The Revelation Relic

by Rob Jones

  “Too bad, Salvatore,” Amy said. “Let’s get moving.”

  “Not so fast!”

  Amy turned and saw Belisarius standing with three other men in boiler suits. Armed with submachine guns, the men stood fast as the giant padded forward and ripped the Glock from Hunter’s hand. He turned to Neverov and scowled. “I thought you were dead.”

  “I was, but I was resurrected just to drag you into hell.”

  “Maybe one day,” Belisarius said. “But not today. You’re coming with me.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  On the other side of the complex, Kandarian watched the men finish loading his mysterious freight on board the enormous aircraft. With almost the last of the dull metal drums on board what he had called the Angels, he now turned to Alina Jahovic who was standing at his side.

  “Our destiny nears,” he said coolly. “Are you ready to change the world, my darling?”

  Jahovic’s electric blue eyes flashed rapaciously as they crawled over the men toiling down in the hangar. “I’ve been ready for this all my life.”

  “Good. The final payload is in place. Let us go to Belisarius and see his progress.”

  Kandarian turned and walked through the skeletal hull of Noah’s Ark, around which he had built his empire’s headquarters. Reaching the end, he climbed into one of the small electric cars alongside Alina. The almost silent vehicle cruised along the smooth concrete as Kandarian drove through his labyrinthine HQ toward its dark heart. When he got out of the car, Alina hung back.

  “Come my dear, let us go together.”

  She looked over his shoulder at the tunnel behind him. “Perhaps I will stay here in the car.”

  “There is nothing to fear. Come.”

  The tone of his words told her she had no choice. She swung her legs out of the car and walked with the leader of the Brotherhood down a narrow passageway until they reached a vast canyon ripped out of the mountain by a savage comet impact thousands of years ago.

  She felt scared and in danger, but Kandarian’s face was a study of calm, peaceful control. He looked down into the canyon and saw various pits dug out over the last year or so. Some were failed attempts to reach the falling star, others had been more successful. The entire scarred place looked like the burned out devastation of a lignite strip mining operation and down at the very bottom of it all was a murky subterranean lake.

  “We’re almost ready!”

  It was one of his men, calling up from the channel. He stopped work and swung his pickaxe down into the ground, pausing to wipe sweat from his forehead. Leaning his elbow on the wooden handle, he looked up to Kandarian and Jahovic and spoke again.

  “The explosives are all in place just as you ordered, Eminence.”

  “And they’ll only destroy the lake, leaving the rest of the complex unharmed?”

  “Yes, Eminence.”

  “Good work,” Kandarian looked out over the water, as smooth and black as polished onyx and nodded his head. “Then get the men out of this cave system and back up into the complex. The planes take off in less than thirty minutes and I want this lake and its precious gift buried forever under millions of tons of rock.”

  “Yes, Eminence.”

  Then, his radio crackled. “What is it?” he snapped.

  “We have some visitors, Eminence,” said the deep voice of Belisarius.

  Kandarian looked from the man up to Alina. “HARPA.”

  *

  Amy Fox was contemplating how she had let her team down yet again. She was standing on the polished concrete floor of the complex’s nerve center when a rich, smooth voice interrupted her thoughts.

  “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”

  She turned her head and saw a man’s silhouette up on the gantry. As he stepped out into the light and revealed his face, they all heard the loud rasping noise of a klaxon sounding somewhere on the other side of the hangar.

  Amy’s shoulders tensed. “Kandarian.”

  “The one and only,” he said.

  “What the hell is all this about?” Hunter asked.

  “This is prophecy made real, Dr Hunter. This is the righting of a terrible wrong. This is the salvation of the human race!”

  As the klaxon continued to roar, a dozen enormous hydraulic hangar doors began to slide slowly open. When Hunter saw what they had been concealing, he had to hide his shock from Kandarian. Twelve Antonov AN-225 Mriya aircraft were parked up in a neat line on the other side of the doors. The name Mriya was Ukrainian for Dream, but Hunter was looking at no dream. As he stared at the dozen planes, each a brilliant white with KANDARIAN KARGO emblazoned on their tails in bright red, he knew this was a very real nightmare.

