Guardians of the Four Shields: A Lost Origins Novel

by A D Davies

  “He’s right,” she said. “People always say, ‘there has to be another way,’ and we’ve always found an alternative to the worst-case scenario in the past. But that doesn’t mean there is one. Destroying it now, before the American Navy fires a bunch of cruise missiles at a Korean mountain range… maybe that’s the best bad option.”

  All considered it. No one was happy.

  Julia Grainger broke the silence. “What’s our timeframe for coming up with alternatives?”

  “Negligible,” Tane replied. “Hours to choose, hours to enact it.”

  Toby puffed up his chest and spoke in a firm, measured tone. “Then we must destroy the network before Ryom Jung-Hwan can activate the wider machine. Prihya can manage it, I’m sure.”

  “Then there’s Gilim,” Jules said. “And his people down there.” He watched the two families mooching around, picking through the detritus left behind. They had moved the bodies of their slain enemies to the side, laid them respectfully on their backs, and retreated to a spot where they could not view the dead. “They miss him. They don’t understand why he isn’t there. Where he could have gone.”

  “No concept of a world outside theirs,” Prihya said. “And they’ve never experienced death among their own kind.”

  “One other point we haven’t discussed,” Dan put in. “This so-called network. This defensive shield. What if we dismantle it, and one day we need it?”

  Tane and Julia studied him before the minister’s phone trilled. She answered it and adjourned to a corner to take the call.

  Tane twigged what Dan meant. “The ability to deflect a meteor strike?”

  Dan nodded. Then shrugged. “Or, you know, alien invaders. A magnetic flip thanks to a solar flare. Something like that.”

  For once, no one laughed at Dan’s notion of aliens visiting the planet—for good or ill. Jules had nothing left in him that constituted amusement. He was empty, ready to pull the trigger and destroy this whole thing, return to New York and... Then what? Dismiss all he’d seen and be a cop? Quit and teach yoga? Race around the world delivering black market artefact hoarders a lesson they’ll never forget?

  He said, “Can we contain the knowledge? With internal failsafes?”

  “What do you mean?” Prihya asked.

  “What happens to the giants here if we destroy the mechanism worldwide?”

  “They grow old, maybe breed, then die like everyone else.”

  “Yet the Koreans are preparing to launch their own version, to isolate themselves further. Won’t they need more like Gilim to keep things going? They ain’t immortal.”

  “It’s failed,” Julia Grainger said, rejoining them as she hung up on the caller. “That was Colin Waterston. The Koreans won’t even take the US President’s call. Nor the UN’s, or the British or New Zealand Prime Ministers. No world leaders, no military communications of any kind. That whole country is a bunker. They’re cutting themselves off.”

  “And the fleet?” Dan said.

  “US Navy is a day and a half away from effective range.”

  “Isn’t there a response from the North Korean fleet?” Harpal asked.

  “Not as far as we can see. And they don’t have enough subs to sink those battleships.”

  Toby said, “The Chinese? How are they taking it?”

  “By not objecting to the US presence. They are considering their position regarding military action. If Ryom’s project threatens them, they’ll act.”

  “The Russians?” Dan said.

  “No comment except that they’re ‘standing by.’” Grainger straightened her back. “We take that to mean they’ll see which way the wind blows before taking a side. Officially, they see no evidence of aggression from their allies in the North Korean government. I expect they will side with them against the US.”

  Tane said, “It can’t be contained now. No one can stop the machine from activating. The US will fire their cruise missiles at that location, and I guess we’ll see. Either the war will have fewer casualties than the shield ripping across the continent, or the human race is in serious trouble.”

  Jules made a Hmmm noise.

  Bridget said, “What was that?”

  “Just Jules murmuring,” Toby answered. “But it was an interesting murmur, I think you’ll agree.”

  Jules quashed his annoyance by pivoting away and staring into the forest below. He needed to gather his thoughts.

  “When Jules makes a noise like that,” Bridget explained, “it means he’s thinking.”

