9:40 a.m. PST
Powell’s City of Books
>Blue Light<
Teddy appeared on the other side of Burnside Street across from Powell’s. Looking up and down the empty streets at the police barricades, he smiled, as the sun peeked out from an overcast sky, and SWAT snipers on nearby roofs ominously viewed him through their scopes. Inhaling a deep breath of freedom, Teddy sighed. It smelled so, so fragrant to be free.
–Welcome, oh great and wondrous son of God. Thy worldly ministry begins today, boomed the voice in his head.
“Good to be out,” said Teddy.
He punched the crosswalk button and then realizing what he had just done, chuckled to himself and crossed the street.
Then, as he approached the main entrance.
–Whoa! Wait a second! exclaimed the voice. Where’s Morgen? He was supposed to bring you! Where is he?
“Oh, he figured out that we were probably going to kill him and decided not to come,” said Teddy nonchalantly. “I left the chicken cowering at the prison.”
–You what?
Teddy reached the other side of the street and waved at his happy followers inside as they pulled down the barricade inside to let him in.
–That’s not how this was supposed to work! He needs to be with you!
“Why?” asked Teddy as he opened the door. “We don’t need that sniveling asshole. He delivered me as you requested.”
–But I meant in person. God wanted him here in person! It’s part of God’s holy plan!
“Well, if it’s God’s holy plan, then let God go get him,” said Teddy, smiling at the eager female faces waiting for him in front of the cash register checkout. “In the meantime, I’m going to have a prayer meeting.”
“I’ve got a frequency and a trace of Teddy’s implants,” growled Corporal Fang over the communicator to Commander Pinky in the SWAT command center.
“Jam it. Now!” ordered Commander Pinky.
–God orders you to… the voice petered out.
Teddy gazed at welcoming adoring smiles.
“Blessing be upon all you,” rejoiced Teddy as he walked through the front door. “Who is the shepherd of my flock here?”
Naomi proudly stepped forward. “I am, Holy Teddy,” she said.
Teddy reached his arm around Naomi’s waist. “Then as a reward, it will be with you that I shall share the first purified seed with.”
Naomi lit up. “I am fertile and I shall try to be worthy of your divine grace,” she excitedly exclaimed. “Shall we plant the holy seed now?” she asked, pointing to a ceremonial cot in the middle of the floor.
Teddy nodded. “But first, Naomi,” he said as they walked toward the cot, “I want to thank everyone for what you have done for me today, and before we plant the holy seed, I need to know how many seeds I will sow today before we leave on our celestial trip. I count twenty here.”
“There are eighteen more by the other entrance,” said an anxious Naomi. She unfastened her jeans and allowed them to fall to the floor. “There are two more with the large man guarding your children.”
Naomi pulled off her underwear and laying on the cot, she spread her legs.
Teddy gazed upon his flock.
“Gather around us, my children,” said Teddy, waving everyone to him. “And witness the divine energy of salvation. Those who want the holy seed planted doggy-style line up on my left, missionary on the right. We’ll alternate.”
Teddy unzipped his pants and lay on top of Naomi.
“I will now perform the sacred thrust,” announced Teddy with a flourish.
He gently pushed himself into Naomi as she moaned.
“Praise be,” said Teddy. “What floor are my holy children being well guarded on?”
“On the holy third floor!” Naomi sighed happily.
“Praise be unto the heavens and the holy guarded third floor,” exalted Teddy as he thrust.
“Yes! On the third floor,” moaned Naomi, “with Satan’s bitches.”
Teddy suddenly stopped and stared downward at Naomi. “Satan’s bitches? What bitches?”
Using her hands, Naomi tried in vain to keep Teddy moving. “Julie and the tall one…” She grunted, giving up in frustration. “The big man was forced to bring them and two other children.”
A Little Earlier
“I don’t feel good about you going in there alone,” said President Bennett as she watched Wyatt finish tying the laces on his boot in the restroom of the theater they now used as a command post.
Standing, Wyatt picked up his Glock, and shoved it into his shoulder harness.
“I can’t have large numbers of assault troops suddenly appearing in the middle of Powell’s,” he responded. “I have two pregnant wives and four children who could get caught in a crossfire.”
