by Jordan Dane
“I see it. Come on.” He picked up the pace and ran with her.
Cut into a wall, not easily seen, was a section of the tunnel that had a metal ladder leading down. It was too dark to see much.
“I’ll go first. If it’s something, I’ll call up to you,” he said.
She nodded and knelt by the ladder, watching him climb down. She lost sight of him as the darkness swallowed him. All she heard was the sound of his hands on the ladder rungs and his footsteps crunching on dirt when he reached the bottom.
“Well?” Her voice echoed. “What’s down there?”
When a car drove by, she hated being exposed with people watching. All she needed was a cop to cruise by.
“I think this is it. Come on down,” he yelled from below. “Be careful.”
After she stuffed the flashlight into the waistband of her jeans, she turned around and headed down the ladder. Tunnel lights faded and left her in pitch-black. She couldn’t see how far to go and she climbed down far enough that the lights from above didn’t help her. When she felt his hands on her hips, her jitters got replaced with a different kind of shiver.
She turned on her flashlight and caught a glimpse of him. She didn’t have to see him blush to know that he had. Despite what they were about to do, that made her smile.
“They have the rest locked down, but I think we can squeeze through, if you’re game,” he said.
She shined the light to where he pointed and saw what he meant. A metal gate had a chain lock on it, but the lower half looked bent, as if someone had squeezed in before.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
She got through without any trouble, but Gabe had to push. He fussed and moaned until he got his way. It looked as if it hurt. Beyond the gate, more stairs led down and the narrower passageway eventually led to a corridor that split off.
“What now? Flip a coin?” she asked.
“Now I take over. I’ll be your coin.”
When he got quiet, she turned her light on him and watched him take a deep breath and shut his eyes. In seconds, she felt Hellboy brush against her leg. Only days ago, the dog’s sudden presence would have scared her. Now she felt only relief that the ghost dog had come to his master.
“Hello, boy.” She smiled and the dog wagged its tail.
“From here on, don’t use the light unless you absolutely need to,” Gabriel said. “If there’s anyone else down here, we’ll only make an excellent target, and the light will mess up our night vision.”
“Okay.”
On the surface, the morning air had been cool and breezy, but below it smelled stale and the heat was stifling. Sweat already trickled down her spine. With miles of underground passageway ahead of them, Rayne hoped Hellboy would make a difference to focus their search. Gabriel knelt by his dog and whispered to him. She never made out the words, but the phantom dog perked its ears and pointed its nose down one tunnel and did the same with the other.
Hellboy barked and took off running a split second before she heard a rumble deep in the tunnels. Gabriel didn’t hesitate. He followed.
“What was that?” she yelled, chasing after him.
“It’s my vision. It’s happening.”
Despite the sticky heat, a chill ran over Rayne’s skin.
Lucas.
Chapter 18
Downtown L.A.
Minutes Later
After Gabriel heard the blast, he flashed on his nightmare vision as he ran. The darkness and the sounds had started it. Now rage welled inside him like bile. He fought it, not even sure if he should. When he got close enough to hear boots on the ground and harsh voices echoing up ahead, he doubled over and gasped for air.
Too much pressure. He couldn’t fail. Lives depended on him. Would he be too late and only turn into a powerless witness to something he was never meant to change? Or would everything hinge on what he’d choose? His ominous vision could trigger and unfold simply because he showed up, or he could make things worse.
Doubt made him stop. So much was riding on him.
“What’s happening? Are you sick?” Rayne knelt by him and touched his arm. When he didn’t answer her, she said, “Take deep breaths. Slow your heart.”
He did as she asked and knelt by her. The cruel men who hunted children were distractions. Noise. He centered on the pulse of his heart and breathed deeply until Rayne’s soft voice touched him. She reminded him of the beautiful images his uncle had shown him in his relaxation room and she whispered about them in his ear. When he was ready, his mother came to him and the warmth of her memory filled him.
“Your mother’s with you, isn’t she?” Rayne gasped. “I know because I feel mine, too. And my father. Oh, Gabriel, thank you.”
