"Get up."
He rose and glanced over at David and Melissa. David's fury had left him, and he stood and held his arms around Melissa. Umbra pointed to David to loosen the metal box that hung under the beetle.
"Take it off and bring it here."
David hesitated but then released Melissa, walked over to Jack and unstrapped the box. It came loose with a loudly clicking from the beetle and David was close to dropping it. He caught it and carried it over to Umbra and put it down on the floor in front of her. Umbra bent down, opened the box. Jonathan saw how a strange, greenish glow reflected on Umbra's face when she studied the content. She nodded contently and stood up.
"Pick it up."
David picked up the metal box and they all went up the stairs up to the deck. Jonathan considered throwing himself down from the stairs at Umbra but concluded that it was too dangerous when both David and Melissa were there. And Umbra was inhumanly quickly. He had never seen anyone move like that. It was as if she had covered at least three meters in the blink of an eye. It must be a trick. Or maybe some kind of side effect from the VR experience. They came up on the deck and the salty wind was soothing. He looked around.
"And now?"
They were completely abandoned on the endless sea around them, there were no other boats or ships in sight. Umbra did not answer but moved her hand to her ear.
“Ready. Send transport. "
The boat wobbled, and Jonathan held the railing. Melissa and David stood a few meters away and David held her and talked quietly. Umbra barely looked at them. She periodically turned her gaze up at the sky.
Jonathan watched David and Melissa. They had been completely unprepared for someone to do something like this and Jonathan cursed himself. After a couple of minutes, Jonathan seemed to hear something, and he glanced up. A white streak was quickly moving over the sky. While Jonathan looked on, the dash made a wide bend and swung off towards their position. Umbra smiled at his surprise.
"My transport."
Jonathan looked at Umbra. She was beautiful. Dark-haired with shiny, pale-green eyes. Her gaze glided over the small group and finally rested on the metal box on deck.
“Thank you."
Jonathan frowned.
"It’s not yours to take."
The woman looked amused at Jonathan.
"And who would stop me?"
He did not move a muscle.
"Me."
She laughed, and the long, dark hair moved behind her. Her green eyes glittered.
"You can always try."
He took a step towards the box. He knew that she would shoot them all when her transport was there. It was now or never, he had to put everything on a card. Jonathan quickly moved toward her to prevent her, but she was faster. She slipped away easily as he moved towards her and he blinked astonished. He spun around. She had somehow slipped past him without him seeing it. Confusion gripped him, and he stared at her.
"How do you do that?"
Umbra smiled but did not answer. Jonathan looked over against David and Melissa as they stared on the action in front of them, Jonathan moved towards the box to pull it away. But when he bowed down after it, he groped empty air. He looked up and saw how Umbra held the box in her arms. He shook uncomprehendingly his head.
"Who are you?"
Umbra laughed at the question.
"Your worst nightmare." She paused, "I'm the shadow hunter."
Jonathan frowned, now he remembered what the word meant.
"Umbra, does not mean the shadow?"
She nodded.
"Yes, and now you will let me leave this ship."
Jonathan took a step forward.
"It's not going to happen."
"Not?"
Before he had time to respond, Umbra turned to David and Melissa, who were petrified. With a sweeping motion, Umbra lifted the gun and it coughed and Melissa shuddered. David jolted out of his paralysis and shouted.
"No!"
Melissa wobbled and gazed down on her shirt. A small, red mark appeared. Slowly it grew. She brought her hands up to it and Jonathan saw how her fingers were red. She took a step back. Before David managed to catch her, she stumbled backward and fell over the railing. David rushed after her and threw himself overboard after her. Smiling, Umbra turned towards Jonathan. But before she had time to shoot again, Jonathan threw himself back while he brought up the holo-band to his mouth and shouted.
"Emergency Alfa!"
He fell over the railing towards the water while shots went over his head.
Amber Group headquarters, Paris
March 16, 2049
Life grew within her. Marie L’Angi let her hand glide over her belly and felt life within her. It was a fantastic feeling. To feel something so intimate, as overwhelming as she was about to create. And she had created it with Jonathan. It was a part of him was with her the whole time. She and Jonathan's romance had been a whirlwind. The first time they had met, sparks had flown, and she remembered the encounter warmly.
She sat in one of the armchairs in front of the fire in Backmann's office. The heat was pleasant and she and Nicholas Backmann both sat deeply immersed in thought. The holo-screen on the wall was lit and a newsflash rolled past. She raised the volume. A hologram of a red-haired, feminine anchorwoman slipped forward in front of the screen. The woman's beautiful eyes followed Marie with her gaze.
"We’ll just be moving to the United Nations and another press conference."
The woman looked down and seemed to read something. She looked up at the camera.
"We go directly over to Arik Zimki who will give us an update."
Marie leaned forward. The hologram initially changed slowly and then suddenly when Arik stepped forward. He lifted his hands to induce silence from someone whom Marie did not see.
Arik smiled.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome."
Marie instantly recognized Arik’s lisp.
