Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter III: 'Hoc Est Bellum'

By E. Oliver Daze

The event that everyone talked about that could happen did happen. Arch Angelo and his men had a front row seat to the end of their world from the rooftop of their building. Planes were falling from the skies like meteor showers. The mid-eastern terrorist invaders hiding in the mountains along with disenfranchised Americans in prisons, gangs, and aliens from drug cartels along the borders began their long awaited attacks across the country. Now Arch Angelo knew why he was given the vast powers he possessed. Along with his men he created plans to fight back. They resorted to guerrilla warfare and inflicting mass casualties to even up the odds. But his secret weapon was not his vast powers for destruction. The key to success laid in the hands of his full-blooded Shoshone Indian doctor researcher. She reasoned that it was love and not war that would win the day. She found the solution in domestic cats.

• Language: English
• Publisher: E. Oliver Daze
• Release date: Aug 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311367525

E. Oliver Daze

I was born of immigrant parents from the Philippines and arrived in Fort Hamilton, New York in 1951. My father was a career soldier and typical of military dependents we move around a lot. The nomadic life appealed to me so after brief stints at college and temporary jobs I joined the military and made a career with the Air Force. So as a military brat and a career military member I had the opportunity to live and work in a number of places here in the states and abroad. After 20-years, I retired in Williamsburg, VA and worked as a database manager with the City of Hampton, VA. I hold a Bachelors degree in Commercial Art from Northwestern University, Natchitoches LA and graduated Summa Cum Laude from ECPI, in Hampton, VA with a degree in Network and Computer Administration. In addition to my career travels, the stories in the many books I've read took me to even more exciting places and allowed me to share in the experiences of the characters written about. I hope to contribute to that legacy of great story telling as a writer.

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Arch Angelo Ghost Hunter III - 'Hoc Est Bellum'

by E. Oliver Daze

Copyright 2015 E. Oliver Daze

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Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

About E. Oliver Daze

Other Books by E. Oliver Daze

Connect with E. Oliver Daze

Prologues to other books in the series:

Prologue

Well she’s confirmed what we’ve heard on the radio about the great darkness throughout the land. She said a great bird came out of the southern waters and flew over the land and lit up like the sun. Then the land grew dark and many of our people fell from the sky. Then other birds soon followed out of the oceans and rained upon the land. She said the elders along the Potomac were the first to be attacked and killed.

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Chapter One

What we thought were shooting stars were planes falling from the sky. The spirit Rebecca and my Similar, a powerful duplication of me, flew over to the wreckage of the commercial airliner that came down near the lava entombed town of Banshee. The debris from the Airbus was deposited along a three-hundred yard plowed up stretch of ground. Finally resting approximately where the center of town would have been. Pieces of the plane both large and small along with burning fuel-drench patches of sand were evident along the way as we made our way up to the burning metal fuselage. The impact of the calamity was not so much the unbelievable physical destruction before us but the thought of all the people on board. They had no idea that boarding the plane to go back home or go to some vacation spot would be their last act on earth. We checked for survivors but there were none. Burnt and broken bodies of passengers lay all around with some still strapped in their seats. The few still in the cabin were made unrecognizable. The intense flames that billowed out from the fuselage transformed them into barely discernable silhouettes. The plane was split in half right behind where the wings now lying on the sand somewhere had been fastened to on its metal frame. The nose and tail were resting on the ground while the twisted open halves of the plane still connected by metal and cabling were up in the air. We returned back to the building. On the rooftop during the remaining hours of darkness we witnessed tiny explosions high in the sky followed by glowing trails of flame and smoke streaking towards the earth.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones with the foresight to shield their generators because we started picking up chatter from our citizens band radio. From what we were able to gather, the power grids throughout America had been put out of commission. The chatter was that not only were planes falling from the sky, but planes and vehicles on the ground could no longer start, trains had stopped in their tracks trapping thousands of people above and below ground, ships in the ocean floated aimlessly about with no power to steer them. There were reports of cities and towns that were now blanketed in darkness from coast-to-coast, roads and interstates across the country had become giant parking lots or auto grave yards as vehicles with lost steering capability plowed into one another. Airport security, military installations, policy departments, fire stations, and hospital emergency units all whose effectiveness depended to a large degree on their ability to mobilize were described as dead in the water. Fires were reported to be raging all around the country as a result of planes falling from the sky. It had been estimated that in an attack such as this that a half-million people would die in the first few minutes but it had to be more, much more. Nevada only had five commercial services airports but California next door had five times as much. When you talk about air traffic though, you won’t find them any busier than Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We could probably expect more planes to come down only we prayed that we wouldn’t take a direct hit. I used my powers to put a protective shield over the compound.

