#haunted artifacts

Finally Case’s voice cut through the slightly uneasy silence that had fallen throughout the interior of the car. “Boys, we got a problem.  Mel get in the floor…NOW!”  This was not a request, it was a command, and one that Melania did without question or hesitation.  

Gabe was leaning over her a second later, his gun resting in his lap, safety off.    She could hear the engine of the SUV rev as Case accelerated and they were all thrown towards the passenger side of the vehicle as he cornered, drifting the back end through the turn.  The screech of tires behind them a few seconds later told Mel all she needed to know…they were being tailed.  “How many?” Klaus asked as he pulled body armor from behind the seat, putting one over Mel, then handing another to Gabe.  

“One SUV, at least two passengers.  Driver has a pistol, passenger has a… FUCK!” Case cornered hard again as the distinctive ping of a round hitting the body of the vehicle was heard.  “rifle.  I’d guess AR, but there’s hella reflection off of their windshield.”  It was clear he was frustrated.

Klaus slid over the back of the seat, to be in the rear of the SUV.  Donning his own body armor, he pulled out his cell as he dug through the cases of munitions and firearms that were back there.  Getting a hold of Donovan, he let him know the situation.  “Head to the dig, our boys will be waiting for these fuckers when we hit the tree line.” Another few hard turns, and they were headed out of town.  Case had the accelerator floored as the engine whined.  Of course Ambrose had secured vehicles that would surpass the limits of the normal factory models, but they were at speeds well over 100mph now.  Klaus had called Nic and after an exchange of profanity laden information, there was another SUV with Nic and Ambrose headed to back them up as well.  

“Why are they after us?  None of us were in those pictures, and Andreas had said those were his only targets.”  Gabe growled as he acted as a shield over Mel. “They don’t know we don’t have Andreas.  No doubt his employer has noticed him missing by now.” Klaus growled as an AR came over the back of the seat to rest next to Gabe.

“And, I realized what at least Sasha and Alexander have in common.” Case added from the front as another hard turn was made.  “They were on that dig that went south in Peru with Mel.  The one with the amulet of second sight.”

“Damn!  That means anyone who knows where that thing is could be a target.”  Klaus leaned against the back of the rear seat as he watched the other SUV trying to keep pace with them as they headed up towards the mountain the dig site was on. “If they’re taking out those who know, my guess is that it’s more information they’re wanting to bury.  You’ve got two of the preeminent archaeologists in Europe on that list; that can’t be coincidence.”  Gabe surmised.  “Although…Alexander and Sasha’s names were on the permits for that dig.  We all know the nice little artifact that Mel got ahold of.  If there’s more of that kind or of historical references of the dark arts, then it could be that they’re wanting to shut it down because there’s something bigger there.”  He added looking down at Mel with a tight lipped expression.  He felt sorry for her getting in the middle of this.  After what had happened in Peru, he felt the woman should have a break.  Seemed she walked back into the line of fire completely by accident.  

Another ping of a round hitting the body of the vehicle broke his thoughts as he looked back at Klaus.  The other man had almost gotten his setup complete.  Time to return fire.  Make those mother fuckers back off till they could get to where they had more cover.

“Case, you’re gonna lose the back window…now,” was all the warning anyone in the vehicle got before Klaus fired.  

The bullet took out half the back window and hit the hood of the trailing SUV.  The driver swerved, causing his passenger to be jostled about and messing up the shot he was trying to take at the time.  The bullet went far wide of the SUV, into the trees on the side of the road.   Klaus fired again, hitting one of the tires this time.  The SUV jerked again, and slowed, but didn’t give up chase.

“Fuckers are persistent.  This thing have any more power, Case?”  Gabe yelled forward, pulling on his ear to try to get rid of the ringing from the high caliber shots had caused. “We’re going to find out!”  Case yelled back and pushed the SUV even harder.  

They were pulling away from the SUV and getting closer to where Donovan and Dez had taken up sniper positions at the tree line of the dig site so they would be able to disable the SUV before it got to the actual site.  As the opening of the trees became visible, another black Mercedes SUV could be seen gaining on the one trailing the group.  Ambrose and Nic were arriving on scene and the sound of shots coming from the rear meant they were ready for a fight too. Case ignored all the sounds of shots and focused only on getting through that tree line and to the site.  He blocked out every sound and became fixed on the other black SUV that had been parked in such a way as to provide cover for the door to the Quonset hut that had been erected to protect the dig site from the elements.  Bless whichever of the guys had thought to give him that gift.  It would hopefully get Mel into the building safe while giving him and Klaus cover to hide behind.  