Rayne stood back and Hellboy lifted a paw when Gabriel got to his feet and glared into the darkness. His rage was still with him, but it had been fortified by his mother’s love. She had become his new foundation and the root of his power. When he held out his arms and clenched his fists, the muscles in his body radiated a growing heat.
He felt his power surge. It shook him the way it had at the museum library, a convulsion he could easily lose control of. It felt like his heart would rip from his chest. He groaned in pain when every cell in his body split apart but had no place to go. He held on, afraid to let go. Terrified he’d lose it again.
“I can’t...do this.”
“You can. Hang on, Gabe! Trust your instincts. This is who you are.”
Rayne’s voice shot through his pain. She made him try harder. She reminded him why he was here and what was at stake.
His body suddenly splintered and every fiber of his being swept through the dark tunnels, racing from him. When it happened, he cried out in sweet, beautiful agony. He’d become a million souls—past, present and future. He drew strength from the colony of minds and let the surge of their power magnify his own. He’d never felt anything like it, but it was the only thing that made sense. He had to do something he’d never done before—trust. When he felt others like him, trust didn’t seem impossible anymore. He felt Lucas and Kendra most of all. They both shot rapid-fire images to him, faces of those who had hurt them and the others chasing them. That made Gabe stronger. He could direct and dispel his rage to the people who deserved it.
But most of all, Gabe had broken through a barrier that freed him, where the living and the dead converged. Their life forces bounded off him like light reflecting off glass. When they shot in all directions, he felt an awakening power coursing through his body and it didn’t hurt anymore. He’d tapped into their abilities, magnifying their strengths as if they were his to control.
He had become a conduit for the Indigo collective.
“It’s...beautiful!” he cried. “I feel...everything.”
* * *
Kendra ran with Lucas as they felt their way through a section of the tunnels that turned into a narrow maze of switchbacks. She’d never been in them before. Only Rafe had. Thinking of Raphael almost made her stop and get sick again. She couldn’t imagine her life without him, but when her mind severed from his, her world turned into a darker place.
You don’t know what happened. Not really.
Lucas had read her thoughts. She’d been tired and hadn’t blocked him. On top of everything else, she didn’t have much strength for that. He hadn’t invaded her privacy. Without mind blocks in place, her thoughts radiated out as if she’d sent him a message. She did her best to redirect her energies to repair her blocks. She wasn’t strong like Lucas.
That was probably why he had seen into her past when he had his fever. With his body battling the effects of the concussion, he had tapped into the fraction of his brain that they would need to explore. That frightened her. It meant no one would have secrets from him. This new world she wanted to be a part of would demand rules and skills she didn’t have.
Lucas was their future and others that would come after him.
Not her.
“You feel that?” Lucas whispered. Hearing his real voi
ce shocked her.
“No. What?”
Lucas stopped and turned, back the way they’d come. He got real quiet. Too quiet. It scared her.
“Someone’s coming.”
“From where?” Kendra felt useless to him now.
“From...everywhere.”
She shut her eyes to concentrate her last strength on what Lucas sensed. When the hair on her arms stood at attention and goose bumps rippled over her skin, she gasped.
“Oh, my God. What is that?” Her eyes grew wide. She felt it, too. “Who...is that?”
Lucas didn’t answer her.
He only said, “Come on. He’ll need us.”
Kendra couldn’t sense everything Lucas could. She only felt the presence of someone very strong. Whoever it was had tapped into her mind, more easily than Lucas had during his fever. She had no idea who “he” was, but she had faith in Lucas—especially when she saw him smile.
* * *
With Hellboy whimpering at her feet, Rayne stumbled from Gabriel with tears streaming down her cheeks. He didn’t have to tell her how beautiful he felt. He beamed in dazzling light. It came from inside him. It shot through his eyes and mouth as he cried out. The intense light consumed him like a white fireball. She saw his body in shadows inside the mass of energy, but she couldn’t see his face.
