

The Angel Slayer

By

Steve Wharton

SMASHWORDS EDITION

*****

Published by:

Steve Wharton on Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Steve Wharton

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed for any commercial or non-commercial use without permission from the author. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No alteration of content is allowed. If you enjoyed this book, then encourage your friends to download their own free copy.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblances to persons, living or dead, or places events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

Cover Artwork and Design by Tonya Benton
CHAPTER ONE

Chief Petty Officer Ryan Simpson was one of the Navy's elite, he has been a Seal for fourteen years, and His specialty was being a sniper, with five combat tours in the Middle East. Simpson has twenty one conformed kills making him one of the best at his job. Simpson was going to get number twenty two today. Simpson was sitting on top one of the largest buildings in Bashier, Afghanistan. His target was Mohammad Alie Mishter; he was the number two man in the terrorist cell they had been tracking. Simpson checked his Marlin 444 again; the scope was sighted in at seven hundred fifty yards making this four hundred yard shot easy.

The radio crackled in Simpson's ear and he heard target five blocks to the south heading north. Simpson double checked that he had a round in the chamber of his rifle. He heard target three blocks away in his ear, Simpson put his eye to the scope and got ready to pull the trigger. Target is in third Jeep stopping in front of the hotel. Simpson scanned the occupants of the third Jeep finding Mishter in his scope. As Mishter stepped out of the Jeep and onto the sidewalk, Simpson squeezed the trigger and sent the two hundred grain bullet on its way to the target. The bullet hit Mishter right behind his right eye and sent brain matter splattering over his body guards. Simpson watched his target fall and looked up just at the RPG round hit his spot on the roof.

Simpson had no time to react; the explosion knocked Simpson back and showered his body with pieces of the cement and bricks from the building. Simpson felt a sharp burning pain in his chest; he looked down to see a piece of the conduit that had run along the top of the building imbedded in his chest. Simpson knew the pipe had pierced his heart. Simpson knew that his team members would never reach him before he died. He laid back and said a short prayer and closed his eyes.

Simpson saw the most pure white light coming towards him; he could feel the warmth of the light as it got closer to him. This is what it must feel like just before you die he thought. The light was almost on top of him when the form of an Angel took shape.

"Ryan now is not your time; our Lord God has work for you here." The Angel said.

"But why me, I haven't done anything to that would make the Lord pick me. I have sinned all my life."

"My child the Lord picked you for this task at your birth."

"But I'm nothing special, like I said I have sinned all my life, I haven't followed the Lords writings or teachings. I'm not a religious person. I haven't done anything that would make God keep me for this task he picked me for. Besides I'm ready to die."

"No my son, there is much work for you to do here."

The angel reached down and removed the conduit from Ryan's chest and he placed his hand over the wound, a bright white light came from his hand, the hole that the pipe had made closed and reopened more to the left of where it had hit him. The hole in his heart from the pipe was healed. Simpson knew he was not going to die.

"I will be in touch soon my son." The Angel said.

Ryan opened his eyes to the reality of what had just happened, he looked at his chest and saw that the pipe's location had moved from his heart to lying on the roof top. A long gash had been ripped into his side of his chest; Ryan knew he was still in trouble, but that he would not die. Darkness started to close in on him and he passed out.

The remainder of Ryan's team arrived to find him on the roof. The Officer in Charge called for a med-a-vac to get him back to the carrier sitting off the coast. The helicopter arrived and hovered above Seal team Twelve. They lowered a basket down and the team loaded Ryan into it and the OIC called the helicopter to haul Ryan up. As the basket was raising the pilot of the copter headed to the carrier. The pilot thought to himself, I'll be damned if I was going to lose this one.

The helicopter landed on the deck of the carrier and the medical team took Ryan right to the medical facility. The medical facility on the carrier was as good as any major hospital. There was not much they could not handle. The doctor in charge stabilized Ryan and had made arrangement to transfer Ryan to the hospital back in San Diego.

The doctors at the Naval Hospital in San Diego performed several surgeries on Ryan over the next couple of days. The kept Ryan sedated to keep his pain under control. Two weeks after his arrival Ryan woke up from his induced coma. The nurse paged the doctor and he came right to Ryan's room.

"Chief we did all we could for you. We performed eight surgeries on your chest and lung and two more on your left leg. All in all you're in pretty good shape." The doctor told Ryan.

"Doc how bad was it?"

"We had to take three quarters of your left lung and you have steel rods holding your left leg together. We plan on starting PT on you in the next day or two. I am afraid though it will end your military career."

Ryan started his PT the next day; they were able to get Ryan where he walked with the aid of a cane and where he did not need oxygen full time over the next six weeks. Ryan had moved from the temporary housing the Navy had put him back to his home in National City. He was just a couple of miles from the Naval hospital. His Seal team members came over to see him several times after his release from the hospital. They would work with him on his PT at home. They wanted Ryan back with team. They would not give up on him.

Ryan had been cleared by medical to return to work on light duty. He checked back into his Seal team to a round of cheers from all the Seal teams stationed at the Amphibious base. Ryan had one major restriction on him and that was no physical training. He could not stay with the Seal teams if he couldn't do the PT or pass the PT test. The third day back at work Ryan was summoned to the Executive Officer's office. Ryan knocked on the XO's door and was told to enter. Ryan walked in saluted and said "Chief Petty Officer Simpson reporting as ordered sir."

The XO returned the salute and said to Ryan, "Chief have a seat." Ryan sat down in the plush leather chair facing the XO's desk.

"What's up XO?"

"Chief I have orders for you from personnel. They are convening a medical board on you."

Ryan slumped in the chair, he knew that was bad news, it meant that the Navy felt he was no longer fit for duty and that he would be discharged from the Navy.

"Damn XO is there anything I can do about it."

I'm afraid not Chief. With the injuries you suffered in Afghanistan which were pretty serious. I'm betting they are going to discharge you."

"The board officially convenes tomorrow and you are scheduled to appear before the board on Monday."

Damn it XO, I've only got four and half years until I can retire. Is there anything we can do?"

"I wish there was Chief. Take the rest of the day off, and try not to worry about it to much."

"Yes sir, will do." Replied Ryan.

Ryan stood up and departed the XO's office. He was mad as hell at what was happening to him.
CHAPTER TWO

Over the last year since Ryan's injuries in Afghanistan he had often dreamed of the day on top of the building. He really wondered if the Angel's appearance was real. Now he was sure it wasn't as he walked away from the medical board. They had issued him a medical discharge and offered him a lifetime disability of ninety percent or a lump sum of three hundred thousand dollars. Ryan opted for the lump sum payment; he didn't want a monthly check to remind him of his injuries. He had the physical problems that would keep reminded the rest of his life.

Ryan went to bed the evening that he received the medical board's decision and he dreamed as he often did about that day in Afghanistan, only this time the dream went longer. The Angel that came to him on the rooftop stayed longer. Ryan saw images of the events that had happened leading up to walking away from the medical board. The Angel spoke to him, "my son our lord God had determined that now is the time to start your work for him. I will be your guide thru the tasks the lord has for you. All you need do is call my name and I will be there for you. My name is Gabriel."

Ryan woke with a start, He felt strangely at peace with what had occurred in his dream. He knew something big was going to happen in his life. Ryan fell back asleep and dreamed about doing small metal working making angels from pewter.

Ryan woke the next morning and after he ate breakfast he pulled out the yellow pages from the desk drawer and started looking up business where he could purchase the equipment to make the angel figures he had seen in his dream. It took Ryan almost a week to buy and set up the equipment. When he had everything set up he went about melting the metal and poured the first four molds. Ryan set them aside to cure.

The seventh night Ryan dreamed about the Angel again, this time the Angel placed his hands on Ryan's chest and left leg. The white light appeared again and the warmth of the light made Ryan feel good all over. After a few minutes the Angel departed and Ryan fell into a deep sleep. When Ryan woke the next morning right away he noticed the pain from his left leg was gone. He walked to his restroom and noticed that he was not out of breath. In fact Ryan felt like he did when he was active with the Seal teams.

Ryan ate his breakfast and went to his workshop and opened the Angel figures he had poured yesterday. When he opened the first mold he dropped it and said, "What the hell", The Angel he had poured looked like a gross beast. It had a combination of an Angel body and it had a demon's tail coming from it. Ryan picked the mold back up and examined it and none of the features of the figurine were in the mold. He opened the remaining three molds and found the same things the figurines had features that were not in the mold.

A delivery truck pulled up at Ryan's house and the driver walked up and said I have a delivery for Ryan Simpson.

"That's me, who are they from?"

"Don't know sir, I just deliver."

The delivery truck had no markings on it and the driver unloaded 5 boxes. The driver said thanks and got back into his truck and left.

Ryan carefully inspected each he found that there was no return address or markings of any kind indicating where the boxes had come from.

Ryan retrieved a crowbar from his tool box and carefully pried off the lid on the first box. In it was a mold for a long sword. He repeated the action on the second box and found a mold for a dagger. The next box contained a mixture of gold and silver, the fourth box contained a bottle of holy water. The fifth box contained several envelopes each sealed with a blob of wax that had the symbol of a cross pressed into it. Ryan returned the crowbar to his toolbox and picked up the envelopes and went inside. He opened each envelope and took out the instructions on how to make the sword and dagger, how to melt the metal and how mix the water with the melted metal.

The final envelope contained a letter that Ryan read

" _The molds that you have received are for the Angel sword and the Angel dagger. The metal a combination of gold and silver and the holy water, when mixed together during the melting process are what gives the sword and dagger their power. The sword and the dagger are the only things that can kill an Angel. Our Lord God has selected you from all of humanity to be his slayer. Your task is to mold the sword and dagger and protect them with your life. More instructions will come to you._

Gabriel

P. S. The holy water was blessed by our Lord God himself."

CHAPTER THREE

Ryan set about following the instructions to make the sword and dagger, he wasn't sure why but he knew he had to do it. Late the first evening he had melted the metals and mixed the holy water just as the instructions had said to do, he poured the mixture into the molds. The instructions said it would take four days for the material to cure.

While waiting for the curing process Ryan decided to try his hand at making more of the Angel figurines. Each time he opened the molds on the figures they looked nothing like the mold. Some of the figures had an animal head or they had an animal body. One came out as a coiled snake. Ryan couldn't figure out how they came out so different from the molds.

The forth day came and Ryan opened the molds for the sword and dagger. To his surprise the weapons already had razor sharp edges on them. He lifted them one at a time and found that they were a perfect fit for his hands. The only thing he had left to do was to put handles on them. Right after Ryan finished polishing the weapons the same delivery truck showed up with one final box. Ryan opened the box to find an exquisite set of what appeared to be pearl handles. He put them on the sword and dagger and tested them in his hands. They felt even better.

Ryan took the weapons into his bedroom and wrapped them in cloth and put them under his bed. Ryan went to the kitchen and poured a glass of tea when the delivery truck arrived again, this time he had a single box and there was a return address simply said Gabriel. Ryan opened the box and inside there were scabbards for the sword and dagger along with an envelope. Ryan went to his bedroom and retrieved the sword and dagger. He placed them in the scabbards and closed the cover of the scabbard over the sword and it disappeared. Ryan could feel the weight of the sword in his hands. He opened the scabbard cover and the sword reappeared. He did the same thing with dagger and the same thing happened with it. Ryan opened the envelope and read the letter inside; the letter explained how the scabbards would conceal the weapons so they could not be seen by human eyes. Ryan left the covers open and put the weapons back under his bed. He went to his living room and turned on the news and relaxed with his glass of tea.

A white light started to appear before Ryan, thru the shimmering light he saw the form of an Angel start to appear. In a matter of a few seconds the full figure of the Angel was present.

"Ryan I am Gabriel, I am an Archangel for our Lord God, I will be your guide and source of information for the task's that you have been selected to perform for the Lord. As you have noticed every time you make a figurine of an Angel it comes out different from your molds. Each of the figurines represents a fallen Angel. The Lord our God has determined that it is time for their reign to end. You my son have been selected by the Lord God to perform the task of ridding the world and underworld of these Fallen Angels. You will not find in any human text that tells you how to kill the fallen, in fact all of the text will tell you an Angel cannot be killed. The sword and dagger you made are the only things that can kill an Angel. They must be made of a certain material and contain holy water blessed by the Lord God himself. All of these things were provided for you by the Lord. Each figurine will give you the name and location of where the fallen currently is. The skills you possess are the reason why you were selected by the Lord. You must remember that you are human and can be killed. Should a fallen strike you down you cannot be saved."

"But didn't you save me once before?" Ryan asked.

"Yes I did, but that was the only time I can do this. If you should be struck down again you will die. This is the way of our Lord God."

"When will I begin this task for the Lord?"

"When you pick up a figurine that you made and the name of the fallen is given to you along with his location. But remember the fallen will do whatever it takes to destroy or evade you. He will not be able to call his upon minions once you have confronted him and no other fallen may help him. Do you understand all of this?"

"Yes I do."

"You may not discuss this task with anyone, for if you do, your identity will be reveled to all of the fallen and you shall surely die."

The light disappeared and with it Gabriel did also. Ryan decided to go out and try one of the figurines. Nothing came to him. He guessed it wasn't time to start yet.
CHAPTER FOUR

Five days had passed since Ryan had Gabriel visit him, Ryan would pick up all of the figurines and nothing would happen, he was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to do anything. Ryan had picked all the figurines one at a time for the fourth time that day, he went back to his living room and picked up his glass of tea when a voice deep and loud spoke. The voice was so loud that it scared him; he jumped and spilled his tea.

"Ryan my son, do not despair, your task will begin soon. I had to be sure that your heart was true and you would not question my selection of you. I have watched you since your birth and I had selected you that day. Your commitment to me has been of the highest order. Your task begins my son."

Ryan was shocked by the voice. He knew that could only be the voice of one. It had to be the Lord God himself.

Ryan walked to his work shop and picked a figurine again and immediately his mind was filled with all of the knowledge of Pharzuph fallen Angel of fornication and lust. Ryan would find him in Las Vegas.

Ryan loaded the weapons and some clothes into his car and set out for Vegas. The six hour drive from San Diego went smooth. During the trip he wondered how he would find the fallen Angel. Ryan stopped at the welcome station just outside of Vegas and got a map of the city. He pulled into the rest stop just before getting into town. He reviewed the map and decided he most likely would not be on the strip so he would start his search in the more shady part of Vegas.

Ryan drove down the strip. He hadn't been in Vegas since he was in his early twenties now at thirty three it didn't hold the same excitement that it did when he was younger. He departed the main strip and turned left onto Mason Street. The map showed bars and a few houses of ill repute. He pulled into an all day parking lot and paid the attendant for the day. He found a spot towards the back of the lot and backed his car in so that the trunk would be hid by the wall surrounding the lot. Ryan got out of his car and opened the trunk and checked his weapons and strapped the scabbards to his belt. He put the sword and dagger in them closed the covers and the weapons disappeared. He could feel the weight of both weapons on his sides.

Ryan made his way out of the parking lot and headed back down Mason Street. He walked past several bars as he started to pass one named Hells Bells. Ryan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand and a prickly feeling in his neck as well. Ryan stopped and looked in the window of the bar. He spotted a lone male figure in the back with four women falling all over themselves trying to gain the man's attention.

Ryan walked into the bar and noticed right away the man was in fact the fallen Angel Pharzuph.

The fallen said, 'What is it you want little man?" in a mocking tone.

Ryan just looked at him and said simply "You."

Pharzuph quickly dispatched the women from him and asked, "and just who are you and what do you want?"

I am Ryan, you are fallen and your time has come. Your reign is over."

"Ryan, what kind if sissy name is that?" Pharzuph asked.

"The kind that will put an end to you."

Pharzuph stood up from his table and said, "Do not let my boyish good looks stop you. You must not know that you cannot kill an Angel."

Ryan removed the cover from his scabbard and removed the sword from it. Pharzuph just laughed and said, "come on boy I have dispatched ones who are worse than you."

"Don't be fooled Pharzuph, your time has come."

Pharzuph jumped at Ryan and he swung the sword. The fallen screamed in pain as his right arm was cut off. Fire in his eyes the fallen jumped again, Ryan swung again and Pharzuph head rolled across the floor. Pharzuph's body and head burst into flames and was gone.

"Man if they are going to be this easy, this job sure won't last long" Ryan said to himself.

Ryan replaced the sword and covered it and the sword disappeared again. Ryan walked out of the bar and straight to his car. He replaced the weapons in his trunk and left Las Vegas. He was back in San Diego before sunset.

That night several hundred women left Las Vegas, never to know that they had been under Pharzuph's control.

The next five fallen Angels fell just as easy as Pharzuph was. Ryan thought that anyone could do this job. He had not used anything other than a swipe or two of the sword.

The day after Ryan returned from Miami dispatching the latest fallen Angel, he sat in his living room and dosed off. The bright white light shining in his eyes woke him. Standing in front of him was Gabriel.

"My son, do not let the ease that you had in dispatching the first fallen Angels, deceive you. They will get harder, much harder. Keep your guard up."

Ryan started to say something but Gabriel was gone.

