The Project Eden Thrillers Box Set 2: Books 4 - 6 (Ashes, Eden Rising, & Dream Sky)

by Brett Battles

  11:53 PM IST

  NEITHER SANJAY NOR Kusum had ever been so far outside Mumbai. In fact, until the outbreak, neither had ever ventured more than a few miles from the city. That had changed when they moved to their new home at the former boarding school. As for Darshana, she had been to Goa several times to visit family, but nowhere else.

  The thing that felt the strangest was being so far from the ocean. It had always been there, a constant in their lives even if they didn’t see it every day. Now it was growing farther and farther behind them, the distance feeling somehow suffocating.

  They took the expressway, most of the time surrounded by kilometers and kilometers of untended fields, some barren and waiting to be planted, some fully grown and waiting for a harvest that would never come. There were few cars on the road, so for the majority of the trip, they were able to maintain a steady pace.

  The tense moments came as they skirted around larger cities like Akota and Ahmedabad and Udaipur. At least Mumbai was a city they had known. These others were masses of unfamiliar buildings and homes where millions had once lived. Ahmedabad was the worst. The wind was blowing in such a way that even with their windows rolled up, they could smell the death.

  It was almost a blessing when night fell and all they could see was the road in front of them. But that brought its own sense of eeriness. A land of over a billion people being so dark and unpopulated seemed impossible, as if someone had built giant blinders along the sides of the road to keep the normal life beyond out of view.

  A sign ahead announced Jaipur was only fifty-four kilometers away. Forty minutes and they would be there.

  “Would you like me to drive now?” Sanjay asked Darshana. He had taken the first shift that morning, driving for nearly six hours before turning over the duty to Kusum. Five hours after that, Darshana had assumed the driver’s seat.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “But thank you.”

  Sanjay glanced into the back to check on his wife. She was lying across the backseat, but her eyes were open.

  “We are almost there,” he said.

  “Finally.” She stretched her arms and sat up. “What time is it?”

  “Almost midnight.”

  He held out his hand and she put hers in it.

  “Did you sleep well?” he asked.

  “Do I look like I slept well?”

  “You always look beautiful to me.”

  She frowned, but squeezed his hand.

  “What is that?” Darshana said.

  As Sanjay turned around, Darshana flipped off the headlights and took her foot off the accelerator.

  The white glow of bright lights rose like a halo beyond a rise in the road ahead.

  “Is that the city?” Kusum asked, peeking between the seats.

  “No,” Sanjay. “I do not think so.”

  The glow seemed to be coming from just beyond the crest, far too close to be from Jaipur. It was also too concentrated to be coming from something more than a single building, and unless the highway curved drastically on the other side of the hill, it appeared to be right in the middle of the road.

  About a hundred and fifty meters from the top of the rise, Darshana let the car come to a stop without her touching the brakes. She moved the transmission into PARK and killed the engine.

  “Shall we take a look?” she asked.

  When they opened their doors, the interior dome light came on. All three reached up quickly to turn it off, but it was Kusum who got there first. They had to allow their eyes to readjust to the darkness before climbing out.

  There was a thin, shoulder-high barrier running along either side of the expressway, and down the middle a shorter metal railing dividing the two directions. They moved along the side barrier until they reached a break and were able to hop down off the expressway onto the local road that paralleled it.

  They crossed the blacktop to a row of dark shops and stands, and used them to conceal their presence as they continued up the rise.

  Nearing the top, the glow grew considerably brighter, making Sanjay sure its source wasn’t much farther beyond the crest. He noticed something else, too—the light seemed to be accompanied by two distinct noises, a low hum and even lower rumble.

  Ten meters from the apex, he tapped the two women’s shoulders and motioned for them to follow him around behind the roadside restaurant they were about to pass. From there they were able to get over the crest unobserved, and then found a gap between the next two buildings wide enough for them to take it back to the other side. At the end of this alley, they peeked across the road at the expressway.

  Sanjay had been right. The source of the lights was nearby.

  Perhaps another fifty meters down the highway was a set of portable lights raised at least five meters into the sky. They were so intense that the road below them was lit up like day. Right in front of the lights, several cars had been moved into the lanes to prevent passage. There was a gap wide enough for only one vehicle to pass through. Parked in the gap was a military truck, and standing guard on either side were soldiers in all-too-familiar UN uniforms.

  A roadblock. Similar to the ones they’d seen in Mumbai. The only difference being that this one was several kilometers outside the city. Could that have had anything to do with this Director Mahajan? Did he need extra protection?

  The three spies retreated to the back of the building.

  “How are we going to get into the city?” Darshana asked.

  “They will only be guarding the major roads,” Sanjay said. He looked around at the back of the buildings. “Somewhere around here there must be a map. We find one and pick out the least likely route to be guarded.”

  They decided to hunt for one back on the other side of the rise, and found a whole stack of maps in a little market. They were able to identify four routes not too far away that they thought would give them the best chance of avoiding Project Eden soldiers.

  With the Land Cruiser’s engine off, Sanjay and Darshana pushed on the back as Kusum steered the vehicle in a U-turn. The downhill slope of the road was enough that the SUV started to gain a little speed as it came out of the turn, forcing Sanjay and Darshana to hop in on the run.

