by Alton Gansky
He smiled. It was a broad smile with a hint of sincerity and an extra measure of menace. “It is so good to have company. We don’t get many guests down here.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Chad said. “We’ve seen some of your other guests. I can’t say you have good taste in friends.”
Ambrosi’s smile evaporated. I doubt I need to tell anyone this, but though Ambrosi looks good on the outside, he’s nothing but death and decay on the inside. He was soulless, ruthless, meaner than a kennel full of rabid dogs. He was also what the Bible called the antichrist. I should never have healed him.
But I did.
You read right. It wasn’t that long ago. We were in China hunting for a guy the professor had turned us onto. That guy was Ambrosi and before all was said and done, we all were circling the drain of death. Brenda took a bullet in the shoulder. Chad was doing his bilocating thing, slipping from this world into a spiritual one, and not the healthy kind spiritual. Think, demons and evil spirits and things we don’t have names for. Ambrosi orchestrated the attack. The lives of hundreds of tourists were at stake. There was panic. There was shooting. There were children in danger. Chad saved one, but couldn’t keep the kid from running off as soon as he could.
When Chad works his bilocating talent, he becomes invisible to us, but not to the beasties at Ambrosi’s command. And not to Ambrosi, I might add.
In the end, Chad coordinated all our skills and talents and attacked Ambrosi.
We killed him deader than dead. And that brings us back to my healing him—giving him his life back. I can’t live with the knowledge that I killed someone. Not directly. Not intentionally. The team still hasn’t forgiven me.
I’m not sure I’ve forgiven myself.
Ambrosi stepped close to Chad, getting almost nose to nose. He seemed to have no fear of us or anyone else. This was his domain.
The evil grin split his face again. “There’s something different about youuuuu. You’re not the same Chad Thornton I’ve come to know and loathe.”
Chad had confessed Christ down here. I’m convinced his messing around between worlds opened his head up to all kinds of evil. The evil ones were tracking us through Chad and Chad had no idea. He had been reluctant to come clean, fearing he’d lose his powers. But oh, what he’d gained . . .
Chad took a step back and grinned. “Dude, when was the last time you brushed your teeth? You got a serious case of mouth stench.”
“You did it, didn’t you?” Shaking his head, Ambrosi retreated a step. “You went religious. What a waste. You were supposed to be the smart one. And you were so useful to us.”
Chad lowered his head for a moment as if he was ashamed of his confession. Then he lifted his head again. “I am the smart one,” he said, “and I think Tank has been right all along. Yeah, I prayed and my prayer was answered, so I’m feeling pretty good about all of that.”
Several unexpected and nice thoughts about Chad rose in my head. Who knew?
Ambrosi turned to me. “Mr. Bjorn Christensen, forgive me, but I’ve not thanked you for all the good you did for me. I owe you my life. Thank you.”
“It’s just Tank, and if you’re really feeling grateful, you can let my team leave.”
“Oh, I wish I could, but circumstances are what they are. You and your friends used to be annoyances. Speed bumps in the Gate’s plans. Nothing more. We tolerated you more than we should have because you were just a band of people with gifts you hadn’t mastered, people with loads of courage and not much sense.”
“But things are different now. So no, sir, I won’t let them go. I won’t let you go.”
“Some gratitude,” I said. “After I saved your life and all.”
“You know, Tank,” Ambrosi continued, “I’ve toyed with the idea of killing all your friends in front of you to see how many you can bring back to life. What an experiment! Will your gift fail like it has before? What would that be like? Seeing your companions mauled on the ice and you unable to help them. Who knows, I might let you live just so I can watch you writhe in the torment of your failure.”
“You leave him alone.” Daniel pulled free of Brenda’s grasp and took three steps forward.
Ambrosi backpedaled as if Daniel was a pit bull who had just chewed through his leash.
“Daniel!” Brenda grabbed him by his backpack and pulled him behind the others.
