The assassin, whose muscular frame dwarfed even Brett’s man-like build, motioned to the door of the taxi, which remained open. ‘Toss it.’
Brett hesitated and looked at Steiner.
‘Three armed soldiers have rifles trained at this vehicle,’ Steiner said to the assassin. ‘Drop your weapon, or I’ll give the order for them to shoot.’
‘You mean the unconscious Darklight operatives on the rooftops?’ Ophion motioned to Brett with his gun.
The FBI agent’s shoulders slumped in defeat and she threw her weapon onto the street, where it landed with a clatter.
Ophion reached back and closed the door, while all the while his gun and eyes remained fixed on Brett.
‘If you kill Professor Steiner, Ophion Nexus,’ Bic said. ‘I will make it my life’s mission to hunt you down.’
Ophion glanced at the central console where the hacker looked on.
The corners of the assassin’s lips curled in amusement. ‘Da Muss Ich, where are you hiding?’
‘Somewhere you’ll never find me.’
Ophion didn’t reply, instead he holstered his weapon and sat back in his seat and then did something that defied belief: he closed his eyes.
Brett sat up straighter and then reached for a fire extinguisher, located beneath her seat.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ Ophion said, his eyes remaining closed.
Brett froze and looked at the professor, who gave another shake of his head.
Steiner noticed Jessica put her hand on Eric’s arm, which shook from the adrenaline that pumped through his veins. Steiner could relate, his heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest. This was the man sent to murder him. A stone-cold killer. The only inconsistency was that Steiner was still breathing. ‘I thought you were here to kill me,’ he said.
Ophion cracked open an eye. ‘I am.’
‘Then why am I still alive?’
Ophion didn’t respond, choosing instead to close his eyes once more.
‘He wants us to help him gain entry to Capitol Hill,’ Bic said. ‘He wants us to take him to the president. Isn’t that right, assassin?’
Ophion remained silent.
‘He doesn’t sound like a very good assassin to me,’ Eric said, ‘if he needs help.’
Ophion chuckled, the sound making the hairs on Steiner’s neck bristle.
‘I could gain entry without detection,’ Ophion said. However, your method is quicker and my schedule is tight.’
‘So you do seek the president?’ Jessica said.
The S.I.L.V.E.R. operative, whose long black hair had been tied back into an intricate plait that hung down his back, crossed his arms over his enormous chest, but didn’t reply. It seems we already have his answer, Steiner thought. He wants us to help him kill the very man we need to keep alive. But then, as Steiner already knew, the president was but one man on a list of three.
‘Professor Steiner,’ Bic said, ‘our window of opportunity is closing. What should I do?’
Steiner rubbed his face, his fingers touching baby soft skin instead of the familiar bristles. He looked at the pale eagle-like features of his would-be killer. ‘If we stay here, I take it you’ll just kill me now?’
Silence.
‘Is he asleep?’ Eric said, looking confused.
Ophion’s breathing had slowed and Steiner was caught in two minds. If I stop him getting to John Henry, he’ll just kill me here, but if I help him get inside, I’ll be condemning the president to death and, by association, everyone else on the surface along with him.
‘There is a way out of this, Professor Steiner.’ He heard Bic’s voice in his earpiece, and knew only he could hear. ‘If you’ll trust me.’
Steiner didn’t know what to think, let alone do. And so, as the seconds ticked away, he went with the only option available, and said, ‘Take us to the Capitol.’
♦
Captain Radcliffe groaned and opened his eyes. What had hit him, he didn’t know, but it felt like he’d been kicked in the head by a horse. He focused in on the professor’s car as it drove away, a pair of red taillights his last glimpse of the people he was supposed to protect as they turned a corner and disappeared out of sight. His team had failed not just Steiner and Commander Hilt, but anyone he’d ever cared for still left on the surface. He rolled onto his back, stared up into a darkening sky and searched for the tell-tale sign of the next asteroid that headed for Earth. ‘You’re on your own now, Professor,’ he said, unable to see it. ‘It’s all up to you.’
