Chapter 74
WE WERE ONCE again engulfed by a swarm of Abbadon’s loyal followers.
My friend Lieutenant Russell pulled out his wicked-looking survival knife. One edge of the blade was razor sharp; the other was serrated for sawing into meat. He meant to take down as many henchbeasts as he could before they opened fire and splattered his guts against the cave walls.
“Stand down,” I ordered.
“We can take these guys, Daniel,” Willy encouraged me. “There’s only, what? A couple thousand of ’em?”
Okay, you have to admire Willy’s fighting spirit, if not his odds-making abilities. But we were totally outnumbered, and I couldn’t bear to see any more brave souls die on this journey.
We had found Abbadon. As far as I was concerned, the quest was over. It was time for Number 2 and me to give Number 1 the fight he had been craving for centuries: Daniel vs. Abbadon. Two evenly matched Alpar Nokians in a one-on-one, no-holds-barred, knock-down-drag-out fight.
“This is between him and me,” I said.
“I agree,” Abbadon declared, raising his cloaked arm and flicking his wrist.
My four friends and the remnants of Agent Judge’s strike force vanished.
“Where are they?” I demanded.
“Let’s see… the four imaginary figments of your childhood friends have once again drifted off to their own special limbo. The others? Well, Daniel, I sent them back to the surface of this dying planet so they can experience, firsthand, the final moments of its miserable existence.”