by Paul Heron
That left just one guy. He couldn’t see anything, just frantically swinging his fists in mid-air. He reached into his jacket and pulled a pistol. Michael kicked it from his hand, then sidekicked him with the same foot. As he stumbled backwards, Marcel tripped him, and knocked him out with a strike to the chin.
Four other guards came running to the station.
Marcel used Michael as leverage, placing all his bodyweight on Michael’s shoulders and throwing his legs in the air, scissor kicking two of them.
The other two panicked, not knowing what was happening in the darkness, they reached into their jackets, but before they could take anything out, Michael grabbed one and threw him head first into the other, knocking both of them out.
‘Well, that was easier than I thought. This group isn’t so tough,’ Marcel said, breathing heavier than normal. ‘You’re lucky we don’t kick you when you’re down,’ he laughed, tapping one of their boots with his foot.
‘Don’t get too confident,’ Michael said. ‘We still need to find Eduardo and get out of here.’ He tied the guards together and used their ties to gag them. ‘They can’t do anything now,’ he said, standing up rubbing his hands. ‘Come on, let’s go.’
They sprinted towards the building. As they got closer, they could hear laughter from inside.
They ran in. Michael was happy to hear a friendly Mexican accent. Eduardo!
‘Hola, amigo!’ Michael shouted.
Eduardo was being untied from his chair by Larry and Mohammad. Michael slapped Eduardo on the back, which made him jump a mile with fear.
Clearly, Eduardo was a nervous wreck.
Eduardo sighed with relief, happy to hear friendly voices.
‘What happened to you at the Uni?’ Michael asked. ‘Where’s L’amico? And the book?’
‘I think they're upstairs on the first...’
Before Eduardo could finish his sentence, Michael left the room faster than he’d entered it. ‘I’ll get it! You guys, get Eduardo out of here!’
He sprinted up the steps, two at a time. The sun had begun to creep in.
At the top of the stairs, there was a room with Prohibido el paso written across the door. The book’s got to be in there.
He sprinted towards the door, and with a leap, he kicked the door open. It was easy to get through. But on the other side, he found something he wished he hadn’t.
‘Mohammad, come quick,’ he shouted back down the stairs. He paused for a second. Listening to Mohammad singing “we are the champions” as he slowly climbed the stairs - one step at a time.
‘What’s up, chief?’ Mohammad said, rubbing his hands. ‘No time to hang around.’
Michael gestured towards a snake tank. In the transparent tank, a book and L’amico were protected by snakes whose tongues flicked in and out, smelling the air for prey. The snakes weren’t massive, but Michael knew that rattlesnakes were deadly.
‘I hate snakes. They’re hard to control. Very moody things,’ Mohammad mumbled as he dragged himself closer to the tank. ‘You know, Chief: I’m thinking saving the world hasn’t been that hard. This too easy.’
‘That’s what’s bothering me.’
Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw something glistening off the sunlight that was creeping into the room. In the right corner of the room was another tank, but this one was the size of a single bed. That’s got to be a really big serpent.
‘Be careful,’ Mohammad whispered, dipping his hand – slowly – into the rattlesnake tank.
A photograph on the side of the enormous tank, read “Bella, to be used for testing”. After looking at the message that was written in Italian, meaning the Italian bosses must visit the jungle often, he peeked into the tank. Bella was nowhere to be seen; Not good!
Michael looked at Mohammad. ‘Hurry up. The lizard isn’t in it’s tank, God knows where it is.’
Just as he said that, he heard something from behind him, too close for comfort. Every muscle tightened up. He felt something tickling the back of his leg. He looked down. Well, at least I know where Bella is.
The reptile was about two meters long.
Michael froze. Then, he snapped out of it, and slowly lowered his hand, feeling beads of sweat running down his forehead.
He was just about to touch the lizard when Mohammad screamed, ‘I’ve got the book and L’amico! Hurray for-’
‘Shut up!’ Michael shouted.
All the shouting sent Bella into a nervous frenzy. She snapped at him, whipped him with her tail, and made a dash for Mohammad.
