The Hammer Commission Read online

  Mark pointed to the still livid bruise on the side of his face, "I hit the equipment with the side of my face sir. If I was trying to destroy your precious devices the last thing I would use to do it would be my head, Sir."

  Father Flores glared at him then, for the first time ever Mark could actually see the hate in Flores' eyes. "And just WHAT were you doing in Father Gregory's room at such a late hour of the night? Explain yourself!"

  "I'd had a bad dream; I was concerned for Father Gregory's safety, so I ran down there to check on him."

  "You ran down there and caused all of this damage because of a dream!" Father Flores returned to shouting again. "A DREAM! What is this, the dark ages? We do not go running off half cocked just because we had a bad dream!

  "And just why is your new trainee sleeping in your room? Using your position of authority for the purpose of gaining sexual favors from an innocent young woman is strictly against the rules! As well as those rules regarding fraternization, co-habitation on Abby grounds, and a dozen others!"

  "I have not engaged in any sexual acts with Judith."

  "You expect me to believe that when the doctor clearly stated that she showed up naked!"

  "She wasn't naked, she had a robe on."

  "And she wasn't wearing a stitch of undergarments beneath that robe! It was apparent to all that she had hastily donned that to follow you went you ran out of your room like a brainless idiot! Oh I may have been able to forgive what happened with Father Gregory last night, I might have considered letting you off for the near destruction of priceless medical equipment! But this! This has just gone too far! Your shameless debasement of an innocent young trainee, newly assigned to the order!"

  "Hey, I wasn't the one who spent all day staring at her tits," Mark said, and then regretted it immediately.

  "You know I am just tired of all of this, your behavior, your flouting the rules around here! Your absolute disrespect for my position and my power! Your continued insolence!" Father Flores sat down at his desk and signed a piece of paper, whatever it was obviously he had prepared for this before Mark had even gotten to his office.

  "You are hereby suspended from duty indefinitely, I will talk with the Cardinals about what to do with you; hopefully I will be able to talk some sense into them about your continued usefulness. Until then I want you out of the Abby and out of my sight! You are to have no contact with anyone on the Commission, or even anyone from the Church! Do you understand me?"

  "Completely Father." Mark said, "For the first time in my life I think I understand you completely."

  Mark noticed the expression on Father Flores face got even uglier then. Mark turned and left, leaving Flores yelling at him to get out of his office. Mark could feel it in his bones: Flores really had gone over to the other side.

  But how to prove it?

  15

  "Sorry to hear what happened," Judith said catching up with Mark as he walked down the hallway. "When are you leaving?"

  "I'm not."

  "What? I just heard him order you out of here, you can't stay!"

  "Father Flores has an overblown sense of his own authority." Mark said.

  "But he can call the police Mark!"

  "Flores doesn't run the Abby, regardless of what he might think. The Hammer Commission are guests here. The Head Abbot is a not very likely to ban me from the grounds. Not at least until I've dealt the Flores."

  "What?!" Judith stepped in front of him and stopped, him, looking at him. "What are you talking about?"

  "He's evil; he's gone over to the other side."

  "How can you say such a thing Mark! That's just your own feelings speaking out!"

  "This from the woman who thinks he's a creep and suspects he wants to bed her."

  "Yeah well, being a creep is one thing. But being a killer is something else! You need motive, you need opportunity, and you need some proof!"

  Mark looked around to be sure no one was listening and pulled her into an empty room. "Here, look at this."

  "What is it?"

  "It's the log of the program they use here to find out where your cell phone is. Brother Stevens showed it to me. Notice the ones I circled?"

  "Yes, what about them?"

  "That's the Mercedes' phone number. Notice the time and the dates? Here, look at this map, I circled the coordinates."

  Judith looked at it and gasped. "Well that proves that someone here is involved, but still doesn't prove that Father Flores is involved."

  He thought about that, suddenly what Father Rywelski had said to them in Poland came to him, and it made sense.