Chapter One Hundred Seventy-One
In the fading light of another day in Washington D.C., the driverless taxicab made its way down Constitution Avenue towards a distant military roadblock that bristled with armed soldiers.
‘Enter my details on the system, Da Muss Ich,’ Ophion Nexus said. He opened eyes. ‘Or I’ll make sure this is as far as you get.’
‘Professor?’ Bic said.
Steiner glared at their captor. ‘Do as he says.’
‘A wise choice.’ Ophion held out his pale plate-sized hand. ‘Captain Radcliffe’s identity documents; give them to me.’
Jessica glanced at Steiner, then did as she was bid and handed over the relevant folder.
Ophion rifled through the pages and removed the digital cards emblazoned with the Darklight Captain’s image and fake details. He then slid them into the card readers in Bic’s console. ‘Transfer my image and biometrics onto the cards and print out a new set of documentation.’
The data transferred and moments later Ophion removed the cards and new paperwork to reveal they’d been updated as requested.
The car slowed as they approached the blockade.
Ophion surveyed everyone in the car. ‘Stay calm and get me into Congress and I’ll make sure only Professor Steiner dies. Try anything else,’ he said, as a soldier flagged them down and the car slowed and then stopped, ‘and every one of you will die.’ The tinted window wound down. ‘Understand?’
‘This area is restricted,’ the soldier said, looking at Ophion, and then at everyone else inside. ‘Turn around and take another route.’
‘We’ve got special access,’ Steiner said, noticing that Bic’s image had disappeared. ‘Business at the Capitol.’
‘Do you have ID?’
Steiner held up his card and paperwork and gave them to the soldier.
The man compared Steiner’s appearance to his photograph and then looked at everyone else inside, his eyes lingering on the powerful figure of the S.I.L.V.E.R. operative. ‘Very good.’ He handed the documents back. ‘Tell your car to keep to five miles per hour.’ He motioned to someone manning the barrier.
Steiner thanked him and the electric window closed as the barrier lifted and the car moved forward.
‘That was easy,’ Jessica said, staring at the well-armed National Guard as they stared right back.
‘That wasn’t the first layer of security,’ Brett said, as the car made a right turn. She pointed ahead. ‘That is.’
A mile away, framed by an avenue of trees and an empty carriageway, Capitol Hill’s great dome gleamed white in the rays of the setting sun, its vast bulk framed against the sky like a sacred temple to the gods. However, this was no shrine to an all-powerful deity, but a temple to man and the illusion of democracy that had once ruled its halls. From a nation forged by freedom that had been its founders’ dream, the fist of martial law held the Capitol in its grasp, squeezing the life out of itself in its attempt to purge the demon from within, the demon of the GMRC.
Apache gunships flew in twos, patrolling the skies like avenging angels, while high above fighter jets roared past one after the other in a procession of defensive power. Tanks lined either side of the street, the nearest one turning its main turret towards them as they crept along the highway. Blocking the way ahead, more tanks acted as a metal barrier across the ten empty lanes, while U.S. soldiers in fearsome high-tech amour stood sentry around them.
Jessica fell silent a
nd no one else spoke as they continued toward their destination, with their unwelcome guest for company. Steiner avoided the assassin’s gaze, and Eric’s, too, instead choosing to look out of the window, wondering if Bic would be able to pull something out of the bag. Perhaps it will be better if I die, Steiner thought. Then I won’t need to make the choice. His thoughts returned to the memory of his wife and his life thereafter, but before he could descend into melancholy the hacker, as if on cue, reappeared on screen.
‘If you seek to track my signal, Ophion Nexus,’ Bic said, ‘you will be disappointed.’
Ophion looked at Steiner and then at Brett, who hadn’t taken her eyes off the assassin since he’d entered the vehicle.
