by Ryan Hartung
Luckily for them, the long bunkroom had multiple windows on both sides of the stretched rectangular walls, which allowed some of the sun’s final rays to filter in providing at least a dash of color. At some time in the past each window had been retrofitted with crisscrossing iron bars to protect the troops housed inside. However, what had been purposed for protection was now used for their isolation.
“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get this figured out tonight, so maybe we should get some sleep and work out a plan tomorrow morning,” Colt said with a yawn. The last couple of days had been tiring and were wearing each of them down. From their find in the Amazon to the thirty plus hour transcontinental flights back and forth from Peru to England, sleep had been hard to come by.
“Just remember we’re Americans and we have something they want,” Dominic advised. “I don’t know about the two of you, but I’m sleeping in my clothes tonight.”
Colt and Hillary exchanged looks, collectively agreeing Dominic’s advice was sound. Once they were ready for bed, Colt strode across the long hard floor and flipped off the bunk room’s light switch. He used the lightning staff’s golden glow for a nightlight on his way back.
However great the uncertainty of their present circumstances was, it wasn’t enough to keep their weary eyes open for long. Roughly thirty minutes after the lights were turned off Hillary, Dominic and Colt were each deeply slumbering. Hours passed while they slept, unaware of the beginnings of a military assault being readied outside their building.
A light drizzle was beginning to rain over the elite British tactical units as they surrounded the building. Each soldier was tasked with obtaining the lightning staff, while preserving the lives of the three Americans if possible. At the same time however, their objective had been made perfectly clear; the recovery of the lightning staff was the goal of the mission. The American lives, though valuable, were secondary.
Hillary stirred as an accidental horn sounded somewhere outside of their bunk filled room. Her eyes fluttered open and shut while she fought against her bladder wanting to be emptied. Eventually her overly full bladder won and forced her to wake. She yawned deeply and placed her bare feet on the cold tiled floor. Still fully dressed as Dominic had suggested, she failed to notice the coolness of the open air bunkroom on the rest of her body.
As she strolled through the long rectangular room to the toilet, she noticed an occasional flashing of light as it passed through the south wall of windows. Curious about the light and now slightly more awake, she shuffled to the barred pane of glass. Spread out on the ground before here were close to a hundred military personnel quickly surrounding the building.
“Oh crap,” she exclaimed, still half asleep and not wanting to wake the others.
“Oh crap!” she yelled again a second later once the full realization of the impending military incursion hit her. “Get up you two, we’ve got company!”
Colt and Dominic, both subconsciously worried about their safety had been sleeping, but not soundly. At Hillary’s outburst they quickly woke themselves and within seconds were at the window by her side. While waking from their sleep deprived state would have normally taken each of them a couple of minutes, the panic in Hillary’s voice called them to quicker action.
“What do we do?” Hillary asked Colt in desperation.
“They can’t get the staff. You saw the way the military bigwigs salivated when I showed them what it could do. They’d use it as a weapon and I can’t allow that. Plus I trust my judgment a lot more than theirs.” Colt didn’t want to hurt the military personnel surrounding his building like ants circling a piece of fruit, but he would protect his friends and the staff no matter what.
“Great speech Colt, but how are we gonna do that?” Dominic asked, not seeing a way out.
“I don’t know but if we don’t get moving they’ll just keep sending more troops and then there’s definitely no way out,” Colt replied, quickly thinking through different scenarios.
Colt took a final glance out the window. “Guys, get your shoes on, I’ve got an idea.” Colt waited until Dominic and Hillary were ready to go then grabbed the lighting staff and headed to the barrack’s front door.
The glowing staff added a much needed source of illumination to light their way through the darkened bunk room. Although there was a high probability the military would see a strange glowing object moving through the barrack, they’d certainly notice the entire room’s bank of fluorescent lights being turned on in the middle of the night.
Colt stopped a few feet from the door. “Stand back guys,” he said lowering the lightning staff. Immediately the staff started glowing brighter and pulsating faster before a beam of light shot out from the top of the staff, blowing the sealed double doors open. Colt wondered if one of the small clouds had formed above the barrack like he had seen each of the previous times he had used the staff outdoors; however the purely academic thought only lasted a brief second.
“Huh. I wasn’t sure if this would work inside, but I guess we know the answer to that question now,” he thought aloud.
“Now there’s only a few hundred more we need answered,” Hillary nervously joked.
Under both the left and right unhinged doors, lay a singular guard knocked unconscious from the unexpected blast. Rifling through their pockets, Colt found one of the guards’ phones and tossed it to Dominic. He then carefully checked each end of the hallway for additional troops, before readying to move. Seeing none, he motioned for his friends to follow. Silently they stalked the empty hallway until they reached the door leading outside into the cool and drizzly night.
