“You’ll pay for that!” Alves growled. “You will PAY!” Out of breath, he stopped less than ten feet from her. The second of Blanco’s men promptly stepped in from behind and seized DeeAnn by the back of the neck. She stumbled forward from the impact but managed to hold onto Dulce.
Alves’ mouth curled into pure hatred and his face turned dark red. “Tell the gorilla to go find him!”
DeeAnn did not answer.
“I SAID, TELL THE GORILLA TO FIND HIM!”
DeeAnn continued staring. When she spoke, it was a single, unmistakable word. “No.”
Alves’ eyes looked as though they would pop from their sockets. He turned to Blanco. “Kill him! Kill Diaz! Now!”
“You were going to kill us anyway.”
Standing next to Alves, Blanco’s dark eyes jumped to DeeAnn and studied her. At the same time, a sinister smile crept across his rugged face, sending shivers down DeeAnn’s spine. He was enjoying this.
Without a word, Blanco approached DeeAnn’s side and replaced the other man’s hand with his own iron grip on her neck. Dulce whimpered and darted behind DeeAnn’s leg.
“Go get the phone,” motioned Blanco. Without a word, his man nodded and headed back toward the vehicle behind them. It was slowly being enveloped by a small curtain of smoke.
“Jesus, what a stupid woman!” growled Alves. He glanced at Blanco and nodded his head. “Take it off.”
Blanco immediately reached his thick arm over DeeAnn’s shoulder and down across her chest. With two quick motions, he tore it loose, allowing the vest to fall to the ground.
Alves stepped forward and picked it up. He then slid his arms through and tightened the Velcro straps.
“Then I’ll tell her. I’m sure she’ll want to save your life.” He turned the vest toward Dulce, who was peering out from behind DeeAnn. “Dulce,” Alves commanded in a stern voice. “Go find Dexter.”
Dulce didn’t move.
Alves looked down at the unit. Nothing came out of the speaker. He flipped the power button up and down and repeated.
Still nothing.
He glared at DeeAnn. “What did you do to it?!”
DeeAnn merely shook her head, silently.
“Tell me!” Alves yelled.
Her response was smart. “Your idiot driver should have slowed down. The vest is broken.”
Alves’ eyes narrowed. He checked the vest again and spoke one more time. Nothing.
“It’s over,” DeeAnn said. “Your crazy obsession for immortality is over.”
To her surprise, Alves laughed. “Over? You think this is over? Nothing’s over. The monkey’s still out there, probably along with many more like him. And even if I can’t find them, whatever was here hasn’t just been destroyed. Some of it has been removed and taken somewhere.” He displayed a delirious grin. “Which means I can find it. I have more resources than you can imagine. Billions of dollars and an army of people. And I’ll spend every last dime finding what was taken from here. No, it’s not over. It’s just beginning!”
DeeAnn was staring in disbelief at Alves, when she felt Blanco’s body weight subtly shift behind her. She gasped when his gun appeared over her shoulder.
Alves was still watching DeeAnn when he suddenly noticed the same thing. He looked at Blanco with a puzzled expression. The gun was pointed at him.
“What are you doing?”
Blanco was still squeezing DeeAnn’s neck, yet leveled the barrel of his gun directly at Alves’ chest. “Enough of your insanity.”
Alves was thoroughly confused. His mind was having trouble processing what his eyes were seeing.
“You would,” Blanco said accusingly. “You have more money than most people could ever imagine, and I believe that you would spend every last dime trying to escape your own fate. It’s not bad enough that you’ve raped our country for your fortune, now you want to use your blood money to cheat death too, a fate many of your victims have already faced.”
Alves’ expression changed from confusion to concern.
“How many families could live a good life from your money?” Blanco continued. “Families like mine. Instead, you would spend every last bit trying to extend one life already lived like a king.”
“What are you talking about?” Alves cried. “I pay you well. You know that!”
Blanco smiled. “Yes, and now you’re about to pay me even better. It’s time for someone else to assume the throne.”
