Inside the iron chamber room the door spoke for the last time. “Lava slide transport shutting down.” The orange light faded, and the room went dark. Evil once again stood in the dark, alone, angry, and frustrated that it had missed another chance to destroy. Lester walked up to the computer just as the screen was fading to black from the depleted battery but he was there long enough to see only one name…Edinburgh.
chAPTER fifteen
Scotland is part of the United Kingdom and home to the oldest living thing in all of Europe, the Fortingall Yew Tree, which is said to be about 3000 years old. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. In addition to the mainland, Scotland also constitutes over 790 smaller islands. On this day in the capitol city of Edinburgh at The Royal Family office residence, Palace of Holyroodhouse, a sound is being heard in the subterranean vault command center. One that hasn’t been heard in over 17 years…
Alarms sounded and warning lights flashed inside the three-story staging room that surrounded a Roman-style archway with pillars and pearl glass doors. It was the very same architecture found in the bottom of Jasper’s manor, except this was no small iron chamber with a tiny entry hatch. There were no fewer than six enclosed balconies, all with reinforced glass view ports, training their scanners, sensors, and cameras upon the structure. Sir Lord Bucket of MI6 and Lieutenant Commander Reginald Mop of the Palace Guard busied themselves in a frantic attempt to manage the computer systems of the activated lava slide transport. For 17 years the transport had been inactive. And now by each passing second it was almost here, first contact. The pearl glass door began to take on a darker orange glow, almost red. Something or someone was coming.
“Why is it moving with such velocity?” Lieutenant Commander Reginald Mop shouted above the alarms, never once taking his eyes off of the computer monitors before him.
Stately and calm, Sir Lord Bucket replied, “Commander Mop, let me explain it this way: the earth has a spinning core, much like a human has a beating heart. If a human slashes his or her main artery, then the heart will pump out the blood contained in the body in just less than four minutes. The prevailing school of thought, lava in the transport moves towards an opening like blood pouring out a human vein. The angels built this system to move their captive creatures across the planet; the mole-men army never stood a chance.”
Uniformed soldiers armed with machine guns and transparent heat shields entered through a single door at the far right side of the vault. They would be the first to see whatever was coming while the rest of the command center looked on from behind the protection of their assigned fortified balconies.
“Three fluctuating life signs detected,” Commander Mop reported.
Sir Lord Bucket pressed the intercom button and said, “Medical teams stand by for recovery operation. Look lively, people, this is it.”
Extremely tense and ready for anything, the soldiers took their defending positions around the archway. The pearl glass doors finally turned a pulsating red and parted in the center from left to right. Jasper, Stacy, and Thunder tumbled out onto the concrete floor. Unable to move, speak, or even bark, the three passed out. The key floated over Jasper’s body. No longer humming, it hung in the air, awaiting instructions from an unconscious Jasper. Possum…the key thought.
Meanwhile the doors closed and returned to their familiar orange glow. Sir Lord Bucket issued the orders for the recovery teams to enter and perform a medical rescue of the travelers and their little brown dog. The technicians entered, attempting to snag the key out of the air, but at each attempt it glowed brightly and moved just out of reach. Being clever, they thought to trap it away from Jasper behind closed doors, but to ill effect, as the key passed directly through the solid wall and followed Jasper into the medical bay. It quickly became clear to all that the key was somehow bonded to Jasper and eventually even Commander Mop stopped hopping into the air in the hopes of catching it by surprise.
“Sir, we almost had it!” said a disappointed Commander Mop. “With the face plate activation key we could have gone anywhere in the entire underworld.” He shook his head in frustration.
“No worries, Mr. Mop, we have Jasper Indiana and his companions; and if he is here now, then trouble cannot be far behind. Put the Palace into lockdown mode, Lieutenant Commander, and prepare for battle.”