My Marine team was with me on the roof. The thing we used to talk about but perhaps never really believed would happen was happening. Was the Prophesy in the Bible being fulfilled? If this wasn’t the beginning of Armageddon than what was it? It was told that the king of the north would attack the king of the south. The king of the north appeared to have struck first. But the real battle had not been waged yet. If this was what we thought it was then the real battle between Heaven and Hell was still at least seven years away. Until that time the name of the game was to survive. My job was to help ensure that the Prophesy was fulfilled. In that respect my job wasn’t over yet. We would win but at a cost because our victory would usher in the age of the Anti-Christ.

I turned to my second in charge Lieutenant Guy Sanders. I said, LT round everyone up and have them gather in the waiting room. If they’re asleep, rouse ‘em up.

He said, Yes Sir. Then he took the elevator that went down into the building.

Rebecca, my ghostly companion appeared beside me. She said, Arch, can I do anything?

I said, Can you summon the Doula?

The Doula had been Rebecca’s daughter’s Indian nanny. We didn’t know until later that she was more than that. Before she died she was a powerful medicine woman of great influence in the Indian community. As a spirit she had saved our hides more than once already. Rebecca hid behind me in the shadows of the building. Not that the men could see her but during the Doula’s appearances she tended to emanate a green glow.

Corporal Nicholson said, Captain there’s a green light by the edge of the building behind you.

I said, Pay it no mind Corporal. Pay it no mind.

Rebecca was beside me again. She said, Bad news Arch.

What did she have to say?

Well she’s confirmed what we’ve heard on the radio about the great darkness throughout the land. She said a great bird came out of the southern waters and flew over the land and lit up like the sun. Then the land grew dark and many of our people fell from the sky. Then other birds soon followed out of the oceans and rained upon the land. She said the elders along the Potomac were the first to be attacked and killed.

I said, The news just gets worse by the minute.

She said, It does get even worse Arch. She said the demons from the netherworld are using this opportunity to rise from the bowels of the earth to cause great havoc upon us. They are uniting with the bearded ones who had been hidden from our sight but are now attacking in great numbers.

She said, What are we going to do Arch?

I said, My job basically. I have to make sure people still have the power of choice. Though heaven knows with all the atrocities happening in the world it seems people have been going the wrong direction for a long time now. Still they’ve been given the power of choice and I can’t let the devil unduly influence which way people are going to choose. Well I have to go downstairs. People are probably plenty scared right now.

I walked into the waiting area. The building was an abandoned former train station and still retained many of its features including the waiting area where people used to sit and wait on their train. We didn’t use the room very often but our collective family had grown so much so that this was the only place where everyone could gather in numbers. It was already one thirty in the morning. The attacks occurred sometime after midnight. I couldn’t believe how far we had come. This place started out as just a bordello with a dozen girls. Up until now some of the girls still had customers but the family had expanded to include five ex-Marines, three doctors, a couple of civilian security guards, seven cowboys, a grandmother, a seventeen year old autistic girl, a giant dog named after me, 47-head of cattle, a dozen horses, and enough weapons to hold off an Army Division. They all looked very apprehensive. We left Corporal Nicholson guarding the roof upstairs but everyone else was present.

I said, Hi guys, I’m sorry we have to meet under the present circumstances but the world you’re going to see tomorrow won’t be the same one you enjoyed yesterday. The United States is under attack. We have lost our Capitol and as far as I know we no longer have a Federal Government. Everyone was in shock and the girls started crying.

June who had just delivered a baby prematurely said, What’s going to happen to us here Arch?

