The sea-demon, Susanoo, stared right into Kane’s eyes with his only working one. The other black orb was a ruined mess of flesh and gore. Hank had apparently done a number on the jerkoff before launching him out to sea.
Kane knew he needed to strike, but he first needed a diversion. He knew his movements would be slow and clumsy in the water, but thankfully, he trained in such environments, using its natural resistance to speed up his strikes and increase his strength. It was a practice that he started when recovering from the broken back he suffered in Colombia back when he fought alongside John Frost and J.R. Brooks. They were his friends and his Ranger team members at one point. Both men tried to kill him during the incidents that spanned Central and North America earlier in the year. Now, both asshats were dead. One by a train, and one by an ancient biological weapon.
It’s then the distraction happened.
A large black shape landed nearby, burying itself in the shallow waters. Susanoo flinched, not expecting to see the helo, giving Kane the opportunity he needed. He reached over his head and as quickly as he could, drew the razor-sharp sword. The motion was noticed, but not quick enough. He impaled the monster in the gut, pushing the blade in as deep as he could, burying it to the hilt. Next, he let go and kicked away.
Susanoo just stood, the top of his scale-covered head breaking the surface an inch or so. Kane turned, swimming backwards, and watched Susan draw the blade out with a swift pull. He could hear the blackened creature scream from here, dropping the prized weapon onto the sand below. But the monster wasn’t done… Susanoo stomped towards him, moving incredibly fast for something underwater.
Screw it, Kane thought as he turned. He needed to get to shore and even the playing field. His gun would finish his enemy off, but he didn’t trust the impact of the rounds underwater. Once he was on land, he had fourteen .50 caliber bullets at his beck and call.
After a dozen, or so, more strokes, Kane stood and ran with all his might. Water was a mean mistress if you were in a hurry. Yes, whether you had to pee and didn’t want to go in the pool, or in this case, you were running for your life, H2O wanted to let the bad guy catch up and make things interesting.
And it did.
Susanoo caught Kane by the back of the shirt, slashing his fatigues to bits. But that’s all he could do. In one fluid motion, Kane released the drenched clothes, yanking on the concealed cord. Susanoo fell back a little, surprised. It’s the last expression he’d show.
An explosion of water disrupted Kane’s potential goring as Nicole, like a leaping…mermaid…launched herself from the water and onto Susanoo’s back. Kane quickly understood what she was doing when he saw the glint of metal in her hand. As she landed on him, she drove the tip of her massive nine-inch KA-BAR knife blade into the base of Susanoo’s neck. The fight instantly went out of the demon’s face as he slumped forward, sinking like a stone.
Kane and Nicole headed for dry ground, Kane helping the smaller woman. She looked ready to pass out, breathing heavily.
“Where the hell did you come from?” he asked, setting her down on the beach. He immediately collapsed next to her.
Inbetween puffs she explained. “After…I went and got them,” she pointed further down the sand. Kane saw his uncle and the pilot laying on the sun-soaked beach, resting, “I headed over here.”
“You think he’s dead—Susan, I mean?”
Nicole shrugged. “I really don’t care. We need to find Hank.”
Kane nodded and stood, helping her to her feet. But instead of heading back up the dunes, he turned back towards the water.
“What are you doing?” Nicole asked.
He motioned with his chin. “Gettin’ my sword back… You want your knife?”
She shook her head. “That asshole can have it. My gift to him.”
Kane re-entered the water, giving the inert form of Susanoo a wide birth just in case. There was black oily blood everywhere, making visibility tough, but moments later he found the shimmering sword.
As he grabbed it, he looked down at his booted feet. The ground was just inches below him and he started to doubt being able to find his friend.
Where the hell are you man?
25
Somewhere
I’m really sick of being underground, I think, turning to my captor.
“What’s the Citadel?” I ask, but get no reply. She’s refused to answer any questions about it. So, instead of antagonizing her, I switch tactics and try to get some other information out of her.
Currently, we’re traveling in the strangest mode yet. It’s like we’re in the giant boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark, but we’re underground and not in a dilapidated temple.
Innerground, I think. It’s actually a better representation of what’s going on.
“How are you doing this?” I ask, curious. Plus, we have some time to kill, so why not know how?
“It’s like a form of matter displacement, except I put the removed earth back when I’m done.”
“How is it rolling?”
She shrugs, holding her hands out in front of her. “The top of the sphere pulls the ground down, removing the next layer in front of us. The bottom then quickly expels it back from where it came, filling in the void.”
“And the ground under our feet? Why doesn’t it move?”
“Because we’d have nowhere to stand.” The grin on her face tells me she intended to make me feel dumb, and honestly, it worked. She continues. “It is moving, but I built a solid platform just above the base of the sphere. It stays put, while the rest rotates.”
“Like a Gyrosphere.”
She nods. “Good movie.”
“You saw Jurassic World?”
The look on her face is one of confusion. “Everyone has seen Jurassic World, Mr. Boyd.”
Now it’s my turn to shrug. “Or like BB-8.”