  “What the hell are they?” Quinn asked.

  “AN-225s,” Hunter said. “The world’s largest planes. My question is, just what the hell does Dr Strangelove up there on the gantry want with them?”

  “What are you planning, Kandarian?” Amy called up.

  Kandarian smiled. “The Lord led me here and now my work is done. We came here to search for something so very precious and we found it. Inside this cave system at the bottom of this canyon is Wormwood.”

  Amy’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Wormwood.

  The word made Amy’s blood run cold. “What is Wormwood?”

  “My God,” Lewis said quietly. “You can’t mean…”

  “I do indeed mean precisely what you fear, Dr Lewis.” Kandarian spoke into his radio and ordered the pilots to the aircraft.

  “What’s going on here?” Hunter said.

  Lewis had turned white, his mind suddenly full of images of his beloved wife and newborn son in mortal danger. “Wormwood… it’s another Bible reference. John wrote it.”

  “He did indeed!” said Kandarian. “And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as if it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.”

  “What the hell is he going on about?” Jodie said.

  “He’s quoting Revelation again,” said Lewis.

  “Yes, I am. If you’re interested, the great star which fell from heaven was the comet I spoke of before, which cut a gorge into this very mountain range thousands of years ago. The rivers he describes, which the comet poisoned, are all gone now. All that remains of them is a single underground lake.”

  “Poisoned?” Amy asked.

  “The comet brought with it another lifeform, Agent Fox,” Kandarian said. “A visitor from the heavens.”

  “Bacteria!” Lewis said.

  “Not quite,” said Kandarian. “But similar. I spent my life searching for the Ark and when I found it I also found the gorge created by the meteor. A gorge with a lake deep inside its black belly. Only when my men started falling ill and dying did I start researching what was happening. What I found changed my life. I found Wormwood, a totally alien form of microscopic life – a polyextremophile capable of withstanding the harsh realities of space.”

  “The theory of panspermia,” Hunter said. “The scientific theory that there is life everywhere in the universe.”

  “I’ve read about this,” Amy said to her team. “What he’s saying makes sense.”

  “More than sense!” Kandarian snapped. “It is divine will! When the star fell from heaven, it brought with it the toxic spores. It is more lethal than cholera or typhoid, but in a similar family. It induces what we call a blood fever in whoever absorbs in. They die of unstoppable internal bleeding. In Revelation 23, John called it Wormwood because it made the water taste bitter, but he lacked the scientific knowledge to understand what it really was.”

  “Am I dreaming this?” Quinn said.

  “Sadly, no,” said Hunter.

  Kandarian was now walking along the gantry and heading
toward the steps leading down to the aircraft hangar. “When John had his vision of seven seals on a scroll of vellum being slowly removed to reveal mankind’s future, including the breaking of the seventh scroll when heaven will fall silent, he had another vision. A vision of the past given to him by God and showing him where the falling star crashed to earth, right on top of the Ark! It was a message from the Lord! Our Lord who was trying to punish sinners… but the meteor carrying Aimatos landed here. Today, I finish his work.”

  “Aimatos?” Amy said. “I thought you said it was called Wormwood.”

  “In its natural state, we call it Wormwood, but after… processing, we call it Aimatos.”

  “Processing?”

  “The microorganism is lethal enough as it is, but at considerable time and expense I have harnessed it and made it even more powerful.”

  “You mean you’ve weaponized it,” Amy said with disgust.

  “Whatever you choose to call it, Aimatos is the name of the blood disease it induces in humans when they drink it. None of our test subjects lasts more than twenty four hours after being injected with it.”

  “Good God!” Amy said. “You tested this nightmare out on people?”

  He waved away her horror. “The Brotherhood believe we will be fulfilling the prophecy of John’s Revelation by releasing this toxin into the world’s water supply.”

