by Tom Hunter
Fatima sighed heavily. “Then that’s the next road,” she murmured to herself sadly. She took off her doctor’s coat, hanging it over the back of her chair and grabbed her purse. “This does not change your mission, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to add to your duties. Would you be so kind as to escort me to a safe location? There is a safe house just outside of the city where I can get transport out of the country. If you could take me there, I can make arrangements for you to leave Annaba undetected.”
“Of course,” nodded Samuel. “I don’t want to see another person suffer in the hands of the Bruard. I know just the cab driver to get us there, too.”
Forty-Three
Raoul was waiting for them as they left the hospital.
“Samuel! How is my favorite passenger?” he beamed.
“We’re good,” replied Samuel.
“Where can I take you this fine afternoon?”
“To the airport, please.”
“Very well.”
Raoul turned on the radio and started singing along as his passengers sat in the back in awkward silence, all desperate to get out of town as quickly as possible.
“Why the airport?” Basile finally whispered, not wanting Raoul to overhear their conversation.
“After what happened at the motel, I haven’t ruled out the possibility that Raoul is working with Gord,” Samuel whispered back. “I figure if he is, the trip to the airport’ll stall them. We can then switch cabs while we’re there to throw anyone off the scent and get them to drive us to a rental place in a different part of the city, where we can rent a car to take us to the safe house. After our encounter with Gord, I don’t want to take any chances.”
Samuel pressed the button to lock the cab doors as Raoul drove through the city towards the airport.
“Good thing we traveled light,” observed Josh. “I guess we’re not going to make it back to the motel to collect our things.”
“I can have them collected for you,” offered Fatima. “As well as settle your bill. It is the least the Order can do in return for everything you are doing for us.”
“Can you buy me a new set of clothes to replace the things I left behind?” Waleed asked, hopefully.
Fatima opened her mouth to reply…
CRASH!
They were jolted forward as another car rammed into the back of their cab. Raoul fought to keep the van on the road as they skidded and slid, almost hurtling off the road.
Somehow, he managed to straighten the vehicle up again. Samuel looked out of the rear window. A menacing, black SUV was pursuing them, clearly reinforced for this kind of attack. It had sustained barely a scratch after hitting them.
“Step on it, Raoul!” he cried, seeing their attacker’s car zooming up behind them, preparing to ram them again.
Raoul punched the gas, sending the van jerking forward, but the car behind them was powerfully built and, slowly but surely, it edged closer and closer towards them as they approached an intersection. The traffic light turned red.
“Punch it!” ordered Josh, urging Raoul to ignore the lights. “If we stop now, it’ll just shove us into the cross traffic.”
For a moment, it looked as though their driver was going to run the lights, but at the last moment, he slammed on the brakes. The van rocked, the tires screeched, and the air hung with the stench of burning rubber. The team was all thrown forward against the next row of seats.
“Sorry, but this is too much for me.” Raoul threw open the door and ran away, abandoning his cab.
“Josh! Get us out of here!” cried Shafira, as Waleed yelled a string of foulmouthed insults at their driver’s retreating back.
The pilot didn’t need telling twice, and he scrambled into the front. The engine still idling, he didn’t bother to wait for the lights to turn green as he drove out into the traffic. Horns blared at him and tires screeched, as cars and trucks swerved to avoid them. A sedan smashed into a light pole as the van cleared the intersection.
“Go Josh!” whooped Basile.
“Brace yourselves!” warned Josh as their pursuer broke through the intersection and roared up behind them. They jerked forward once more as the car tapped them at the back. No one noticed Fatima pull the button to unlock the passenger doors as a third nudge from the other vehicle caught them at just the wrong angle. Josh did his best to stay on track, but they spun out, coming to a rest on the verge.
“Is everyone okay? I’m going to get us running again, so hold tight,” Josh called back over his shoulder as he turned the key in the ignition, trying to coax the engine back to life, but before anyone could reply, the passenger door was wrenched open and a hulking man reached in to yank Fatima out. Moving too quickly for the shell-shocked team to stop him, they watched helplessly as Gord threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, raced back to his vehicle, and threw Fatima in the back. He quickly climbed in and slammed the door, as his anonymous driver took off again. The engine roared, as they narrowly missed scraping the side of the van.
“Josh! You have to catch them!” pleaded Shafira.
“Already on it,” replied the pilot grimly, as he turned the key again and again to start the engine. They lost precious seconds as the van refused to start. After what seemed like an eternity, as the black SUV shrank into the distance, it finally burst into life. Josh sped off after Gord, tires squealing to get traction.
