by Toby Tate
She slept, and then later, she hunted. She and her offspring both needed nourishment, which she found in the way of an unfortunate homeless man. As she dragged the man’s carcass back to where she had given birth, she discovered treachery—Hunter and the CIA team had taken her child hostage, forcing her to reveal the placement of the backpack bomb she had planted far below the streets, in the darkened, labyrinthine tunnels of the abandoned Manhattan subway system.
She led them through the streets of the city, avoiding any contact with other humans as they made their way toward the huge Times Square subway station and then down into the darkness far, far below.
Sixty-one
As the leader of several CIA black ops over the years, Jason Fredrichs had been to some strange places and seen bizarre things that most people would probably question their sanity over. But none of them were even close to what he had witnessed last summer below the streets of Manhattan. The beast that everyone had called Lilith was something beyond his experience and training. A creature as large and ferocious as that, with the intelligence and cunning of a human being, was a walking nightmare. That had been something even the CIA couldn’t train him for.
He had been the leader of the team that had rescued Gabe and Hunter from the beast. But now there was word that Gabe, Hunter, and Lieutenant Commander MacIntyre had discovered some strange things going on in Crete, instigated by a guy named Hendricks, who they all thought was dead. Instead, he was very much alive, posing as a philanthropist of all things, under an assumed name, keeping his picture out of the media, and making hundreds of millions through his business dealings. Jason figured he must have used most of it to build those obelisks, because they were not only huge, they were also built from some of the most expensive granite in the world.
As he stared out the window of his office in Langley, he considered whether or not he should get himself involved in an op that wasn’t his. The thing was, Gabe hadn’t asked for any help, at least not yet. But his instincts told him that something was going on over there, and she might be in trouble without even realizing it. Gabe sometimes had a way of getting into “situations.” But maybe she simply didn’t want a bunch of CIA people spooking Hendricks and making him do something even crazier. There were some ops where more was not always better.
He had checked the records, and discovered that so far she had requisitioned a couple of planes to fly to Sicily and Romania, the location of two of the obelisks.
What were they looking for?
She had also requisitioned a speedboat, guns, ammo and a shitload of C4. She was either going to blow up a very large structure, a hell of a lot of vehicles, or both.
Those three were up to something over there, and Jason’s curiosity was starting to get the better of him. Gabe had proven herself in the field in a very short time, saved a lot of innocent people, and earned her autonomy in the CIA. But somewhere in the back of his mind, a warning bell was going off, and Jason knew he wasn’t going to be able to ignore it.
Sixty-two
Lucian Vasile had no problem getting through airport security on his way to Romania. He had secured the light-bending device in a suitcase—to an x-ray machine it would appear as nothing more than a piece of oddly-shaped glass on a metal stand. If asked, he would simply say it was abstract art that he had picked up while in Crete. But he hadn’t been questioned.
Now, he waited as the plane prepared to land at the airport in Constanta. There would be someone there to meet him, though he had no idea who it was. But it didn’t matter. They knew who he was and would find him when he got off the plane.
Lucian had been having strange dreams of dark, shapeless beings and voices that called to him in the night, telling him to do unspeakable things. But he couldn’t remember what those things were, or even why he was doing them. He just knew that he had to do them, because he had commanded it, and Lucian would do anything for him—even die.
He found himself at times wishing that he could remember things, like what he had been doing yesterday, or even an hour ago. Maybe he was just getting old, but he didn’t think that was it. Something had happened to his memory, but he wasn’t sure what. In fact, he found that he really didn’t care that much. All that mattered was the mission, and he would complete it without question. That much he did remember.
He felt the plane lurch as the landing gear began to descend. In minutes, they were taxiing down the runway and toward the airport.
Not long now.
* * *
Felicia James parked as far away as she could, counting on the element of surprise to get the jump on whoever opened the door in the obelisk. She had looked it over and realized it would take someone with much more knowledge than she had to break it open. She hadn’t told anyone on base of her plans, fearing they would think she had lost her mind and become some kind of conspiracy theorist. Most people around the area thought that David Lawrence was an international hero, so she would be just a lone voice trying to convince a crowd of hero-worshippers.
She had remembered Hendricks talking about someone coming on this particular day to set up the device at the top of the structure, someone that Hendricks obviously still had under his power. She had thought about going to the airport, but she didn’t know who it was and figured that Hendricks had probably already replaced her, anyway, since she had stopped calling him to check in. She was surprised he hadn’t sent someone to kill her by now.
Maybe he just hasn’t gotten around to it yet.
James didn’t know exactly when whoever it was would be here, so she found a spot on one side of the obelisk and sat on the ground. She pulled the Glock 9mm pistol out of her waistband and checked the clip. Full, plus another ten rounds in her pocket.
She stuck the pistol in her waistband and leaned back against the cold granite of the obelisk. The sky was turning red—soon it would be dark. Now all she could do was wait.