The Lieutenant Commander shuffled off in mumbled protest.
chAPTER sixteen
Monday Morning
Kevin Hoffman pulled up the drive to Jasper’s home. He was keeping his promise to watch over the house while his best friend was away. He checked the mailbox at the road, but it was empty. No mail. He noticed a collection of vehicles as he drove closer to the barn. He recognized Stacy’s car and the farm truck with attached horse trailer…“Oh crap, Jasper was pulling my leg…Thunder has to be as hungry as a horse. Oh wait, he is a horse, duh...I knew there was no way for Jasper to get Thunder inside his aunt’s car.” Kevin finished talking to himself and parked his car next to the truck.
“Thunder…I’m here to feed you, boy…good horsey.” Kevin walked into the barn and noticed Thunder’s stall wide open. “Where’s the horse? Who took the horse?” Kevin started to panic, running the full length of the barn and searching every stall. “Thunder is loose and walking around Allegan somewhere.”
A tug came at Kevin’s pants leg, and he jumped a mile high. “Hey!” Kevin shouted. Then, seeing a cute little pug puppy looking up at him with big, innocent, playful eyes, Kevin bent over to talk to the puppy. “Oh, hey there, little fella...” Kevin’s voice had gone soft like a mother speaking to her newborn baby. “What are you doing in the barn all by yourself?” Kevin asked, but he would never get an answer to his question, for what happened next Kevin never saw coming. The spaded head of a shovel came arching through the air and smacked Kevin in the head, dropping him to the floor, out cold, just like a possum.
Far away from Michigan, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Jasper and Stacy awoke in a grand stateroom filled with traditional Victorian furnishings. Even the wood trim around the windows and doors were framed in the manner of that regal time period. In America, a room like this could only be found at the most expensive bed and breakfasts in the original thirteen colonial areas. Imperial splendor on the highest of majestic scales, it was what Aunt Debbie-Lynne would simply call “Money!”
Jasper stepped over to the window. It wasn’t very far from the uncomfortable chair his rescuers had dumped him in. He looked outside to see if Thunder was running around on the castle lawn. Jasper knew in that moment, somehow, that he was safe. The connection he shared with his horse grew stronger by the day. Must have been a side effect of Bell’s gift but he didn’t mind; it gave him a secret weapon. Without the knowledge of what was really happening, Thunder was the edge, his own special element of surprise no enemy would see coming.
“I feel well-rested after that horrible slide ride…where are we?” Stacy jumped up from the bed and stretched. “Oh…I take that back, I have some very sore back muscles.”
“Judging solely from the view from this window, I would say we are on the third floor of a castle.” Jasper’s cell phone rang.
“Hey, Kevin, how is everything at the farm?” Jasper asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. He winked at Stacy, and she returned his wink with one of her own and threw in an OK sign for good measure. Excited to be in a real castle, Stacy ran to the window to see the view. After a few seconds of awkward silence passing, she looked back over her shoulder to see why the atmosphere in the room had suddenly taken on a chilly mood. Jasper did not speak. It was clear to Stacy that Kevin was delivering a bit of bad news. Thinking it may have something to do with Aunt Debbie-Lynne, she went and stood next to him and held his hand. Jasper stood in a pool of mental apprehension.
“I had a hunch about those two,” Jasper spoke aloud but it was really more of an inner voice statement, and he cut himself off, knowing that from the very start of his reply Kevin was goin
g to be lost in confusion. Jasper was coming to grips with just how dangerous his life had become. The danger for those close to him to get hurt was mounting with each passing moment.
“Just one pug puppy? That was the last thing you saw before you were hit from behind?”
“It was a cute little dog, but there was no one there, I swear. It came out of thin air. They used a shovel and knocked me out cold. It was like they were underneath Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility. This only happens in movies.”
“Happens to me all the time; POSSUM!” Jasper said, attempting to lessen Kevin’s alarmed frame of mind.
“Jasper…Thunder is missing. I think they took him; we could be dealing with a horse thief. I’d better call the sheriff; you were robbed twice in one week. What are the odds?”
“No! Don’t do that. Thunder is with me.”
“Did you get a new trailer? When did that happen? Your aunt doesn’t even have a ball and hitch on her car. How did you move it down the road?” Kevin’s voice dripped in skepticism.
