“Ben?” the voice came from his right. He looked and saw nothing but the outlines of spirits. One of them moved a hand, attracting his attention. “Ben?”
He stumbled on loose brickwork as he made his way across the debris littered floor. Closer, he made out the faint facial features of the spirit. Recognition came as a cold rush of horror in his chest. “Alex?”
Alex smiled, not from joy but sadness. “Hello, Ben.”
Ben heard Itzel walk to his side. “You know this spirit?” she asked.
“Yes.” Ben wanted to reach out and hug Alex but knew that he could do no such thing. “We worked together on another mission. What’s happened?”
“I was dream walking. I think most of us here were. The gods lured us in and captured us. I was the first. I’ve no idea how long I’ve been here, but I do know why now.”
“I’m sorry,” Itzel said.
Alex shook his head. “It’s not you. It’s them.”
Itzel pointed at the table leg that Ben still held. “Kill me,” she said. “Stab me in the throat. If I die the baby dies, then these spirits have a chance.”
“No.” Alex would have reached out, but the bindings held him fast. “The gods will go out and find another candidate to be a mother to their child. We have another chance now.”
“We do?” Ben’s back wouldn’t let him stand any longer, and so he found a place to sit.
“We know people are looking for us. Some of these spirits came from the Sheddlestone Hall. But tracking living people is much easier than a lost soul. The gods don’t know that Ben and I are connected. Having Ben here is like having a radio mast rather than a little piece of wire to broadcast. I can use Ben as a channel. It will bring others here to rescue us.”
“As long as the gods don’t come back and eat my heart out,” Ben said.
“Then we have to get on with it, don’t we?” Alex grinned, and this time his hope lit up the basement like a floodlight.
***
The fire chief’s name badge read Gundersson, and he stared out from under his helmet with shocked eyes. “You want to what?”
“Stay here,” Kramer repeated.
“No way.” Gundersson pointed out across the bridge. “All civilians evacuate. No exceptions.”
Kramer dug her ID out. “We’re Homeland Security,” she said. “We have reason to believe that the man who started this fire is still out there. He is a threat to national security and must be stopped.”
Gundersson looked at the fire, now a line of red and orange flames that hung like a curtain on the forest. Above it, stretching high into the air were layers of smoke, coloured from black to grey, that blanked out half of the cloudless sky. “Anyone in there is toast,” he said. “And crispy toast at that.”
“We stay,” Kramer said. She patted the gun tucked into the waistband of her jeans. “If he appears he will pose a threat to your fire teams, and we can provide cover.”
Hands on hips, the fire chief looked ready to spit. Kramer could read the disbelief in his eyes. As if a man could survive inside that inferno? Kramer hoped Gundersson believed her, the alternative of telling him that a pair of gods and a High Priest could transport themselves into an alternate reality didn’t bear thinking about.
“Okay, but there are rules.” Gundersson gave a sharp nod of his head and held up fingers as he ticked off his list. “One, you go no further than my most advanced people. Two, if the wind changes direction and I say you bug out, then you bug out, no questions. Three, if this guy comes walking out of that fire unharmed, he’s all yours. Just tell me when to stop running. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Kramer said, with a smile.
“Stay out of our way and do as you’re told,” Gundersson said, as he turned away.
“Are those more rules?” Kramer asked.
The fire chief stopped. “What do you think?” he spat onto the ground.
“I think they’re friendly advice.”
“Well, they’re advice,” Gundersson said. “But I’m not so sure about the friendly.”
As the fire chief stomped away, Buhl said, “Guess he’s stressed.”
“Yeah, not my idea of a career, fighting wildfires.” Kramer shielded her eyes and searched the shore of the lake. The blackened husk of the hotel could be made out amidst the ash and charred trees. The fire had destroyed all it could and moved on. She wanted to get back down there. If the High Priest did his disappearing act from the beach, then she hoped that’s where he’d reappear. Anywhere else and they were well and truly screwed.
“So, what now?” Buhl asked. “You’ll want to find Ben, no doubt.”