  “You’re insane!”

  “No! I am descended from the ancient Byzantine imperial dynasties and charged by God himself to carry out his divine will.”

  “Not with us around,” Amy said. “We’re going to bring this nightmare to an end.”

  “I’m afraid not, Agent Fox.” Kandarian spoke calmly, the rich baritone timbre of his voice echoing in the vast space. “Operation Aimatos is quite unstoppable. As you can see, we have been busy here for many months and our preparations are complete. We have already mined the spores from the comet and weaponized them. All that remains now is for me to implement God’s will and disperse them around the world in the water supply.”

  Amy took a step back but stopped when she felt the muzzle of a gun between her shoulder blades. Turning, she saw Belisarius standing behind her with an Uzi in his hands. She pulled away from the weapon but he moved closer, pressing the muzzle to her midriff. She moved away again and looked back up to Kandarian on the gantry crane.

  “You are out of your mind, Kandarian!”

  “I am merely implementing God’s will. It is the only purpose of the Brotherhood of the Falling Star. It is my only purpose. I have dedicated my life to this moment, Agent Fox. I have studied every ancient manuscript in the biblical canon and I am of clear mind and clean conscience. God sent the comet Wormwood to earth to cleanse mankind’s sins but something went wrong. The comet smashed into his creation and buried itself into the side of this ancient mountain. That was not supposed to happen.”

  Aware he had everyone’s attention, he lifted his arms into the air and raised his voice to a crescendo. “Tonight, I intend to right that wrong!”

  Blanco leaned toward Amy and lowered his voice. “Is this guy for real?”

  “I can hardly believe it, but I think so.”

  Kandarian walked over to the edge of the gantry and stared down at the fleet of vast Antonov AN-225s. “Progress report, Belisarius?”

  “The iodide flares are almost all loaded, Eminence.”

  “Good, then we are nearly ready to leave. Evacuate the complex.”

  “Yes, Eminence.”

  “Iodide?” Hunter called up. “Is that how you intend on delivering this insanity? Cloud seeding?”

  “That’s the easy part,” Kandarian said coolly. “The silver iodide is loaded into flares which are dispersed into clouds. The delivery vehicle may change. Sometimes, rockets are used and sometimes the flares are dropped from aircraft. We are using a fleet of twelve aircraft because rockets would be too suspicious. The target countries would see them on radar, track them for speed and trajectory and then fire a counterstrike. Perhaps some of them would get through, perhaps others would not.”

  “I can’t believe how calm he is,” Jodie whispered. “He’s totally nuts.”

  “This is why the Brotherhood of the Falling Star is using the Antonovs. Each of these aircraft has a flight plan filed with its target nation. Each nation believes these are just more Kandarian Kargo flights. They have no idea of the deadly freight they are hiding deep inside their metal bellies. As the planes enter their airspace they will disperse Aimatos into the clouds along with the silver iodide which will trigger the precipitation.”

  “Making it rain your poisonous bacteria all over the land,” Hunter said with disgust.

  “And into the reservoirs and rivers and other water supplies. The water tables everywhere will be infested with it and everyone will die.” Kandarian broke into a crazed peel of laughter as Belisarius oversaw the last batch of Aimatos into the idling aircraft.

  “And what about us, Kandarian?” Amy asked. “What does your God say should happen to us?”

  “Some things God leaves to my personal judgement. In your case, you are to be executed here in this mountain. When the last plane flies out, the underground lake is rigged to explode to protect us from Wormwood in the New Age. Your bodies will be lost under millions of tons of basaltic lava rock and never seen again.”

  He turned to Belisarius. “Take them down to the lake and this time make sure they die.”

  “Yes, Eminence.”

  As the giant grabbed Amy’s arm, Hunter reached out and smacked the Uzi from his hand. The open-bolt submachine gun struck the concrete floor with a loud smack and Amy instantly kicked it closer to the Englishman. He snatched it up and spun around, opening fire on Kandarian up on the gantry.