I said, "The reason we have been working so hard the past two to three years was to prepare in the event something like this happened. Unfortunately it has happened. Enemies of the United States are currently on U.S. soil so we must all take heed. You must follow instructions and report anything unusual to us. But I tell you what we’re not going to do. We will not be hiding and cowering under our beds. We will all try to have as normal a life under these conditions as possible. We all have our daily chores and responsibilities so keep that up. If anything, you may end up with even more responsibilities. Anyone able to shoot, make sure that you’re packing heat every day and your weapons are always kept clean and ready to fire. We have enough firepower at this compound to hold off an army if we come under direct attack. You cowboys and ladies will start taking war time orders from the LT. You all have just been drafted into our security services. That basically means guard duty. But any task that contributes to keeping this compound up and running is what’s needed. I’m proud that a couple of you ladies have learned to fly our choppers that may come in handy. I just want you all to know that we’re more prepared for what’s happening out there than probably 99% of the country right now. So take comfort in that. No one is allowed to leave this compound without permission. This is for your safety and the safety of the rest of us. The electrified fence around the perimeter of our property is known as stun-lethal. What that means is that it will stun you when you first touch it and it will absolutely kill you when you touch it the second time. So to be on the safe side, do not go within 10-feet of the fence. You need to keep Archie on a leash when the power to the fence is on. He might see something on the other side and try to chase it. At some point if for whatever reason you need to leave the compound, you will need to have a security escort. The LT will be in charge of that. If you have any questions about it after this meeting go talk to him. Right now the main places under attack are our large cities and military installations. But we don’t know who’s lurking out there in the immediate area so we all need to be on our toes.

One of our doctors raised his hand. I said, Yeah Brian, you have a question.

He said, Arch Eve’s parents are in danger over at the Indian village. I was wondering if we could relocate them inside the grounds somewhere. They won’t be any trouble.

I said, How many in the whole tribe?

There's probably about 120 of them.

I said, "We have enough of an area to relocate the whole village if they wanted to do that. We don’t have enough room in the building to house them but if they wanted to set up a village at the back of the property they’re welcome to do that. Of course Eve's parents can stay wherever they want. But we’ll have to get them in the morning. Tell them to pack what they can. It doesn’t matter how many are coming we have the vehicles to provide transport. We have a number of field tents if they need it. However if they come they’ll have to abide by our rules. For instance, I don’t want people building fires out in the grounds at any time. Make sure they know that. I’m going to make you all responsible for them as long as they’re our guests.

Ok unless you all have questions that’s it. All of a sudden the building shook and there was a loud explosion. The lights flickered and some screams filled the room. The women were clinging to one another scared out of their wits. I thought that was pretty damned close but I had a protective bubble over the place so I didn’t expect any damage. A voice crackled on the walkie-talkie on my belt. I raised it to my mouth and said, Nicholson, What was that?’

He said, Sir, a plane crashed about a hundred yards from the building. Parts of the plane flew at us but bounced off this shield you set up. You better get up here.

I said, Ok, I’ll be right up. I told everyone they were going to spend the night here in the waiting room. It was centrally located in case we had to evacuate and the parking lot was right outside. We had the 20-foot bed 6x6 truck parked by the building ready to go. We also had our school bus out there in case we needed it along with the vehicles sitting in the garage. LT had already picked out a Site-B safe haven that we could use in case we needed to bail out of here. But for tonight, I told the guys to go to the basement storage room and bring up mattresses and blankets for everyone. I told the women to set up a coffee and donut area because it was going to be a long night. Rebecca had opted to stay outside the rest of the night to warn me if she sensed any attacks coming our way. I put Virgil, our head civilian security guard, in charge of organizing security in the waiting room while my Marine team followed me up to the roof.

We came out of the elevator and ran towards Nicholson who was looking out over the roof’s edge towards the valley. A ball of fire lit up the valley as well as the area on top of the roof where we were standing. We could make out debris from the plane strewn about the landscape. The plane was a burning heap of metal less than two-hundred yards away where it had finally come to rest. Rebecca appeared to tell me that she had already checked the crash site and no one had lived through it."

I said, LT round up all the men at day-break including civilians. We have a burial detail to perform. We’ll pull any identification that we can and then take the bodies out in the desert and do a mass burial. We’ll bring the back-hoe to make sure they’re deep enough so animals don’t try to dig ‘em back up. Brian can take the 20-footer to get the tribe. We’ll use the dump truck to transport the bodies. We can’t let bodies from the crash stay out in the open too long.

Rebecca said, Arch you’re probably not going to see me awhile. Please watch over Isabel.

Why? Where are you going?

She said, I’m being tasked to help with all the souls that are wandering about out there who are lost and frightened. They are literally in a world of confusion right now and they need to be helped.

I looked out towards the open desert and the distant mountains. There weren’t as many explosions happening now as there were a while ago. I can imagine the panic that would take place all across America when daylight arrived and people were able to see the end of their world. To make things worse there would be a blanket of silence over the country. People would have questions to which there would be no answers. At many locations they would be hiding or running for their lives from