“He can look after himself,” Kramer said, trying to keep her hopes up. “What I want is a lead on that motherfucker of a High Priest.”
“It was a good stunt he pulled, vanishing like that.”
“Yeah. But where did he go?”
“Want to know what I think?” Buhl asked.
“All opinions welcome. You know that.”
“We drop the firefighters and get down to the hotel. That’ll be where the action is.”
“It’s still smoking,” Kramer said. “If the ground’s hot enough it’ll melt your shoes.”
“We can borrow the boat those fishermen pulled us out on.” Buhl looked hopeful. Like most guys who worked special-ops, standing around and waiting for something to happen didn’t appeal to him.
“See if they’ll hire it out to us,” Kramer said.
“And if they don’t want to?”
“Requisition it.”
Fifteen minutes later the jon boat edged slowly into the lake shore near the skeleton of the hotel. Pruitt worked the outboard as he tweaked the throttle, hoping to keep the blades from grounding. Down here, smoke and ash particles fill the air. Kramer wished she’d had the forethought to raid one of the fire trucks for face masks. Nothing clever, some simple paper ones to stop the worst of the particles from getting into her lungs. At the front of the boat, Ranson held up a hand. Kramer felt the tremor as the hull ground into the gravel and sand of the lake bed. Ranson hopped out, dragging the boat another yard as Pruitt killed the engine.
Kramer joined the others in splashing ashore. Ranson pulled the boat’s rope to full extension and rammed the anchor hard into the beach. Kramer waited, her boots dripping water onto the sand. She held her P226 ready. She so wanted the High Priest to reappear that it hurt. If he’d killed Scarrett, then Kramer would kill him. Slow or fast, she didn’t care. But the thought of Scarrett dead made her hesitate. What would she do now, without him to fall back on? Less than a year and he’d eaten his way into her life so much that she was engaged to him. If only the idiot could find the time to buy her a ring and make it official.
Goddamnit, Scarrett, you’d better find a way back to me.
She waved Buhl and Ranson into the lead. The boat had only been big enough for the four of them. The rest of her team were covering their absence with the firefighters. If Gundersson saw a bunch of armed men hanging around, he’d be happy.
They kept close to the edge of Yellowstone Lake as they walked, its clear waters reflecting the towering pall of smoke and the fitful glow of flames as the fire raced its way up the hillside. As the shoreline curved, Kramer saw the spot where the High Priest and the gods had vanished. She called a halt, wiping ash from her face and hoping that she would be able to get the smell of smoke from her hair and skin.
“Jo?” Ranson said. He pointed into the smoke that still drifted from the smouldering forest.
At first, Kramer thought her eyes were deceiving her. A woman appeared, barefoot and wearing a short, linen dress. She came towards them with a measured pace. Kramer tightened her grip on the P226 and at the same time said to her team, “Don’t shoot.”
Closer, Kramer saw how beautiful this woman was. And her smile made Kramer relax.
“They are coming,” the woman said.
Kramer recognised the voice. The same one that had said ‘fire consumes’ back in the hot
el. “I know you,” Kramer said. “You helped me.”
“You are with me. Be prepared.”
Kramer waved her team out into a line, ten paces between each of them. She had Pruitt on her right and Buhl on her left with Ranson ten yards beyond Buhl. They watched and waited as the woman came to stand beside Kramer. “What’s happening?” Kramer asked.
“The gods return. They seek the end of the world.”
Kramer shivered despite the residual heat of the forest fire. “How do we stop them?”
“Fire consumes.”
The wind shifted, and a bank of smoke crossed Kramer’s vision. She fought the urge to cough. Fire consumes. We need to get them into the fire. But how?
“The One will help us,” the woman said, as if she could read Kramer’s thoughts.
“Who are you?” Kramer asked.
“I am Ki, goddess of the earth.”
“How will they end the world?”
Ki looked around. “This place waits for the end, beneath lies the pit and it will erupt.”
