In the end, the trick to controlling the Phalanx had been a simple one. Something the Chinese and Koreans had perfected ages ago and put to great use on the American POWs of the Korean War: criticism and self-criticism. Constant put downs of the individual and friends by superiors, and then told to publicly announce one’s own faults and the faults of one’s comrades. The human psyche was evolutionarily built to crave approval of peers, of those seen as providers. The psychic connection between the Phalanx only served to strengthen the desire for acceptance among the group. Never being alone; always a collective, single minded belief—all amplified the technique a thousand-fold. And while every one of them knew they were being manipulated, nothing could be done to stop it. Fear of punishment, fear of punishment of their friends. Of course, the ultimate penalty being death.
Svetlana rubbed at the tattooed number nine on her neck, a chemical compound that could be activated by highly focused radio waves, forcing an exothermic reaction. In short: boom. The victim’s head exploded.
As Svetlana reached the top of the stair case of the Quetzalcoatl’s replica pyramid, Victoria violently spun her about face. From the summit, Svetlana could survey the whole southern half of the complex. The sun glinting off the pools’ surfaces, the flower blossoms gently ruffling in the breeze. And hundreds of pairs of eyes—human and Huahuqui—stared back at her. She could feel the fear in them, the apprehension. Would she be flayed today? Would someone else? Would she be made to pick one of the Phalanx for further humiliation.
As it turned out, Victoria was fixated on Svetlana.
“Tell them,” Victoria bellowed. “Tell them of your failure, Svetlana. Tell them of your shame. Your one task. The only thing asked of you, for the good of your Phalanx. For the good of your nocnehuan!”
Svetlana froze as hundreds of minds loosed their individual fears at her. The Phalanx were afraid of what was to come. She could not be the one to hurt them. “My nocnehuan—” she began.
“What is the meaning of this?” a deep, calm, and commanding voice came from behind.
Svetlana did not need to turn around. She knew it to be the Doyen. A serene man, with a narrow waist, broad shoulders, deep brown eyes, and thick black beard. His demeanor was careful, each word and movement planned and articulated in a way that made you believe him to be wiser than the God with whom he claimed to converse. It was said he was the only living human to have pierced all nine veils of enlightenment. For reasons beyond Svetlana’s understanding, he had taken to her and favored her above all others. A fact Mother hated.
“I was punishing our daughter for her failure,” Victoria replied, her tone sharp.
“Is that so?” replied the Doyen.
Svetlana felt a large paw of a hand slide over her shoulder and squeeze gently. Still she did not turn around.
“Do you believe that this is still necessary? Our Phalanx are true and loyal. Svetlana’s task in Washington played out as it should have, according to the divine plan.”
Victoria cut a scathing stare at Svetlana.
“You have yet to perfect your understanding of the Eighth Veil, Victoria,” continued the Doyen. “If you ever wish to pierce the Ninth,” he paused, as Svetlana knew he always did, to allow his words to sink in, “perfecting the pure energy known as love and thus become truly one with the Creator's formulations. By achieving this pure energy, one then fully understands charity and therein gains full comprehension of the universal plan of sacrifice, death, and redemption.”
The hand on her shoulder squeezed again.
“Of course, Doyen,” Mother said, though her words were bitten off in anger. She then gave a shallow bow, turned and stomped down the colossal staircase.
Svetlana turned to the Doyen, who stood in his usual white robes, Neith at his side. He said nothing, instead opening his arms. She stepped forward into his embrace, but it was neither warm nor comforting. He projected a fatherly, even spiritual, demeanor yet she only sensed a cold and calculating core. Perhaps this was as close as he got to love. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the connections of her watching Phalanx. If she had them, everything would be fine.
Location: Connecticut, USA
Freya sat in her wheelchair, alone in her apartment. Dacey was curled up in a ball at her side. Only the light from the television illuminated the little Huahuqui’s form which rose and fell with contented breathing. Freya stared at the flickering images with the sound off. It was another of those infomercials from Heston Tunbridge and his religious nutbags, the Sixth Sun. Once again, the crazy old man was touting for the weak minded to join him and his sheep at one of their numerous retreats in the mountains. Word was he’d managed to fund sites in Europe and Asia now. It was amazing to Freya that people would donate their hard-earned cash. Cults seemed to be a staple throughout history. But God forbid anyone give money to an orphanage or relief aid in a middle eastern war zone.
