by R J Johnson
“Auburn Industries has another office in San Francisco.”
“So?”
“So, while the Los Angeles affiliate might be on lockdown, they’ll still need to get work done. I’m betting they think their office in the City is still safe. Even if they kicked up security, people will still need to get in and out.”
“They wouldn’t shut that complex down too?” Alex questioned.
Scott shook his head. “Not likely. They’re probably already losing an insane amount of money with one branch shut down. Shutting down their second west coast headquarters would put their stock into a tailspin.”
“San Francisco huh?” Alex asked. He nodded to his friend. “Then I suppose we ought to get going.”
Scott looked up in surprise, “You’re going to help?”
Alex looked at his friend just as surprised, “You thought I wouldn’t?”
“I stole your stone…” Scott said sadly, “I betrayed our friendship…”
“And you didn’t think you had a choice,” Alex finished. “Believe me, when you’re faced with hard choices, it’s real easy to make big mistakes.”
Scott’s eyes were wide in shock, “But… you’re not worried I’ll steal the stone and try to kill everyone with it?”
Alex patted his friend on his back, “Scotty my boy, you were always hotheaded, I’ve known that for twenty-five years. If there was any chance I thought you’d kill anyone on purpose, I would’ve stopped you long ago.”
Alex withdrew the shape-shifting stone and held it out for his friend. Scott’s eyes went wide and he looked back up at Alex.
“Are you sure?”
“I’d bet my life on it.”
Scott reached out and Alex couldn’t help but add, “Cause I am…”
His friend paused for a moment and then smiled when he realized Alex was making fun of him. He reached out to take the stone.
“I’m grateful…” he finally managed.
“Well, you did have a point back there about not keeping all our eggs in one basket,” Alex admitted. “And you know how much it kills me to say you were right about something.”
Scott chuckled and stood. Alex joined him.
“Ready?” Scott asked.
“About as much as I’ll ever be,” Alex answered.
“Then let’s get up to the City and find out what the hell happened to Molly,” Scott said.
Alex looked at his friend who he had never seen so determined in his life.
Scott shifted into a dragon waving his massive claw at Alex and he joined his friend becoming the monster that had proven to be incredibly convenient for travel.
They extended their wings and flew off into the inky Los Angeles night bound for Northern California.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Johan stumbled through the brush and trees, desperately running away from the madman who was hunting him. The Swiss night was coming on quick and it was already getting incredibly chilly out. He kept moving, hoping the movement would keep him warm.
Unfortunately, his feet on the other hand were beaten up, bruised and bloody and that was making his travel through the mountains even more difficult.
He stumbled over a loose root and cried out in pain. He fell, his knees scraping the dirt hard. Blood poured out of the welt, and he spat on it, holding his hand close and gritting his teeth against the burning sensation that seemed to echo through his entire body.
It was all he could do to not cry out in agonizing pain.
But he needed to stay quiet.
He collapsed in exhaustion, and rolled over on his back, breathing heavily in the thin mountain air. Johan knew he was close to being defeated and done. He considered just staying where he was and giving up, allowing the perverted billionaire have his way with him. How bad could it be? Would death really be so bad anyway?
His mind flashed on Lorelai and immediately screwed his courage back up to push back the defeatist thoughts. There was no use in giving up so easily. If he was truly screwed and about to die, then he’d at least do so on his own two feet.
He owed his wife that much.
Johan grabbed a nearby branch and used it to help haul himself back up. Three ugly blisters had already risen and popped on his heels, so every step he took was a bloody, painful mess.
He heard the howls of Charles’ hunting dogs behind him and cried out. He started running through the forest, his steps muffled by the thick carpet of pine needles beneath.
“Tally ho!” A voice shouted from behind. The dogs began barking as Charles let them off their leashes.
He urged himself to move faster. Johan knew he was just steps away from being captured and he wasn’t going to go out like this. Not before he got to tell his wife he loved her one last time.
Suddenly, he felt herself slipping and falling. He’d been so wrapped up in trying to get away he hadn’t watched where he was going. The cliff had come out of nowhere.
Fortunately, the drop wasn’t that far and he slid to a stop in front of a small cave. Dazed, he stumbled to his feet and looked around wildly for any shelter that might hide him.
The dogs continued barking, but they sounded confused.
They must have lost my scent, he thought to himself. Johan turned and dashed into the nearby cave, hoping it extended deep into the alpine mountain.
He took out the survival knife and used it to tear off a bit of his white cotton t-shirt. He twisted the bottom off the knife hilt and shook out a few waterproof matches. Wrapping the cloth around a stick he picked up off the floor, he struck the match and lit his impromptu torch.
Johan cautiously crept inside the cave, hoping he might be able to find some corner he could hide in. He touched the side of the cave, using it to guide his way into the dark recesses of the cave.
He heard the grunts and sniffs of the eager dogs tracking his scent. He clutched his knees to his chest and willed his beating heart to be quiet. He felt certain that the whole world could hear it in that moment.
The dogs began barking frantically at the entrance to the cave and he let out a quiet groan. This was it. This was where he died.
