by Seeley James
“We have Brother standby in Zhongnanhai,” Peng said.
That shocked me. China’s equivalent of the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court work from one convenient location: Zhongnanhai. To have an operative there—one high up enough to have a shot at taking over—was the goal of every major country in the world. I’d judged the Brotherhood by their young and inexperienced warriors. Now I realized they were far more formidable than Peng had led me to believe. Hers was a strategy clever enough to make Sun Tzu proud.
I looked up the G20 location. The meetings would be held at a shiny steel-and-glass science center perched high above the tree line on the largest, sharpest hunk of limestone I’d ever seen. The tallest point in Germany, the website said.
Mercury leaned over my shoulder. That rock formed in the Mesozoic era, homie. The most boring epoch in the creation of the universe. Nothing but brainless reptiles everywhere ya went. But no big deal for me. I was in god college back then. Part-TAY every night, y’know what I’m saying?
I said, When you say things like that, I start to think people are right to call me crazy.
Mercury said, Whoa, dude. No one calls you crazy to your face. Chill. Just imagined you’d be interested in my life for once. What was I thinking? Y’know, when people pray, they never ask how’s it going for the god they’re praying to. It’s always about them. Can you do this? Can you help with that? No one asks, Hey, how you doing, Mr. M?
“There are some gaps in the plan,” Jenny said. “We thought you might have some ideas.”
“I do have ideas.” I checked Danny. “I’m a former Ranger who graduated Ranger school with honors. Our motto is Sua Sponte, of their own accord. But you’re not, so that means the only way this is going to work is for everyone to follow orders. If I tell people to sit down and shut up, they sit down and shut up. Anything I’m involved in has to run with military precision.”
“Yes, sir.” Danny spread his hands wide and bowed a little. “I’ve learned.”
“Next, I need to know … wait a second, where is Cherry?” I turned to the charming professor.
“She was in need of rest,” he said and nodded toward the spare bedroom.
“Ms. Sabel’s generosity extends to traitors now?” I asked the room.
“I offered it to her,” Jenny said quickly.
“Any anger you feel toward my innocent niece should be directed to me,” Rafael said. “It is I she fought for. Against my wishes, and without my knowledge or agreement, yet with the best of intentions.”
“About that.” I gave him my soldier stare. He didn’t flinch. “Why are you here?”
“Ms. Gu’s plight is most interesting.” He nodded to the old lady. “If I can be of assistance, I offer aid without reservation. If not, I am content to observe history in the making.”
“And your disloyal-on-your-behalf niece?”
“Undoubtedly, she will speak for herself, but I imagine she feels as I do. If either of us could be of any use, your wish is our command.”
Given the look on Jenny’s face, sending them packing wasn’t an option. This was one of those times we were going to yin and not yang. Or whatever. I considered options. On every mission I’d been on, there had always been a shortage of cannon fodder. If an opportunity came up where I could repay Cherry’s treachery in kind, I’d happily toss her in.
“All right,” I said. “We need to get back to the Yucatán.”
Again, everyone’s gaze wandered off as if I’d made a pope-joke to the Pope.
Peng glanced at Jenny, then spoke. “I hope you give Freedom Stone when we arrive Chicago.”
“Why did you think that?” I asked.
“She thought you’d given it to the Knights,” Rafael said. “And that you’d get it back when you saved Cherry.”
What she really thought was that Danny would get it back. That’s why they were looking for Griffith. Peng thought I’d sold them out. Danny’s crazy dash made sense in that light. But something was off about his behavior on the property. Something ticked in the back of my head. There was some kind of deception going on, but I couldn’t see it. Maybe I suspected everyone after Cherry’s behavior. Stearne’s Law: Paranoia is the result of acute situational awareness. Everyone really is trying to kill you.
Peng waited until I looked her way, then she said, “Take all my saving get here.”
That statement caught me up. That was the last clue I needed to figure out the problem. Everybody’s down for the revolution until somebody has to pick up the check.