When Ryan woke the next morning he went to his shop and picked up the next figurine. Immediately his mind was filled with everything about Abaddon. This fallen Angel was known as the destroyer. He was also known as the Angel of Death. Searching the information placed in his mind he knew this one would not be as easy as the first ones. This one had some substance to his reputation. A package arrived just before dusk by the same delivery van and driver who had delivered the boxes. Ryan opened the package and it contained a complete travel itinerary. Ryan would be leaving for Athens, Greece in the morning.

Ryan drove his car and parked in the long term parking lot. He took the shuttle to the terminal and checked his baggage at the counter when he checked in for his flight. His flight would take him to New York where he would change planes and then a direct flight to Athens. The flight from New York took 12 hours and Ryan slept most of the flight. Upon landing he retrieved his luggage and headed to customs. Ryan was worried that they might search him and find his weapons. His fear was realized when the customs inspector pulled him aside and had him open his bags. The inspector moved the clothes around but to Ryan's surprise he did not find the weapons.

"How long will you be in Greece sir?" the inspector asked.

"Sir Excuse me are you alright?"

Ryan startled by the inspector said "I'm sorry sir I was daydreaming about all the history here in Greece."

"How long will you be in Greece sir?" the inspector asked again.

"Not longer than a month, my visa expires in thirty days." Responded Ryan.

"Very good sir, enjoy your stay in Greece."

"Thank You sir."

Ryan picked up his bags and walked outside and hailed a taxi. The driver of the taxi was a beautiful woman who spoke fluent English. "Where to sir?"

"Hotel Americana." Responded Ryan.

"Ah, yes sir I know it well."

They left the airport and Ryan kept starring at the driver thru the mirror. The driver noticed and asked, "Is something wrong sir?"

Ryan said no and told her that she had to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen."

She blushed and thanked Ryan then said, "My name is Maria, here is my card if you need anything while you are in Greece just call. I will come as soon as I can."

Thank you Maria, I just might take you up on that offer."

They drove on for another fifteen minutes in silence before pulling into the hotel Americana. Ryan got his bags from the taxi and went in and checked into his room. The bellhop took Ryan's bags to his room. He was in room seven seventy seven, Ryan muttered to himself, "Must be my lucky day."

Ryan put his bags on the bed and unpacked, putting his clothes in the dresser. He put the sword and dagger under the bed. He was going to lie down and get a fresh start tomorrow.

*****

Barbatos the Duke of hell was summoned by Lucifer who wanted answers. "Barbatos I am concerned, five of our minions have not checked in over the last month. It is unlike them. They may be minor but they are faithful followers of mine. I want to know what has happened to them."

"Yes Lord Lucifer, I will find out and report to you." Barbatos bowed and departed from Lucifer. Barbatos quickly move to the tunnels of darkness. He cleared the tunnels and went to Las Vegas, He easily found the Hells Bells bar and walked in he sat at the bar and just looked around, he ordered a beer. He saw no sign of Pharzuph, in fact there was no sign of people in lust or the fornication that been here the last time he visited here. The bartender had remembered him but had no idea who Pharzuph was.

Barbatos traveled to the remaining four places where the fallen Angels had disappeared from. He found the same thing at each location not a trace of them. After two weeks of searching for the missing fallen Angels Barbatos returned to hell thru the tunnels of darkness. He went right to the throne room and bowed before Lucifer.

"Tell me Barbatos what have you found?"

"My Lord, I have found nothing, it is as though they have just vanished."

"How can this be?"

"I have an idea my Lord but I need to review some passages in our book. I wish to be correct before I come to you again."
CHAPTER FIVE

Ryan had gotten up each morning and walked the city of Athens, as of yet he had found nothing. He had thought that by starting in the bad parts of the city he would have found the fallen Angel easily, but this had not been the case. Maybe it was time he enlisted some help in getting around the city. When Ryan returned to his hotel room and found the card that Maria had given him. He picked up the telephone and dialed the number. Maria answered the phone on the second ring. "Yes hello."

"Maria this is Ryan Simpson. You gave me your card a few days ago and said that if I needed anything I could call you. Well I could use your help getting around Athens."

"I would be happy to Mr. Simpson.'

"Can you be here at 8 AM in the morning?"

"Yes I can sir. I will be out front."

Thank you Maria." Ryan hung up the phone.

Ryan stripped down and went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He adjusted the water and climbed in and took a shower. When he finished he put on his workout clothes and went to the hotel fitness area. Ryan worked out on the weight bench and the treadmill. After an hour long workout he went back to his room and got out the sword. He slowly started the workout moving the sword in different angels and positions. Ryan had made a duplicate set of weapons he contacted a friend's father who was a master in the martial arts. He worked tirelessly on all the offensive and defensive positions with the sword and dagger. After several weeks of instruction his friend's father declared he ready to use them in any matter of battle. Ryan continued the training on his own ever since, he continued the weapon workout for two hours. After completing the work out Ryan returned to the bathroom and took another shower. After the shower Ryan pulled back the sheets and climbed into the bed and soon he drifted off to sleep.

As usual Ryan woke before his alarm went off, he dressed put on his weapons and went down to the hotel restaurant and ate breakfast. After he finished eating he went outside and found Maria waiting for him. Ryan climbed into the seat next to Maria and said. "I am looking for someone, but I'm not sure where to find him."

"I believe I know who you are looking for and where to find him."

Who do you think I am looking for?'

"Simple, Abaddon." She replied.

"How would you know that?"

"I have known every time someone comes for the evil one."

"Who are you?"

"I am a friend, sent to help you."

"By who?"

"Gabriel" was all she said.

Maria drove to the other side of the city, She pulled up to an affluent mansion and right away Ryan felt the piercing of his neck. He knew that the fallen Angel was here. Ryan got out of the car and told Maria to wait in the car for him.

Ryan walked up to the door and rang the door bell, the man servant answered the door "Yes sir may I help you."

"Tell your employer that Ryan is here to see him."

The servant closed the door and was gone for a few minutes. When he returned he said "My employer said he knows of no Ryan and is not expecting anyone. Good day sir."

As the door started to close Ryan kicked the door causing the servant to fall backwards. Ryan stepped past him and looked down and said "don't worry he will see me."

Ryan walked to the study door and the feeling in the back of his neck got stronger. He turned the knob and walked in. Abaddon looked up and said "Who the hell are you?"

"Your worst night mare, your time has come and your reign is over."

Abaddon knew in this human shell he occupied he could not hope to defeat the larger man that stood before him, He spoke a few words and he changed into his Angel form. The Angel that stood before Ryan was hideous in looks, he did not appear in the good looking form the other five had. He stood a full foot taller than he did as a human.

"Little man do you really think you can defeat me?"

"Ryan simply answered "yes."

The fallen Angel stepped out from behind the massive oak desk and Ryan opened the scabbard cover and the sword became visible.

"Oh we have a magician do we?"

Ryan pulled the sword and took up the basic defensive position.

"Such a nice sword, but don't you know that it will not kill an Angel."

"This one will it is the Angel sword."

Abaddon let out a roar of laughter. "Silly human the Angel sword is myth, it's not real. You must really read more about Angels and the weapons to use.oh silly me there are none"

Abaddon held out his hand and the ancient broad sword hanging on the wall flew to his hand.

Abaddon stepped towards Ryan and swung the sword. Ryan easily blocked the swing. They parried the swords about taking swing after swing at each other. Abaddon was becoming frustrated at not being able to hit the human. Abaddon drew back his sword and came down in an overhead chop. Ryan swung his sword upward into the blade of Ababbon's sword and Ryan's blade cut the blade off of his opponent sword. Abaddon stepped back and tossed his broken sword handle to the floor. He circled Ryan and slowly moved in. He was going to crush Ryan with his hands and feet. Abaddon jumped at Ryan and Ryan easily side stepped the attack and brought his sword up and cut Abaddon's foot off just above his ankle. Abaddon let out a scream of pain and hopped out of Ryan's reach. He had other limb's cut off and they just grew back. Abaddon looked at the spot where his missing foot was and nothing was happening. The appendage was not growing back. Abaddon said some words in Latin calling his minions, but none came. He repeated the words again and still no minions came. Abaddon held his hand up again and another of the swords started to fly to his hand. Ryan used his sword and knocked the flying sword to the ground cutting it in half.

"It can't be true" Abaddon said.

"And what is that?"

"It is said that God would send a slayer one day to end the reign of the fallen."

"That's me. Bow and ask God's forgiveness and I will spare you."

"Never" came the reply.

Abaddon shot straight up and plaster and beams came falling down as he broke thru the roof of the house. Abaddon was headed away from there.

Ryan ran outside and watched as Abaddon tried to escape the city. Every time he came to the city limits he would bounce back by some force. Abaddon tried to fly high and escape but the same thing happened as it did when he tried to go past the city limits.

Abaddon knew he was trapped, he would have to fight the human but it would be on his terms. He had a hiding place he could go to, below the Acropolis in the catacombs. Abaddon decided he would make his way into the catacombs after night fall. He would be less likely to be seen by someone, until then he would have to lay low and avoid this one named Ryan.
CHAPTER SIX

Abaddon had made his way into the lowest depths of the catacombs to where his lair was. He could stay down here until he could come up with a plan to destroy Ryan. He searched his mind for any reference to whom or what the slayer is. He came to the conclusion that the slayer was a myth; it had to be an Angel that God had sent down to stop the fallen. He surely would not trust the defeat of the fallen to a human. The myth of the Angel Sword was just that a myth. There was no way to kill an Angel. He would destroy the human. Abaddon settled down for the night, he would leave early in the morning and find this Ryan and put an end to him.

*****

Ryan walked back to Maria's car; she had a smile on her face and said "glad to see your ok. When I saw Abaddon fly away I first thought that he may have hurt you or even worse killed you. Then when I saw you come out of the house I just said to myself he lives to fight another day."

"He never even touched me, I managed to cut off one of his feet and he seemed shocked at that."

"You cut the foot off. With what?"

"My sword."

"And where is this sword now?"

"Right here on my hip."

Maria looked at Ryan's side and did not see anything that even could be mistaken for a sword. "Where?"

"Oh sorry", Ryan opened the cover of the scabbard and the sword appeared.

"How did you do that?"

"Sorry I can't say, I'm not allowed. Ask Gabriel."

They drove the rest of the way back to the hotel in silence.

Maria pulled into the front of the hotel and dropped Ryan off. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Sounds good."

Ryan took the elevator to the seventh floor and walked to his door. He removed his room key from his wallet went to insert the key. He saw that his door was slightly ajar. Ryan pushed the door open slowly and looked inside. He was shocked to find that his room had been gone thru. All of his clothes were thrown all over the floor, whoever tossed his room was looking for something and did not find what they were looking for but he knew that there was nothing to find.

Ryan found Maria's phone number again and called her."Hello" she answered

"Maria I won't need a ride tomorrow, I'm planning on covering some of the area near the hotel."

"Are you sure Mr. Simpson?"

"Yes I am have the day off."

Ryan hung up the telephone; he wasn't planning on going anywhere tomorrow. He was going to stay right here and see if anyone returned to his room.

Ryan did his workout routine again and when he returned to his room he found it just as he left it. He showered and put his clothes away again. He sat in the overstuffed chair and started running thru his mind all the information he had received when he had touched the figurine. Nothing in the information in his mind gave any clue as to why someone would go thru his room. Ryan awoke in the morning and went downstairs for breakfast again. He left the lobby and made as though he was walking to the Acropolis. The walk there was only a couple of blocks from the Americana Hotel. Ryan had no intention of going there today. Ryan watched his hotel from several different angles, he didn't spot anyone who looked suspicious or anyone he knew. He wasted a day by being paranoid.

Ryan had two weeks left on his visa, plenty of time he thought. Ryan headed for the Acropolis to walk around; as he entered the temple that covered the catacombs he got the prickly feeling in his neck again. Ryan slowed his walk when out of the shadows Ryan was attacked. Abaddon came out of nowhere; the long nails on Abaddon's hands tore strips of flesh off of Ryan. As Ryan fell to the ground in pain he glanced up and watched a large booted foot kick him in the side breaking several ribs. Abaddon was kicking and beating Ryan's chest, back and face. Ryan started to feel a wave of nausea come over him, with every kick and punch Ryan became sicker. He had taken such a beating he started to feel a wave of blackness come over him. If he did not get help soon he would pass out and Abaddon would kill him. Ryan looked to see if there were any people standing by watching. He saw no one nearby. Ryan glanced at his hand and wished that he had his sword in his hand. Suddenly out of nowhere his sword appeared in his hand. As Abaddon swung a kick at Ryan; Ryan brought his sword up and Abaddon kicked the sword, the blade cutting deep into his shin. Abaddon let out a scream and the sword went flying out of Ryan's hand from the kick. Ryan tried to reach his sword but before he could grab it Abaddon kicked Ryan in the head. Dizziness over took Ryan, Ryan just thought the word sword and his sword appeared back in his hand. Abaddon failed to see the sword back in Ryan's hand as he swung his fist at Ryan's head. Ryan brought the sword up and held tight as Abaddon's massive arm closed in on its target. His arm hit the blade and Ryan watched as Abaddon's forearm slid across the floor. Abaddon let out a scream of pain as he saw his arm sliding across the floor. Abaddon flapped his wings and he flew away from the fight. He needed to stop the bleeding and heal for a day or two before facing Ryan again.

Ryan felt the blackness coming over him the pain from the beating he had taken was causing him to drift in and out of reality. Ryan finally passed out. When he awoke Ryan was laying in his hotel room bed. He did not remember how he got back here. He tried to get up from the bed and a wave of dizziness and nausea over took him. He laid back down. Ryan started to examine his body and he found bruises covering most of his chest and sides, his head ached. Ryan slowly remembered the beating he had taken from Abaddon.

Ryan again tried to get up he moved more slowly this time and used the furniture in the room to steady himself. The dizziness and nausea returned but not as bad. He slowly made his way to the living room each step causing extreme pain. Ryan had take one severe beating. When Ryan opened the bedroom door he saw Maria sitting on the couch.

"Ah you are awake." She said

"I feel like I'm dead."

"No not dead just badly beaten and bruised."

"What happened and how did I get back here?"

"I followed you when you left here, I witnessed the fight between you and Abaddon, when he fled I had to get you away from there before someone else found you."

"Though I'm glad you were there, why are you following me?"

"I was ordered by my superior to provide you with all your earthly wants' and needs."

"What, who?" Ryan asked

"Actually Mr. Simpson I am Sister Maria, from Saint Lourdes convent, I was ordered by the Bishop here in Greece to look after you."

"How did you know I was going to be here?

"I cannot answer that question, I don't know how. The Bishop just told me the name Gabriel"

"Do you know who and what I am?"

"No sir, I only know that I am to assist you."

"It must remain that way Maria, You cannot know who or what I am, nor can you tell anyone that I am here."

"I fully understand Mr. Simpson."

"Please call me Ryan."

"I was instructed to give you the upmost respect sir."

"I understand what you're saying but I really prefer Ryan."

'As you wish."

"Now I need to get some food, I feel like it's been days since I last ate something."

Ryan picked up the phone and ordered breakfast from room service. While he was waiting for the food to arrive Ryan went and took a shower. While he was in the shower room service delivered his meal.

Every bite Ryan took hurt his stomach. He had looked over his entire body after he got out of the shower. The worst bruises were on his ribs and sides. He had a black eye to go with it. His head felt like someone was hitting it with a hammer."

Ryan remained in his room for three days and had started to feel a lot less sore. He was also getting itchy to continue his battle against Abaddon. This time he would be ready for him. On the evening of the third day Ryan got up and dressed in his workout clothing. He went down to the Hotel gym and spent the next two hours working out every muscle in his body ached, but he pushed himself to complete the workout.

Ryan returned to his room and brought out his sword. He started the workout with the sword. He knew he was getting better each time he completed the movements with the sword Mr. Lee had taught him and worked on with him. He was becoming very proficient with the sword.
CHAPTER SEVEN

Ryan met Maria in front of the hotel; he climbed into the car next to Maria and asked "Where do you think today?"

"Maybe in the old section of the city, it has a reputation for being a bad part of town."

"Let's go."

Ryan watched thru the window as they made their way to old town, it was called old town because most of the dwellings there were over one hundred years old. The Port of Athens was not far from old town. This part of Athens was just ideal for a fallen to hide. Maria pulled the car into a Port Authority parking lot and Ryan and her got out of the car and headed to the section of bars that they had passed.

They walked the old town section for most of the day and Ryan never got the prickly feeling in his neck. They decided to walk to the end of the block they were on now then turn around and head back to the parking lot.

They reached the end of the block and turned around; they had walked about half way back down the block when Ryan started getting the prickly feeling in the back of his neck. Ryan looked at the house on his left when Maria pushed Ryan out of the way."What the......." Abaddon slammed down right where Ryan was standing, Abaddon roared with anger at missing Ryan. He had him right where he wanted him. He would have crushed Ryan had the woman not interfered. Ryan jumped back up and called for his sword. He swung the sword just as Abaddon was swiping his massive hand at Ryan's head. Abaddon let out a scream of pain as the sword cleanly cut off his hand. Ryan swung again but missed as his foe jumped out of the way. As Ryan's swing carried him around he brought the sword and cut a long but shallow gash in Abaddon's chest. Ryan gave a round house kick that caught the fallen Angel in the head. The blow staggered Abaddon and Ryan hit him with another kick. As Ryan landed he spun and swung the sword again and cut off Abaddon's leg just above the knee. It was the same leg that Ryan had cut the foot off of in their first fight. Abaddon took off again this time headed west, towards the Acropolis. Ryan looked for Maria and found her sitting against the telephone pole her right arm was broken. When she pushed Ryan out of the way Abaddon landed on her right arm.