“You can’t,” Alves challenged. “It’s all in my name. Killing me gets you nothing.”
“It’s not all in your name. Carolina has access to more than enough.”
“Carolina?” Alves’ eyes escalated to a look of panic. He was right. Carolina had enough signing authority. It wouldn’t get Blanco all of it, but it would still make him rich. “She would never do it.”
Blanco’s smile was mocking. “You underestimate the loyalty of a woman in love. She already has.”
“You can’t do this.”
Blanco shifted his head, unmercifully. “You said death could come from anywhere, no?”
It was the last sentence Alves ever heard. Before he could respond, Blanco pulled the trigger and fired a round straight into his chest, ripping a gaping hole through the right ventricle of Alves’ heart. The old man was dead before he hit the ground.
DeeAnn screamed, then became frozen, stunned from both the explosion of the gun and the instantaneous death of Mateus Alves. She stared helplessly when Dulce screamed and abruptly bounded away down the mountainous slope.
Blanco marched forward with DeeAnn stumbling beside him. He stood over Alves and fired a second round into his chest. Then he turned and looked back toward the smoke. Where were his men? “Luis! Marco! Get out here!”
He yanked DeeAnn down. He slapped her hard across the face, causing her to collapse onto the ground in a daze. He used her shirt to wipe the gun clean then grabbed her right hand, wrapping it around the butt. Finally, he forced her fingers through the guard and over the trigger.
“Get out here, damn it!” Blanco yelled louder over his shoulder. DeeAnn blinked repeatedly, still trying to process what had happened and to think of what to do next.
Blanco looked up as a figure finally appeared out of the smoke. He opened his mouth to yell something else but stopped. The figure didn’t look like either of his men. This one was muscular and wide and dressed entirely in black. Blanco paused, wondering whether his eyes and the smoke were simply deceiving him. As the figure approached, he strained to see who it was.
DeeAnn recognized him immediately, if not from his face then from his profile. The black hair and mustache were unmistakable. The instant relief she felt was overwhelming and DeeAnn began to cry.
Steve Caesare stopped and looked down, assessing. In his right hand was the outline of a large gun. He smiled at Blanco. “Luis and Marco aren’t doing too well.”
“Who are you?!” Blanco spat.
“I’m the Cavalry.”
Blanco quickly grabbed the gun back out of DeeAnn’s weak hand. He moved his left hand around to the front of her neck and pressed the gun into her cheek. “Take another step forward and she’s dead.”
Caesare calmly raised his gun and motioned over his shoulder. “You’re going to have to go through me to get to that Jeep.”
Blanco snarled and pressed his gun harder into DeeAnn’s face. “I’ll take her with me.”
Caesare smiled again, condescendingly. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”
“No?” He got to his feet, pulling her up along with him. “Drop your gun, or I’ll kill her now.”
“What is this, a movie?” Caesare mocked. “I’m sensing you don’t think very far ahead. If you kill her, I’ll kill you. And believe me, you won’t like the way I do it.”
Blanco was growing nervous. He pulled the barrel away from DeeAnn and pointed it at Caesare. “Then you die.”
“I’ll take you with me.” Caesare’s eyes grew cold and hard. “That I promise you.”
/>
Blanco didn’t answer. Instead, he glanced around feverously.
“If you kill her, you die. If you kill me, you die. So, the only way you make it out of here alive is to let her go.”
”I…” Blanco heard a noise and cut himself off. Something was coming toward them. “What is that?”
Caesare listened then smiled. He recognized the faint pitch easily. “That’s the sound of prison.”
Less than a hundred feet away, Dulce remained hidden behind a boulder. She peered carefully around the side of the rock, keeping her eyes on the embankment above. Were the bad men coming? She didn’t know what to do.
She watched the wisps of smoke glide through the air, as she listened and waited. The crying had stopped, but the bad men had her mommy. Then something else. Another voice. A deeper voice. Dulce’s eyes opened excitedly. It was a voice she recognized.
