Gleb, filled with desperation and hope of escaping, turned to Niko and shouted,
“Has the money been transferred?”
Niko may be a skilled computer hacker and thief but he had never seen death or even heard the starkness of gunfire. He was sweating and shaking. Gleb madly repeated the question. This time Niko looked down at the screen and offered a meek, “Yes.”
With the gun pressed tight to Maria’s temple, Gleb turned his attention to Santo who was pointing his pistol at him. However, Gleb the consummate hostage taker was skilled enough to hold Maria close to his body. Santo knew he could not take a safe shot. Gleb demanded,
“What’s it going to be?”
Reluctantly Santo lowered his pistol, as did the other members of his team.
The only time Gleb ever sneered like that was when he smelled victory or money. He sneered and said,
“I don’t give a damn for this place or what you are doing here. I got my money so I’m just going to take this pretty hostage and sail into the sunset with her and my fortune. I’m guessing that I don’t have to tell you what happens if you try to stop me.”
While staring hard at Maria, Santo saw a blinking red light behind her and Gleb. Curiously, it was coming from out in the ocean.
Although Maria struggled, there was no escaping the steel grip. Santo’s only option was to bargain.
“You don’t mean anything to me either. I got what I came for. Let her go and you will be free as well.”
“No thank you. I think I’ll just keep my little hostage as an insurance policy.”
At the refusal to let her go, Santo nodded and Gleb thought it was an agreement to let him escape. It was not.
Suddenly Gleb’s head exploded in a burst of blood and skull fragments. Maria, although stunned, was alert enough to break free and take a hurried step away. She snapped back to see a most grotesque sight. Somehow his body had locked up and although teetering a bit, was standing without a head. Her reflexes took over. Just as he was crumbly to the ground, she threw a sideways kick into his chest sending him toppling over the edge and far to the ocean below.
Out in the distance, hovering not far from the cave opening was Waldorf’s D-wing that Santo had left behind as a precautionary backup. With the canopy open, Waldorf was standing upright armed with a computerized laser rifle targeted to hit only what was indicated in the scope. As he did not want to take the shot without permission, he had first made sure that Santo knew what was happening by getting his attention with the red target dot. When Santo nodded, Waldorf fired and Gleb lost his head.
From her passenger seat, Jessika looked up at Waldorf to see a strange radiance about him. He stood ridged, as if proud of his accomplishment. Santo cast him a casual nod of approval. That was all Waldorf was going to get for an assigned job but it greatly filled him with a pride lost. However, that pride was somewhat diminished when his bad leg forced him to struggle and sit back down. Jessika had compassion for his plight and looked the other way.
Maria, still stunned, meekly walked to Santo and stood by his side. Not taking the time to respond to her request for comfort, trusting that she really had intended to obey orders by staying in the D-wing, he instead yelled out in the distance to Waldorf,
“There is no time left. Get Jessika in here right away with the shutdown program.”
He then turned to see his men gathering the three female servants together.
Waldorf flew into the cave and landed beside the other D-wings. While he struggled to get his bad leg out of the cramped quarters, Jessika jumped to the ground. She was quickly directed to Niko who was frozen by shock but still managed to chew on a candy bar.
At his desk, she quickly joined the three pieces to form the three-sided pyramid. When placing it beside Niko’s step-down database, small streams of lightening sparked out of the pyramid. Jessika then quickly encoded the computer to accept the program. Done, she hurriedly pressed ‘send’. After a second or two, she was quick to realize that nothing happened. The sparks streaming from the pyramid did not penetrate the Gray computer. She tried again but with the same result. Frustrated, she turned to Santo and announced,
“It’s not working.”
Chapter 43
It was not a good morning for Vatican tourists. Last night barriers were set up at all public entrances. Eager tourists who had come early to avoid long lineups were shocked to be denied entry onto the Holy Ground. Soon thousands of disappointed sightseers wandered the streets of Rome questioning why admission and their prayers were denied.
Saint Peter’s Square was empty as were all the chapels and churches. Nobody was sitting at the library research tables and all souvenir shops were empty. All laic personnel were told to either stay home or leave the Vatican. Before evacuating, the last message from the Vatican radio station profoundly apologized for any inconvenience, explaining that it was a security exercise. By Papal Decree, all ordained priests were ordered to congregate in the Sistine Chapel. Those privileged to know what was going to happen either went to their personal altar to pray or hid in secret alcoves hoping for God to rescue them.
At noon, many who had clustered in the Sistine Chapel had gathered in small groups to discuss and speculate on what was really going on. Many thought because it was such a drastic thing to do, surely it was not just an exercise. Some speculated that there really were terrorists in the Vatican. Suddenly everybody snapped alert to a thunderous noise out in Saint Peter’s Square.
