by R J Johnson
Two men turned the corner, thinking they had heard something, but after a quick look inside the vault, they decided their ears were playing tricks on them.
Ododa reappeared underneath the Eiffel tower, barely holding onto the heavy money bags. Lwansa was sitting on a nearby park bench, holding their daughters’ hands. She looked up at him and stood to rush over to him, worried, “Ododa…?”
He waved and handed her the cash and bearer bonds.
“Hold this,” he said, wincing. The adrenaline had kept him from feeling most of his pain, but that was beginning to fade.
“What are these?” Lwansa asked, holding the bearer bonds as if they were insects about to sting her.
“Bearer bonds, and enough money for you to disappear with the children and stay safe for a very long time,” Ododa said firmly.
“For us?” Lwansa asked, her eyes wide. “How much is in there?”
“My guess?” Ododa said, checking his wound. “Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2, 1.3 million euros.”
Her jaw dropped.
“Where did you get all this money?” she demanded. He waved her off with a tired arm and drew them in.
“That doesn’t matter,” Ododa said. “What matters is making sure you remain safe. Come, I’m taking you to safety.”
He held her close, and his family disappeared again in a flash of light.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Collier looked at the pile of money spread out before him, grinning like he’d won the lottery. He’d never seen this much money before in his life. With it, he could do anything and everything he’d ever wanted. He could finally give Emily everything she deserved and more.
They could live a life free of hardship and struggle. They could live together in peace while he went on expeditions of his own choosing and funding. She could listen to the stars from the privacy of her very own radio telescope; he’d build it for her.
He looked over the ocean of cash and knew it was only the beginning. With his power, he could break into any bank, anyplace that held anything he wanted. If his experience with the SDPD was any indication, no one, not even the full force of the United States government, would be able to stop him.
Again, he thought of his Emily. She didn’t even know he was back in the States yet. He wanted to surprise her with the story of his new position, but clearly, after the events of the last few hours, things had changed.
He had to call her and tell her to join him in San Diego. Whipping out his phone, he dialed her up.
A strong male voice picked up on the other end. “Hello?”
Collier was taken aback. He had expected Emily’s dulcet tones, not this strange sounding man. “This is Maxwell Collier. Who’s this?”
“Collier?”
He heard paper shuffling on the other end of the phone line. “How do you know Emily Harper?” the voice asked, sounding suspicious.
Collier’s voice shook. “This is her goddamn fiancé! Put Emily on the phone!”
The voice didn’t respond. Collier looked at his phone, wondering if he had lost the connection.
“Professor Maxwell Collier?” the voice repeated.
“YES!” Collier roared. He felt the stone grow hot in his pocket, flaring out and leaving a scorch mark on his jeans.
“Professor, I’m afraid to inform you that your fiancé was taken last night, and we don’t know where she is now,” the voice said, stiffly.
Collier swallowed and felt fear for the first time since he found the stone in Peru. “What happened? Who has her?”
The voice paused again, as if the person on the other end was deciding something.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have any information I can release to you at this time…”
Collier heard excited voices whisper behind the man. He hung up the phone, feeling his entire body go cold.
Before he was even aware of them, flames erupted from his hand. He felt the flames erupt from his hands even though he hadn’t summoned it. It was the rage and hate he felt at whoever had dared kidnap his wife to be. She was the love and light of his life. If she were missing, or worse, everything else he’d done would be for nothing.
He screamed and threw a fireball towards the cabin windows, blowing the floor to ceiling out in spectacular fashion. Standing in the gap and looking over the bay, he made his decision. He’d find the guilty party and make them pay.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Colonel Nathaniel Ash hung up the phone and looked around Emily Harper’s office at the Allen Telescope Array. He’d read the reports about the attack against the Array last night, shortly after Tate had been released from custody, and thought from the witnesses’ descriptions it was worth checking out.
It had surprised him that the woman whom Kline had kidnapped was the same Emily Harper his friend Alex had talked incessantly about. He’d initially thought it was an interesting coincidence, but the tickle on the back of his neck was warning him that there might be a lot more to this than originally thought.
Ash looked around the office one final time, gathering everything he thought might be relevant to the investigation. He then strode out into the hallway and down towards the exit, where one of his subordinates caught up to him.
“Sir, every security feed we can find was wiped. The hard drives were destroyed.”
“No cloud storage?” Ash asked, frowning.
“Not for their security feed,” his subordinate said with a shrug. “They’re more worried about rogue coyotes out here than anyone who might want to steal something.”
Ash shook his head. He’d expected Kline to be competent, but he hadn’t figured on him being quite so thorough.
“Keep looking for anything else we may have…”
“That’s just it, sir,” the subordinate said, handing him an iPhone. “He wiped the security feed, but he didn’t get their phones. One of the scientists took this video.”
Ash snatched the phone out of his subordinate’s hand and watched the video of Kline battling with someone in the parking lot. He paused the video and zoomed in, his jaw agape.
There was Alex, standing tall and fighting against the man he had been charged with bringing in.
Alex was alive. Ash swallowed and absorbed that information. This changed everything.
