Shadow Born

by Jamie Sedgwick

  She watched in anguish as the children divided their portions and ate them, to the last scrap. Crystal got the end of a carrot and half of a rock-hard dinner roll. After they were finished, the children formed small groups. Some of them went to play in the mud, building sandcastles and buildings, and forming it into small animals and people that they could play with. Of course, as the mud dried, the inventions crumbled. Then the children recycled the mud and replaced them with new ones.

  Some of the other children grouped up to tell stories and sing. During the course of the day, Julia observed them creating plays. They pretended to be knights and princesses, and they saved their kingdom by defeating a terrifying dragon.

  She also observed two other interesting things.

  The first occurred early, probably about nine A.M. The dungeon had brightened up considerably, and Julia took advantage of the light by searching for a means of escape. Any weakness in the building’s structure could be utilized, if she could only find it. A crack in a stone could become an opening, or the smallest piece of wire might allow her to pick the lock.

  In the midst of her search, Julia glanced at the bench upon which she had slept. “Oh!” she said suddenly.

  Crystal was instantly at her side. “Are you okay?”

  Julia smiled warmly. “Yes dear, I just noticed something. Did you know that that bench really isn’t a bench at all?” Crystal shook her head. “Well, it’s true. It’s an altar, where people used to pray to their ancestors. Do you know what this means? I think we’re in china.” The realization of course, was of no assistance at the moment.

  The second discovery came later in the day, when a five-year-old named Lisa approached her. “My dress ripped again,” she complained. “Can you fix it for me?”

  Julia examined the sleeve and found that the thread had broken at the shoulder seam. “If I had a needle I could,” she said. “Unfortunately there’s not much we can do right now.” The child turned away, but Julia still had the fabric pinched between her fingers, and it ripped further. “Oh dear,” she said. “I’m sorry… what’s this?” Julia saw a strange scarring on the girls shoulder as the material pulled away.

  “It’s my birthmark,” Lisa explained.

  “How interesting! May I see it?” The girl happily complied, pulling her sleeve all the way up. What Julia saw sent her mind reeling. The girl had the exact same birthmark as Gabriel.

  “Wanna see mine?” Crystal said, already pulling up her own sleeve. It was the same.

  “You too?” Julia was aghast. “You both have this mark?”

  “We all do,” said Crystal. “It’s ‘cause we’re friends.” Suddenly all the children were rushing to Julia’s side, ripping off their shirts and pulling up their sleeves to proudly display the mark. Some of them were on their chests, some on their shoulders, but they were all virtually identical to Gabriel’s mark. Julia felt the sudden urge to sit down. What could be the meaning of it, these children coming into the world all at once, each bearing the same mark? There was something going on here, something that she could only barely grasp.

  She recalled an old argument with Reeves. Was it the work of God that saved the world over and over? Was it divine intervention that maintained the balance between light and dark? Reeves didn’t think so, but Julia wasn’t so sure. Good and evil were real. These children arriving now, with the mark, just as D.A.S. had been destroyed… it was too much coincidence. She wished Reeves were still alive to be skeptical for her. He’d have a good, logical explanation for it all.

  Chapter 35

  Gabriel heard Jodi scream as Reeves pulled the trigger and three rounds instantaneously struck him in the center of his chest. He stumbled back in shock, reaching for the wound as he fell. He slammed into the elevator doors and dropped to the floor. It was a moment frozen in time, and his eyes fell on his horror-stricken companions.

  Gabriel was dying. They all knew it, including himself.

  The strange thing was, although his chest did hurt a bit, he didn’t feel like he was dying at all. It was more like he’d been slapped or stung by a bee. In fact it didn’t even hurt that much. Not only that, but the liquid on his chest was cool. Blood wasn’t cool. His blood should be hot, coming out of his chest like that.

  Gabriel glanced down and didn’t see any blood at all. He saw a thick, milky liquid on his chest, and then noticed a light mist surrounding him. “Unbelievable,” he muttered breathlessly. He blinked, still in shock. Reeves had shot him with R9-11! He’d forgotten to switch out his ammo.