“Besides,” added Wyatt, “I won’t be alone. I’ll have Romeo and Juliet with me.”
“I know you’re right,” admitted President Bennett. “But I still don’t feel good about it.”
“That’s the cost of being in charge,” said Wyatt, squaring up the stocking cap on his head.
>Blue Light<
Arby appeared next to Wyatt. “Heard you have some trouble, Wyatt. Could someone please give me a gun so I can help?”
Wyatt looked at President Bennett and winked. “Could you take care of him?”
“Of course,” said President Bennett with a smile, and Arby followed her out of the room.
>Blue Light<
Appearing in front of him, Heidi immediately rushed into Wyatt’s warm embrace.
“You know what to do?” asked Heidi.
“Whatever it takes,” answered Wyatt.
Meanwhile, on the Third Floor
Cutter paced nervously back and forth in the rare book room, wondering what happened to the angel-lady. She had been speaking to him almost constantly ever since the early morning breakout, and now he heard nothing but silence and static in his brain. He suddenly felt like a soldier who had been separated from his unit in the midst of a battle, isolated and on his own, with danger lurking around every corner. Stopping, he looked in the baskets holding Beau and Niki.
“So, these are the children of the son of God,” grunted Cutter. “They don’t look very Goddamn special to me.”
He looked down at Julie holding Tavi, giving him a dirty look.
“What are you staring at, bitch?” sneered Cutter.
Julie, not wanting to provoke Cutter, especially with Tavi in her arms, averted her eyes to Tavi and concentrated on rocking her. Cutter looked at Claire sitting next to Julie, doing the same with Ariane. He walked to her and scowled downward.
“Now I’m not supposed to do anything to her since she’s the mother of the son of God’s children,” said Cutter with a smirk while pointing his gun at Julie. “But nobody said anything about you.”
Cutter pointed his gun at Claire.
“Now I’m going to give you something to suck,” announced Cutter, “and you’re going to suck it really good until I tell your French ass to stop!”
Claire, terrified, shook her head.
With his free hand, Cutter suddenly lashed out with all the force that he could muster, and backslapped Claire hard across her face. Julie screamed as Claire’s head recoiled backwards and blood from a cut lip splattered in the air and onto Ariane. Feeling the force of the blow against her mother, Ariane cried. Quickly recovering, Claire frantically cooed and rocked Ariane to quiet and protect her. Cutter balled up his fist in the air and…
“What the fuck are you doing?” shouted Teddy.
Cutter turned around to see Teddy rushing towards him. “Leave her alone! Don’t touch her again!” he ordered.
Reaching for a nearby roll of paper towels, Teddy tore off a few sheets. He knelt down and looking into Claire’s eyes. He handed them to her. “Are you ok?”
“Well, la-de-da,” sneered Cutter, “so, the son of God has finally decided to grace us with his presence. Where the hell have you been? And, why the fuck, are you so concerned about her? Isn’t she one of the bitches squirting out children for the son of Satan?”
Teddy stood and faced Cutter. “Just do what you’re told and leave her alone!”
Cutter stared hard into Teddy’s face. “You know what I’ve been wondering lately?”
“You have the imagination to be able to wonder?” growled Teddy back.
Just then Beau and Niki started making a lot of noise. Cutter frowned at the two babies and wondered why they were suddenly so agitated. He held up his hand. He wanted to smack them to shut them the fuck up but, instead, turned his attention back towards Teddy.
“I’ve been wondering why the angel-lady took me this morning and not you. And why did she wait until now to bring you here? And why have I been doing all the heavy lifting? I’ve been thinking. Where the fuck is she? Maybe she’s testing me! Maybe you’re not the son of God after all!”
Cutter motioned towards Julie.
“Maybe I’m the real son of God and you’re just a stupid fucking actor who got totally fucked over by that cunt sitting over there!”
“You should shut up and just do what you’re told!” shouted Teddy.
“Or what?” sneered Cutter.
“What do you mean or what?”
“I feel like experimenting?” Cutter smirked.
“Experimenting?” responded a confused Teddy.
Cutter walked to the side of the room and pulled a large bowie knife from a sheath.