Jenny had her eye on me. She wouldn’t ask her dad for money unless I agreed. Which was a good thing in a marriage. Solidarity. Unity. All that. But her dad would never fund this operation in a million years given that he hated revolutionaries of any stripe. He was the kind of guy people rebelled against. And that meant we would have to lie to him. Not happening. I couldn’t start my marriage by lying to my father-in-law. Even if it was for a good cause.
That’s when the door opened. Someone with a key clacked it open, causing me to jump into defensive mode. I leapt to my feet, 9 mil drawn, before the others realized what was going on.
Without the slightest concern, Dhanpal, a former Navy SEAL and one of Ms. Sabel’s inner circle of trusted personal bodyguards, walked in and nodded at my pistol as if it were a banana. Behind him, the unmistakable silhouette of Pia Sabel followed, her duster flowing from her shoulders like a cape. Our eyes met. We both flinched like ex-lovers seeing each other again for the first time after a nasty split. She stopped, still in the foyer.
Miguel Rodriguez brought up the rear and closed the door. He saw our awkward encounter and waited patiently.
Whatever prepared statement Ms. Sabel had in her head refused to come out her mouth.
I wasn’t in any better shape. The last time I spoke to her, I was stepping onto her $20 million luxury chopper for a free ride to the Yucatán and telling her I would never work for her again. She’d taken it like a gut punch. I felt like a heel.
Mercury tapped my shoulder. Now’s your chance to patch things up with Pia-Caesar-Sabel, homie.
I said, Nothing to patch. It’s over. I’m never going back.
Mercury said, OK, let’s pretend you didn’t have a Russian oligarch hit you up for twenty-eight million bucks three days ago. Let’s pretend you can continue breathing for six more days without sending him a check. Let’s pretend you’re not about to do something earth-shatteringly stupid, like get yourself killed while freeing flipping CHINA. And then let’s think about how you could use this situation to get even with Pia-Caesar-Sabel.
Even though I knew Mercury had an ulterior motive for his suggestion, the idea of turning the tables had a certain appeal. Maybe I could use her to achieve my goals. That would be a twist.
I smiled at her and spread my arms wide. “Welcome to the People’s Liberation Army, Version 2.0.”
A skeptical expression crossed her face.
Dhanpal and Miguel leaned against the wall, arms folded, with faces that said, Can’t wait to hear this bullshit.
Before I could think up a good one, Peng crossed to her. In a sharp voice, the old woman asked, “What you do here?”
“Pia Sabel,” Ms. Sabel said and extended a hand to Peng.
“We not need tycoon.” Peng turned her back on Ms. Sabel’s hand. “Too many in world today. All are same person, look out for each other. Not trusting. Not reliable. Exploiting everything. Not helping common people. No thank you.”
Gu Peng grew three feet taller in my eyes. No one ever stood up to Ms. Sabel like that. The old lady just saved me from having to turn down whatever help was about to be offered, and with it, any conditions that might go along.
“I’m not here to join your operation,” Ms. Sabel said. “I was on my way to spend a few days at Chan Chich, a little resort in Belize. I was in town and wanted to catch up with Jenny while we had a chance.”
Everyone in the room looked up Chan Chich on their phones at the same time. Chan Chich
is an eco-tourist resort of the first order. Deep in the jungle of Belize, it sits near the borders of Guatemala and Mexico. Coincidentally, it’s not far from where I left my alabaster albatross.
Mr. Baldy was smart. He would leave a few people on the trail from the Mexico side, near the trail from Hidalgo’s dig. He’d leave a few on the Guatemalan side, near Uaxactun. They would follow me to my destination, then take the Stone. Ms. Sabel had found a place equally close to either route but unknown to Mr. Baldy.
As usual, Pia Sabel was ten moves ahead of me. No matter what else I thought about her, she is a brilliant strategist. Her choice of destination sealed a proposal no one had made yet.
After checking it out, everyone in the room caught up with me. They understood why Ms. Sabel was heading there. Including the leader of the Brotherhood.
Peng said, “Your light shine strong and clean. You mean well. But money always find power—power always find money.”