“Dom, call the U.S. Air Force base we passed on the way here and give them a heads up on the situation. Tell them to get a plane ready ASAP and that we’re on our way.” He paused for a deep calming breath, “Now both of you stay behind me no matter what, alright?” Colt ordered his friends. Having climbed to the top of his professional field in record time, Colt was used to his orders being followed. Even though his two assistants were his girlfriend and best friend he knew that when a situation called for him to lead, they could be counted on.
Slowly, but in one fluid motion, Colt pushed open each of the double doors leading outside. He walked through the doors with both hands held high in the air, hoping not be fired on. His left hand was free and open wide, while the other was tightly grasping the glowing lightning staff. He stopped only a foot outside of the long tiled hallway, where for the moment Hillary and Dominic were still stuck behind him, inside the building.
The late night drizzle sprinkled him in the face while every soldier in the immediate area raised their rifles. “I don’t want any trouble,” he yelled into the crowd. “Just let us leave and no one needs to get hurt.”
Colt listened to the resulting murmurs as his words were repeated throughout the ranks. Unfortunately not one of the many guns leveled in his direction moved an inch.
“Set down the staff and back away. No one needs to get hurt,” sounded a concrete voice over a loud speaker. Colt found it hard to locate the speaker’s exact location as numerous spotlights were pointed at him, blurring his vision.
“I feel the same way,” Hillary and Dominic heard Colt mutter in response before the staff’s glow became bright as the sun. An instant later, before any of the British forces had a chance to fire their guns, lightning erupted from the sky. Unlike before however, when a singular bolt had struck Colt’s intended target, this time the lightning formed a brilliant netting that slowly descended onto the wet ground.
Small bursts of electricity raced across the wetted terrain. The white charging currents of electricity crawled up the military vehicles, the armed personnel and anything else in its way. Curious as to what Cold had done, Dominic and Hillary peered over his shoulder, still safely positioned in the building’s doorway. One by one they watched as each person standing on the wet ground convulsed as the electrical energy passed through their all too susceptible bodies.
Within a
couple of seconds the electrical charge had dissipated and the fight was over. Only Colt and his friends were left standing, while everyone else was convulsing on the ground.
“Come on you two. We’ve only got a couple of minutes to get out of here before they come to,” Colt ordered. He quickly dashed down the barrack’s front steps and further into the drizzly night. Around him the soldiers were still writhing on the ground as the small amounts of electrical charge continued working its way out of their bodies.
“Here, this one,” he said pointing to a low idling jeep. “Dom, you drive. Hill you’re up front and I’ll get in the back just in case I need to use the staff again.” They piled into the vehicle and were on the main road within a minute after Colt had effectively shocked the entire area’s contingent of troops.
“Are they going to be okay?” Hillary asked once they were on the road.
“Yeah, I didn’t hit them that hard. I don’t know how to explain it, but when I’m using the staff we somehow talk to each other,” Colt said.
“You talk to that thing?” Dominic asked slightly disgusted at the thought.
“Kind of, I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. When I’m holding the staff there’s some sort of connection; like it knows what I want it to do and at the same time I know how to use it, even though I’ve never had any training. I guess the best way to describe it is it’s like your hand. You never took any classes on how to use it, but yet whatever your brain wants it to do your hand does it. This staff is kind of similar I guess.”
Hillary and Dominic looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders only slightly understanding what Colt was trying to explain.
“I guess you have to experience it to understand what I’m talking about,” Colt added insightfully.
Up ahead in the distance bright lights were scanning the road from a tower rising over the razor wire fencing separating the American Air Force base from the English countryside. One of the spotlights raced across the road, meeting their stolen jeep and began following it as they drove to the closed gate.
The late night’s drizzle was turning more and more into rain as the night progressed, blurring their vision. Dominic stopped the car by the main gate’s guard booth and waited. Quickly a guard, followed by another higher ranking official, approached the driver’s side door.
“Are you Dominic?” the guard asked. He peered into the jeep’s open window and surveyed its occupants. The guard paused for a moment as he caught sight of Colt holding the glowing lightning staff before dashing back into his small outside office. The visual confirmation of the staff had answered his question.
Before Dominic had time to inquire about what was happening, the small air strip’s main gate was opening and they were being ushered inside. The now soaked guard continued to motion for Dominic to follow him with the jeep while he ran further into the small base. In the distance through the increasing rain, Dominic could see a brightly lit hanger with people bustling to and fro.
Just outside of the hanger sat a B-52H with all four engines running. Dominic followed the guard with his jeep inside the well-lit hanger and coasted to a stop as directed. Once the jeep was halted, an American hummer pulled in directly behind them.
“Colt Andrews I presume?” the senior official who had been standing behind the guard back at the entrance gate asked after jumping out of the hummer. Colt nodded in return and was ushered out of the stolen jeep along with Hillary and Dominic. They stood alongside their vehicle with what little belongings the British had allowed them to keep, wondering what would happen next.
“We’re Americans,” Colt announced to the silent hanger. He approached the unnamed general while tightly clutching the staff’s middle handle. “Are you getting us out of here General?” he asked. Although not a military man himself, Colt’s dad had been in the army. Colt knew the lone star on the man’s uniform standing in front of him meant he was a general.
