Predatory Ethics Book I - Mad Gods

Chapter 22 - Collision -

TIME: JUNE 12TH, 1972. DIGBY ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA 

Adam sprung up in bed and jerked his head from right to left. He jumped up and ran to the window, looking into the trees nestling their home. He quickly stepped into a pair of Levis, tossed on a Munich Olympics T-shirt, opened the door and ran out into the woods. He ran past where Kosta parked the Chevy; saw that it was still there, so he knew  Kosta was still on the island. He searched a few select places outside where they read, and where Kosta sometimes went to get away from Adam’s loud music.

The ground at his feet erupted in a line of tiny explosions, raising dirt and a row of popping thuds. Adam stopped dead in his tracks and peered to see from where the shots had come. On his left, there was a group of eight men, armed with variety of handguns, rifles and machine guns led by a slim cigarette smoking dandy who gestured for them to hold their fire.

As they advanced on Adam, one of the group, the second from the right, flew violently into the air, a victim of an exploding land mine. The leader bellowed at the men, saying they were fools to have led him into the middle of a minefield, and another two followed the first into the air, one of them standing next to the now cringing dandy. Nobody moved for what seemed like hours.

The leader commanded the remaining five men to walk past where the land mines had been detonated to the boy. A few refused, but he insisted, tripling their fee and reminding them their job was to risk their lives and consider this a more challenging mission.

One, an older battle-scarred, balding man, shouldered his machine gun and began picking up rocks. He tossed them in a line in front of his position until he almost hit Adam with the toss. He repeated with another row of stones, then another, until he set off three more mines. He stepped forward and each of the remaining men did the same, Adam still standing motionless. The leader ordered the rest of the men to clear the way for him first and they complied. By this point, the veteran had almost reached Adam; the dandy yelled not to hurt the boy and he nodded affirmation.

Three paces before he would have been able to grab Adam, he was leveled by two quick shots from a high-powered rifle. The booming blasts made Adam cover his head and drop to the ground in a ball. Everything happened so fast; his wits raced faster than his jackhammering heart. The dandy and his men crouched down, trying to locate where the shots were coming from. More shots followed and hit all around them until the fourth exploded another mine and dropped another man. The blast knocked a few of the men down, and by the time they were back up, two more had been shot. Of the eight men, two were left. The dandy decided they should retreat, and yelled he would go for help, as another shot stopped any reply.

When the last man hit the ground, Kosta’s voice echoed and directed Adam to move five paces straight back, three to the right, four back again, with two to the right, to make it safely out of the minefield.  Adam did as he was told, and when he had reached safety, ran into Kosta’s arms.

He shook with emotion, his bottom lip quivering as he asked Adam if he was all right. Adam nodded and they ran home, wary of other intruders. They rushed into the house and stopped short, Adam bumping into Kosta, and saw another gang of men waiting for them, guns bristling and flanking a black-haired, effeminate man with dark round Lennon glasses.

“Kostadino Paleologos, you have much to atone for.” He sat in Kosta’s chair and tried to look scary. Kosta cursed himself for not having taken more than the rifle still slung across his back.

“You have me at a disadvantage.” Kosta was desperate to stall so he could edge to any of a number of weapons hidden around the house. “You know me and I don’t know you. The only thing that’s obvious is you’re a Luciferian and that you’ve got mercenaries in your employ.”