“You don’t know her,” Jenny pleaded with Peng. “You can trust—”
“I understand,” Ms. Sabel interrupted. “My company has many ventures in China. You have a right to be concerned about my allegiance. I’m not offering to get involved.”
“What you do here?” Peng re-asked her original question.
“I came to offer Jenny a spa day with me at Chan Chich.” She left a dramatic pause. “Of course, everyone’s invited. There’s plenty of room on my jet. And for privacy, I booked the whole resort for a week.”
CHAPTER 31
By late afternoon the next day, I was jogging through the jungle on the western side of Belize with a stone altar in my backpack. My heading was due west, toward Guatemala and a long-forgotten temple hidden in its trees. I checked my pace to keep a steady five miles per hour. Thirty miles out and thirty miles back gave me twelve hours of jogging. A little run that could qualify as an ultramarathon.
What would ensure my survival was the training I’d received in Ranger School. They taught me an important factor: you can go farther and endure more—if you want to. It’s mostly in your head. Mother Nature has your brain wired to conserve energy as soon as you burn off forty percent. You want to stop and rest when you still have sixty percent left in your tank. Humans are capable of considerable feats of strength and endurance. I knew I could make this run. And I knew Danny would give up if he tried to follow me.
One adversary I couldn’t anticipate was Mr. Baldy. From the beginning, he appeared to have a religious fanaticism that might equal Ranger Training. I’d gotten the better of the Knights on a couple occasions, but that wasn’t because they were dumb or incompetent. None of my wins were due to superior tactics. I had survived by pure luck.
The Knights had not expected young, dumb Danny to have planted a tracker on them. No one would have guessed Griffith forgot he had obscure passages throughout his house. The Knights had anticipated our moves at El Remate. If their pontoon boat had one extra horsepower, we could’ve died there. The only thing I had going for me on this trip was the unexpected starting point at Chan Chich.
Which was not a bad resort as exclusive eco-resorts go.
Ms. Sabel’s end-run around me went without a whimper of protest. Peng’s concerns about money, power, and plutocracy faded once she stepped into a bubbling spa. Danny and his squad downed the free-on-arrival daiquiris like hummingbirds at a feeder. I should be grateful. It was generous of Ms. Sabel to bail out the Free China Movement when we’d run out of cash. Unfunded revolutions are sad affairs.
She was nice enough not to make me thank her. Jenny did that. To spare me further humiliation, she thanked Ms. Sabel all the way south on Sabel One. Jenny smoothed all my rough edges. For a second, I wondered if that was order or chaos, yin or yang. Or whatever. She was right, she balanced me.
As the clouds assembled and darkened the afternoon sky, I was running my shoes off. Everyone else scheduled hot stone massages and ate locally sourced salads and went on birdwatching tours. There were probably yoga sessions.
The sky grew darker every mile. Thunder rolled in the distance and the wind picked up. It didn’t get to be a rain forest by accident.
Jogging cross-country through the jungle is not that hard. Since little sunlight penetrates the canopy, there isn’t a great deal of ground cover. There are game trails through the thickest spots. Most of the time, it’s a matter of hopping fallen branches and saplings and stepping lightly in case your foot slides in mud or decaying leaves.
Mercury swung through the branches like Tarzan. Only Tarzan used vines while Mercury defied physics with the tiny wings on his helmet.
Mercury floated down to ground level. S’gonna rain, bro. That’ll slow up your arrival time. And that means the Knights of Mithras could catch up with you. Then whatcha gonna do?
I said, As long as I get there and get back before they can process their LiDAR readings, they’ll never catch me.
Mercury said, What if they use old-fashioned methods? Like, they post scouts at all compass points.
That was what I expected Mr. Baldy to do. Fix a few people to the obvious trails and have his main force deployed in a circle around Cherry’s last known coordinates. I’d mapped out a route that kept me a mile north of that point. Then I would use the standard double-back trick. Go beyond your destination, turn around, and come back. If someone’s following you, you meet them head-on.
I asked, How can I avoid the Knights?