  “Listen to this sentence, and tell me what you hear,” He then said ' Vous cherchez Flores '; French for ‘Looking for’ and added the word Flores to the end of the sentence.

  “You said ‘looking for flowers’,” Judith said.

  “Did I? Did I really? Let me add one word,” and this time he said 'Vous cherchez Père Flores';‘Looking for Father’ followed by Flores.

  Judith’s face went pale and she looked shocked. “They weren’t looking for flowers they were looking for something Flores sent them to look for!”

  “And the priest speaks English as a second language, probably Spanish as well.”

  “So his mind unconsciously translated Flores to flowers. Like I just did! Oh shit.”

  “Flores sent them there; he sent them right into an ambush.”

  “But, but maybe he had been duped as well? Given false information?”

  “He called Warsaw and asked the office there to let him know if they heard anything from us. John told me he wrote our number down when we called; it was on the caller ID. He then emailed it to Flores so he could call us.”

  “That could still be a coincidence.”

  "Oh? Hold on." Mark took out his cell phone and called the telecom company. "Hello," he said. "My name is Mark Levin, and I'm calling about my other number on this account," he gave them the number then, as well as his account information to verify his identity. "Look, the other night I received a couple of calls to that number, but was unable to answer at the time and I’d like to return them. Can you tell me where those calls came from?”

  “Sorry sir,” the operator told him, “the caller hung up after the first ring and it was from another country.”

  “So no then? What can you tell me?”

  “All we know is the calls came out of Spain, Vodaphone of Spain.”

  “Vodaphone of Spain?” Mark repeated and the operator confirmed it again. “Okay, thank you." He hung up.

  "I don't think we need to waste anymore time on this, do you?" He asked Judith.

  Judith shook her head and sat down in one of the chairs by the desk in the room, burying her head in her hands. “So what do we do Mark? Do we confront him about it? Can we arrest him?”

  Mark shook his head, “We need to find out how he’s been doing all of this. He’s still a Flores, his family name and his own reputation will be more than enough to go against anything I say. We need some proof.”

  "So where do we start?"

  "Well I think I'm going to go down into the sub-basement and check out this room he spends all of his evenings in," Mark said. "You keep an eye on him and keep sucking up. Maybe he'll let something slip."

  "I'll try. He was a bit unhappy with me about my being in your room last night."

  "Tell him I forced you to, or that I hinted you needed to if you wanted to not get fired. I don't know, make something up. He'll believe anything about me as long as it’s bad. Say whatever you have to say, just keep him up here."

  Judith nodded. "Just be careful down there, okay?"

  "I will. He only goes down there during the night, so I should be safe."

  They went their separate ways then, Mark went back to his room first, to get a few things. Then he headed down into the basements. He prowled around a bit, and eventually had to ask Stevens for directions.

  He had to go down another flight of stairs and then was confronted with a lock
ed door. Looking around to make sure he wasn't being watched and that there weren't any cameras present he pulled out the flat bar he had brought down and using the extra strength that he was now blessed with these days he forced the door open. Yeah it wasn't very discrete, but he no longer cared much about that.

  Time was what mattered now.

  The room was large. Very large. It had a raised floor like the other computer rooms did, but rather than being white and clean it was dimly lit, there were lots of shadows and the lighting in the room had a rather red tint to it.

  The machines themselves looked different as well, rather than the clean square boxes in the other rooms, these all had rounded corners, and rounded tops. They were also painted red, not gray or beige and they were not laid out in nice straight rows but rather in a circle with a single large machine in the center. What he assumed was the control room was off to one side, a small room with a single door. He also noticed that there were several displays and terminals spread throughout the room, primarily at what looked like cardinal points.

  Pacing around the outside of the circle Mark noticed that each machine had a designation on it, in Latin.

