The Belial Stone(21)

She gaped at the number of students already in the parking lot. It was a mob. “Holy cow. How many students are in this place?”

“Nine hundred and seventy-eight.”

Laney’s eyes darted towards him. “Is that a guess?”

He shook his head as he weaved them through the crowd. “I like knowing all variables when I go on a mission. This was one of three possible escape routes.”

“Mission? I’m a mission?”

He stopped and looked down at her. She noticed a dimple in his right cheek. “Yeah, Laney, you are.”

She caught herself staring at him and took a step back. He reached out to grab her before she backed into another student and pulled her back into him. Her skin seemed to tingle where he’d touched her. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Jake Rogan. I’m with the Chandler Group.”

She knew the Chandler Group. Hell, everybody knew of the Chandler Group. Laney pulled her gaze from the crowd and stared at Jake. “The Chandler Group? What do you do for them? And why on earth are you here?”

Established by Henry Chandler about fifteen years ago, the Chandler Group dabbled in everything: technological development, political affairs, archaeological expeditions. And then there was the Chandler Group Foundation, which helped fund everything from kids’ school trips to backyard start-ups to third-world loan programs.

“My official title is Projects Security Director. I handle all the off-site security measures for all Chandler projects. But it’s not technically Chandler who’s involved in this. It’s me.”

“You? How can I help you?”

Jake was about to answer when his body went tense. He pulled Laney closer towards him.

A shudder ran through her. “He’s here, isn’t he?”

Jake threw his arm around her shoulder and started leading her slowly towards the parking lot. Pausing occasionally, he kept their movements unhurried. He stopped when they were hidden from the building by what looked like the basketball team. “Behind us. Three o’clock. He just walked out the doors.”

She knew she shouldn’t look. She should keep her back to him and not draw any attention to herself. But she simply couldn’t help herself. She glanced through the kids and saw Paul step into the crowd of students. His face had a few scabs and he now wore grey slacks with a sleek black jacket. His eyes searched the crowd, paying special attention to anyone with a hood or hat. Everything about him screamed danger.

Icy cold fear shot through her. She started to breathe heavily.

“Laney, calm down. We’re okay.”

She shook her head, looking around at the kids surrounding them, completely oblivious to the danger they were in. “He’s going to find us. I need to get out of here, Jake. I need to lead him away from these kids. I can’t put them in danger.

Laney looked around, no longer seeing any sign of her attacker. But she still felt as if his eyes were boring into her. “Jake, you don’t know what he can do. He’s not-”

Jake squeezed her hand. “I do know what he can do.”

She stared at him in shock. “What? You can't-”

He glanced down at her before continuing to scan the crowd. “I’ve met someone like him before.”

“When was that?”

A subtle grimace of pain crossed his face. If she hadn’t been watching him so closely, she would have missed it. “In Afghanistan, 2006. We got reports about a group that had grabbed some Red Cross workers.”

He paused. “The group was affiliated with a warlord whose nickname was the Devil. Our Afghan translator told us people were terrified of him, but we didn’t need a translator to see that. He was said to have the strength of ten men and a heart as black as night. It was said he couldn’t be killed.”

His eyes met hers. “We thought it was an exaggeration. When we went into the camp, we realized the Devil wasn’t a nickname. It was who he was.”

“What happened?”

“We found the hostages. We subdued their guards and were quietly getting them out. Then all hell broke loose. The Devil walked into the tent. He ordered us to stop. I swear, I nearly laughed. He was all of five feet tall and I'd be surprised if he weighed even a hundred pounds. He pulled out a machete. We ordered him to lower it. He smiled and then sprang at us.”

He looked away. “He took out four of my men in less than a minute. We opened fire. I don’t know how many times we hit the man, but he seemed to keep popping back up. We couldn’t kill him. I personally shot him four times in the head. Each one was a kill shot. He’d go down, but then spring right back up.”

Laney shivered. The description was too familiar. “How’d you get out?”