by Toby Tate
“Here it is, Ms. Lincoln, as requested. Timers and blasting caps ready to go. They’re broken up into two-pound and five-pound charges and will stick to pretty much any surface. Just make sure you set the timers to leave yourselves enough time to get clear, because when this shit blows, it blows big. Whatever you’re using it for, it will probably do the trick. If you want, you can bring your vehicle around back and I’ll help you load it up.”
“I’ll get it,” Mac said, heading back out the door.
“I don’t suppose you can give me a hint about the mission,” Johnson said.
Gabe smiled. “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.”
“Understood. You CIA people get to have all the fun.”
Gabe’s smile faded as she gazed down at the explosives. “Believe me, Commander; this mission is about as far from fun as it could get.”
Sixty-seven
Commander Johnson helped them load up the C4 and they were on their way to the obelisk site a few miles south of Heraklion. It was now eleven p.m. and Hunter could feel the anxiety gnawing at the pit of his stomach. By the time they got there, they would have maybe an hour to set the charges before Hendricks and his goons arrived; that is, if they weren’t there already. The pressure was starting to come to a slow boil, because not only was the world on the brink of utter destruction, his wife was about to bring a baby into the middle of it.
Talk about bad timing.
Why the hell he had ever let her talk him into bringing her along was beyond him. But Hunter knew he couldn’t have just left her behind, especially not with a child on the way. This assignment, at least originally, was supposed to be a combination of work and vacation. Now it was more like a nightmare.
He stared out the window at shadowy mountains standing guard over the beach like dark gods, and then glanced at Gabe. “Do you think we’ll get back in time to set these charges? I’ve never really done this before.”
“You’ll be helping me set the ones up at the base of the obelisk. There’s not much to it. Put the C4 where you want it and set the timer. That’s about it. We need to put a couple of charges there, one on the stairs and one at the top, which means someone is going to have to take a charge up and get the hell down in a hurry. We need to reduce that whole thing to rubble.” She glanced back at Hunter. “Think you can handle that?”
Mac answered for him. “Hell, yes, he can handle it. He’s former navy.”
Hunter couldn’t help but grin. “Ooh-rah.”
“Don’t let these CIA women push you around. Give them an inch…”
“And we’ll take a mile. Yeah, I know,” Gabe said. Hunter saw her throw a glance and a smile Mac’s way. Then he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and read the number. He saw that it was Lisa’s cell phone and quickly thumbed the “phone” icon.
“Lisa? Is everything okay?”
Mac glanced back at Hunter from the passenger seat and mouthed the words, “What’s going on?”
“Hunter, it’s me, Jade. I’m taking Lisa to the hospital. She’s going into labor.”
* * *
Lisa had been getting up to pee about once every ten minutes for the past hour, it seemed. Her back and abdomen were aching, as if she was having the most horrendous period of her life, but she knew that was impossible. She tried shifting positions and moving around in the bed, but it made no difference. Though she tried not to think about, tried to wish it away until Hunter was back safely by her side, she knew there was no fighting it: ready or not, the baby was coming.
Jade had been in the area longer than either of them and knew exactly where the hospital was. Lisa thanked God that her cousin was around, otherwise she would have panicked.
Right now, Jade was talking to Hunter, reassuring him that everything was going to be okay and his wife and child would come through this just fine.
“She’s been having lots of contractions, and they’re not stopping,” Jade said over the phone. Lisa could imagine Hunter’s eyes growing wide. “We’re getting ready to leave right now. Just come to the hospital as soon as you can. We’ll be waiting. Talk to you later.”
Jade clicked off the phone and stuck it back in her pocket. “Okay, cousin, let’s get you out of here and down the stairs, nice and easy.”
Lisa grimaced and put a hand on her aching belly. “I just wish that little guy would be still. Feels like he’s practicing for a soccer game in there.”
Jade gently grabbed an arm and helped Lisa sit up. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she glanced up at Jade.
“I think we’d better hurry,” Lisa said.
“Why?”
“My water just broke.”
Sixty-eight
Hunter thought he had been stressed out before, now things were even worse. He had hoped the baby would wait at least until he returned to the hotel. Lisa was still a couple of weeks away from the nine-month mark, so they were planning on returning to the US to have the baby. Like his father, however, little Hunter Jr. was impatient.
As he stuck the phone back in his pocket, Mac eyed him from the passenger seat.
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense. What’s going on?”
“It looks like the baby is coming a couple of weeks early, probably because of all the stress. Jade is taking Lisa to the hospital.”
“She’ll be fine, Hunter, don’t worry about it,” Gabe said. “I was an early baby, and I weighed seven pounds.”
“I hope you’re right. We couldn’t handle losing another one.”
“You’re not going to lose him. It will be fine…you’ll see,” Mac sad.
“I think if one more thing happens, my head is going to explode.”
Instead of letting his insides get eaten away with worry, Hunter did the only thing he could do—he prayed.
