Primordial (Lilitu Trilogy Book 2)

by Toby Tate

  “Harrison, bring me a C4 block and a blasting cap from the Hummer,” Fredrichs said into his headset, then glanced at Mac. “It’s a two-pound charge. Should be enough to blow the shit out of this door.”

  In seconds, Harrison appeared out of the darkness and handed Jason the explosive. He took the block of grey putty and slapped it over the door handle, stuffed the rest into the door crack, then shoved a detonator cap into the putty.

  “Okay, guys, let’s move back,” he said, motioning for Mac, Hunter and his men to follow. They trotted across the parking lot to a line of olive trees and turned to face the obelisk.

  “Here goes nothing,” Jason said. “Might want to hold your ears.” He held up a detonator resembling a small staple gun, also known as a “clacker,” and squeezed the lever. The steel door immediately blew open and slammed back against the granite with a crash.

  He glanced over at Mac “It’s all yours.”

  Mac turned to Hunter. “I’ll set a charge on the stairs and then I’m going up. You put your charges around the inside of the foundation. Set the timers for ten minutes.”

  As he turned to leave, Hunter grabbed an arm. “Mac. Be careful. He’s up there waiting for you.”

  “I know. And I have a big surprise for him.”

  Then, he took off toward the obelisk and disappeared inside the still-smoking doorway.

  * * *

  As Jason, Matthias and the other men guarded the perimeter of the obelisk, Hunter studied the inside of the structure, looking for someplace to plant the charges. Gabe and Mac had both said the best place was near the foundation. The granite was several inches thick, but hopefully the explosives would be powerful enough to crack it. He glanced up at the aluminum spiral stairway that led to the very top. He could see Mac, who was almost out of sight. He wanted to yell for him to be watchful, but decided that Hendricks might hear. He was likely up there guarding his precious meteorite.

  Hunter un-shouldered his backpack and laid it on the granite floor, then reached inside and pulled out two five-pound blocks of plastic explosives, complete with timers and detonators. He walked over to the other side of the obelisk and placed one where the floor met the wall, then put the other block in the same position, but a few feet away. Hopefully, the two large blocks of C4 detonating simultaneously would crack the foundation enough to topple the entire structure over on its side. He prayed that it would work, otherwise, the human race would be in for one hell of a rude awakening in the morning.

  He set both digital timers for ten minutes, grabbed the backpack and scrambled out of the obelisk. He hoped that whatever Mac was doing up there, he did it fast.

  Seventy-seven

  As Mac wound his way up the last twenty feet of the stairway, he glanced down. He could see Hunter far below, doing something along the wall of the obelisk. Probably placing the C4, which meant he didn’t have much time to place his own charges. He had already planted one on the stairway as he made his way up, just in case he didn’t come back down. That timer was set for ten minutes, as well. He was going to put the rest around the stone and destroy it, or at least throw it off its mount and break its contact. He glanced at his watch.

  It was almost three a.m. Time for the solar flare.

  He looked up and saw a rectangular opening in the granite ceiling that led to whatever was at the top of the obelisk. There was no door. Hendricks probably figured no one would ever make it this far, or if they did, it didn’t matter, because he would stop them.

  He climbed up the last remaining steps and stuck his head slowly up inside the opening. There, across the floor, in the exact center, was a steel rod with a small table attached. On top of that table was a metal stand with a blue glow emanating from it. He was amazed that the rock hadn’t melted the metal, but at this point, he knew he shouldn’t be surprised by anything. Everything about what Hendricks was doing seemed to defy the laws of physics.

  He looked up at where the obelisk should come to a point and saw that the four sides had opened like giant flower petals, revealing the dark sky above. There must have been some mechanism installed inside the granite. Mac was impressed—Hendricks obviously possessed a high degree of mechanical aptitude to pull all this off. Either that or he was being guided by some outside intellect.

  He sloughed off the backpack and let the strap slide down to his hand, then tossed it up inside the opening. He placed his hands along the sides of the rectangle and began to lift himself up when something suddenly grabbed his arms, pulled him all the way through, and flung him across the space. Mac felt as helpless as a child’s plush toy as he sailed through the air and slammed against the far wall, then lay on the floor, trying to catch his breath.

  He rolled over to look behind him and saw what had so easily sent him flying—it was Hendricks. But he no longer resembled anything human—he had been changed by the meteorite. And he was coming for Mac.

  * * *

  “I don’t know what the hell he’s doing up there, but I don’t like it,” Hunter said. Gabe had forgone being taken to the hospital and stood beside him across the parking lot from the obelisk. Jason and Matthias were with them, the remaining police and CIA surrounding the structure.

  “He knows what he’s doing,” Gabe said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Just give him time. Are you sure you set the timers and put the C4 blocks against the wall?”

  “Don’t worry, it’s ready to go. Are you sure you’re okay?” Hunter said. She had one hand over the wound on her shoulder and her eyes had dark circles underneath.

  “I’ll be okay. I’m not going anywhere until this is over.”

  Hunter wanted to call his wife, but he fought the urge. The last thing he needed was another distraction right now. He was already worried enough about her as it was. Had she given birth yet? Had everything gone well? He figured if it hadn’t, they would have called. At least she had Jade there to comfort her.

