by R. D. Brady
“Will we be able to monitor it?” Henry asked.
Danny nodded. “Yes. But we won’t be able to participate.”
Laney looked at Henry, seeing the fear she held reflected there. If this Yanovich really had the formula and sold it to the highest bidder . . .
“Maybe it’s a hoax. Maybe the formula’s wrong,” Gina said.
Laney nodded, knowing that was possible. Elisabeta was not someone who would hand that type of power over to anyone. But if Yanovich had managed to . . .
Laney didn’t even want to think about what would happen next. Sarah’s words rang through her mind. Sacrifice and death will lead you, and sacrifice and death will follow. Blood will lead the way.
It was looking like she might learn what Sarah meant sooner rather than later.
Chapter 13
Danny headed to the gate, ready to stand outside to see what information he could glean. They had a small cabin, not more than a shack really, at the back of the site that he could use. Former SIA agents Matt Clark and Mustafa Massari would stay with him and keep him safe.
Laney wanted to do something to help, but there was nothing for her to do. She walked through the door of her and Drake’s place. Heading to the bedroom, she lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The idea of anyone selling the Omni for money was terrifying. Didn’t Sergei Yanovich realize what he would be unleashing?
The world was already in a brittle place. Adding Omni-powered soldiers? It would be like throwing a match on a huge pile of dead leaves. She closed her eyes, trying to force herself to sleep, but all she saw was massive devastation. The world would never be the same once someone used the Omni for their own gain. She sat up.
I need to run. She needed to lose the nervous tension running through her. She needed to exhaust herself until sleep was a requirement, not a choice. She grabbed her running shoes and was lacing them up when Drake appeared at the doorway.
He arched an eyebrow. “You need shoes to sleep?”
“No, I need to run to sleep. A former Russian general says he has the Omni. He’s auctioning it off to the highest bidder.”
“Well, that’s . . . horrible.”
“Yup.” Laney leaned down and tied her shoes.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No, not really. This is insane, Drake.”
“I know.”
She looked up at him. “When Samyaza decided to fall, he changed humanity forever. He introduced greed, avarice, hate.”
“In his defense, he didn’t introduce it. He merely encouraged it.”
“Okay, fair enough. But he started this whole battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. I thought with Samyaza dead that we were out of the woods. That we would just be fighting the regular battles—a Fallen gets out of line, we step in and neutralize him or her. End of story. But this? We can’t neutralize an entire army of Fallen.” She stared out the window. She could just see Molly McAdams walking with her friend Theresa. Zaria walked next to them. The girls were smiling.
What kind of a world is this going to be for kids?
She turned and saw that Drake was watching the girls as well. “Did you know Samyaza? Before the fall?”
Drake opened his mouth and then closed it, a frown appearing on his face. “I don’t know. I don’t remember anything from that time.”
“Do you know anything about why Samyaza fell?”
“Not beyond what I’ve read.”
Laney stood, blowing out a breath as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “This is going to be really bad, Drake. And I don’t know how to make it better.”
He stepped into the room, putting his hands on her shoulders. “It’s not always up to you.”
She shook her head, stepping out of his embrace. “Yes, it is.”
Cleo met Laney as she stepped out of the house and ran with her. Neither of them spoke. They just ran for ten miles. It was Laney’s form of meditation. She focused on each footfall, on the comforting presence of Cleo by her side. By the time she hit ten miles seventy minutes later, her thighs were burning, but she felt better. More at peace. She slowed to a walk. Cleo did the same.
Better?
“Yes.” The anxiety that had been crawling through her since they’d learned of the auction had been reduced. It was still there, but it was no longer trying to choke her.
She glanced at Cleo, who moved with feline grace next to her. Cleo always seemed like an old soul. She was always calm, even in battle. Laney had never seen her lose her cool. “What do you think of us? Of humans?”
Cleo’s eyes flicked toward Laney before she returned her eyes forward. Complicated. Angry. Happy. Kind. Cruel. Humans are all.
Laney nodded. That was true. You could have two children who grew up in the same home, with the same parents, and yet they could be polar opposites in so many ways. When she’d been in school, it was the complicated nature of humanity that had driven her to study criminology, to see if she could figure out what made some people so cruel while others couldn’t even stand the sight of cruelty, never mind commit harsh acts themselves.
Together, Laney and Cleo stepped out of the trees and made their way along the back of the homes there. Tiger appeared from between the second and third house and walked with them. Laney got the sense the two cats wanted to continue on alone. “Go ahead. I’ll see you two later.”
Cleo licked her hand, and then she and Tiger headed back to the trees. Laney stayed along the tree line. She thought of heading to her place, but she really didn’t want to. She felt restless, untethered. Without conscious thought, she found herself heading toward Cain’s house. She paused at the back fence. Cain sat in the backyard, his head down, his eyes closed. She didn’t want to wake him. She’d started to turn when he called out.
“I see you.” He raised his head, stretching his arms above his head with a smile.
