The Blood Eagle in the Big Easy Read Free Page A

old son were put in witness protection. Gregory and I were the only two individuals that knew she had been relocated to a small town just outside of Mobile, AL. I warned her then that she could not leave because the protection Warden Industries provided her only went as far as the Alabama state line. We established as many roadblocks between her and her former life in the state of Maine as possible, but it would seem however that they were not enough and that my warnings were for naught. The church, or what was left of it, found her just as I feared they would. People like that have a long memory, and let's just say they were not the forgiving type. 
    Getting dressed on autopilot I let my thoughts drift over some of the more unseemly and unsolved details of the case. First and foremost was the fact that someone in the ‘church’ had found their way through the ‘veil’ between reality and what lay beyond. In doing so they were imparted with unusual abilities. If the church had not been able to part the veil back in ‘92, maybe they had contacted some sleeping spirit who imparted the knowledge upon them or just gotten lucky enough to find an artifact which gave them their supernatural gifts.
    Whatever the case may have been it was lethal. When the SOG (Special Operations Group) from the Marshals service in conjunction with Warden Industries and local law enforcement broke through the perimeter of the church’s property the cult fought back. At first nothing out of the ordinary happened, just a lot of gunfire from both sides. Then as we fought our way inside the main building shit went to hell fast.
    I had counted four hooded figures on the second floor balcony above the main hall when we entered. The tallest one had hurled a huge ball of fire at the men who were bottlenecked at the doors. They screamed when it exploded in their midst as it killed many of them while injuring several others. One of my men was in that group and lost his right leg at the knee. I gave cover fire catching the shortest and fattest of the four in the stomach with three rounds. His gun toting psycho cohorts carried him away quickly allowing our second wave access to the building.
    Gregory's partner was one of those who died that day. His body was nearly turned inside out by a single word of power muttered by one of the hooded figures. All toll forty people died that day, ten from the Marshal's service, five state police officers and the rest from my private security force. Those that walked away from that fight were scared to their souls. None of us spoke much about it afterwards; it wasn't exactly like anyone would believe what happened anyway. The official reports told of improvised explosive devises to explain what had happened to the fallen.
    I can assure you there weren’t any such device to be found. Of course I had zero proof that magic had been used, that they had parted the veil or contacted these spirits of old. I only knew in my heart that they had. I never found the source of their power or how they were able to wield it. This above all disturbed me.
    Shaking off these disturbing memories I blinked in shock as I caught my reflection in the mirror. The dark circles under my eyes told me I needed more rest and probably had needed it for sometime now. What was the old saying? Oh yeah, no peace for the wicked, and certainly no rest for those of us who secure the peace. After washing my face I leaned against the sink, closing my eyes once more. I would like to believe I’m average height but considering I am around five foot nine that was probably stretching it a bit. The gray/black hair atop my head was short enough to pass inspection at Parris Island though my neatly trimmed beard wouldn’t.
    For my age, or hell any age, I would be what most would consider fit. Considering that my life depended on being at the top of my game I hardly had a choice in the matter. I dressed in black tactical pants and a long sleeve gray running shirt