Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1)

by Richard M. Mulder

  As he parked, his thoughts returned to Jason’s troubling message.

  So he’s stumbled across some disturbing information that involves one of my firm’s clients? What would be so disturbing that he would need to immediately speak with me in private after years of silence?

  Curiosity getting the better of him, he made his way to the elevator. Buckingham Fountain was only a few blocks away. As he crossed the street and entered Grant Park, he could see the first rays of sun beginning to reach into the sky. The lights of the city still glowed brightly behind him as he approached the lit-up fountain.

  The park was eerily silent. Not even the snore of a vagabond disturbed the early morning air. Despite the silence however, he couldn’t help but sense that he was being watched.

  Cut it out. You’re being paranoid.

  He continued through to the center of the park, briefcase in hand. Just past the bushes to his right, he thought he saw movement. Stopping in his tracks, he stared into the dark.

  “Hello?” he spoke warily, “Is that you, Jason?”

  Silence.

  Shaking it off, he continued with a brisker step toward the fountain. The visions of the previous night were coming back to haunt him. Every night this past week he had felt trapped as he struggled to escape from similar nightmares.

  He made it to the fountain without incident, and circled around the grand structure. The center spring shot high into the air and sprayed upon the cascading turrets. Light fell on the carved statues of fish and jumping seahorses that stood out from the water. Not too far ahead of him, he could identify the silhouette of a man sitting on a bench closer to the lake.

  Allan approached cautiously, “Jason?”

  The man stood, “I’m afraid Jason won’t be joining us today.”

  Allan immediately recognized the cane and slight limp in the man’s step.

  “Mister Demyan?” Allan stammered in confusion, “I thought we were meeting in a few hours?”

  “I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone that.” Timur spoke as he cocked his handgun.

  Allan threw up his hands in shock and staggered backwards, “Wha...”

  “What else did Jason tell you?”

  “He didn’t... didn’t tell me... didn’t tell me anything.” Allan stammered.

  “I don’t like people who lie to me.”

  “All he said... he said that one of my clients...” the realization dawned on him, “You?”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.” Timur sighed heavily as he aimed his handgun, “It’s a shame I have to kill you now.”

  “Wait!”

  But it was too late. Allan heard the hiss from the silencer and his body was thrown backward with the piercing bullet. Allan sucked in a rasping, painful breath as his hands instinctively covered the gaping hole in his chest. As he lay there on the pavement, he became aware of a silver aura of light surrounding him.

  Still conscious, Allan looked up in horror at the sickly green light emanating from Timur’s horrendous eyes. The pain was excruciating, and his breathing slowed with each raspy gasp. From the tip of the pistol Allan saw a spark as another bullet fired from the weapon. He closed his eyes in terror. He heard several more bullets pop off, and yet Allan didn’t feel them pierce his body.

  “Impossible!” Timur shrieked as he shot off the remaining rounds until he heard the audible click of unsuccessful attempts.

  Allan knew he must be dead when he opened his eyes. Multiple spinning bullets hovered in the air just inches away from his face. When Allan registered the look of confusion on Timur’s face, the bullets clacked to the ground as the silver aura of light surrounding him dissipated and the pain in his chest began to recede.

  Timur tossed the gun aside in frustration. He raised one arm in the sky toward the rising sun and aimed the other at Allan. The green glow of his eyes burned brighter, and with a flash, a beam of white light burst from his extended fist. Allan shrieked in pain with the searing of his flesh.

  As the smoldering heat washed over him, Allan felt a different kind of warmth emanating from his core. An aura of silver light ballooned around him, shielding him from the inferno blasting from Timur’s fist. The excruciating pain subsided and he stopped screaming. Timur however began to shriek in rage.

  The blinding light stopped flowing from Timur’s fist, and he instead raised both hands high in the air. Shadows all around them began to stretch and grow ominously. Several tentacles reached out from a shadow behind the bushes to Allan’s left. The shadows had taken tangible form, and the dark tentacles grabbed Allan by his ankles.