‘Did you think I would not notice the computer wafer attached to the identity card you just inserted into my console?’ Bic laughed. ‘I imagined the Committee would send someone better.’
Ophion surged forward and grasped Brett by the throat. Jessica and Eric cried out in alarm, but Ophion now held the FBI agent in a chokehold, his massive bicep bulging beneath his suit jacket.
Steiner went to help, but found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.
‘Give me your coordinates, hacker, or ...’ Ophion’s grip tightened and Brett’s face turned redder as she struggled to breathe.
‘I expected something more sophisticated,’ Bic said.
‘Let her go!’ Eric said.
Jessica lunged for Ophion’s weapon, but the assassin swatted her away and returned the gun to Steiner’s head.
‘The coordinates,’ Ophion said, ‘or I’ll snap her neck.’
Brett’s skin turned purple and her eyelids slid shut.
‘Tell him!’ Jessica said. ‘TELL HIM!’
Something beeped and Ophion glanced at a device on his wrist and frowned. ‘No wonder no one can find you,’ he murmured.
‘Satisfied?’ Bic said.
‘I need verification.’
More data scrolled across the small screen on Ophion’s wrist. A moment later he released his hold and Brett fell to the car floor, gasping for air.
Steiner and Jessica helped Brett back into her seat, and her face slowly lost its florid colour.
Raising his eyes from the information Bic had sent him, the S.I.L.V.E.R. operative looked at the car’s console. ‘If you think I cannot reach you, you’re mistaken.’
‘You cannot possibly conceive of what I’m thinking,’ Bic said. ‘Your mind is too weak.’
Ophion sat back in his seat and fell silent again, and Steiner couldn’t help but wonder what information Bic had given him. Whatever it was, he couldn’t believe it was the truth. Steiner knew Bic wanted this plan to succeed as much as Steiner did – at least that’s what his actions had alluded to so far. However, the assassin had seemed to accept it as the truth, and he didn’t seem like someone easily deceived, far from it.
The car slowed again as the first major checkpoint loomed large ahead of them.
Everyone got their passes ready as they prepared to enter the ring of steel, and Steiner’s anxiety increased. They were supposed to be trying to keep the president alive, but they were helping deliver the man sent to kill him.
Armed soldiers trained their guns on the electric car and moved behind them to block off any escape.
It all comes down to this, Steiner thought. Every life on the surface of the planet hangs in the balance, right here, right now. He gazed up at the soaring white heights of the United States Capitol Building and knew whatever was about to happen, his life, and everyone else’s lives, were now in Bic’s hands – the majesty of the esoteric architecture reflected in Steiner’s eyes – and the only other thing he knew to be certain was, beyond a shadow of a doubt ... there was no turning back.
III
THE LOST PROPHET
Ancient Origins Book 6
Our greatest glory is not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall.
– Confucius
Fact:
On the 8th January 2011 an asteroid with the potential to impact Earth in 2040 was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey. This near-Earth object was given the designation, 2011 AG5.
The governments of the world’s most powerful nations have secret contingencies for global disasters. These plans are kept from the public for a reason.
In May, 2015, the international media reported that a new species of ancient human, named Australopithecus deyiremeda, had been discovered in the Afar region of Ethiopia by a team of anthropologists. In 1995 and 2001, two more new species were found, Australopithecus bahrelghazali and Kenyanthropus platyops. All three species now leave little doubt that their more famous relative, Australopithecus afarensis, aka ‘Lucy’, might not have been our direct ancestor, as previously thought. These discoveries also highlight the massive holes in the fossil record remain as vast as the millions of years that it took for our species to evolve from ape to man. It asks the question, how many more species of human are yet to be discovered, or perhaps more saliently, how many species will never be found?
Year:
2042 A.D.
Prologue
Florida Keys, Florida, USA.
‘You know this ship should have docked at Miami, right?’