Mercury said, You can figure that out for your own self, boy. The night you hid it, you were only gone twenty minutes. Cherry found you a mile from the campsite, so they know you were within a mile of that spot. You draw a circle with a one-mile radius, and you have 3.14 square miles to search. That means the circumference is a circle 6.28 miles around. If Mr. Baldy puts four men on the northern trail and four on the southern trail, he still has twenty-four left to scout that circle. Those men would be 1,380 feet apart, roughly a quarter mile. Not within visual range, so you’re good to sneak between them—provided you see them first.
He was right, I could’ve worked that out for myself. I went to high school. I know C = π d. But it was nice of him to do the math for me. Sometimes he’s OK to have around.
I kept up my pace, jumping an iguana the size of a dachshund. I was surprised. So was the lizard.
As the afternoon turned to evening, what little sunshine I had disappeared. I put on my Sabel Visor. Lightning strikes grew closer and more frequent. The wind whipped the treetops high overhead. The canopy protected me for the time being.
Stopping to check my position against the map, I listened to the forest around me. My tours of duty involved mountains and valleys where you could find a vantage point and see great distances. Dust plumes and heat signatures gave away enemy positions far in advance. The jungle was a different experience. Even with my visor, visibility wasn’t far. Thirty yards at best due to tree density. My skin crawled. Something felt off. As if the Knights were watching me already.
Stearne’s Law.
I resumed my run.
Mercury said, So tell me homeboy, why you helping the Brotherhood of Claritas instead of the paying gig for Yeschenko?
I said, Because Peng wants to liberate China. Did you see how people reacted to meeting the Hero of Paris? Imagine how many will hire Stearne Security when I’m on every news site in the world as the Liberator of China.
Mercury said, You’re going it alone? Then it’s gonna be more like, the man who died pointlessly trying to assassinate China’s General Secretary. You get in there, hand him the Poison Stone, his people shoot you dead. No medals. No pictures on websites. No more brain function. Just me—guiding you to the underworld.
I said, We’ll see.
Mercury said, Why not help the Knights instead? At least they have enough money to get where they’re going. And they’re in favor of law and order.
I said, Mr. Baldy murdered fifteen innocent people.
Mercury said, That’s nothing. Vulcan wiped out over eleven hundred Pompeiians when he li
t Vesuvius. And he’s got nothing on Neptune, who wiped out millions in the Yangtze floods of—
I said, The Knights are evil. At least the Brotherhood has good intentions. So, I’m helping them. To do that, I need to get that box and get out of here before the Knights find it and destroy our freedoms.
Thunder barreled overhead. I kept my pace as a gentle rain started falling. Rain created a problem for thermal imaging. A large FLIR system, the kind found on boats and trucks, weighs forty pounds, and can see through rain. But the lightweight cameras mounted on the Sabel Visor are fair-weather friends. A similar situation occurs with infrared systems. Sabel Visors have a third system of amplified light. I could see well enough until lightning struck nearby, then everything was blown out for a second until the system recovered.
A tribe of spider monkeys swung through my path. I listened to their effortless movements to test my hearing in the rain. The sound of fat raindrops hitting large leaves drowned out a lot of other sounds. I stepped on a branch just to gauge the decibels. Noise was severely dampened. My skin itched again. I kept running.
Mercury kept talking. He filled my head with odd bits of Roman history. Most of which was salacious gossip about other gods. While I had no interest in it, there was little else to do for the last ten miles.
I slowed as I came within three miles of my destination. My double-back trick didn’t turn up anyone following me.
After a short search, I found a clearing and launched my drone above the treetops. The rain was steady and threw off the cameras. I maintained a grid pattern and found a small herd of deer. Little else showed up despite the Yucatán having plenty of night creatures. When I’d completed the grid, I plotted a path to reach Seven-Death’s temple. I flew the drone over it several times.
Just when I was confident I was alone, I found something. A heat signature as big as a small deer in the area but obscured by a ton of trees. It might be a man or a larger animal. I couldn’t bring my drone in too close because the noise would give it away. I plotted a course around the thing and recovered my drone.