When she heard it again, Dulce jumped out from behind the rock and scurried back up the grassy embankment. When she reached the top, she continued straight through the smoke at Caesare. He here! He here!
Caesare was staring intently at Blanco, waiting for an opportunity, when he noticed something come bounding up the hill. He kept his gun pointed at Blanco and glanced to the side. It was Dulce! His heart softened momentarily until he realized that she was headed for him at full speed. He put out his palm, “DULCE, NO!”
She didn’t stop. Scared out of her wits, she ran for one of the few people she knew could keep her safe.
“NO!” was all Caesare got out before Dulce closed the distance and leapt for him, diving into his arms and knocking him backward.
Caesare had been waiting for an opportunity, but so had Blanco. As soon as the gorilla hit Caesare, Blanco fired.
63
Caesare stumbled back again as the bullet tore through his right side and exited his lower back. Blanco aimed again but didn’t fire. Rather, he froze as the faint sound he had heard moments ago quickly became a roar, and a helicopter suddenly thundered over their heads.
Caesare collapsed onto one knee but still managed to get a shot off, striking Blanco in his exposed shoulder.
Blanco yelled and threw DeeAnn to the ground. He sprinted away at an angle and fired twice more for cover. Neither bullet found their mark, but it was all he needed to make it to the protection of another patch of smoke floating idly past. In an instant, Blanco was gone.
The moment he was hit, Caesare felt Dulce go limp in his arms. She tried to scream but couldn’t. The bullet had gone through her small body before hitting him. He kept her in his arms and rolled her gently onto her back. Her eyes softly staring at him, Dulce tried to talk but nothing came out. The bullet had gone right through her lungs. Her hands tried to grip Caesare but couldn’t. Instead, she fell backward in his arms and cried her final tears.
John Clay made a tight circle and landed the small helicopter as quickly as he could. With a hard thump onto the ground, he powered it down and kicked his door open before jumping out. From the second seat, Alison opened her own door and climbed down followed by Will Borger. Even with the air obscured, they knew exactly where the others were…by following the sound of DeeAnn’s screaming.
When they came into view, Caesare was sitting on the ground, propped up against a large rock, trying to press his hands against both sides of his wound. DeeAnn stood next to him, frantically hugging Dulce and sobbing. Unaware of the others running toward them across the charred field, DeeAnn knelt down and laid Dulce on the dirt. She quickly lifted her tiny chin and blew into her mouth. She then locked her fingers together and began pumping Dulce’s chest.
Caesare’s red eyes looked up at Clay as he approached, then fell back down to Dulce. “Help her, John!” he said, with gritted teeth.
Clay started to kneel but suddenly stopped. “Where’s my bag?!”
Caesare blinked, thinking. “Back there, about thirty yards.”
Bolting past Caesare, Clay ran up the short incline. He spotted the bag on the ground, close to where a vehicle had been parked, judging by the tread marks. He sprinted over and ripped the bag open. When he found the small pocket inside, he pulled out what he was looking for and came back running.
When he returned, Alison was on the ground, next to DeeAnn, blowing air through Dulce’s wide lips while DeeAnn kept pumping. It wasn’t working.
Clay stopped before them and locked eyes with Caesare, who was staring curiously back at him. He opened his hand and studied the square, silver cube in his palm. A year ago, the device had changed history in the blink of an eye.
Clay knelt to the ground at Caesare’s feet, watching his labored breathing. He looked at him one more time before turning to Dulce. Then Clay pressed the cube against her soft, furry chest.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it firmly against Dulce’s body. “Come on. Come on!”
DeeAnn and Alison paused and looked at the object. Beneath Clay’s hand, Dulce’s body merely sagged under the pressure. She was as still as a rag doll. After several attempts, Clay removed his hand and stood up, taking a step backwards.
Both women were looking at Clay, wondering what he was doing. Then it happened. A bright blue flash emanated from the silver cube and rippled outward over Dulce’s small figure.