  It was a circle! A summoner’s circle! Checking to be sure things were safe he went inside it to check the machine that was sitting in the crucible. It was larger than the rest, but not much, and had a flat top with a pentagram inscribed on it. Using the flash light he had brought along he suddenly understood the reason for the red tinted lighting.

  It had been drawn in blood. Even in his human form his nose was sensitive enough to smell that it was human blood.

  He swore and went to look at the other machines in the circle. Each of the designators was also in blood. Opening up one of the maintenance panels on one he found the inside of it covered with demonic signs and sigils, all of those drawn in blood as well.

  "Son of a bitch," Mark swore. Pulling out his cell phone he took a picture of the insides, and then set the panel back. He moved over to another one and was about to open it up when he heard the click of a hammer being cocked.

  Turning around he saw Flores standing there with a gun pointed at him. "Hello Mark. You should have left while you had the chance."

  "What is all this?" Mark said motioning around at the machines. "Some sort of automated summoning circle?"

  "Why you're not as dumb as you look!" Flores said smiling. "Actually yes it is. I created a giant prayer machine, only it has the ability to simultaneously perform forty million prayers at a time. Quite an achievement if I do say so myself."

  "But it's a machine! Machines can’t pray, they’re not human!"

  “And that is where your old friend Father Gregory comes in,” Flores said smirking.

  “You son of a bitch,” Mark said and took a step forward.

  Flores shot him in the right knee; Mark screamed and fell to the floor holding his knee. "Silver bullets. Hope you don't mind?"

  "What?" Mark said gritting his teeth. He'd never been shot before and the pain was tremendous.

  "Oh I figured out your little secret. I always wondered why your holy items were never silver. Everyone else always went for silver, but not you. Tell me, did Father Gregory know what you really are?"

  He shot Mark in the right arm then, making him cry out in pain again.

  "Yes," Mark hissed, "Yes he knew. How did you find out?"

  "That air head partner of yours. She had fur on her clothes, and when I pressured her about it she finally broke down and admitted it. Said she was terrified of you and slept with you to keep you from hurting or killing her."

  Flores shot him again then, hitting his other leg. "She any good in bed? I figure once this is all done I'll make her one of my slaves. I figure it'll be a good way to remember you as I sleep with your woman."

  "You really are an evil sick fuck, you know that?" Mark groaned and Flores shot him again.

  "You should have run, I had it all planned out. I have a circle and all the proper enchantments laid out at that place in Belgium you and Jake loved so much. I had it all planned out how to pin all of this on you. By the time they figured out differently, it'll be too late of course."

  "Sorry to ruin your plans by dying here then." Mark said panting. His blood was starting to make a puddle on the floor.

  "Oh no, this just works out all the better. You lured me down here and attacked me. I can prove what you are, and as you won't be alive to argue your side of things no one will think twice. Especially not when the police find all that stuff in your apartment."

  Flores shot him again in the stomach then, "I hear gut shot is a terrible way to die," Flores said and laughed.

  "Hold it right there!" Judith's voice rang out into the room.

  "Judith?" Mark said weakly.

  "Ah Judith, thank goodness you're here! Mark attacked me and I was forced to defend myself!"

  "Can it asshole. I heard everything you said and got it on tape."

  Flores stopped a moment, and then laughed. "You sat there and listened while I killed your boyfriend?"

  "He's not my boyfriend asshole. I don't date white guys. Much less ones that grow fur. Now drop the gun and move away from his body, or I will shoot you."

  "Oh really I don't think you would do that Judith."

  "Try me. I let you shoot Mark up, and I like Mark. But they told me they wanted you alive; however they didn't say anything about not having a few bullet holes in you."

  "They?"

  "I'm a Papal investigator. The real Judith Keen is on a nice Church paid trip to the Bahamas. Now drop the gun and back off or I will shoot."

  Mark couldn't believe what he was hearing! But Flores dropped the gun then and backed away from his body.

  "I used silver bullets. He's as good as dead."

