Gods of War (War of the Gods Series) (3 page)

“What makes you say I don’t believe you?”

Zeus sighed with annoyance.
Perhaps I should have let Aphrodite gather these three. “
First of all, you are reaching towards that gun in that cupboard. I guess we have to do this quick. Go ahead and shoot me so we can get out of here.”

“Okay,” Terry replied as he pulled out his gun and shot the old man. An odd thing happened. The bullet never reached the man. The only thing that happened was the bullet stood in midair spinning.

Terry’s hand dropped to his side and his gun dropped from his grasp. Terry just stood there looking at the bullet floating in midair.

“Now, if you step this way we can get this meeting going. I still have a couple more people I need to pick up”

Zeus grasped Terry on the shoulder and moved him along. Terry reluctantly followed Zeus, still watching the bullet spin in midair. As Zeus and Terry stepped through a portal Zeus made, the bullet continued its projection into the wall.

After the fiasco in the courtroom, the guards dragged Nicolai to a cell in death row and continued the beating they started in the court room. One of the duty guards had to pull them off and that’s where they left him. There he lay on the wet cold floor, wallowing in pain.

God they sure did hurt me
. Nicolai thought as he checked his injuries.
One of them broke one of my ribs and I am in the hole with no medical care. At least I finally finished it.

Nicolai continued to reflect as he laid on the prison floor. Bloody and bruised he held his hand to his aching ribs. He reminisced to the time when he was the best hit man in Russia. Everyone was afraid of him, even the bosses who hired him. They just knew that he would get the job done. The reason he was the best was from his need to kill. He would have to kill or he’d get the shakes. He was always quick to anger.

Then he met
her
and his whole life turned upside down. When he was with her, he didn’t kill and he never got the shakes. The urge to kill never plagued him when she was with him. He wasn’t as quick to anger anymore. All that changed when she left, the urge came back worse than ever. The shakes came back and he needed to kill again, to be around death. Nicolai could only find solace in death now.

“I wish I knew what was wrong with me.”

“There is nothing wrong with you. You are exactly how you are supposed to be, being his son and all.”

Nicolai looked around his prison cell and saw that same old man he’d seen the night he got caught and at the trial.

“I must being going crazy.” Nicolai said coughing up blood. “In my last moments of death, I finally see you. What are you my conscience?”

“I am not your conscience. And there is nothing wrong with you; you are just like your father. Well, he is not as extravagant as you are. He always hated being put in charge of the afterlife. Here, let me help you with your injuries.”

The old man moved over and ran his hand over Nicolai’s ribs.

Nicolai’s ribs stopped hurting and the pain left his body. Nicolai checked his rib cage and they were healed.

“Who are you, old man, and what do you mean about my father? I was an orphan. I had no parents.”

“That is not entirely true. Your father is Hades, and I am Zeus.”

“Yeah and I am Aphrodite.”

“Actually you’re too ugly to be Aphrodite. I am Zeus. How else do you think your rib cage healed? The reason death is so natural to you is its part of your heritage. You’re the son of Hades. Death is in your nature.”

“If death is in my nature and I am a god, then where are my special powers?”

“That is a good question.” Zeus sat down on the bed in the cell. “You are not a god. You are a demi-god. The reason you don’t have any powers is because they are restricted in this world. It’s a long story. If you want to know more, you can come with me and learn. You have lots of work ahead of you and I can help you control your urges. I can also give you the power to take revenge on the people you want.”

“What is in it for you? I don’t take on a job unless I know what the contractor gets. And what do I get out of this as well? It doesn’t matter to me if I learn how to control my cravings.”

“I will give you the power to have control over life and death. I will give you the power to destroy your enemies. I will give you immortality. I will give you the power to bring back the people you love.”

“Well Zeus, you have just hired yourself the greatest hit man ever. Who do you want killed.”

“I want your father, Lord Hades, king of the underworld killed. You will also be working with two other men. I don’t want you to discuss our little arrangement with them. Let’s just say, they may have a moral dilemma with what I want you to do.”