“This isn’t how we usually do things around here, but I guess this time we’re forced to make an exception. You really aren’t helping our relations with England though,” the General added with an air of slight disapproval. He turned his attention from Colt to the staff, which was as usual pulsating with its soft pale-golden light while held in Colt’s hand.
The General was about to inquire of the strange object when a steady stream of headlights popped up over the hill in the distance. There was only one road leading to the American airstrip and only one reason that many vehicles would be on it at this time of night.
“It looks like they’ve sent the cavalry. I’m afraid it’s time for you three to take a quick trip out of here.” The General paused, looking for their escort. “Richards, get these three on the plane and take off!” he yelled.
“Yes sir!” came the dutiful response.
Colt and the others were then quickly herded by a few of the Air Force’s ground crew onto the large plane. What seemed like only seconds after they were seated, the plane’s four massive engines began spinning, sending strong vibrations throughout the hollow craft. The plane rapidly sped along the wetted tarmac and into the rain-soaked nighttime sky, leaving England behind.
Once they reached the large aircraft’s cruising altitude, the captain delivered a quick update on the length of their flight and their intended destination. Initially each of their tired bodies was hopped up on a mixture of the rush of their exciting getaway and the adrenaline that was brought with it. However, the combination of the night’s black sky, hundreds of miles of even blacker ocean and the monotonous hum of the engines, eventually lulled each of them to sleep.
Chapter
8
“Mr. President?” his aid and secretary softly spoke while knocking at the president’s door. Only silence returned. “Mr. President?” he said a little louder and knocking more forcefully.
“Yes?” came the president’s groggy reply.
“I’m sorry to wake you but Tony Wilson is on the phone for you. He says it’s urgent.”
“Who?” the president asked, still not fully awake. Slowly he sat up in bed and turned his body so his feet hung towards the floor.
“Tony Wilson, England’s Prime Minister,” the secretary said, growing slightly annoyed.
“Yeah, okay. I’m coming just let me get some slippers on.” Less than a minute later the president of the United States in all of his glory appeared from the darkened room. His greying hair was a tussled mess and bits of sleep still rested in the corner of his left eye. He gazed down the hall towards one of the White House’s large windows and to his dismay saw not a glimmer of morning light. It was just another day in his exciting life where sleep was a luxury, not a necessity.
“Well, what’s this all about?” he asked, rather demanded of his secretary.
“Tony Wilson is on the phone and he says it’s urgent.”
“So this was so urgent it couldn’t wait for another few hours?” president Davis muttered to himself. A few minutes later he was in his office and picking up the phone.
“Tony, so what’s so pressing I needed to be woken up for?” he asked as Jerry brought him a steaming cup of black coffee.
“Good morning Robert, we’ve got a bit of an issue. A week ago Peru asked Colt Andrews and his two American associates, who’ve been working in London for some time now, to come investigate a new archeological site that had just been discovered. Well they went and they uncovered something truly amazing. So amazing in fact, that they asked us for a military escort out of the country.”
“I’m listening, what was so amazing they felt they needed military protection and how does this concern the United States?” the president asked.
“Well, I’m not sure how best to describe what they found other than it’s some sort of staff that can control lightning.”
The president laughed.
“Don’t laugh Robert. I’m dead serous here, just hear me out.”
“Alright, I’m sorry. Please continue.” The president took a long drink of the
stiff brew and instantly felt more awake.
“There were apparently some inscriptions about Zeus, but that’s not really important. What is important is that Colt was on our payroll and now he’s on a plane headed to the United States with our staff.”
“Sorry Tony, I must be missing something here. If he called you for support, why is he headed to the United States? Why didn’t he just stay in England?”
“There was a disagreement about who should keep the staff. We tried to take it from him and his friends and they went to one of your American Air Force bases. They’re probably almost in the United States by now,” the Prime Minister said and then paused. “Robert, that staff is the property of England and I expect it to be returned the moment that plane lands in your country.”
“Well, since this is the first I’m hearing about any of this let me assess the situation and then I’ll get back to you. That’s the best I can do for now.”
“Thank you Robert. I knew I could count on you to do the right thing,” the Prime Minister added. He hung up the phone and hoped that the president really would be naive enough to keep his word on returning the powerful artifact.
President Davis pulled his still sleepy body out of the oval office’s plush chair. “Walk with me Jerry,” he ordered his secretary. “So, what is this all about and why wasn’t I informed?” President Davis knew his secretary had been briefed on the matter in case he asked. Now he was asking.
“Where should I begin sir?”
“How about at the beginning,” the president gruffly replied. He was already in his bathroom, changing out of his pajamas and into the day’s suit which he had laid out the night before. His wife of twenty-five years had died the previous winter and he and Jerry were alone in the room, as was often the case. President Davis had left the door to the bathroom slightly ajar so he could multi-task getting ready for the day, while listening to his assistant’s update.