She clicked off the television and sat in the dark for a few moments, limbs shaking.
This was excruciating. Waiting. Alone. Helpless. No idea where her sons were. Her husband off on a mission and therefore not looking for her children. Even Nikolaj had not returned her calls or messages. The Nine Veils were back in the picture, now in control of the world’s nuclear power stations. It was all going to hell in a hand basket and for the first time in Freya’s life, she wasn’t in the thick of it. Hell, she wasn’t in the thin of it. Her Huntington’s had sidelined her. Her only job now to wait for updates when people felt she should know.
“Fuck this,” Freya said to herself, waking Dacey. “C’mon Freya. Think. Everyone else is working on the nuclear problem and finding where the Nine Veils are. What can you do?”
The room didn’t answer. Dacey snuggled back down to sleep and once again Freya swam in the sea of her own thoughts; a feeling of self-loathing creeping over her.
The cell phone hummed in her pocket. Freya fished it out and stared at the screen, which simply said: withheld. She slid her finger across the unlock key. “Jonathan?”
“Hey babe, yeah, it’s me. Can’t talk long. Wanted to check in on you. You okay?”
“No, I’m not okay. Have you heard from KJ or Nikolaj?”
There was a long silence on the other end.
“He took a jet,” Jonathan said, finally.
“To Antarctica, yes I know.”
“No,” Jonathan interrupted. “Another jet. On its way to Shanghai.”
“What? You have to go get him, Jonathan.”
“Go get him? He’s a grown man, Freya. And I’m on a mission. I can’t just drop it to go looking for him.” Jonathan paused, seemingly weighing his words. “We have bigger problems.”
“Don’t you dare give me a needs of the many speech, Spock. Or I swear to God I will run you down in my wheelchair.”
“Look,” Jonathan said. “He’ll get picked up by the Chinese when he lands. From what we can tell, he’s got Nikolaj with him and a few of the Stratum. He’ll be okay. When I’m done here, I’ll go get him, okay?”
“No, not okay. What the hell is he doing? What’s he searching for?”
Jonathan sighed. “Hell if I know.”
“I want to go to Shanghai.”
“That won’t help. The Chinese will turn him around once he’s there. He’s got no clearance.”
“Then I want to go to Alpha Base. Maybe I can figure out from there what he was looking for. Or at least be there to kick his ass when he gets back.”
“Fine. I’ll arrange it. The transport will come to get you and put you on the jet in a few hours. Can you keep out of trouble ‘til then?”
Freya snorted. “Of course.”
“Good. I’ll call again when I can. Lov—”
Freya cut the call.
Jonathan was on a mission, and the mission came first. It always came first. If Kelly was still here, he’d have car jacked someone and be on his way to the far East now, hot on the trail of his son. The slight smile on Freya’s lips slipped away. Kelly wasn
’t here. He was dead. For being reckless. Just like his son was being now. Sadness melted into guilt for thinking of Kelly. Jonathan was a good man. Her husband. And right. The man was always right. “Stop it Freya,” she said aloud. “KJ’s fine. The Chinese will turn him around. Just get to Antarctica so you can be there when KJ gets back, then murder him yourself.”
Location: On the G800, somewhere over Asia
“We’re gonna what?” Nikolaj yelled.
“Jump,” KJ repeated. “You think we were just going to land in Shanghai? We’d get picked up immediately. The whole friggin’ world is on high alert. You know that. The AI will bring the jet in after we’re gone.”
“This is insane, Junior! If I’d known this is what you were planning, I would never have agreed.” Panic danced on the surface of Nikolaj’s eyes. Chernoukh’s black gills ruffled as the Huahuqui felt his symbiote’s fear.
KJ grinned while slipping into the straps of his parachute. “He’s afraid of heights,” he said to Catherine.