  Allan screamed in terror as he kicked uselessly against his attacker and the tentacles dragged him into the heart of the shadow. His stomached dropped as he felt himself falling into a thick darkness. He tried to scream, but he couldn’t find his voice.

  He landed violently on a thick floor of concrete. He shook his head, feeling disoriented in the large dimly-lit chamber that was fitted with a mass array of plumbing. Wandering around the chamber were about twenty cloaked men.

  They turned their attention to Allan’s crash landing, and then they all made a humble bow when Timur appeared from seemingly out of nowhere.

  “Rise!” he shouted and pointed at Allan, “We have a problem.”

  “Who is this, your holiness?” one of the cloaked men spoke up.

  “An abomination.” he seethed in fury, “Take him to a cell.”

  Rough hands seized him from all sides. Allan uselessly struggled against the overpowering force as he was dragged deeper into the chamber. He tried to scream for help, but his voice was cut off by a massive hand. He thrashed about, and bit as hard as he could.

  He felt a loud crack hit the back of his head, and a searing pain followed. That was the last thing he remembered before he was knocked out cold.

  Chapter Seven: Incriminating Evidence

  And God blessed man, and God said unto them, I have fortified this world against the influence of the Leviathan. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over every living thing that moveth upon it…

  – Methuselah 6:17 –

  Modeled after the Medieval Era, Timur’s entire penthouse reminded him of his earlier livelihood. Every expense had been made to beautify and perfect it with handmade crown moldings, hand sown curtains, and carefully crafted furniture. Every room was decked out to look like a palace fit for a king.

  He stared out at the brilliant orange reflection on the water as the sun continued to rise. It was about 7:52 AM, and the morning traffic was just beginning to fill the streets below. It wouldn’t be long now before someone would find Jason’s body, and the police would begin an investigation. Having stepped through his own shadow, he was able to return to his penthouse instantaneously. At any moment he knew that his Chief Operations Officer would be arriving with the company’s Daily Brief.

  As he sat on his porch, he booted up his laptop and inserted the thumb drive that he had taken from Jason. It was of a peculiar design, with little patches of blue that had been painted on the white background. It was shaped like a trash can with a half-spherical lid and feet sticking out the bottom. Now that he studied it, he realized that it looked like some silly robot from the nineteen-eighties.

  He opened the contents of the thumb drive, and to his relief the drive hadn’t been password protected. There were two files. The first was a surveillance video taken nearly five years ago. Timur watched the scene in horror.

  How did he get this?

  As he watched the old footage, he recognized himself aiming his gun at the late NSA agent Michael Thornton.

  “But I did everything you asked!” Michael panicked with his hands raised high above his head in surrender, “I presented your blueprints as my own, and they took the bait! We’re in the Beta testing stage now!”

  “Yes, you served your purpose well.” Timur watched himself smile as he cocked his gun, “But I can’t take any chances. I’ve worked too hard for this. L
etting you live is too much of a risk.”

  Michael turned to flee, but it was too late. A gunshot rang out, and Michael’s body spun from the force of the bullet and he collapsed in a bloody heap.

  Timur stared at the blank screen in shock for several minutes.

  Who else has seen this footage?!

  He was irate as he opened the second file stored on the thumb drive. As he had suspected, they were the blueprints he had drafted many years ago for the Gamma-Frequency Identification (GFID) Nano-chips that the National Security Agency (NSA) had developed under the guise that Michael Thornton had invented the technology.

  The technology was similar in nature to Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), however these Nano-chips had a much greater frequency range and the technology was microscopic in nature. What disturbed him the most however was the timestamp from when the file had been pulled. It indicated the author as Timur, and it had been accessed from his company’s primary server last night.