She cringed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“That’s fine. Just a little morning nap. Nyssa has a tooth coming in, and she was fussy last night.”
“I can take her over to my place tonight if you want. Let you get some sleep.”
“I can stand a few nights of reduced sleep. I think we’d all feel better if you were well rested.”
Great. No pressure there.
Cain tilted his head. “What’s that look for?”
“What? Nothing?”
He frowned. “Come on. Take a seat so I don’t have to yell across the backyard at you.”
Laney walked over toward him, taking a seat on an Adirondack chair.
“What’s going on?”
She blew out a breath, dropping her head into her hands. “I don’t know. I think all the pressure is getting to me.”
“I’m surprised it hasn’t sooner. You’ve been holding up amazingly well. So what’s brought on this particular bout of self-doubt?”
“Did you hear about the auction?”
Cain shook his head. Laney recounted what they had learned. When she was finished, she felt a little better. For some reason, sharing burdens with Cain always made them feel lighter. It wasn’t the same as speaking with her uncle but it was a close second.
“Well, that’s not good.”
Laney couldn’t help it. She laughed. “That has to be the epitome of an understatement.”
He gave her a small grin. “True.” He paused. “I’m guessing you’d like to be able to speak to your uncle about it.”
He was right, even though she hadn’t realized that was exactly what she wanted. After they had gone into hiding, her uncle had stayed in Italy. She had spoken with him a few times, but she wanted to see him. She wanted to talk with him the way she used to. The phone, it just wasn’t enough. “I miss him.”
“Me too.”
Laney stared off into the trees. She knew it was safer for her uncle not to be here. But it didn’t make it easier.
“Tell you what,” Cain said, interrupting her thoughts, “how about you tell me what’s g
oing on in your mind, and I’ll do my best to channel Patrick. Begin.”
She couldn’t help but smile as Cain put his hand on his chin, rubbing his fingers along his jaw the way she’d seen her uncle do a million times.
But her small moment of levity departed as soon as the gravity of what was facing them crashed back down. “I just don’t know what to do. So many people are going to get hurt. So many are going to get killed. I don’t know how to stop all of this.”
“Are you sure that’s your job?”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“One thing your uncle and I agree on is that you take on too much, Laney. You are not responsible for every life on this planet. Yes, I think unleashing the Omni is horrible. People will die. But that is not your burden.”
“Are you saying I shouldn’t help stop it?”
“Of course you should. But you shouldn’t blame yourself if you can’t. We humans are responsible for our own circumstances. You try to help as many people as you can. But that is all of our responsibilities, not just yours. Each person has to make a choice: which side of the battle are they going to be on? The good or the bad?”
“Like the children or the belials,” Laney said quietly, recalling her conversation with Drake earlier.
Cain nodded. “This battle has been going on for eons. And it will continue to go on long after this battle is a footnote in history.”
“But it feels like the stakes are so high now.”
“I can tell you from experience, the stakes always feel like they are at their highest point until the next emergency.” Cain glanced back at the house. “You know, as Nyssa lay crying early this morning, her teeth hurting, and there being nothing I could do but sit with her, I thought about all that Nyssa has been through and all she will probably go through. The pain of this morning is nothing compared to the pain she has felt at other points in her life. And I couldn’t help but think of when she chose to end humanity’s immortality. She must have felt much like you do now. That so much was resting on her shoulders. That her decisions would have worldwide ramifications.”
Laney nodded, knowing he was right. “And her decisions also had huge personal costs.”
“Yes, they did. But she made those choices for the betterment of mankind. You’re in the same position.”
“But she knew what to do. I don’t have a clue.”
“Not yet you don’t, but you will figure it out.”
“How can you be sure?”
He smiled. “Because you always do. Time and again the world has thrown one difficult problem at you after another. And you have sailed through them.”
“I think ‘tripped and stumbled my way through them’ might be more accurate.”
“Perhaps, but the important thing is that you got through it. All of this”—he gestured around at Havenville—“is because of you. All these lives and millions of others. Whatever happens in the future with this auction, it will happen. You can’t change that. You can only play your role.”
“But what if I’m not enough?”
He took her hand. “You’ve always been enough. We’re all living proof of that. When the time is right, you’ll know what to do.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so. So put all the doubts and fears aside. They serve no purpose but to make things more difficult. And I think things are difficult enough, don’t you?”
She squeezed his hand back. “Now that I can agree on.”
Chapter 14
Waiting for nightfall had been one of the toughest things Laney had done. She had been tempted to cross through the portal well before nightfall, even though that risked the chance of exposure. But to what end? Then she’d just be twiddling her thumbs in Bolivia and potentially putting everyone inside Havenville at risk.
Finally, the day mercifully ended. Darkness fell, and it was safe to step through the Gate of the Sun. Laney stepped through first with Henry. Drake followed with Gina.
Gina took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “It’s weird being back in the real world.”
Gina hadn’t stepped out of Havenville since first stepping in. She was still wanted in connection with the deaths at the facility Dom had been held at. They were trying to figure out a way to clear her name, but without communications and computers in Havenville, it was a decidedly slower process than any of them liked.