  Suddenly, a curtain of light began to shimmer in front of them, dimly at first, then more intensely. It changed from green to blue to yellow and back again, and looked as though they could reach out and touch it.

  “Aurora Borealis,” Jason said. “The geomagnetic storm is beginning.”

  Seventy-eight

  The thing looked like an overgrown polar bear, with an elongated muzzle full of razor-sharp teeth. Its ears stood straight up on its head, like the ears of a gigantic bat, and its reptilian, silver-red eyes burned with rage. At the end of its writhing, muscular limbs were enormous paws, which Mac knew from painful experience could grasp like hands. He was sure Hendricks was inside there somewhere, which meant the creature possessed not only animal cunning, but also human intelligence. The beast stopped and raised itself on its hind legs—Mac figured it was at least fifteen feet tall. He knew Hendricks was trying to instill fear, but he had been in this very position once before, when his own sister had tried to kill him.

  The thing bellowed and roared, the sound reverberating inside the small space until Mac thought his eardrums would burst. Its front paws came down, and it was about to advance when Mac, still lying prone, suddenly swept one leg in a wide arc, taking the creature’s front legs out from under him and sending him crashing headfirst on the slippery granite floor. That bought Mac enough time to scramble to his feet and grab the backpack he had left next to the doorway. The huge beast growled in protest and leapt across the room in one bound, missing Mac by a fraction of an inch as he sidestepped it. He ran to the center of the room and opened the backpack, reached inside and set the timer on one of the C4 blocks, which he knew would set off all of the other blocks. He tossed it under the table that held the stone, and then made a mad dash around the other side as the creature launched itself at him.

  Mac knew that if he had been an ordinary human, and not a Lilitu himself, he would never have the speed and agility to avoid being torn apart by this creature, which is why he had chosen this particular mission. Anyone else would have likely been dead by this point. He ran toward the do
or, and was about to climb through when he glanced behind him, thinking that Hendricks was still giving chase. But instead, the creature was beside the metal table, reaching underneath for the backpack. He pulled it out with a clawed hand, then looked up at the opening in the top of the obelisk and tossed the backpack through it. He turned and grinned at Mac, his long, ivory teeth dripping with saliva.

  The gears began turning at top speed inside Mac’s brain. What the hell was he going to do? He knew the charges that Hunter had set would probably topple the building, but he couldn’t take the chance. If they didn’t work, the meteorite would still be in place. He had to find some way of removing the stone from its stand, and fast, because the storm would soon be at its peak, and the doorway to the underworld would be opened.

  Seventy-nine

  Hunter, Gabe and everyone around them stared up at the night sky as it filled with shimmering light of every color imaginable. If he hadn’t been so terrified, Hunter would have thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. But he knew what it meant—the meteorites would soon pulsate with enough energy to create a gateway to another universe, and an evil with power beyond all comprehension would pull their planet into that other universe. He couldn’t even bring himself to consider the implications.

  As they stood, waiting for Mac to emerge from the obelisk, an object fell from its top—Mac’s backpack—and hit the ground with a thud.

  “Oh shit,” Gabe said. “It still has the C4 blocks in it. There’s no way we’ll have time to take them back up before the other timers go. And if he set those timers already, that thing is going to blow in less than ten minutes.”

  Hunter checked his watch. “Mac has seven minutes to get his ass down here.” Then he glanced at Gabe and Jason. “Something’s wrong. I’m going up there.”

  Before anyone could protest, he was gone.

  * * *

  Mac held his breath as he waited for the Hendricks beast to jump him and rip him to shreds. It was over. There was nothing he could do to stop the inevitable.

  But for some reason, Hendricks wasn’t moving. He just stood there, staring with his silver, red-rimmed eyes. What was he waiting for?

  Then, Mac had an idea. He began sliding his feet sideways across the granite, moving slowly toward the stand where the stone was mounted. If he could smash the mechanism somehow, maybe he could prevent it from operating and stop the beam.

  He was now a foot away from the stone, and the creature hadn’t made a move to stop him. When he reached the stand, he glanced down at the glowing blue rock, and then realized why Hendricks wasn’t worried. It was being held in place by what appeared to be steel clamps, like the clawed fingers of an alien hand. The meteorite was perfectly smooth, probably sixteen inches long and about half as wide. It sat inside a shallow reflecting tube, but it wasn’t glass—it was some type of highly-polished metal, like chrome. There was no way he was going to break that. He needed the C4.

  He considered running down the steps and grabbing the other charge he had set, but Hendricks would doubtless stop him from even getting to the opening. Besides, there was only minutes left on the timer.

  But he had to try something, damn it. He couldn’t just give up.

  Mac glanced at the creature as a low growl rumbled from deep within its massive chest, but it still made no move against him. He reached down with both hands inside the reflecting tube and grabbed hold of the stone. He was astonished to discover the meteorite was cool to the touch.

  Ionizing radiation without heat? Impossible.

  He put the questions out of his mind and focused on freeing the stone, but it wouldn’t budge. He suddenly heard a voice, and turned toward the opening in the floor. It was Hunter.

