Watchers

by S. T. Boston

  “Can't we just stay here?” he pleaded, gripping her hands tightly.

  She shook her head, her blonde hair fluttering in the breeze; it almost glowed in the evening sunlight like golden fire. “This isn't real, Adam. You do know that, don't you?”

  He nodded his head, “I know,” he replied painfully.

  “The place where we really are is not safe; we're both in danger.” The soft expression on her face changed to one of fear. “Please, Adam, wake up! Help me, help us both!”

  “What happened to us?” Adam suffered a spinning, falling sensation in his stomach which spread like a spiral throughout his whole body; he gripped her hands tighter, hungry to hold on to the illusion. It felt as if some unseen force was pulling him away.

  “They took us both,” she replied, her voice sounding distant. “They know things, they got into my head. Please, Adam; this is no longer about just saving your people.” She grew even more distant, sounding like a disjointed voice on a long distance telephone call. “They know too much now, and once they have the Key Tablet, they will destroy us all – both our worlds. You need to help me!” Adam felt himself rising up above her; his arms seemed to stretch out even as his hands still clung to hers, trying to hold on. He imagined himself as a balloon at the end of a long tether, a tether that was about to snap. Instantly, Oriyanna was gone, as was the beach, the mountains and the jewel-like islands. He started to reel back into reality and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  * * *

  Buer released Oriyanna's hand and re-secured it with a zip tie to the back of the shabby wooden chair. As he zipped it closed, small strips of blue paint flaked off the damp wood and fluttered to the dusty concrete floor. He stood up and backed off a few paces, her head had slumped forward and now rested on her chin, restricting her breathing. As a result, deep raspy sounds resembling snores came from her partly open mouth. Adam Fisher sat next to her, secured to an identical chair. Congealed blood matted his brown hair to his head, and deep red stains ran down his jaw line, from the wound Finch had inflicted a few hours ago. He was still out for the count, but it wouldn't be long before he was awake and lucid once again. Buer was sure that when he did wake up, he was going to wish he hadn't.

  “Well?” asked Finch expectantly, as Buer took his piercing grey eyes away from Oriyanna and turned around.

  Following the shootout which had ended Roddick's miserable existence, he'd called Buer with the news. Buer had listened intently to the update, just cutting in with the occasional “I see,” and “Okay!” On the whole, Buer had been happy with the work Finch had done; as suspected, he saw the loss of Roddick as being no more than a necessary casualty of war; collateral damage and nothing more. Finch had feared there would be some backlash against his failure to immediately secure the Key Tablet, but surprisingly, Buer had been quite understanding and for once had seen things from Finch's point of view. On the flipside, the news that he'd captured the girl had been met with nothing more than a curt, “Well done Robert.” Buer had instructed him to head south out of the city until he reached the outskirts of the Cheyenne Mountain State Park, once there, he'd been told to find a suitable place to secure the two prisoners and await Buer's arrival. The old rangers' cabin just off Rock Creek Canyon Road had been perfect. It looked as if it had been abandoned for a good few years, while the flat, but slightly overgrown field to the front of the building served as an ideal landing platform for the Explorer helicopter which Buer had arrived in, not half an hour ago, accompanied by two smartly dressed bulky males, Michael and Rick Malone. Like Roddick, the two brothers were lower intelligence Earth breeds, and they had been Buer's security detail for the past couple of years. Until now it had been an easy job, as he hardly ventured out into public and opted to stay mainly in New York at the investment firm. Finch had no issue with either of them; they both possessed a quick wit and sense of humour that seemed to keep Buer entertained.

  “I see she got into your head,” said Buer with a sly smile. “It's a good job you managed to take her, she knows as much as you do about the virus.”

  “Yeah well, that wasn't part of the original plan,” replied Finch, a little embarrassed. “Sam Becker was a little handier than I first suspected, plus he'd managed to get a gun. If it wasn't for The Gift, we wouldn't be having this conversation.”

  “You were lucky, Robert. Things could have ended very differently.” He paused and glanced back at their two unconscious guests. “Can we trust this Sam Becker to deliver the Key Tablet to us?”

  “I'm sure of it,” replied Finch, “he won't risk us killing his friend. I'll be making contact with him soon to arrange the transfer.”

