Eyes of the World (Gray Spear Society Book 10)

by Alex Siegel

  Walker savored the moment. He wished he could see the face of the "Lord of the Society" when he heard the news.

  "Maybe they'll admit defeat after this," Walker said.

  "That's very unlikely," Erika said. "I don't think they know how."

  "This will be a devastating blow."

  "True, but don't let one victory make you overconfident. Until the mission is done, the possibility of failure will continue to exist."

  "Thirty seconds!" the air and space officer yelled.

  "Pull back," Walker said. "I want to see the big picture when the bomb explodes."

  The video feed switched to a shot that included a kilometer or two in every direction. It was a dense urban landscape. Only a few parks here and there provided any open space at all.

  "Bombs away!" the officer yelled.

  Walker chewed his lip. The bomber was flying at high altitude, so it would take a little while for the bomb to reach the target.

  Finally, it detonated, but at first, there was just a small flash of light. Mist sprayed outwards from a point source, and in just milliseconds there was a cloud of vapor as large as the train depot. It hovered in the air for a heart-stopping moment.

  A second flash ignited the flammable liquid after it had mixed with the air. An enormous fireball temporarily overloaded the camera on the recon drone. Walker knew the fire was just a secondary effect. This type of weapon killed with massive overpressure. The shockwave could literally strip a man's flesh from his bones.

  When the camera was able to take a clear picture again, he saw the devastation. Houses had been blown away or crushed flat for several blocks in every direction. It looked like a giant had swept away the neighborhood with a broom. The train depot itself was pulverized. It was hard to tell where the buildings had originally stood. Even the train tracks were twisted like spaghetti. Walker doubted any of the bodies would ever be recovered.

  He turned to Erika and smiled. "Now we can proceed with the operation without further harassment."

  "Well done." She nodded. "Very well done."

  Chapter Nineteen

  "Commander," Perry said in a concerned tone, "we have a big problem. I just lost the phone signal from Leonardo and every member of his group."

  Aaron hurried over to Perry's workstation. "What do you mean?"

  "Every phone cut out at once. They're all off-line."

  "Some kind of interference? A jammer?"

  Perry typed on his keyboard. "I don't know."

  Jack's voice came down from overhead speakers. "Look at this, sir."

  A video appeared on one of Perry's screens. It had been shot using one of the long-range cameras on top of the hotel. The video showed a massive bomb explosion. He recognized the type as a thermobaric weapon or a "fuel-air bomb." It mixed fuel with air in the proper ratio before igniting the combination. Large ones were considered weapons of mass destruction, and this one was certainly large.

  "Where did that happen?" Aaron said.

  "Elmwood Park."

  Aaron suddenly had a terrible feeling in his gut. He went back to his desk and sat heavily on his chair. Nobody else spoke.

  It was painfully obvious what had happened. The enemy had baited Aaron with false intelligence. His gullibility and overconfidence had led to the annihilation of a third of the Society.

  A tear ran down his cheek.

  "Where the hell did that bomber come from?" Aaron yelled. "I thought we owned the skies!"

  Perry typed on his keyboard. "It must've been a B-2, sir. The FAA and NORAD didn't see it on their radars. The Air Force doesn't have a flight plan. There was no mention on the military channels. They slipped one past us."

  Aaron squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't know what to do. The guilt was overwhelming. He had made a catastrophic error and couldn't blame anybody else. He was ultimately responsible for the deaths of those who served him.

  He took out his phone and called Marina.

  "What is it, dear?" she said in a cheerful voice.

  "Something terrible happened," Aaron said softly. "I don't think I'm qualified to be Lord of the Society. We have to back out."

  "Slow down. Start at the beginning. What happened?"

  "We got intel about a high-value target. I sent Leonardo and his group. It was a trap. A giant bomb killed them all. Thousands of civilians probably died, too. It's my fault. I should've anticipated this possibility and triple-checked our information before committing so many legionnaires to a single operation."

