Chapter 22: Airport Ambush

Their flight to Phoenix was uneventful for the most part. Abigail did hold Paul's hand during the take off. She thanked him for comforting her through the take off, pretending that he was helping her. Paul knew she was trying to save him from embarrassment and smiled in appreciation.

"Abigail, I've told you that I've never flown in an airplane before," Paul said with a rueful smile. "I'll admit that I'm scared spitless and I appreciate you trying to spare my feelings. I appreciate you giving me something to hold on to when I was so scared I thought I might mess my pants."

Abigail just smiled in return and patted his hand again. She didn't remove her hand this time.

Ava was aware of the interaction but pretended not to notice. She had to suppress a little smile. "Maybe," she thought to herself, "there will be another wedding in the future.

Ben and Pete were holding up signs saying 'Delgado' and 'Wilson' at the Phoenix airport. They were waiting for the passengers to exit the plane that had just arrived.

"Do you know what Susan's mom looks like?" Ben asked Pete.

"Nope," Pete replied. "She has some pictures but nothing recent and they're all in black and white anyway. I might be able to recognize her from the pictures but I doubt it."

"I thought cops were trained to recognize people from pictures like that," Ben said. "What? Didn't you take that class?" He was smiling as he scanned the crowd so Pete knew that Ben was only ribbing him.

"Classes can't compensate for old pictures and shaky photographers. That takes a specialist, like a woman," Pete responded with a laugh.

Ben chuckled before saying, "Ain't that the truth." He was silent for a moment before saying, "We got pretty lucky in that department didn't we?"

Pete nodded as he scanned the crowd and said, "We sure did." He spotted his dad moving through the crowd. "There's my dad," he said and waved.

Paul saw Pete waving and broke into a grin before waving back.
"There's my son," he said proudly and led the two women through the crowd. His hand stayed on Abigail's arm or on the small of her back. It felt natural to him and Abigail was acting like it felt natural to her too.

The introductions were quick due to the crowd around them and they hurried to the baggage claim. It wasn't so quick that Pete missed the way his dad was paying extra attention to Abigail.

"Where is Sheila?" Ava asked.

"And Susan?" Abigail asked, echoing her new friend.

"They're at the ranch," Ben said casually.

"We couldn't all come in one vehicle," Pete explained. "Gas prices jumped again so we decided against bringing the Bronco too. I don't know what the prices are like in Texas but they went up to fifty seven cents a gallon here. We decided that taking you to them would be a lot cheaper. Besides, it isn't that long a drive."

The five of them took their time getting to the Rambler station wagon. Ben and Pete knew that the three parents may still be a little stiff from traveling, even though they only spent three hours in the air.

Eli sat in a battered Chevy pickup within sight of the big Rambler station wagon. The Dream had shown him this spot. It had shown him two relatively young men and an old man with two old women getting into the Rambler. His task was to cause them to have a wreck, hopefully a wreck that is fatal to some of them.

Eli didn't know when a Dream would come to him or the tasks that would be given. He tried to seek the Dream a few times when he thought he needed guidance. The only results had been nightmares for weeks. The nightmares worse than his normal night terrors that he had learned to live with. The Dream was always powerful and compelling when it bloomed in his mind and it left no doubt as to what his actions should be.

Normally the Dream would show him a way to directly strike at the hated Magi. Twice in the last year the Dream had shown Eli his nemesis, or what would be his nemesis if he were allowed to grow and mature in the normal way. The first time was just before summer solstice. He had followed the instructions in the Dream exactly as ordered. Somehow, the baby was born despite his efforts. Eli learned of his failure to kill the unborn child in the Dream immediately after the Summer Solstice. No instructions were given to him that time. He only received nightmares from the Dream that were so horrific that he was left cowering in a dark closet for weeks. Eli received his next Dream just two weeks before. Remembering the results of his failure the last time, Eli sent his vassal, Cocheta to carry out the attack. Cocheta failed but he did bring a couple of nice presents to make up for his failure. The presents didn't alleviate Cocheta's failure, especially since the man died, so Eli made him suffer. The woman only distracted Eli slightly from Cocheta's suffering.

Then, today, while awake, the Dream came to Eli again. He had to be in the airport parking garage. He had to kill or damage these five people. Eli knew he wasn't striking directly at a Mage. He knew his only purpose was to hurt the Mage that would be his nemesis if the boy was allowed to mature. But Eli was afraid. He remembered his punishment when he failed to kill the baby and shuddered.

Eli remembered many things while he waited. He remembered the terror, pain and torment of his birth. His mother was in a small skiff on an unnamed bayou about a hundred miles north of New Orleans. The year was 1866 and members of the Ku Klux Klan that had been organized the year before were after his mother. Eli learned, years later, that the KKK had received a foretelling from an unknown source about his birth. They had been warned of a great evil if the Creole woman gave birth.