When the ground trembled under her feet, she wanted to run, but something made her stay. She wouldn’t abandon Gabriel. She felt a new surge of energy that resonated off him. Her insides tingled hotly as if she were cooking in a microwave. Gabriel had become something more than he ever had been before. She didn’t know if he’d ever come back to her—in one piece.
Whatever had taken him over scared the hell out of her.
Wave upon wave of waking nightmares sprang from the shadows as if the darkness had given birth to them. Ghostly entities screamed through the dark passageways, heading toward the men who attacked the Indigo children. Growling pit bulls snarled and came from nowhere. They glowed in blue like Hellboy. Gabriel’s legion of the dead had crossed over. Snakes slithered up through the floor like sprouting weeds, and when the walls rippled and moved, roaches erupted like a plague and dropped to the concrete. Their winged bodies glistened in Gabriel’s light.
The creatures he’d conjured sought the dark, avoiding her and his light. When Gabriel moved down the passageway, his hellish horde followed. They would be unleashed on men who had earned the payback. Rayne clutched her arms tight to her body, too stunned to move. Gabriel headed for the men who hunted kids like him, armed with abilities beyond anything these cruel men would ever see. These men had explosives and weapons. She didn’t know if Gabriel and his newfound abilities would be enough to make a difference. What if they were already too late?
Following his light and his macabre swarm of dead creatures, she felt numb until she heard a voice praying in the dark, not much more than a faint, trembling quiver. It took her a moment to realize that the voice had been hers.
Rayne prayed for Gabriel...for all of them.
* * *
Lucas held Kendra’s hand as they crept closer. They stayed in the shadows and hugged a wall, inching their way toward the noise. When Kendra finally saw what Lucas had sensed, she gritted her teeth and fought the stark sickness in her soul.
Only yards away, she saw her kids. Uniformed men carried them on their shoulders and dropped them to the ground near a tunnel entrance. Their bodies glimmered under the moonlight. They looked dead.
She felt ripped up inside. Every sweet face brought back memories of how she’d found them. Their smiles. Their humor. The things that made them cry. Now she couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead. She didn’t know what the Believers had done to them.
They’re alive. I can tell. Lucas sent her a message. She had dropped her mind blocks. Now wasn’t the time for secrets. She had to trust him. She had no one else.
This isn’t over. Lucas turned to look into her eyes. She saw his determination. He looked stronger than he ever had before. That should have made her feel better, but it didn’t. Her children were unconscious. Even if they could overpower these armed men—just the two of them—where would they go? Where would they be safe from men like this? She had nothing to say to Lucas. She kissed him on the cheek as a tear slid down her face.
She loved him for wanting to try.
Have faith, Kendra Walker. You’ll see, he told her.
When Lucas smiled, he almost convinced her. Almost.
* * *
“Any sign of Skywalker or the Princess?” Boelens asked over his comm unit. On the other end, he heard only an odd static. “Anyone hear me?”
In seconds, the crackle switched to dead silence. Boelens stopped and glared at the guy next to him, who only shrugged. Boelens looked at his watch and lit it up. His men knew what time they were leaving the extraction point. Even with the comm units out, they knew what to do. When he heard boots on the ground down one of the tunnels, he looked over his shoulder. Shadows approached. One of his team leaders and his men were carrying more bodies.
“Everything go okay?” he asked his man.
“We were chasing these kids and they slipped through a crack, like you said. We used your icebreaker.”
“And? Cut to the chase,” Boelens demanded.
“The explosion caused the tunnel to collapse. The old brick didn’t hold up. We got bodies.”
“You better not be delivering me bad news about Skywalker and the Princess.”
“No, sir. We had eyes on the ones who got hit. Those two weren’t in the body count.”
“Any of our men get whacked?” he asked.
His man only shook his head. Boelens didn’t like losing money on two legs, but at least he wouldn’t have to retrieve the bodies of his own men. That would take time.