As she ran through his legs, Michael grabbed her scaly tail and dragged her back through them again. He went into autopilot mode and lifted Bella. Her claws dug into his arms and her mouth grazed against the back of his head. He dropped her back into the tank.
‘Welcome home, Bella.’ He turned to Mohammad. Mohammad looked in Michael’s direction as Michael approached him, feeling it all come together. Mohammad’s expression quickly dropped, his eyes as wide as his mouth. Glass smashed behind Michael; he followed Mohammad’s line of sight back towards Bella’s tank. But Bella was no longer Bella. She was now a grotesque giant, still green and scaly, but standing upright on what looked like over-sized green human legs, with muscular human arms. Long greasy hair hung down over the face, like curtains lining the head, with three golf ball sized eyes in the middle. It stepped over and out of the tank, it’s head grazing along the ceiling. It smiled at them, it’s fangs now large enough to embarrass a saber-toothed cat.
Michael backed away from it, slowly. Until he pushed up against Mohammad. Both of them were stood face to face with it. It’s tongue flew out of it’s mouth, like an elastic band, flying towards them, grabbing the device from Mohammad’s hand and pulling it back towards itself.
‘Chief, do you believe we’re good enough to have been chosen to do this?’ Mohammad stood shoulder to shoulder with Michael.
‘Guess we’ve no choice,’ Michael said. The creature grunted at them. It tried to smile, gruesome yellow slime dropped from it’s mouth.
‘Then we can take this thing.’ Mohammad stepped around Michael, and reached into the snake tank, pulling out the three rattle snakes. He held them closely to his mouth and spoke in a strange language, as if he was whispering something to them. While two of them curled themselves around his forearm, he straightened the other out. It remained in it’s straightened position, like an arrow. He launched it at the monster, stabbing it in one of the eyes. The thing roared as it tried to pull the snake from the eye socket, but the serpent was well and truly buried inside it’s head. He quickly followed up with the other two snakes, taking out the other eye. The monster staggered all over the room. It put put it’s hands up to it’s face, dropping the device.
‘Mohammad, you get the device,’ Michael shouted as he ran towards the monster. It staggered towards him. He launched his foot into the air, connecting with it’s head, knocking it to the floor. He knew it wouldn’t stay down for long.
‘Got the device, and the book. Lets go, Chief.’
‘I think I should take the snakes, too. I kind of like these ones,’ Mohammad said.
Mohammad handed Michael the book and L’amico.
‘Only an idiot would leave something so valuable in such an easy location,’ Mohammad said.
‘I think they’re far from stupid. They probably thought nobody would think to check here.’
He looked at the book. It had a leather cover, with a leather flap and gold clasp to keep it closed. The pages inside were a light shade of yellow, not completely white, as if they’d just been shaved off the tree. George said that the book was handmade in China and was a gift from the Qing Dynasty in 1660, who presented it to Elisabetta for creating a moving portrait of the then Emperor. On the cover, in Manchu – which was the native language of the Empire – was written: “Know your enemy like you know yourself, and you will never be defeated”.
The group had retrieved the book, L’amico, and most importantly: Eduar
do. It was time to go.
Michael and Mohammad quickly made their way back down the stairs, and joined the rest on the ground floor.
Carolina fastened the straps of her backpack. ‘We need to get going.’
Michael rushed to the door, and peeked out into the front of the compound. ‘Let’s go, we’ll hide for a while, and then look for the dark tree. When we find it, we’ll destroy it and call Scarlett. It can’t be far from here.’ He wondered if it was just one tree, or an orchard; an orchard would be easier to spot.
Michael handed Ajit L’amico.
Ajit grinned. ‘Eduardo, our baby is back.’
‘Screw L’amico, we need to get going, now,’ Marcel shouted, looking outside towards their entry point.
‘Lets go.’ Michael led the way out of the building.
They all sprinted across the yard as the Mexican sky grew brighter. All the guards were still tied up at the power station, humming through their mouth gags.
‘I like your suits,’ Eduardo shouted, breathing heavily while they all ran like a pack of wolves towards their freedom.