The brave ones ignored the order to stay in the Chapel and ran out to see what happened. When seeing the tall Egyptian obelisk in the middle of St. Peter’s Square toppled to the ground they gasped in fear of a revengeful God. Lying across the Square, it had snapped into three pieces and the top half slid across the square to crash into the Maderno Fountain. As if it was going to help, they crossed themselves and returned to the supposed safety of the Sistine Chapel.
Commander Razk was standing at a high window atop the dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica where he witnessed the first foray from the satellite. He had hoped that if prayer were not going to work, then at least he hoped Santo and his team would be able to break the code in time. However, it was now agonizingly clear that neither prayer nor the House of the Nazarene was enough to save the Vatican.
He watched as a pencil thin beam shot out of the Sentinel Satellite and targeted a small chapel over by the gardens. When the target was locked in, the death ray fired. When the dust cleared, only a crater and a plume of smoke remained where the chapel once was.
Another targeting beam shot down and he saw it point to a small insignificant plaza to his left. When the satellite fired its death beam, concrete and dirt exploded in all directions. Although the plaza was disintegrated, the death beam continued to bore ever downward. Underground, far below the plaza was the secret Chapel of God’s Word. The beam smashed into the cavern and instantly all priceless relics, including the Ark of the Covenant exploded into the basic stuff of creation. The bones of Quastima’s mate were finally free to join her ancestors, wherever ancestors of the Sky People gather.
Two more targeting beams then shot out of the satellite to touch two separate buildings. Strangely, one was an empty guest residence, an insignificant structure. The other touched a stone shrine in the middle of the Rose Garden. Neither seemed important to the preservation of the faith. When the satellite triggered, in an exploding flash both targets were converted to ethereal matter.
Another narrow target beam shot downward settling on the Sistine Chapel and Razk knew what was next. There was no time to convince the priests inside to run for their lives. With only seconds to go the Vatican’s most iconic Chapel would be turned to dust including the pious men inside. He hoped they were all praying. Suddenly another target beam shot down aiming right at his feet.
Chapter 44
All eyes were on Jessika frantically keying in codes to no avail. Frustrated and scared, she turned to the crowd and again snapped,
“It’s suppos
ed to work but it isn’t.”
As the triangle continued to spark and shoot out little bolts of electricity, it also started to vibrate and shimmer. Santo yelled,
“What’s wrong?”
A discouraged Jessika stood back and offered the only explanation she could think of.
“I don’t know. Maybe something else is supposed to happen but isn’t.”
Thinking that there was something wrong with the stepdown translator, that perhaps Niko had sabotaged it, Santo yelled at him,
“What have you done? Make it work.”
Niko, not understanding why he was to blame, stood agape and innocently shook his head. However, Santo would not accept his denial. He snapped his firearm up to Niko’s temple and meaning every word threatened,
“Right now one of two things is going to happen. What’s it going to be?”
Niko closed his eyes, braced for death and pleaded,
“I don’t know. She is obviously right, a procedure is missing.”
Maria was stunned at Santo’s vicious act. She had never seen him so vulgar and disrespectful to life. Although she understood the desperation, she also understood that he would pull the trigger if a solution to save the Vatican was not forthcoming. She slowly reached up, put her hand on his arm and softly said,
“He doesn’t know Santo.”
Despite her attempt, Santo’s arm remained rock solid in place, as did the barrel to Niko’s temple. Again, Santo demanded of him,
“What’s going to happen?”
Except for Maria, all eyes were on the pistol pressed hard to a trembling Niko’s temple. Maria noticed the triangle started shaking so violently that she was afraid it might rattle off the desk. That was when it came to her. With everybody’s attention to either a cringing Niko or frustrated Jessika still frantically attempting a solution on the keyboard, nobody noticed Maria reach for the triangle gone mad. Despite the fact it was in her hand, the sparks and vibration did not slow down. Staring at it intently, she turned it upside down and balanced the high point on her outstretched palm. It was only then that all eyes drifted to her.
As if by magic, the triangle stayed balanced on her palm. With a gentle finger she nudged the triangle and it started to rotate. Surprised, everybody saw it spinning faster and faster. She then lowered her hand between the two computers and removed her hand but the spinning triangle stayed in place floating in mid-air. The sparks got longer and were now able to enter the computer. Jessika excitedly declared,
“The computer is accepting the program.”
Santo finally lowered his handgun and Niko started breathing again. All eyes were on Maria waiting for an explanation. She grinned and sheepishly said,
“It’s a little trick I learned in Tibet.”
Chapter 45
Razk was still standing at a window atop the Dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica woefully observing the systematic destruction of the Vatican. With sad eyes, he looked down at the targeting beam aimed at his feet. It was clear that all was lost. Within seconds both holy icons of the Vatican will be blown off the map as well as himself. Having only seconds to live, he closed his eyes and prayed. At a time like this, when one was about to meet his maker, he wished he had been more attentive to prayers and had more conviction of his faith. He hoped that those sequestered inside the Sistine Chapel were praying for redemption as feverishly as he was now doing.
