by Tom Hunter
Thomas Knight and his team raced from the terrifying scenes of Kisgar destruction.
After a minute, Thomas stopped the car. They all turned to see what lay in their wake.
The Kisgar’s cries as gunfire from terrified soldiers peppered the air made the team wince. The moans of dying men echoed across the expanse. The earth groaned and cracked and the cries of men and creature melded into one as they were swallowed without regard to their species. Guilt, fear, and sadness fought settled on them like a mantle.
Thomas shook his head and returned to his forward-facing position. He placed both hands on the wheel gripping it at twelve o’clock. He put his head down and squeezed his eyes shut trying to unsee the last few hours. Sadness turned to anger, then frustration, and he slammed his palm against the steering wheel. “Noah’s gone too far. Way too far this time.”
“It’s just too much,” Abby shook her head in disbelief. “If I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. And I can’t do anything about it. Ugh!” It was in her blood to help others and she felt utterly helpless.
A low growl emanated from the back seat. “I want payback!” exclaimed Robbie.
“I, too, bleed brother,” Mochni agreed. “They kill my family and my people. Must…destroy.” Mochni spit his disgust and gnashed his teeth.
Pediah had never seen anything like it. He’d had some adventures since first joining Thomas Knight’s archeological team. Those had been a far cry from his quiet, tranquil Amish upbringing. But this closer to how he’d imagined the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or possibly the end times. Pediah was stunned to silence at the scene before him. He turned back around to face forward and squeezed his eyes shut trying to rid his mind’s eye of the horrific images he’d witnessed.
“Alexia,” Thomas began softly. “Will you still be able to complete your plan as you’d hoped?”
“Yes,” she replied, nodding. “The distraction I asked Thomas to create,” Alexia paused and turned toward the scene behind them once more. “I never saw this coming,” she whispered.
“It’s not your fault. Do you understand me?” Thomas spoke slowly and evenly. None of them could have known what would happen. “The plan?” he prompted.
“Oh, right.” Alexia’s voice was listless. Then as she spoke, her voice began to brighten. “I was able to sneak a tracking drone onto one of their transport vehicles. We should be able to track its location by that.”
“Excellent!” Thomas patted her proudly on the back and picked up his radio. “What’s the frequency it’s set to? I’ll need to let the Rangers know.”
Alexia put a hand over his.
“Not so fast.” She pushed gently on his hand for him to put the radio back into its docking station. “This was a last-minute plan, remember?” Thomas nodded slowly, the icy feeling of dread prickling his skin. “Which means I could only attach a small-scale drone with a low transmission range, so…”
“Which means we have to follow it manually.” He put his hand on the gear shift to put it into drive and turned to Alexia. “How close do we have to be to not lose signal?”
“You’re not gonna like it.” Alexia’s face was drawn and pinched.
“Alexia…” Thomas Knight’s voice rose slightly, a slight warning he was getting frustrated with her.
“Half a mile,” she confirmed and slumped in her seat.
“Half a -?” he looked at her, incredulously. Then, at the firm set of mouth and her hardened eyes, Thomas thawed a little. “Okay, half a mile it is, then.” And he pulled the gear shift arm into position and their hover craft guided smoothly into a one hundred eighty-degree turn. They’d have to go back to know which transport to follow.
As the vehicle began its turn, Thomas glanced into the rearview mirror and asked, “If anyone wishes to get off this train, now’s the time to tell me. Because if you haven’t figured it out, we’re heading back into the fray. Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
“Well, this is my plan. So, I’m sorta committed to it. I’m not going anywhere,” Alexia admitted wryly. “Besides, I’ve got all the tech toys, so I guess you’re stuck with me.”
“I’m no quitter and I’ve no intention of letting you any of you down,” chimed in Robbie. “I’m in.”