“He’s not the only one, you arse,” Catherine fired back, tying her orange locks back. “If we don’t die doing this, I’m going to kill you.”
From under the seat, KJ pulled another ‘chute, this one specifically designed for the Huahuqui. He slipped it over K’awin’s back and clipped it securely around her fore- and hindlegs. “There,” he said with grunt, ensuring the fit was tight. “That’ll do it.”
“This won’t work. We’re too high. The AI flies a specific course,” Nikolaj said, shaking his head.
KJ simply raised one eyebrow and gave his most smug grin.
Nikolaj sighed. “You messed with the AI.”
“Of course I did,” KJ said, then winked at Merry and Lex.
The girls tried to hide their smiles.
“Junior, if you would apply half of that damn brain of yours—” Nikolaj started.
“Yeah, well be glad I don’t, otherwise I would have figured out a way to give you a sense of humor.”
“Listen here, ass—” Nikolaj started.
KJ held up his finger and looked at his watch. “Five, four, three, two, hold on to your pantyhose.”
The jet dropped making everyone flail for support.
“Express elevator to hell, going down!” KJ yelled.
“You and your damn 80s movies, KJ,” Catherine moaned, her voice strained as she struggled to hang on to the nearest seat.
“Okay boys and girls, time to go,” KJ said, pulling on the emergency exit and popping the door out of the frame.
Cold air blasted into the cabin. Everyone pulled goggles over their eyes, and then clipped their Huahuqui to their own gear.
“This is bullshit Junior. I told you if things got out of hand I’d call in the cavalry.” Nikolaj held up his satellite-linked phone.
KJ snatched it from Nikolaj’s hand, threw it out the door, watched it fall away toward the ground and then looked back to Nikolaj with a mock look of sorrow.
“You asshat.”
“No time to cry, big brother,” KJ said, then grabbed hold of K’awin and jumped through the doorway into the atmosphere.
As he plummeted backward through the sky toward the dense green below, KJ watched the tiny specs that were his friends leap out after him. He counted them off guessing the first two were Igor and Leo, clutching their Huahuqui. Then was probably Merry and Lex, with their symbiotes. Next must have been Catherine. And then nothing. No Nikolaj. The air rushed past, deafening him. KJ clamped K’awin to his chest and stared at the plane as it rapidly shrank away.
C’mon, don’t let me down, KJ thought.
The alarm on KJs watch sounded. He had to pull the ’chute.
He flipped onto his front, held K’awin with one arm and pulled on the cord. The line snatch halted his fall as the canopy left its packing container and began to expand, and then almost immediately the inflation force lifted him as the ‘chute pressurized. The deafening rush of air subsided. As he floated down, admiring the lush greenery of the forest, he felt decidedly peaceful. Even K’awin seemed to be enjoying herself, giving a little warble of delight at being pushed around by the breeze.
Beside KJ, a few hundred feet away, Merry, Lex, Igor, and Leo floated toward the forest. But, there was no sign of Nikolaj... or Catherine. Where was she? KJ frantically scanned in all directions. His heart cramped. A hundred feet below, Catherine was freefalling, her parachute unopened.
“Fuck!” KJ yelled. “It didn’t open.” Guys, Catherine’s chute didn’t open, it didn’t open! KJ projected out to the others.
Didn’t her emergency chute work? Merry replied.
You have to do something, Lex finished.
Mother fucker. “Okay girl, we gotta go after her, okay?”
K’awin trilled in agreement.
KJ pulled on another cord that released his primary chute. Immediately he plummeted, the alarm on his watch screaming that he was now past the safe zone. He tilted forward and streamlined his body, aiming himself at the flailing Catherine. Beyond her, the forest canopy hurtled toward him.
He stretched out his arms, his fingers straining.
The ground seemed to rush faster at them the closer they came.
K’awin, being slightly closer reached out a forelimb and managed to grasp one of Catherine’s shoulder straps. The Huahuqui yanked on it, pulling the Irish woman to her and KJ, who immediately swung his legs around and clamped on.