Sixty-three
Captain Matthias was about to finish his day at the office, when the phone rang. The caller ID said it was Lawrence, or Hendricks, or whatever the hell his real name was. That was someone he really did not want to talk to right now. Or ever again, in fact. But something was drawing him, forcing him to pick up the phone, almost as if he had lost his own will.
He put the phone up to his ear, but remained silent.
“What’s the matter, Matthias, got nothing to say?” the voice on the other end said.
“I know what you are.”
Hendricks laughed. “Good. Then you understand what I can do to you, or anyone who crosses me.”
“I can no longer cover up for you. This has all gone too far and I want no part of it.”
“That’s too bad. I would hate for something to happen to that lovely wife or that innocent little boy of yours.”
The blood in Matthias’s veins suddenly turned hot as boiling lava. “Leave my family out of this, you piece of human garbage, or I swear I will kill you!”
“Now, now, captain. Don’t let your mouth get in the way of your good sense, because we both know I’m not human, and there’s nothing you could do to stop me. If you think I’m wrong, then hang up the phone and take your chances.”
Matthias held his tongue, frustration and fear mixing like a Molotov cocktail in the pit of his stomach.
“There, see? You’re a smart man when you want to be. Now listen carefully, because I have something I want you to do. Tonight around three a.m. I will be going to the obelisk here in Crete. There may be some people who will try to stop me. You already know who they are—Singleton, that woman from the CIA, and that navy man named MacIntyre. I want you to keep them out of my path and away from that obelisk at all costs. Arrest them, shoot them, I don’t care, but keep them away from it. Understood?”
“I will keep them away. Just leave my family alone, or you will find yourself with a bullet in your brain.”
“My dear Matthias, bullets don’t affect me. I eat them for breakfast. Now do what the fuck you’re told.”
Then the line went dead, and Matthias slammed the handset back in the cradle, shattering it to pieces.
Sixty-four
“So, what are we blowing up?” Hunter asked, with a little more enthusiasm in his voice than he had really intended.
“Hunter, this isn’t the Fourth of July,” Lisa said. With Jade’s help, she had moved from the bed to a chair. Hunter glanced over and watched as she squirmed, trying to get comfortable.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” he asked, his brow tightly knit with concern.
“I’m fine. I just needed to get out of that bed before I got bedsores.”
“I think what we need to do is put the C4 around the foundation, maybe on the staircase, and also up in the top of the obelisk,” Mac said, sitting across from Hunter on the couch. “We have to make sure that thing doesn’t work, or we’ll be screwed.”
“How do you propose to get the C4 to the top of the obelisk? I’ve checked that door, and you’re not going to be able to open it without blowing it up. I still don’t have the C4, so if Hendricks beats us to it, he’s going to have an army guarding that thing.”
Mac reached over and grabbed Gabe’s hand. “We’ll just have to take our chances and pray. We have to be successful. The lives of everyone on the planet depend on it.”
“Yeah, no pressure,” Gabe said.
Mac glanced at Hunter. “I think that Jade should stay here with Lisa, just in case. You can stay here, too, if you want, although we could probably use you.”
“I think she’ll be alright in Jade’s capable hands,” Hunter said. “I think I’d like to make sure he has a world to be born into.” He glanced at his wife. “Don’t you agree?”
Lisa nodded, one hand resting on her belly. “As long as you promise to come back in one piece.”
“When do you think we’ll have the C4?” Mac asked.
Gabe pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll give them another call.”
Hunter glanced at the clock—it was almost six p.m. He turned to Mac. “Any idea what time that solar flare is going to hit?”
“Around two a.m. or so. Then the storm will start and probably knock out the power. We’ll already be in the dark before Hendricks ever opens that gate.”
“Do you really think he can do this? I mean, think about it: moving an entire planet from one universe to another. It sounds pretty impossible.”
“Yeah, well, the Lilitu sound pretty impossible, too; yet, here we are. Those beasts back on the island, everything we’ve experienced up until now all seems impossible.”
Hunter frowned. “You’ve got a point. I guess I’m just having a hard time believing something like that could really happen. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part.”
Gabe clicked off her phone and cut in to the conversation. “Good news. The CIA managed to get twenty pounds of C4 onto the island, along with timers and blasting caps, courtesy of the Navy SEALs. The bad news is it’s at the Naval Support Activity at Souda Bay, which is about a two-hour drive from here. If we leave now, we’ll barely make it back in time to stop Hendricks.”
“They can’t bring it here?” Mac asked.
Gabe shook her head. “I was lucky to get the C4. They’re not going to want to get involved any further than they have to. Like I said—we’re on our own.”
“Well, we might as well get going, then,” Hunter said. “At least we know Hendricks won’t be there until the geomagnetic storm hits.”
“As long as he doesn’t have the obelisk guarded. If he does, we may have a firefight on our hands. We’ve got to have time to plant the charges. Then, there’s the question of getting inside and up to the top floor.”