The super-volcano. Kramer remembered Scarrett telling her about it. She didn’t need to know any more than that. It’s going to blow.
***
Emily saw a spot of light appear in the darkness. It glowed like a beacon, and she knew it called her and Connor to it. She didn’t speak, because right then the world they travelled through seemed to solidify. Cold engulfed them, and their progress slowed as fractures of space scraped across their spirits.
“Hold on,” Connor said.
What to? I no longer have substance.
The light grew in intensity, and Emily turned away as it overwhelmed her. Slowly, her vision became used to light again after so much dark. She saw movement around her. Other spirits drawn towards the beacon. They scared her. She saw claws and fangs that dripped blood and eyes that hungered for food. “Connor?”
“Hold on,” the boy said. “We’re almost there.”
A beast with crimson eyes lunged out of the dark. Emily screamed as its mouth opened and a tongue unfurled towards her. At the tip of the tongue thick, red fingers reached to pull her into the gaping maw. The fingers missed her as Connor tugged on Emily’s arm. She fell and heard the creature’s jaws snap together. She saw more strange beasts. Multi-headed, covered in scales, some with long necks that ended in bulbous skulls.
Emily and Connor broke out of the shadows and into the light. They came to a halt, staring around at the debris and ruin that had destroyed a house and left only a basement. Emily saw dozens of faces turn to her. Trapped spirits and two living, breathing people.
“Emily?” she smiled when she saw Ben Scarrett staring at her. His shock grew when he saw the boy next to her. “Connor? Oh, my God.”
The woman next to Ben said, “You know these spirits?”
“Yes.” Ben reached out to Emily and she drifted as close as she could. “What are you doing here?”
“A rescue?” Emily said.
Connor moved past her to the wall, and Emily saw Alex there, pinned by rods of energy that glistened a putrid yellow. Looking around, Emily realised that all the spirits were trapped on the wall the same way. She heard Ben explain why to Connor. The two children watched Itzel as she sat on a concrete beam. Itzel looked lost and alone as if understanding that the children were there to free the imprisoned spirits and Ben. Once they were gone, she would remain, and without the life-force of the spirits to feed off she would die.
“Emily?” Connor spoke softly, drawing her to him. “We need to break the bonds.”
The child-spirits stood before Alex first. They tested the energy, feeling it with their minds. Connor tried a tug and said, “It doesn’t move.”
“Let me help.” Emily’s existence merged with Connor’s for a moment. He warmed her, strengthened her. Emily found a way to wrap her thoughts around the rod. Energy fizzed out, sending bright flashes of pain into her soul. She fought the urge to let go and pulled again. This time she felt the rod shift. Connor joined her, his spirit wrapping around hers. The rod flashed as bright as the sun, and a thunderclap shook the basement bringing dust trails spilling down from the ceiling. When she opened her eyes, Emily saw Alex standing free.
“Next,” Connor said, moving to the left.
“That hurt me,” Emily said. “Can I have a few minutes to get over it.”
“There’s no time,” Connor said. “We have to get everyone free.”
“I’ll help.” Alex came and stood next to them. “And when Gerry is free he can help us. It will get easier every time because we will be stronger together.”
“Okay.” Emily let Alex and Connor merge with her. They grasped the rod that bound Gerry to the wall and pulled. Again, lightning flashed, and thunder rolled, but this time the pain did not penetrate as deep into Emily’s soul. Alex was right. She smiled and moved to the next prisoner.
***
Ben sat next to Itzel. She didn’t acknowledge his presence. Her eyes fixed on the growing band of free spirits as they moved around the perimeter of the basement. Each release came quicker than the last. Their growing unity making the basement a place of happiness. Ben knew that as their joy rose, Itzel’s plunged. He sighed. This woman, who he and Kramer had hunted across the States, and now carried the High Priest’s child, should be his enemy. Not so long ago she’d thrown a stun grenade into a room in which Ben stood. She’d probably organised the attack on Emily in which Jane died.
So why do I feel sorry for her?