  Then all hell broke loose.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  As Hunter sprayed the gantry with nine mil rounds, the Brotherhood leapt into action. Kandarian turned and hit a button which activated a second, louder klaxon. This alerted the entire complex to the emergency. On the lower level, Belisarius sprinted for the cover of a nearby tunnel and pulled a submachine gun from one of the dozens of men sprinting into the hangar.

  Enraged by his failure to contain the prisoners, the Armenian giant now turned his new weapon on the HARPA team and opened fire with incandescent rage. The savage fusillade of gunfire spat all over the hangar, chewing into the concrete floor and peppering the side of the nearest Antonov.

  Hunter and the rest of the team were already taking cover. Amy landed beside the Englishman, ducking her head as a bullet traced past. She was working hard to suppress a wave of guilt about leading her team into this mess when Hunter elbowed her in the ribs.

  “Hey! Take a look!”

  She twisted around and watched as Kandarian sprinted along the gantry to another set of stairs further along. As he ran, he barked orders into his radio.

  “He’s trying to get down to the aircraft,” Hunter said. “He wants them in the air now!”

  All around them, members of the Brotherhood streamed out of tunnels and passageways and along the gantries as they made their way toward the Antonovs. Then, Vladimir Neverov caught sight of Kandarian and broke cover. Raising his Steyr and aiming for the Armenian, he shot from the hip. Bullets nipped and pinged at the gantry rail and chased Kandarian all the way to the end where he slipped out of sight into the shadows. Neverov stopped firing and leapt up the stairs to the gantry, three steps at a time.

  The look on his face said a thousand words.

  “He’s killing Kandarian no matter what happens,” Amy said. “It’s not right.”

  “None of this is right, Amy!” Hunter reloaded his gun. “Our job is to make sure this place is destroyed, and that includes the lake and all the Aimatos canisters inside the aircraft!”

  “I know.”

  Kandarian made it to the bottom of the steps and sprinted across the concrete to the last Antonov. Belisarius was already there, firing on Neverov and keeping him at bay while his leader
ran up the rear cargo ramp. The engines were already humming, and now the pilots were turning the aircraft and heading out of the hangar toward the runway.

  “This is getting out of hand!” Amy said.

  A low roar emanated from deep inside the mountain in the cave system beyond the Ark, and they all felt the ground shake.

  “What was that?” Jodie asked.

  “Must have been the C4 Kandarian was talking about,” said Hunter. “They’ve detonated some of the explosives and destroyed the lake.”

  “Saves us doing it,” Lewis said with a shrug.

  “Guys…” Quinn said.

  Amy turned and saw the young goth. She was crouched down behind one of the pallets covering her head with her hands. “You might like to know that the last of the planes just left the hangar! They’re all outside now.”

  Amy’s heart quickened. Everything was rapidly falling apart. Most of the gantry was on fire now, millions of tons of rock had been blown up and brought down on top of the lake, and now men in boiler suits were racing out of the complex and running up the cargo ramps of Kandarian’s fleet of death.

  Neverov ran back over and slid down beside them. His filthy hands gripped the Steyr and his face was black with soot. Now, he raised his voice to be heard over the klaxon. “I lost Kandarian. He got out another way. He’s in one of the Antonovs!”

  “What’s the plan, Amy?” Jodie said.

  “I just can’t see how we can stop all twelve Antonovs from taking off!”

  “There is a way,” Neverov said. “All of the aircraft are now outside on the apron lined up ready for take-off.”

  “And?” Amy said.

  “If one of the Antonovs were to take off first and then crash into them, the kerosene aviation fuel would ignite in an uncontrollable fireball. Jet fuel burns at well over a thousand degrees, and yet bacteria dies at around one hundred degrees. The fire would kill all of it, forever.”

  “There’s just one problem with your plan, Colonel,” Amy said. “It involves someone flying one of these planes and crashing it on purpose.”