  Marina was silent for a while. Finally, she said, "I'm sure it's not that cut and dried. In the moment, the decisions made sense."

  "Did you hear me?" he said in an angry tone. "Do you understand what just happened? A third of the Society just went up in smoke!"

  "Don't yell at me."

  "Sorry. I don't think I'm qualified to lead. I'm obviously not very good at it."

  "That's ridiculous," she said. "You got fooled. It happens to the best of us. You're a great commander who just lost focus at a key moment. That's not a surprise. You've been running yourself ragged for a week. Too little sleep and too much stress. A mistake was inevitable."

  Aaron rubbed his forehead. He had a pounding headache. "Some mistakes are unforgiveable."

  "Hold on," Marina said. "Wesley wants to talk to you."

  Not now, he thought. I'm not strong enough to deal with that kid.

  "Aaron?" Wesley said in his song-like voice.

  "Do you know what just happened?"

  "Destiny."

  "What the fuck does that mean?" Aaron said.

  "Those legionnaires weren't chosen for the new Society. Leading normal lives wasn't a possibility either. Boredom would eventually make them crazy. They would've become criminals. An honorable death in battle was the best choice. They can go to God as heroes instead of rejects. They died at the right time in the right way."

  Aaron narrowed his eyes. "Are you telling me they were supposed to die?"

  "I'm saying you shouldn't be too sad," Wesley said. "You made a terrible mistake, one you'll never forget. You'll learn from it and do better next time. Think of it as your initiation as Lord. At the same time, your mistake accomplished something that had to happen anyway. That's how destiny works."

  Aaron felt even worse. In addition to being a gullible fool, fate had victimized him.

  "The path to the future is a river of blood," he mumbled.

  "That's right," Wesley said.

  "You knew this would happen, didn't you? Yesterday morning, when you were picking teams, you were actually picking who would live and who would die."

  Wesley hesitated. "Yes."

  "And you did it with a smile. You're a cold-blooded monster."

  "Choices had to be made, and I was the best person to make them. I can see who destiny favors. I can feel who is right for the new Society."

  "You could've warned me," Aaron muttered.

  "That would've just made things worse."

  "What about my group of legionnaires? I got four hundred of them sitting in the woods right now, waiting for my order to attack. Are they slated to die, too? They didn't make the cut, and now they have to go?"

  "Don't fight destiny, Aaron," Wesley said. "You'll lose."

  "I hate destiny. I hate you."

  Aaron threw his phone across the room. Its armor shell prevented it from breaking.

  He stared at his desk. It was made from thick slabs of gray metal welded together. He had designed it to last forever, but now he didn't even know if it would survive the night. The enemy could turn the Rosemont Tower Hotel into a smoking crater at any time.

  God, Aaron thought. Are you there?

  Of course, God replied.

  You saw what happened. Do you want me to quit?

  No. Leadership is a tough job. Now you know how I feel. Stop pouting and get back to work.

  Aaron raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  The captured Red Eye radio was sitting on the desk. The bulky piece of electronics
looked like something from the Vietnam War, but the guts were actually state-of-the-art.

  He grabbed the radio and turned it on. "Hello?" he said loudly into the microphone.

  "Who is this?" a male voice answered.

  "The Lord of the Gray Spear Society. Put me through to General Walker immediately."

  After a long pause, another man spoke. "I was hoping you'd call. Shall we discuss the terms of your surrender?"

  "Fuck off," Aaron said. "I called to congratulate you. You certainly made a proper fool out of me. Well done."

  "I'm blushing."

  "It won't matter in the end. You'll never take this hotel. After your next attack fails, you won't get another shot. I'm sure your masters are already losing patience with your slow, clumsy efforts. The legitimate officers in the Army will eventually rebel against your leadership. The soldiers will refuse to get slaughtered. There must already be grumbling in the ranks after last night and this morning."