The captain said something in a foreign language and the harbour master shook his head. ‘I don’t speak Portuguese. This ship,’ – he pointed at the cargo vessel docked in the Key West port – ‘should not be here.’ He wagged his finger at the man. ‘It’s reserved for cruise ships, understand?’
A foghorn sounded in the distance and the captain looked at the harbour master with a blank expression, then held out a money roll. ‘For your boss.’
The harbour master’s sour expression changed to a smile. ‘Why didn’t you just say so?’ He gave the man a slap on the shoulder and fanned out the money to count. ‘Just make sure you unload your cargo quickly. The GMRC is gone, but the U.S. Army isn’t far away.’
The captain of the cargo ship nodded and gave the signal to his crew. ‘Prepare a carga!’
Below decks, shielded from the summer sun, in the hold of the ship, an iron door creaked open and a man with an AK-47 shone his light inside, illuminating a hundred young women in soiled clothing, the filthy garments tattered and torn.
‘Get out!’ He gestured with his gun. ‘Get out! OUT! NOW!’
The women emerged from their dungeon-like prison, moving into the larger holding space beyond, blinking against bright lights. A few of them screamed and whimpered in fear as more armed men corralled them into a huddle in the centre of the room.
Sweat glistened on prisoner and captor alike, the intense heat in the cramped conditions creating a furnace fit for the devil.
The captain of the ship appeared and pushed aside his men to survey his shipment. He withdrew a cigar and lit the end with a lighter. Sucking on the other end, he made it glow before inhaling. ‘Listen up!’ he said in Portuguese. ‘I have someone here to speak to you.’ He blew smoke out of his nose, turned around and waved a woman forward. Dressed in high heels and a short, revealing dress, she looked at the other women with hard eyes.
‘Listen to me,’ she said in their native tongue. ‘You are no longer free. You are slaves. You will be sold for sex whenever and to whomever we say. You will do whatever the buyer wants and you will not complain.’ She took a step forward. ‘Some of you will try to escape. Some of you will try to kill yourselves. If you do, we will kill two other women as a lesson to the rest. If you disobey us, you will be badly beaten. If you disobey us twice, you will be killed. Do you understand me?’
The captive women drew closer together, their terrified eyes fixed on the woman before them.
‘You will be sold for sex,’ the woman said again, ‘to foreign men, to American men, to Chinese men, to English men, to Russian men, to any man we say. These men will not care that you do not want to have sex with them. They will enjoy your body for money and leave satisfied. If they do not, you will be beaten. These men, thes
e fucks who order you online, they do not care about you. You will work in expensive hotels, cheap hotels, be advertised on high class websites, low class websites, all kinds of websites. You will go where we say, and do what we say. Each time a man has sex with you for money, you will feel like he is raping you. You will feel like dying after the first, you will feel like dying after the tenth. But after the hundredth, after the thousandth, you will no longer care if you live or die. You will only care to survive.’
One of the captives moved to the fore. Taller than the rest, she held the gaze of the woman who’d spoken and then looked at the captain in defiance. ‘And why should we work, if we have nothing to live for?’ She looked around at the armed men who surrounded them. ‘We’d all be better off dead.’
The woman working for the people traffickers smiled and said, ‘And when we have finished with you, we will let you go.’ She gestured to two of the men. ‘But first, you must learn.’
Two men strode forward and grabbed the captive who’d spoken. She struggled to free herself, but they threw her to the floor and proceeded to kick and punch her in the head and body, eliciting cries of terror from the others who watched.
The beating continued, brutal blows that broke bones and cracked ribs, until the woman no longer moved and the men’s knuckles dripped with blood.
Silence fell and only the occasional whimper could be heard from the women who’d just seen one of their own beaten to death.
Another man dragged the dead woman away, leaving a streak of blood on the rusty floor.
The woman working for the traffickers spoke again, ‘That was a lesson. Speak without being spoken to and you will be beaten. Do as we say and you will survive.’
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 93