He felt above his head, looking for something to help him stand. His hand slipped on the mossy surface, scraping it off the side of the wall.
He looked at the wall where the slime had come off in his hand. Strangely, underneath the moss and slime was a pure white crystal.
Johan didn’t know why he did what he did. What he should have done was run as fast as his bruised feet would allow, but he couldn’t resist scraping more of the moss and slime off the cave walls, exposing more of the mysterious crystal wall.
Suddenly, he felt his hand slip inside the crystal wall.
Gasping in surprise, he quickly withdrew his hand and it came out. He examined it, looking for any sign of injury, but there was none.
Johan swallowed and tried again, this time pushing further into the crystal. This time, his entire arm was swallowed up by the crystal. When he removed it for the second time, he inspected it closely, and again, saw nothing wrong with it.
He was floored. Nothing he had ever encountered in textbooks or the field alike, had he found anything like this.
Johan could hear the distant din of the men and dogs chasing after him enter the cave. He didn’t have much time.
They were getting closer, and Johan could hear Charles Halprin’s excited voice shouting at his dogs echo through the cave. He squared his shoulders and made a decision. Whatever he faced on the other side of this mysterious door, it had to be better than being ripped apart by a pack of hungry dogs.
Looking behind him and again at the crystal door in front of him, he made a decision. He strode forward and disappeared within the crystal door.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Wherever Johan had ended up, it was dark. So dark he couldn’t even see the hand in front of his face. But at least, he didn’t hear the dogs going crazy for him anymore.
Unfortunately, he’d run himself into a cave w
ith no light, no food, no water, and very little hope of finding his way out. Not to mention how thirsty he felt. He needed water, he was in a cave, there has to be water.
But if he wandered away from the entrance in this kind of darkness, there was no guarantee that he’d be able to find his way back.
“Devil’s choice…” Johan muttered to himself. “Never a good sign.”
That was when the chamber he found himself in lit up like a disco ball. Light seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. After walking into the crystal door, Johan wasn’t sure what to expect, but to see himself surrounded by a chamber that looked like something that belonged in a geode, was definitely low on the list of what he expected.
He shielded his eyes from the light, but apparently, that was the wrong move after what came next.
A booming voice echoed throughout the small chamber, and Johan clapped his hands over his ears, trying to block out the sound. The voice sounded like it was speaking a thousand different languages, in a million different accents, all of which added into a cacophony of noise that made little to no sense.
He screamed out in pain as the sound assaulted his eardrums. It was SO LOUD. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t speak, all he felt was the pain.
“Here, allow me.”
Johan looked up in shock at the Old Man who was standing above him. He waved a hand and suddenly the sound ceased.
The Old Man leaned back against the chamber’s walls and took out a pipe, lighting the end with a flick of his finger.
“Who…? Johan managed in shock. “What are you doing in here?”
“Oh, I get around…”the Old Man said lightly as if that answered everything. “But don’t let me interrupt you fulfilling your destiny.”
“My… destiny?” Johan asked, still confused. What was going on? How did this man appear out of nowhere?
And most importantly, was this man working with…
“No, I’m not with Halprin…” the Old Man replied as if reading his thoughts. Which if Johan had his wits about him, he’d have realized the Old Man had been.
“Then who are you with?” Johan asked, standing.
“Well, those guys have been helping me along for the last few eons…” the Old Man said, waving toward the crystal podium standing in the middle of the room.
Johan glanced at the podium and looked back confused. The Old Man didn’t say a word, just took a drag off his pipe and nodded towards the podium.
“What is it?” he asked, looking confused.
The Old Man didn’t respond, remaining silent the only evidence he was alive the rhythmic puffing on his pipe.
Johan decided to investigate. After all, what was one more strange experience on this already incredibly strange day?
He approached the podium in front of him and examined the tripod of crystals holding a stone that was bright blue. What struck him most was its shape. It was claw like, as if it came from some sort of prehistoric beast.
Johan looked closer at the stone still holding himself back as if he were an eight-year-old told to keep his hands to himself in a nice shop full of expensive things.
“It won’t bite,” the Old Man said from the wall, the glowing red of his pipe evident from the shadows.
Johan didn’t acknowledge the Old Man, fascinated as he was with the crystal stone sitting serenely in the middle of the podium. He reached out tentatively, picking the stone out from its seat in the crystal podium. He gasped in surprise, immediately feeling the shock of its power.
“Quite a sensation isn’t it?” the Old Man asked with a quiet smile.
“It’s…” Johan couldn’t put it into words. He couldn’t possibly describe what was running through him. It was as if it were a live wire of possibilities. Johan knew immediately whatever he was dealing with was far beyond even his own comprehension. The best description Johan’s lizard brain could compare it to was the same feeling he had on the first day of college.
When absolutely anything in life was possible.
“What is it?” Johan asked, looking up at the Old Man.
“It’s a choice…” the Old Man said quietly. “And it’s yours alone to make.”
“What do you mean?”
The Old Man sighed. He was tired. He’d been doing this for so long, it was hard to know what to tell people anymore.