"Today we have the opportunity to give you amazing news. It was a collaboration with our esteemed colleagues at NASA, ESA, and Roscosmos. "He paused, and Marie could almost feel the excitement in the room and scattered mumble were heard.
"Not more than three hours ago, we received confirmation from the moon base Genesis. That is the first confirmation and it is largely because of the dedication and perseverance that our scientists exhibit. "
Marie noticed that she drummed impatiently with her fingers against her knee.
"Now tell me what it is for something instead."
Arik took another break and looked up as a general over his troops before he continued.
"We have confirmation of what appears to be a machine of extraterrestrial origin hidden beneath the surface of the moon." The room fell silent. Marie blinked and tried to absorb what Arik just said. She looked over at Backmann who was also staring at the holo-screen. He sat up straight up when he heard Arik’s comment.
"What?"
Marie did not respond before the Arik continued.
"Hiding several hundred meters below the surface, we now have at least three different sites indicating something that looks to be a kind of advanced machine. Exactly what it, is currently unknown. We have a suspicion that it may be related to the seismic activities we have seen on the moon but we will continue our work to investigate the area and whether there are similar areas on the other planets that we discover similar seismic activities on as on the moon and we're also going to investigate the reported earthquakes of recent days to see if there is a correlation between the events. We are working hard to carry out further investigations in the next few days "he paused," questions? "
A forest of arms flew up and Arik pointed to one of them. The camera zoomed in on an overweight man who stood up. The man's worn suit looked wrinkled.
"James Dunn, American Post", he paused, "what function does the machine have?”
"At the moment we do not know exactly what function the machine has but we are working to ensure its function. It is a compre
hensive analysis work we are working on and it will take some time before we are done with it. Other questions? "
A slender woman dressed in a dark skirt and a red blouse.
"Veronique Dupin, Le Mondrian. Do we know if similar machines are also located in other places around in Solar System? "
Arik’s forehead wrinkled.
"As I said earlier, we are running a comprehensive analysis work to ascertain if there in the solar system may be similar machines. Now it is too early to say anything about this. "
"Do you know if there is any machine on Earth?" `
A greying older man on the outer edge looked quietly up towards Arik. The room was silent while everyone was waiting for the answer.
"No, we have no indication that there would be any similar machine here on Earth." He turned against another journalist, but the older man did not relent.
"How do you know that the seismic activity that has been recorded around the solar system would not also take place here on Earth?"
A shadow slipped over the Arik’s face.
"That's what we're trying to ensure. It is a tremendous effort to collect all the necessary data to perform a reliable analysis of the situation. It takes time, but we work as quickly as we can. "
The journalists continued for an additional three minutes of asking Arik a battery of questions but there were no more answers available. Marie turned off the holo-screen and sat quietly to ponder what Arik had said. She and Backmann considered the situation, each in their own way.
"A penny for your thoughts?”
Backmann shrugged.
"This report is quite simply fantastic." He paused, "if it is true, we are facing something exceptional."
Marie waited for him to continue. He frowned and changed topic.
"By the way, how much do you know about the Russian Fabergé eggs?"
She did not show any surprise to Backmann’s quick change of subject.
"Not much. They were created by Carl Fabergé at the beginning of the 1900 century and was a gift to the Russian Tsar. "
Backmann corrected her.
"Not to, but from. There were two Tsars who gave the eggs as a present. It began under Alexander III who gave an egg to his wife, Maria Fedorova, in Easter 1885. Maria was overjoyed at the gift and Alexander continued to order an egg annually to Easter. After Alexander died, his son took over, Nicolas II, who continued the tradition. But he also gave eggs to his wife and mother as Easter gifts. "
Marie chuckled.
"Yes, you see, I didn’t know that much."
Backmann rose, walked over to the fireplace, and gently added another log. He watched as the fire took hold of it, and its pleasant warmth spread in the room.
"The eggs are among the most valuable that we have been dealing with so far. If Jonathan manages to find one of it, it will make the Amber Group immortal."
Marie knew that it cost large sums to hold an activity as their operation going and she also knew that they had to prioritize income now. Backmann sat down again and looked over at her.
"And Jonathan will also be immortal. He will be known as the man who returned one of the missing eggs. "
She laughed and placed her hand on her belly.
“Jonathan will have enough to keep him occupied when he comes back.”
Backmann nodded against her stomach.
"How far are you?"
"Two and a half months."
"Ok, we'll make sure you get some easier tasks in so, so you don't overexert yourself.”
Her smile disappeared.
"I'm not made of glass."
"I know, and that was not the way I meant. I just meant that it probably isn't too clever to overstretch you now that you're pregnant. "
"No, I know that. My doctor has completely clarified what is happening and how much I manage regarding the amount of work. I'll tell you if things get too much. "
Backmann sighed.
"Have you heard of Jonathan yet?"