  Having developed the world’s largest data and web encryption agency with his bare hands, eight years ago Motif Global Encryption, Inc. (MGE) dominated and monopolized the entire commercialized encryption industry when they introduced their newest software that implemented a previously considered impossible technology called “Rotating Cleartext Encryption” (RCE). For the past decade, hackers around the world seemed to disappear off the face of the planet. Timur’s RCE code had been labeled ‘unhackable’.

  This new RCE technology entirely crippled the directives of the NSA, thus forcing the US Government to adopt MGE as a pseudo security agency. Meanwhile, several public outcries against the NSA’s more recent actions had also put them under heavy scrutiny. As a result, the US Government publicly announced that it would be dismantling the agency. Timur’s sources however told him that the message to the public had been a lie and that in truth the NSA had instead gone underground both literally and figuratively.

  How much does Allan know?

  He stood with his cane and approached the railing with a slight limp. Timur Demyan was both insidious and intelligent. After multiple mergers and acquisitions, he had created MGE with hard work, multiple lawyers and a lifetime’s worth of deceit and treachery to rise above corporate America. Now that he was so close to accomplishing his most sinister of plans, nobody was going to stop him. Especially not an insignificant washout like Allan Young.

  I can’t let this information get out. I’ve worked far too hard for this. I don’t care how many lives I have to take!

  In a different time he was once a very powerful man in Persia where he was revered and simultaneously feared by thousands. Donned with the most expensive of apparel, his many conquests had caused the deaths of up to seventeen million people. He intended to conquer the whole of China as well, but just before he could make his move he was dragged away to another world.

  I won’t let it happen again.

  “Master Tamerlane?” his butler called out suddenly.

  Timur cringed. He had always despised diminutive alterations of names, especially the modern form of his moniker ‘Timur the lame’.

  “I thought I told you never to call me that!” he snapped.

  “My apologies, your Holiness.” the butler bowed reverently, “Lily is here to see you.”

  “Send her in.” he huffed and closed the lid of his laptop.

  He had initially hired Lily Thatcher nearly five years ago as a summer intern for his cryptology department. She was young, intelligent, and exceptionally attractive. After she had demonstrated her prowess and analytical skills, he offered her full time employment with the company. She graciously accepted, and had proven herself over the years through multiple promotions. Today, she now stood second in command of the company.

  “Good morning.” Lily stepped out onto the patio and her eyes fell on the laptop, “Well, well. Would you look at that! I never knew you were a Star Wars fan?”

  “Star wars?” a look of confusion crossed Timur’s face as he tightened his robe around him, “What’s that?”

  She pointed, “Your thumb drive. It’s shaped like R2D2.”

  “Oh, that.” he uncomfortably unplugged the thumb drive from the USB port and snapped the robot’s head back on, “It was a gift.”

  After exchanging pleasantries, she launched into her report. She announced the company’s continual rise in stock values, recent mergers, and overall company wealth. As she began to droll over statistics and charts, Timur found himself drowning out her words as he took in her slender build. Once again he had become distracted by her alluring beauty.

  “My, you look stunning this morning.” his mind refused to focus as he stared at her ample bosom.

  She caught his eyes and stood abruptly, “Stop it Timur. We’ve been through this already.”

  “Can you blame me?” he huffed, “You come here all dolled up, and really expect me not to notice? Come on now, Lily! I’m a man.”

  Though he had attempted many times to lure Lily into a romantic relationship, he learned quickly that her intentions were strictly professional. This frustrated him to no end, for she seemed to be the one and only woman in the world who wasn’t attracted to him nor to his wealth.

  “I’ll see you in the office.” she seethed as she packed up her briefcase.

  “I’m sorry Lily.” he sighed, “Please continue.”

  “Only on one condition.” her eyes narrowed, “Going forward you must keep your eyes locked on mine.”

  “Are you really going to throw a fit over his?” he rolled his eyes.

