Sid : the Devil's secretary

32. My friend Dan

32. My friend Dan

The king of Hell and his drunken roadie were making good time, and in less than two hours were within two hundred miles of San Antonio, Texas, home of the Alamo. Little did they know how they had passed over an airbase halfway there in Arizona. It only became apparent now how they were being followed by two fighter jets that came to a level with the flying immortals. One of the pilots then issued a warning from a loudspeaker:

Unidentified...person, identify yourself or we will open fire.

"ahhhh shit, they found me!!!" Jack kept firm but was worried for his life, lest he risk a long skydive to the scrubland floor. The two jets pulled back to fix a clear shot on Lucifer and his companion before jerking and swerving sporadically while firing bullets from their turrets.

"not yet, what does your compass say?" Lucifer called down to Jack, who took out a small compass from his pocket.

"still heading southeast, right over there. If we keep flying straight, we should be there soon..ish" Jack pointed out onto the horizon as another jet swooped past them. Lucifer now had to duck and plunge in order to keep the planes off them both.

"they have the audacity to shoot at me?. Jack, do you have anything in your pockets?" Lucifer shouted over the Jetstream.

"yeah, why?" Jack took out a long green bottle from his coat.

"throw it" Lucifer instructed.

"but this is my baby" Jack objected cradling the bottle like an infant.

"just do it!!" Lucifer growled. Jack let the wind carry his bottle onto the windshield of one of the planes, breaking the glass and forcing the pilot to bail. The second pilot remained on the prowl, this time shooting one of his heat seeking missiles at Lucifer. The king, in turn, threw a fireball out behind him, diverting the missile. The pilot then went for a final pass at Lucifer and Jack before calling it a day and heading back to base on bingo fuel. With no one left to impede their progress, the image of small skyscrapers and a city came into view.

"there it is, downtown" Jack pointed to the center of the city, slowing down gradually before landing in the sanctuary of one of the large oak trees growing on the complex. Around them were numerous tourists and schoolchildren taking in the historic scenery, so Lucifer dropped Jack out of the tree before climbing down himself. They walked around for a moment, hoping to see the forgiving face of Dan. Sunshine sampled down through the thick oak cover over the Alamo. Thank God this place did not witness a battle as big as Blood Moon Day.

"what took you guys so long?, I was almost starting to get worried. I got your email, but I was thinking you weren't coming" a bearded man in a blue suit strolled over to the two from his seat on a tree side bench and guided the new arrivals to a less dense area of the open museum.

"can we get this over with?. We nearly got shot out of the sky!!" Jack became impatient. Dan looked to Lucifer as they put a hand each on Jack's shoulders before a bright flash filled the air.

"did it work?" Jack looked to himself, but nothing seemed to have happened.

"only one way to find out" Lucifer concurred as he shot a fireball through Jack's chest, alerting nearby civilians to the sound of an explosion and making them run out of the Alamo in a panic. Jack's body lay flat on the ground, vanishing into thin air, while his lingering ghost was welcomed down into Hell by a giant crack in the cobble pavement to reoccupy a new body, having finally found his true place in the afterlife. The crack soon closed up, resealing itself as if it had never happened

"good job, man" Dan patted Lucifer on the back.

"couldn't have done it without you" Lucifer turned to Dan.

"what are you going to do now?" Dan asked.

"I don't know. Do they have any good coffee or sherry here?" Lucifer wondered.

"I'm buying" Dan volunteered as they headed out of the complex, unaware of the panicking and fleeing humans around them.

"no, we'll split it" Lucifer offered before the two laughed, walking off into the city for something to do while they had precious time on their hands, like the good pals they were.

Copyright © published by C.Lmauve, 2021.

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