Rpol H&H Campaign - pt. 31

Alpha-Woman got very quiet, waiting to find out what the heck that sound was. This was not working for her plans!

The hoodlums from the guard room caught Alpha-Woman and the Daoist at gunpoint before they could make off with the unconscious prisoners.  A third hoodlum contacted one of the ‘saints’ -- St. Stephen himself, the one the FBI had told them about in the first place -- by intercom and was told to lock everyone still unconscious up in the fourth cell and to hold the two conscious prisoners at gunpoint in the guard room until they were "ready upstairs."

One of the guards checked his watch and announced it was 10:40 am.  Pressing them subtly for details, the two learned that the big ‘show’ was scheduled for noon when a ‘buyer’ for the temple was due to arrive. 

Knowing the condition they were after all their beatings, and that they would be facing three men in full health armed with guns, the two remaining Heroes bided their time.  Luckily, the three hoodlum guards also decided to take to drinking beers while waiting for noon.  By 11:20, the guards were tipsy and irritable from their beer supply running low.  And the Daoist had finally come up with a plan.

"I have infomasion.  Vewy’ useful for you.  I tell you, you make me safe, yes?"

"What's infomasion?" was the first response.  The three mobsters seemed mildly curious at first, but as the Daoist acted increasingly dramatic about his offer to bargain, they became increasingly interested.

"Wait," one of the mobsters finally said after five minutes of verbal sparring/delaying, "are you saying this information would be useful for the saints or for us personally...?"

"You bwing’ infomasion’ to Saint.  You weceive’ gweat’ wewawd."

By now, the three drunks were so excited that they debated among themselves for two minutes what a "wewawd" was and how big it might be.  Finally, the three men reach a consensus.  "Okay, you two tell us your information and we'll make you safe" one of them said, but he put such an emphasis on "safe" that he seemed to be clearly lying.

Despite the man's dishonesty, the Daoist saw no choice but to go forward with the plan and hope to sow as much confusion as possible.

"The one you know as 'buyew' is fake.  He is, what you say, FBI?"

Alpha-Woman listened in on the conversation, not exactly sure what to add to it.

The drunken hoodlums were completely lost at this point.  "What?  ...There's a burro in town owned by the FBI?"

"No, I think he said a bureau."

"Why would the FBI leave a bureau out here?"

"Maybe it's got some kind of a spying device in it!"

"Heck, we should tell the saints about that!  But you'd better come along with us and tell him which bureau it is."

"No, no.  The one who come to buy.  Is FBI ‘twick."

The mobsters all looked a little embarrassed at their incorrect guesses, but they recovered quickly.

"Okay, I'll take you up top to tell your story to the saints," one of them said, pointing his gun to the Daoist to indicate who he meant by you.  "You two stay here and guard her and the others," he added, nodding his head to the other two guards to indicate he meant them and pointing his gun at Alpha-Woman to indicate he meant her.  Then he did some more gun-pointing, indicating the Daoist had better get moving out that door.

The Daoist and his escort crossed through the basement level, down bigger hallways than the Daoist would have expected down here, and came at last to stairs that led up to the gallery up on the main floor.

The Daoist had to make a choice.  He had the thug one on one right now, and it was likely the last time he would have odds this good.  The downside was that even if he did defeat the man, he would still be badly outnumbered in the temple at large, and it seemed unrealistic that he could fight his way out, particularly when he had been unable to accomplish such a feat with the rest of the group at his side.

With no good options, the Daoist pushed ahead into the chapel.

The nave of the temple looked vastly different from when the Daoist had first seen it.  The right balcony was torn down.  Two men -- one of whom the Daoist recognized as the Lone Gunman from the outside tower -- were loading debris from the balcony into wheelbarrows.  Three women in jeans were using trowels to coat plaster over the bloodstains and bullet holes that covered the west wall.  The tapestries were taken down from that wall, revealing another previously hidden door not far from the one Dr. McDermott had used.

Supervising the efforts were two men dressed in the white turtlenecks and slacks that seemed to denote they were the saints of the cult.  One was the older gentleman from the dais last night.  The other was a taller, square-jawed, high-foreheaded man built like a professional wrestler under his sweater.  This new leader saw the Daoist being escorted into the room, grabbed a revolver out of a holster the Lone Gunman was wearing, and pointed it right at the Daoist.