Chapter 37
"Go," Gabriel hissed, using the hand signal Audrey had first taught him from the old yellowed Army Survival Manual left in the trunk of the police cruiser.
Six Surenos slunk up to the forward position Gunn had taken only moments earlier. Gunn glanced at him and gave the signal for Gabriel to come forward as well. Gabriel flattened his wings level with the ground and slunk forward.
"How many?" Gabriel asked.
"I count three on the roof," Gunn said. "At least two sentries at the door. Can't tell how many are inside once we get past the sentries."
The men Gabriel could see were all wearing purple, the mark of a rival gang. Although he had infinitely more experience battling an infinite number of horrific creatures over countless millennia, Gunn possessed specialized Special Forces training to get in and out of a mission without starting an all-out war. Gunn also had more experience dealing with soldiers who could die and would stay dead, unlike the angels Gabriel had served with when the light of the heavenly Father had still flowed through his veins. Gabriel wasn't used to having to deal with the concept that he could actually die on a mission before, thereby leaving his little Prophet undefended. They'd decided it would be better if Gunn took the lead.
As Audrey had told Manuel, each of them led according to what they did best. Gunn was a wraith who slipped in and out to complete an objective. Gabriel was a sledgehammer.
"West Side bandas always got at least a half dozen guys hanging out together," Manuel said, pulling his gun.
"No killing," Gabriel said, giving him a warning glare. "You gave your word."
He kept his expression unreadable and his voice flat, but he was annoyed by the way the Surenos appeared to have no qualms about killing a rival gang member to obtain something so trivial as a few pills. He suppressed the old contempt for humanity he felt creeping up into his breast now, reminding himself that this contempt had caused him to make the biggest mistake of his very long life. To obey the Father's extermination order without question. Audrey and the majority of the people they had met along the way had proven to him hundreds of times over just how wrong Gabriel, and the Father, had been to write humanity off. Manuel was doing the best he could with next to nothing, and making sure those whose lives he was responsible were taken care of to the best of his ability.
"Hey," Manuel said, old hatreds lighting up his eyes, "these West Side bandas, they knock off my big brother when I was only five."
"You don't know that it was these bandas," Gabriel said, twitching his wing in annoyance. "No killing."
"I give you my word," Manuel said. "No killing unless it's me or them."
Somehow, Gabriel didn't find that very reassuring.
"Any way you can drop one of these skinny kids up on the roof to help you deal with those three?" Gunn asked. "Three guys with guns at once is a little much. Even for you."
"I haven't tried carrying another person since I fell," Gabriel said. "I'm not sure I can anymore."
"Probably not a good time to find out," Gunn said, and then turned to Manuel. "Do you know of any way to get up to that rooftop?"
"I'll send someone around to take a look," Manuel said. He made a series of hand signals that were not military in origin to one of his fellow gang members and then pointed to the roof. Gang hand signals. The young man he had spoken to with his hands nodded, and then disappeared around a corner. They waited.
Gunn was aware that Gabriel was now mortal. The gang members, however, did not. It was a secret he did not care to divulge. They were launching this raid to obtain the medication the fourth disciple needed to function so they could get on their way, not to tilt the balance of power in this city in favor of one gang or another. After the apocalypse had hit, those who had any financial means whatsoever had evacuated to someplace else. Only the poorest and most desperate were left behind. The ones who had no place to go.
The Surenos sheltered over 300 young children in their gang headquarters as well as 80 regular gang members. They survived by banding together into large enough groups to forage the vacant buildings left behind by those killed by the heavenly host and preventing rival gangs from looting what little they had. Jose', as crazy as he was, had proven an invaluable resource to the Surenos because he had been able to create a satellite uplink to other areas of the country and download information the Surenos needed to set up and tend little sheltered subsistence gardens. Knowledge. The lightning which came from east to west. The internet.
Jose's knowledge only prolonged the inevitable. Someday soon, with very little water and no natural resources, the gangs would be forced to evacuate as well. Or die. Gabriel was certain the West Side bandas had a similarly desperate story. He would not pit one gang against another. Or kill any of them.
He would, however, break into the pharmacy at Saint Vincent's Hospital and steal some lithium so the fourth disciple could stop hallucinating holy visions long enough to come with them. Manuel had assured them that, when Jose' took his medication, he was lucid and brilliantly smart, if a bit high strung. Gabriel had no knowledge of mortal computer technology, but the intricate network Jose' had set up using nothing but salvaged (or stolen) technology in the Surenos headquarters spoke of the genius the Prophet hoped to uncover once they'd found Jose' some meds.