The reporter screamed something, but it was lost to the roar of rushing air. He pulled on Catherine’s main shoot handle. Nothing. Then on the emergency shoot cord. Again, nothing. KJ cursed, struggling to hold on to Catherine as they tumbled through the sky. Doing the only thing he could think of, KJ clipped his own gear to Catherine’s, held on to K’awin and pulled on his Huahuqui’s chute.
They jerked twice as the canopy opened. KJ and Catherine flipped into an inverted position, hanging from K’awins’s gear. Even with the chute open, their descent was too fast. With arms covering their heads, KJ and Catherine crashed into the trees—branches snapping and catching on their skin and clothes.
The parachute snagged in the upper canopy, jerking them to a hard stop. The clip broke and both KJ and Catherine tumbled through yet more tree arms and branches before landing in a heap on the forest floor.
KJ lay there in a patch of broken bamboo, panting, staring up through the foliage. Sunlight cut through the gaps, making the wet atmosphere sparkle. Above, K’awin dangled from the caught ‘chute.
Catherine leaned over him, blocking out the sun.
KJ propped himself up on his elbows. “You’re ok—”
A punch landed square in his mouth, knocking the back of his head into the earth.
“Mother fucker, what was that for?” he asked, rubbing his face.
“For making me jump out of a plane and almost die, asshole,” Catherine snapped then slumped back to the leafy ground.
KJ continued to stare upward at his Huahuqui fruitlessly struggling to escape her gear. “Feel better?” he asked without turning to Catherine.
“A bit,” Catherine wheezed.
The snap of branches made KJ sit bolt upright.
“KJ, you’re alive!” Merry said, walking toward him, a huge smile on her face.
“And so is Catherine,” Lex finished.
“But, your leg!” They both exclaimed in unison.
“Huh?” KJ looked down and for the first time saw that the right leg of his cargo pants was torn open and a good six inches of thick bamboo was protruding from his thigh, blood running freely from the hollow. “Well would you look at that?” Suddenly dizzy, KJ flopped to his back, head fuzzy.
K’awin sidled up to him and nuzzled his leg.
“Hey,” KJ slurred. “How did you get down?”
“I let her down,” came a voice from across the clearing.
KJ focused on the source. Nikolaj came stomping over in heavy boots.
“So, you did jump, you chicken shit—”
KJ’s head jolted backward
as yet another punch landed across his jaw.
“Hey, what the fuck? Will people quit punching me?”
“That was for almost getting Catherine killed, idiot,” Nikolaj snapped back.
“She’s alive ain’t she? Anyway, it’s me suffering here.” KJ rubbed his aching jaw and pointed at the large bamboo straw exiting his leg, leaking blood onto his pants.
“Right, well let’s get that thing out and your leg closed up so you can do your super healing thing,” Nikolaj said.
“You’re just jealous you can’t do it,” KJ fired back, wheezing.
“I’m not jealous right now, Kelly Junior,” Nikolaj replied, then tugged the bamboo free.
KJ yelped and clamped onto his thigh, holding the wound closed. “Fucking asshole,” he seethed between his teeth.
A large, bear-like hand clamped down over KJ’s hand and pressed with an inhuman strength, keeping pressure on the wound. KJ looked up to see Leo peering down at him. The monk said nothing, but KJ felt the weight of Leo’s consciousness in his mind: they were to set up here for the night.
“So, uh, we should probably regroup and stay the night, before we move on,” KJ said.
“Here?” Nikolaj spat. “And just where is here?”
“Laos,” KJ replied calmly, his hand now losing circulation as Leo kept pressure.
“Laos?” Merry and Lex said in unison.
“What the hell are we doing in Laos?” Nikolaj nearly yelled.
KJ shook his head. “For being the clever one, you’re dumb sometimes. You think we could parachute into China? The jet will land in Shanghai, more than two thousand kilometers away. Needed to put a lot of distance between us, it, and anyone who comes looking for us. I want as much time as possible.” He glanced down at his numb hand, then up at Leo. “I think you can let go now, pal.”
Leo complied.
KJ quickly shook the blood back into his fingers sucking air through his teeth. Just as he had predicted, the leg wound was already starting to heal. Still, he had lost quite a lot of blood. Trekking through the jungle now would not be a good idea.
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