“There are always choices we make in life that forever defines who will be become as human beings,” the Old Man began. “For as long as there’ve been people, there have been those who make both bad and good choices. Sometimes those bad choices add up into something extraordinarily bad. Wars, famine, hate...”
Johan looked down in despair and thought about all the bad choices he’d made over the course of his life.
Getting drunk and driving home. Leaving his gun behind at the worksite.
Choosing his job over joining Lorelei in Iceland.
“And the ones I’ve made?” Johan questioned, tears in his eyes. “I should’ve never left Lorelei alone. Once we got married, I should’ve given up my job, stay with her.”
“And remain poor your whole life?” the Old Man questioned him with a smile. “Your choices were yours to make. And sometimes those choices can add up to something good. For instance, you helped bring two countries closer together. You did that. You built that. A dozen years from now, people will be able to heat their homes, bring electricity to rural areas, and give hope to millions who hadn’t seen anything like that in a long time.”
“And all it took was nearly getting killed…” Johan grumbled.
“But you aren’t dead,” the Old Man reminded him. “You’re alive and you can still do a lot to help me.”
Johan looked up in confusion. “Help you with what?”
The Old Man shrugged. “It’s up to you to make that choice. Not me.”
And with that, there was a flash of light, Johan covered his eyes in shock as he watched the Old Man disappear.
The light in the chamber extinguished and Johan was left alone in the dark once again.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Alex and Scott stood in front of the San Francisco headquarters of Auburn Industries. After flying all night, they’d arrived earlier that morning. After a quick nap and some food courtesy of Alex’s mad money, they were now contemplating how to get in without being spotted.
They stared at the brutalistic building, watching the team of guards pace back and forth in front.
“Oh, we oh…” Alex said softly.
“Ohh, weeeee… oh.” Scott finished. They grinned at each other, appreciating the brief moment of levity and bonding.
“So, this is where you became big deal, huh?” Alex asked his friend.
“Not exactly…” Scott said grimly staring at his former office.
The skyscraper was one of the largest in downtown San Francisco. Security was everywhere, and all of them were holding versions of the very expensive PHaSeR rifles Alex had encountered back at the airport. He clutched his shoulder and rubbed it thinking of the sting the rifle had put on him. He was hoping to avoid another confrontation with one of those.
He didn’t like the idea there was a weapon out there his stone couldn’t help him with. But, he had two at his disposal and Scott was there as a backup. He was hoping he wouldn’t regret his decision to give the shapeshifting stone back to Scott.
However, as he watched his friend stare at the building where his fiancé had died, he wasn’t so sure. Revenge could cloud a man’s vision so much he’d never see a real death blow coming.
He’d grown up with Scott. He knew how his friend thought. If Scott was going to tell Alex what he needed to know, then Scott needed to believe he was the one in control. The stone was a security blanket for him.
But just in case, Alex was keeping a very close eye on him.
“Let’s get closer…” Scott said, his voice turning dark.
Alex grabbed his friend’s shoulder. “Wait… what are we walking into?”
“I told you,” Scott said impatiently, “we need to wipe Auburn’s servers. We do that and they won’t be able to ever profit off Molly’s death again.”
“And that will do the trick?” Alex asked, pointing to the card in Scott’s hands.
His friend shook his head, “No, this is just a pass to get us into the server room. They have a rotating security code that changes every fifteen minutes.” Scott indicated the small LED imprinted on the card he was holding. “I swipe the card and it gives me a series of numbers I need to enter to get in. The virus to wipe the servers is already securely stored on the cloud in a secret account I have.”
“Let’s not underestimate ‘em,” Alex warned. “How certain are you that your virus will kill the servers?”
Scott shrugged, “Most of the team Halprin hired after I left couldn’t network a LAN party if they wanted to. The virus I wrote will exploit the infrastructure I designed. They can’t, won’t be able to combat it unless they stripped down their entire system.”
Alex pointed at the multiple security personnel lining the street of Auburn Industries. “All right, what about them? They’re gonna see us coming…”
“That’s why I wanted this…” Scott said impatiently waving the shape shifting stone in Alex’s face. “I made the mistake of shifting into Halprin’s form. I won’t do that again…”
“Who will you shift into then?” Alex challenged. “When I used the stone, I needed an image of someone in my head.”
Scott shrugged and pointed at the men and women filing in and out of the skyscraper. “Any number of them will do…”
Alex shrugged, “Better if we had someone who worked closely with the servers rather than some sales junky or middle management type.”
Scott frowned and nodded, “Good point.”
“Unfortunately, we’ll never be able to tell which ones are the salespeople and the ones who can build a network…” Alex said sadly. “We’re better off finding someplace where we can regroup and get a proper plan in place.”
“Found ‘em…” Scott said instantly, lowering the binoculars Alex had given him. He pointed at two scruffy overweight men. One was a small Chinese man in his late twenties wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a variety of anime characters. The other was white with a huge red beard that circled his face and stringy black hair hanging out from underneath a greasy ball cap. They were arguing and Alex was willing to bet that the subject of their conversation was something like whether Greedo shot first or not.