“God put me here for a reason and gave me the skills and strength to make sure I was up to the task,” added Pediah. “Besides, he tests us all in a myriad…oh, sorry. Wrong word. A number of ways. This here,” he gestured in front of him. “This is our test. Mine. Yours. Ours. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You help me. I help you.” Mochni’s eyes were black with conviction. His anger was evident and Thomas wondered if maybe that anger might be turned to their advantage. Could he and Adam still use the boy as an interrogator assuming they could recapture Ramon?
“That. That excuse for a man is everything that’s wrong with this world. Mochni, his family, and his people lived quietly, undisturbed for centuries. Once we learned what was at stake, we tried to make it right. But Noah Ashbridge saw only dollar signs.” Abby Hogan spat each word with venomous aplomb. Then, in a softer tone, she added, “Besides, someone has to make sure Mochni stays at bay and that the rest of you survive this…shindig!” She looked from Robbie to Thomas determinedly. “Don’t you two even think about putting me out to pasture just yet.”
“We wouldn’t dream of it, Abs,” affirmed Thomas. “Would we Robbie?”
“Not in a million years,” Robbie confirmed with a broad smile. He threw an arm around Abby’s shoulders, “Glad to have you old girl,” he added in an affected British accent. She playfully swatted at him. The tension broke, if only for a moment.
“Good. ‘Cause I just caught a signal. We’ve caught up to them.” Alexia’s face was buried over her screen and controls.
Twenty-Nine
Inside their transport vehicle, Ramon, Miss Welker, and a small deployment of Ramon’s Myriad squad bounced over the rocky terrain. The silence was broken only by the soft clink of the chains on Ramon’s handcuffs and the steel pin inserted in the key hole to unlock them.
No one thought to snatch the keys. Ramon fumed at the humiliating thought. His frown fixed on the person next to him manipulating the tiny tumblers inside to release him. He’d been surprised when Knight had left to find his team. Guess I called it. He turned toward Miss Welker. The tension between them was palpable.
Ramon was the first to speak. “I know the rescue wasn’t planned because of the goodness of your heart. Or Noah’s. But I appreciate it all the same.” He paused for a moment and considered the woman in front of him and cut to the heart of the matter. “So, what do you want, er need, from me?”
Miss Welker raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t answer. Ramon continued. “I mean, I can’t imagine any other reason you two would have gone to all that trouble for me.”
She had to hand it to Ramon. Noah had him pegged wrong. He wasn’t all brawn and no brains after all. “Does it really matter?” she asked. “The result is the same, yes?”
“I guess so,” Ramon replied slowly.
“Your rescue was part of the contract I arranged with Noah. And as a condition of said contract, I’d say you’ve earned yourself some guards.” She put hands out palms up and swiveled from side to side in her seat gesturing toward Ramon and his soldiers. “We all have.”
Ramon’s eyes narrowed. “What contract?” he asked through gritted teeth. Before Miss Welker could answer, the driver turned his head toward Ramon and spoke out the side of his mouth.
“Noah promised a distraction so we could get you out of there, in exchange for a defense contract from your mercenary company.”
“I did not approve this!” Ramon snarled. “That little rat…” he added under his breath.
“You weren’t exactly in the best place to be making those kinds of decisions,” Miss Welker pointed out. “If you hope to keep your job and your company intact, I highly recommend you follow through.”
Ramon grunte
d in answer and Miss Welker continued. “Or we could black ball you against any future contracts, particularly government focused, and you can watch any monies fade from your life. Your choice,” she finished with a shrug and turned back around in her seat to face the front of the vehicle.
The woman was right and they both knew it. Ramon seethed with loathing.
“I’ve got a copy of the contract back at base you’re welcome to review it,” she said as her eyes caught an unusual motion on her GPS mapping tablet. “I assure you, it’s legal and binding!” she explained in a singsong voice.
The weight of the cuffs slipped from his wrists and Ramon tried to stand up. The moving transport made it nearly impossible, but not before Miss Welker caught the scent of him as he loomed over her in the half-darkened vehicle. “I could strangle you,” he said softly. His hands came toward her cupped to fit like one giant cuff around her slim neck.