  Reeves watched with a quizzical look on his face as Gabriel stood upright and, strangely, didn’t die. He looked Gabriel up and down and then looked at the impotent weapon in his hand. Suddenly Jodi and Pete were laughing, and Gabriel couldn’t help but join them. The situation was so crazy that it was comical.

  The moment of elation didn’t last, though. Reeves tossed the gun aside and rushed Gabriel. He leapt into a flying jump kick. Gabriel twisted aside just in time, and the older man shot past him like a missile. Reeves’ boot missed Gabriel’s face by an inch.

  Gabriel vaulted backwards across the room, putting himself between Pete and Jodi. “I’ll hold him off,” he said. “You two think of something.”

  That was all he had time for. Reeves was back, and he went on the attack. The movements were so fast that Gabriel could barely see them. As the blows rained down, all Gabriel could do was let his instincts take over. He twisted, blocked, and kicked; he spun around and then leapt into the air. Anything to deflect or avoid those blows. If Reeves landed a solid punch, Gabriel knew he’d be in trouble.

  Though he was holding his own for the moment, Gabriel realized he was fighting an impossible battle. According to what Reeves had taught him, Gabriel should be running for dear life. Reeves was a grizzled veteran with more experience, and superior strength and training. He was also ready and able to kill. Gabriel was just a kid who’d been trained by shadowfriends as an assassin.

  Even if Gabriel had the opportunity to do what he was trained to do, he couldn’t. Whatever was wrong with Reeves, it wouldn’t justify killing him. But Gabriel couldn’t run either. He couldn’t leave his friends behind, and he certainly couldn’t give Reeves another chance to kill him. For now, he gave everything he had just to come to a stalemate.

  In the background, Pete and Jodi bounced from room to room, looking for something to use as a weapon. As the moments ticked by, Gabriel grew increasingly concerned. Reeves swung at him and Gabriel deflected the blow, in turn delivering a kick to Reeves’ midsection. It was a good shot and Gabriel cringed, hoping he hadn’t hurt his friend.

  Reeves had no such restraint. He took the blow and rolled with it, turned sideways and delivered a solid punch to Gabriel’s jaw. Gabriel saw stars. He fell back, reeling from the blow. Reeves could have taken him right there, but then something happened.

  Reeves was about to go for the kill when a rectangular metal object appeared out of nowhere and struck him in the chest. It was quickly followed by another, which glanced off his shoulder. He took a step back and raised his hands to ward off the flying objects. Gabriel spun around to see Jodi and Pete standing behind him with an armload of computer hard drives.

  “Its all there was,” Pete said apologetically.

  Gabriel nodded. It wasn’t the solution he’d hoped for, but at least it gave him a moment to pull himself together. That was, until Reeves started throwing them back. Pete and Jodi dove for cover in one of the adjoining rooms as a hail of hard drives came flying at them. The children safely avoided the assault, but several hard drives hit the wall so hard they stuck.

  Strangely, Reeves didn’t throw any of them at Gabriel. He was so preoccupied with the others that he seemed to have forgotten Gabriel was even there. Whatever the Shadowlords had done to Reeves’ brain, it hadn’t left him thinking very clearly. He continued throwing hard drives until he had used them up. Then Reeves remembered why he was there.

  They met in the middle of the room, circling
each other like hungry wolves. Reeves leapt, Gabriel spun and blocked, then countered with a kick at Reeves’ knee. Reeves fended off the blow and took a swing that went wide of its mark. Gabriel’s response was a glancing blow across Reeves’ forehead. It went on like this for a while, until they were both dripping with sweat and breathing heavily, but neither gave an inch of ground. And then everything changed.

  It may have been a lucky strike, or it may have been a dirty trick. It happened so fast that Gabriel couldn’t tell. He struck, blocked, and struck again, just as he had been, and suddenly he found an opening. Reeves’ guard was down for just a moment, giving Gabriel a shot at an uppercut to the jaw… a possible knockout blow!

  However, Gabriel had to overextend his reach in order to land the punch, and it was just enough that when Reeves hit his ankle, Gabriel went down like a bag of bricks. Instantly, Reeves was upon him.

  The elder man’s weight crushed Gabriel down to the floor. His hands closed around Gabriel’s neck. Gabriel struggled against Reeves’ vice-like grip, but it was futile. He didn’t have the strength to counter the veteran warrior.