  Walker hesitated. "Perhaps, but I'm still in firm control. We'll win this afternoon. You can't stop us."

  "I look forward to proving you wrong." Aaron turned off the radio.

  Charles had a puzzled expression. He was wearing his signature sharp, gray suit. A silver cane was leaning against the wall, close at hand.

  "Why are you taunting him, sir?" he said. "What does that accomplish?"

  "I want his attention focused on me, not the twins," Aaron said. "If he believes this is a personal battle between two commanders, he'll forget his real objective."

  Charles nodded. "What's next?"

  "We can do nothing but wait for the battle to begin. It's going to be brutal."

  * * *

  The thumping of the rotors and the whine of the turbine engines were giving Ethel a headache, but there was nothing she could do about it. The helicopter was just loud.

  She was looking out the window at the mountains of western Virginia. It was rugged land. The many crests and valleys reminded her of a badly crinkled piece of paper. Some of the deepest valleys saw little sunlight and had plenty of snow in them. Trees clung precariously to steep, rocky slopes.

  There were tiny towns here and there, but the land was mostly uninhabited. The occasional narrow road made its way up and down the hills. She didn't understand why anybody would want to live here. It seemed deadly dull, but she was a city girl. She was used to living at a quick pace.

  Ethel looked at the computer screens of the "Fast Automated Infrared Detection System." Two operators were watching displays full of colored blobs. Occasionally, she would pick out the outline of a mountain, a house, or a car, but mostly, the thermal images were meaningless to her.

  She sighed.

  "We'll find him, ma'am," Tawni said.

  Ethel looked at the young woman and smiled. Ethel saw herself from thirty years ago in that pretty face. Like Tawni, Ethel had been overly aggressive and violent during her early years in the Society. She still was, but her methods were more sophisticated now. She made the brutality seem elegant and refined.

  "Yes, but I'm afraid of what we'll find," Ethel said. "They could be torturing him."

  "We have great healers. They'll fix him up."

  "I suppose."

  "You really love him," Tawni said. "I'm jealous. I've never found that kind of love."

  "You could find it with Sheryl if you gave her a real chance."

  "Maybe, ma'am. It's worth a try."

  "I hope everything is all right in Chicago," Ethel said. "I still feel guilty about leaving. We should be fighting beside our comrades, not getting a long tour of the Appalachian Mountains."

  "I'm sure Aaron will win," Tawni said.

  "But at what price?" Ethel raised her eyebrows.

  She looked out the window again.

  * * *

  Smythe was holding Odelia's hand tightly. They, along with the rest of Marina's group, were standing well back from the aperture. The crowd had formed a big circle, and their backs were almost against the walls. Nobody dared to even whisper.

  Bethany and Leanna were about to begin the first step in the process of activating the complex device. A variety of large components surrounded the aperture, and a web of thick cables tied everything together. Smythe had no idea what most of the components did. One looked like a toaster oven, another was a lattice made of red crystal, and a third reminded him of a beach ball with a golden finish.

  The fifteen scientists were also well back. Their nervous expressions weren't helping Smythe's confidence.

  Bethany pressed a green button on one of the components. A low hum made Smythe's guts jiggle. The red crystal lattice began to glow.

  He felt a disturbing force pull him forward, and he stumbled to regain his balance. He noticed everybody's hair was pointing towards the aperture. The floor appeared to tilt in that direction.

  Suddenly, the effect stopped, and the crowd fell backwards. The lattice stopped glowing.

  "What happened?" Marina said.

  "A malfunction," Bethany said. "It can be repaired, but it will take a few hours."

  "Were we in any danger?"

  "The system detected the defect and halted automatically, but we were fourteen microseconds away from annihilation."

  Marina raised her eyebrows. "Ah."

  Smythe looked at Odelia. Her pink, perfect face was frowning.

  "We have to decide," he said. "Are we going through or staying behind?"

  She looked at the aperture. "I don't trust that thing."