* * *
Lisa’s breaths were coming in gasps now as Jade sped through Heraklion on her way to the hospital. She only hoped the police didn’t pull her over, because she would never be sure which cop was working for Hendricks and which wasn’t. It was a frightening situation all around. She glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw her cousin’s huge belly in the back seat like a giant water balloon ready to pop.
“Don’t worry, cuz, we’re almost there,” Jade said. “Only a couple more minutes. Just hold on.”
“I’m trying, believe me.”
As soon as she had spoken, a sign for the hospital appeared on the roadside: one kilometer, a little over half a mile. Soon, the red and white U-shaped building appeared over the horizon. Jade couldn’t read Greek and had no idea where the emergency room was, so she pulled the car up in front of the double doors.
“Wait here,” she said. “I’m going to get a nurse or someone to help.”
She jumped out of the car and ran into the reception area, stopping in front of a desk where a woman looked up and smiled, then said something in Greek.
“I have a lady out in the car, she’s in labor,” Jade said, pointing frantically toward the parking lot. The woman behind the desk scrunched her brow, but continued to smile.
Jade sighed and tried another tactic. “Baby,” she said, making a cradling motion with her arms. “She’s going to have a baby.”
Suddenly the woman’s eyes lit up. “Ahhhh, baby!” She grabbed the phone and said a few quick words. In seconds, two men in scrubs appeared through a double door, one pushing a wheelchair. They stopped and looked at Jade. She made a motion toward the front doors.
“Out here,” she said. “Follow me.”
As she made her way toward the door, she glanced at a casually-dressed Greek man sitting a few feet away in the lobby, who seemed to be mildly interested in the proceedings. Jade ignored him and quickly walked through the glass doors with the nurses in tow.
Sixty-nine
Like his counterparts were doing in four other countries, Lucian and his accomplice set up the special prism inside the top of the Romanian obelisk. Its metal stand mounted directly to a small table of the
same shape and size, approximately four feet from the floor. It was then a simple matter of turning the stand until the perforations underneath lined up with the ones on the table, fastening it into place. Then, they placed the glowing stone on the stand and lowered the prism mechanism until the stone fit snugly into its hollow center. The entire process was ridiculously simple.
Lucian knew he and his companion were becoming sick from radiation poisoning, for they were not Lilitu. But somehow, he didn’t mind. It was for a worthy cause…wasn’t it? Flashes of another life periodically came and went through his brain, shadows of people he once knew and loved, someone he had once been. But because of the parasite, it was more like a half-remembered dream, and he quickly dismissed it as such. He couldn’t be distracted, not now, when it was so close.
He would guard the area until the geomagnetic storm began to charge the particles in the atmosphere, which would, in turn, power the energy inside the meteorites, making them even more potent. The resulting intensified light would bend and connect with the light from the other obelisks, creating the gigantic pentagram. There was something about the shape that allowed movement between universes, but he didn’t understand it all. It was too abstract for him. Lucian was a simple man and he had a simple task, which he would carry out to the end.
Then, when it was over, he and his companion would slowly die.
* * *
It was now nearly one a.m. and they were close to the obelisk site. As with the other monoliths, it was out in the middle of nowhere. For the past several miles, Hunter had seen nothing but farmland and olive orchards. The streetlights were sparse and the moon cast long shadows across the landscape. Hunter wondered if this would be their last night on Earth.
As they drove, a blue light suddenly appeared behind them—the police.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Gabe said, pulling the car over to the side.
“You can bet Hendricks is behind this,” Hunter said.
As she lowered the window, several officers gathered around the car and a lone figure stepped up to the window. Gabe glanced up and saw Matthias staring down at her.
“Don’t tell me. You want me to step out of the car.”
“All of you, please.”
Gabe glanced at Mac and Hunter. “Might as well get out. They have us outnumbered and outgunned.”
All three opened their doors and stepped out. “What’s this all about, captain?” Mac asked over the top of the car.
“We have a report that you threatened the life of David Lawrence, killed several of his employees and damaged a substantial amount of his property.”
Gabe eyed Matthias and crossed her arms. “Captain, when are you going to stop taking orders from a man you know to be a cold-blooded killer and stand up to him like a cop?”
Matthias reached back and pulled a pair of handcuffs off his belt as two other police stepped up to the car and did the same.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Lincoln, but I must take you and your friends into custody.”
“I don’t think so,” a man’s voice said from somewhere in the darkness. “I think you’re going to get back into your cars and pretend you never saw them, or you’ll wish you never had.”
Seventy
Everyone spun toward the voice coming from the darkness, but Hunter couldn’t see a thing. Whoever it was, they were well hidden. All four police officers drew their weapons.
“Who’s out there?” Matthias asked.
“Your worst nightmare,” came the reply. “I would suggest you drop your weapons, or there will be consequences.”
Hunter thought he recognized the voice, but wasn’t sure.
“Show yourselves!” Matthias yelled, his pistol aimed in the general direction of the disembodied voice.