  The first turnoff came to quickly for them to take, but the second was far enough away that they thought they could use the brakes without the brake lights being seen. After they were off the expressway, they started the engine and, keeping their headlights off, worked their way past fields and small villages until they found the road they were looking for.

  The gamble paid off, and soon they entered Jaipur.

  As much as they all would have liked to get a look at the survival station, the tension of the last fifty minutes had added to their exhaustion. They found a small hotel down a dark, narrow street and, at Kusum’s suggestion, used one of the rooms with two beds so that Darshana would not be alone.

  As Sanjay emptied his pockets onto the tiny round table by the bed, he pulled out the phone Arjun had given him. He had totally forgotten about it during the journey. Curious, he touched the button that brought it to life, but never having had a smartphone himself, he was unsure how to access the picture his friend had put on there.

  “Problem?” Darshana asked. She was sitting on her bed while Kusum was down the hall using the toilet.

  “The picture from the Americans is on here. I don’t…” He paused, embarrassed. “I don’t know how to look at it.”

  She stood up. “May I try?” He tossed her the phone, and within seconds she said, “Here we go.”

  A moment after she handed it back, Kusum returned, but Sanjay barely noticed. He stared at the phone.

  “Sanjay?” Kusum said. “Is something wrong?”

  It took a moment for him to realize she was talking to him. He turned the screen so she could see.

  “The man they want us to watch for, he was Director Dettling’s assistant in Mumbai,” he said. “It is van Assen.”

  EN ROUTE AMSTERDAM TO JAIPUR

  FOUR AN
D A HALF HOURS FROM DESTINATION

  WILLEM VAN ASSEN finished the last of his coffee and carried his empty cup to the galley. Though he had his pick of first-class seats, there were no flight attendants.

  A shame, really. There was nothing like having all your needs taken care of while you were whisked across the globe.

  He peeked through the closed curtain into the business-class section. The plane, an Airbus A330-300 with a capacity of carrying 295 people, had only fourteen other passengers on this flight. Thankfully, they were all security team members. By Project regulations, this meant they were assigned to the economy section or, if available, business class, but never first.

  Technically, van Assen wasn’t supposed to be using first class either, but no one was more senior than he on the flight, so he had taken the liberty and assigned himself to the foremost cabin. As he’d expected, no one had questioned him.

  Most of the security team appeared to be asleep, though a few people were either reading or watching a movie on the video system. No one had told van Assen why the others were on the plane, but it was easy to guess. Director Mahajan’s status within the Project had just been elevated to the very top. Increasing the security around him would be a natural consequence.

  Van Assen let the curtain fall back into place and returned to his seat, hoping to get a few hours of rest before they arrived.

  As he closed his eyes, he thought once more about his situation within the Project. His new position was definitely a step in the right direction, so why was he feeling uneasy?

  The simple answer would have been because he was heading back to India, where things hadn’t gone so well on his last assignment. But that wasn’t it.

  The truth was harder to pinpoint. It was more a sense, really, a feeling that something was off within the Project itself. Not the goals or the steps being taken to achieve them—those were rock solid, as far as he was concerned—but more with the actual membership.

  He had noticed it first with Senior Manager Dettling in Mumbai after the prisoners had escaped. It was a loss of confidence, as if the faith Dettling had had in the Project was crumbling.

  After van Assen realized this, he began to see the signs in others. Little things—missed details, far-off looks, drifting attention spans, and perhaps not verbal but visual signs of second-guessing.

  Was he reading too much into things? And if he wasn’t, did any of it really matter?

  Probably not. The Project was on the proverbial rails and could not be stopped now.

  Still, the unease wouldn’t go away.

  He’d have to keep an eye on things, and if need be, act decisively.

  For the Project.

  And, maybe a little bit, to help his own rise to the top.

  It was this last thought, this comforting vision of a future where he had a say in decisions, that finally relaxed his mind enough for him to fall asleep.

  Twenty-Four

  WARD MOUNTAIN NORTH, NEVADA

  1:09 PM PST

  “I DON’T CARE, Dad. You’ve still got a long way to go before you’re better, and getting only a few hours of sleep every night isn’t helping. You’re going to lie down now.”

  Josie had given Ash that little speech right after they finished breakfast. She and Brandon had then escorted him back to their quarters and waited until he climbed into bed.

  “We’re going to be standing outside the door to make sure no one bothers you,” Brandon told him. “So don’t even think about sneaking out.”

  “Wait,” Ash said. “If something comes up, I need to—”

  “Dad, you need to sleep,” Josie said. As if she could read his mind, she grabbed the stack of Matt’s journals on the shelf by the bed and added, “There’ll be no pretending to sleep, either. We’ll be checking.”

  He lay back on his pillow. “Okay, fine. Whatever you say, warden.”

  He had thought he’d rest his eyes for maybe twenty minutes, a show of good faith, then he’d get up and they would let him out. But, like his nap the night before, when he opened his eyes again, hours had passed.

