Chapter 9

This started out as one of those slow nights. As hard as Irene and the AD tried, they could not seem to detect any activity by the demons. In a fit of exasperation, Ed asked, “Irene, are you sure that damned AD is turned on?”

“Ed, that’s no way to talk about my AD. The poor thing is trying as hard as it can, but nothing is showing. We can’t find demons that aren’t there, no matter how hard we try.”

“I’m sorry, Irene, I did not mean to insult either one of you, but I must say in all honesty that I am getting damned bored waiting for something to happen.”

Hank said, “Take it easy, both of you! Angie and I are just as tired of riding around on these hard seats as either of you. So knock off the angry talk and just learn to live with it.”

Angie said, “Hey, Hank just made a good point! My ass is just not made for these hard seats. Ed, what do you say for popping for decent cushions to save our derrières?”

“Angie, I think you have just hit the nail on the head! You have just appointed yourself the chairperson of the cushion committee. I beg of you, first thing tomorrow, please find us some decent soft cushions to go on these damned seats.”

This bit of conversation did wonders to relieve the tension that had built up from the fruitless search. Fortunately, it was only a few minutes later that the AD reported a sign of demons. It was too early for any more information than that, but Hank turned the Humvee in the indicated direction. They were driving cross country and Hank had pressed the accelerator to match his degree of annoyance. However, the bouncing of the sore asses on the hard seats was enough to bring out multiple cries of protest. Hank reluctantly slowed down, but then he admitted that his ass was too sore to put up with much bouncing either.

The AD was now able to report some additional information: there were three demons flagged by their aura, and all three seemed to be too large to be anything but Sho-Sho Mamu. The team members were stunned by that report. They had already eliminated all of the Sho-Sho Mamus that had come through the portal on that night a few weeks ago; therefore, there had to be another portal opened or there had to be at least one more breeding pair of the horrible demons. It was hard to say which was the more frightening to contemplate!

As they got closer to the source of the signal, the AD began to give more information: there was now no doubt that these were large demons that they had found. The more information they got, the more the demons appeared to be Sho-Sho Mamu, and the more excited the team got. If the latest information from the AD held up, they were in for a big fight with an uncertain outcome. All four of the team members were now in the habit of keeping their shotguns ready for action at all times, so all they had to do to start shooting was to flip the safety off.

Hank had sensibly compromised on his speed so that they were not bouncing so much that they would not be ready to fight as soon as they had the chance. It didn’t take long for the quarry to come into sight: they were looking at three adult Sho-Sho Mamus from the back. All three were standing on their hind legs and moving at about 15 MPH. Hank drifted up behind the three demons and blared his horn. He had caught the three demons completely by surprise, and they stopped in astonishment.

All three turned around to see what had the chutzpa to challenge them. This policy gave Hank time to turn 90° so that Angie and Ed had clear shots at the standing demons. Hank and Irene were not so lucky at this point and would have to wait for another opportunity to shoot. Angie started at the right and Ed started from the left shooting at the demons. As was SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), they fired at the exposed belly of each demon. Their targets received 10 to 12 rounds of HE and were put out of action immediately, though they might not yet be dead.

By this time, the demon in the middle recognized the danger and charged at the Humvee. Ed and Angie immediately switched their aim to the belly of the charging Sho-Sho Mamu and emptied their shotgun drums. They scored plenty of hits and stopped the demon in its tracks, but the situation was sure scary for a few moments.

Both shooters inserted fresh drums and chambered a round. Ed nodded to Angie, and she put a round of HE into the head of each monster. Angie refilled her ammunition drum while Ed radioed for a cleanup squad. All three demons were in such a mess that it was not going to be possible to determine if any of the two females were pregnant, but that was something of a moot point. There might be pups back at a secluded den, and there was no way to know for sure until they found the den. Who knew when that would be?

The rest of the night was as empty of demons as the first part had been. However, the team members did not mind so much because of the success they had against three Sho-Sho Mamus in a single battle. Nevertheless, they were concerned about finding the den or dens of the three demons that they had just killed. It was going to take some planning to figure out how to do that without having to do a thorough search on foot. Nobody liked that idea, but that might turn out to be necessary.

They ate supper and returned to the hotel to sleep through the day. As had become her habit, Irene slept in the same bed as Ed. Irene had come to enjoy this so much that she was seriously considering asking Ed to marry her. However, she was a little afraid to push him just in case he turned her down. Oh, damn, another thing to worry about!

When they got up, Irene asked Ed to check on progress being made by the researchers with more ADs. Ed called his contact and found out that they were making progress now that a human was constantly in contact with the AD. The question immediately came up as to how to test a new AD without a demon to serve as a target. The only solution to that question seemed to be to have the human and her AD join the team so that the pair could practice on real demons.

That did have the advantage of the new person being able to work directly with Irene. On the other hand, that did mean enlarging the team and causing a possible change in the team dynamics. There did not seem to be an alternative solution, so Ed asked that Sue Johnson be sent to Blue Point to join the team. Ed immediately started making the necessary arrangements so that Sue could fit in without a lot of hassle. If everything worked out as planned, Sue would join the team on Monday.

If Sue and her AD worked out as well as Ed hoped, he wanted to organize a second search and kill team. As soon as possible, he also wanted to see if a man could work with the AD as well as a woman could. There was absolutely no way to know that in advance, and experimental evidence would be needed to provide the answer. Hopefully, Sho-Sho Mamu, Inc. could field several teams of demon hunters at one time. Ed was sure that this was going to become a long-term project of demon hunting. Hell, if the demons became numerous, demon hunting might become a popular amateur sport.

The team saddled up in the Humvee and left on their usual nightly jaunt. Of course, they had no idea what they would find if anything. It was hard to tell if the demons were getting smarter about staying out of sight or if the team was making such a dent in the demon population that there just were not many left to find. Frankly, everybody doubted the probability of the second alternative.

This time, they were luckier than on the previous night because they soon found a trace to follow. At least this time, Irene was sure that the demons she had found were not Sho-Sho Mamus. The traces were much too small, and were even smaller than that exhibited by the bats. Shit! These must be new demons that they had not seen before!

The small size of the demons tended to make the team members a bit cocky. Their conversation was certainly indicative of this. Ed woke up to the danger in time and cautioned the other team members not to get overconfident. He also suggested that the team members switch ammunition drums to buckshot because the target seemed too small to warrant the HE rounds. The moment he saw the new demons he was damned glad that he had ordered the switch in ammunition.