“Everything is going to work out the way it’s supposed to,” Mac said. “This is one of those times when you just have to take things by faith. I believe that once we get there and get in place, the answer will present itself.”
Gabe glanced at him. “I wish I had as much faith as you do,” she said. “I could really use some right now.”
Mac gave her hand a squeeze. “I have enough for both of us,” he said.
Sixty-five
The sun had already faded in the night sky, which meant it was at least eight thirty p.m. Felicia wasn’t sure how much longer she would have to wait, but she would stay there all night if need be. After all, the survival of her family, her friends, and the entire world was at stake.
Her legs were starting to cramp and her butt hurt from sitting so long on the concrete, and she slowly stood. A wave of dizziness hit her as the blood pressure equalized and she swayed for a second, trying to maintain her balance. She glanced up and saw stars beginning to show themselves in the blackness. Even under the circumstances, the night sky was still beautiful, she thought.
That was when she heard someone opening the door on the other side of the obelisk, and she reached down to grab her gun, keeping perfectly quiet.
* * *
Lucian entered the number code into the locking mechanism, turned the lever and heard a click as the bolts slid themselves back. Hendricks wanted to make sure that no one would prematurely enter the obelisks and had the locks installed. It wouldn’t do for someone to come in and poke their nose around where it didn’t belong. He opened the door wide and was preparing to step through when he heard a woman’s voice.
“Stop right there.”
Lucian turned to see a young redhead with a pistol pointed at his head.
“Who are you?” he asked in Romanian, still holding the door open.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. What you need to worry about right now is not getting a bullet in your brain. Now let go of the door and step back.”
Lucian released the door handle and let it slam shut, then took a step back.
“Now take off that backpack and lay it on the ground, nice and easy.”
He slid the pack over one arm, then the other, and lowered it to the ground.
“You know you can’t stop him—he’s too powerful,” he said, his eyes focused on the woman. “There’s nothing you or anyone can do. What has begun will be finished, one way or the other.”
“We’ll see about that,” she answered, and moved to pick up the backpack when the side of her head suddenly exploded in a pink mist. The woman’s eyes were as big as saucers as she dropped the pistol and fell backward onto the concrete. Lucian glanced at the front of his white shirt and saw that some of the blood had splattered on it. But he didn’t care. The threat had been eliminated, and now he had to carry out the rest of the mission, as planned.
He looked up to see his accomplice walking toward him, a pistol dangling from his hand. In his other hand he held a metal box with the stone inside.
“It’s a good thing we saw her car parked down the road,” the man said. “I had a feeling someone might be waiting for us.” He stopped and looked down at the woman’s limp body sprawled on the concrete. “Too bad. She was a good-looking girl.”
He stepped over the corpse as Lucian turned and re-entered the code, then he pulled the door open and they both went inside.
Sixty-six
The three of them drove under the night sky in Gabe’s rental car along the coast to the naval base. As Gabe and Mac sat talking up front, Hunter thought about Lisa back at the hotel, ready to give birth at any minute. He wondered if he was doing the right thing, leaving her there with Jade. But Gabe had said they needed all the help they could get and he knew there could be no room for error with something this big. They had one chance to get this right, or it could mean the end of humanity.
He wondered if the dreams she was having really were prophetic, or if they were just nightmares brought on by stress. She had described them so vividly, remembering every detail. That was rare with dreams. Were they coming from some nameless entity, the one that was behind all of this? If so, then she really was in danger, and he was out here in the middle of nowhere, going further and further in the opposite direction.
“Everything okay back there?�
�� Gabe asked, as if sensing his apprehension.
“Yeah, just a little worried about Lisa, all alone at the hotel.”
“She’s not alone. Jade is there with her. I don’t think she could be in more capable hands.”
“You’re right. I don’t know what I’m so worried about.”
“I’ve never been a father, but I think I would probably feel the same way,” Mac said. “Have you thought of a name yet?”
“Believe it or not, no—we’re kind of stuck on who to name the baby after, or whether to name it after anyone at all.”
“Feel free to name it after me. But make sure you name him John, and not Mac.”
Hunter laughed. “I’ll do that.”
* * *
They arrived at the base just after ten thirty p.m. and were directed to the building where the C4 was waiting.
Inside, they met Commander Lance Johnson of the Special Warfare Development Group, otherwise known as SEAL Team Six, designed to deal with counter-terrorism and special operations. The SEAL had a neck like a bull and the shirt of his khaki uniform was stretched tight around hard muscle. Hunter thought that Johnson’s piercing green eyes looked a little pissed off, probably because he was handing out explosives for a mission he wasn’t going to be involved in.
They all shook hands and Johnson signed them in, and then led them down the end of a long corridor, to a room filled with more ordinance than Hunter had ever seen in his life, except maybe aboard an aircraft carrier.
On the floor near a palate of fifty-caliber shells were several boxes of C4. Johnson motioned at it.