“Ramon,” said Adam softly. “Cool it.” The other soldiers looked toward Adam and Ramon with equal awe and nodded their agreement. They directed their eyes in trepidation toward Miss Welker and back to Ramon. Miss Welker’s recent warning was fresh on their minds.
It was she who had told them Noah commanded the creatures and that was how she could be so sure the rescue would happen smoothly. Well, smoothly was relative they realized too late once the Kisgar had been awakened. Through a tight smile, she had explained, “Because he commands these creatures, should he learn I am injured…well…” she’d spread her hands in supplication and leaned in close.
“Let’s just say, Noah would ensure that there is no escape. He would command the Kisgar to once more attack the Woidnuk. That’s the humanoid population beneath us and the original possessors of the artifacts we have now…confiscated. But he would design the betrayal in such as a manner as the Woidnuk would believe it was you who had caused all the chaos with our ancient beasts of burden, no matter which way your turned destruction would reign, including all of you.” She had swept her index finger across them like flourished brush stroke. “Capische?”
The soldiers had stared at her dumbly, entranced by her looks, and terrified of Noah’s power. This was no Jedi mind trick. They’d seen what he could do in action. Though his men knew, Ramon was still in dark. “I don’t know how he’s doing it,” he muttered. “But I’ve seen it up close and personal. A little too up close and personal.” Ramon slumped back the cold steel of the interior pressing through his thin microfiber camo and threw up his hands in resignation. “Guess I’m in – “
“You’ve been IN since we manned your rescue; you big oaf,” Miss Welker laughed sharply.
“Whatever,” he answered listlessly. With a sigh, Ramon sat up straight again and leaned toward Miss Welker. “So. What are we guarding and for how long?” he asked as his countenance morphed from ragged fugitive to military command. He’d been caught with his pants down once. It wouldn’t happen again and sure as hell not by the likes of Thomas Knight.
“I can’t say what,” Miss Welker explained holding up a finger to quiet Ramon’s inevitable question of why. “But I can tell you for how long. Or at least an estimation. It’s all in the contract, but let’s just say it will be long enough to make Noah extremely rich and powerful. How fast that happens,” she stopped and tipped her head to the side, “depends on you.”
Thirty
Noah sat in the passenger seat of his personal hover vehicle. His driver, a young soldier, seemed nervous; his hands twisted and clenched at the wheel. Noah narrowed his eyes and peered into the distance. Surreptitiously, he used his arm to tap the comforting bulge of the pistol at his side. The drum sat squarely in his lap.
From the corner of his eye, he felt the driver turn his head slightly toward him. Was he eyeballing the drum? After a few minutes of the cat-and-mouse eyeball game, Noah placed his hand over his pistol, still inside his pocket, and gave it a gentle squeeze. He waited until the driver had turned to look at him so the caution was evident.
“Spill it, soldier. What’s on your mind?” Noah spoke with authority in a clipped accent. He had no desire for any miscommunication about who was in control.
The soldier turned his head sharply, gripping and twisting his hand over the curve of the steering wheel. “Uh, nothing sir. Sorry, sir.” As if pulled on a string, the soldier’s head jerked back into place and he stared straight ahead concentrating on the drive.
“Hmmm…” Noah frowned. “The elephant in the room – er car – is pretty obvious,” he offered with a nod at the drum. “You seem like a smart young man,” Noah began encouragingly. “Let’s see if your questions are as well. I’m open to free discussion. Ask away.” Noah sat back and watched the driver who squeezed the steering wheel tightly in his grip and swallowed.
Ah, steeling himself for potential fallout. Someone’s prepped him about my occasional explosions. This one’s been dealt a smart card, Noah mused as the young man worked his mouth to form the question.
In a breathless rush, he asked, “Why are you carrying around a..a drum?”
Noah smiled broadly. “Ah!” He pulled the drum toward him more closely. “This little beauty I found while summoning those vile creatures from beneath the earth. They are horrid, smelly things, but like you, they’re good soldiers and do what I ask.” He paused for effect and added. “Don’t you think it would make someone a fine keepsake and me a nice profit? Look at the workmanship! The stitching. It’s out of this world!” Noah caressed the artifact, but was careful not to let his hand bump it.