  Toby agreed. “And for a lad whose brain calculates a dozen factors in the blink of an eye, it’s always something worth thinking about.”

  “Hate to admit it,” Dan said, “but he might be about to disprove his own point about the lack of an alternative.”

  “Well?” Grainger said, stepping toward Jules. “If you’re as bright as they say…”

  “Give me a break.” Jules spun and set his jaw, taking in the group, all waiting on him as if he was about to turn water into wine. “This is a dumb idea. Can’t work.”

  Tane said, “We’ll take dumb over nothing.”

  “I haven’t got it straight myself yet. But can you access all your intelligence on the Dragon’s Pit? Can we view it here?”

  “Sure, but—”

  “Then do it. And stand back. I need a few minutes of silence.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The connections weren’t there yet, but something that had been said more than once stuck with Jules. That was the key that kept turning in the lock. Unfortunately, the lock was rusted and difficult to turn, the answer hidden. But the NZSIS intelligence on the Dragon’s Teeth mountain range and the prison camp ensconced in the valley might serve as a squirt of oil. As Jules digested it in merciful silence—silence except for the shuffling of shoes and tense nose-breathing, but he could cope with that—he eased the lock aside, and door cracked open.

  He was ready for an audience.

  “The Dragon’s Pit is officially a mine,” he said. “It’s a labor camp for the sake of labor. They were minin’ gold by the thimbleful until Ryom Jung-Hwan bought it from the government ten years ago. It’s situated where the valley turns in a dogleg, where the walls are almost sheer. Paths lead up the sides to guard stations and a massive garbage dump. Beyond this is five hundred square miles of rock and scrubland. Very little water away from the reservoir, and it’s freezing.”

  “No need for big walls,” Tane said. “The land is deterrent enough.”

  “And you don’t get many satellite photos ‘cause it’s near-constant cloud cover.”

  Toby said, “The breath from a dragon running over its teeth.”

  “Yeah, let’s leave the myth stuff for now. Unless you got something important.” When no one else interrupted, Jules went on. “But we know the mine’s more than a gulag, and the gulag’s gotten bigger the last few years. More people got shipped in, and suddenly, they were building something.”

  He pulled up the latest surveillance picture from a few months earlier.

  “Now it’s a dam. According to the government, it’s a hydroelectric facility that bunged up a small river. It don’t power anything inside the country, but shared intelligence reports say it appears to be online.”

  “Meaning it’s powering something,” Charlie said.

  “Probably the machine they’re usin’ to activate the shields. They just can’t control it to cover their prison camp.”

  “So they know enough to know their limits,” Prihya said.

  Tane nodded, understanding. “That’s why they took Gilim. Because they need him as an anchor.”

  Jules said, “With that final component, they have no limits. But they can limit themselves.”

  “Or expand the destruction,” Grainger said.

  Toby slapped the desk he was leaning on. “And they got that knowledge through Sally Garcia.”

  “Much of it will be legend and hearsay,” Bridget pointed out. “How much use can she be?”

/>   “Depends what else they’re hidin’,” Jules answered. “And there’s only one way we can find out.”

  “Parachute an SAS unit in,” Harpal said.

  “Or Army Rangers,” Dan said, the former Ranger getting territorial.

  “Whatever.” Harpal appraised the screen with the blown-up gulag and dam displayed. “They’d see anyone coming.”

  “He’s right.” Dan had closed the frosty distance between himself and Harpal, and they were on the same wavelength that Jules remembered. “Can’t just drop in on somewhere like that. Soon as they break cloud cover, they’re screwed.”

  “They might be,” Jules said, “but we might stand a chance.”

  It was like a Mexican wave of furrowed brows, starting with Toby, then rippling across the group.

  This was the part Jules didn’t want to express but saw little option. “The Americans are using bombs. Not enough time to send up a drone to take out the place, no time to plan an assault. Same with the Brits. The Chinese and Russians ain’t gettin’ involved in case they need Ryom and his government as allies. You know any other country willing to go in, ready to improv?”