“Yes, experimenting,” said Cutter, turning and walking ominously towards Teddy. “I wonder what would happen if I gut you like a fish?” asked Cutter. “Will the skies thunder and lightning flash?”
“Only one way to find out,” growled Teddy, standing his ground as Cutter approached. “Are you willing to defy God and dare his wrath?”
Not hesitating a moment as he walked, Cutter plowed into Teddy and thrust the knife into his stomach. Julie and Claire screamed in horror while they desperately clutched Ariane and Tavi against their bodies to protect them.
Staring at Cutter while he pulled out the knife, Teddy staggered sideways, clenching his abdomen.
Cutter turned and waved the bloody knife in Julie and Claire’s direction. “You two shut the fuck up!”
In agonizing pain, Teddy looked down at his gushing wound and then over at Julie.
“Julie, I’m so sorry,” choked Teddy. And he fell unconscious to the floor.
Julie holding Tavi, stood from her chair. With her free hand, she grabbed the roll of paper towels. Then racing to Teddy, she kneeled and pressed the roll tightly against his wound.
“Julie, I’m so sorry. I’m…so…sorrrry!” mocked Cutter, waving the knife in the air. “Shit! What a Goddamn pussy!”
He looked down at Julie. “Leave him alone!” ordered Cutter.
“But he’ll die!” pleaded Julie.
“Good.” Cutter smirked. “It’ll give him a chance to be resurrected and prove me wrong!”
He grabbed Julie by her pregnancy blouse, ripping it, and threw her back into her chair while she held Tavi tightly.
“Sit. The. Fuck. Down. Bitch!”
Cutter, turning, stared at Teddy laying in an enlarging pool of blood and looked into the air around him listening.
“Hmmm,” he mused. “No thunder! No lightning! Guess I was right!”
He turned back to Claire and held up the bloody knife. “Now you’re going to give me a really good blow job before I fuck you or I’m going to work on your baby with this for a while!”
He pointed at Julie. “And after I’m done with her,” he growled, “I’m coming for you, bitch. I’m the true son of God now and your mouth belongs to me. And if you’re not good to me I’m going to cut that baby from your pregnant pussy!”
Claire, distraught, looked at Ariane and then up at Cutter.
“Please, I’ll do anything you want,” sobbed Claire. “Just don’t hurt my baby!”
“Hand the kid to her,” ordered Cutter pointing at Julie, “and then get on your knees, bitch!”
Claire did as she was told and handed Ariane to Julie. Bracing herself on a chair, she knelt down in front of Cutter. Cutter reached down, and unzipping his fly, he pulled out a large, smelly erection.
A Few Minutes Earlier
“Praise be,” said Teddy. “What floor are my children being well guarded on?”
“On the holy third floor!” sighed a happy Naomi.
“Praise be unto the heavens and the holy guarded third floor,” exalted Teddy as he deployed the sacred thrust.
Wyatt turned off his earpiece as he looked around the men’s bathroom on the second floor of Powell’s. He tapped Romeo and Juliet to get their attention.
“That’s our cue,” whispered Wyatt.
Kneeling down, he pointed at Romeo. “As we go up the stairs, I want you on my left and Juliet on my right. Those are also your targets. Romeo, you have the female guard on the left, and Juliet, you have the one on the right. I’ll take Cutter. You two understand?”
They nodded.
“Also,” he added, “stun only. I’ve decided I don’t want any deaths today if I can help it.”
Wyatt quietly pulled back the slide on his Glock. “If I’m able, I’ll try to wound Cutter.”
Romeo and Juliet nodded.
Wyatt was glad he hung out at Powell’s so much and knew the layout almost by heart. He had chosen the men’s bathroom on the second floor as a staging point because it was centrally located and close to the stairs so they could maneuver up or down in the building quickly. Also, because the kidnappers, except for one, were female, he knew they probably wouldn’t be using the male bathroom. Thus, a good place to hide the tell-tale blue light flash. He was also grateful Commander Pinky had been able to alter all blue light implants slightly so they wouldn’t be affected by Cutter’s disrupter jamming.
Wyatt heard running in the hallway. When he cracked open the door, he saw Teddy disappear up the stairwell.
“What the hell?” he muttered to himself.
Wyatt slowly opened the bathroom door and looked both ways down the hall while he listened for voices.