“How did Gord know where we were?” asked Basile as he clutched hold of the arm rest, his knuckles turning white as they veered round a corner.
“And how was he able to open the door so easily?” added Samuel. “I could have sworn I locked them...”
“Guys, worry about that later,” Josh called back. “I need you to be quiet so I can focus on the road. Keep your eyes open in case Gord has another car out there ready to ram us again. I wouldn’t put it past him to have an entire fleet of cars after us.”
Josh’s passengers braced themselves as the pilot focused on rescuing Fatima. Although the car in front had a good head start, Josh’s superior driving skills helped him close some of the gap between the vehicles.
“Josh! To the left!” cried Samuel. Josh turned the wheel hard, narrowly avoiding the truck that had pulled out of a side street, its driver not paying attention to the van hurtling towards it.
“Almost there… almost there…” he muttered, as they stayed hot on the heels of Gord’s car.
Suddenly, Gord’s driver took a hard right. “Nice try,” Josh grinned, pulling on the hand-operated parking brake. The back end of the van flew out into the road, tires screeching as Josh gunned it. They clipped a pile of trash that was on the edge of the curb, spreading it onto the asphalt, as Josh managed to straighten out the vehicle. “Call that payback for abandoning us, Raoul,” he muttered.
“We’re heading out of town,” said Basile. “Now we’re on a quieter section, maybe you can ram them off the road and return the favor.”
“There’s nothing I’d like more,” nodded Josh, gripping the steering wheel tightly and coaxing even more speed out of the cab.
“We’re going to catch them!” cried Shafira joyfully as, inch by painful inch, Josh closed the gap, readying himself to force the other car to stop.
“Hold on tight,” he warned. “I’m about to ram them.”
He edged the cab forward, but just as he was about to carry out the maneuver, Gord’s driver suddenly veered off the road.
“Crap!” Josh swore and punched the steering wheel, swerving to go after them. However, unlike the 4x4 they were chasing, their vehicle wasn’t designed for off-road driving. All the hard work Josh had done to catch up was lost as they struggled to keep up.
“Don’t lose them, Josh,” urged Samuel. “Maybe we can make up some ground later. They can’t stay off-road forever. As long as we can see where they’re going, there’s always a chance we can rescue Fatima.”
“Oh, I can see where they’re going all right.” Josh pointed ahead. Samuel’s heart sank when he saw the VTOL.
Its engines already whining, the heat haze shimmering below their exhausts, in preparation to transport its unwilling passenger.
“Faster, Josh!” Shafira was on the verge of tears as she watched helplessly, while Gord’s car pulled up close to the aircraft and stopped abruptly, kicking up clouds of dust. The brute roughly forced Fatima out of the vehicle, and bundled her up the steps into the aircraft.
Josh accelerated in one last-ditch attempt to catch up. He misjudged the ground ahead. The van’s right front tire smashed into a rise in the dirt, causing the entire vehicle to tilt onto its left wheels, almost tumbling over. A yank of the wheel to the left put all four wheels back on the ground. Josh slammed on the brakes, and they came to a stop a few meters behind Gord’s car.
The adventurers burst out of the cab and ran desperately towards the VTOL. Pin appeared in the doorway, pointing a gun at them. “Not so fast, my resilient friends,” he warned. “One step closer and one of you dies. Maybe it will be you…” He pointed the gun at Waleed. “Or perhaps it will be you.” He turned the barrel to point at Shafira. “Either way, Samuel, you have to ask yourself whether attempting to save Fatima is worth seeing your friends die before you?”
“Let her go!” demanded Samuel, desperate to run towards the aircraft, his body trembling with the effort of standing still. “She’s just an innocent woman. Let her come with us and we won’t tell anyone about your being here.”
“I don’t think so.” Pin shook his head tutting. “You know, Samuel, I have no idea how you survived our last encounter, but in many ways I’m glad you did. You may not believe it, but it brings me no pleasure to see talented people die, especially when there’s a chance that they may be of service to the Bruard in the future.”
“I’ll never willingly serve your masters!” Samuel declared.
“Is that true?” Pin smiled. “You know what they say. Never say never. You might just decide that it is better to join the Bruard than fight them. Our reach is great and our strength is mighty. Don’t you get it, Samuel? I always win. So you managed to escape the chamber. So what? I did, after all, promise not to kill you. I kept my word. We are both honorable gentlemen here.”