“Thanks for agreeing to go,” Laney said.
Gina shrugged, although it wasn’t as indifferent as Laney thought she might be aiming for. “We’re all in trouble if this auction turns out to be legit. Anything I can do to help.”
Matt, Mustafa, and Danny would be waiting for them by the car.
Drake kissed Laney on the forehead. “I’ll keep an eye out for any trouble. Just be back before dawn.”
“You got it.”
Jordan and Jake walked up, M4s slung over their shoulders. Laney turned to them. There were always two people outside Havenville keeping an eye on the tourist site, making sure no one showed too much interest in the Gate of the Sun or the site in general. Dylan Jenkins and Mark Fricano had already taken their spots for the night shift.
“Hey, guys. Any problems?”
“Nope. Just regular tourists. Everybody good inside?” Jake asked.
Laney smiled. “Same old. And the McAdamses are all good. I even heard Molly laughing at lunch with the other kids.”
Jake’s shoulders dropped. “Good. That’s good.”
Jordan yawned. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I could use a nap. I’ll see you guys when you get back.”
Laney frowned. “Where’s Jen?”
“Here.”
They all turned as Jen appeared from the other side of the gate. “I just wanted to do one last inspection. We’re clear.”
Henry opened his arms, and she walked into them. “I’m good,” she said. “The baby and I are both fine.”
“I know. I can hug you just because.”
“Yes, you can.”
Danny’s impatient voice came over the radio. “Guys.”
Jake answered him over his radio. “They’re coming.”
“You need to go.” Jen stepped back from Henry. “We’ll keep an eye on things back home.”
“You need to get some rest,” Gina said.
“I will, I will.” Jen shooed them away. “Now go.”
Wasting no more time, they made their way down to the parking lot. Dylan stood by an old truck already running. “Gassed her up for you and everything.”
Mustafa hopped in the driver’s seat, and the rest of them piled in. No one spoke during the drive to the farmhouse. They needed somewhere private to watch the auction. As soon as the car stopped, Matt zipped out the door to run security checks. Danny climbed out almost as quickly, hurrying to the front door and disappearing inside.
Mustafa stepped out. “I’ll help him set up.”
Henry, Laney, and Gina didn’t move from the car, just scanned the quiet land.
“Is it wrong that I’m wishing if we just stay in the car, we can keep any of this from happening?” Gina asked.
“I am right there with you.” Laney sighed, pushing open her door. “But none of us are people who hide from reality.”
Gina stepped up next to Laney. “This is going to be bad, Laney.”
“Maybe a good country will win the auction,” Laney said.
Gina eyed her. “And exactly which country would that be?”
Laney sighed. “Yeah. Let’s just hope it’s a hoax.”
Chapter 15
Washington, D.C.
The President paced the command center underneath the White House. She had emptied the room of everyone except her Secret Service detail, Bruce Heller, Vice President Eric Brisbane, and one computer analyst, Chip Winningham.
Despite the fact that there were eight people in the room, no one spoke. The only sound was of Chip typing at his keyboard. The President rolled and unrolled her fists, tension coating her skin. They had to win t
he auction. Losing was not an option.
She had had every intelligence resource in the United States government focused on finding Sergei Yanovich in the last twenty-four hours. She had SEAL teams on standby across the globe so that as soon as she had a location, they could go in and grab him.
But they’d never found him. Whatever hole he had climbed into was deep. As a teaser, Yanovich had released a small portion of the formula. It was enough to send the labs she had working on the Omni into a frenzy of excitement. They did not know the amounts, but they said what he sent looked incredibly promising.
It was not a guarantee, but it was enough for her to get permission to bid an obscene amount of money. If they could spend $2.4 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, spending a couple hundred billion to guarantee that they could win any war, potentially even before it started, seemed a no-brainer. Congress had unanimously agreed in a closed-door meeting.
Now they just had to wait.
“We’re logged on.”
The President hurried over to the analyst. Chip, who looked more like a teenager than the fifty-year-old man he was, nodded at the screen as he projected the information to it.
“How many are logged on?”
“They’re all still in the process. Uh, fifty-six, seventy-two, one hundred eight. Um, one sixty-three. Two hundred and two.”
The President jolted. Two hundred and two? There were only 193 countries recognized by the United Nations, along with the two nonmember states of Palestine and the Vatican. “Who else was invited?”
Bruce Heller spoke quietly. “We believe they have extended the invitation to certain terrorist organizations as well as some interested private individuals. Our predictions put the total of interested parties at two hundred twenty-five.”
“Login is done. There are two hundred twenty-four bidders.”
The President sucked in a breath, not knowing when the last time was that she had been so nervous. Scratch that, she knew exactly when it was. It was the day of the coronation. She’d known that if Elisabeta had been crowned, it would be the end of the United States of America. Today’s stakes were no less stark. If someone else won this auction, the United States would be held hostage to the demands of whichever country did win.