“We don’t have the money for a new trailer, you know that. Listen to me, Kevin. I’ll explain when I get home, but for now you need to get out of there, and don’t go back. Leave now; just go home, and I will be in touch with you soon.” Jasper terminated the conversation, hoping to have instilled enough fear in Kevin to make him leave. That is exactly what Kevin did next. Jasper looked at Stacy with just a tinge of wariness. “Amy and Gary were at the farm…I didn’t see that one coming. How do they fit in to all of this and why?”
Stacy was utterly dumbfounded. A knock came at the door, and a moment later it swung open. A man in a royal uniform entered the room.
“Ah. Good, bright and cheerful day to you both. My name is Lieutenant Commander Reginald Mop, and I am here to gather you for breakfast and a morning debriefing. If you will just follow me, I shall escort you to the hall.”
“I need to brush my teeth and run a brush through my hair. Can you give us a minute?” Stacy asked.
“Of course, miss. Please present yourself in the passageway when decent. I will accompany you both from there. And Jasper, do bring the key, won’t you, yes.” The Lieutenant Commander backed out of the room, closing the door as he left.
Later, inside the informal banquet hall, Sir Lord Bucket offered a brief blessing over the meal they were about to eat from his seat at the head of the table. After introductions were made and about halfway into the meal, Stacy began to giggle aloud. Jasper could tell that pure heart of hers was misbehaving. He just had to know what was going on.
“Laughing and not letting me in on the joke is rude, my dear,” Jasper whispered.
“I was just appreciating the absolute genius of the moment. Sir Lord Bucket and his number one, Lieutenant Commander Reginald Mop. Their code names could be Mop and Bucket.” Stacy laughed a little louder this time.
“Stacy…knock it off, they might hear you,” Jasper said as he glanced back to see if their host was paying any attention.
“Would you prefer I called them Scrubbing Bubbles and Brush?” She took a sip of water and it almost came right back out her nose. Jasper squeezed her hand until she said “Ouch!”
“Enough…just eat. I know how tense this must be for you, but we need to be on our best behavior at the moment,” Jasper said as he attempted not to let a smile cross his face. Their hosts, ever so well-mannered, were emotionally detached from the insults as they had no idea what they meant.
“Americans and their slang, I just don’t know half the time what you mean to say,” Sir Lord Bucket said as he signaled the servers to remove his plate. “Jasper and Stacy, the first thing you need to know is that your pet dog is in satisfactory condition. He is outside on the north turf as we speak. Cook has made him a meal fit for a king. Like the two of you, he did not experience any lasting ill effects from use of the lava slide transport. Now to the business at hand; Jasper, you need to hand me your key of your own free will. That is the only way a heavenly object in human possession can be transferred from one person to the next. The key is much too dangerous for you to have with as little as you know of your own situation. Now the key, if you please.” Sir Lord Bucket held out his hand.
Jasper replied, “You are the second one to ask me for this key, and for the second time I say no.”
“Perhaps you could be persuaded by means of intelligence. What I am about to tell you is top secret and cannot be repeated outside of the company in this room. Jasper, I must be blunt. We are out of time, and this is a matter pertaining to war. Satan is a real entity, and he or his forces are coming to kill you. If you don’t give me that key, the entire world will be doomed to an age of darkness. We may have hours, or at best, a few days before it is all over. That key is our only hope of survival.”
“Tell us everything. We need to know what you know before I can give you this key. How do I know you’re the good guys?”
Sir Lord Bucket stood from his chair. “Your parents trusted me. In time, so shall you. Come follow me to the control room. It is high time to bring you kids up to speed and fill in the blanks with details and infallible facts.”
“Why did my parents name me Jasper Indiana?”
“You can ask them yourself when we find them, but to do that I need that key.”