  Buer nodded in approval, “Excellent. Once we have the Key Tablet, we can move to strike a deadly blow to Arkkadia, one that will take them years to recover from.” Buer smiled. “I hope you're feeling up to another foreign excursion Robert, this time I'll even be joining you.”

  “So, I take it you managed to glean what you needed from her?” Finch wasn't too keen on having Buer constantly breathing down his neck; he would almost rather have had Roddick to deal with.

  “Oh yes, once we have conducted the exchange, we'll be heading to Egypt. The Tabut is located deep under the Great Pyramid of Giza.”

  “But we researched that location years ago,” said Finch, looking confused. “It was one of the first places highlighted by our science teams as being most likely to house the artefact.”

  Buer turned his attention back to Adam, who was starting to move. He was still out of it, but coming around fast. “I know, all the information we had pointed to the Great Pyramid. However, we thought they had moved the Tabut long ago – who would have thought there was a secondary level to the lower chamber.”

  “Really?” exclaimed Finch. “How do you intend on reaching it? I was always told that the whole building was examined. There was never any trace of another level found.”

  “You need the Key Tablet to open the shaft that leads to it. Once you reach the Tabut chamber, you need it again to access the chamber itself. Then it's needed for a third time to activate the Tabut. My biometrics will read no differently to theirs, so we won't even need the girl to turn it on for us. The Tabut on Arkkadia was prepared before they left, the moment we activate the one on Earth the process will begin, and once singularity is achieved, we'll send through an explosive device big enough to destabilise the Tabut on Arkkadia. The result for them will be disastrous.”

  Small moans and groans began to come from Adam, causing Buer to glance over at him in annoyance. His eyelids were starting to twitch as his head lolled from side-to-side, like a drunk waking up on a park bench.

  “How so?” asked Finch eagerly, ignoring the painful sounds coming from across the small, dank room.

  “It will cause a chain reaction across their entire planetary energy grid, a chain reaction so great, it will cause an immediate pole shift. The area directly around the Tabut will suffer an explosion of massive proportions.” Buer grinned.

  “And you're sure this can happen?” asked Finch. It seemed almost impossible that a situation which had been disastrous for them a few hours ago, could be turned around so swiftly.

  “Of course!” growled Buer, the grin washing from his face in an instant. “Do you doubt what I say?”

  Finch held both his palms up. “No, not at all,” he fired back quickly.

  “We have one other matter to deal with first,” continued Buer. “The one who sent the alert which brought her here in the first place.” He looked over at Oriyanna; her raspy, rhythmic breathing was slow and steady. “It's just one person, a man; he's in Austin, Texas. That's where they were heading. Turns out that your old boss was due to retire after he stepped down as president, and his replacement was already here. Like I said back in Denver, Robert, it was an oversight that never should have happened, but as it turns out, things may well now work in our favour. You must get that Key Tablet.”

  “I will,” said Finch, nodding his head
. “And what do you want done with her?” He pointed to Oriyanna's unconscious body. “The drug is good for another few hours at most.”

  “Once we have the Key Tablet, kill her, we don't need her anymore. I'll be sending a small team to Austin to take care of our friend there, and I'll leave it to your discretion in regard to our two British friends. Kill them if you wish or let them go – they're as good as dead anyway.”

  Finch watched as Buer left the room and headed through to the small living area of the cabin. The first beads of light were starting to seep through the cracks in the boarded up windows, capturing thousands of tiny dust particles in the air and illuminating them for a few seconds before they passed back into the shadows. The cabin was a shithole, but it had served its purpose. Finch checked his Seamaster; it was time to call Sam Becker. Once he had the Key Tablet, they could kill the girl and put an end to the whole situation. He understood now what Buer had meant when he'd warned him back in Denver. Oriyanna was beautiful in a strange and haunting way, but it didn't detract from who she was; when the time came he wouldn't think twice about putting a bullet into her brain, and even if it felt like destroying a fine and rare work of art, he didn't care. He turned his back on the two guests and grabbed his Blackberry. It was time to make that call.

  Chapter 14

  The shrill, old-style ringtone of Adam's iPhone raised Sam from an uneasy sleep. Fumbling around in the early morning light, he managed to find the handset. Squinting through tired eyes he saw 'BLOCKED' flash up on the screen, just as it had the previous night. With a shaky hand he pushed his thumb on the answer tab. “Yeah!” he croaked.