“You brat,” Ambrosi said. “You worthless little worm. You accident of nature. You—”
That’s when I planted my fist on the side of his head. I’m sure it was unwise, but man, did it feel good. Even as I did it, I knew there’d be a price to pay, but no one calls Daniel names in my presence. No one.
“Um, Tank—” Chad began.
Here it came. One more thing I shouldn’t have done. One more stupid choice on my part, and Chad couldn’t overlook an opportunity to throw it in my face.
“That was beautiful,” Chad said, grinning. “That was a work of art. My man, you rock.”
Before I had time to process what I was feeling and hearing, my feet left the ice. I was slammed and pinned to the ceiling. Air left my lungs. There was pressure on all sides of me. I was being squeezed to death.
“Let him go.” Andi shouted. “He saved your miserable life.”
Ambrosi laughed. He was having fun.
Andi launched herself at him and got a powerful backhand to the side of her face, dropping her like a bag of laundry.
I roared. Fought. Tried to turn over so I could push against the ceiling—maybe push myself close enough to grab the guy who just slapped my girl.
Nothing.
I saw Andi try to rise, but she couldn’t manage it. Chad rushed to her side, but was sent skidding over the ice back down the corridor—the corridor with the eels. They had made it to this side.
I heard him scream. Such a horrible scream, accompanied by visions of Chad writhing on bloody ice, eels latched to him like leeches to the bare legs of a swimmer.
From my elevated vantage point, I saw him stagger out of the tunnel a moment later. Three tenacious eels were gnawing on his legs. Zeke bounded to him, flashlight in hand, and beat the eels until their spines broke. Their jaws snapped open, releasing Chad. Chad dropped to his hands and knees.
“This isn’t China,” Ambrosi said. “I will not be stopped so easily. I’ve had plenty of time to consider what I was going to do to each of you.”
As my vision darkened with rage, I fell, landing hard on the ice.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Ambrosi went on. “Planning your deaths. Not just your deaths, but death at my hands.” Ambrosi took a step closer to the broken huddle we had become.
Andi was still on the floor, but conscious. I glanced at Chad who had his eyes closed, his lids pressed together like the jaws of a vice.
His mouth moved. It was easy to guess what he was doing. He was trying to work his gift, to shift his soul into the space between our world and the spiritual, multi-dimensional realm.
“It’s not working anymore,” Chad said, his voice breaking. “I’ve lost it. I’m powerless. I’m . . . normal.”
“Pity,” Ambrosi said. “Not that it matters. I am as prepared for you on that plane of existence as I am on this one.”
“For the love of all that is holy,” Chad said, opening his eyes. “Just kill us and be done with it. Listening to you prattle on is torture.”
“I have no love for the holy, and torture is what I have on my mind.” He crossed his arms as if he was a man with no worries. “Haven’t you wondered why you got away from Azazel so easily?” He sounded like a college professor talking to dimwitted students. “He wanted to kill each of you, but I talked him into resisting that impulse. Of course, I had to give him something for his efforts, so I gave him your professor. I was fine with that. What I really wanted was you . . . in front of me . . . dying a long, slow death. That is why you haven’t been pursued. It is why my little pets haven’t devoured you—yet.”
He paused like a
man who had just remembered something. “I should give them a little reward. I know—how about Daniel?”
Ambrosi uncrossed his arms and extended a hand in Daniel’s direction. Something lifted Daniel and held him in mid-air, hovering before Brenda’s horrified gaze.
I was on my feet a second later. A half-second after that I was flat on my back. Chad charged, then flipped backward. No one was getting close to Ambrosi.
The unseen force moved Daniel backward over the ice. He struggled. Called for help. He screamed in a way that melted my soul like a candle in a hot oven.
“Nooooo!” Brenda screamed. Then she doubled over as if she had been punched in the gut by a prize fighter. An instant later she flew backward, falling head first onto the hard ice of the corridor. She moaned and lifted her arms to shield her head.