"Come on let's get you to the hospital" Ryan said.

Ryan helped Maria up and all but carried her to the car. He helped her in the car and jumped in the driver's side. "Maria where is the closest hospital. Take me to the Acropolis, I'll show you where to go.

Ryan did as instructed; he followed her directions and drove into a underground parking garage. When they arrived in the parking garage he parked at the elevator. Just as he got Maria out of the car the elevator opened and two nuns's stepped out and took Maria from Ryan. All they said was "Thank you now go."

Before Ryan could say anything to them the elevator door closed and they were gone. Ryan pushed the call button and waited, the elevator never came. Ryan left the car parked where it was and walked back to the hotel.

When Ryan entered the hotel he went to his room and removed the sword and dagger and put them under the bed. Ryan went into the shower turned on the water and returned to the living room to get his workout clothes. Two men were standing there, one of the men said, "We know you have the sword, where is it?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't be a fool, give us the sword and you will not be hurt."

"Look I don't know what you're talking about."

"The Angel sword you idiot."

"Oh that, it's in the closet, let me get it for you."

"Just stay where you're at, I'll get it."

When the first man turned to go to the closet, Ryan moved and sent a round house kick into the head of the second man. The kick knocked the man over and he hit his head on the wood table. When Ryan landed he jumped at the first man and his foot landed in the middle of his back. The man went head first into the back wall of the empty closet. He got up and charged at Ryan, Ryan side stepped the charge and brought his fist down on the man's neck. The man screamed out in pain and anger at letting this man take on him and his partner and beat them. He was not going to let that happen.

The man got up and charged into Ryan again and this time his shoulder drove into Ryan's ribs, the pain shot right thru Ryan's body reminding him of the broken ribs he suffered at the hands of Abaddon. Ryan clasped both of his hands together and used them as a club and drove them down on the man's neck. Ryan felt the man go week in the knees, the man tried to regroup his charge into Ryan when Ryan brought his knee up into the man's nose. The man dropped like a rock. Ryan went to the dresser and got a t-shirt out and tore it into strips. He tied the hands and feet of both men and sat them up against the wall.

Ryan got a glass of water and poured a glass full of water on each man to wake them. The men started to struggle against the strips of cloth binding them. Ryan looked at them and said "You're wasting your time gentlemen, I was a sailor and I know how to tie knots."

"Let us go, you will pay for your insolence."

"Let me remind you you're the ones tied up and not in a position to demand anything. Now tell me who you are and who sent you."

"Go to hell" one of the men said.

Ryan stood up and went into the bathroom he picked up a mirror and put it in a small towel, he broke the mirror he then opened the towel and took out a couple of pieces of the broken mirror and walked back into the living room. He pushed over the man that appeared to be the one in charge and rolled him on his stomach. The man said "what the hell are you going to do?"

Ryan showed the man a piece of the broken mirror. "This will slowly be pushed under your fingernails. The pain is tremendous. I will keep doing this until you tell me who you are and who you are working for."

Ryan took the piece of mirror and pushed it just a little way under the man's finger nail. The man screamed at the pain caused by the shard of glass pushing into his finger. Ryan stopped and pulled the shard out, and said "that was just a sample of the pain now tell me what I want to know."

"Mister we are just a couple of guys that some big guy asked us if we wanted a job. He told us who you were and that you were staying here. He told us about a sword that he called the Angel sword. He offered us five grand each to get the sword from you and bring it to him."

"Are you sure you want to see the Angel sword?"

"Yes I would"

Ryan held up his hand and thought the word sword. The sword appeared in his hand, Ryan lowered the tip of the sword and pulled it across the man's hand. Blood started to run off the man's hand. The burning was intense, from the cut. "Please stop." He said.

Ryan made the sword disappear. The man looked in awe. The man told his friend "If you want the money you can try and take the sword. I want nothing to do with it. I'm more afraid of this man then I am the other guy."

I'm with you, the money isn't worth it."

Ryan looked at the two men and said "now I have to decide what to do with you two."

"Please mister; let us go we won't come back." One of the men said.

"Some how I don't believe that."

"Honest mister, we don't want any more trouble with you."

A knock on the door interrupted them, Ryan walked to the door and looked through the peep hole and saw two uniformed men standing at the door. "Who is it?" Ryan called.

"Hotel security, sir we had a report of a disturbance."

Ryan opened the door and the two security guards entered the room, "I'm glad you came, I was just getting ready to call you people," said Ryan.

Ryan showed the security guards the two men he had tied up on the floor. "I found these two in my room when I came out of the shower; they were just standing there waiting for me. I believe they wanted to rob me."

"We will take them from here; we will turn them over to the Athens police."

"With pleasure." Ryan said

Ryan untied the two men and turned them over to the hotel security officers. The two officers put hand cuffs of the men and escorted them out of Ryan's room. Ryan walked over to the window and wondered where Abaddon was hiding now. Ryan looked at the people walking on the street below. He wondered how many of them had ever heard of Abaddon or if they knew there were really fallen Angels. Ryan spotted the two men and the two hotel security guards walking on the street below. He watched as they got into a waiting car and drive off.
CHAPTER EIGHT

Ryan picked up his phone and dialed a number back in the United States. The connection was made on the third ring. "Hello," said a voice.

"Jim, Ryan here, I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure Ryan anything you need."

"I need you to go to my house and get me a couple of my nines and four clips and four boxes of ammo. Box them up and I'll call you this afternoon with an address to ship them to, Send them next day. I'll pay you for the shipping cost when I get home."

"You got it buddy, but let me ask, are you in some kind of trouble? If you need help I can get a couple of guys and we can be wherever you are."

"No, I'm ok, just maybe being a little cautious. I had a couple of thugs break into my hotel room. They tried to rough me up but it didn't happen."

"Where you at?"

I'm in Greece, small vacation."

"Cool man, I sure wish I was with you."

"Yea, I'm planning on being home in a week. Maybe next time."

"Ok, I'll get the Nines and other stuff ready and wait for your call."

"Thanks man, talk to you later."

Ryan then found Maria's phone number and dialed the number. A voice answered the call on the first ring. "Yes may I help you," came the answer in a heavy accent.

"This is Ryan Simpson, may I speak with Maria please."

"She is unavailable and may not be disturbed," came the reply in a very cold voice.

"Who am I speaking with?"

"I am Sister Mary. Is there something I can help you with Mr. Simpson.

"Sister, Maria has been working with me the last week or so, she told me the Bishop instructed her to assist me in any way I needed. I need her help now."

"I am aware that she has been helping you. I do not what she has been doing, but she was hurt helping you earlier today. What do you need?"

"Sister I need to speak with the Bishop."

"I do not believe the Bishop will see you but I will ask him and then I will call you back."

"Thank you sister."

Ryan heard the phone hang up on the other end, He wondered if any of the other nun's knew what Maria was doing with him. He doubted it.

Ryan walked over to the mini bar in his room and got out a bottle of water. He sat on the couch and turned on the TV and waited for the call to come back. Ryan had dozed off when the phone rang. Ryan did not recognize the number, he answered the call, "Hello, this is Ryan Simpson, may I help you?"

"Mr. Simpson this is Bishop Grandalli, Sister Mary said you wanted a meeting with me."

"Your holiness we may be able to take care of what I need over the phone."

"What may I help you with?"

"I need to ship a box from the states, I want to send it next day, I need an address to ship it to that will not cause suspicion from customs."

"This sounds like something illegal."

"No sir it is not, It is something that I need here to help me to accomplish my job here for our Lord."

"Very well, when it is received I shall have it delivered to you right away."

The Bishop gave Ryan the address where to ship the box. He also gave Ryan an address from where to ship the box. Going church to church customs will not inspect the box.. Ryan thanked the Bishop and hung up. Ryan then called Jim and passed along the information the Bishop had given him. Jim had told him he would ship the box right away.

Ryan did his daily workout the came back to his room and did his daily sword practice. He showered when he finished and before he turned in for the night He prayed to god. "Lord Maria was hurt helping me do your work her actions saved my life. I ask you Lord please heal her." Ryan turned in for the night.

During the night a bright white light woke Maria and an Angelic form appeared before her. "My child the Lord out God has sent me to you. He held his hands on Maria's broken arm and a white light shinned from his hands. The warmth felt good to Maria after a few minutes the Angel removed his hands and the cast was gone and Maria's arm was healed. The Angel spoke to Maria "I am Gabriel a prayer for you was said and the Lord our God sent me to heal you child. It has been done." The Angel faded from view and the white light disappeared.

Ryan woke and dressed for breakfast, as he dressed he wondered where he would start his search for Abaddon today. His time was running out his visa was good for only four more days. Ryan went down to the hotel restaurant and ordered his breakfast, while he was eating he noticed a priest walking into the hotel with Maria. The priest was carrying a box under his arm. Ryan called out to Maria, she waved and gave the priest a tug on the arm and they walked over to Ryan. "Good morning" Ryan said to Maria and offered a seat to both of them.

"Maria what are you doing here? Are you ok?" Ryan asked of her.

"I feel great and I am here with Father Gretz. He has a package for you. It was delivered to our convent this morning."

"Mr. Simpson the Bishop sent me with this package for you. He said you were expecting it and it was urgent that you received it right away."

Thank you Father, Please sit down let me get you breakfast."

"No thank you sir. I have to get back to the convent right away."

Ryan took the package from the priest and thanked him. Maria sat down and ordered a cup of coffee. Maria told Ryan of her visit from Gabriel and how he had healed her arm. Ryan looked up to the heavens and said "Thank you God."

"What is in the box that is so important? The Bishop said that it was of great importance to you."

Ryan told her of the visit he had from the two thugs yesterday and then about him seeing the two guards getting into a car with them. Ryan told Maria that the contents of the box were for added protection."

When Ryan finished his breakfast he picked p the box and he and Maria went back to his room. Ryan placed the box on the coffee table and got his pocket knife out and opened the box. Ryan reached into the box and took out two nine millimeter semi automatic hand guns, He took out the four clips for them and the two boxes of ammo.. Ryan also noticed that Jim had included two holsters. One a hip holster and the other a shoulder holster Ryan examined the two guns then loaded the clips. He inserted a clip in each gun and pulled back the slide and put rounds in the chamber. He removed both clips and put in one more round in each then reinserted the clips. Maria watch intently at what Ryan was doing with both guns. She had a worried look on her face. She finally asked, "What are the guns for?"

Ryan answered, "After my visit from the two thugs yesterday, I wanted some extra protection. Abaddon cannot call upon his minions to help him so it looks like he is enlisting human help. The sword and dagger are for use on him, not on people."

"What about innocent people couldn't they get hurt from the shooting?"

"Not from me Maria, I am an expert shot and I will only use these if it is absolutely necessary."

"I see, I'm still worried about them."

"I understand that," Ryan answered as he put both pistols in their holsters. He put the shoulder on his left side and the hip holster on so the pistol could be drawn with his left hand and it was behind his back."

"Where do you think we should start searching today?"

"I have an idea, there is a devil worship temple near the house where we first found Abaddon, and it might be a good place to start."

"Sounds good to me." Ryan said.

They went back downstairs and out the front door and got into Maria's car. Ryan had spotted the car the men from the day before had got into. It was sitting on the street and all four of the men we in the car. Maria pulled out into the road and Ryan watched thru the side view mirror and the car pulled out behind them. They made several turns and each time the car followed turning each time.

"Maria we are being followed. The blue car behind us."

"I see it. What should we do?"

"Keep going to our destination act as if they are not there, I want to be sure that they are following. Let me know when we are a couple of blocks away."

"OK we are still a few miles away"

They drove on in silence Ryan watching the car following them. It continued to make the same turns that they made.

Maria said, "We are a few blocks from the first house then a couple more blocks to the evil temple."

"Is there an open spot around here? One where there wont be any people around."

"There is an old warehouse area that's been closed for years maybe something there."

"Ok, let's head there. Keep your doing what you have been doing, when I tell you to speed up. I'm going to jump out and come at them from behind."

They turned into the old warehouse and Maria drove past a long row of buildings, he car following them turned in and stopped. After a short pause they started following them again. Maria turned at the end of the row of buildings Ryan spotted an old pile of pallets. "I want you to speed up right after I jump out circle the buildings and then pull up by the light pole right ahead of her. I want you to get out of the car and run as fast as you can to the other end of the buildings. When you get to the other end keep your eyes out for me. If you see me come out with a gun in my hand then it is ok for you to come back here and get the car. If I don't have a gun in my hand run as fast and as far as you can get away from here. Do you understand?"

Maria nodded her head and Ryan jumped out of the car and dashed to the pile of pallets. He watched Maria speed up just as she reached the end of the row of buildings the car with the four men came around the corner. Ryan ducked down out of sight just before the came along side of the pallets. The men realized watched the car ahead of them turn down between the Warf and the last row of buildings. The followed each turn and when she made the turn by the pallets she parked the car and ran towards the front of the warehouses. The tailing car made the turn and saw that the car was parked. They stopped their car and sat there for a second or two and then the four of them got out of the car with guns drawn. They slowly approached Maria's car when Ryan already had both of his nines out of their holsters and had the safeties off. He rose from behind the pallets and fired off two quick shots. The two shots dropped the two closest of the men. He watched as the two remaining men turned toward the direction of Ryan's shots and the third man fired a quick shot that went wide of his target. Ryan was more concerned with the fourth man, he held a MAC 10 and he brought it up to shoot.

The fourth man squeezed the trigger on the MAC 10 and a burst of bullets fired and started to shred the pallets. Ryan knew he couldn't stay here the MAC 10 would make short work of the wood on the pallets. Ryan got down on his stomach and belly crawled to the other end of the pallets, listening as the MAC 10 tore up the pallets where he had been kneeling. Ryan crawled to the front edge of the pallets and recognized the man with the MAC 10 as one of the men from his hotel the day before. Ryan aimed and pulled the trigger. The shot hit the man with the MAC 10 in the stomach and he fell the MAC 10 sliding out of his reach. Ryan turned his attention to the last man and aimed and pulled the trigger again. This time the bullet hit the man in the chest and went right thru his heart. The man was dead before he hit the ground.

Ryan came out from behind the pallets and walked over to the man that had been firing the MAC 10. The man was withering with pain the gunshot wound to his stomach. Ryan looked down at the man and said "I thought you were more afraid of me then Abaddon? Looks like it wasn't true. Where can I find Abaddon?"

The man just stared at Ryan and said, "you need to get me to a hospital, I'll bleed to death."

"You answer my question and I might take you to a hospital. If you don't you die right here."

The man rolled in agony and just said "please help me."

"Answer my question."

"He is the old temple back up the road and he has a small army with him."

Ryan looked down at the man and aimed the nine and pulled the trigger. The man died right there.

Ryan picked up the MAC 10 and the other hand guns and put them in Maria's car. He walked back over to the other car and searched it. He found ten more boxes of ammo for the MAC 10 and several more boxes of nine millimeter ammo. He took them and put them in Maria's car. He then walked to the building that Maria ran down and held up his pistol so she could see it. She started back up the building. Ryan walked over to her car and started it. He stepped back out of the car and Maria ran up to him and hugged him. She said, "I am so glad you are alright. The gun fight went on for so long I really thought you were going to get killed." The sound of police sirens broke up the hug and Ryan said, "we have to go now. We can't be here when the police get here."

They got into their car and drove out of the warehouse area. They turned on the street that the old temple was on and they were passed by three police cars with lights and sirens headed the other way.

Ryan told Maria to park the car on the next block. When she parked the car he told her what one of the men had told him about Abaddon was in the old temple and that he had an army of people surrounding him.

"I'm going to the temple to scout it out. I want to know what I'm up against. You stay in the car. If I'm not back in one hour leave without me."

"But........"

"No buts one hour leave without me, Understand."

Maria shook her head yes

Ryan pulled his nine's out and rechecked the loads. He reloaded the clips from the shots he had fired earlier.

Ryan headed for the temple moving slowly in case they had people lookouts posted. Ryan made it to the temple without incident; He stayed below the windows in case someone was looking out. When he got to the last window he slowly brought his head up and peeked into the temple. He spotted the older man that he had met at the first house only this time he was in a wheel chair. He was missing a foot and an arm. He looked at the pews and figured that there were somewhere around two hundred people there. He saw that most has shotguns or rifles near them.. He ducked back down and scouted the rest of the outside of the temple. He found another door at the back of the temple, he tried to open it but it was locked. The only other door was at the front of the temple. He pulled on the door and it started to open. Ryan slowly closed the door. He wasn't ready to face the mob inside. Ryan made his way back to the car. He made sure Maria saw him so as not to spook her. He opened the door and climbed into the car.
CHAPTER NINE

"This looks like a lot of trouble there is a couple of hundred people in there and they all appear to be armed with guns."

"What are you planning?"