  Apparently, his honor guards had decided they were no longer necessary because they were gone when he exited the room.

  Anxious to find out if Caleb had made any progress, Ash made his way back to the comm trailer. As he entered, Mya and Devin looked over from the terminals they were using.

  “For God’s sake, shut it,” Devin said, shivering.

  Ash stepped inside and closed the door.

  “Oh, sorry, Captain. I didn’t realize it was you.”

  “Yeah, he’s a dick to most other people,” Mya said to Ash.

  “How’s it going?” Ash asked, walking over to them.

  “We’ve recorded forty-seven video conversations and nearly three times as many audio,” Mya said.

  “Anything of interest?”

  “You’ll have to ask Crystal. She’s set up some people to go through them all. It’s taking all our effort just to keep up with the volume. No time to listen in.”

  “I’ll check with her, then.”

  “That’s not the best part, though,” Mya said.

  “Is that right? Then what is?”

  She looked at Devin. “It’s your thing.”

  Devin grinned but said nothing.

  “You’re not getting a drumroll, if that’s what you’re waiting for,” Mya said. “Just tell him.”

  Devin shot her a quick, dirty look before saying to Ash, “I’ve been able to tap into their computer system.”

  Ash stared at him. “Are you serious?”

  Before Devin could answer, Mya said, “Not to take all the wind out of his sails, but some of the credit goes to Arjun and Prabal.”

  “They only did what I told them,” Devin argued.

  “And if they didn’t, you wouldn’t have gotten in.”

  “True. I’ll admit that. They do deserve some credit for helping.”

  “Look,” Ash said sharply.

  Mya and Devin turned to him, startled.

  “No one’s handing out medals at the moment, so for now it doesn’t matter who gets credit. What I want to know is what kind of access we’re talking about. Just basic or can you dig through everything?”

  Devin looked a bit uncomfortable. “I’m still in the middle of mapping the system, but given what I’ve seen so far, I’m confident we’ll have access to whatever we want.”

  This was more than Ash could have hoped for. Being able to peruse the Project Eden database would be a huge game changer.

  “You’re sure they don’t know we’re inside?”

  “Positive. It’s not the first system I’ve hacked.”

  A sound from beyond the racks at the other end of the trailer reminded Ash why he was there. “Is that Caleb back there?”

  “No,” Mya said. “Jesse. Caleb’s inside the base.”

  “Communications?”

  Mya shrugged. “He’s been working on that code of yours all morning.” She nodded at a counter space covered with sheets of crumpled paper. “Chloe came in a while ago. They talked for a few minutes, then all of a sudden Caleb jumped up and the two of them ran out.”

  “Do you know what they were talking about?”

  She shrugged. “No clue.”

  Devin shook his head.

  Ash spotted a handheld radio and snapped it up.

  After tuning in to the band Chloe would be on, he pushed the talk button and said, “Ash for Chloe. Come in.”

  Static.

  “Chloe, where the hell are you?”

  Still no reply.

  He switched to the comm room’s band.

  “Comm, this is Ash,” he said. “I’m looking for Chloe White. Have any of you seen her?”

  A pause, then—

  “Leon here. I saw Chloe about thirty minutes ago, heading toward residential section A.”

  “Was she with Caleb?”

  “Didn’t see him.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Leon.”

  Ash t
hought for a moment. Chloe could have only been passing through that area on the way to engineering or medical or one of the storerooms. But he had a pretty good feeling none of those was her destination.

  He set the radio down. “Get ahold of me the moment you’ve finished your assessment,” he told Devin as he headed for the door.

  RESIDENTIAL SECTION A was beyond the weapons training room in the northeastern portion of the base.

  As he headed down the hallway toward it, a voice called out behind him, “What are you doing up?”

  Josie.

  Turning, he said, “It’s okay. Only woke up a few minutes ago.”

  She stared at him as if wondering whether to believe him or not.

  “You were right. I needed it. I feel better now. Thanks for making me do that.”

  “You shouldn’t be running around.”

  “Honey, I have work to do. You know that.”

  A quiet second. “Have you eaten lunch?”

  “Not yet.”

  “I’ll get you something. Where are you going?”

  “Um, I’m looking for Chloe. I’ll, uh, stop by the cafeteria in a bit.”

  “Dad…”

  “I promise.” Before she could say anything else, he said, “I’ll see you later,” and continued on his way.

  When he reached Matt’s room, he stopped and listened at the door. Voices inside, Chloe’s and Caleb’s. As soon as he knocked, they went quiet.

  “Chloe, it’s Ash. Let me in,” he said after knocking again.

  The door jerked open.

  “Finally,” Chloe said. “Do you have them?”

  “Have what?”

  “The journals. I sent Brandon to tell you we needed them ten minutes ago.”

  “I must have missed him. I went out looking for you guys.”

  “Then how did…never mind.” She grabbed Ash’s arm and pulled him inside.

  Caleb was sitting on Matt’s never-used bed, several of the journals spread out around him, open. Among them were a laptop, several wadded up pieces of paper, and a small stack of paperback books.

  As Chloe shut the door, she whispered, “He’s cracked it.”

  “Augustine?” Ash asked.