I couldn’t stay down. I had to save Daniel even if it killed me. Which it probably would—
The first loud bang nearly burst my eardrums and for a moment I thought the ceiling was caving in. Then I heard another. And another. One bang followed the other without hesitation.
Zeke stood like a man with a steel rod for a spine. In his extended hand he held his pistol, firing shot after shot. I turned in time to see four rounds strike Ambrosi: two in the head, two in the chest.
His eyes were wide.
His mouth hung open.
He toppled backward like a board, killed as much by his pride as by Zeke’s weapon.
A chorus of screeches erupted behind us. The angry eels were headed our way: some through the ice; some wriggling over the surface ice.
Zeke lowered his weapon. “We need to go…Tank, what are you doing?”
I walked to the unmoving Ambrosi, the antichrist I had brought back to life. I was meant to heal, not kill. It’s my nature.
“Tank, don’t.” Andi found her way to her feet. Chad propped her up. “He’ll never change. He’s evil wrapped in flesh.”
I took another step toward the corpse on the ice. Blood oozed from his wounds and steamed in the cold. Some was already freezing.
“Please, Tank,” Brenda begged. “Leave him be. He tried to kill Daniel.”
My hands grew warm, then hot inside my gloves. I removed one. My right hand emitted a golden glow and steam rose from it like a kettle on a stove.
I expected the others to try to prevent me from doing what I did in China, but they didn’t move. “I’m . . . I’m a healer. I’m . . . ”
I looked down and saw the open eyes of the man who would have killed us, the man who abused Andi and Brenda and Chad and would have fed Daniel to the eels.
“May God forgive me,” I said, “and if He doesn’t . . . I’ll understand.”
I left the dead man dead and turned to Brenda and Chad. Maybe there was still some healin’ I could do. Before I could take two steps, the golden glow paled then disappeared. Again I had lost control of my gift. That, or what Brenda sketched was meant to be. Either way, I was brokenhearted.
We started to run. I glanced back and looked at Ambrosi again. He was covered in squirming ice eels.
Chapter 9
We were on the move, trying to outrun ice-eels and get the job done before someone else showed up to kill us. Zeke led the way. Chad helped Brenda, who was still woozy.
Andi said she could manage to keep up. “He hit me in the face. I don’t run with my face.” That pretty, pretty face had a swollen jaw.
I carried Daniel. Brenda insisted, and I wasn’t going to argue with that girl. I had enough bruises for one trip.
A hundred or so frantic paces later the ice gave way to concrete. Zeke led us another hundred feet down the concrete corridor, then stopped and knelt on the frost-topped cement.
“Let’s see the little buggers swim through concrete,” Zeke said.
I set Daniel down. The kid had grown a good bit since I first met him.
Zeke slipped off his backpack. “Okay, this is where things get dangerous.”
“Really?” Chad said. “What’s it been so far?”
Zeke chuckled. “You’re right. This is where it gets really dangerous.”
“I can’t do much more,” Brenda said. “I’m all in. My head is splittin’. I’m gettin’ double vision.”
Zeke looked at me and I looked at him. Neither one of us liked what we heard. I was no brain surgeon, but I had seen enough football injuries to know about concussions and skull fractures.
“We’ll take care of it, girl,” Andi said. “You just stay on your feet.”
Daniel was clinging to Brenda. She ran her fingers through his hair.
Zeke kept rummaging through his backpack. “Tank, much of this is going to fall on you. So here’s what we’re gonna do.” He pulled several explosive charges from his pack. They looked like small radios taped to gray bricks. “Take these. I need to rest.”
I stared at the contraptions. “What am I gonna do with those? I don’t know how to work them.”
“Chad, Andi, bring it in. You need to know this too— just in case Tank is unable to pull it off.”
I looked at Andi. “He means if I buy the farm.”
“Yeah, we got his drift,” Chad said.
Zeke sighed. “These are easy to use. They’re specially designed to be idiot proof.”
I waited for Chad to make his usual snide remark about my intelligence, but he didn’t take his shot. That’s when I knew he was more scared than he’d ever been.
