Beast, Part Two (The Church #5)

Disciples

chapter Eight

Beast

P ulling the van up to the curb, I turn the car off. We all climbed out. I step onto the sidewalk beside Priest.

“I hate that fucking minivan,” he grumbles. “I have five other cars in my garage at home. We could take any of those.”

“We like the minivan,” Many says in his British voice. “We have a lot more room in the back.”

Priest glares at Many.

“Plus, we need transportation that isn’t traceable back to any of us and one we don’t mind losing,” I say.

“Yeah, because I highly doubt you want your Bentayga in a shootout,” Hawk chuckles.

“Damn right,” Priest says leading the way inside of the high-rise apartment.

The front doorman greets us as we enter. We take the elevator instead of the stairs this time since we’re going to the 20 th floor. As soon as the doors to the elevator close, we all pull out our weapons. Just in case that door opens, and someone is on the other side waiting for us.

The elevator stops at the top floor. Priest is the first person to walk out. I follow along with the others.

We pass a few doors until we arrive at the very last apartment. Priest stops in front of a red door that’s slightly ajar.

He turns and looks over his shoulder at us. Dipping his chin, he lets us know to be ready. We hold our guns down but alert. Hawk takes the lead. He pushes the door open with his gun out in front of him. He then steps into the house first.

As soon as we walk in, we can tell that someone has been here looking for something. The place has been tossed. The furniture is turned over and all cabinets and drawers are spilling out.

“Looks like someone beat us to the punch,” Many says, stating the obvious.

“Watch your step, Hawk,” Priest tells Hawk right before he nearly bumped into a turned over vase. “We’re still going to look,” he goes on to say. “Everyone spread out. Many, take Hawk with you.”

We all follow the directions Priest laid out. I head into the back of the apartment. The place looks thoroughly examined. I doubt we will find anything here. However, I don’t argue that point.

The bedroom I chose looks like it is the primary. The mattress and box spring have been flipped off the bed and sliced up. The nightstand has been emptied out and most of its content is on the floor at my feet. Same thing with the closet. Sifting through the mess, I don’t find anything that would help us.

Leaving the primary, I head into the hallway. I come face to face with Maksim.

“Any luck?” he asks.

I shake my head.

He runs a hand down his face. “This was thoroughly swept,” he says looking around at the mess on the ground. “Looks like something Corbyn orchestrated. My only question is, what were they looking for?”

“I’m guessing the same thing we are.”

He looks at me for a moment as if he’s mulling over my words.

“You might be right. He’s trying to keep you guys from finding those names.”

Which is even more an incentive to find them. Corbyn doesn’t seem like the person to care if we just find the names. There has to be a reason he’s trying to keep them from us other than us trying to get the ones that signed to withdraw their signatures.

“We need to find that document,” I say letting my inner thoughts out.

We both make our way back into the living room where we find the others. Priest kicks a box lying on the floor. It flies into the wall making a loud thud.

“Fuck,” he shouts running a hand through his hair. “This was our best shot at figuring out who signed that order.”

“We will figure something out, Priest,” Hawk says. “Besides, we already know Corbyn signed it. Let’s just focus on him.”

I fully agreed with Hawk. Although, I thought this plan to reach out to the others to get the excommunication order dealt with was the smarter and less violent plan, I was always still going after Corbyn.

Priest shakes his head but doesn’t say anything. I don’t think he likes the idea of going after Corbyn. For some reason, Priest is being hesitant. It isn’t like him. He’s always taught us to go after the source and not be afraid of any enemy. So why the change and hesitancy now?

“This is a bust, let’s just go,” he says before turning and heading to the door.

“Wait,” Hawk stops him.

We all turn to look at Hawk. His head is tilted to the side as he stares blankly.

“Take three steps back, Priest.”

Priest looks confused but follows his commands. The moment he takes his second step, the floorboards make a creaking sound. I press on the floor beneath me, and it doesn’t make that sound.

“Do you hear that?” Hawk asks. “The floor is different there.”