  She stared at him for a moment in decision and then slid a small stack of paperwork and a pen towards him, “This is the Jackson-Stanley merger. I need you to read over it for accuracy, and then sign the last page.”

  Flipping to the back he signed it absently, “As thorough as you are, I’m confident that you already reviewed it for me.”

  “Yes, I did.” she sighed in disapproval, “Do you want me to come back later? You seem rather distracted.”

  “No, no. I’m fine.”

  I just don’t know what to do about Allan.

  Killing him was obviously out of the question. The moment the first bullet dislodged from his gun, Timur envisioned Lily crying into his shoulder seeking consolation. That dream however was suddenly aborted the instant he saw the silver aura of light enshroud his opponent and protect Allan from the attempt. Timur was seriously troubled by this new development, for he had been under the impression that only he possessed such powers, and that he was the last of the line of Seraphim.

  Unless that pathetic old man lied to me.

  Tucked away in his personal dungeon was an elderly man who had plagued his efforts his entire life. It was he who had obliterated Timur’s efforts to conquer the world. After dragging Timur away to the other world and trapping him there, the old man had returned to Timur’s empire in Persia and falsified his death. Soon thereafter, Timur’s eldest sons replaced him and corrupted his plans with their laziness and greed. It was many years before Timur managed to escape, and by then all of his efforts had gone to waste.

  “Moving on,” she stammered, “Let’s review today’s agenda...”

  “Actually, that reminds me.” he interrupted, “I need you to cancel my appointment with Allan.”

  “But...” suddenly her face fell as she struggled to remain professional, “...I don’t think that’s wise.”

  “Don’t even start with me.” he huffed, “You’re too close to this to have a true opinion.”

  She stared at him indignantly.

  “I know he’s a close friend of your’s...”

  “Boyfriend.” she corrected.

  “Right.” he seethed.

  “Like I said,” she continued, “I don’t think...”

  “I’m not ready to sign the contract.” he interrupted, “I don’t feel right about it.”

  She stared at him a moment, “And your reasoning is?”

  “No reason.” he insisted.

  “A
ll right.” she steamed, “I’ll call and let him know.”

  “Just leave the rest of the Daily Brief.” he insisted, “I’ll see you downstairs in the office later.”

  With a look of utter consternation on her face, she stood without a word and stormed back into his penthouse.

  “Don’t be so hot-headed, Lily!” he bellowed after her.

  She slammed the door without another word.

  Chapter Eight: False Accusations

  And God commanded man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thine bodies shalt surely be corrupted with blood and death…

  – Methuselah 6:18 –

  Lily punched the button to the elevator and fidgeted impatiently. She felt extremely agitated, and desired nothing more than to throw something. When the elevator arrived, she was relieved that it was empty. After boarding, she waited for the doors to fully shut before releasing a shriek of frustration intermixed with anger. She knew she shouldn’t let it get to her, but each time Timur postponed this contract it caused several weeks’ worth of surveillance work to go to waste.

  Her cell phone then made a distinct chime and vibrated briefly in her pocket. She recognized the sound, and quickly pulled it out and swiped the pattern for the security lock. On the screen a short message appeared from a blocked number:

  “NEW DEVELOPMENT: REPORT TO HEADQUARTERS IMMEDIATELY.”

  After a few seconds the message disappeared, having been remotely deleted after successful confirmation of receipt. Lily stared at her phone in confusion as the elevator’s door opened on level C of the subterranean garage.

  They want me to go to the agency? I haven’t been there in years.

  Leaving the garage, she pulled out onto Wacker Drive. A long shadow from the skyscraper followed her. The building was much taller than the Sears Tower that had long ago occupied the same address. Sears had been one of the first mergers Timur had ever obtained, having promised to restore the crumbling company with all of their subsidiaries. The instant the paperwork was finalized however, he immediately set about tearing down the historical landmark despite a multitude of protests. Two years later the headquarters for MGE was born, changing the Chicago skyline forever.