Zeke carried on. “There are two green buttons. To arm the detonator, they must be pressed at the same time. Pressing one won’t do it. That’s to keep accidents from happening. After you press the buttons, you have only a few minutes to find cover.”
“What’s the red button for?” I asked.
“It’s red for a reason, Tank. Press that and you have thirty seconds to get rid of it. It’s a last-ditch measure. Got it?”
“I got it, but what do you want me to do with these?”
Zeke’s eyes were deadly serious. “I want you to save the team. You’re going to head for the only door that leads out of this place and blow it open. It’s the big, eye-shaped portal you saw on the satellite maps Andi scrounged up. These are shaped charges. That means all the force is going to go in one direction. The blast will go into the doors, not the other way. That will keep you from killing yourself. Maybe.”
“After the doors blow, then what?”
“Then you’re going to dash out of this place.”
“We’ll freeze out there,” Andi said.
Zeke shook his head. “I gave that some thought before we left. Nearly all the research stations in the vicinity have seismographs to monitor earthquakes and ice quakes. People monitor those readings around the clock. The blast will get their attention, and there’s no confusing an explosion from an earthquake. They’ll send help.”
“You sure these will get their attention?” Chad asked.
“If those don’t, these will.” He patted his backpack. “I got the big boys in here.”
“How will I find the exit to the surface?” I asked.
Zeke pulled a wire from his backpack and let it dangle out the side. The wire was attached to a push button. His detonator.
Chad had gone as white as the ice. “Are you—what are you going to do?”
“I’m gonna bring this place down.” Zeke slipped his arms through the straps of his pack. “This is the Gate’s base of operations. We just need to find the nerve center.”
“They’ll still have another base in space,” Chad said. “The one I saw on one of my bilocation trips.”
“We know we can’t wipe them off the face of the earth, but we can set them back a few years. Don’t worry about the mothership. We’re taking out this base.”
“What if Azazel shows up again?” Andi sounded tired. She had a right to be. We all did.
“Leave him to me.”
“Leave him to you?” Chad said. “What can you do to him? We can’t stand up to him; we can’t kill him; we can’t defeat him.”
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br /> Zeke ignored the question. “We need to go.”
Chad and Andi helped Brenda along. Zeke and I moved down the corridor looking in every nook and cranny for anything that looked like a command center.
We discovered more storage rooms. In one compartment, we found what looked like a laboratory in one of those horror shows that tries to pass itself off as sci-fi. There were fluid-filled tanks holding some of the creatures we had seen on our earlier missions. We also saw variations of the ice-eels. These were bigger and their teeth looked like they could chew through steel. Gnawing through a person would be no problem. Chad would never have survived those bites.
More disturbing than the hybrid eels was a set of utility shelves with large jars filled with heads—dear God, just the heads—of the black-eyed children we encountered in Florida while visiting Andi’s grandparents. These faces looked different. The eyes appeared almost normal, more human.
I knew that couldn’t be good. They were making modifications to the hybrid children. The idea was enough to turn my stomach.
A few doors down, we found a room that looked like it belonged in the control center of NASA.
“This has to be it,” Zeke said.
I took a look around. The place was filled with monitors showing different parts of the world. Some of the on-screen images looked familiar.
“Shouldn’t there be people here?” Andi asked.
“Who knows?” I said. “Maybe Azazel’s minions work here. Maybe… I have no idea.” There are always more questions than answers.
“That’s my grandparent’s house!” Andi pointed to one monitor. “They’ve been watching us, probably for months.”
“That’s our hotel.” Chad pointed to an image of the hotel we were using as our headquarters. Then he bent forward and worked at drawing a breath.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. I looked at the places where the eels had bitten him. It was hard to tell much through the torn fabric of his Antarctic gear. I could see dark fluid staining the material, and a trail of blood marked the floor beneath us. All this time, he had been helping Brenda when he needed help just as badly. “Chad, we have to stop the bleeding—”