Priest immediately gets on his knees. He presses around the seams of the hardwood floor. As soon as he presses on one particular spot, we realize there is a slight gap between one wood panel and the other.

“Anyone got their knife?” Priest asks.

I take mine out of my leg holster and hand it to him. He uses the tip of the knife to wedge between the seams. It takes only a minute for the floorboard to pop up. Priest hands the knife back to me before lifting the wood panel. Underneath the floor is a lock box. He pulls it out and carries it over to the kitchen counter. He looks over the key lock thoroughly.

“Hand me that knife back,” he says holding out his hand toward me.

I take my knife back out and place it in his hand. He sticks the tip of the knife in the lock before reaching into his suit coat and pulling out a long skinny tool. I’ve seen Priest break into many locks, it’s how I learned to do it. It’s a trait he learned from his father.

He fiddles with the skinny tool for a few seconds before a soft click is heard. He hands my knife back before opening the box. The first thing we spot are pictures. The first few Priest flips through are of a young Pope and some older hard faced looking woman.

“That’s his mom,” Priest explains passing the pictures around.

“I’m hoping she had a lovely personality,” Maksim says as he grimaces.

“No,” Priest replies. “That bitch was as ugly inside as she was outside.”

The next picture Priest comes to has him going rigid. He flips through the next few without showing us.

“What is it?” I ask noticing his change.

“That muthafucker,” he growls, stuffing the photos in his front suit pocket. “He had cameras hidden in Fem’s home bathroom.”

He didn’t have to explain anything else. We did not want to see those pictures. Albany was like a sister to us. It pisses me off that someone had invaded her privacy. If Pope wasn’t already dead, this would have made me pay him a visit.

The next thing Priest pulls out of the box were three black notebooks and a hard drive.

“We can go through the notebooks back home. And Lucien will have to check the drive,” he says placing everything back in the box and closing it up. He tucks it under his arm and we all head for the exit.

“Time to turn those earpieces on,” Priest directs us as we get on the elevator.

Pulling out my earpiece and turning it on, I place it back in my ear. “Are you there, Lucien?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” he replies.

“Are we still clear?” I ask Lucien as we step off the elevator.

“Yeah. Nothing’s been reported yet,” Lucien replies.

We head for the minivan. Maksim takes over the driving this time. Priest is in the front passenger seat. Hawk and I are on the second row with Many in the back.

We pull away from the curb and into traffic.

“Zel and I are following your route on the traffic cam,” Lucien reports. “Did you guys find anything?”

“The place was trashed when we got there. But Priest found a lock box underneath the floorboards that contains some notebooks and a hard drive,” Hawk explains.

Maksim fights his way through traffic for ten minutes. When we pull up to a red light, Zel’s voice comes over the earpiece.

“At this light, turn left,” he directs.

We all look confused. In order to get home, we need to keep straight.

“You see something?” Priest asks. I immediately scan the street up ahead.

“White work van five cars back. It pulled out the same time you guys left the apartment. It had been sitting there since you pulled in, but no one ever got in or out.”

Turning in my seat, I look out the back window trying to get a view of the suspected van. Unfortunately, I have no luck.

Maksim makes the left turn. We wait to see if the van does the same.

“Yeah, you guys got a tail,” Lucien says.

“Can you tell who's driving?” Priest asks.

“No. I don’t have a clear view.”

Maksim speeds up. The work van does the same before speeding off around us. For a moment we thought that maybe we were paranoid for nothing. That is until the van turns and stops in the middle of the road. The side door opens, and someone points a huge gun at us.

“Fuck,” Maksim shouts. Right as he turns the car at the last minute. Bullets start to ping against the back half of the minivan.

“Get down, Many,” I shout.

Thankfully he was able to get to the ground before being hit. The work van follows behind us. Maksim does his best to lose it in traffic. He plows through red lights and flows in and out of traffic only clipping a few cars as he goes.

“Take the next right,” Zel says through the earpiece.

