Retribution Road by Jon Coon (e reader comics .TXT) 📕

then there was a heart on a silver platter that was beating all on its own. I swear it was the most bizarre and yet the most real dream I’ve ever had. Does any of that mean anything to you?”

On her end of the phone, Alethea’s mouth turned in a rare grin. “The things you described, were they part of some kind of ceremony?”

“Yes, I think it was a healing ceremony for you. There were several others there dressed in robes like druids.”

“That explains a lot. Gabe, what you saw may not have been a vision or a dream. Did you have anything to eat or drink during the ceremony?”

“Yes, they gave me a goblet of—”

“Heavy red wine?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“That explains a lot. First, I need to thank you. That ceremony probably saved my life. Then I need to warn you. That’s a very powerful ritual. It’s been well over a hundred years since anyone has attempted La Traspuesta. It’s an old Spanish term for a sacrificial substitution. Only the most powerful have ever attempted it, much less been successful with it. That’s why Cas needed you. It was your power that made it work. It’s what I’ve believed all these years: Your combined power can do things the ancients could only dream about.”

“And the wine?”

“Don’t be too angry, but my guess is she roofied you, she needed your help and didn’t believe she could convince you, so she did the only thing she could in the time she had—she drugged you. Don’t feel too badly, you didn’t lose your virginity or any important working parts. And you did save my life. There is that.”

“But she could have asked—”

“Don’t be too hard on her, Gabe. She was desperate to do a good thing, and at least she didn’t use your heart.”

“The heart on the platter, where—”

“Do you really want to know? She might tell you, but then again . . .”

That stopped Gabe dead in his tracks. “I thought it was all a dream. Nothing like that could be real.”

“Oh, Gabe, after everything you’ve seen and done, how can you say something like that? My dear sweet boy, it’s time for you to rethink what’s real and what you wish was your imagination.”

“Alethea, if that was real and it saved you, then I’m glad, but I’m going to have a serious conversation with Cas. If she drugged me, she’s really crossed a line and it has to stop.”

Alethea put down the phone and turned to Cas, who was standing beside her listening intently.

“How mad is he?”

“I think you should avoid him for a while. Right now, I think he might wring your neck.”

“But, Mémère, it worked. It saved you and everything we believed about him is true.”

Emily and Paul pulled Tom away from his desk and asked him to come to the bunker’s boardroom. There, he was met by the family singing birthday greetings and the surprise party they’d planned. Emily had gone all out to decorate the command center conference room with banners and balloons. There were several presents from his family and a few boxes from the Bensons, the Rangers, and others. Tom, who had been so focused, so worried about Maria, had forgotten—or ignored—the date on the calendar.

He checked to make sure he had his cell phone and the secure phone used only to contact Senator Benson before blowing out the sixty-five candles on his cake. He checked both phones again and then cut the cake while Emily served ice cream and iced tea.

As the food disappeared, but before the presents were opened, Tom rose, and with a spoon, chimed a tea glass until the small crowd was quiet.

“Thank y’all. Not that I need to be reminded of how fast the years pass when you’re fortunate enough to have reached my age—that would be the age of dinosaurs and petroglyphs. I don’t need to tell you these are dangerous times. One look at what’s left of our home is plenty proof of that. And I don’t need to tell you this isn’t over. But I might just remind you that Maria is still out there in harm’s way, and that she needs our prayers, and that in whatever is to come, we go forward with the assurance that God is on our side and will protect us. That’s all. I couldn’t be more blessed than to have all my family here to help celebrate this day. Thank you again.”

There were nice shirts from the grandchildren, a pair of hand-sewn boots from Carol and Gabe, and an engraved Colt Peacemaker from the Ranger battalion. Senator Benson had sent an engraved brass plaque from the state of Texas thanking him for saving the refinery. And then there was one box remaining with tags that read DRY ICE. It was a heavy box the size of a small cooler.

Tom cut the tape with his pocketknife and lifted out the Styrofoam lid, then dropped the knife and fell back into his chair.

“Oh, God, please no!”

From the bottom of the cooler Maria’s head, eyes still open, stared up at him with a silent scream on her lips.

Gabe jumped to his feet and put the cover back on the cooler. Jimmy the Geek and the other techs followed Tom out of the room while Gabe carried the box to the galley and put it in the walk-in freezer. He put a hand on the box and prayed in anguish, “Dear Lord, this has to stop. We need that miracle and we need it soon.”

He returned to the conference room. Carol held Emily, who was crying hysterically. Paul held Angelica’s hands and looked sick. They were all shell-shocked. Gabe went to Carol and Emily. He wrapped both of them in his arms and held them close.

“We’re not safe here,” Carol said.

“We’re not safe anywhere,” he whispered back and hoped she hadn’t heard. It could have been a bomb. It could have been anything. “You’re right. Until this stops—and we