"Looks like a frontal attack is the only way in, Abaddon is sitting in a wheelchair at the back of the temple in his human form. His is missing a foot and arm that I cut off earlier. I don't know if I can get to him before he takes off again."

Ryan took out a nine and handed to Maria, "Do you know how to use this?"

"Yes my dad showed all of my brother's and sister's how to shoot."

"Stay here in the car and use this only if you have to."

Ryan got out of the car and opened the trunk He reloaded the MAC 10 and then the extra 60 round magazines. He reloaded the three extra nine's he had taken from the men earlier. He now had enough firepower to make a little bit of a difference. Ryan made sure the sword and dagger were on his hips. He tossed the keys back to Maria and said "Wish me luck."

Maria just smiled at Ryan.

Ryan made his way back to the old temple and walked to the front door. He slowly open the door and walked into the temple. He stood there for a moment before someone spotted him. The MAC 10 hung in his left hand.

"It's him" someone yelled and another person turned and fired a shot in his direction. Ryan brought the MAC 10 up and fired off the entire fort magazine before anyone in the old temple knew what had happened. Ryan estimated that thirty to forty people went down. He stepped behind the wall as some others started to return his fire.

Ryan reloaded the MAC 10 and stepped out from behind the wall and fired several shorter bursts. Some more of Abaddon's followers fell. Ryan kneeled down behind the back pew and took one of the nines and selectively started to shoot more of the followers. Ryan estimated that there were only about a hundred people left. They were returning fire more accurately now and a round hit Ryan in his arm. Ryan crawled to the far end of the pew and he stood and fired another burst from the MAC 10. Ryan watched another four or five of followers go down.

"Listen to me people, the one you are following id evil, Abaddon was a faithful follower to the Lord our God. He turned his back on him and chose Satin, The Lord our God has directed that his reign end and that he be dispatched," Ryan said

"You lie" someone yelled and fired a shot at Ryan.

"Please don't make me kill all of you to get to Abaddon. He is the one I want."

Ryan heard several guns cock.

"You will have to go thru us to get to Lord Abaddon" some said.

"Have it your way, then you all shall go to hell" Ryan said as he stood and started firing the MAC 10.

Ryan fired until the MAC 10 was empty. He reloaded and started firing again. By the time the second magazine was empty, there were only twenty followers left. Ryan loaded the MAC 10 again. He let the MAC hang at his side and said, "You have a choice now, most all of your brothers and sisters have died you are all that is left that worship Abaddon, your choice is simple declare your selves loyal to Abaddon and die or leave him and think about who is the right one to worship."

"I shall always worship lord Abaddon" on said, Ryan aimed his pistol and shot the man thru the head. Two more claimed the allegiance to Abaddon and Ryan shot them as well.

The remaining people stood there in shock the lord Abaddon had promised to protect them. He had failed them. Ryan walked thru the remaining followers to where the old man was slumped over in the wheelchair. He had taken two rounds to the head.

Ryan knew that Abaddon no longer inhabiting the old man's body, but he also knew that he had not left the old temple.

"Abaddon I know you are here, come out and face me." There was no answer.

"Abaddon are you afraid to face a mere mortal." There was still no answer.

"My, My for one who is supposed to be a destroyer, you cannot face me and destroy me. You know you will lose. You are nothing but chicken."

The old temple started to shake and Abaddon emerged thru the floor. There was stone flying everywhere.

"Afraid, I am not afraid of anything least of all a mere human."

"You're not afraid, you keep running from me, you attacked me from the darkness, you even tried attacking me above. Yes you're afraid; your followers will see how afraid you are and will not follow you. But then I am going to dispatch you any way, and they won't have you to follow," Ryan said.

Abaddon growled and swung at Ryan and he easily ducked under the swing. Ryan taunted him. The more Ryan taunted the angrier Abaddon got. He was wild with his swings and every time he would stomp his massive foot at Ryan he would miss. The remaining people that were in the old temple moved to the back of it. Ryan took his nine-millimeter knowing it would have little effect and shot Abaddon in his good leg. Abaddon howled with the pain from the shot but realized it did not affect the usage of his good leg. The gun shot has the effect he wanted though. Abaddon was even madder. Ryan decided it was now the time. He held out his hand and thought sword and the Angel Sword appeared in his hand. He held out the other hand and though of the dagger and it appeared. Ryan flipped the dagger over so the blade was in his hand. He drew back and threw the dagger towards Abaddon's head. The gun shot Ryan had received made Ryan throw off center and instead of hitting Abaddon in the head it hit Abaddon in the shoulder. The pain was intense in his shoulder; he had to get the dagger out.

When Abaddon reached for the dagger Ryan swung the sword and cut his good arm off at the shoulder. Abaddon stepped back and howled out in pain. Ryan moved in closer and as he drew back to strike the fallen he was kicked in the chest. The force of the blow drove Ryan back on top of the pews. Ryan scrambled back to his feet just as Abaddon swung his fist at Ryan. When his fist hit the pews where Ryan had landed all he hit was the wood and it splintered over several of the remaining pews. Ryan swung his sword again and he cut off one of the fallen Angel's wings. Abaddon screamed with pain again. His fury was now uncontrollable. He started swinging wildly and he was not connecting with Ryan at all. Ryan swung several more times making deep cuts in Abaddon's chest. The fallen was quickly losing his strength. He knew he was defeated.

"You once gave me the option that if I swore my allegiance to god you would let me live. Does that offer still stand?"

"No it no longer is an option; In the name of our Lord God I do hereby dispatch thee." With that Ryan Swung his sword and the head of Abaddon flew off of his body and rolled to the end of the Alter. "In the name of our Lord thy God I end your reign and dispatch thee. The body and head of Abaddon burst into flames and disappeared.

Ryan picked up his guns and looked at the remaining people huddled along the back wall and said," Go do not step into this place again; you need to go to a true house of worship and kneel and pray to the one living God. Praise him and ask for forgiveness I will not be so lenient again, now go."

Ryan watched as the people walked out the door, their heads hung down in shame. Ryan followed the last one out and turned and lit the curtains on fire. He closed the door and walked back to Maria's car. She was waiting where he had left her. When she spotted Ryan walking up the street she got out of the car and ran up to him, she spotted the blood running down his arm, "Your hurt."

"It's nothing, just a flesh wound."

Maria pulled his shirt off and looked at the wound, "It's more than a flesh wound, get in."

Maria started the car and drove to the convent. She pulled into the underground parking lot and stopped at the elevator. She inserted her key and the elevator doors opened. She ushered Ryan in the elevator and she pushed the two button. The elevator made a quick trip up and the doors opened and Ryan saw three nun's waiting there with a wheelchair. The stuck Ryan with a needle and darkness slowly came over Ryan. The next thing he remembered was looking up into Maria face. She was dressed differently this time. As Ryan's eyes cleared he saw that she was wearing a habit.

"I am glad to see that you are awake Ryan."

"What did you do to me?"

"We took the bullet out of your arm and patched you up as good as new."

Maria heard someone behind her and she turned to see Sister Mary. Ryan looked at her and smiled.

"Sister Mary, would you please let the Bishop know that Mr. Simpson is awake, he wanted to know right away."

Sister Mary just nodded and left the room. Several minutes later the Bishop entered Ryan's room.

"Mr. Simpson I am glad to see you awake and looking so good."

"Thank you Sir.

We have retrieved your things from the hotel and Sister Maria's car. We have them boxed and ready to ship back home for you. You will have them delivered to your home the day you arrive. All you have to do is call this number and tell them you are home."

"Thank you again sir."

"The Sisters tell me you should be able to travel by tomorrow. We shall miss you here Mr. Simpson."

"Why is that?"

"Why Mr. Simpson the Nun's haven't talked this much in years. It's not often they have a man around, especially one that has been handpicked by the Lord our God to do his work."

"Sir, I am nothing but a mortal man, nothing more and nothing less."

"As you say Mr. Simpson, rest tonight and Sister Maria will take you to the airport tomorrow." With that said the Bishop turned and walked out.

The next morning Maria took Ryan to the airport, she dropped him off at departure gate. As Ryan started to get out of the car Maria grabbed his arm and pulled him back in, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek and said "Thank you and may God be with you and protect you, you do not realize how dangerous of a job you have."

Ryan looked at Maria he nodded and walked into the airport. Ryan boarded his plane and spent the next 12 hours sleeping on the flight home.
CHAPTER TEN

Ryan landed in San Diego and he went to the long term parking and got his car, he threw his carryon bag into the back seat and drove to his home in National City. He unlocked the door and just sat down in his chair. It felt good to be at home. He would check his figurines again in the morning.

Ryan sat back and turned on the local news and the first thing he saw was a picture of the old temple in Athens. They were covering the burning of the old temple. The story said there were one hundred seventy bodies recovered, all had been shot.

Ryan shut off the TV he didn't want to hear anymore. Ryan sat back in his chair and the bright white light appeared. The Angelic figure started to appear and became whole in a few seconds. Gabriel appeared to Ryan and said, "my child you have done a good job. The Lord is pleased with your actions, He had wished you would have been able to convince the many people in the old temple to come to him, he understands what you had to do. He has given you a title, from this day forward you will be known as Ryan the Slayer."

"Thank you Gabriel, I will continue to do my best to serve the Lord."

Gabriel just nodded and faded away.

Ryan dug into his bag and found the number the Bishop in Athens gave him, he dialed the number and a man answered the phone. Ryan told him who he was and that there was a package for him. The man on the other end of the phone said there was and it would be delivered this evening.

Half an hour later the same delivery truck that had delivered all of the other boxes to him pulled up in front of Ryan's house. Ryan met the man at the door and took the box from him. The man nodded and turned and left.

Ryan opened the box and took all the weapons out and set them on his coffee table and set about cleaning them and oiling them. After an hour he had finished cleaning the guns and he took them into his hidden room and put them away. Ryan turned in for the night.

Ryan checked the figurines every day for the next week and nothing came to him. Ryan guessed they were giving him some time off to heal a little more. On the seventh day Ryan went to his workshop and picked up one of the figurines and it came rushing to him. His next assignment was the fallen Angel Furcas. Furcas was the fallen angel who appears as a cruel man with long beard. No one escaped his cruelty Ryan would not have far to go. His trip this time would take him to Cairo Egypt. An hour later the delivery arrived with his package. Ryan opened it and it had a map of Egypt, his plane ticket and hotel reservations. Ryan packed his box with his guns, he hoped he would not need them but just in case he thought. He called the number and his regular delivery driver showed up and picked up the box.

Ryan arrived at the airport the next morning and checked in with his flight. All he had for baggage was his carry on, He went to the departure gate. He had half an hour before they would board his flight so he sat down and closed his eyes.

Ryan heard the call for boarding on his flight; he went to the gate and checked in at the gate. When he found his seat he placed his bag in the overhead compartment, he then sat down and promptly fell asleep.

Ryan landed in Cairo thirteen and a half hours later; He went out to the taxi station and hailed a taxi. Ryan climbed into the back seat of the taxi and told the driver "Grand Marquis hotel please."

"Yes sir."

The taxi driver opened the door for Ryan and held it as Ryan got into the taxi. The driver got into the Taxi and pulled away from the airport. The ride to the Grand Marquis hotel was made in silence, Ryan had more information of the fallen Angel. The information in Ryan's mind said that he could be found around the old Asyarb Temple. This temple was an old Muslim temple. It had been abandon when it was severely damaged by a suicide bomber, a secret group of satanic worshipers had purchased the old temple. The satanic worshipers were starting to take hold in the Middle East.

The taxi pulled into the Grand Marquis hotel; Ryan opened the door and stepped out. The head porter frowned when the taxi pulled away and left no baggage. Ryan nodded at the porter and walked into the hotel and right up to the check in desk. "You should have a reservation for Ryan Simpson." Ryan told the desk clerk. The clerk typed his name into his computer and the clerk smiled and said "Yes sir, we do I see you have pre paid for thirty days. You are in room seven, seven, seven. Your room is ready and a package was delivered this morning and is already in your room. If there is anything we can do for you just let us know."

Ryan took his key and said thank you to the clerk. Ryan headed to the elevator and saw a young woman watching him. Ryan nodded to her and entered the elevator and rode it to the seventh floor. He found the door to his room and let himself in. He tossed his small bag on the couch and sat down in the overstuffed chair. This room was even nicer than the one he had in Greece.

Ryan stood and moved the box of his things closer to the chair; he took his pocketknife and cut the tape that sealed the box. He removed the nine-millimeter pistols and checked them and loaded the six clips he had. He then checked the MAC 10 he had kept from his trip to Greece. He loaded the four spare magazines and the one that was in the gun. Ryan placed everything in the box again and put them in the closet.

Ryan opened the mini refrigerator and removed a bottle of water. He opened the bottle when there was a knock on his door. Ryan walked over to the door and looked thru the peep hole and saw the woman who was watching him. He opened the door and said "May I help you?"

The woman looked at Ryan and said, "My disguise must be a good one, you didn't recognize me."

"Other than the black hair you look just as you did in Athens. What are you doing here in Cairo Maria?"

"As in Athens I am here to assist you. I have a large knowledge of the Middle East. The Bishop thought I could be of assistance to you."

"Come in and let's talk a bit."
CHAPTER ELEVEN

Maria walked to the couch and sat down, Ryan offered her something to drink and she declined.

"What's going on Maria? I doubt the Bishop sent you here, there would be no reason for him to do so."

Maria looked at Ryan and said, "It's like I said the Bishop thought I could be of assistance to you."

"You are a lousy liar Maria, there's more to it than that. I can find out you know."

"How would you do that?"

Ryan sat back in his chair, and said "Like this, Gabriel I need you please come."

Maria frowned. She knew the truth would come out now.

The bright white light formed and a Angelic figure started to appear. In a moment Gabriel formed and said, "Ryan my child what is it you need?"

"My guide, I seek knowledge from you."

"What would that be my child?"

"As you can see Gabriel I have a young woman here and her name is Maria she has told me her Bishop has sent her to me. I seek the truth."

"My child her Bishop has sent her to you. She is your aide to assist you in all ways possible. Our Lord God has decided you need someone to be there for you. She shall provide for all you needs."

"I am not questioning the Lord but why? I feel as though I must be lacking in my tasks."

"No child, it is odd for a single man to travel by himself to the places you go. As in the days of Adam the Lord God decided that a woman was needed for you. She is for you and you are for her."

"But Gabriel......" before Ryan could finish Gabriel was gone."

"Maria, I'm sorry but this cannot be, I can't do what it is I must do and worry about you getting hurt or worse."

Maria looked down and tears welled up in her eyes. She said "Do I not please you Ryan, I have been selected by our Lord God for you."

"Maria, I just can't do it."

"But Ryan, I can do all the things you can do. I can take care of myself."

"No I cannot do this. My mind will be more on you then on my task."

"Then you must not be as pure in heart as is thought, how can you disobey what the Lord God had decreed."

"Maria it's just......."

The loud booming voice that Ryan had heard once before in his house said, "My child Ryan, I have made Maria for you. Just as I made Eve for Adam, She shall be all that you need."

"My Lord, Maria is all that any man could want, but my heart must be cold to another to do the tasks that you have me do. If I have to worry about another my mind would not be focused."

"My son, she is there to help you in every way you shall need her. Her skills match yours; she will be an asset that will be there for you. It shall be only if you can accept her. You will keep her on this task you have now. If it is not to be then I shall change it. She has the complete knowledge of your task and what it is you do"

"My Lord, I have always obeyed you I have always followed your word, if you have gone to this trouble then I must obey."

"My son you shall see." And the voice was gone.

"Maria, you must do as I say when we go to an area of danger"

"Ryan I will always do as you say."

Ryan got the map of Cairo out and laid it on the table. He took a pen and circled old Asyarb Temple. The old temple was in a remote part of Cairo, the map showed that there were few houses or buildings near the temple.

"Maria this is where we will find Furcas. We have to be weary of him, most times he looks like an old man riding a horse, sometimes he has a small spear like weapon with him and sometimes he has a fiery barbed tail. If the tail or his spear like weapon touches you will either die or become a minion for him. He is ruthless to people, just plain evil. He always has a beard; no one has ever seen him without one. He is sly; he will do or say whatever he needs to, so things will always be to his advantage."

"When do you want to head out to the temple?"

"It's still early, why don't we make a trip out there and have a look around."

"Let's go then."

The headed out and found the car that they had rented. Maria got in the driver's seat and Ryan climbed into the passenger seat. They followed the map and easily found the temple. They scouted the area around the temple. There was wide open space to the north and east of the temple but to the west they found a row of old run down houses. The area to the west concerned Ryan the most. It looked like what appeared to be oil storage tanks. They were close to the temple the closest looked to be about seventy yards away. Ryan was not getting the prickly feeling in his neck as they drove by the temple it's self.

"Maria two things are bothering me here. One I don't see any place for a horse to be tied up, the second is there is only one road in or out from here. I think the oil storage could work to our favor. I noticed two of the tanks gave a good view of the temple; I want to see if we can get in there. Let's drive around the front of the storage yard and have a look at it."