Seeing and hearing nothing coming their way, he stepped quietly out the door with Romeo and Juliet at his sides. The stairwell was only twenty feet away to the left. The three silently made their way to the bottom of the stairs. As he faced the stairs, Wyatt saw the elevator on his right and had an idea. He pushed the up button on the elevator and heard the elevator rising. At the second floor the doors opened and Wyatt reached inside and pressed the 3rd floor button. The doors closed, and the elevator started upward again. Wyatt and Romeo and Juliet crept swiftly up the flight of stairs as the elevator noise masked their footsteps.
As expected, when they reached the top of the stairs, the two female guards carrying weapons were curiously walking towards the elevator. Romeo and Juliet didn’t hesitate and immediately zapped both of them. Their timing was perfect and the two women fell to the floor just as the elevator door dinged open, muffling the sound of them falling. Cutter and Wyatt’s family were nowhere in sight. Wyatt then pointed Juliet to the stairs where she stood guard while Wyatt and Romeo searched.
Wyatt crept forward. In his head he shouted, Beau…Nik-Nik…where are you?
Nothing.
He crept a few more steps. Beau…Nik-Nik…?
Nothing.
…a few more steps. Beau…Nik-Nik…
Faintly he heard a faint chorus of… Da-Da, Da-Da, Da-Da.
Wyatt looked around. He knew their range was only about forty feet so they had to be at the far end of the rare book room on his right.
As he crept closer to the door, it became louder. Da-Da, Da-Da, Da-Da.
Beau, Nik-Nik—Daddy’s on his way!
At the rare book room door, Wyatt peered around the corner through the glass as far as he could see. The room was long and narrow. At the far end, Cutter was arguing with Teddy and Wyatt saw Julie and Claire holding Ariane and Tavi. Claire’s face looked swollen and bloody. Beau and Niki were on the counter in baskets.
Cutter scowled at the two babies and wondered why they were suddenly so agitated. He held up his hand. He wanted to smack them to shut them up, but instead turned his attention back towards Teddy.
Wyatt didn’t like the ugly expression on Cutter’s face, and it was immediately obvious to him that he had to get Cutter out of the room and as far away from his family as quickly as possible. Wyatt looked around. Twenty feet from the door were three tall rows of bookshelves. He holstered his weapon and signaled to Romeo to stand ready twenty-feet away at the side. He pointed towards the door. Wyatt tiptoed to the nearest shelf and pushed. It was heavy, large, and full of books. It barely moved. Again, Wyatt leaned against the shelf and pushed harder. It moved a little further while Romeo concentrated on the door.
Just then Wyatt heard female screams. In a panic, he wedged himself against the bookshelf one more time. He thought of his family waiting for him in the next room and gathered every bit of strength he had in him as a father and a husband and pushed as hard as he could. The bookshelf rocked forward and then backward. Wyatt used the momentum to keep it moving.
Just then, Cutter, waiting for Claire to grasp his manhood in her mouth, heard the bookshelf rocking. Pushing his erection back in his pants, he zipped up and cautiously crept towards the door.
With one last mighty shove, the bookshelf toppled. Wyatt’s feet slipped and the falling bookshelf slammed into the floor with Wyatt on top of it. The impact popped Wyatt’s weapon from his holster onto the floor and was covered with an avalanche of books.
Almost to the front of the room, the noise startled Cutter. Racing forward, he burst through the door with his 9mm cocked and ready. Immediately, he spotted a dazed Wyatt, ten feet away, scrambling from a pile of books, frantically searching the area for his weapon.
Romeo had a shot until the opening door blocked him. Noticing Romeo as the door began to close Cutter ducked behind the end of a bookshelf and pointed his gun at Wyatt raising his hands while Romeo started to move get into a better firing position.
Wyatt quickly realized that if Romeo moved Cutter would have a clear path to retreat back into the rare book room.
“Hold your ground, Romeo!” shouted Wyatt. “Stay where you’re at.”
Romeo remained in position.
“Fucking demon! Angel-lady told me what your devil dogs could do!” shouted Cutter, while he held his weapon on Wyatt. “Tell your dog to stand down or I’ll shoot you!”