  “Hey, I thought you might need this,” he said, and slid a block of C4 from the stairwell across the granite.

  Suddenly, a wave of intense, burning pain covered Mac’s skin like boiling lava and he fell to the floor in a writhing heap. The last thing he saw was the beast moving toward Hunter.

  Eighty

  As soon as Hunter shoved the block of C4 across the floor to Mac, he realized he was in trouble. The beast, which he knew had to be Hendricks, was now charging him. He ducked down into the stairwell, but it was too late—the creature had snagged him by one arm. He cried out in pain as it lifted him through the opening, nearly wrenching his arm out of its socket. The thing held him up in front of its face, inspecting him with the vertically slit pupils of its silver-red eyes. Long, pearly-white teeth glistened in the glowing blue light as hot breath washed over Hunter’s face, reeking of rotten flesh. Mac’s primal screams reverberated through the granite-walled room as he continued through what Hunter guessed was his metamorphosis from human to full-blooded Lilitu. If that was true, Mac was gone forever.

  Hunter heard the thing click its claws on the floor, and then it stood on hind legs, raising that same claw in preparation for ripping Hunter to shreds. He swung in the air like a pendulum, his shoulder bone ready to separate any second. Then Mac screamed again, but this time, the scream wasn’t human. The beast turned to look, just as Mac lunged and tackled them both to the floor. Hunter’s breath was knocked out of him, but the beast landed in front, and not on top. It immediately scrambled to regain its footing and Hunter crab-walked as far and as fast as he could, his shoulder on fire with pain. He knew he had to get out of this room, and soon, because he was likely being irradiated from the meteorite. But when the full intensity of the geomagnetic storm hit, he would literally be toast.

  He turned himself over when he was a few feet from the beast, and crawled the rest of the way to the opening in the floor. Once there, he turned and saw not one beast, but two. Mac had been changed, probably from direct contact with the meteor. He had transformed incredibly fast, in only minutes. The rock must have had some element that caused an instantaneous reaction in the DNA of any Lilitu that touched it. The two creatures were now facing each other, their shredded clothes strewn about the room. Hunter didn’t want to leave his friend, but there was nothing he could do. He only hoped that Mac could destroy the stone before it created the portal to the other universe.

  He lowered a leg down through the opening and was about to lower the other one when he heard a deafening roar from one of the creatures. He looked up in time to see a huge claw swipe across the side of the other creature’s head, sending it sliding across the floor and straight for Hunter. Before he could get down through the hole and out of the way, the huge beast slammed into him, causing him to lose his grip on the sides of the doorway.

  Then, he was falling.

  * * *

  Mac’s brain was on fire. He knew he was mutating, but he still retained human thoughts and feelings—Gabe’s face came unbidden to his mind, her soft eyes shining, her lips whispering, “I love you.” But he was also being bombarded with animal impulses, with the instinct to kill. The bloodlust literally screamed inside every cell of his body. He wanted to rend and tear, to taste flesh.

  He stood and gazed at Hendricks, who was on the other side of the room, holding Hunter by his arm as he swung helplessly in the air. There was a war raging in his heart and mind, the human side of him against the animal side. He wanted to jump in and rip Hunter in half and crunch the bones between his teeth.

  But he would not, because that was murder, and he was not a murderer. Hunter had been his friend, and he would not die—not today.

  Mac tore off the shredded clothing that still clung to his body, sat back on his haunches and lunged at Hendricks's back, smashing him into the floor face-first, allowing Hunter to escape across the room.

  When Hunter was clear, he jumped up and backed across the room, drawing the other creature’s attention away from his friend. But the beast was fast, and in a flash leapt to Mac’s position and slashed him across the face, sending him sliding along the floor and into Hunter, who fell through the doorway.

  Mac’s reflexes were supernaturally fast, and he immediately lowered himself through the op
ening and caught Hunter with an extended claw, placing him gently down on the spiral stairway. He stood back up and eyed Hendricks, then glanced down at the block of C4. Hendricks looked down at his feet and saw the block and its timer, then brought a heavy paw down on the timer, smashing it to bits. Mac bellowed in anger and began to advance on the beast when the stone suddenly lit up like the sun and a beam as bright as a supernova shot up through the top of the obelisk.

  Eighty-one

  Lateef drove his father’s old brown pickup truck down the dusty road toward Cairo, hoping to get in early for the massive Souq al-Goma’a, or the Friday Market. He knew there would be the weekly deluge of lower and middle-class people there to either find bargains or sell something. In the back of his truck was a hodge-podge of old computer parts, glass bottles, clothes, shoes, a broken alarm clock and whatever his father had decided to toss in. It was a trip he was used to making, since they didn’t have much money and Lateef had the only job in the household. He would be lucky to come away from the market with a few hundred piasters, which was usually just enough to buy a couple of day’s worth of food for the two of them. Lateef’s mother had died when he was young, while giving birth to what would have been his younger sister. He still sometimes thought of his mother, and missed her. But he consoled himself with the thought that it was probably good for her to have gone on to a better place than to be burdened by this life of poverty and hardship.