They left the temple and headed away from the temple and spotted a car coming towards them, the road was just barley big enough for two cars to pass. Ryan took notice of the car and the driver was a gentleman if his fifty's and he was very neatly groomed. The car was as much out of place here as was the one they were in. The driver of the other car waved as he passed by and Maria waved back and smiled. They followed the map to the front of the oil storage facility and the gate had an old rusted lock. A sign hung on by rope was in Egyptian and read keep out. There were not other signs and the facility was in an isolated spot. There wasn't anything on top of the fence. The facility look abandoned.

Maria parked the car next to an old abandoned building that must have been a small store at one time in the past. Now it had broken windows and looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"I'm going to jump the fence, stay here and if I'm not back in an hour get out of here. Go back to the hotel and wait for me."

"What do you want me to do there?"

"Just sit and wait. I'll meet you back there."

Before Maria could answer Ryan was out of the car and headed for the fence. When he reached the fence, Ryan cleared it jumping half way up the fence and over it in one more move. Ryan dropped down on the other side and took off running toward the far side of the compound. He quickly found the two tanks he was looking for. One about seventy yards from the temple and the other about a hundred fifty yards away. He climbed the stairs going to the top of the tank that was the farthest from the temple. This tank was a straight shot to the temple. When he reached the top of the tank he saw that they had solid tops on them. He stepped on the tank top and laid down and checked his line of fire. The line was a direct shot to the front door of the temple. This tank would do just fine for what he wanted. He checked his watch and he had just over fifteen minutes to get back to Maria. Ryan climbed down the stairs and took off running back to where Maria was parked with the car.

When Ryan cleared the last building he spotted Maria, she was speaking with two Egyptian police officers. Ryan took cover back behind the last building he had passed. He looked to his right and the row of buildings would give him cover. He ran along the buildings and found a place about a quarter mile from Maria that he could jump the fence and the police wouldn't see him. He went up and over the fence and came down the on the other side, he sprinted across the dirt road and went behind the old abandon buildings. He moved along the back side and came to where Maria and the police were talking. He could hear the police asking her over and over what she was doing there. Maria kept saying that her husband told her to stay here while he checked out the land around the area, she said something about a ranch.

Ryan came out from behind the building and acted surprised that the police were there. One of the officers had his back to them the other was questioning Maria. The one speaking with Maria spotted Ryan and pulled his gun and leveled it at Ryan and told him to stop where he was. Ryan stopped and raised his hands above his head. Ryan spotted right away that these men were not regular police but Egyptian Commandoes. He had worked with the enough in Afghanistan and Iraq. The officer that had his back to them turned when his partner yelled at Ryan. When he turned around Ryan recognized him right away.

"Rahein, my old friend it is good to see you again, "Ryan said.

"Ryan? What is one of the U S Navy's finest doing here?"

'My old friend, I'm no longer in the Navy. I was discharged medically."

What happened to you?"

"Oh just a little accident in Afghanistan."

"What brings you to my country?"

"You always said how inexpensive it is to live here so I decided to come to check out prices to live and do some sightseeing."

"I see, so you know the this land is government land and it is not for sale, the other side belongs to an oil company but they don't use it anymore."

"I'm sorry Rahein said; I didn't know, the land wasn't posted. Shame it would have made for a good horse ranch too."

Rahein's partner leaned over to Rahein and said something into his ear, Rahein said Ryan since you are an old friend, we shall let it go. But please be careful what land you go on some are not so nice about it.

"Thank you Rahein, I owe you." Said Ryan

"Not so Ryan this makes us even from Iraq."

"Deal"

The two men shook hands and Maria and Ryan got into their car and headed back to the hotel

"What was that all about?" Maria asked.

"I saved his butt a few years back when we in Iraq, when I saw who it was and he said government land I thought we would be arrested."

"Why?"

"First they were not regular police they were Egyptian secret police. They keep the secrets well hidden; when he said government land I knew they were hiding something out there. We will have to find another way into the storage facility."

"I see, we were lucky then."

"You can say that again."

"When we get back to the hotel I am going to need some equipment so we can keep an eye on the temple."

"Just write down what we need and I will take care of it." Maria said.
CHAPTER TWELVE

By the time they reached the hotel Ryan had a list made of all the surveillance equipment that he would need. They parked the car and went to their room. Once inside Ryan gave Maria the list and she dialed the phone. She started repeating the list into the phone. While Maria was on the phone Ryan went into the kitchenette and made a pot of coffee. Just as the coffee was finished brewing, Maria hung up the phone.

"Ryan, is tomorrow soon enough for all these things you wanted?"

"Yes, we probably won't put them up for a day or two anyway. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Yes please I would love one." She replied

Ryan poured them both coffee and took it out on the balcony of their room. He sat them on the table and Maria joined him. It was just past three in the afternoon and the temperature was still over one hundred degrees outside.

"Ryan, its cooler inside the room, why don't we move inside?"

"If you want to, go ahead and sit inside, most of our work is going to be outside while we're here so I want to get some what use to the heat."

"That makes sense, I didn't think of that. What is all the equipment we ordered going to be used for?"

"Its long range surveillance equipment, the temple is in such a remote spot we would be noticed coming and going from the area. I want to set up the transmitters in the storage facility and the recorders about a mile away from there. Looking at it from here we are close to a mile from there as the crow flies right here."

"It would be close to that."

"That's going to work out great the transmitters have a range of one and a half miles so we some leeway."

"May I ask another question?"

"Why were you so adamant about not having me work with you? It kind of hurt me that you didn't want me."

"Oh Maria, the reason I fought it, is I don't want you to be hurt. The things we are up against can cause great harm, not only to us but others as well. I just felt that if I had to worry about a partner I wouldn't be able to concentrate on the task at hand. I see that the things you have done so far have been invaluable to me. To us, for what we have to do."

"Ok I can understand that, but I want to help you. This is a great task and such a great honor to be handpicked by God himself, its amazing."

"How do you know which fallen Angel will be the one we be going after?"

"That's kind of hard to explain, when we finish here and go back to San Diego I'll show you."

"That sounds wonderful."

A knock sounded on the door, Ryan got up and walked to the door and looked thru the peep hole. To his surprise standing there was Rahein. Ryan opened the door and said, "To what do I owe this surprise to my friend."

"Ryan it has been so long since we have seen each other, may I come in?"

"I'm sorry please do come in."

When Ryan moved aside Rahein stepped in and Ryan closed the door. As the door latched Rahein, turned and put Ryan in a choke hold.

"Do not bullshit me my friend; you are here for more than sightseeing and looking at property. A Navy Seal does not come into this country without being noticed."

"Rahein, Let me go. As I told you I am no longer in the Navy and I am no longer a Seal. I was on a mission to take out a high ranking terrorist; I was getting ready to shoot when I caught a RPG out of the corner of my eye. It damn near killed me. I was medically discharged."

"Rahein, I suggest you let Ryan go, I would hate to put a bullet in your head, and just because I'm a woman don't think I won't do it.

Rahein turned his head and found himself starring down the barrel of a nine-millimeter. He let go of Ryan and smiled, "I see you have a trained partner as well."

"You know as well as I do, in our line of work we made a lot of enemies, do you travel unarmed?"

"No not at all and neither does my wife."

"Now why are you really here?"

"One of our security cameras caught a man climbing over the fence around the old oil facility, just about the same time we found you two. I want to know was it you?"

"Wow you think I would do something like that? Remember I trained here with you once. I have a good knowledge of your laws; I could get shot doing something stupid like that."

"Yes you could shot. I just needed to know. You have been a good friend and I still owe my life to you, I just wanted to know if I had to cover you for something."

"Thank you for that, but no not me."

"Promise me my friend you will not get into trouble while you're here."

"I'll do my best not to get into trouble."

"That is all I can ask. I must go now, Take care my friend."

"You too Rahein."

Rahein left the room and Ryan looked at Maria and said, "I would have never believed someone could sneak up on him. In fact had I not seen it with my own eyes I would have never believed it."

Maria just smiled.

"I'm going to go work out, would you care to come?"

"Sure," she replied.

They went to the hotel gym and worked out for a couple of hours, then returned to the room. Ryan removed his sword from under the bed and started his workout with it. Maria watched as Ryan went thru the moves he was taught and had been practicing for almost two months.

"I need to get one of those. You can teach me how to use it."

Ryan smiled and said, "I have just recently learned the right way to use it. That's why I practice so long with it. But I am willing to teach you what I know."

After Ryan finished the workout with the sword he told Maria he was going to take a shower. After Ryan finished his shower Maria took her shower. While Maria was in the shower he took care of turning down the bed and fixed the couch as a bed for him. When Maria came out of the shower she saw the couch made up as a bed and she asked Ryan, "Why is the couch made for a bed."

"I'm sleeping on the couch and you can have the bedroom."

"We can both sleep in the bed."

"I would rather not Maria, you take the bed and I'll sleep on the couch."

They turned in for the night, Ryan was glad Maria didn't put up much a fuss about him sleeping on the couch. He knew he would have a hard time keeping to himself."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Maria came out of the bedroom to find breakfast had been delivered to the room by room service. Ryan was sitting on the balcony drinking his morning coffee.

Maria fixed a plate of Scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. She joined Ryan on the balcony. She was almost finished eating when they heard a knock on the door. Ryan got up walked to the door and looked thru the peep hole, the delivery man had brought several boxes. Ryan opened the door and had the delivery man put the boxes in the living room. Ryan tipped the man and held the door for him as he left.

Ryan returned to the boxes and took out his pocket knife and opened each box. He unpacked and as he examined each item he smiled. All of was state of the art surveillance equipment that would make the CIA envious.

Ryan took the transmitters, video and audio equipment to the car and loaded them in the trunk of the car. He was just finishing up when Maria came down and asked Ryan if he was ready.

He nodded and they got into the car and headed for the storage facility. This time they were on the opposite side of the yard from the day before. Ryan found a place in the fence that he could slide the box of equipment under. Once he did that he jumped the fence. He picked up the box and made his way to the two tanks that gave the best view of the temple. It took Ryan more than an hour to get everything set up. Once he was satisfied with the set up he headed back to Maria and they headed back to the hotel. When they got back they went to the room to check the video and audio feeds from the storage yard. Both were working great the video was clear as day and at night there was another camera that had the night vision lens.

With that completed the both kicked back and set in for a long day of surveillance. The first few hours there had been no traffic coming to or going from the temple. In the third hour a red Ferrari drove up and pulled into the temple. Other than the car being out of place there was nothing unusual about the man. He was middle aged and well groomed, had a neatly trimmed beard and he walked with a cane.

Nothing came or went for the next hour, at the start of the fifth hour the man in the Ferrari left the temple. About thirty minutes later the red Ferrari came back to the temple. The man left again about three in the afternoon. A spattering of cars came or went thru early evening. Nothing more came or went after six in the evening. Maria and Ryan turned in early the first night of surveillance.

Ryan got up around seven in the morning and he decided to let Maria sleep in. He made coffee and sat down in front of the monitor. Shortly after he sat down the Ferrari drove into the temple. The man appeared disheveled. One of the people from the temple was out working in the yard, the man got out of the Ferrari and started to walk to the front door of the temple, as he approached the young man working in the yard, and the older man took his cane and started to beat the younger man on the back.

"Oh damn, Maria, Ryan yelled get up we have to go."

Maria came out of the bedroom looking startled. "What did you say?"

"Get dressed quick we need to go."

Maria ran back into the bedroom and came out a few minutes later, "Where are we going?"

"To the temple, I'll explain on the way."

They took the elevator and ran to their car. They took off to the temple. On the way Ryan said, "I took everything too literal about Furcas. The red Ferrari is the horse he is riding. The cane he has been using is his pointed weapon. Damn it Maria I wasted three days looking for someone else.

They pulled up into the temple and walked in the front door. Ryan spotted a younger man at the front of the temple and asked. "Who owns the Ferrari outside; I put a ding in it pulling in here."

"One moment sir and I'll get him." The younger man's face turned pale when Ryan told him he had dinged the Ferrari."

The man with the Ferrari came out into the main temple he was cursing under his breath; he walked right up to Ryan and shoved him. Ryan stumbled back a step but stood his ground, the man went to slap Ryan and Ryan easily side stepped his swing.

"Sir I'm sorry there is no need to get violent."

"You idiot you have no idea what you have done," the man said as he shoved Ryan again.

"Sir, do not put your hands on me again," Ryan said.

The man hoisted his cane and held it like a bat and swung at Ryan. Ryan was ready for the swing he had his hand held out and thought the word sword. As the man's cane came around Ryan brought his sword up and caught the cane in mid swing. Sparks flew when the two met. The man stepped back in shock.

"Who are you?" he asked

"I am Ryan the slayer, your reign has come to an end, your turned your back on the Lord our God. The time has come to dispatch you."

"You fool do you know who I am?"

"Yes you are the fallen Angel Furcas, you decided to follow Lucifer and turn your back on the one God. You have chosen darkness over the light. The time has come end you cruelness."

"You are a fool, there is nothing that can kill and Angel."

"You do not recognize the Angel sword; it is the one thing that can kill an Angel."

Before Ryan could finish Furcas took his cane and jabbed the point at Ryan, he easily knocked the cane away. Suddenly the fiery tail appeared out of nowhere. Ryan brought the sword around and as Furcas made the attempt to hit him with his tail, Ryan brought the Sword down and cut the tail off close to the end. The flame disappeared and Furcas screamed in pain.

Furcas started speaking in a strange language that at first Ryan didn't recognize, after a few words the language came to him Furcas was speaking in tongue. He was trying to call him minions. What Furcas didn't know was that he would be unable to call them. He was now alone in his darkness.

Ryan brought his sword back and Furcas changed from his human form to his Angel form. Furcas flapped his wings and rose out of reach of Ryan. Furcas shot thru the windows of the temple and Ryan just said "Here we go again."

Maria watched as Furcas broke the window and flew out, the fallen headed to the south. She started the car and as Ryan came running out of the temple she pulled alongside Ryan and yelled "Get in."

Ryan looked at Maria then to the Ferrari he ran to the sports car and as luck would have it the keys were in the ignition. Ryan called to Maria and she backed the rental car to the Ferrari. Ryan wasted no time putting his weapons into the small trunk of the Ferrari. Maria jumped into the driver's seat and as Ryan climbed in she left a trail of rubber and smoke as she spun the tires taking off.

As they drove thru the streets of Cairo Ryan noted that many of the people on the streets were pointing to the sky seeing the form of Furcas flying thru the air. He was just a dot in the sky as they headed south toward Al Minya. As they came to the open highway the traffic became lighter and Maria pushed the pedal towards the floor. As their speed increased they started to close the distance on Furcas. His winged form started to become clearer.

Ryan felt at ease riding as Maria clearly knew how to handle the power of the Ferrari. She could handle the car as well as most professional drivers and better then some. Twenty miles north of Al Minya they had closed most of the distance the Furcas had put between them.

Ryan looked to Maria and asked, "Any idea where he might be going?"

"If he stops in Al Minya, then yes, there are some old ruins to the south just outside of Al Minya that would be my best guess."

"Why there?"

"It is said that evil has taken over the ruins."

"I think I know where you are talking about. The information I have in my head tells of a place where Furcas came after he had fallen."

"Must be the same place," Maria said.

"Back off a little; let him think that he has eluded us."

Maria slowed the pace and Furcas started to put some distance between them.

Furcas was indeed headed to the ruins. He had underground tunnels that he knew he would be able to lose the slayer in and might even be able to defeat the slayer he thought.

Furcas landed at the ruins and he went right away to an old house that only had three of the original four walls left standing. He waived his hand at a slab of stone and it reveled a passage to the tunnels. He entered the tunnels and descended into the depths of the earth. He knew he would be safe from the slayer here. The slayer would be a fool to enter his lair.

Maria slowed the Ferrari as they entered Al Minya; they passed thru the city to the southern side. Seven miles south of the city they found the ruins. They approached slowly keeping a lookout for Furcas. They parked the car and Ryan opened the trunk and strapped on two of his nine millimeters along with the sword. He handed Maria the dagger and told her to keep it with her. Should Furcas come at her she was to use it and the MAC 10 for protection.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ryan entered the ruins and found the opening to the tunnels. Darkness enveloped the entrance; Ryan entered the tunnel and stopped twenty feet in so his eyes could adjust to the darkness.

Furcas heard Ryan enter the tunnel and hurried the decent deeper into the tunnel. Furcas stepped out of the tunnel and into a wide open cavern located some two hundred feet into the tunnel and fifty feet below the surface. More tunnels led off the cavern. Furcas knew each tunnels direction and where they went. He had the advantage over the slayer and would use it to destroy him.

Ryan was surprised at how quickly his eyes adjusted to the total darkness and how well he could see. He started moving following the gently downward sloping tunnel. Ryan moved slowly deeper into the tunnel. The slope of the tunnel started to level off and Ryan spotted the opening at the end of the tunnel. The light coming from the end of the tunnel showed to Ryan that there was a large cavern. Ryan slowly moved into the cavern and scanned the area for Furcas but saw nothing, he stepped fully into the cavern and the feeling in his neck became very strong. Ryan stopped his advance knowing that Furcas was close by. Ryan rescanned the cavern and still saw nothing. He took another step into it and Furcas came down from above him and knocked Ryan to the ground. The impact caused the Angel sword to skid across the cavern, Furcas began stomping on Ryan.