  "Well then at least he doesn't have to look at your ugly mug as he dies." Judith said coming around the machine and stopping next to him. She squatted down keeping Flores in her sights. "How you doing?" She whispered to him.

  "I've been better."

  "We need to get you out of here."

  "Only if you drag me. When is help coming?"

  "Oh Shit!" Judith said and fired a shot.

  "What happened?" Mark said trying to look around.

  "Flores just ducked behind one of the machines."

  A shot was fired from across the room and just missed Judith.

  "Damn he's got another gun. Now what?"

  "Drag me into the room over there and seal the door," Mark said, he could feel his body struggling to heal itself, and two of the bullets had already been forced out and were lying on the floor.

  Judith grabbed his arm, the one he wasn't shot in thankfully, and started dragging him to the doorway. Fortunately the floor was smooth, so Judith got him inside quickly and closed the door behind them, bolting it.

  "Now what?" Judith said looking around the small office. "Why does this room have bullet proof windows?"

  "Because that machine out there is how he's been raising the devils. So you're a Papal investigator? When does the cavalry arrive?"

  Judith looked embarrassed. "You actually believed that? I thought you of all people would know better Mark!"

  "You lied?"

  "Of course I lied! I don't even have a tape recorder on me! So now what?"

  Mark looked around. "Help me up into that chair," he said pointing.

  Judith helped him up. His knee was still in a lot of pain, but the bleeding had stopped. Same for his other leg. The gut wound however was taking longer to heal.

  "Guess you're going to get to see my machine work first hand!" Flores yelled from outside. Mark could see him over by one of the terminals.

  "Try to distract him, would you please?"

  Judith nodded and opening the door a crack leaned out and fired a couple of shots.

  Mark looked at the terminal in front of him. The prompt on it said 'root' whatever that meant. He remembered the listing command that Chad had shown him and typed it. In the listing that came up one of th
e files was named 'pocketdevil'. So he typed it in and hit return.

  An error message displayed on the screen then, it said 'no coordinates'.

  Mark swore. "Do you know Flores cell phone number?"

  "Nope. Isn't it on your phone though?"

  "My phone is outside and I'm not going..." he stopped. He didn't need his phone! He entered the track phone program name followed by his phone number. A latitude, longitude, and altitude displayed on the screen. He retyped the pocketdevil command, followed by the three coordinates and with a small puff of darkness suddenly there was a pocket devil out on the floor. It saw Flores almost immediately and attacked.

  Flores swore, and then laughed as he stepped on it. "Is that the best you can do Mark? Here, let me show you a real devil!"

  He heard Judith's pistol fire two more times and then stop.

  "I'm out of bullets Mark."

  Mark started typing the command line over again, with the coordinates. He typed it three times as fast as he could.

  "What's happening out there?"

  "I think one of them bit him, but he's back at the terminal now."

  Mark swore and typed it again and again, as fast as he could. Somewhere there had to be a program for larger devils, but he had neither the time or experience to find it.

  "They're distracting him, but you need a lot more of those things Mark. A lot more!"

  Mark suddenly remembered the example of this morning; he wondered if it would work? Typing it in quickly he made only one change, he typed in one hundred thousand instead of ten. Then he hit the return key.

  "Holy shit!" Judith swore. What did you do?"

  "Huh?" Mark looked up. Pocket devils were popping in faster than he could count. And they all went after Flores. He pulled his pistol back out and started shooting at them, while trying to jump up and down on them as they circled him on the floor.

  But for every one he killed, a hundred more took its place. The room was starting to fill with them, and buoyed by their numbers they pressed their on attack him. Flores pulled out a cross and tried to dismiss them, but of course nothing happened.

  They all swarmed up and started to bite and claw at his entire body then. Mark could hear Flores screaming, he was stilling killing them with his hands and feet, but they were still flowing into the room in greater numbers and blood was starting to fly everywhere. Soon all you could see was the mass of them as they covered Flores’ body and his screams turned to shrieks, and then suddenly stopped all together.