He whirled and looked again at Emily’s picture, then back at the video screen. Jesus, Alex was alive. Ash couldn’t decide if this was his worst nightmare or the best day of his life.
Unfortunately, this latest wrench in his plans would have to wait. An e-mail from his boss lit up in his inbox, catching his attention immediately.
He moved quickly towards the helicopter that had brought him to Hat Creek and waved to the pilot.
“One of our targets has surfaced in San Diego,” Ash said to the pilot, who nodded and began flipping switches as the powerful engines spun up.
If Alex was a part of all this, Ash thought happily, perhaps he could kill two birds with one stone.
He chuckled at the irony of the thought as the helicopter rose off the valley floor. The bird turned and headed for the closest airport, where Ash could catch a flight to Southern California and get some answers.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kline looked down at Mbasi, who was sweating in terror as he looked up at the manic billionaire. Tate moved through the destroyed office and found a bottle of water that had somehow survived the landslide. He picked it up and went looking for a cup.
“Mr. …” Kline intoned.
“Mbasi, sir,” Mbasi gasped.
“What happened here, Mr. Mbasi?” Kline asked. He took the cup out of Geoffrey’s hands, poured from the bottle, and handed the cup to Mbasi. The frightened man took it gratefully and guzzled it.
“Ododa,” he said, water dribbling down his chin. “That’s the man you shot. He found something within the crystal chamber.”
“What did he find?” Kline asked, leaning forward, his eyes hungry.
“I don’t know,” Mbasi said h
onestly. “Whatever it was, it’s given him the power to appear and disappear at will.”
Kline smiled and leaned back as he imagined the uses for a power like that.
“Where is he now?” Kline asked abruptly.
Mbasi looked down in shame. “That I do not know.”
“He has a home here, does he not?” Kline asked, standing up.
“A few miles away,” Mbasi said with a nod. “I will take you there.”
“Yes, you will,” Kline said, an ugly glint appearing in his eye. Mbasi, not noticing that, got up to move towards the door of the trailer.
Kline caught his arm and stopped him.
“Say, I noticed you and he were in a bit of an argument when we pulled up,” Kline remarked. “What was that about?”
Tate sat back and crossed his arms. He knew where this was going, and it didn’t end well for poor Mr. Mbasi.
Mbasi swallowed. “A matter between Mr. Ododa and myself. I promise, it has nothing to do with…”
“LIES!” Kline hissed, swiping his arm and tossing the table that stood between them. Tate watched it crash spectacularly into the wall, where it disintegrated from the force from Kline’s inhuman strength.
“Do you see this?” Kline asked him, holding the teal stone, a twin to his red, shining brightly.
Mbasi nodded, recognizing it for what it was.
“I am just now understanding what it offers. One ability is apparently knowing exactly when someone is lying!”
As Mbasi cowered beneath Kline, the billionaire lifted the man up by his collar. Heavy as Mbasi was, Kline hauled him straight into the ceiling headfirst.
“What were you arguing about?!” Kline roared. “I will NOT ask you again!”
“I tried to take his stone,” Mbasi said, tears running down his face. “I wanted the power for myself!”
“What did you do?” Kline asked maliciously.
“I took his daughters as ransom for the stone!” Mbasi said quaking in his chair. He hoped that the truth would spare his life. “I tried and failed. The only reason I was able to get away is because you showed up and saved me.”
“Where are his daughters now?” Kline hissed.
“Gone or dead.” Mbasi said, shaking his head. “I cannot be sure, but I imagine he used his stone to free them.”
Kline stood up and looked at Tate, nodding. Tate stepped up and pulled out his knife, slicing Mbasi’s throat quickly. The man wasn’t even able to cry out in surprise as the blood flooded down his shirt, staining the floor below him.
“Let that be a lesson to you, Mr. Tate,” Kline said, wiping his hands as he watched Mbasi die. “Failing when you go after the king comes with a heavy price….”
“I’d rather serve the king and be rewarded,” Tate said honestly. At this point, so long as he got paid, why should he care what the king did?
Kline looked over to him and nodded, a smile playing out on his face. Tate was being honest.
He took out the teal stone and looked at it, wondering if this was the full extent of its powers. There was more power for the taking, he knew. So much more.
He flashed back to his brief ability to control that shapeshifting woman back at Joshua Tree. And then there was the certainty he’d felt when Mbasi lied to him. The stone worked much differently than the one that gave him strength, but it clearly had its uses nonetheless.
And now he understood exactly what those uses were.
Kline stepped outside. Tate looked up from the dying Mbasi to see his boss stand in front of a boulder that had been ejected from the earlier landslide at the mine.
Stretching out a hand, Kline concentrated on the massive boulder. Tate watched astonished as the boulder slowly lifted of its own accord, high above their heads. Kline giggled as he threw the stone like he would a baseball. The massive boulder flew through the air and crashed, exploding spectacularly against the canyon wall, making the ground shake as pieces of it rained to the ground.
Tate stepped up next to Kline and watched the boulder slowly roll back down the hill towards them, bringing along another smaller landslide.