Ryan tried to roll away from Furcas's massive feet. Each time he rolled Furcas would adjust and continue to stomp on Ryan. Finally Furcas reached down and picked up Ryan and threw him across the cavern, Ryan hit the wall with such force that dirt and rock started to fall. Ryan was clearing the cobwebs from his mind from hitting the wall, but before he could start to think clearly Furcas was back on top of him. Ryan curled up into the fetal position to try to protect himself from the assault of Furcas.

Furcas was kicking and punching Ryan with all the force he could muster. He finally brought his injured tail to around to hit Ryan with the fire coming from the tip that Ryan had cut off earlier. Ryan took the moment of reprieve from the beating he was taking to slide between Furcas's legs, He quickly moved away and spotted the Angel sword. Furcas saw that Ryan was trying to reach the sword and leaped and landed on top of the sword. Furcas received a deep burning sensation on his foot that was on top of the sword. Furcas jumped off the sword and started to pick it up when the Angel sword disappeared. Furcas spun around to face Ryan and he saw that Ryan was holding the sword. Ryan was struggling to stand from the pounding he had been taking.

Ryan slowly backed his way into the tunnel he had come thru, keeping the Angel Sword towards Furcas. To Ryan it seemed like forever before he had cleared the tunnel.

Maria had been waiting in the car as Ryan had told her to. Occasionally she would feel the ground shake or she could see dust and dirt coming thru the tunnel entrance. She knew that Ryan and Furcas were engaged in a life or death battle. The ground had stopped shaking for a while and no more dirt or dust came from the tunnel. Maria waited for what seemed like hours and decided that she was going to check out the tunnel, she prayed that Ryan was alright. As she neared the tunnel she spotted Ryan backing out and she could tell the he was hurt. Just as Ryan cleared the tunnel Furcas leaped out of the tunnel on top of Ryan. Maria brought the MAC 10 up and fired a burst into Furcas. He howled from the pain of the bullets hitting him. The rounds from the MAC 10 had stung him when they hit but had no real effect on him. He turned his attention from Ryan and headed toward Maria.

The reprieve was all Ryan needed, he jumped to his feet and swung the Angel sword at Furcas and hit him across his back. Furcas spun back to Ryan and made a step towards him, Maria fired another burst from the MAC 10. Furcas was torn at which to kill, the girl for being a pest or Ryan who was the more immediate threat. Girl I will deal with you when I finish with the Slayer. The distraction of Maria allowed Ryan to swing the Angel Sword again, this time cutting a piece of his wing; Furcas turned his attention to Ryan again, He started towards Ryan, when he did Ryan struck out with the sword and pierced Furcas in the right shoulder. Furcas spun and took off into the air. Furcas was headed west to Siwah. He was going to see Berith.

Berith is a lesser fallen and Furcas figured the slayer didn't know of him. The trip to Siwah was going to take him some time the slice on the wing was impeding his flight.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ryan watched as Furcas flew away he guessed he was heading to the west. Ryan slowly mad his way to the Ferrari. Maria had already made it to the car and was putting away the guns. When she got a good look at Ryan she could see he was hurt. The beating he had taken at the hands of Furcas was pretty bad. Maria did a quick examination of Ryan and decided there were no broken bones.

"All I can see is a lot of bruises; it doesn't appear as anything is broken."

"You should be inside this body then, It feels like every bone in my body is broken."

"Now quit you're crying and get in we have to head after Furcas."

Ryan just smiled and got into the car. Maria brought the big sports car to life and headed for the highway Furcas was following. Once clear of the city limits Maria sped up, it didn't take long and they had Furcas in their sights. They slowed so he wouldn't know they were following him.

"This highway takes us to Siwah, why would he be going there?" Maria asked.

"Are there any old temples there?"

I'm not sure if there are or not."

As they got close to Siwah they saw that Furcas started a downward move, he heading in to land somewhere in Siwah. "Maria pull over I need to seek some guidance."

Maria spotted a gas station and pulled in, "Will this work?"

"I hope so."

Ryan leaned back and called Gabriel's name. Nothing happened. He tried again and still nothing. Ryan frowned and tried a third time and still nothing. "He isn't answering me Maria."

"I wonder why not, have we done something wrong?"

"I don't think we have, but it looks like we are on our own for now."

The headed into Siwah and drove around town for a while. Not seeing anything obvious the decided to stop and get something to eat, Maria spotted a restaurant, she pulled in and they went inside. The restaurant boasted the best food in Egypt. They were shown to a table and they both looked over the menu and Maria watched as Ryan squirmed in his seat. "What's wrong Ryan can't read the menu."

"No I can't; I speak Egyptian but I don't read it."

"Please just order me something."

"OK I will Ryan."

When they finished their meal they went back out to the car and Maria got in the driver's side and when Ryan got into the car he felt something stab him. Ryan reached under him and pulled out one of his figurines. When he held it in his hand the information for Berith came to him, now his mind was filled with the information of two fallen at the same time, Ryan's mind spun with so much information.

Maria looked at Ryan and a frown came over her face. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be ok just a lot of things running around in my head. I now know why Furcas came here. He is calling on a lesser fallen named Berith. I will have to dispatch them both at the same time."

"I take it he must have answered you."

"I think so," Ryan smiled.

The left the diner and headed into Siwah, The found what one might call the main drag, there were people walking the streets despite the late hour. The air temperature was still over a hundred degrees. Ryan looked to Maria and said, "Let's see if we can get a hotel room and lets get some rest and start fresh in the morning. It will also give me a little time to heal."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." She answered

They drove around looking for a hotel; Ryan spotted a sign that indicated there was a airport to the south of where they were located. Maria turned and drove 2 miles and found a row of hotels they picked one and checked in for the evening.

*****

Furcas found Berith at the small temple that was used to worship their lord Lucifer. Berith came outside and watched as Furcas landed. The landing was off kilter due to the wound in Furcas shoulder and loss of part of his wing. Berith walked over to Furcas, and said "My brother what has happened to you, you are bleeding and do not look good."

"Berith, my brother we have trouble, there is a Angel slayer who has attacked me. I don't know how but he has a sword that can inflict injury on an Angel. I believe it will kill us as well."

"Where is this slayer now?"

"I'm not sure, he followed me from Cairo to Al Minya, we battled there and he did this to me. He has a woman with him but she is more of a pest then a danger to us."

"And why is it that you come to me."

"Fool, if he knows of me he knows of you, we need to join forces to defeat this one."

"Why don't you just call on your minions?"

"I have tried, they do not respond to my calls."

"I have no minions to call I have not achieved enough status that lord Lucifer has not granted me the power to call on any. All I can provide is the humans that have decided to follow Lucifer."

"Try to call my minions, invoke them in my name, they should come."

Berith tried to call Furcas's minions but they did not come. He tried a second time and still nothing, "My brother they do not come."

"Then it will be you, me and your human followers"
CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Ryan you take the bed tonight, you have so many bruises on you. You need the rest and comfort of the bed tonight."

"No I'll be fine on the couch," Ryan tried to protest.

"To late I have made up my mind, you need all your strength to do battle with two fallen's tomorrow."

Ryan was not going to argue with her, he had already found out once Maria made up her mind it wasn't going to get changed. Ryan laid down on top of the coves and quickly drifted off to sleep. Maria sat and watched Ryan as he slept. She wondered if Ryan would ever take a wife. The Lord God had said she was his and he was hers. Did that mean that they we to be together forever. Maria slowly nodded off to sleep. She dreamed that Ryan had taken her as his wife and that they had children that followed in their father's footsteps; they would become slayers as well.

Maria woke during the night feeling a sense of contentment of being with Ryan; she hoped that her dream came true. She got up walked to the bed and lay down beside Ryan; she listened to his even breathing and quickly fell asleep.

Ryan woke early and found Maria asleep with her head on his chest. He liked the feeling of her beside him. He carefully slid away from her and changed to his workout clothes. He went down stairs and found a small spa with a few pieces of equipment; He was sore but needed to work out to loosen up his muscles. Ryan's thoughts kept returning to Maria laying there beside him. He wondered if he could ever have a normal life again. Get married have children, while working out a voice came to him.

"My son, I have told you that she is yours and you are hers. In eyes of your Lord God you are married to each other already."

Ryan shook his head, wondering if he had really heard the voice or was he just wishing. He was afraid that if he took Maria that doing the tasks that the Lord God had set upon him, he would fail because he would worry about her.

Ryan returned to the room and quietly entered the room. He saw Maria was still sleeping, He stripped of his clothes and took a shower, when he came out of the shower he found Maria sitting in the Chair and she had coffee already made and was having a cup.

"Good morning Ryan, how are you feeling this morning?" she asked.

"A little sore but I feel ready to face the day."

"While you were in the shower I just thought I would look in the local phonebook to see what I could find. I didn't find anything under Churches, Temples or Mosques. I then looked up names. I found Al Berith Frezel. I dialed the number and it was answered Temple of the Dead. I said I had a wrong number and hung up. I copied down the address so we could go have a look if you wanted."

"Could it be that simple?"

"It could be."

"We better see if we can rent another car, if it is him he most likely has Furcas with him. The Ferrari would be too easy to spot."

"I'll see to it, any type of car."

"Something that would fit in around here."

"OK I'll see what I can do."

Maria found a car rental company in the phone book and made arrangements to have the rental car delivered to the hotel. A half an hour later there was a knock on the door. A gentleman had delivered the car and it was parked downstairs. Ryan took the keys from the man and tipped him.

Maria and Ryan went downstairs and found the car, "I'll pull the car over to the Ferrari and we can transfer the weapons to the rental." Maria said.

"Let's not do that yet, let's take a drive by and have a look. Kind of see what we are up against."

The got into the car and headed towards the address that Maria found in the phone book. The drive took ten minutes from the hotel. The Temple if you could call it that was an old run down building that one would not mistake as a place of worship of any kind. There were guards around the building all carrying automatic weapons. Maria and Ryan drove by the building and turned at the next block. Ryan was looking around and on the next block found what he needed.

"Pull over here." Ryan said.

"What's here?"

"I have an idea; I don't like the idea of taking on that many people that all have automatic weapons. I want to try to weed them out a bit. I'm going to need a pair of binoculars, do you think you can find a pair."

"I can try."

"Good leave me here and see what you can find. I am going to scout around on foot. When you get back wait for me here, If I haven't come back by noon get out of here and go home."

"I won't leave you behind. If you're not back I am going to come looking and that's that.

"Maria....."

"No and I mean it."

"Ok have it your way."

Ryan climbed out of the car and headed for the building; he stopped and waved to Maria as she pulled away. The building was three stories and in a bad state of repair. It appeared to be completely empty. He found a open door and made his way to the roof. It provided a clear view of the building where he was sure Furcas and Berith were holed up in.

He made his way back down the stairs and made his way close to the old building with the guards. He watched the guards looking for a pattern in their patrol. They mostly just stood in one place occasionally moving to the sides. It appeared they had no pattern. Ryan counted a total of seven guards at least on the outside. Ryan could not get close enough to the windows to have a look inside. Ryan had been gone about two hours. He made his way back to the spot that Maria where had dropped him off.

As he rounded he spotted the rental car and Maria was leaning on the fender keeping a watchful eye out for Ryan. When she spotted Ran a big smile came to her face. She handed Ryan the binoculars and Ryan said "Perfect. If you would move the car up to where the others are park on the street, I don't want it to stick out here all by it's self. When you park it come on back."

"I'll be right back" she said. Maria got in the car and moved it to the next block and came back to where Ryan waited for her.

"Follow me inside." Ryan said

"Ryan went to the unlocked door and they climbed the stairs to the roof. Ryan showed her the clear view they had of the old building where the guards were. He explained how many guards there were around the place. He told her he wanted to watch the place to see if they could see the fallen Angel's.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Furcas and Berith were getting bored being cooped up inside, Furcas got up and walked to the window and peered out. Nothing had happened all day and he decided to step outside and question some of the guards to see if they had seen anything.

Furcas opened the door and walked up to the first guard.

"Yes my lord may I help you?"

"What have you observed out here."

"Nothing unusual my lord, just the usual traffic, nothing out of the ordinary," Replied the guard.

Furcas repeated the question with each guard that was outside. He unfurled his wings and rose to the top of the building; he questioned the five guards that were stationed on the top of the building getting the same answer.

Furcas folded his wings and reentered the building thru the door on the roof. He rejoined Berith and informed him of what the guards had told him.

"Maybe the slayer has discovered where you have come. He may not know of me yet." Said Berith.

He's here, he just hasn't found us yet, but he will and I want to be ready for him." Said Furcas.

"Do not worry my brother when he arrives he will be dealt with, my followers here will take care of him, then you will be free to return home."

"Don't be too sure of yourself Berith and these humans you put so much trust in."

"Believe me when I say he won't get past my guards. I have set them up in three lines of defense before he can get to us."

*****

Ryan sat patiently on the roof top all day. The heat was the only thing that made it uncomfortable, He watched thru the binoculars. It was getting to be late afternoon when he spotted Furcas come out the door. He watched as the fallen made his way to each guard. He saw the wings on the fallen unfurl and saw him rise to the roof. He spotted the five guards on the roof as Furcas stopped to talk to each one. Ryan took out a notepad from his pocket and drew a rough outline of the building and marked the position of each guard. He would need more than what he had as weapons to take out the guards. Ryan dug out his cell phone and call his buddy Jim.

"Jim, Ryan again, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing good what can I get for you.?"

"I need you to go to my place and get a couple of things for me. I need the Marlin and my 270 and toss in a couple of boxes of ammo for each."

"Sure can do my friend, you want me to take it to the same place?"

"If you don't mind."

"Be happy to take care of it."

Thanks buddy." And Ryan hung up.

"Maria I'm ready to go. I've seen enough here, I have a package on the way, that will have what I need here."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Let's get something to eat and then back to the hotel to relax."

They made their way down from the roof and went to the car; they headed to the hotel and stopped at the hotel restaurant. They ate a hardy meal and went up to their room.

"Ryan, I have a question for you, do you take the Lord's word verbatim?"

"Yes I do, why do you ask?"

"I had a dream last night, it was as if the Lord was speaking to me, I dreamed that you had taken me as your wife and that we had children. We were raising a family while we still hunted the fallen."

"Wow, I had something almost exactly the same, I was working out and day dreaming about you and me, I thought the Lord God spoke to me. He told me that you were already mine and I was yours. In eyes of our Lord God we are already married to each other. I do know one thing though; I believe I am already falling in love with you"

"I feel the exact same way about you Ryan."

They spent the rest of the evening just sitting on the couch holding each other and watching TV.

The next morning there was a knock on the door, Ryan woke and realized that they had fallen asleep in each other's arm right there on the couch. The knock repeated and Ryan got up to answer the door. He peeked thru the peep hole and was surprised to see the same delivery man that had been delivering everything to his home was standing outside the door.

Ryan opened the door and said "I'm surprised to see you here."

"Where you go I go, I am your delivery man." The man said.

He handed the package to Ryan and told him to have a good day. Ryan closed the door and set the package on the coffee table, he took out his pocket knife and cut open the box. He lifted each weapon and set them aside. He pulled out the boxes of ammo for both guns. He carefully inspected each rifle and loaded them. The Marlin held three rounds and the 270 held four. He removed the covers off of the 3-12 x 50 sniper scopes on each rifle. He cleaned the lenses of each scope. He laid the rifles aside and watched Maria as she woke up.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Ryan put the rifles back in the shipping box and carried them down to the rental car. He laid them out on the back seat. He moved the rental over to the Ferrari and transferred all the rest of the weapons to the trunk of the rental. Just as Ryan was finishing the transfer Maria came down. Ryan looked over to her and smiled and said, "Your sure look good today."

"Thank you, you're not so bad yourself."

"Everything is transferred over, I'm ready when you are."

"Let's go then. I assume you want to go to the tall building."

They drove to the old building and when Maria pulled up Ryan said, "Drop me off here park the car up where you parked yesterday, I'll wait just inside the door."

"Ok see you in a few."

Ryan carried the shipping box with both rifles and the boxes of ammo and walked into the building. He waited just inside the door for Maria. She showed up in a couple of minutes. When they got to the roof the sun was fully risen. The sun would be behind and off to the right of where Ryan set up the Marlin, Ryan laid down on the blanket that Maria had carried up. He found the old building and looked thru the scope to find any of the guards. Ryan quickly found the first guard Ryan shifted to the roof and tried to pick up any of the roof top guards. He wanted to take them out first, less noticeable then taking one out on the ground.

Ryan found the first guard on the roof. He sighted in on him he rechecked the wind and re sighted on the guard. He squeezed the trigger and the sound from the Marlin was almost completely muffled by the suppressor. He watched thru the scope and saw the man's head jerk back and then the man fell forward. Ryan quickly sighted on the next guard and squeezed the trigger again. He watched the process repeat with the next guard. He shot the remaining three guards before any of them realized what had happened. The whole process of removing the five guards from the roof took only thirty seconds.

Maria watched thru the binoculars and said, "Wow your good, remind me never to make you mad."

"The ones on the ground are going to be a lot tougher to take out, I can only get four of them from here, unless I get lucky and the other three come around to see what happened to the friends."