Larry activated Chameleon Mode, the others followed him, causing all of them to blend in with the jungle around them. Eduardo almost choked when he seen them perform that one. After that, he started to really like the suits.
A few minutes later, they got back to the stream.
‘I can hear them! You gotta be kidding!’ Sofia shouted.
‘I hear an engine running, they’re coming for us!’ Carolina shouted. ‘Shall we stay and fight them? Let’s spread them thinly around the jungle.’
‘We’ve got what we came for,’ Mohammad said. ‘Let’s just get out of here!’
‘What are they saying?’ Ajit asked.
‘Great!’ Sofia hissed. ‘They’re shouting “At the stream”.’
Michael shook his head at their luck. ‘Is nothing ever on our side. Eduardo, you take my suit.’
Mohammad grabbed Michael’s arm. ‘What are you doing? It’s too dangerous. You’re our leader. You heard what Scarlett said, they'll come for you more than anyone else.’
‘I know what she said, I was there,’ Michael hissed, unzipping his suit from the back. He stepped out of it and tossed it to Eduardo.
Eduardo caught it. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, I’m sure. Sofia, here’s the book. You take it, memorise what Elisabetta has written, then destroy it so nobody else can get their hands on it.’
‘I don’t understand what you’re doing,’ Sofia said.
‘I got us into this mess. Remember, I contacted my dad when George told us not to. If it weren’t for me, Eduardo wouldn’t have been kidnapped. Now, use the suits to blend into the forest, and then wait until they go away before you contact Scarlett.’
Michael spotted four boulders the size of small cars out in the middle of the stream. ‘Marcel, take my rope,’ he said, rummaging through his bag.
‘Here’s mine,’ Carolina said, tossing her’s over.
‘Here, Marcel. Tie it around that tree behind you!’ He shouted as he ran to the top of the bank.
‘Done!’ Marcel confirmed.
‘All of you activate Chameleon mode, and grab the rope.’ They all took his instructions as the vehicles drew closer. ‘All of you, hold on tight to that rope, and get to the other side of the stream.’
They all jumped in, full of panic. Sofia shouted, ‘Larry, are these suits safe in water?’
‘Yes! But this is wrong, we shouldn’t leave anyone!’
‘The guards are here!’ Carolina shouted. ‘Michael, come with us! Please!’
‘No, you guys need to get away first. Hurry up!’ he shouted as he turned away.
He felt his stomach churn. He felt as if he was turning his back on the rest of them. He faced the jeeps that were coming towards him. He stood with his back to the stream, hoping the others had managed to get across. Hoping this was the right thing to do.
The jeeps pulled up to the stream, the guards pointing their guns at him.
What have I done?
Chapter Eight
THE VEHICLES SKIDDED to a halt, sending a cloud of dust into the air. Still wearing the earpiece from his suit, Michael could hear the rest, their voices in turmoil.
‘Wh... wh... What shall we do?’ Ajit shouted ‘We can’t just leave him!’
‘I can still hear you. Hurry up and hide, they’re here!’ Michael shouted through gritted teeth, watching as the group of tanned angry faces glared at him from the vehicle.
He watched as four of them jumped out. Their clothes were ripped and dirty; none of them wore neckties. One really angry-looking guy had a white shirt with bright red blotches on his collar.
‘What are you going to do, Michael?’ Larry shouted.
‘You have everything you need to unearth what they’ve done to the world leaders,’ Michael said. ‘Forget the tree for now! Just announce that the politicians are being manipulated. They’re all compromised. I can’t talk, they’re coming.’
Another vehicle arrived. They jumped out while the agents from the other two searched the area.
One of them, sporting a rifle, marched up to Michael and hit him across the head with the handle. Michael hit the ground, naturally curling up into a ball.
‘Who are you?’ He shouted in Spanish. ‘And where are the rest?’
Michael shook his head and rubbed it where he had just been hit. He was disorientated.
The man kicked Michael, indicating for him to get up. ‘Stand up and address me!’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Michael replied in Spanish. He got back to his feet.
