnel, but she did not have time to examine it. The bombing wasn’t an uncommon occurrence in Jerusalem, with all of the interracial hatred between the Arabs and Israelis, but this seemed too coincidental. Sarah couldn’t help but wonder if it was an attempt by Babylon on her life.

  She strained against the hip wound, trying to move quickly through the crowd. People screamed and ran past her. Chaos reigned in the streets. A wounded woman brushed past her. She almost fell then recovered. Someone, a man, came up to her. She heard his deep voice in her ear. “Oliver Theed sends his regards, traitor.”

  Something pierced through her, taking her breath, then the man was gone. Sarah tried to recover her breath as she collapsed to the sidewalk and lay there. Her hands and feet began to tingle. Numbness washed over her. She felt dizzy. She gasped, trying to get air into her lungs, but she suddenly felt so tired.

  All she could think of was Jason sitting at their favorite restaurant, looking disappointed when she had postponed her answer to his proposal. Now, he would never know her answer.

  When Jason stumbled into the street, he had to wade through bloody bodies and debris scattered from the explosion. People screamed and cried, some holding loved ones who had not survived. Jason felt some of that same anguish creeping into his soul as he sprinted, trying to get to Sarah.

  His heart sank when he saw her lying across the street on the sidewalk. When he got to her, he found her staring up at the smoke-filled sky, gasping as blood poured from a deep wound just below her sternum. Blood seeped from an exit wound on Sarah’s back as well. Jason knew the sort of weapon that had been used to do it—a blade just like his Stella.

  Sarah, realizing someone was with her, looked into Jason’s eyes and recognized him. She looked astonished when she saw him. Her eyes darted across his torso, taking in his agent’s combat uniform—she knew it well.

  “Oh, Jason.” She started to cry. “Who are you?”

  “Nightstalker, Sarah. I never told you the truth…”

  Her wonder faded to understanding, and she smiled. “And I thought I was keeping a secret from you.” The strength in her voice faded.

  Tears fell across his cheeks.

  “Jason?” Sarah whispered. “My answer was going to be yes…”

  Her strength failed as she succumbed to death peacefully in his arms. He knelt in a pool of her blood with his face buried in her neck, sobbing. It was the first time he remembered crying for anyone.

  Mad Hatter crept through back alleyways trying desperately to get to the back of the Café Shalom. Solomon Gauge would have to come this way to get out. There was no other outlet. The bus bombing might have been another episode in the long standing Arab-Israeli conflict.

  The bomb felt like it might have burst his eardrums. Blood trailed from one of his ears and from his nose, but it was slowing quickly. Hatter’s head pounded as he ran. He needed a rest to get his bearings, but Gauge couldn’t be allowed to escape with the data disc he’d been give by the mole.

  Hatter spotted the small sign, indicating the Café’s rear door and loading platform. He still wore his perceptor disguise as a young Jewish man in street clothes. Hatter pulled his capsule gun and crept cautiously toward the rear of the restaurant, ready for anything.

  He noticed a flicker of movement to his left. Hatter dodged back just in time to avoid getting smashed in the side of the head by a heavy boot. The attacker corrected the assault and landed his foot on Hatter’s capsule gun instead. The weapon flew out of his hand and skittered across the ground under one of the dumpsters in the alley.

  The attacker landed in front of Hatter and tried several hand to hand moves. Hatter countered them, but took note of the man’s obvious skill. His opponent was none other than Solomon Gauge.

  Considering that Hatter and the other members of their team were all experts in the elite forms of Krav Maga, he seriously doubted Gauge was just a preacher.

  Hatter pulled his combat knife from its sheath on his right leg and charged at Gauge. It was a classic move—get in close in a tackle with the blade between yourself and the victim’s body. A lot of damage could be done, leaving no way to defend against it.

  But as Hatter rushed Gauge, the preacher surprised him by locking his weapon hand in between his own while dropping and sweeping the back of Hatter’s right leg with the top of his foot. The blade slammed against the concrete road with Hatter’s thinly gloved fingers still gripping it. Hatter tried to roll out, but Gauge still controlled his weapon hand.

  The preacher rolled up on top of Hatter’s back, and smashed his face into the concrete from behind. Hatter forced himself to buck against the weight of Gauge’s approximately two hundred pounds. He heard something clatter to the ground in front of his face—it was the disc, lying there in a busted plastic jewel case. Hatter managed enough strength to lunge forward with his blade and plant the point into the data disc. The point split the disc making it unreadable.

  Gauge growled in anger, still positioned on top of Hatter who was face down on the road. Several quick blows
, that boxed his head between the preacher’s fist and the pavement, soon took his consciousness. His last thought—satisfaction at having destroyed the disc Gauge received from the mole.

  Jason had dried up his emotions by the time he saw Rogue emerge from the apartment building holding his head. He stood next to Sarah’s body waiting on the young man. Police and emergency workers swarmed the area. It would take awhile for things to calm down.

  “Is that her?” Rogue rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Yeah, that’s our mole.” Jason tried to contain his emotions.

  “Where are the others? Did we get Gauge?”

  “I’m not sure. I told Hatter to intercept him when he ran through the restaurant, but I’ve not heard any word since then. You try him for me and head for the alleyway behind the Café. See if you can get Wraith to respond.”

  “I’m on it.” The young agent ran into the restaurant amid victims that clamored into the street, bewildered.

  Jason wanted to know where Wraith was. He couldn’t technically do anything to the man. After all, he was only doing his job. Jason’s last words to the agent had been an order to intercept the mole and dispose of her before she could escape. Wraith always got the job done.

  Jason stepped away from Sarah, as an emergency worker moved in to investigate the body. The man quickly concluded she was a casualty of the bus bombing and placed a sheet over her body. He eyed Jason as he stood back up then went about his grim business.

  Jason stumbled back, howling his anguish into the air, fusing his cries with a hundred others who had lost those dearest to them today. A myriad of questions spun in his mind. Why was she turning on Babylon? And why would she be involved with a religious terrorist organization like the Christians and this preacher, Solomon Gauge? What was he going to do now?