Ryan reloaded the Marlin for the second time. Ryan looked thru the scope and found the guard on the left side of the building; he sighted in on the man's head and squeezed the trigger. Not waiting to see if he had a kill Ryan sighted on the back guard on the right side of the building, he squeezed the trigger again, He moved right away to the right front guard and repeated the process. He reloaded and took out the right front guard. He sighted in on the guard in the front, he saw him start walking to the right side of the building. Ryan took a lead on the man and squeezed the trigger. The man took one step and dropped to the ground. That left only three more guards on the outside.

Luck was on Ryan's side today he spotted one of the three remaining guards coming from around the left side of the building he targeted him and shot him right between the eyes. Ryan shifted his sight to the right side and another guard stuck his head out and Ryan shot him. Ryan was about to give up on the last guard when he came around the building. The guard was about to sound the alarm when he spotted he friends on the ground when Ryan shot him through the mouth. He used his last round in the clip and shot the last guard again hitting him in the head this time.

Ryan broke down the tri-pod and put the Marlin back in the box, Ryan then policed his brass and placed the spent cartridges in the box. He looked over to Maria and said "let's go"

Maria stood there in a shock for a minute, she just watched Ryan shoot 7 human beings killing each of them and the total time was less than five minutes. "Maria, are you ok?" Ryan asked.

Maria stuttered out the word yes, "I'm just amazed at how easy you did that."

'It's never easy killing another human being but sometimes it's part of the job."

I understand."

"Ok let's go."

They climbed back down the stairs and returned to the rental car., Ryan put the box that held the rifles back into the car.

"Maria I want to move the car a little closer to their building. I don't think it would be wise to be carrying the other weapons out in the open for very far."

"I know just the place, they won't see the car and we will have plenty of cover."

They got into the car and Maria move it to the place she said, Ryan like the hiding place, Quick getaway if needed. Ryan opened the trunk and got out the MAC 10 plus the four extra magazines. He strapped on his nine millimeter's as well as the sword and dagger. He got out the two extra nine millimeter handguns and loaded them and handed them to Maria.

"Stay here if I'm not back in an hour go back to the hotel, I'll catch up there."

Ryan made his way to the side window and looked inside; he spotted eight more guards that he could count. "Damn they must be expecting us."

Ryan made his back to the car and Maria.

"It's not going to be as easy as I had hoped they have at least eight more guards inside. Once I start to go inside it is going to be shooting. I won't be able to surprise them." Ryan moved to the trunk and got out four more clips for the nine millimeter pistols. He looked at Maria and said, "Wish me luck."

""I'll do better than that," she reached over and kissed him.

"That's better than a wish any old day."

Ryan made his way back to the building and saw that the outside guards were still laying where he had shot them, He decided to move the guards and started to pull one of them when the door opened and one of the inside guards came out and spotted a dead guard, he sounded the alarm and three more guards came rushing outside. Ryan had ducked out of sight just before the guard could spot him. Ryan pulled one of his nine millimeter handguns out and took aim at one of the guards. He squeezed the trigger and one of the guards dropped to the ground. Ryan shot the second guard and he fell into the building before falling to the ground. He quickly shifted his aim and shot the third guard just as he started to yell a warning. "Still leaves five inside" Ryan said to himself. Ryan slowly moved towards the front door, his gun at the ready in case one of the people inside came out. When Ryan reached the door he grabbed the door handle and opened the door, the door was half way open a burst of automatic weapons fire hit the door. The door was a heavy metal coated door so the bullets from the gun fire inside the building did not go thru the door.

He let the door close; he quickly scanned the area around the door looking for something he could use to prop the door open far enough for him come in with his guns at the ready. Not finding anything useful he decided to just throw the door open and roll inside. Not knowing the exact location of the guards inside he would have to find cover right away. Ryan grabbed the door handle and threw it open and rolled into the building he came to a stop behind the rear row of seats. Gun fire ripped the wood of the seats as Ryan scrambled to move to the far end of the seats.

The guards kept the gun fire concreted on the spot where Ryan entered the building. When he reached the end of the row of seats Ryan peeked around the seats and spotted two guards fumbling with their automatic weapons trying to reload. Ryan brought his nine up and shot both men.

When the remaining three guards saw their two brothers go down, the gun fire stopped. Ryan waited for a bit then said, "Listen to me, unless you want to die, put your guns down and walk out the door. It's your choice."

"We have you out numbered, why should we do as you say?" the reply came in broken English.

"Look at how many of your friends have died already, no one is left outside to help you, you have until I count to five to drop your guns." Ryan replied.

Ryan heard four guns hit the floor and watched as four of the fallen's followers left the building. Ryan moved forward and looked up and scanned the building and found no one left. When Ryan reached the front of the building he came to what looked like an alter. It was blood stained he guessed that it was used for ritual sacrifices to Lucifer.

He searched the remainder of the large room and found no one. He found two doors leading out of the main worship room, one to the left and one to the right. He chose the one to the left first. When he opened the door he found it was just a closet that contained various robes and artifacts used in devil worshiping. He turned to go to the other door he took a few steps and the other door opened and Berith stepped into the room.

"Slayer the time has come for you to stop your useless attack on this house of worship. You have failed at your task." Berith said.

"No fallen one, the time has come for you to repent, get down on your knees and ask the Lord God for forgiveness, return to his flock."

"Why would I do that, I have everything I could ask for Lucifer has provided for the richness I now have. I have my own followers, so much more than your God would give, and now I have this."

Berith raised his hand and snapped his finger, two of his followers brought in Maria, she was struggling against the two men that had a hold of both of her arms.

"I now have your prized woman; she shall be my next sacrifice to Lucifer. He shall grace me with this one and provide more for me.

Ryan's hand went up and the Angel sword appeared in his hand, "let her go or I will kill you where you stand."

"You should not make any demands or threats that you can't keep, slayer.

One of the men holding Maria pulled a large knife from his belt and started to bring it to Maria's face. He touched the blade to her neck.

Drop your weapons or I shall order my men to cut her throat now and Lucifer shall have her now.

The man went to adjust his grip on the knife and when he did Maria made a move to get away. The man with the knife lost his grip on Maria and Ryan pulled his nine from the holster and shot the man in the head.

"Kill her." Berith said as he turned to Maria.

Ryan took the moment of distraction to thrust forward with the sword and he pierced the heart of Berith. Instantly Berith burst into flames and was gone. They remaining man startled by the disappearance of Berith lost his grip on Maria and she brought her knee up into the man's groin. He yelped in pain and doubled over. Maria brought her knee up and slammed it into his nose, breaking his nose causing blood to flow freely. The man lay on the floor withering in pain. "You should have listened to what he said."

Ryan heard sirens coming in their direction, he grabbed Maria and said, "Come on we need to get out of here before the police get here."

Maria ran after Ryan. They got into their car and quickly sped off away from the approaching sirens.

Maria looked at Ryan and said, "I'm sorry that I let them get me I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me. I spotted Furcas fly away and then the two men grabbed me."

"It's not your fault Maria, I should never have had you wait that close. It won't happen again"

"I just need to be more careful."

We can talk about it later. We just need to get away from here. "Did you see which direction Furcas was headed?"

"I'm not sure but I think to the south."

Maria spotted the police car come sliding around the corner ahead of them. She pulled the car to the side of the road. When the police car sped by she pulled back out and drove off.

They drove back to the hotel and went back to their room. When they went in to the room Ryan pulled Maria close to him and said, "I'm sorry Maria, I out you in danger, I won't ever let that happen to you again."

"Ryan stop, it wasn't your fault, I wasn't paying attention."

"Still I won't put you in that position again."

"Let's just drop it and get some rest." Maria said.

"Before I rest I need to try to figure out where Furcas went."

"I think he headed south but I'm not sure."

"Let's say he went south where would he head if he went that way?"

Ryan got out his map of Egypt and laid it out on the coffee table.

"Maria look at the map let's see if we can figure it out."

The studied the map and Maria put her finger on the map. Ryan looked at where she was pointing. "Aswan why there?" he asked.

"Aswan has a large temple there that is used for devil worshiping. It is said to be the largest in the world."

"Then that's where we go then. Let's get a good night sleep and leave in the morning."
CHAPTER NINETEEN

Maria was the first to wake up, she called down for room service, she ordered breakfast for the two of them. She then made coffee. While the coffee was brewing she flipped on the TV. Ryan woke to the smell of the coffee. Maria was intently watching the news broadcast. She heard Ryan toss the covers off and she turned to look at him.

"We might have a problem." She said.

Yawning Ryan asked, "What's up."

"The news is covering what happened yesterday, someone saw us running to the car. They have a partial description of us and they have identified the rental."

"Damn, this is going to make it harder on us."

A picture of a woman identified as the woman who rented the car didn't look anything like Maria, The woman identified was a blonde and much heavier then Maria. The sketch of the man could have been just about anyone. The rest of the identification could have been any Caucasian people. The report went on about the members of the temple having been shot. And put the dead at twelve.

"I think we should get on the road before they find the rental and tie it to us," Ryan said.

"I agree." They finished the breakfast that had been delivered. They finished dressing and packed the bags that held their clothes. They went down to the lobby to check out of the hotel and spotted the police asking questions of the desk clerk. The desk clerk provided a sheet of paper to the police. As the police stepped aside Ryan moved up and told the clerk that they were checking out. When the clerk gave him the receipt one of the officers walked up to Ryan.

"Excuse me sir but may I ask your name please."

"My name is Ryan Simpson sir,"

The officer checked his name on the sheet of paper the clerk had just given him.

"What are you doing here in Egypt sir?"

My wife and I are on our honeymoon and traveling Egypt, A friend of mine told me how beautiful it is here and he also told us how inexpensive it is to live here. If we find a place that we like we may settle here in Egypt."

"Do you have a car here sir?"

"Yes sir, it's in the parking garage."

"May we look at it sir."

"Of course, be my guest."

"Please follow this officer and show him your car."

They followed the officer to the parking garage, the officer asked them to lead the way to their car. Ryan and Maria turned and headed in the direction of the rental car, the officer thought to himself dumb American's headed right to the rental car. They saw that the rental car had been roped off and there were more police officers searching the car. Ryan looked at Maria and said "oh oh looks like someone is in trouble."

What makes you say that sir?"

"It has been my experience that when the police are searching you car your in trouble."

"Which car is your sir?"

"The red one over there." Said Maria.

"The Ferrari?" asked the cop.

"Yes sir."

"The officer admired the sleek car then asked, "May we search the car."

Maria gave Ryan a worried look knowing they had transferred the weapons to it last night.

"If you must but we're not happy about it."

"Please open it."

Maria opened the car and the officer looked inside. There wasn't anything inside the car.

"The trunk please."

Maria glanced back over at Ryan, and wasn't sure she should. "Do you have a search warrant officer?" asked Ryan.

"This is Egypt sir one is not needed."

"Very well but I will protest to the American Embassy."

Maria opened the trunk and the officer leaned into the trunk. He checked the sides of the trunk for hidden compartments. Finding nothing the officer thanked Ryan and Maria and said, your are free to go again thank you for your cooperation"

Ryan looked at Maria and shrugged his shoulders. They got in the car and pulled out they hit the highway headed out of town. "Let's put as much distance between that place and us as we can." Said Ryan.

"Where did our guns go," asked Maria.

"I don't know, looks like someone is watching over us."

"I bet I know who," Maria answered.

"Yea me too."

As they cleared town Maria pushed the gas pedal down and they picked up speed moving away. After an hour of travel Ryan asked Maria to pull over at the next available place they came to.

Maria drove another twenty miles and they came to a rest stop, and Maria pulled in. The both made stops in the restroom and when they got back to the car Ryan asked Maria to open the trunk. Maria opened the trunk and Ryan said "I'll be damned they are all here."

"How?" asked Maria

"I'll bet Gabriel had something to do with it."

Maria just smiled and said, "God must be watching out for us."

Ryan just nodded.

They got back in the car and checked the map, they decided to drive into Asyut and stop for the night, then drive into Aswan the next day. They guessed that still had about eight more hours to drive.

They pulled into the Al Kessel hotel around ten o'clock that evening, both of them tired and hungry. The hotel restaurant was still open and would be for another hour. They checked into a room and went to the restaurant to get dinner. The waitress took their order. "How much further do you think it is to Aswan?"

"I would guess another 400 to 500 more miles."

The waitress overheard them and said it was 450 miles to Aswan and the road there was in very good shape. The waitress left and came back with their food. Ryan and Maria ate in silence since they were both starving. When they finished their meal they went to their room and turned in for the night.
CHAPTER TWENTY

Ryan and Maria were both up early the next morning and packed their bags and left the hotel before five AM. An unusual heavy rain storm made the first couple of hours of driving slow. The visibility was down to a quarter mile, they didn't want to take a chance on an accident. Once the rain had stopped Maria sped up to make up for the time lost because of the rain. They pulled into the Al Jaziar hotel in Aswan around eight that evening. They checked into the hotel and made short work of the food that had room service bring. They had picked up a map of Aswan down on the lobby, Ryan laid the map out on the small table they had in the room. The Demonic temple was clearly marked on the map. They even found a broacher in the lobby the place even had an amusement park, selling it as the devils playground. Ryan shook his head; this was going to be tough with all the people around.

They got up the next morning and headed for the temple, when they arrived they had to pay to park and then paid to enter the temple. They walked the temple grounds searching for Furcas, every once in a while Ryan would get the feeling in his neck that a fallen was there but he could never find him. Late afternoon they stopped to buy a bottle of water when Ryan got a strong feeling in his neck that a fallen was nearby. He spun around and was standing face to face with Furcas.

"I don't know how you found me here but it will end as I kill you slayer."

"The only one that's going to die here is you." Replied Ryan.

"Five PM tonight at the stage in the center of the park."

I'll be there; if you're not there I'll hunt you down like a dog." Ryan said.

Ryan looked at his watch; he had three hours to kill. Maria and Ryan walked around the park again stopping to look at this or that.

"Ryan, how can anyone worship Lucifer?"

"I really don't know, to turn your back on the one true God, is so wrong in so many ways." They walked over to the center of the park and saw a sign it read Fallen Angel vs The Slayer, come and see the battle between Evil and Good, Time Five PM.

"Oh no he isn't going to make a spectacle out of this." Ryan said.

"Looks like he already has, look at the ticket line."

"I don't want to do this in front of people; It won't stay a secret if I do."

"You may not have a choice."

"There has to be a better way, one where the killing of a fallen is not reveled."

"Not an easy solution."

"Let's walk we have some time to kill."

They walked around the park still every once in a while he would still get the feeling in his neck.

"I have an idea, when I get the feeling I want to stop and see if it is coming at me or going away from me. If it's going away I want to walk in a circle until I get it again. If coming at me I'll just stand still until it appears to be going away."

"What will that prove?" Maria asked.

"If it's what I think there are underground tunnels under the park. If you notice there are no wires overhead. That means they must be underground. If that's true then Furcas is hiding underground."

"Ok but how do you get underground?"

"There have to be doors that lead to it."

"Ah now I understand."

They started walking and had gone about a hundred yards and Ryan stopped dead in his tracks. Ryan started walking in a circle, as he did he would move a little to the right each time. The farther to the right he moved the closer to a building he was getting. Finally he was out of room to move around the building. He looked around it and found a door marked employees only. He tried the door and it was unlocked. When he opened it he found a set of stairs leading downward. He turned to Maria and said, "Stay here, I'm going down." With that said Ryan disappeared down the stairs.

When Ryan reached the bottom of the stairs he saw a tunnel that led in both directions. He took a couple of steps to the left and the feeling started to fade. He went back to the right and it got stronger. He continued to the right. After a couple of hundred feet he came to a cross tunnel. He crossed the tunnel and the feeling started to fade he backed to the cross and went to the right, the feeling started to fade, he backed up and went to the left and the feeling started to get stronger again. He continued down this tunnel for a while and the feeling never got stronger or weaker. He came to another cross tunnel. Ryan stopped and wondered which way to try first. A man dressed as a demon spotted Ryan and thought he might be lost.

"Can I help you sir, this is for employees only."

"I'm just a little mixed up, I've only been down here once before and I don't remember where I'm going." Ryan said.

"What part are you playing?"

"Oh yes, I'm playing the slayer in the five pm show."

OK your one of the new people. Go to the right go across two crossing tunnels and then take the next left. Mr. Furcas wants to see all the new performers first."

"Thanks, thanks a lot."

Ryan followed the directions that the man had given him. The closer he got to where the man said to go the stronger the feeling got. He took the left where he was supposed to and it felt like he was on top of the fallen. He glanced at the signs on the doors and the next one he came to said Furcas. He knocked on the door and a voice said come in.

Ryan opened the door and looked right at Furcas, "I found you." Ryan said.

"How did you get down here?"

"I walked in and I'll walk out, you won't though."

"You agreed to meet me at five PM."

"Your right I did and I will be there but you won't be."

"Will you follow me?"

"Not a chance that I will follow you. We end it right here and now." Ryan answered.

"What have I done that you want to try and destroy me?"

"You are a fallen and you know what that means. You turned your back on the one true God and chose to follow the darkness."

"But why you?"

"I have been chosen by the one true God to dispatch of the fallen."

"Mr. Simpson I have a proposition for you."

"And what would that be?"

"I will give you anything you wish, anything at all if you walk out of here right now and forget you ever saw me."

"Now Furcas you know I can't do that."