The elements inside the cube activated. With a bright flash, the cube’s mysterious element created a powerful magnetic circle, which instantaneously began to fuse the deuterium core. The inside of the circle glowed bright blue at first. Then suddenly it turned black as all light was sucked out, and the portal reached out to connect through time and space.
Alison and DeeAnn, along with Borger standing behind them, all gaped in stunned silence as the gateway opened. Clay and Caesare had seen it before.
It took only seconds before a human figure appeared within the glowing portal, which had now stretched itself into the shape of an oval. The figure was shorter than average and peered out at the black ground in front of him with a puzzled expression.
He had a smooth bald head and deep blue eyes. He stepped out of the portal, looking surprisingly calm as his gaze found the women. He then followed their arms down to Dulce.
Palin looked up from the gorilla’s small body and over to Clay, just as two more men came out of the portal behind him. “You’re learning.”
64
While the two other men examined Dulce, Palin turned to Caesare on the ground and examined him curiously. “You appear to get shot frequently.”
Caesare tried to laugh but couldn’t. Instead, he coughed up a small drop of bloody spittle.
A minute later, after quickly bandaging Dulce, one of Palin’s men rose with the small gorilla in his arms and headed for the portal. The second man moved to Caesare and began examining his wound.
Palin remained still, observing, before his blue eyes turned to Clay. “Hello, John Clay.”
Clay grinned. “Hello, Palin.”
“We are pleased to see you again.”
“So are we.”
They both glanced back when Caesare groaned painfully. Palin’s medic was pressing a thin silver patch against his lower abdomen with another to his back. Clay quickly stepped forward to help as the medic began to pull Caesare up onto his feet.
Once up, the medic tucked his head under Caesare’s arm for support. Without a word, he walked Caesare forward to the portal and stepped through, just as the first man carrying Dulce had done.
Palin clasped his hands behind his back and, with a hint of humor, raised an eyebrow at Alison, DeeAnn, and Borger. None of them had moved an inch. “Have you not informed your friends about our first meeting?”
“Oh, I have,” Clay mused. “But there is nothing like seeing this first hand.”
Palin nodded and kept his smirk. He stepped back to the portal before turning around to face Clay and the others again. He looked curiously at them. “Are you coming?”
65
The temperature change stepping into the portal was a shock. The hot, humid, and smoky
air was instantly replaced by a cool and crisp atmosphere. In his mind, it triggered an old memory for Clay: like jumping from a hot tub into a cold swimming pool.
The place they followed Palin into was wide and clean. The lighting was also slightly dimmer, telling Clay that they were indoors. He judged the room to be roughly a hundred feet by another sixty wide. It appeared to be a perfectly cut rectangular area within lightly colored stone that resembled granite. While he scanned the walls, Clay instinctively turned back for Alison as she stepped timidly through. Behind her came a very startled DeeAnn and a fascinated Will Borger.
Grasping Alison’s hand, Clay turned back around to Palin and the strange room. It was filled with people running back and forth. Few seemed to even notice them. They were speaking a different language. Caesare and Dulce were nowhere to be seen.
Not far away, another bright flash of light burst from the air and a second portal opened. Two people, a man and a woman, dressed in identical light blue clothing, rushed past Clay and disappeared into its black center.
“Where are we?” Clay asked.
“This is our planet.”
Clay’s gaze followed several others who rushed past. “What is this place?”
Palin smiled, watching a mesmerized Borger study the entire room behind them. The stone walls towered over their heads, each with wide hallways at floor level. “It’s a hospital.”
“A hospital?”
Clay watched as the two who had run into the other portal came back out carrying a lifeless figure. A third worker instantly arrived, pushing a floating gurney onto which they lowered the figure carefully. They all then disappeared together down one of the hallways.
DeeAnn stepped forward. “Where’s Dulce?”
Palin studied her for a moment. “Dulce is your gorilla?”
“Yes.”
“The gorilla is being attended to. As is Mr. Caesare.”
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