I raise my thumb and imitate the droid’s flaming thumbs-up gesture. It was easily my favorite part of the movie. It even gets a tired laugh out of Terra.
“Seriously, though,” I say, changing tones, “why are you still hooked up with these wackos? You’re obviously different from them. You could leave and—”
The ball stops suddenly, throwing me forward. I careen into the front wall, but luckily take the hit in the shoulder, avoiding my tenth, maybe eleventh, concussion.
I stand and dust myself off, turning back to Terra.
“Please don’t question my motives,” she says, closing the sphere in some, adding to my discomfort. “We all do things we don’t want to. I still have my reasons to continue on and serve my master.”
I step forward but raise my hands in a non-threatening way. “From the looks of it, you have everything you need to take care of yourself. You literally control the Earth. If you want to play the part of the stooge, I won’t stop you.” To prove it, I step around her, motioning for her to continue. She does but stops when I speak again. “But you need to figure out if it’s your heart or your head that guides you. It’s dangerous for it to be both.”
She turns her head slightly, glancing at me. I hold her gaze, watching her eyes flick to the side a little. She’s thinking about what I said but doesn’t voice an opinion.
Terra then returns her attention to the task at hand and gets us moving again. Wanting to keep the lines of conversation open and somewhat friendly, I return my questioning to her abilities.
“What do we do for air?”
“You’ll be fine,” she said. “I will stop every so often and create an air vent to the surface, allowing the oxygen to renew itself. It’s not the easiest way to maneuver, but it’s the safest.”
“Safest?” I asked.
“From the enemy.”
“We aren’t your enemies—well not before you killed countless people.”
The sphere rumbles as her shoulder muscles tighten.
“I didn’t kill anyone, Mr. Boyd.”
“Hank,” I say, hating it when people speak so formally to me. “And your
family killed dozens—hundreds even.”
“But not me.”
I want to lay into her and label her with the guilty by association tag, but decide that now isn’t the time. So far, Terra has been more than willing to keep things cordial. Best I hang onto whatever civility I can while I’m in her wheelhouse. Above ground, I’d be a little more willing to throw down.
So instead of getting the answers I truly want, I get the ones I’m just interested in. Her history…literal history. Terra has been alive since before An’tala fell. She was young when it happened, but still remembers everything. It coincides with what I saw too. The vision of her father decimating the island still haunts my dreams, along with 146 other things from the last few months.
The stress of everything has been more than I can take in a couple cases. I’ve even thought about leaving everything behind and finding a cozy hole-in-the-wall town to get lost in. But walking away from Nicole is all but impossible. Even Kane has grown on me. I like Olivia and Todd the more I’m around them too. Ben would be another person that would make it hard to leave. He was even more influential in training me than my father was.
Dad was mostly locked away in D.C. when I started working for him. Ben was an old friend and needed cheap help. The obvious happened right after I was brought on. Dad sent me across the globe to study and dig holes for Dr. Benjamin Fehr.
“You’re all of a sudden quiet.”
I look back over to Terra.
“I’m…just thinking of my dad.”
Her eyes soften a little. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t put the bullet in his back.”
“But my mother hired the man who did.”
My fists tighten but quickly loosen. If ever there was a time to mention guilty by association, this is it. The look on Terra’s face tells me it’s why she’s apologizing, though. She knows she’s just as much at fault as Frost or Coaxoch. I let my anger subside, and release the tension building up in my body.
“You’re forgiven.”
As I say the words, I think I can see a little of the weight Terra is bearing lift from her shoulders. She holds onto guilt like we humans do.
Probably from hanging around mortals for so long.
I walk up next to her, watching the land around us gyrate. She sees me but doesn’t react.
“Just so you know,” I say still in awe over her abilities, “I never blamed you for what they did to my dad—to my family.”
“You should have…”
I fully face her. “Says the woman who has yet to accost me for killing her parents.”
Her eyes harden, but she doesn’t take the bait. And I know why.
“This whole hunting and killing thing doesn’t suit you. When this is all over, I hope you’ll consider leaving it behind.”
“Unfortunately, when this is all over…” She looks at me, sorrow washing over her face, “one of us is surely going to die.”
Camp Arifjan, Kuwait
Kane watched as men descended upon the beach. Some were armed to the teeth with an assortment of high-powered weapons, while others were armed with a variety of medical supplies. The pilot looks to have broken his leg and his uncle had a gash on his forehead, but otherwise, the general seemed fine.
“We need to get on the horn with the carrier group and tell them to open fire!” Carrack yelled, marching his way over to them. He pushed away any and all help, directing the medics to the much more injured pilot.
“Todd,” Kane said.
“I’m here,” Todd replied, clicking away. “Give me thirty seconds.”
As Carrack stopped in front of them, Todd finished. “Go ahead Uncle Steve,” Kane said smiling, “the George H.W. Bush is on the line.”
“Um, Ned?” Carrack said.
“We read you, Steve, go ahead.”
Kane gave his uncle a thumbs up.
“About that help you promised?” Carrack asked, speaking through Kane to the carrier group.