  “Is that Sam Becker?” asked the stern male on the other end of the line, the voice was unmistakably that of Robert Finch. Sam had only spoken to him briefly the previous night, but he would recognize his overconfident tone anywhere.

  “It is,” he replied sharply. The sound of Finch's voice had swept away any sleepiness in an instant; Sam's heart rate picked up, as adrenaline rushed through his veins.

  “Good, we have a transaction to make this morning. I trust you haven't forgotten our terms?”

  “Of course not,” Sam snapped. “I hope you've remembered my terms Finch, I want proof of life and I need to speak to Adam.” Sam rubbed his right eye as he spoke, ridding it of some sleep.

  “Of course, although I'm not going to let you speak with him. I don't want him influencing your decision to hand over the Key Tablet. I'll send you a time and date stamped video, to prove we haven't killed him – that will have to do.”

  Sam mulled over the proposal for a few seconds and listened intently for any background noise which might give him a clue as to where they were. “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “It goes against my better judgment, but I'm going to have to trust you.”

  “That you will, Sam,” Finch replied cockily. “How do you want the exchange to go down? I trust you're not hoping for us to give you your friend before we have the Key Tablet?”

  Sam smiled to himself in the early morning gloom of the RV, he'd known they were going to try and play it this way. Following the departure of Finch, he'd closed the room up and left the hotel. Taking the RV, he'd driven a few miles and parked next to a reservoir on the edge of a flashy golf course. He'd been just in time, too; as he trundled up the road three police cars, blue lights flashing, had shot past and swung into the parking lot of the Days Inn. Sam had left Finch's partner with almost half his face missing, and he was in no doubt the room would now be a major crime scene. The local police would have been there all night and likely the majority of the next day, desperately trying to piece together what had happened.

  On reaching the reservoir Sam had checked, cleaned and reloaded the weapons. Finch had helped himself to the Ruger that Oriyanna had on her; however, in some kind of weird tradeoff, he'd left the Glock that had fallen from his hand when Sam floored him. As for the Ruger he'd given to Adam, it was likely in Finch's possession, too. Once satisfied that everything was in order, Sam had tried to get some sleep, which hadn't come easily. He'd managed to grab a few unsettled hours, tossing and turning on the double bed. The day ahead was going to be long and stressful, and as impossible as it seemed, Sam knew he needed to rest. During his army days, he'd spent many a far less comfortable night in the field, sleeping on the ground in all manner of conditions with only his hard, uncomfortable rucksack as a pillow. Even though many of those occasions had been in hostile situations, Sam had still managed to sleep better then than he had in the past few hours.

  “I had a feeling you were going to say that,” Sam replied, stretching a little and he heard the joint in his knee crack. “So you want me to leave the Key Tablet and just wait for you to call and tell me where to pick him up?”

  “That about sums it up, Sam.” Finch sounded overconfident. Sam wished he could reach down the phone and rip his throat out.

  “And what about the girl, Oriyanna. Is she still alive?” Sam had taken a big gamble in letting Finch take her, the fact he hadn't just shot her on sight meant they had some use for her. He only hoped that hadn't changed; he knew without doubt that once they were done with her, she would be killed. He just hoped he was in time to rescue her.

  “She is – for now,” Finch's voice sounded suspicious. “What do you care anyway, Sam? She's caused you nothing but trouble; I did you a favour taking her off your hands.”

  “You're right, I don't really care,” he lied. “Okay, if you won't release Adam until you get the Key Tablet, the pickup will be on my terms. Is that clear?” Any negotiation like this was nothing more than a tug of war for the balance of power. Finch held all the cards, but Sam had the ace, and he needed to set the balance back in his favour.

  “I'm listening.”

  “There's a reservoir a few miles up from the hotel we were at last night, look on a map and you'll see it. It's toward the end of Garden of the Gods Road and next to a golf course. Around that reservoir there's a public footpath. Are you with me so far?”

  “Yes, of course I am. Just tell me where I need to collect it from,” Finch barked.

  “On the east side of the reservoir there's a wooden bench seat. The Key Tablet will be secured below the seat – be clear that I'll have no contact with you during the pickup. Once you have it, I'll expect a call detailing the location to collect Adam.” There was a long pause from the other end; Finch was obviously thinking through the proposal, and from the slight echo on the line Sam suspected he was on speaker phone and others were listening, maybe even someone who called the shots. While Finch was undoubtedly more than just hired muscle, there was obviously someone higher up the food chain giving the orders. Sam had dealt with plenty of people like Finch before, they always had delusions of grandeur and the idea that they were far higher in the scheme of things than they actually were. Often the greatest weakness in those like Finch was overconfidence; it bred complacency, and it was that complacency which Sam was hoping to exploit and force him into making a fatal error.