She did give birth and protected her baby for five long years. She and Eli had survived on frogs, snakes, fish, and anything else they could find in the Louisiana swamps. The KKK finally caught up with his momma and she died screaming, but she didn't scream as loud as the men did when they died. Eli didn't kill them all at once. He did it one at a time and in view of the others. He built their terror in the small band of thirteen men as they watched one at a time die.

Water Moccasins swarmed the first man. The swamp animals obeyed him or suffered the consequences. Eli clouded the second man's mine and walked him into quicksand. Alligators and snakes kept the other men back to prevent the man's rescue but they could see him and hear him scream until the quicksand filled his mouth. One after another they died until it was the last mans turn, the leaders turn. Eli used alligators to cripple him. Eli, as a five year old, wasn't a physical match for a grown man so his critters were his equalizer. An alligator bit off one of the leaders feet. Eli gave him enough time to bind it and get started again. Another alligator bit off his other foot. Eli gave him time to nurse himself and get started again. A pair of 'gators bit off the leaders hands as he was crawling. Eli was close by with a small fire and a hot iron to cauterize the stumps. The leader lasted almost another day and he didn't look or sound human at the end. No one made it out of the swamp except the boy and sometime Eli questioned if that five year old really did escape.

Eli felt gratification to know that he lived long enough to witness the rise and fall of the organization that had killed his mother. Eli didn't object to their cause. Causes were beneath him. His own gratification was the only thing that mattered. That, and obeying the Dream. The Dream had been his guide since it showed him the men coming for him.

In retrospect, those early years were probably what made him abhor being away from cities. The young boy's introduction to city life was a meal cooked by a friendly black lady that wanted to take care of the poor homeless tyke. Of course, her attraction was Eli's doing and he had needed to kill her later. But, Eli had never tasted anything so fine as that meal and he never looked back. He could leave the cities but he didn't like to, other than to travel between them.

The years since that black lady rolled through his mind. His encounters with the Voodoo influences, both real and fake, encouraged him to keep moving around the southeastern portion of the United States. A battle with a powerful Voodoo Queen in 1892 caused him to explore the southwestern territories. She died in their battle but her followers were dedicated to his death. Eli was killing her followers for twenty years after his battle and had even been wounded a few times when they caught him unaware. Eli knew that he was lucky to win the battle with the Queen and even more lucky to escape her minions. He learned that she had fought other powerful Brujos, killing some and driving others out of her territory.

Eli straightened in his seat, driving the memories back into the darkness of his soul. He saw the people that he had seen in the Dream. He reached out with his mind to assess the best way to kill them. "The men will be easy," he thought to himself as he identified who would be driving. He slowly insinuated himself into his mind. Eli's mind touched the black woman and shrugged her off as unimportant. He touched the Indian bitch's mind and jerked back. She had power. She didn't have a lot to use for herself, but she had much that should could use to support another.

The Brujo started sweating. He didn't want to go through the torment he experienced when he failed last time. At the same time, he hadn't been warned of a woman of power being with this group. "Maybe the Dream, or whoever, or whatever, is behind the Dream doesn't know everything," Eli thought. Still, his punishment would be real so he needed to at least try.

Paul was surprised when he saw Ben move a short weapon to the front seat before loading baggage into the rear of the big vehicle.

"What is that Ben?" Paul asked.

"It's a, ah, shotgun," Ben answered hurriedly as he repositioned another piece of luggage.

Once they were all seated, Ben and Pete in the front, Paul, Abigail, and Ava in the back, Paul noticed Pete settle another shotgun beside him on the front seat.

"Pete. Is that another shotgun?" Paul asked.

"Yes dad." Pete held the short weapon up so his dad could better see the weapon. "It's one of the new Home Defense models from Mossberg."

"Why are you carrying two shotguns?" Paul asked. "Is Arizona that lawless?"

Ben and Pete looked at each other, nodded, and both turned to look into the backseat.

"Dad, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Sandoval," Pete said. "We originally planned on staying in town at Ben's tonight so you didn't get to tired from all the travel. But, we thought you would be anxious to see your daughters so, like we said, we changed the plans to taking you to the ranch tonight. It isn't that bad a drive and we should still get there before dark. The thing is, we'll be driving on back roads through the mountains. You don't have to worry though. The shotguns would scare off anything that might be a problem."

Abigail snorted in derision.

"For starters, I don't think the 'old folks' are as fragile as you think we are," Ava said drily. "I am curious about the real reason though."

"Pete, you never could tell a lie worth a damn," Paul said sternly. "I don't think any of us would object to going to the ranch tonight but it's not to accommodate the ladies. I don't think we need the shotguns to scare off varmints either. Why are we going and why do you have two shotguns?"

Ben and Pete looked at each other again. Ben shrugged his shoulders and Pete sighed then nodded. "Two shotguns and my service revolver dad. We thought it would be safer at the ranch than staying at Ben's place in town," Pete explained.