"But Mr. Simpson, I can make you one of the wealthiest men in the world."

"Furcas money isn't everything. The love of the one true God is all I need."

"Then you shall meet at five PM."

"No I won't, I will not have this made into a circus."

"Look at this monitor."

The monitor showed Maria being led down the stairs by a man.

You will meet me at five, if you don't agree then by the time she reaches the bottom step she will die. It's as simple as that Mr. Simpson. Do you agree to meet me or not."

Ryan looked back at the monitor; Maria was three steps from the bottom, "Ok I agree, I'll meet you."

"Fine now the next part of the agreement; if you beat me your lady will meet at the front gate, if I beat you she remains with me."

"I cannot agree to that, I will not do what I am led to do over the life of another."

"Then let me ask her."

"James stop where you are. Young lady can you hear me if you can just nod."

Maria nodded her head.

"Young lady I have made your Mr. Simpson a proposition, if he defeats me, you will be returned to him at the gate, if he fails to defeat me you shall be mine."

"Also Mr. Simpson if this agreement is not reached she shall die where she stands."

Maria heard the last comment Furcas made to Ryan and she yelled, "Ryan you must do this, it is your duty to do it."

"Maria I can't do it, it will reveal who I really am and the tasks that the Lord has chosen me for."

"Ryan you must, trust in me and in yourself."

"Mr. Simpson you have until five PM to make your decision, if you fail to show up for the show, your Maria will die. Now leave there is a man outside of this door who will escort you back to the surface."

Ryan turned to leave the office. He turned and said "Furcas if you hurt Maria, not only will I kill you but I will destroy all of this and your temple. I will not stop until all of the fallen are gone and your master as well."

Ryan left the office the man waiting outside the door escorted him to the surface. When Ryan exited the door it was slammed behind him. Ryan needed to find a place to pray. He walked until he found a place that looked right he did not see any of the demon statues or anything that looked like it might belong to satin. Ryan kneeled down and began talking to the Lord to give him guidance on how to deal with the problem that faced him. How to dispatch of the fallen one without reveling what his task was.

Ryan was startled to hear the voice, "My son the evil one has done what he could to make you reveal yourself, in this case I will not hold you to the requirement of not reveling yourself. You have been left with no other choice. But beware my son he will trick you again. You must complete all of his tricks to complete your task. It shall be done as you need to do it."

Ryan felt at ease to do what must be done, he would put an end to the reign of Furcas and his evil way. He should have chosen the option that Ryan had given him. Now he must die. Ryan looked at his watch and he had fifteen minutes to get to the center of the park. Ryan got up and headed to meet Furcas.

Ryan walked into the center of the park with five minutes to spare

CHAPTER TWENTYONE

At five O'clock sharp Furcas softly landed in the center of the park, He took the microphone from one of the park employees. "

Ladies and Gentlemen, what you are about to see is the epic battle between the forces of the devil and the forces of god. Sometimes good wins but most times evil wins. The reason that evil wins is that the human soul is week. It takes the temptations that are given to them. These temptations are often greater than the temptations that good offers. The show you are about to see is a battle to the death. The man you see standing by himself is the side of good. The ten men you see behind are the side of evil. The good side must defeat the first ten men before he can face the leader of this section of evil in which case is me the fallen Angel Furcas."

Furcas this is not what we agreed to. You said I was to fight you, nothing was mentioned about ten others.

"I said the fight would be under my conditions and you did agree to that. Each of the ten has their own skill, a skill you possess. You must defeat each of them before you face me, should you fail to defeat them all I win, now let the battle begin."

The first of the ten stepped forward, He went into a low crouch, before Ryan could set himself the man charged, His shoulder rammed into Ryan's midsection between the stomach and the ribs. The charge knocked the wind out of Ryan. He dropped to one knee trying to catch his breath. The man turned and charged again, this time Ryan slid sideways and tripped the man. He went sprawling to his face. Ryan stood up still trying to catch his breath. The man regained his feet and turned to come at Ryan. The man had both hands rolled into fists. He came at Ryan and faked a swing at his head, When Ryan went to block the punch to his head the man punched him hard to the groin. Ryan doubled over, gasping for air from the pain. Ryan backed off from the man, trying to remember what his skill was that would help him against this man.

The man charged Ryan again and this time used his feet on Ryan. Ryan was expecting a punch to the body or face but the man went by him and spun and kicked Ryan in the kidneys. The impact from the kick drove Ryan to the ground; Ryan slowly pushed himself up and staggered to his feet. The man charged Ryan again, this time Ryan brought his fist down on the man's neck, the impact did not carry much force as Ryan was hurting from the blows he had received. The man moved off to get a better angel on Ryan. He charged at Ryan again and the man left his feet and slammed into Ryan, both men going to the ground the man was throwing punches at Ryan. Most were hitting him and Ryan was becoming angry, he couldn't find a way to block this man.

Every time the side of evil landed a blow a cheer went up from the crowd, while each time Ryan landed a blow boo's could be heard. Ryan moved around the circle that made up the battle ground, he was trying to catch his breath and figure out what to do against this man. The man charged again and Ryan side stepped the charge this time and the man tumbled into the crowd. When the crowd thru the man back into the circle it dawned on Ryan what he was doing. The man was using street and bar fighting together. It was an undisciplined way to fight, but it was effective. The man regained his balance he charged Ryan again. This time Ryan brought up his foot and let the man run face first into his foot. As the man staggered Ryan spun and gave a round house kick to his face. The man fell to the ground and did not get back up. Ryan looked to Furcas and said one down send in the next one.

The second man stepped out into the circle, he was an oriental man in his mid to late twenties he bowed to Ryan and took up a basic martial arts stance. Ryan bowed in return and assumed the same stance. The man came at Ryan and started throwing punches and kicks at him. Ryan was blocking each punch and kick as fast as the man threw them. After several minutes of punches and kicks the man pulled out a set of nun-chucks. Ryan's face showed concern as he had nothing to block the weapon. The man handled them with the ease of an expert. Ryan glanced around to see if he could find anything that would block the assault he was going to get from the nun-chucks. Ryan spotted a man who was holding a staff. Ryan stepped toward the man and took his staff before he knew what happened. The staff was made from wood and would do nicely for Ryan. Ryan's opponent came at him twirling the nun-chucks, Ryan used the staff to jab the man in the solar plexus. His opponent gasped for breath and Ryan swung the staff behind the man's knees and knocked him to the ground. Using the staff Ryan hit the man again. The man tried to get up when Ryan kicked the man in the head. Ryan heard the bone crunch as the jaw broke from the force of the kick.

The oriental man rolled over and came to his hands and knees trying to regain his feet, Ryan drew back his leg and kicked the man in the ribs. The crowd gasped at the sound of breaking bone. Ryan kicked again this time to his head and the oriental man collapsed to the ground and did not try to get back up. Ryan slid the nun-chucks away from the unconscious man. Ryan looked at Furcas and just said "Next."

The next five opponents went down easily for Ryan, He only had three more to go and he would be against Furcas. The look in Furcas face was smug; he knew the remaining three that Ryan would face would be the toughest of the ten. Ryan stood in the circle of people waiting for his next opponent He glanced side to side not seeing anyone stepping forward. Ryan caught the glint of sun coming off the knife. It hit Ryan in his right shoulder. The knife went in to the hilt. Ryan shouted out in pain looking at the knife sticking out of his shoulder.

A man stepped out of the crowd and Ryan knew he was in trouble. He had seen the look once before in Afghanistan. The look was one of crazed death, the last time he saw it was in the eyes of his old friend Rahein as he killed two rebel terrorists with his knife. The man held in his hand a KA-BAR combat knife, and is was obvious that he knew how to use it. Ryan reached up and pulled the knife out of his shoulder wincing with pain as the knife slid out.

Ryan studied the man and he knew he was a commando of some type. Ryan's seal training would come into play this time. He would have to be careful his right arm hung at his side pretty much useless. The knife that hit him in his shoulder had pierced the tendon for the arm. Ryan's opponent was dressed as a commando. Ryan remembered the words of one of his instructors from his Seal training, Use the enemy's strength and advantage to your advantage, and use his strength to overcome him. The commando slowly advanced on Ryan. He was moving so that Ryan's damaged right arm would be the side he attacked.

The commando thrust his knife toward Ryan's right rib cage. Ryan was surprised at how easy he was able to side step him. The commando made several more attempts to cut Ryan and he moved each time causing him to miss. Physiological, Ryan knew the man was not a commando but gave the appearance of being one. Ryan guessed that his only skill was throwing knives. The commando made a thrust to Ryan's left side this time and Ryan grabbed the man's hand and arm using his body and good arm he bent it so that the KA-BAR pierced the man's chest. The knife went into the man's chest and pierced his heart. The man starred off into nothingness as he was already dead. Ryan released the man and he fell to the ground, Ryan pulled the KA-BAR out of his chest, he now had a weapon to use.

*****

Maria had been watching the events taking place with Ryan on the surface, on a big screen monitor, each time Ryan defeated the opponent her hope grew. She had faith in Ryan but when the knife hit him in the shoulder she gasped. How could he continue to fight hurt the way he was hurt. When the commando kept attacking and missing her hope started to come back. When she saw the attack to Ryan's left side and watched as Ryan used the man's force and thrust to bend the knife and stab the commando she jumped up and yelled "Yes, give it to him." The man that was with her showed annoyance at her and said to her, "You know he cannot beat all ten of his opponents and then beat Furcas, he doesn't stand a chance." She looked at her guard and said "We will see, won't we."

*****

The ninth man came out of the crowd and looked at Ryan and said, "your good, but not good enough." The man pulled a gun out and held it aimed at Ryan's chest. The man walked right up to Ryan and swung the gun and it hit him in the face. The sights of the nine millimeter semi automatic cutting his cheek and caused Ryan to stumble backward. The man had made his first mistake, Ryan still held the KA-BAR in his left hand. Ryan brought the knife around and he cut the man on his chest. The man pointed the gun at Ryan again; Ryan noticed the second and final mistake. The hammer of the pistol was down. He could pull the trigger all he wanted the gun would not fire.

The man came toward Ryan again and Ryan grabbed the pistol and twisted it out of his hand. Ryan brought the knife up with his injured right arm and hand and cut the man's throat. The man fell to the ground dead. Ryan popped the clip out saw it was loaded and reinserted the clip, he pulled the slide back and let go chambering a round.

The last man wasted no time he stepped out of the crowd and charged at Ryan. Ryan side stepped the man, the man's charge carried him past Ryan and into the crowd. The crown pushed him back into the circle, Ryan was tired and sore and he decided to put an end to this game, he aimed the gun and squeezed the trigger, the gun discharged and the bullet hit the man in the head. Ryan knew he was dead and turned his attention to Furcas.

"Now it is you and I, the time has come to end your reign. I intend to send you to your demise. You have fled me now face me." Furcas unfurled his wings and thought about flying away, but he knew if he did the followers he had would abandon him. He had to stay and fight the slayer this time.

"My followers what you are about to see is the beginning of the end for this slayer. With his death it will lead to the coming of the Lord Lucifer.' Furcas said.

The crowd cheered at Furcas's words, they started to chant his name Furcas lifted off the ground and hovered just above the heads of the crowd. The chants became louder, before Ryan could react Furcas flew right at him and slammed into his already damaged right shoulder. The impact drove Ryan to the ground and dislocated his shoulder. Furcas came straight down on top of Ryan's chest knocking the wind out of him. Before Ryan could gain his breath back Furcas kicked him in the head. Ryan rolled with the kick so the blow did no damage.

Furcas tried to stomp on Ryan's head but he kept rolling causing Furcas to miss each time. Ryan was hurt and tired from battling the ten before Furcas. His strength was quickly leaving him. He knew that the more blows Furcas landed on him the harder it would be to defeat him. Furcas lifted off the ground again and came down hard on Ryan's chest; he fought for air and felt the blackness start to come over him. Ryan rolled into the crowd. The crowd tried to roll him back into the circle. Ryan was letting the crowd surround him; it was giving him a chance to catch his breath.

The crowd finally pushed him back into the circle; Ryan got to his feet just as Furcas hit him again, the force knocked him back into the crowd. They pushed him back out again. Ryan needed to think fast he could not keep taking the blows from Furcas and not delivering any himself. Ryan remembered the pistol and he pulled it out and emptied the clip into Furcas. Ryan knew the bullets would just be an annoyance to him and not cause any real damage to him. The shots pushed Furcas back off of Ryan just long enough for Ryan to bring forth the Angel Sword. The crowd gasped as the sword appeared in his hand.

Ryan had to use the sword in his left hand because of the damage to his right arm. Ryan was glad at Mr. Lee's training forcing him to use both hands to strike with.

Furcas flew at Ryan again and this time he swung the sword at him and it landed on Furcas's leg. The sharpness of the blade cleanly cutting off the left leg at the knee, the crowd went silent at the sight of the leg laying on the ground. Furcas howled in pain from the loss of the limb. He charged Ryan again with hatred in his eyes, Ryan spun around allowing the weight of the sword to aid him in turning. Ryan brought the sword around and caught Furcas on the neck just below the base of the skull. The crowd scattered as the headless fallen slammed into people. Ryan stood straight and spoke, "Go everyone this placed is damned and shall be destroyed."

The man holding Maria did exactly as he was instructed; he escorted Maria to the nearest set of stairs and told her to leave. Maria scrambled up the stairs and came out not far from the gate to the park. She watched for Ryan among the running and screaming people, She finally spotted Ryan limping and bleeding she ran to him and hugged him, forgetting about his arm. Ryan flinched with the pain from Maria's hug, she realized she was hurting Ryan and let loose of him. They felt the ground tremble under them, "hurry let's get out of here, this place is going to blow," Ryan said.

Maria helped Ryan to their car and fighting the people trying to flee the park they managed to get a few blocks when an explosion rocked the area. They could see a large black cloud coming from the area of the park. "Where to Ryan?" Maria asked.

"To the airport, I want to get out of here as fast as we can, we need to stop somewhere and get some bandages and I need to change clothes."

CHAPTER TWENTYTWO

Maria finally cleared the traffic and found a store where she purchased the needed medical supplies. While she was in the store Ryan changed clothes except for a shirt. Maria returned from the store and cleaned and bandaged Ryan's shoulder. He put the shirt on and the headed to the airport. They went to the ticket counter and asked for two tickets to San Diego, the ticket agent told them the first flight left in one hour and it connected in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, London England, New York and then on into San Diego.. The flying time was twenty six hours. Ryan purchased two first class tickets. They headed to security to enter the waiting area for the plane. The police were still looking for the two people that had done the killing in Siwah. They approached the officers, he looked them over carefully and decided that they were not the ones they were looking for and passed them through to the gate. After a short they called people to board the plane. They got on the plane found their seats and buckled in. The plane taxied to the runway. They sat there for a few minutes when the pilot came on and said that they had been called back to the gate. Ryan and Maria looked at each other and frowned. Had they been made during boarding? The plane taxied back to the gate and they extended the boarding ramp to the plane, The Egyptian security force came onboard and moved past Ryan and Maria. They went to the coach section and a struggle was heard. The security force came back holding two Americans and escorted them off the plane. One of the officers spoke to the pilot and the door was close and the plane pulled away from the ramp. In a few short minutes they were in the air. Ryan closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Ryan heard the pilot come on and thanked them for flying U S Air Airlines, and that they would be landing in San Diego in just a few minutes."How long have I been asleep" Ryan asked Maria. She smiled and said "oh about 25 hours. You needed it. Thank god we didn't have to change planes."

The got off the plane and they went to long term parking, Ryan opened the passenger door and told Maria to get in, it was his turn to drive. She got in the car and Ryan slid in behind the steering wheel. He tried to turn the key and his right hand just would not do it. Maria got out and told Ryan to slide over. "Just tell me how to get to your house."

Ryan gave the directions and Maria drove to Ryan's house, "so this is where we live."

Ryan smiled he liked that idea very much. They were both starving and Ryan called to have Pizza delivered from his favorite Pizza shop. It took less than thirty minutes and the pizza showed up Ryan paid for it and Maria and Ryan dug in. They sat back in the couch, and turned on the TV. The evening news was coming on and the major story was the Egyptian police made an arrest of two who had gone on a country wide killing spree. They had tried to escape and were killed by the police. The next story was about the destruction of a themed amusement park in Aswan, Egypt. It was estimated that there were seventy people dead from a electrical malfunction that caused the explosion.

"Well it looks like everything there is taken care of." Ryan said. Ryan and Maria sat back on the couch snuggled in each other's arms and fell asleep.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in Pinellas Park, Florida. I joined the Navy at 17 and retired after completing 20 years of active service. I served aboard 5 different ships, most of them home ported in San Diego, Ca., the last one being the USS Reid, which fired the first shots of the first Persian Gulf war. After my military career I move to Mt. Pulaski, Illinois where I worked for Bridgestone/Firestone Tires in one of their manufacturing plants. I moved to Charlotte, NC and returned to the work force with Continental Tires, at their manufacturing plant. I retired today devoting my time to writing and traveling I have been married to my wife wonderful Angel for 10 years we have 3 daughters and 1 son and 8 grand children.

OTHER BOOKS BY STEVE WHARTON

The New Beginning