Maksim follows his lead. Bullets fly through the back window. Looking over my shoulder I notice a familiar face hanging out the passenger window firing an AR- rifle.

“,” I say.

“I hate those fucking guys,” Hawk says ducking down in his seat.

“I can take the shot,” Priest says glancing out the side mirror. “I need a better angle.”

Maksim speeds around a mail truck blaring his horn. “Get out of the way,” he shouts as bullets continue to ping off the back of the van.

“Up ahead, take a right. That should give you a clear enough shot. But you will only have a few seconds,” Zel says.

“It’s all I’ll need.” Priest lets his window down.

“Brace yourselves,” Maksim shouts as he takes the turn without slowing down.

Priest leans out the window and takes one single shot. Looking over my shoulder out the back window I watch the bullet hit its mark dead in the center of Shaw’s forehead. Proving once again that a true marksman only needs one bullet to get a job done.

The reprieve is short-lived when another disciple climbs up from the back and shoves the dead body out the way before taking his place firing rounds. He’s joined by the first gunman that leans out of the side of the van and opens fire. The glass over Hawk’s head shatters, raining pieces down over him.

“Shit,” he says, touching his ear and pulling back a bloody hand.

“Is this as fast as this stupid ass van can go?” Priest shouts.

“I’m flooring it. As long as they have those rifles, we’re in trouble.”

Unbuckling my seat belt, I pull my knife out of my holster. “Turn around,” I say.

“What?” Priest asks, looking over the front seat at me.

“Turn around.”

Maksim glances at me through the rearview mirror.

“Switch sides with me, Hawk,” I say climbing over the seat.

Before Hawk can deny or confirm, I have him in my vacated seat. Placing my gun in my dominant hand, I hold my knife in my other.

“This is stupid, Beastie,” Maksim shouts. Yet, he turns the car around. Bullets come flying at the front of the car. I slide the door to the van open.

We play a game of chicken, until Maksim turns the wheel slightly and drives beside the van. I leap out of the door of the minivan and into the worker van’s open door. The disciple with the AR is too stunned to react. I hit the floor of the van with a thud, tucking my body, I roll twice before coming to a crouch position. The guy with the AR turns his gun toward me, but I shoot him in the head. Another guy is behind me, I aim at him, but he crashes into me sending my gun flying.

The disciple lands on top of me, and I recognize him. Nyx came in during the same time we did. He didn’t have the skills to be a Deacon, so they made him a Disciple. Nyx wraps his hands around my neck, trying to squeeze. I thrust my blade into the side of his neck twice before turning the handle and yanking it out.

I shove his limp body off me. Rolling over, I grab my gun and quickly place a bullet in the driver’s thigh. I then charge to the front of the van. The man in the front passenger seat attempts to turn to aim his gun at me. The problem with AR’s is that they are too big and not good for confined spaces. Using the hand with my knife in it, my blade shoves the end of the gun up. He fires off rounds into the back of the van. I then place my handgun at his chin and pull the trigger blasting his brains onto the roof of the van.

The driver is losing control of the vehicle since I shot him in the right leg. The van is careening onto the sidewalk and heading into a building. Opening the door on the opposite side of the one I used to get in, I tuck my body and fall out of the moving vehicle. I hit the pavement hard earning some road rash. The van hits a pole and nearly folds in half.

Standing to my feet, I hobble over to the passenger side of the van. The driver groans as he leans up from the steering wheel. He looks to the left and then to the right. His eyes widen when he sees me.

I fire one shot into his head, splattering his blood on the window behind him.

“You got a lot of cleaning up to do,” I say in the earpiece to Lucien as I walk away from the scene.

“Already on it,” he says.

The minivan pulls up at the curb in front of me.

Priest shakes his head at me. “I swear you boys are going to give me a fucking heart attack.”

The van door creaks open. I climb inside and take a seat. Slowly and with a lot of effort the door starts to close again as Maksim pulls away.

“We’re going to need another vehicle,” Maksim announces.

Pulling out my phone, I call Pharrell and let him know we’re on the way.