“Honorable?” spat Samuel. “Don’t make me laugh.”
Pin shrugged. “One day you will see things my way. That is another promise I will make to you. Now, much as I would love to stand here and exchange pleasantries, Fatima and I have a date with destiny. Don’t bother trying to find us. If I were you, I would return to your day jobs and do your best to enjoy your lives in the final few days you have left before the Bruard takes its rightful place as rulers of the world. You may find that things will be very different once we restore order to mankind.”
“The Bruard will never win,” Samuel warned. “Not while I have breath in my body to fight.”
“It will be a shame to kill you, but don’t think that I won’t, despite our history together,” shrugged Pin. “As it is, you get to live–for now. I hope the weight of your failure hangs heavy on your mind.”
The VTOL’s engines got louder as they spun up. The door swung shut. The last thing Samuel saw before the aircraft lifted off was Pin saluting through one of the cabin windows, a mocking grin on his face. Samuel and the others staggered backwards, raising their arms to protect their faces from the blast of dirt and gravel thrown up by the engines’ exhausts.
“We lost her.” Akhenaton sank to his knees, utterly broken, as the VTOL grew smaller in the sky.
Shafira stood, looking up, her right hand over her mouth, with tears in her eyes.
Samuel stared, frowning, at the space the VTOL had occupied only moments before. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, as dust continued to rain down.
Waleed had his back to the group, facing the van, looking dejected, with his hands in his pockets.
After sighs, sniffles, and unspoken commiserations, they filed back to the van, and climbed back inside. Eventually, Shafira’s gaze went from being unfocused, in the direction of the departed aircraft, to the floor of the van. She reached down and picked up a piece of paper, torn from a loose leaf pad. It was folded in half. She idly unfolded it and began to read in silence. Her brow creased, and then her eyes widened, her pupils dashing back and forth as she read faster. “Guys. I think this is important!”
Samuel turned towards her blankly, his face clouded over with grief and shame. Akhenaton looked up. Waleed didn’t break his stare out of the window.
Shafira began to read.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.–John 12, verse 24
Samuel, I saw you lock the doors of the van. I unlocked them again. I arranged for my own capture. If I had not, they would have opened fire on the van. You would all have died.
This was only revealed to me as we were leaving. That’s when I wrote this note. I don’t know what happens from here, but I do know this: you are more important than I am. Your mission must be protected at any cost. You are tasked with stopping the Bruard before they dominate the world. And to that end, I am prepared to sacrifice myself. I am but one seed. If I must die that many may live, then so be it. Do not worry about me. Keep going at all costs. The fate of all of us rests on you.
Yours,
Fatima
Tears welled up in Shafira’s eyes. Samuel opened his mouth, but no words came out. Waleed, now paying attention, seemed transfixed.
“Mon dieu!” said Basile, at length. “Something is at work here that is bigger than all of us.”
“I agree,” nodded Shafira.
“Yes. The secret of St. Augustine,” said Samuel. “And who knows what else from the saints of ancient times, whose secrets have never been uncovered?”
“Deathless souls,” Akhenaton said, simply. “Their power and influence extends into this world. St. Augustine understood this.”
“And that’s the essence of his secret?” pondered Samuel.
“I don’t know for sure,” replied Akhenaton. “But, God is with us. We cannot stop now.”
“We’ll rescue her,” reassured Samuel, as he returned his gaze to the patch of scrub on which the VTOL had been sitting. “We can head back to the library, research possible locations for Pin’s secret lair. We found Fatima. We can track down Pin, too.”
“No.” Akhenaton was resolute. “That’s not what she would want us to do. She gave us a quest to fulfil. We need to save the relics. Pin already has the headdress and Fatima. We can’t let him get his hands on the scepter or the details of St. Augustine’s lineage. Fatima is in God’s hands, for now. Our mission must be completed at any cost.”
Dear Reader,
Fatima’s parting gift to Samuel and the rest was priceless information about the scepter and the bloodline of St. Augustine.
Both items are needed to unleash the cap’s full, terrifying, mind controlling power.
Ride along with the team, as the fate of the world rests on a knife edge. Can the quirky, mismatched team possibly beat the Bruard to the scepter? Or will Waleed stop to pull a scam, and cost them precious time?
You’ll keep turning the pages as the action amps up. Because failure means humankind will fall under the full weight and power of St. Augustine’s artifacts.
If you liked The Knights of the Spring Dream, you’ll love The Scepter. Click here to get the book today.