Suddenly, they stepped out of the blackness, and there were five men surrounding them in a complete circle, each heavily armed with carbines, grenade launchers, or both.
“This is Cretan police business,” the captain said. “Whoever you are, you have no jurisdiction here.”
A huge gorilla of a man, dressed completely in black, stepped closer to them, an MK16 in his hands. Hunter saw the tell-tale scar running across the man’s nose and recognized him immediately—it was Jason Fredrichs. He and his team were part of the CIA’s Special Operations Group, an elite force with no ties to the military, which answered directly to the POTUS and the National Security Council. Hunter didn’t know why they were here, but he was more than happy to see them.
“I think that when the local police are taking their orders from a psychopath, it becomes my jurisdiction,” Fredrichs said. “Especially when American citizens are threatened.”
Gabe suddenly held up a hand. “Wait, Jason.” She glanced at Matthias. “Captain, I don’t think you realize what’s at stake. While we stand here, Hendricks is preparing to destroy not only Crete, but the entire planet. He is going to create a field of energy so strong that it will open a doorway to another dimension, where the earth and everyone on it will be at the mercy of whatever controls that universe. We have the means to stop him, but we need your help. He’s probably got men guarding that obelisk. We have to get in there and destroy that thing before it’s too late, and we may have only minutes to do it.”
As he watched the police captain, Hunter saw a drop of sweat trickle down the man’s forehead.
“If I don’t obey him, he has sworn to kill my family,” Matthias said, still aiming the pistol. “What would you have me do? Let them die?”
“He’s not going to get anywhere near your family. Not if you help us. We can stop him right here, and make sure that he never hurts anyone again.”
Matthias glanced around at Mac, Hunter, and the CIA team, and then slowly lowered his gun. He gave a command in Greek and the other three men lowered their pistols, as well. Then he turned back to Gabe.
“What do you want us to do?” he asked.
Seventy-one
It was nearly two a.m. when Hunter, Gabe and Mac neared the obelisk, followed by the police and the CIA team, yet Gabe still wondered if they had enough firepower. Even with their vehicle lights off, they had driven as close as they dared. Now, they were making their way through an olive tree orchard as quickly and as quietly as possible. Hunter and Mac each carried a backpack loaded with C4—Hunter with two five-pound charges and Mac with five two-pound charges—enough to reduce the obelisk to rubble.
As they got near the obelisk site, Jason, who was in the lead, held up a fist to stop. Everyone stood quietly, peering through the olive trees at the huge granite structure. Gabe thought it looked like a black rocket to Hell, which essentially it was. She was sure there were people guarding it, but the three-quarter moon wasn’t enough to illuminate them in the dark.
She glanced over at Jason. She had been only half-surprised to see him when he suddenly turned up on the side of the road. Though this op was off the books because of its unusual nature and because of the tenuous ties the US had with Crete at the moment, she knew the black ops specialist had his ways of finding out what he wanted to know. He had obviously suspected that she was up to something and decided to look further into it. She was glad he had—they could really use the extra help.
Jason whispered something into a headset mic and his men suddenly pulled goggles down over their eyes. Gabe realized they were using night vision. That would definitely help them see what they were up against.
Jason gave a signal for all of them to remain still while he and two of his men checked out the situation. Seconds later, they returned, and Jason motioned everyone to come near.
“There are at least five men outside the obelisk, heavily armed. They don’t seem to have night vision, so my men and I are going to go in with knives so we don’t alert them to our presence. Captain, you and the rest of these men surround the obelisk and cover us. Mac, Gabe and Hunter, wait for our signal with those packs. When I give the word, go plant the charges. Any questions?”
Though this wasn’t the first ti
me she had been in a similar situation, she had never faced an adversary with the kind of frightening power Hendricks possessed. Gabe could feel her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Jason said, and then he was gone.
* * *
Hendricks had decided not to wait until the last minute and was already at the top of the obelisk, installing the final stone. Unlike the other meteorites, this one needed no intensifier. The stand to which it would be mounted was equipped with a locking clamp to hold it in place and a specially-made recessed reflector that would direct the light’s intense radiation beam into the atmosphere.
He walked to the wall and opened a steel box that was mounted there. He flipped a switch and with a hum, the top of the obelisk began to open, the four sides rising up like the eaves of a huge table. The other obelisks had been built with steel rods in the floors which would raise the top about five feet, allowing the beams to shine through. The charge in the atmosphere would be strong from the geomagnetic storm, and the stones would glow so brightly that they would literally burn holes through whatever blocked their paths.
Hendricks knelt down on the granite floor and opened the lead case that held the stone, letting its radiation spill out like the light of a supernova. The incredible power it had collected through the eons as it traveled across the vastness of space, or perhaps though a higher dimension, was incomprehensible even to his great intellect.
Hendricks reached down and placed his hands around the meteorite. This was the first time he had come in physical contact with it—the stone was surprisingly cool to the touch. He gently lifted it and placed it in its stand, then stepped back, admiring its strange, unearthly beauty.