A brief moment passed but oddly he heard neither an explosion nor men screaming in pain. Perhaps death was painless. He could only hope. Expecting to see Saint Peter’s Gate, he slowly opened his eyes. To his great surprise, the Sistine Chapel was still there and untouched. After a close inspection of himself, he happily realized that he was not standing at the Pearly Gates. He shot his attention up to the Sentinel Satellite and saw that it was suspiciously inactive. Something had obviously shut the program down.
He saw the cloud suddenly turn bright red, like a light inside had turned on. Then, as if a portent to a coming storm, small lightning bolts shot out of it. All of a sudden there was a small implosion within the cloud and everything, the cloud and the Sentinel Satellite disappeared. He dearly wanted to thank God for the mercy shown but his pragmatic side understood whom really to thank.
While standing in the dome looking down at the intact Sistine Chapel, Commander Razk felt the fire of triumph rush through him. It was as if a condemned man had been saved from the gallows at the last second. His cell phone rang and answering it, he heard Santo ask,
“Does God still love you Commander?”
Razk tensely laughed aloud and then replied,
“Not as much as the Vatican loves you Captain.”
Then, after a breath, Commander Razk uttered sincere words that rarely came out of his mouth.
“Thank you.”
As there was nothing more to say, Santo hung up.
Chapter 46
There was jubilation in the cave and many words of congratulation as well as sighs of relief. Even Niko cracked a rare smile, not for the preservation of the Vatican for he could have cared less. He was just glad to be alive and rich. Santo was about to snap orders to confiscate all computers and programs when they heard a loud voice from the back of the cave yell,
“Hey, look who I found outside in the crater.”
Everybody turned to see the Duchess enter the main cavern displaying a mixed look of defeat and anger. As she took slow steps forward, one of Santo’s soldiers appeared behind her. He said,
“I was watching the crater like you said when I saw her running to that old D-wing out there.”
As everybody was looking at them, Santo slowly turned to look at Maria. She was fuming and clearly struggling to contain her rage. Just in case her temper won and decided to attack the Duchess, he took a precautionary step closer to her.
Although defeated, the Duchess had not lost her spiteful disposition. She cast hateful eyes at Maria and sneered,
“Well if it isn’t the little Princess Professor. How nice of you to join my little party.”
Maria clenched both fists. The Duchess then turned to Waldorf and cast him the same hateful sneer.
“I see my little welcome home surprise party on the island missed you as well. How disappointing.”
Waldorf exploded with contempt for her insolence and spite out,
“That attack killed innocent women and children and nearly wiped out the House of the Nazarene.”
With an expression seen only on chackling witches gathered around a cauldron, the Duchess exposed her true evil nature.
“The world has lots of women and children. I suppose I get some credit for trying.”
While still standing beside Maria, ready to intervene, Santo asked,
“How did you escape the Planet of the Grays?”
She bore hateful eyes hard into Santo and said,
“Yes, let’s not forget about this boy toy of the perfect little Princess shall we?”
She then suddenly screamed at him,
“You are the one responsible for my incarceration on that godforsaken planet.”
Then, as if it were a great insult to her high status she arrogantly added,
“Me, imprisoned in a goddamn insane asylum. Imagine.”
For the first time Maria vented and hissed,
“What a perfect place for you.”
Santo was also not sympathetic.
“I thought it was a planet of unemotional and detached aliens.”
“No!” she screamed, “It’s an Island of crazy scientists. I talked the jailer into sending me back with a promise that I would revenge the killing of Kalian by the House of the Nazarene.”
Surprised, Santo retaliated,
“But you killed Kalian.”
Smugness again showed its ugly side.
“Well thanks to me, they don’t believe that anymore.”
While the three combatants were facing off, Waldorf obeyed Santo’s order to gather up all the computers. When he went to the desk to take personal
charge of the Gray’s computer, he frowned in bitter disappointment. The three computer pieces had fallen apart and shattered on the desk. Sparks were wildly dancing around the Great Gray’s Step-down Atom Based computer and Waldorf understood the death signs.
Jessika approached and saw the destruction. Waldorf offered a weak explanation,
“It must have shorted out somehow.”
She was more pragmatic, saying,
“It is more likely that the pieces were programmed for single usage only.”
She clearly understood the futility of recovering the program but hope prevailed. The shattered pieces, along with the smoldering step-down computer were scooped into her satchel.
On the other side of the cave, the Nazarene soldiers had already dragged the Russian bodies into a pile waiting for further orders. There was no need to keep an eye on the three female servants as they were standing in a tight huddle fearing for their lives.
Maria was still trying her best to contain her boiling rage when the Duchess screamed at her,
“You helped put me on that godforsaken planet. Look what you have done to me. After all the things I did for you. Without me you would be a nothing little scientist collecting useless DNA samples of petty tribes in the Amazon Jungle for some insignificant university. I made you what you are and look what you did to me. I spent all those insufferable years on a cursed island with comatose scientists who sometimes forgot to breath.”
THe Sentinal Satellite Page 26