“That ought to come in handy,” Tate said dryly.
Kline looked at his hands and laughed. He was a god. A demigod perhaps, but he was growing stronger, and once he had the stone used by this Ododa fellow, he would be unstoppable.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Alex, Emily, Scott and Christina piled into the Hypertruck, their sense of purpose renewed. Fortunately for them, their hotel had been located outside the checkpoints the police had set up hoping to cut Collier off from escape. Scott engaged the Hypertruck’s camouflage, and they moved quickly through the heavy traffic undetected.
“Where to, Emily?” Alex asked.
“Head towards Oceanside,” Emily said. Scott nodded and programmed in the destination.
“Anywhere in particular?” Scott asked.
“He’s got a place just off the main drag that he uses when he’s in town.”
“A Pierre de Terrier,” Scott said, “Impressive.”
“That’s ‘pied-a-terre,’ moron,” Alex said.
“I like my way better.”
“Whatever it means,” Emily interrupted the pair, “it’s the closest place he’ll feel comfortable going to.”
“How long?” Alex asked.
“Thirty minutes if the traffic keeps up,” Scott said, eyeing the panel in front of them. The computer downloaded constant traffic updates, so he could tell exactly how long it would take.
Emily turned to him and looked at Alex accusingly. “You’ve still got some story left.”
“As do you,” Alex reminded her. She looked wounded, and Alex didn’t feel bad about the cheap shot, even if he should have.
She refused to speak. All she did was stare at him. Alex looked over to Scott for help, but he suddenly became intensely interested in his screen and ignored Alex’s gaze.
Alex sighed and decided, Why not? Who knew how much longer they had to live anyway?
His death had been quick, Alex was told. According to the Army’s report, a squad had been training in the area where Alex had been walking, and he was accidentally run over by a tank coming out of nowhere. It solved the problem of not having a body to show the family. The remains given to them were nothing more than leftover ash from kilns that had cremated other bodies.
Alex swallowed as he looked at the urn that would be given to his family. It felt strange to hold something that might’ve actually contained him if his life had gone in a different direction. He turned the urn over in his hands, looked at the inscription giving his dates of birth and death and shuddered.
Steeling his nerve, he tried to change his thinking about the new assignment. He figured this was an opportunity for him to be reborn, like he’d wanted to be all along. Hell, it was his reason for joining up. But for some reason, joining up had never helped him get over Emily like it was supposed to. Now, he didn’t have a choice. Alex McCray was dead, and “Jason” had replaced him. His past would no longer haunt him. He wouldn’t have to deal with Emily’s judgment or his father’s disappointment. He was completely on his own now.
Besides, it was too late to turn back. Ash had made that extremely clear. He’d made some noises about Alex being able to “possibly” contact his father years down the line, but the amount of money they were about to steal meant they needed to disappear completely. Despite Ash’s assurances, he knew the last time he had spoken with his father would likely be it.
He thought about that for a moment and decided he had more pressing matters to attend to. The men he was riding with were serious, and would likely kill him just for thinking about violating their agreement in the first place.
“How long?” Alex asked Ash. Ash shushed him as he studied the map. The truck they were in bounced down the hot dirt road as they approached an airstrip far off base.
As it came to a stop, Alex got out and looked around, not liking what he saw. They were totally exposed.
; “Ash, I don’t like this…” Alex warned. The rest of the men filed out next to him, all of them clearly, similarly disturbed. Ash waved off their concerns and pointed up to the sky.
As they looked up, Alex could hear the faint sound of a jet heading for a landing on the runway. The plane, a huge private jet, came in low and fast and touched down expertly.
Ash pointed to the plane, and the men hustled quickly to get inside. Alex followed them as they piled in.
“We ready?” Ash asked the pilot.
The pilot nodded as he finished up his final checklist.
“Then let’s not waste any time,” Ash said. He closed the airplane door and sat down across from Alex, who was strapping himself into the luxurious seat.
“What am I doing here, Ash?” Alex asked, his voice low.
“You’re the best part,” Ash replied. “You’re the one who’s gonna steal the money.”
The plane took off from the runway and tilted up in a steep 45-degree angle. They were power climbing to avoid any possible insurgents, who might be looking for an easy, attractive target.
Alex looked alarmed at the men, who were obviously preparing themselves for battle. He then looked at Ash, who was also securing his equipment.
“Where is this plane?” Alex asked after a few minutes, still looking at the men.
“Right now? Probably sixty thousand feet up, somewhere over the Atlantic,” Ash replied with a grin.
Alex leaned forward in shock, “And you expect to hijack it without anyone noticing?”
“Not me,” Ash replied, calmly throwing a harness and equipment belt over to Alex. “You guys.”
Alex looked back at the combat-ready men, his eyes wide in shock. “You can’t be serious.”
“As a heart attack,” Ash said cheerfully. “Don’t worry, I believe you can do it!”
“Oh good, we’re working with the Tinkerbell theory,” Alex said, throwing up his hands. “Just because you believe in me, doesn’t mean I can…”