Dagon Rising(34)

“Goddamn it.” Clark tugged harder, grunting with the effort. “This isn’t funny, Onyx. Let me go.”

Clark hated the plaintive, almost whining tone in his voice. He gritted his teeth and yanked. Onyx released him.

“Your efforts have proved futile, though,” Onyx continued. “As Ruby revealed back at Tony’s apartment, you hope to strike a deal with President Livingston. You hope by doing so you can get to former Secretary Donald Barker, who is fueling the last remnants of the Tyler Administration. With Barker gone, their pursuit of you will cease.” Onyx paused briefly. “Only then can you feel relief.”

“Hey, Onyx!” Tony called from across the aisle. “I know you guys can read minds and shit, but how ‘bout seating the lawn jockey and I together? I want a chance to shoot the shit with the guy.”

Onyx glanced over at Ruby.

“It’s okay,” she told them. “He’s telling the truth. He knows that they will be unable to communicate on anything but a superficial level. This is all he wants. He’s curious about Mr. Arroyo, and I sense Mr. Arroyo would not mind sharing some information with Mr. Genova. As I observed back at the condo…Mr. Genova senses a kindred spirit with Mr. Arroyo.”

“You got that fucking right,” Tony said. “Anybody that would shoot the President of the United States, especially a whack-job like Jeffrey fucking Tyler, is a friend of mine.”

Onyx glanced up at Amethyst and Diamond, and then back at Ruby. Shrugging, he nodded. Within moments Clark was seated next to Tony. Ruby and Onyx were in the row behind them. Diamond and Amethyst were still deep in their trance, heads bowed close together, faces flushed and shiny with sweat. A woman clad in black suddenly appeared from the cabin and took cocktail orders. Clark noted her mannerisms, the way she addressed the Black Lodge operatives.

“Don’t buy the airline stewardess shtick.” Tony nodded toward her. “She’s one of them.”

Clark nodded. “Yep. You’ve got the gift of reading people extremely well. You could have been Secret Service.”

“Not me. I like to sleep in and you guys are up twenty-four fucking seven.”

Clark laughed.

“This plane and its crew,” Tony continued. “They’re Black Lodge, too.”

“You got it,” Clark confirmed.

“Bunch of goddamn spooks,” Tony muttered. “You buying any of this shit?”

“You’ve seen for yourself what they can do. Don’t you believe it?”

Tony shrugged. “Chick read our minds. So did the big guy. I’ll give them that. But this waking up old squid-headed gods bullshit and all that crap about me being one of seven special people? I don’t buy that at all.”

“I don’t think you’re special either,” Clark said, winking.

Tony grinned. “I like you, lawn jockey. Think I’ll let you live.”

Clark returned the grin and nodded. “I appreciate that.”

When the drinks were served, Clark settled back in his seat with a Gin and Tonic. Tony was drinking a glass of Knob Creek on the rocks. Normally, Clark wouldn’t touch alcohol during a mission this critical, but one drink wouldn’t hurt. Besides, he needed to chill out. Clear his mind. The chitchat with Tony would be beneficial.

“So, seriously—all that other shit you said about them is real, then? The occult stuff and all of that?”

“Apparently so.”

“You never really believed it though?”

“Not entirely. I’d heard rumors, of course. Believe me, there are plenty of legitimate government agencies and organizations that experiment with similar ideas and concepts—all at taxpayer expense, I might add. The FBI has specialists dedicated to occult crimes—witchcraft, demonology. Things like that. The CIA has looked into everything from remote viewing to pyrokinesis. Supposedly, Black Lodge originally started out the same way. They were part of the US government once—just another top secret alphabet soup organization. Founded during the first World War. But, like any good conspiracy theory, there are those who say that’s a cover story. They believe the organization is much, much older—stretching all the way back to Biblical times.”

“What do you believe?”

Clark paused, took a sip of his drink, and then sighed. “I don’t know what I believe. I used to believe in this country. After Tyler… well, obviously I don’t anymore. Same applies to these guys. Can they really do all the things people say they can? Who knows? All I know is that they definitely don’t work for our government—or any government. They seem to answer to a higher power. And they seem to operate with impunity, too. I definitely wouldn’t want to get on their bad side.”