  Reeves flinched as the hard drives came flying at him again. Unfortunately, neither Pete nor Jodi seemed to be very accurate with their makeshift weapons. Not a single one struck Reeves anywhere near his head, which was the only place they were going to do any significant damage. In a few more moments, Gabriel would be dead and Reeves could calmly take care of the others.

  Gabriel thrashed around, kicking and punching for all he was worth, but he just couldn’t land a decent blow. Reeves was too big, too powerful, and his reach was too great. Gabriel clawed at the hands, trying to pry them off or push them away, but Reeves’ muscles were like steel bands. He even tried to strike Reeves’ elbows, hoping to collapse them. Nothing worked. Reeves shrugged off everything that Gabriel threw at him. The edges of Gabriel’s vision darkened, and he saw spots swimming before his eyes.

  Chapter 36

  Gabriel’s heart pounded in his ears as consciousness slipped away. He threw one last punch at Reeves’ face, a last desperate attempt, and came up short. But as this happened, something caught his eye. It was a glint of light, a reflection off the face of… his watch! And suddenly Gabriel remembered his present from Jodi. It was a tazer-watch, a weapon lovingly handcrafted by the best self-defense company in the world. At least, that’s what the manual had claimed.

  Gabriel aimed the watch at Reeves’ chest and then slammed his fist down on its face. There was a little ‘pop’ and two probes appeared in Reeves’ chest. Half a million volts shot through the veteran’s body, and then into Gabriel’s.

  Reeves’ fists clenched and unclenched and his body convulsed as electricity coursed through him. He lost his grip and tumbled to the ground, shaking and frothing at the mouth. It was all Gabriel could do to roll away. He lay there panting, his heart beating triple time. Then he blacked out.

  When Gabriel returned to consciousness, Pete and Jodi were hanging over him. They appeared to be deciding if he needed CPR. Neither of them seemed to be very anxious to do it, and Gabriel wondered if he should be offended.

  “I’m okay,” he said. “You’re off the hook.” They both cheered. Gabriel rolled onto his stomach and crawled to his knees. “Where’s Reeves?”

  “Right next to you,” said Pete. “He’s out like a light!”

  “Good. We better get him tied up.”

  “I’ll get some rope,” Jodi said.

  “Wait!” said Pete. “There are some pretty powerful sedatives in the first aid kit. Why don’t we just knock him out for a day or two?”

  Gabriel stared at him, incredulous. “WHY DIDN’T YOU USE THAT BEFORE?”

  Pete looked sheepish. “Sorry. Didn’t think of that.”

  Gabriel made it to his feet and noticed the two wires dangling from his watch. “Guess it’s a one-time thing,” he said.

  Jodi smiled. “Guess so. I’ll get you another for Christmas.”

  “Thanks.” Gabriel would never look at a watch the same way again. That clever little device had saved his life. Maybe all of their lives.

  “I think those things are gonna be mandatory for all field agents from now on,” Pete said. The phone started ringing and Pete walked to a nearby desk. He hit the speakerphone button. “Hello?”

  “Pete, is that you? Thank goodness! All heck broke loose up here. Julia’s been taken.” It was Mr. Oglesby, and he sounded half-delirious.

  “I know,” Pete said. “Gabriel and Jodi are here with me.”

  “Oh, thank goodness!” He sounded so relieved he might pass out. Pete asked where he was and what had happened, and Mr. Oglesby related the story of escaping and finding his way back down the mountainside. However, he left out the ‘wolf’ part. When Jodi and Gabriel told him about it later, Pete refused to believe. He thought they were trying to play a joke on him.

  “Will you be okay at the Lodge for a while?” Pete said. “Gabriel and Jodi should be leaving within the next twenty-four hours, and they could swing by and pick you up.”

  “Certainly, I’ll be just fine,” said Mr. Oglesby. “One thing, though. Could you bring me some clothes?” Pete’s eyebrows shot up, but he agreed to the request.

  “Well I guess we’d better get those mods finished on the plane,” Pete said after hanging up. You two will be heading out to China in the morning.”