Noah’s lies resonated much like Pinocchio’s. The soldier listened to the man drone on and on about the drum and realized after a while, it just sounded too fantastical to be believed. But the man did pay him well. Who was he to take his fantasies away?
Oblivious to the shift in his driver from scared young boy to confident soldier, Noah continued still more until his lies became a house of cards. His driver, in answer to questions or statements, offered noncommittal nods and hums and kept his eyes glued to the road ahead.
A blinking light on the small device in Noah’s hand made him pause. Soon, it was followed by a long beep. The soldier looked to the GPS on his own dash and confirmed, “we’ll be at your fortified facility within the hour, sir.”
Thirty-One
Thomas Knight’s eyes flitted from the screen to his right in Alexia’s lap and back to the convoy in front of them. The blinking light and accompanying beep kept a cadence which grated on him. He drew his eyebrows together and set his mouth in a firm line hidden behind his meticulously brushed beard.
Nervous shuffling, throat clearing, and the energy that trickled from his team members into the air circulating around their truck became nearly unbearable, so tense were the nerves of its current occupants. Thomas gripped the wheel harder, his knuckles whitening amidst leathered hands from too much time in the sun.
Half a mile behind. That’s what Alexia had told them was the furthest distance they could be and still keep tracking Noah without losing signal. Thomas ground his teeth, willing himself to calm down and keep a cool head. When he’d started this and welcomed Robbie and Alexia to the team, he’d figured Robbie for the loose cannon. The kid was angel compared to Mochni. Though, to be fair, he thought the Woidnuk had more reason than any of them to be charged with the desire to destroy. Noah had destroyed Mochni’s world. Now, he wanted to control his. Thomas shook his head and muttered, “All for a damned drum and some scrolls.” He prayed he’d keep Mochni from going off the rails.
Thomas glanced up into the rearview mirror and tried to gauge just by looking, but knew it would be better to bring things out into the open. He’d learned the hard way it was safer than keeping things bottled up inside.
“How’s everyone doing back there?” he jerked his head toward the backseat. “I know tensions are high, but if you need to get something off your chest…” he paused and looked in the distance at the dust trail they followed. “Looks we’ve got some time until we arrive, wherever our destination may
be.”
Tensions were high and nervous laughs followed, hollow in their mirth. “Listen,” Thomas began. “We’ve had some close calls and there will be more. I’m not gonna sugar coat it. But that tingling you feel? That’s your body telling you we’re on the right track.
I know when this party started, we were excited about what lay ahead and what we imagined then has been...” Thomas searched for the right words and tried again. “It has been, I mean, what we’ve seen…” he nodded toward Mochni. “Who we’ve met. None of this could have been imagined. But it was foretold. Somewhere. Some time. And even now,” Thomas pointed to the convoy in front of them. “There is a…charge of excitement…” Thomas frowned. No, excitement wasn’t the right word.
“You have pushed yourselves to your limits beyond what you expected of yourselves. But not beyond what I knew you could do. Each of you has been a hero, at each encounter, we’ve overcome. And we’ll do it again.” He paused and sighed, feeling his own energy drain. “None of us are at full capacity. We’re all drained from the devastation, the constant…battles with Noah, the Woidnuk, the Kisgar…it comes from every direction at once and we get blindsided with new problems at every turn.
“But know this,” he paused dramatically finding energy in his words. “We will prevail and what we once took for granted will be understood and realized in a new light. What we took will be returned. And our…familial bond will tighten.” He smiled. “I mean, you can’t go through all this without the support of family, can you? I know I couldn’t. I count each of you more than friend. I count each of you as family. Together, there is nothing we cannot do.”
The speech wasn’t as clean as he’d hoped it to be, but his heart was in it. As he’d spoken, he couldn’t help but think of Noah and Ramon and Miss Welker. Somehow, they’d always been one step ahead of him. He would have to do something different, something unexpected, to gain the advantage.