Jasper was rattled. For the second time in as little as a day he had been told his parents were still alive. First by the ghost of his twin brother and then by a knight of the realm. How was he going to keep up? Suddenly a thought popped into Jasper’s head. My own intuition has served me well my whole life, but since Bell gifted me, that intuition has been magnified. Right now it is telling me that if Satan wants me dead, then he must also want my parents dead; but they are lost. He can’t find them because they are heavenly-protected. He can’t see where they are at. Which means my key, an object of the Divine, knows right where they are, and all I have to do is ask? Seek and ye shall find. Man… that was easy. Jasper took Stacy’s hand and squeezed it as he smiled, walking at her side from the hall to the control room. Stacy’s face lit up like a Christmas tree as she realized Jasper had just come up with another plan. She couldn’t wait to find out what it was.
chAPTER seventeen
“Hello, Lance. Still playing secret agent 007 after all these years?” Agent Tammy Sue Tate asked, more out of annoyance than professional courtesy. “Honestly, I thought you would have been dead by now.”
“I see you have managed to keep that deranged woman alive and safe up to this point. That is an accomplishment worthy of promotion. Heed my advice, Agent Tate: whatever you do, just don’t look her in the eyes,” Lance said with a ring of repugnance in his voice. “Have I ever mentioned to you my first encounter with this creature? She ate my KitKat bar! The gall of that woman! She is a goodly rotten apple.”
“The KitKat bar…that was you?” Agent Tate was now in a full belly roll of laughter. “Oh, excuse me, but that must have been a moment.”
“I should have known she couldn’t be trusted to instruct Jasper in his duties.”
“You’re picking on her. Why, pigtails and inkwells, you like her. No wonder she never married; she was waiting for you.”
“Oh, piddley-par, Agent Tate, let’s just get on with it and move this windbag back to the farm.” Lance gave Agent Tate a stern look. She knew at once this topic of discussion was out of bounds. Well, at least for now.
Late Monday afternoon they arrived back at the farm, and Aunt Debbie-Lynne sat in silence at the dining room table. Lance had just brought in some cookies and milk from the kitchen. He listened as Agent Tate pleaded her case. Aunt Debbie-Lynne felt deceived and didn’t know if she could trust her again. Agent Tate explained that her job as a deep undercover operative was to protect Jasper through his entire childhood. That seemed to move Aunt Debbie-Lynne enough to at least soften her facial expressions to a thin smile instead of the grim and angry frown.
Lance interrupted as he set the cookies and milk down upon the table, “It gives me great pleasu
re to inform you both, the kids and their dog named Thunder have arrived safely via the lava slide transport. They are at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. Control is debriefing them at this time. This, of course, is bad timing for the premier royal residence as preparations for the traditional garden party have been underway for months, and the kids are on the grounds with a dog.”
“What is your aversion to dogs? You are aware they are man’s best friend?” Agent Tate asked.
“Thunder is not a dog…he is a horse. Are you sure you weren’t the one hit on the head, Lance?” Aunt Debbie-Lynne finally broke her silence.
“She is right, Lance. Thunder is Jasper’s horse. Someone at control must have made a mistake. There is an obvious difference between a horse and a dog.”
“I did take a beating at the manor, but I am almost certain Jasper and Stacy arrived with a…horse and not a dog…hmmm, you are indeed correct. Either way it is perfect, just perfect; so now we have a horse running around the grounds before the party. Oh dear, the landscaping will take a turn for the worse. This is a ruinous piece of news to be sure, piddley-par!”
Aunt Debbie-Lynne pushed herself up from her chair at the table. Her arms were still shaking under her own weight. Strength had yet to fully return to her, but her stubborn character wouldn’t permit her to be still. Her only concern was Jasper. Lance was getting on her nerves. He talked too much, and if she had had a spare KitKat bar she would have shoved it down his throat just to shut him up. “Lance, you need to calm down. Stop getting your shorts in a bunch over plants…gee-whiz…Brits! Agent Tate, help me to the barn. I have something to show you both, something that has been hidden since the very night Lance dropped Jasper off into my care.”
Jasper: Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight (Jasper - Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight Book 1) Page 11