“HOLD ON!” Case yelled over his shoulder as the SUV cleared the tree line.  Dust and gravel flew up behind them, blocking the view of the SUV following them.  Using all of his driving skills, Case was able to brake, steer, and accelerate in the right combination to bring the SUV to a stop 3 feet from the building, running parallel alongside it.  “Gabe, get her ass inside.”  

Not waiting for a response, Case grabbed the body armor and rifle in the back seat as he saw Klaus slipping out the tailgate and advancing towards the hood  of the other SUV.  In a flash his own body armor was on and he was doing likewise.  Both men’s rifles were trained on where the SUV should emerge from the treeline.   While the sound of the gunshots from their teammates had been obscured by the sounds of the gravel before, the sound of a large vehicle striking a tree now was unmistakable.  

Klaus and Case held position.  They didn’t know which of the SUV’s that had been behind them had wrecked and they weren’t going to give up the advantage of having good cover to hide behind.  The treeline was now unable to be seen, the dust from the way that Case had brought their SUV to a stop was still hanging in the air.    The question of which it was got answered less than a minute later when there were two shots that were unmistakable as pistol.  They didn’t need to see the scene to know that instead of being taken prisoner, the driver and passenger of the vehicle had ended their own lives.  This was going to put Nic and Ambrose in just peachy moods, they were both sure of this. 

A moment later, Donovan and Dez came walking out of the swirling dust, rifles hung against their backs.  Both were shaking their heads and obviously highly annoyed.  Klaus and Case lowered their rifles as the two drew nearer; throwing the slings over their shoulders so their rifles hung like the other two’s did.  They leaned against the SUV watching the two frustrated mercenaries.  “This ain’t gonna be pretty.”  Case said looking over to Klaus with an expression that said they both knew that Ambrose and Nic were going to go ballistic if they couldn’t find anything out from the wrecked SUV that was still near the road and a ways from the treeline. “No shit!  At least none of ours got hit or killed.  Though I’m not sure they’re going to like what I did to the back window.”  He chuckled as Case shook his head.  Dez and Donovan reached them and all four turned to head into the building.  Might as well rest where the environment was more comfortable, when the two boss men got up there it was going to be anything but.

As soon as Donovan cleared the door he came to a halt, hands up.  “For the love of God, please tell me these are from the two of you hiding somewhere.”   

Dez raised his eyebrows to look around and saw two red dots in the middle of Donovan’s chest.  “If not, you’re fucked.”

Both dots disappeared as Donovan shook his head.  “You know that’s not funny.”  He watched as Melania and Gabe came out of where they had been hidden.  He had to give them credit.  They had been pretty well hidden, until they moved he hadn’t noticed them.

“No, you know what’s not funny?  Being squished in the floor of a SUV while it’s being driven like it’s on a roller coaster track.  Oh, and being shot at, at the same time.”  Mel was pissed, and Klaus moved to intercept before she shot one of their own guys. 

“She may have made it so that if Andreas survives that he is never able to have children…with her foot.   And she quite literally threatened to shoot his dick off.  Not the day to mess with her bro.”  Case slapped Donovan on the shoulder as he passed heading to where there were some chairs setup.  

While Klaus and Mel talked in hush tones, the two obviously butting heads, the others found seats either in the folding chairs or on tables.  Dez jerked his head over towards them. “I take it that they’re….together?  Or is he just the one she wants to kill least?”  

“No, killing least would be me.”  Gabe chuckled.  “Together…” he coughed, “well, from what I walked in on at the hotel…yeah.  I think they literally kissed and made up.”  He smirked.

“Who gave her a gun?”  Donovan laughed as he watched the two arguing about something.

“She stole Gabe’s pistol and shot Andreas.  After that, no one was going to tell her no.”  Case answered with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I was the lucky bastard out of the four of us who had laid our guns down in the room with Andreas.”  Gabe said sarcastically.  “She wanted to keep it and after watching her shoot Andreas, I wasn’t going to tell her no.  I like my cock where it is.”  He chuckled.

“Wait…wait…”  Donovan laughed, “you’re telling me that little prima ballerina literally shot Andreas?  Andreas, Klaus’s cousin?”  

“Yes.”  Case and Gabe answered at the same time.  “And threatened to put a bullet through his cock before knocking his chair over and driving her heel into his groin.”  Both Case and Gabe slightly cringed at the memory before Gabe continued. “Yeah, she went all badass.  And I thought she and Klaus were going to kill each other before we could get out of the hotel.  Maybe we should go get the weapons from those two.”  He chuckled.