  “Okay, that will work,” he finally replied. “The pickup will be made in an hour. Once I have possession of the Key Tablet, I'll need thirty minutes to confirm its authenticity. Then you will be told where to collect your friend. If those terms are not acceptable to you, I'll just kill him now.”

  “The terms are fine; once I have the video I'll get the Key Tablet into place. The pickup will be in an hour, as you said.” Sam checked his watch. “So that would be half seven?”

  “Seven thirty it is,” Finch replied flatly. “We'll speak again soon, Sam.”

  The line went dead.

  Sam eased himself off the bed and drew back the tacky floral design curtains; they matched the tasteless double duvet which was now covered in a mixture of dry blood and dirt from the previous evening. Sam rolled it into a sloppy bundle and placed it at the foot of the bed. Standing in the kitchen area, he took a wistful look around the camper. We should be out hiking in the Rockies now, he thought. Not fighting for our lives. The sharp beep of Adam's ph
one snapped him out of the daydream, the message had a media file attached. Sam opened it and waited for what seemed like an eternity for the file to load. When the screen finally came to life, he saw Adam tied to a chair and barely conscious, his head lolling from side to side as small groans of pain and discomfort slipped from his mouth. Sam could see a dark red blood stain on the side of his face. Watching his friend in that state made him want to kill Finch even more, and at that point, he made a promise to himself that one way or another, he would end Finch's life, no matter how long it took. Next, the camera swung right, bringing Oriyanna into view. She was more out of it than Adam. Sam suspected they'd used some sort of drug on her. She was bound to an identical chair, head slumped forward, and her hair had come out of its ponytail and fallen forward, hiding her face. Even if they'd treated her to a beating, there would be no sign of it now. The cameraman moved back, including both of them in the frame. The room they were in looked a mess. Sam could see boarded up windows behind where they were sat; long angled streams of sunlight were leaking in between the wooden boards. Just to the side of Adam stood an old table and two more chairs, the same as the ones they were tied to. The camera focused on them both for a few seconds before whipping away, and the room blurred as the lens moved far too quickly for the camera to process. It settled on Finch's face; he'd turned it around to record himself.

  “There you go, Sam” he began smugly. “Thought I'd give you a two for one deal, as you can see they are both alive. Later when we kill the girl, I'll be sure to send you a video, too. I want to make sure she's awake first; after living for so many years, do you think she'll beg for her life or just accept her fate?” The look on his face was stone cold. “Make sure that the Key Tablet is where you said, or the next video you get will be your friend dying!” The camera turned again and a blurred shot of the ceiling whipped by; after that the camera turned to the floor, and then the video ended. Sam reloaded the file and watched it through twice, looking for some clue as to where they were being held. It had to be somewhere fairly close; Sam felt sure they wouldn't be more than twenty miles away. However, nothing in the video gave him any clue, it didn't help that the area was totally alien to him. Locking the screen, Sam tucked the handset into his cargo trousers. Digging in the tack bag, he removed a roll of duct tape and slid it over his wrist, like a large, oversized bracelet. The Key Tablet was still securely in his rear pocket, where he'd put it after Oriyanna had handed it to him. Opening the side door, Sam climbed down into the car park; the early morning April air was brisk and the wind had died down, leaving a crystal clear blue sky. As he walked, his breath clouded momentarily in front of his face. Birds were just beginning to sing from their hidden perches within the thin line of trees that surrounded the reservoir. Picking up the pace, Sam saw a morning dog walker with a large Alsatian approaching him. The old woman walking it looked far too small to control an animal of that size. She treated Sam to a polite nod in greeting as she passed by, leaving an invisible wake of cheap scented perfume that smelt more like air-freshener. The dog took a moment longer to have a sniff around Sam's legs, before a sharp whistle from its owner sent it running off down the gravel path. The well-kept fairways and greens of the golf course stretched out to the side, covered in dew that glistened in the morning sun. Sam suspected it wouldn't be long before the first players started their rounds.