  “The Aussies might,” Dan replied. “They’re underrated and really badass.”

  Charlie said, “You want us to mount an assault?”

  “We’re archaeologists,” Toby said.

  “Me, Dan, Harpal, and Tane.” Jules made a grim canvass of the guys he’d named. “At the risk of being a bit sexist, the ladies are better placed here, with the machine, ready to blow it if we miss.”

  Charlie showed off her bandaged leg and the aluminum cane she’d been given. “I’ll allow it. Just this once.”

  Toby coughed. “Ahem.”

  Jules said, “You’re a big brain too.”

  “You can make the tea,” Harpal said.

  Toby rounded on him. A younger man might have flipped him the bird, but as an honorable professor, Toby resorted to a pointed sigh.

  “Back to this.” Jules picked up a tablet and performed a quick search. “We’re in New Zealand. Famous for its extreme sports, right?” He eyed Tane a moment, received a nod in reply, and revealed his result. “So this equipment is readily available. And ain’t exactly standard issue for Special Forces.”

  His three would-be teammates inspected his proposal.

  Harpal’s eyes flared with excitement. “I’ve been meaning to get you guys to play with one of those for years.”

  “So…” Jules placed it aside. “How do we travel there? Tane?”

  “We can source a plane,” Tane said.

  Grainger shook her head. “You’d never get clearance. They’ll shoot it down if you go over North Korea, and the Chinese won’t allow us to use their airspace.”

  “Alfonse?” Charlie suggested.

  “I’ll try him,” Toby said, taking out his phone.

  “Let me.” Bridget relieved him of the handset. “I think he’ll be sweeter if it comes from me.” She retreated to a quiet spot.

  “Who’s Alfonse?” Grainger asked.

  “A chap with a lot of contacts,” Toby replied. “He could get a plane and maybe even approval to use their airspace. He’s very resourceful.”

  Jules was still working through it. Toby’s other comment—we’re archaeologists—rang true, and it was possibly the most outrageous aspect of all this. “I got moves. I can fight. I can shoot. I can get in that valley unseen, if Tane gets me the equipment we need.”

  “I will,” Tane said.

  “Good. Thing is, I trained to go up against the bad people I was robbing. Evading capture by cops. Takin’ out bad guys’ security. Yeah, I do okay against the special forces dudes one-on-one, but that’s ‘cause I got the advantage up here.”

  Jules tapped his head. Didn’t even glance at Dan as he knew there’d be an objection. But he’d bested Dan without hurting him too badly and had only seriously hurt a handful of people in the past—those who’d given him little choice.

  “Point is, I never experienced combat. I keep a logical head. When I got a few seconds to work out an escape or how to take someone down, I can do it. I ain’t a commando. This isn’t the… what’s it called? The A-Team? Going up against some ragtag group of wannabe gangsters? This is us invadin’ a military installation. I’m way outta my comfort zone here. It’s the toughest fight I ever had.”

  Jules realized he was monologuing, something that annoyed him in other people. Filling dead air until a piece fell into place.

  Bridget returned to them, having concluded a phone call. “Alfonse sends his regrets.”

  “No go?” Harpal said.

  “Some things, he said, are beyond even him.”

  “Then we’re done.” Dan bowed his head. “It’s war.”

  “I might have one idea,” Bridget said. “But I’ll need a little time.”

  Jules didn’t ask permission. He simply accessed the forest level and wandered out to the clearing where Gilim’s mate and two sons were idling. They saw him and Noroth snorted, leaned on a fist much like a gorilla, but his mother came alongside him and stared at Jules.

  “Hey,” Jules said, lifting a weak hand into a wave.

  No response.

  The other family was close by, too. Jules could hear them, but they were on the other side of a dip in the land where trees had grown thickly. He had approached with as much open ground as he could, hoping he wouldn’t startle them. He had assaulted them after all. The fact his actions had prompted these peaceful beasts to use their strength to defend their home was irrelevant if all they remembered was him flicking his finger at the female colossus.