He could hear the indignation of Sofia and Carolina through his earpiece, and the constant swears and promises of a royal ass whooping from Marcel.
The man smiled sardonically, and whacked Michael across the head again with the handle of his gun. For a second time, Michael fell to the ground. He was, in that moment, a simple young lad who was clearly out of his depth. He still heard screams from Sofia and Carolina through his earpiece, as if they felt his pain.
In an act of defiance, he stood up again. He looked at the man and tried to stop his lower lip and jaw from trembling. He didn’t want them to see him cry, even though he wanted to cry out with fear.
‘Who are you?’ the man asked again.
Michael didn’t say a word. He looked down at the ground, and thought about his family.
‘You are...??!’ the man screamed.
‘Michael.’
‘You’re Irish?’ He asked, grinning as if to say, “I’ve just won the lottery”.
Michael shook all over, thinking of Ireland, of his family. Then of the smile on his little sister’s face when she said goodbye to him on Friday morning.
‘Where are the rest?’ the man shouted. ‘Tell me, or you will die, here, right now.’
Michael didn’t want to die, but he wasn’t going to give up his friends. He betrayed them once, not again. ‘They’re miles away from here,’ he said. ‘You’ll never find them.’
The man dropped his head in disbelief. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ He put the gun to Michael’s head.
Michael closed his eyes and focused on his friends’ voices in the earpiece.
‘Stop. Stop!’ another agent shouted. ‘Signor Garcia has given strict orders that we cannot kill him. If he is the one, he’s too valuable. If you kill him, you'll be going against Mancini bosses. And they will kill all of us.’
With his eyes still closed, Michael felt a blow to the side of the head, then another to the back of the head as he hit the ground.
Michael woke up, on his back in one of the vehicles. All he could do was lie there and watch the clouds drift past in the light blue sky above.
‘What do we do now?’ He heard Eduardo shout through his earpiece.
‘First, we get away. Then, we think,’ Larry said.
‘We can’t leave without him,’ Sofia shouted. ‘We basically traded Michael for Eduardo.�
��
Michael felt like telling them to go on, and that he could still hear them, but he chose to remain silent.
‘There’s nothing we can do for him now,’ Mohammad said.
‘We can’t leave him with them. Trust me, they’ll torture him,’ Eduardo said. ‘He should be here with us.’
‘Let’s go, we’ll figure it out,’ Marcel said. ‘If we want to have the best chance of saving him, then we’ll regroup, and then come up with a plan. We’re no help to him now.’
Michael lay there, listening to them all, clearly confused.
‘Thank God,’ Ajit said.
‘What?’ Mohammad asked.
‘L’amico is working fine,’ Ajit said. ‘I have connected it to my phone.’
‘Great,’ Eduardo said. ‘But our first priority is to get Michael back.’
One of the agents realised Michael was awake. With the handle of his rifle, he stomped the end on his face again. He hit Michael so hard that he didn’t feel it. He just went out cold.
Chapter Nine
MICHAEL’S EYES SHOT open. On his back, he looked at the sky. He sat up, realising he was in the middle of a field, a tree-lined landscape. Unaware of his location he was he stood up.
‘Michael!’
He jumped. Turning around to find a long-haired giant; a bearded man wearing a ragged old tunic and sandals. With a club in his right hand, Michael thought he had another fight on his hands. ‘Who the hell are you?’
The giant stepped closer. His shoulder-length fair hair, and beard covering his entire face, leaving only his eyes and cheeks exposed. ‘You know who I am, Michael.’ He spoke causally. ‘You’ve read enough books about me and the other gods.’
Michael looked at the club again as the giant stepped right up to him. Realising a similarity in this man’s appearance and historical descriptions of The Dagda, he felt faint. ‘You? No, it can’t be.’
‘Do not fear me, Michael.’ He grunted. ‘In fact, it is I, who should fear you. We need you. Every god that has passed through the gate of the Dark One needs you. Most importantly, the bravest lady of them all, the Goddess Elisabetta Sirani needs you...’