  “China?” Jodi echoed. “That’s where she is?”

  “The signal stopped moving a few hours ago. I think it’s safe to say so.”

  “If we know where she is, we need to go now,” said Gabriel.

  “The plane is almost done, it’ll be ready to go in a couple hours,” said Pete. “But you two need some rest. You’ve both gone for two days without sleep.”

  “We’ll sleep on the way,” Gabriel said. “We’ll take turns.”

  “It’s a fourteen hour flight,” Jodi added. “That’s plenty of time for us both to get caught up on sleep.”

  “All right then,” Pete said. “But I want constant radio contact with whoever’s flying. I want one of you awake at all times.”

  “Yes, mother,” said Jodi.

  Pete turned to look at Reeves’ limp form lying on the floor. “What are we gonna do with him?”

  “We should take him,” said Gabriel.

  “Are you crazy?” said Jodi. “If he wakes up in the air we’ll be going straight into the Pacific!”

  “We’ll tie him up,” said Gabriel. “Besides, Mr. Oglesby should be able to de-program him. He did it for me.”

  “I hate to say it,” said Pete, “but you guys are gonna need all the help you can get.”

  That settled it. They manhandled Reeves’ body upstairs and got him loaded onto the hay-cart with only a few bruises. “We’ll just tell him he got that from the fight,” Pete joked after knocking Reeves’ head into a doorway. They tied the cart up to Pete’s motorcycle and carefully towed it across the estate. A short while later, they had Reeves loaded onto the plane and securely tied into a seat.

  They got right to work. As Pete had promised, two hours later they were ready to go. Gabriel had just finished packing up the welder when Jodi returned from the house carrying a bag of clothes for Mr. Oglesby, and a picnic basket full of food.

  “I’m tired of starving,” she explained. “If I don’t start eating regularly my growth will be stunted!”

  “I thought it already was,” Pete teased.

  Naturally, Jodi responded by punching him in the arm and then chasing him in circles around the plane. Gabriel watched them with a thin smile, but his mind was elsewhere. According to Pete, Julia was being held in a castle in China, an ancient structure called the Celestial Palace, which was located somewhere in the mountains east of Xi’an. Other than that, the facts were sparse.

  Pete said the castle was located next to a large lake that looked like it might accommodate the Albatross, but he still wasn’t sure about the depth of the water. The surrounding area was all countryside, probably som
e sort of national park or historical preserve. This was just the sort of place where one might expect to find the shadowfriends setting up their lair. It was a natural fortress, easily defended and well isolated from the general populace. It didn’t sound like it was going to be easy to get into. Gabriel just hoped Mr. Oglesby could fix Reeves, because they were going to need the man’s expertise.

  “What’s up?” Jodi said. Gabriel hadn’t even noticed her approaching him.

  “Just thinking. I wish I had more information about this place.”

  “Don’t worry, Pete will get it. By the time we get there, you’ll know the place inside and out. Besides, you used to live there, right? You must remember something.”

  “It’s all pretty hazy,” said Gabriel. “I remember a lot of dark rooms and hallways. I didn’t get to go outside much. There was a training area that I remember, probably just outside the castle. I remember every obstacle and every target, but other than that my memories just aren’t there.”

  “It’ll be okay,” Jodi said. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll find her.”

  Gabriel nodded and managed a weak smile. He didn’t know how she could be so confident, but it did make him feel a bit better. If there was one thing Jodi was good for, it was confidence. He just prayed he could live up to her hopes.

  “All set,” Pete said. “Before you go, I’ve got a present for you.”

  “A present?” Gabriel said.

  “Yeah, in the plane. Come on!”

  Gabriel and Jodi followed him inside, exchanging a look. Neither of them knew what this was about. When they got inside, Pete took them to the instrument panel in the cockpit. “First things first. This is your control panel. The red button arms the rockets, the yellow button arms the grenades, the green buttons fire. You can cycle through single shot and multiple shot modes, and there is a laser targeting system for the rockets, which is controlled by this joystick…” He went on for a few minutes, going through a detailed explanation of how to use all the modifications that they had installed, and what to do if anything went wrong. Finally, he seemed to be finished. Either that or he was just catching his breath.