“Firing in ten seconds.”
“Ten seconds,” Kane said, relaying the message.
They faced the water and watched, all the while Kane counted down to zero. He wasn’t sure what to expect since there wasn’t a lot of information on railgun tests published, even in the CIA. Would there be a massive boom or even a flash of light? Would there be any hint at all? When he hit zero he saw the latter of the two.
A few miles off the coast, a small pinprick of light bloomed to life, indicating the exact location of the battleship. Immediately following the weapon’s firing, they all turned inland and saw something unbelievable.
Anu still encased is his tornado of death, ceased to exist. They watched as his body vanished from sight, with little more than a puff of air. As soon as the round hit, the storm began to dissipate, its tight circular rotation becoming an uncoordinated wobble.
“Holy cannoli,” Kane said, whistling. It was probably the most incredible display of raw firepower that he’d ever seen.
“You think he’s dead,” Nicole asked, “both of them?”
“I’ll make sure they stay that way,” Carrack said, turning back to his nephew. “Do me a favor, Jeremy. Get me in contact with the remaining helos. Tell them that if they find any remains of that asshole that they have my permission to empty their payloads into him and burn whatever’s left.”
Kane grinned.
“What about Susanoo?” Nicole asked.
Carrack turned to her.
“That’s what our SEAL teams are for. They’ll do the same.”
She tried to smile, but couldn’t.
“We’ll find him.”
She looked up. “How?”
As she voiced the question. Todd’s voice came blaring over her comms. He was rambling on about a place in Iraq and a possible location of Babel, but Nicole couldn’t make heads-or-tails of it. He was too excited and wasn’t speaking coherently.
A shuffling sound came next, like someone getting shoved. Next, was the sound of Todd complaining about getting manhandled by a much smaller woman, confirming Nicole’s suspicion.
“Nicole, it’s Olivia. Hank is on his way to Eridu.”
“Eridu?” Nicole asked aloud.
Carrack’s eyes widened at the mention of the word.
“Yes,” Olivia replied, continuing. “We believe it’s the site of the tower. Daniel just contacted us and confirmed it along with Frost’s research here.”
“Are you sure?” Nicole asked.
“Honestly,” Olivia said, “we aren’t, but it’s the best thing we have to go on. But Todd and I agree on the location if that helps at all.”
“It does,” Nicole said. “Thanks, guys.”
“Eridu, huh?” Carrack asked, scratching his chin.
“You know it well?”
“Only what the history books say.”
“You have anyone in the area that can meet us there?” Kane asked, hopeful.
“No.”
Kane and Nicole’s hearts sank.
“But… I can have a team on the ground in a few hours as long as you’re willing to cross into one of the most hostile environments in the world.”
“Absolutely,” Nicole quickly replied, standing straighter.
“Sure, I’m game,” Kane said in his usual lax way.
Carrack looked at his watch. “Okay, you two… Wheels up at sundown. Get dressed for an airdrop. You’re going in hot.”
POWER
26
The Citadel
The creature who called itself the master had disappeared shortly after his and Ben’s conversation. It was truly a blessing too. Ben needed to collect his thoughts and rest. Just the strain of everything that happened was starting to eat at him. His body did feel more relaxed, however, but he still couldn’t walk. His mind, on the other hand, was still a mess. Both were something he’d have to fix if he wanted to try and escape before the master returned.
He dragged himself across the large bowl-shaped floor, towards the lowest hanging vine. He
still couldn’t believe this was the legendary gardens of Babylon. There were stories that they held a magic, being able to grow in the desolate desert, but then again…it was a myth—pure folklore.
Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were, until now, the only one whose whereabouts had yet to be definitively located.
Not that I really know where I am. He figured he was in Iraq like they thought, but where… That was the ultimate question.
Originally thought to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 B.C., the gardens themselves have taken on a more mythical persona as time has gone on. But the similar descriptions in various Greek and Roman texts always gave Ben hope that they may have once existed. He figured the size, like a lot of ancient structures, was overstated. He also knew that when the early cultures agreed upon the existence of something like this, it more often than not ended up being real. Like An’tala. There were countless civilizations around the globe that mentioned an island kingdom, but like Babel, no one could come to an agreement on its exact location.
Lost in translation, he decided.
If Atlantis was directly involved with Babel somehow, then just about anything could be possible. The abilities of those who called the island home gave credence to the notion, even if only a handful of people had such gifts. All they’d need was someone like the woman who attacked D.C. or even the Mayan queen, Coaxoch. One of them could have easily helped build such an edifice given enough time. All they’d require was a design to follow, planned by an architect of sorts.
Hmmm… He thought as he continued to inch forward. His arms were on fire and his shoulders ached, but he shut out the pain. It wouldn’t matter how much agony he was in if the master got what he wanted.
The master.
He knows a lot more than he’s revealed so far. Maybe he was the brain behind this place. It could be why he’s still here. But he’s not trapped by any means. Ben being inside the Citadel proved that much. It’s why he was doing what he was doing. There was most definitely a way in and out of this place.
Babel Found Page 16