“Of course confidentiality is a given. Like I said, I never had a father. I agree to the terms.”

Besides, I have a chance to bring back Celeste if what he said is true.

In two hours, General Amadi’s army had been eliminated. The drones had come out of nowhere, not only wiping out his camp, but the camps of his other battalions. Then came in the special force units and mopped up the stragglers. Turned out it was a joint operation between the Americans and the Congolese army. Now it was back to the beginning. Barely a third of his army made it out of the massacre. Now his army was scattered over five different camps.

Amadi had been so close, but he was betrayed. That was the only way his army could have been wiped out so soon. Someone gave his camp locations to his enemies. The real question was by whom. Not only did he have to find the traitor, but he would have to keep control of his army. He would be surprised if he had more than a third of his men tomorrow.

I guess we're going back to the good ole days of banditry
, he thought bitterly.
Maybe some country would hire me and my army.
One time in his life he had thought about converting to Islam; they were always looking for a good soldier. But the whole suicide bombing didn’t sit well with Amadi. The fact he would have to take orders from some fat slob who didn’t know one thing about warfare permanently disqualified that idea. He would have stayed with the current government’s army if he wanted to do that.

Then the idea of Sudan came to his mind. That place was going to light up soon. With the south Sudanese breaking from the North and controlling most of the resources for the country, war was going to come. Amadi was sure the South would pay a handsome salary, but so would the North.

If I join up with the North, it will be more fun. Hopefully whoever is left of my army will join me. Give me a better bargaining chip with the North.

“General, we have received runners from each of the Battalions,” the newly promoted Sgt. Major said, interrupting his thoughts. “They have reported heavy casualty losses, as well as desertion. They are wondering if they should run down the deserters.”

“No they should not run down the deserters. Bring in the runners. I want to talk with them directly.”

“Will do, Sir, May I ask a question first?”

“Go ahead, Sgt. Major.”

“What are we going to do now? If the government has the Americans as allies, there is no way we can defeat them.”

“Let me ask you a question before I answer that one. Why did you join up? Was it to fight for your country, make money, boredom?”

“Sir, it was because of money and the fact that I could not protect my mom and dad from government soldiers. I have a couple of sisters that are further in our territory. I need to protect them”

“Well Sgt. Major, if that is all you want, how would you feel immigrating to Sudan?”

“Sudan?”

“Yes, Sudan. The South has recently broken away from the North.” Amadi said as he showed his new Sgt. Major the news article. “It was because of all the oil that the South has. War will come to Sudan. The split happened too peacefully and there are some factions who feel they may have gotten the worse end of the deal.”

“Sir, what does that have to do with us? We are Congolese.”

“We are going to grab our piece of land and money from that area. It doesn’t matter which country gives it to us, just as long as we get it,” Amadi emphasized. “We just need to keep as much of our army together as possible. We can demand a larger payout if we can keep our army intact. So the real question is who do you want to work for? The good guys or the bad guys? Keep in mind, the good guys will probably pay us the least amount.”

“Sir, I say we fight for the good guys. By then we will have built enough goodwill that perhaps we can live in peace. I will go and get the runners now.”

That is a noble Idea, but peace is not something I want
, Amadi thought.
It is the battle that I love and what I want. If I am not able to have the warrior’s life, I don’t know if I can live
.

Amadi made his way to bed after he had debriefed the runners. He gave them orders to start having the commanders meet at the rendezvous. They will have to perform a strategic maneuver if they were to make their way to Sudan.

“Horrible thing they did to your men. I would be surprised if a quarter of them stay with you. Then again you gave them something else to fight for. I could use someone with your skills.”

Amadi turned around and saw the same white man he almost shot earlier today. He reached for his pistol, but noticed it was on the table. “How did you get in here, past all of my guards?”

“Well for one you don’t have that many guards.” Zeus said looking around with disgust. “In fact you don’t even have that big of an army. Two, they can’t see me. The only reason you can see me now is because I am allowing it. And three I have a proposition for you, one that you are going to love.”