  Nan had seemingly forgiven him. Either she’d worked out why he did it, or it was such an insignificant act she didn’t hold a grudge.

  “I’m sorry I got here too late,” he said.

  Nan’s head tilted. Listening.

  Did she hear and understand? Or was it noises to her? Like a cat meowing at a human?

  A heavy crunch sounded. Foliage parted to Jules’s left. The other patriarch, Rosso, lumbered through, four feet taller and wider than Jules. Wounded but functioning, he placed himself between Jules and Nan, and glared at Jules.

  Time to run?

  Nan made a keening sound, followed by a throaty huff and some short, sharp grunts.

  Rosso narrowed his eyes and backed up, wincing in pain. They couldn’t tell how deep the bullets from the helicopter’s machine gun had penetrated, but one arm hung loose, and those to his torso and stomach caused him obvious discomfort. Prihya had told them a medical team would knock them all out and perform surgery once the area could be secured, the systems controlling the gas brought back online, and the personnel restored. Even injured, he never took his attention off Jules, handing Nan a corpse. It was a deer that he’d carried easily under his good arm.

  Dinner.

  When his parents were murdered, the fourteen-year-old Jules had stayed with an elderly neighbor. She had insisted, and he’d helped around the house for a few days. He’d kind of expected to remain, but then Child Protective Services had intervened and slotted him into a system not designed to cope with the numbers it was charged with, nor seemed to care enough to change. During that time, other neighbors from their building had brought food: pies, brisket, desert, and sandwiches. He’d thought it odd but learned in time that it was something friends did for grieving families. No one wanted to think about preparing meals whilst crippled with sadness. And the bereaved still needed their strength.

  “You’re carrying on,” Jules said. “It’s the worst moment of your lives and you’re keeping goin’ somehow. Keeping the kids in line. Friends bringing food…”

  “We’re in business,” Bridget said from behind him.

  Jules turned to find all of them holding position at a beaten path twenty feet away so as not to startle the grieving families. Charlie, Dan, Harpal, Tane, Prihya and Toby. Ready to risk it all. Ready to play at more than archaeology.

  “When this is over,” Jules said, appro
aching his friends, “let’s go find a new dinosaur or something.”

  “You got it,” Dan said.

  Toby offered a paternal smile, his eyes wandering briefly to the giants. “It’ll be next on the list, I promise.”

  “First, though,” Charlie said, “you have a flight to catch. Bridget came through.”

  “Okay.” Jules moved up close to Bridget. “I’ll thank you if we come home alive.”

  Bridget’s smile was wide but tinged with worry and sadness. “I’ll be waiting.”

  Part Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Although Bridget had never concealed her family’s wealth, she frequently came across as somewhat embarrassed by it. Not entirely embarrassed, Jules supposed, but she certainly avoided advertising it. Today, however, she was more than happy to share the “unlimited resources” her father had placed at her disposal.

  The Cessna private jet, collected after a brief layover in Canberra, Australia, was far more luxurious than LORI’s, which they’d mothballed in Brittany thanks to the cost of fueling it. This plane was part of the Carson fleet acquired last year and was in the process of being rebranded when the call came to loan it to the rough-looking men who’d arrived from New Zealand.

  With the plane already fueled and checked, the Action Dudes flew it north, having negotiated safe passage over Indonesia, before looping down south of Japan and around the west coast of South Korea, before driving on north over the Yellow Sea. Alternating between sleep and prep, the journey was faster than a commercial airline, and they soon skirted Korea Bay and flew over the Chinese mainland between Jinzhou and Dandong. As arranged through officials friendly to the Carson Corporation, they proceeded unimpeded farther north, over Yalu province and into Tumen, before turning a slow 180-degrees to arrow into North Korea.

  Approaching North Korean airspace, Dan and Harpal set the plane on autopilot, changed into their operational gear, and joined Tane and Jules, who had been going over the sketchy satellite photos of the Dragon’s Pit since Korea Bay.