"No ladders or ways up that I could see," the skinny Sureno who had disappeared earlier whispered to Manuel. "They must be getting up through an internal stairwell."
"Looks like it's up to you, Gabriel," Gunn said. "Be careful. This area of the country doesn't seem to be in short supply of ammunition for those guns they're toting about up there."
"No problem," Gabriel said. "They already shot at me when we first came into the city."
"As soon as we hear you take out the first rooftop shooter," Gunn said, "we're going to storm the front door and get inside. Hopefully it will provide a distraction so you can take out the other two."
"You all be careful," Gabriel said, remembering how fleeing and frail human lives were. "The snipers have the strategic advantage."
"Until you take them out, that is," Manuel said, his dark eyes flashing in his brown skin as he gave Gabriel a confident grin. "Never done no raids with no angel before. You guys are like, indestructible. This should be fun."
For a twenty-two year old, Manuel was pretty hardened to the prospect of going into battle. All the Surenos were. The thought crossed Gabriel's mind about what a waste it was such talent had been cast aside due to lack of a proper upbringing and guidance.
If he didn't know any better, he was beginning to sound like the Savior…
"Not indestructible," Gabriel said softly, not wishing to tell the truth, but incapable of telling a lie. "I can be hurt just like anybody else. I've just been around a lot longer than you have."
"And you can fly," one of the other Surenos said.
Gabriel shrugged, and then followed the young Sureno around the corner he had scoped out earlier to move into position to fly up to the roof. The Sureno would provide what little cover he could from the ground, but it was a disadvantageous position. It was up to him to take out the three gunmen. The West Side banda seated at the corner of the building appeared bored, staring absent-mindedly off into the distance with a rifle leaning lazily against his shoulder. Gabriel moved to the side the banda was not looking and prepared to leap.
"Go," he whispered to his shadow and then flew straight up into the air, reaching the bandas position from underneath behind him and pulling the young man off the roof. The panicked young banda yelped, but was silenced as Gabriel slapped a hand over his mouth on the seven story fall to the ground. The gun clattered down to the ground before them. He definitely needed to work on increasing his wing strength if he ever hoped to carry a second person.
From the ground, he heard Gunn and the others charge the front door, distracting the other two snipers. Flapping ungracefully like an albatross, Gabriel none-too-lightly plopped the West Side gang member down in front of his Surenos shadow and hoped the young man hadn't broken anything, but he was alive. The Sureno immediately tied up and duct-taped the mouth shut of the shocked rival gang member. One down, two to go.
The other two snipers were now shooting at Gunn and the other Surenos. Gabriel and his shadow moved around the building to the rear. Gabriel easily leaped up to the roof, landing behind them. The West Side gang members were preoccupied with the gunfight they had from the ground. Gabriel decided which one to take out first. The sound of gunfire would hide the rustle of his feathers. He flew-leaped across the roof and grabbed the closest gang member, giving him a knock on the head with a pipe that he hoped would only give the man a rip-roaring headache. He glanced over the edge of the roof and gave his shadow the signal. Two down, one to go.
The third rival gang member was intently focused on the gunfight below, not watching what was going on from what he thought was a secure position behind him. Gabriel crept closer and then flew-leaped the remaining few yards. The young man was surprisingly strong and agile, twisting and screeching at him like a Grigori. He swung his pistol around and Gabriel just barely managed to knock it out of his hand before he got his face blown off. Grabbing the pistol, Gabriel pistol whipped the young man hard enough to knock him out, but not hard enough to kill him.
On the ground he could see Gunn had already taken out the two sentries at the door and were engaged in a firefight with a half dozen West Side gang members who had come pouring out of the building. Gabriel leaned over the edge of the roof to give the thumbs-up to Gunn about the snipers. He gave Gunn the 'all clear' signal.
The pain registered in his chest before he heard the gunshot. Looking down, he saw red erupt through his shirt. He gasped for breath and discovered his lung wasn't working properly anymore. Gunn looked up at him and they made eye contact, the look of horror on Gunn's face telling Gabriel what had just happened. There had been a fourth sniper somewhere on the roof of the hospital.
The world slowly went black as Gabriel fought to take a breath. Wordlessly, he lost his balance and fell forward over the ledge. Falling. He was falling. He was not resigned to his fate this time. He wanted to live! He tried to flap his wings so he wouldn't splatter on the concrete and they wouldn't work.
'Audrey,' he whispered right before he hit the ground.