She shook her head. Backmann stared into the fire and contemplated the situation. He had not had time to complete the usual background check of the client that he normally did before he accepted a mission and noticed a nagging doubt had begun to grow within him. He had been pressed for time and Dagmar Buch had been very persistent. She had explicitly stated that if Backmann did not accept to send a resource at once, she would find someone else. And the truth was that Backmann could not afford to say no. The Amber Groups financial reserves were at strained and they had to do something fast and such lucrative assignments were rarely as they fell in their lap.
He reflected over the past two months. They had been both a blessing and a curse. But the Amber Groups involvement in the Tabula Rasa affair had been classified as secret and it meant that no outsider was told about its role.
If that were the case, they would not have been able to benefit from it, which has meant that in recent months, the financial reserves had been emptied fast. Backmann made some quick calculations in his head. He estimated that maybe they had one to two months left in operational status before they were forced to close. He was jolted from his thoughts by Marie’s voice.
"What do you think of?"
“The future. Just the future. "
She looked curiously at him. She had known Backmann long enough to recognize the special look he received when he tried to hide something.
"The plan is that Jonathan will contact me about four hours for a status report."
"Then just wait in that case.”
She would just reply just as her holo-band vibrated. She glanced at it but sat straight half a second straight up in the armchair. She stared at the text that floated forward.
"Emergency Alfa!"
* * *
She could not believe her eyes. Her holo-band continued vibrating and a message written in large, bold text slid forward above her wrist, EMERGENCY ALPHA. She flew up from the armchair and before Backmann had time to say something, she had rushed out of the office, through the hall and continued into the control room.
Emergency Alfa was the very highest degree of priority messages that an agent of the Amber Group could send to the headquarters and that meant that the agent was in immediate mortal danger and instantly requested assistance. It was very rarely used, in fact, Marie had only been with two previous occasions.
But now, when she saw that the message was encoded with Jonathan's signature, an icy feeling spread in her. A wave of nausea stormed up and she wobbled to when she ran into in room. On the way into the control room, she hit the doorframe and nearly fell but managed to remain upright. She looked feverishly around the room.
The control room was the heart in the Amber Groups missions. It was there that the active missions were monitored and controlled. The room was relatively large, and a dozen or so modern desks were placed around in the room. Around each desk was there a delimiting window that gave each operator a certain amount of privacy. At the end of the room, the supervisor was sitting, and he was on his legs when Marie rushed in.
In addition to Marie and the supervisor, there are also three operators who sat at each desk, surrounded by three or four holo-screens. She looked wildly around the room.
"Who has emergency Alfa?"
A woman, Jennifer, furthest away from it the room raised her hand.
"I have Jonathan's call. I’m following up on it now. "
Marie rushed over to Jennifer and stared over her shoulder. The supervisor was panting when he came running over to them.
"What's going on?"
Jennifer's fingers flew over the keyboard and one of the monitors fluttered and showed Jonathan's biometric values. Marie stared at that indicator that showed his pulse, it increased rapidly. One hundred beats a minute, hundred-ten, hundred-twenty. The flashing position was not moving but it indicated that Jonathan was moving vertically. Jennifer frowned.
"He’s still at the Shooting Star's latest position. But he moves vertically. I do not fully understand. His pulse is
soaring. Hundred-forty beats per minute now. "
Marie froze.
"He must be in the water. It’s the only possibility."
Jennifer keyed in a couple of commands on the keyboard and nodded.
"Yes, you're right. His holo-band shows a water depth of two meters, "she paused," it increases. Three meters, "she fell silent," "Oh my God."
Marie grabbed the edge Jennifer's chair and she wobbled.
"What?"
"His pulse is too fast. If it continues, his heart will stop."
Marie’s mind raced, had Jonathan had fallen into the sea? Why did he not get up again? There was nothing she could do besides hoping he came up to the surface before he got a heart attack and drowned.
"How quickly can we have emergency resources in place?"
Jennifer made a quick calculation.
"Forty-seven minutes. I have already activated the Chilean Civil Protection service. They're leaving now. "
Forty-seven minutes. It was a long time, far too long. The watchful supervisor, James Singh, was a fit fifty-year-old with short, gray hair. His weather-bitten face was concentrated when he broke into the conversation.
"What equipment does he have?"
Jennifer opened a menu on one of the other screens and quickly scrolled through the equipment list that specified what Jonathan brought on the mission.
"It looks to be a standard package, level seven-two."
Marie looked over at James with a quizzical gaze.
"What does it matter?"
James ignored her comment.
"Because we can see his vital signs, it means that he has the holo-band, X21, and that is good news for us."
Marie exploded with frustration.
"And why is it important?"
James put his hand on Marie’s arm.
"The holo-band can be used via a signal via the headquarters to administer an electrical shock if an agent's heart is about to stop. It is relatively risky but considering Jonathan's situation it may be the only way out. "
Marie stared blankly at James.
"Oh my God, you're right, how could I forget that?"
She knew that what James said was true, it was standard practice that a holo-band via an encrypted signal from the headquarters could be made to emit all its energy from its powerful battery. It would only work once, and it would ruin the holo-band, but it would perhaps give Jonathan a chance. Marie turned to Jennifer.
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