He put his arm around her as the last few spirits were freed. Itzel buried her face in her hands. She began to shiver. Ben looked up when Emily and Connor came to him.
“It’s time,” Connor said. “We can join and carry you home.”
“Me?” Ben asked. “Or us?”
Connor hesitated. “We can take both of you. If that’s what you want, Ben.”
“Yes, it is. I couldn’t leave anyone here.”
Itzel stood and put her arms around him. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You’re still my prisoner.” Ben tried to lighten the moment.
She laughed against his shoulder. “I surrender.”
Connor reached out, and Ben felt the boy’s hand on his arm, drawing him away from Itzel. He went with Connor and saw Emily take hold of Itzel.
The basement vanished. Ben saw a dark pool filled with predators. When they sensed the presence of living flesh, they drove at him. Sparks flew as claws and teeth tore at the surface of the spirit bubble. Ben saw the creatures fall away as if they lived in the depths of the ocean and he rose to the surface. Light permeated the gloom. Heat and air and atmosphere engulfed him. The spirits held Ben above the ground as long as they could until their strength left them.
Ben plunged to earth. He bounced on the beach, mouth and eyes filling with sand as he fought to breathe. He coughed and wiped at his eyes. That made things worse as grit scoured his eyeballs.
“Hey, Scarrett,” a familiar voice called out to him. “Nice of you to join us.”
Ben rolled onto his side, blinking his vision clear to see Kramer coming to kneel next to him. Her smile drove away the pain of his fall. She wiped dust and grit from his face. Ben spat a mouthful of sand. Despite the smoke and ash that stained her skin and hair, she looked as good as he could ever remember. And were those tears on her cheeks?
“Are you crying?” Ben sat up, holding his ribs again.
“It’s the smoke from the forest fire,” Kramer said. “It’s irritating.”
“I know how you feel. It’s the sand that’s making me cry.”
“We make a fine pair.” Kramer helped him up to his feet.
“I’d hug you if my ribs didn’t hurt so much,” Ben told her, as he got his first look at the charred trees.
“Any excuse.” She brushed his hand with her fingertips. “I’m glad you’re back.”
Itzel lay a few yards away. She watched them with something close to envy. Ben limped to her and pulled Itzel up. “Don’t try anything,” h
e said. “These guys are armed, and they will kill you if they need to.”
She nodded. There didn’t seem any route to escape anyway.
“Jo?” Buhl called out, bringing them back to the moment.
They saw the gods appeared, stalking through the drifting smoke, and where they stepped the ground trembled. Cracks split the fire hardened earth. Steam broke through, sulphurous bursts of geysers and boiling mud. The cracks ran together, reaching out beyond the path of the gods and onto the burning hillside. The ground shook, making Ben and Kramer stumble as they retreated to the water’s edge. Waves raced across the surface as the lake bed flexed. Ben heard the first, catastrophic rupture of the land as the volcano beneath them began to break free.
***
Alex looked down as the ground began to tear itself apart. From his vantage point he saw the dance of the gods as deliberate steps, each one designed to open fissures to release the heat and fire of the super-volcano. The other spirits freed from their basement tomb gathered close around him, as if he was their guide; their leader. Alex didn’t feel like a leader. He felt empty. One look down at his spirit form showed dark fingers of death creeping through his torso. He’d been too long separated from his physical self, and now any return would leave him a broken man, trapped in a coma and in a body that wouldn’t respond to his commands.
Better to die now, Alex felt his soul shiver at the thought.
Connor and Emily appeared before him. The boy’s face mirrored Alex’s fear.
“They’re winning,” Connor said.
As if to reinforce Connor’s words another cataclysmic shock made the land convulse. Fire leapt into the sky as the lake water began to boil. Alex saw mountains begin to crumble.
“Take Emily back,” Alex said. “She shouldn’t be here.”
Connor nodded, his hand grasping Emily to carry her away. The girl resisted, holding her spot in the sky above Yellowstone Lake.
“We have to do something,” she said.
The Tomb (Scarrett & Kramer Book 3) Page 34