“Collateral damage.” Boelens didn’t hesitate. “Cops may never find the bodies down here. If they do, by the time they figure out the walls had come down with a little help, we’ll be long gone.”
His men had taken the freaks by storm. They’d hit them hard and fast, like he’d planned. Now all that remained was collecting the ones they’d captured and delivering them to the bunker. A one-way trip for them. A payday for him.
But no matter how many head cases he turned in, the whole operation would be classified as a bust if he didn’t score the Darby kid. That kid would be the only one who really mattered to Operations.
He was running out of time.
“You, give me a quick body count.” He pointed to one of his men. To another, he said, “See if you can reach the other teams. I gotta know if they found Skywalker.”
“On it, sir.”
“Let’s load up these bodies. We got transport outside,” he ordered.
Boelens gritted his teeth. If he didn’t find Darby, he’d have nothing to brag about, but the scuff of a boot behind him changed all that. The guy he saw wasn’t in uniform, but he looked familiar. So did the girl he brought with him.
“Looking for us?” Lucas Darby stood in front of him, looking like a present on Christmas morning. He’d brought the Princess with him. It didn’t get any better than this.
Boelens smiled. He smelled a bonus after all.
* * *
Lucas tried not to look like a crazed lunatic as he stood in front of the man who had bashed his head in. The guy who didn’t blink. Ever.
Kendra had grabbed at him when he stepped out. He knew she didn’t agree with what he’d done, but gutsy until the bitter end, she followed his lead and stood at his side. Once the guy gave the order to haul out the kids, Lucas knew he’d run out of time. He had to stall, even though he didn’t know why exactly.
If something didn’t happen—if the powerful force he sensed in the tunnels didn’t materialize soon—Kendra would have every right to call him an idiot. They’d both lose everything. All Lucas had was faith—in a stranger he had never seen.
“Come to join the party? Thanks for accepting my invitation.” The man chuc
kled. “You two are the guests of honor.”
“We can’t let you take them.” Lucas kept his voice calm and steady.
“Oh, really. Who’s gonna stop me? You?” He grinned. “Aren’t you afraid of a repeat? The last time I saw you, my fist made an impression on your face.”
“I don’t believe in violence. At least, I didn’t before I met you.”
When he saw the amused look on G.I. Joe’s face, Lucas felt like David before Goliath—without a slingshot.
“I guess we’ve got irreconcilable differences, then. Get in line after my three ex-wives. Not that I care, but if you don’t believe in fighting for your freedom, what do you believe in? What’s worth fighting for in your pissant world, kid?”
“I think I’m about to find out,” Lucas said. “And I’ll have you to thank for that.”
The man in uniform narrowed his eyes, and the smile left his face.
“That’s it. We’re done here. Say good-night, kid.”
Lucas stood firm, ready to face whatever came next. Blind faith took guts. He wasn’t sure he had what it took, but he was about to find out. When G.I. Joe aimed a Taser at him, he clenched his jaw and waited for the pain, but a menacing rumble became his reprieve. They all turned to see a faint glow coming at them.
What came first shocked them.
“What the hell?” The man swapped out his Taser for a handgun, and his men took aim with their assault rifles.
A hot gust of wind, like an underground Santa Ana, whipped through the passageways and gained momentum. In southern California, the desert wind brought nothing good. Weird stuff happened, like on the nights of a full moon. Lucas grabbed Kendra’s hand and braced for impact. The light grew brighter and blinded him. He shielded his eyes, and Kendra did the same. When the hot air buffeted his body, he wrapped her in his arms and shoved her toward a wall. He held her tight and covered her with his body, waiting for what he knew would come.
A shrill howl echoed through the tunnel and intensified as it hit. When he heard the distant bark of a dog, Lucas dared to look. Angry spirits spiraled through the dark, their ghostly faces locked in agony. Pure evil. At first, Lucas didn’t know what they were. He only felt a fraction of the torment they would endure for eternity. They were spirits who had died a violent death and had deserved their fate, but Lucas sensed one other thing about these banshees from hell.
