Page 122 of Beast: Part Two

“Well, come on,” the priest urges. “I have everything ready to go.”

Five of the men with Adam pull large duffle bags out of the back of the truck. Each man carries two to three bags at one time. Adam then directs his men, making two of them stay out front to keep watch. The others, I’m assuming, are going in with him.

Adam starts to walk off, but stops. He taps one of his men on the shoulder.

“Hey, get rid of the bum,” he says before following the priest and his men up the ramp and into the church.

The guy appointed to deal with me starts walking in my direction.

“Show time, brother,”Lucien says in my head.

“Aye, you, get your shit and get out of here,” the guy says.

He shoves my buggy over, pouring out the contents onto the ground. I bend down pretending to pick up the stuff. He leans down and grabs my shoulder. I pull the knife out of my leg holster and drive the blade into the bottom of his chin. He gurgles up blood. I pull the blade out and then slice through his neck, finishing him off. He starts falling, but I catch him in my arms. Gently, I lie him down on the blanket I was using and then cover him up.

Taking off the dingy long winter jacket, I toss it down. Turning my head from side to side, I release the tension.

Here we go. Wiping the blade off on the coat, I make my way up the ramp toward the front door. Both men Adam left behind eye me suspiciously. The one on my left places a hand at his back as if he’s going to draw his weapon. The one to my right approaches me.

“Hey, aren’t you the….” I don’t let him finish his sentence. I swipe my Bowie across his face with my left hand. Before the other could pull his gun out, I had mine in my hand. Putting a bullet between his eye, I then turned and shot the first man in the forehead, silencing his moans.

I step over their bodies and push through the church doors.

“He’s in,” Zel says through the earpiece. I’ll pick off anyone that comes out or tries to enter.”

“On our way,” Beast announces.

I walk into the small foyer of the church. Stopping, I take a deep breath. From here on out, I need a clear head.

“You got this, brother,”Lucien says in my head.

“This is not a got damn after-school special. Will you shut the fuck up?”

Lucien’s sigh echoes in my head before I feel him slip away.

I walk into the sanctuary, quickly scanning the scene in front of me. Standing right at the door as I walk in is one man. He eyes me skeptically but doesn’t move. The priest is in front of the altar talking to one of Adam’s men. There is one guy sitting in the pews on the third row back on the left. Another guy is in the right pews at the very front. I look over my shoulder to see the guy up on the balcony, his arms crossed over his chest. One more guy is near a narrow door in the back, near the altar. I’m sure that door leads down to the basement where I will find Adam.

The priest looks up at me and smiles as I walk toward him.

“How can I help you, young man…”

I pull my gun out and shoot him in the leg and immediately take out the guy next to him with a shot to the head. The guy in the front pew stands, but my Bowie tossed into his chest sends him back to his seat.

Dealing with the guys outside, I realize that these men are slow to draw. Their guns are at their backs, which takes themlonger to pull them out. I spent six months of training before becoming a deacon on working how to quickly draw a weapon.

“The time it takes you to pull your shit out can mean life or death. The fastest draw always wins,” Priest’s voice says in my head.

I shake off that feeling I get whenever I think about him.

The guy in the right pew runs toward me. I fire a round into his head before diving behind the pews. I moved just in time because a hailstorm of bullets whizzed into the wood over my head. The fucking guy on the balcony is a problem.

“Shit,” I grumble.

“We have a problem up here,” I hear one of the men talking loudly in what I think is a radio or earpiece.

“Talk to me, Twin? What do you need?” Zel says in my ear.

I peek around the pew and nearly get my head blown off by the guy on the balcony. Lying flat, I roll under the empty bench style seats.

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