  "Neither do I, but we have to assume it will work. Otherwise, we're all dead anyway."

  They began to walk through the room while holding hands. The space was bigger than a football field. A regular grid of support pillars were the only obstacles to actually playing a game. Gleaming, metallic tiles covered the floor and the ceiling. An abundance of light fixtures made the room too bright.

  "It's a tough choice," Odelia said. "We'll be walking away from a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Once in a billion lifetimes."

  "Just because an opportunity is rare doesn't mean it's worth taking," Smythe said. "Do you really want to become an eternal guardian with no life of your own? We'll be little more than cogs in the universal machine. Always watching. Always ready to fight. Always following orders. It's a depressing idea. Getting married and having kids is a much more humble goal, but at least we'll have the life we choose. We'll be in control of our destiny."

  "Sounds like you already made your decision."

  "Maybe, but it's not set in stone. If you really want to go through the aperture, I'll go with you. At least we'll have an eternity to love each other."

  She smiled at him.

  He looked at the aperture again. The core device was shaped like a big donut, and the thousands of tiny components were like colorful candy sprinkles. The space in the center was big enough for a person to jump through.

  "I won't go if you don't want to," Odelia said.

  "Thank you," Smythe said, "but we can still change our minds. Let's think about it while we have time."

  She got up on her toes and kissed him on the lips. "Either way, as long as we're together, I'll be happy."

  * * *

  General Walker was standing at the front of his command bunker where all the console operators could see him. He looked back at the anxious faces of his officers.

  "The stage is set," Walker said in a loud voice, "the actors have their lines, and the audience is seated. It's finally time for the big show to begin. Once we begin rolling forward, we can't allow anything to stop us. The Earth can open up, and fire can rain from the heavens, and it won't matter. One hundred percent of our forces are committed until the battle is done. We will hold nothing back. We will take that hotel no matter what it costs."

  Walker was hoping for cheers or applause, but the men and women in the room just stared. He wondered what they were thinking even though it didn't really matter. They would do their duty. They had no choice.

  He walked over to the stairs and
climbed up to the platform in the back of the bunker. Erika was standing by his desk with a pensive expression. She had put a Kevlar vest over her brown dress. It was a very uncharacteristic show of fear.

  Walker raised his hands dramatically. "Begin!"

  * * *

  Aaron sighed with annoyance. His headquarters was noisy again, and he wasn't sure he liked it.

  The entire hotel staff had settled in. The good news was they had cleaned up the place nicely. Every bit of garbage had been removed, and the floors had been swept. The bathrooms were spotless. Even the dishes were done. The staff had also brought up enough tables, chairs, and couches for everybody to be comfortable.

  The bad news was there were too many of them. The space had been designed as a place for ten people to work and live, not ninety-five. The crowd was packed together so tightly, they could barely move their chairs without bumping into each other.

  They didn't seem to mind though. They were passing the time by playing board games, poker, and bridge. Cooks were bringing freshly baked food out of the kitchen every few minutes. Smiles were on many faces. It felt like a party.

  If only they knew what was coming, Aaron thought.

  "Commander!" Perry yelled from the office. "Come in here, quick!"

  Aaron ran back to his office.

  "What's wrong?"

  "The Army is on the move," Perry said. "The military communication channels are flooded with traffic."

  "How many units?"

  "All of them, I think."

  Aaron looked at a map of Chicago on Perry's computer screen. The map showed Army units as red dots. Aaron could see many of them moving. His heart was pounding.

  "What will get here first?"

  "Helicopters," Perry said. "Twenty-four are in the air."

  Aaron nodded. "Jack!"

  "Sir?" The computer replied through overhead speakers.

  "Warm up the microwave cannon."

  "Yes, sir."

  * * *

  General Walker was watching the progress of the assault on the big projection screen at the front of the bunker. One image showed an overall map of the battlefield. Little icons represented units, and they were all converging on the hotel, some much faster than others.