“Then come and get it, motherfucker.”

Ignoring the bullets Eli and Adira still pumped into it, the being opened huge arms, and just as it began to accelerate the few dozen feet across the floor to Casey, there was a flicker of movement from behind it. One of the large flat girders that had been stacked near the wall chopped down and across in a blur.

One moment, the thing’s deformed face was glaring down at Casey, and the next, its head was rolling across the ground. The huge being then collapsed like a giant sack of meat.

Alex stood behind it, the girder in his hand. There was silence for several seconds as they all continued to stare at the thing.

Casey still gripped her blades tight. “What the fuck was that thing?” She jammed her knives forcefully back into their scabbards.

Adira shook her head, her lips working in a silent prayer. “Takwin.”

“What did you say?” Casey asked.

“Franks.” Casey turned at the sound of Alex’s voice. “Get me a bag.” Alex held up the huge head by the hair and stared into its face. The thing’s lips still moved.

Sam came back to the group, helping the French pilot to stand. Jon-Pierre looked at the ghastly trophy Alex held aloft, his face chalk-white.

“Can we go home now?”

*

Ten miles south of Mosul, Alex and the small group moved fast, heads down and racing the approaching dawn. Alex slowed his pace, dropping back to come abreast of Adira, who seemed lost in thought.

“Hey, I’ve known you a few years now.” He looked across at her, but she didn’t look up. “Never seen you like you were back there. You were scared.” He waited, but she trudged on, head still down. “And I don’t think it was that thing that scared you, but something else … maybe what it represented.”

Sam eased up beside them and Adira looked up then, first to the big HAWC, and then Alex. Her jaw was set. “Have either of you ever heard of something called the Golem?”

“Sure, who hasn’t. Something like the Hebrew superman, wasn’t he?” Alex said.

She snorted softly. “Something like that.” She sighed. “This might sound crazy, but the story of the Golem begins with a Prague rabbi in the 16th century, called Judah Loew ben Bezalel, who created an artificial being. He named it Golem, and called upon it to defend the Jews from attacks by Rudolf II, under the Holy Roman Emperor.”