“I can’t do that,” said Wyatt, staring at Cutter.
“NO! NO! NO!” screamed Cutter in a frenzy. “You tell your dog to back off NOW! Or I’ll shoot both of you dead! Then I’ll go back and fuck up your women and kids with my Bowie knife, just for the hell of it!”
Sweat trickled down Cutter’s face while he stared at Wyatt and then Romeo and then back at Wyatt. Wyatt noticed the muscles in the Cutter’s gun hand begin to tense.
Suddenly in that micro-second between moments Wyatt remembered seeing Julie the first time on the beach, Beau and Niki being born, Madeline in a field of daffodils, Kaeti at the Wannsee, Helen, Anna, and Sara flying around him, Gretchen standing proudly by her king, followed by a thousand other rapid memories until… “I love you, Daddy,” said Helen.
Wyatt smiled and waved his hand. “Ok! Ok,” he said. “Wait!”
Cutter, puzzled, relaxed a bit and snarled at Wyatt. “What the hell are you smiling about?”
“You couldn’t possibly understand,” said Wyatt, shaking his head.
“Tell your dog!” growled a confused and agitated Cutter nodding towards Romeo “Tell your Goddamn devil dog to drop his fucking collar NOW!”
>Blue Light<
Just then, five feet away on Wyatt’s left, Arby appeared.
“Wyatt,” said Arby, whipping his beautiful crown feathers around in the air. “I still need a gun, but no one will give me one!”
Arby turned towards Cutter, obviously in shock. “Oh…hello. Will you give me a gun?”
While Arby distracted Cutter,Wyatt suddenly extended his wings
“Romeo,” he shouted . “SHOOT TO KILL!”
And Wyatt flew at Cutter to push him into Romeo’s line of fire.
Juliet blasted a hole in the wall and raced into the rare book room. “Get behind the counter!” ordered Juliet.
Julie and Claire without hesitation dived downward. Juliet quickly examined Beau and Niki to make sure they were alright. Then, using her teeth, she lifted the baskets by their handles and handed them to Julie and Claire. Moving to the side, she took up a defensive position to protect everyone.
In the meantime, Romeo leaped over Cutter’s dead body and ran to Wyatt on his knees next to him, clutching his bleeding abdomen while gasping for air. From the dark color of the oozing blood, Romeo knew that the two bullets Cutter had fired, before Romeo was able to fire a plasma beam through his skull, had hit Wyatt’s liver, possibly also his spleen. Wyatt collapsed onto the floor, spitting out blood. Despite his other-plane-of-existence DNA, Romeo knew that he had maybe five minutes tops.
“Frankenstein! Frankenstein! Frankenstein!” shouted Romeo. “Man down, third floor! Man down, third floor!”
“Herr General…Wyatt,” he said, licking his face. “Stay with me! Hold on! Help’s on the way! Juliet’s protecting the children!”
Wyatt slowly reached up and scratched Romeo behind the ears. “Tell Juliet that you and her were always so much, much more to me than just man’s best friends…”
Arby looked over Romeo’s shoulder. “What about me?”
“Pretty birdy,” choked Wyatt with a slight smile.
Wyatt looked at Romeo and nodded towards the noise coming from the second floor. “Stun only.”
Romeo heard footsteps running up the stairwell behind him. Turning, he angrily fired on stun as fast as he could though, in his anger, he wanted to go to full lethal again.
“Fucking Teddy Bear bitches!” screamed Romeo as he stood in front of Wyatt defending him.
“Come on—you fucking assholes!”
Romeo furiously kept firing.
Beau, Nik-Nik, ok? asked Wyatt in his head, laying on his side in a fading haze watching Romeo fire.
Good doggy, Da-Da, good doggy, came his answer.
And a moment later …Pretty birdy.
Wyatt smiled. Then in the distance he saw an oak tree and his eyes slowly closed.
“That’s the go-code,” said the president to Commander Pinky. “The family is secured. They’re all yours.”
Commander Pinky turned to the forty men and tigers behind her. “Deflectors on!” growled Commander Pinky. “Team Alpha BLT to the front door. Team Bravo BLT to the back. Stun only. Medical team and Team Charlie gather on me to the third floor. Let’s hope we’re not too late!”