“What are you talking about? Who are you?”

“My name is Zeus. You may recognize me as one of my other Identities, Nyame.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Well, let’s see. The one who gave your army coordinates was your Sgt. Major. Your now dead Sgt. Major, that is. How about this?” Zeus asked as he produced a lightning bolt. “Come with me and I will give you the greatest army and the greatest war you will ever fight. In the end, you will become a god.”

“This is interesting. What happens to my men?”

“That depends on you. If you do not take my offer, you, along with your men, shall die when your enemy comes and finish you off. Or, you can just take my offer and leave your men to die. However, I may also give you the option of taking my offer and allowing you to lead your men to safety. But I can guarantee one thing. Lots of people are going to die, especially here in Africa. This is where it’s going to start,”

“What is going to start?” Amadi asked.

“You will have to come with me to find out.” Zeus walked to the edge of the tent and opened up a portal. “Don’t worry your men won’t know you have left and when you come back you will have time to move your army to a safe place. There I will provide a ship to transfer your men and whomever you want to a safe zone. Perhaps you can even scoop up some woman along the way. It’s going to be a long, tedious war. You will have to replenish the human lives that will be lost.”

Amadi looked at the reports the runners had brought him and then looked at Zeus. “Let’s go then,” Amadi replied to Zeus. “You have yourself an army.”

“I told you I could bring them all here. I didn’t even have to force any of them.” Zeus said smugly to Aphrodite. “You have to give me some credit.”

“Yes you did. But I think my way would have been much easier,” Aphrodite replied. “You wouldn’t have had to show off your powers and give Ares an idea to what you are doing. Besides, I have not had any fun ever since you denied us access to earth.”

“What do you mean no fun? There are plenty of playthings for you here. Don’t tell me you have gotten bored of everyone here.”

“Yes, I have gotten bored. Why don’t you let me have a three-day pass to earth? You can call it my birthday present. Besides, I will owe you one or two,” the woman said seductively, caressing Zeus’ back.

“Well Aphrodite, how about I do you one better. What do you say about having two legions of men?” Once Zeus said that, Aphrodite’s eyes peaked with interest. “They should be here with-in a month? Is that enough fresh meat for you to still owe me that favor or two?”

“At least 12,000 men,” Aphrodite said pondering the number. She started to lick her lips. “Of course I will owe you that favor. I may just have to give you more than the two.”

“Well, I may have to collect when we have time.” He slapped her bottom, “We have guests now, and we need to tell them what is happening. Shall we?

Zeus and Aphrodite strolled down the hall into the antechamber where the three men sat uncomfortably. They were tense watching each other as much as they appraised the room. As soon as Zeus and Aphrodite walked in they turned to them.

“See, my dear? They will do just fine. It’s in their blood.” Zeus said as he admired their alertness.

Zeus turned his attention to the men while grabbing a drink from one of the servants. “You may be wondering why you have been brought here.” Zeus said as he sat down in front of them. “You three have been chosen because war is coming, and we need to win this war.”

“You mean just the four of us are going to win this? I am no soldier, but I think we will need more men to win a war,” Nicolai said, interrupting Zeus. “I don’t know how powerful your enemy is, but I assume they’re more powerful than us four can handle.”

“He is smart,” Aphrodite said as she walked around and put her arm on Nicolai. “So Zeus, what are your plans exactly?”

“Well if you will let me talk, I can explain our game plan,” Zeus said. “Ares has the largest army in the known universe. On top of that, he has been recruiting other gods and their minions. He also has been allying himself with the monsters. In one month’s time the Change is going to happen and he will unleash his horde on this planet. Does that clear everything up for you, Nicholaus?”

Nicolai sat nodding as Aphrodite walked around his chair to sit on his lap. “You don’t mind if I sit here, do you?” she whispered in his ear as her breasts brushed up against his face. “I figured this is the best seat in the house.”