The long trip gave KJ too much time to think. Normally his quick actions had rapid consequences. Problems were solved in the moment. But it had been days now since they left to find Svetlana, and the time alone in his own head only served to allow doubt to creep in. If KJ was honest, this mission was a really stupid idea. He could just imagine the berating he would receive from his mom and Jonathan—if he made it back alive. Even if he found Svetlana he, and his friends, could very well be killed on sight. His crew were smart and loyal and willing, but they weren’t military. In fact, it dawned on him that they didn’t even have any weapons at all.
“Uh, Nikolaj?” KJ called over the din.
What?” Nikolaj replied in KJ’s head.
“So, you think these farm boys will give up some of their guns?”
“Guns?”
“Yeah you know, in case.”
“In case there’s a damn army waiting for us?”
“Yeah.”
Nikolaj scowled. “I thought this was going to be covert. Go in, get Svetlana, get out?”
“Sure. But, you never know.”
Igor nudged Leo, nodding to KJ and Nikolaj. “Something up?” he asked them both.
“Kelly Junior wants guns.”
“Of course,” Igor said. “The Thueng agreed to lend us some firearms. It seemed prudent. I would not wish to use them, merely as a deterrent.”
KJ grinned at Nikolaj.
“Don’t even,” Nikolaj projected.
The truck slowed and then skidded to an awkward stop. The engines were cut and the Thueng drivers stepped out.
Another break already? KJ thought.
Igor and Leo leapt down to the ground and sauntered over to the villagers. There was a brief exchange, with the drivers pointing off into the distance. KJ’s gaze followed their arms into deepening forest but as he continued the path beyond, and above the canopy, his breath caught in his chest. Set against the orange sky and red sun were thousands of glass-like pools that seemed to float on perfectly cut steps in the mountainside. They glistened and sparkled in the light, making the nearby flowers pale in comparison.
K’awin and the Huahuqui warbled.
KJ’s gaze climbed the terraces until there, high up near the flattened summit, he saw it: a collection of man-made temples. The stepped pyramids and smaller ancillary buildings were stark black shadows against the sky. KJ instantly recognized their South American design. Even from this distance their arrangement was clear—this site was a replica of Teotihuacan.
“That’s it,” KJ said. “That’s where she is.”
“Can you,” Lex started.
“Feel her?” Merry finished.
KJ shook his head. “No, but I know it. That’s where she is. Shielded perhaps. But there.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Catherine asked, one eye wedged into the viewfinder of her camera. Rapid clicks signalled her snapping the strange clash of Asian countryside and South American architecture.
“We leave the truck here. That’s probably five clicks out, and god knows how high up. We have to walk it.”
“We scan it, Kelly Junior,” Nikolaj said. It sounded like an instruction, not a suggestion. “Stick to the perimeter. Once out of the forest it is pretty exposed, we would have no place to hide.”
KJ thought about arguing, but Nikolaj was right. “That’s fair. We get the scope of the situation. It’ll be dark soon, then we can get a little closer and see what’s what.”
“And when we find her?” Merry and Lex said in unison.
“That’s when our companions here help us out,” KJ said, motioning to the Huahuqui. “If we can catch her alone, it’ll be all of our minds against hers.”
Nikolaj shook his head. “Your plans are always hinged on a bunch of ifs, buts, and maybes, you know that?”
“Our whole existence is coincidence. Every single one of us is here because just one of our ancestors didn’t die. Wasn’t killed in a war, taken by a plague, or stepped on by a mastodon,” KJ said, though his tone seemed without inflection, detached from him somehow. “The series of events that had to occur to ensure every sperm met every egg in every coupling that led to you or me is statistically mindboggling. If you think on it too long, it’ll fry your brain. In the end, you have to believe there is some order. Some reasoning. A pattern. Everything led to here. We’ll find her.”
“Jesus, KJ, that was profound,” Catherine said, he camera limp in her grasp.
KJ looked up and realized that everyone was staring. He shook off the claustrophobic feeling crawling over him. “Hey, I have my moments.” Though he wasn’t sure it was his moment. He rubbed K’awin’s head and stared back up at the temples.
“Let’s set up a base here. If we get Svetlana out, the truck is our getaway,” Nikolaj suggested.
Everyone nodded and set about preparing a camp. Everyone except KJ, who wandered up to the nearest tree and leaned against it. K’awin waddled up next to him and plopped herself down.
KJ felt a nudge at his arm. He turned to see Catherine. For once she didn’t have a camera in her hand. Her mismatched eyes sparkled. He felt his stomach knot just a little. K’awin head-butted his knee and gave him a knowing look.
“How you doing?” she asked in that soft Irish lilt.
“Yeah, great. Almost there. What did I tell ya?”
Catherine smiled. “You wanna tell me the real reason we’re doing this?”
KJ wrinkled up his nose. “It’s our responsibility—”
“You know, your mom makes that same expression when she’s mad—or lying.”
KJ exhaled and turned back to a sky now dotted with the first winking stars.
Catherine placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I fucked up,” KJ said, finally.
“Fucked up?” Catherine repeated. “How?”
KJ shrugged. “She misses my dad so much, you know? Mom. A guy I never met. Never knew. But, I knew about him. I’d watch the light dance on her eyes every time his name was mentioned, and then I’d watch that happiness fade. Knowing he was dead.”
“I’m not sure what that has to do with you. I’m sure she does miss him, but she loves Jonathan too.”
“Oh, I know,” KJ said and kicked at a stone. “But she needed both. Every time I did something that reminded her of him, that little spark would come back. I could see it. I could do all the academic stuff. It was embarrassingly easy. But they had golden balls back there for that.” He motioned to Nikolaj. “He could tick that box. Besides, he needed it. He wasn’t blood. After what happened to his mom, he needed something to tie him to us.”
“So, you gave Nikolaj ... a break?”
KJ shrugged again.
“And then you tried to fill your dad’s shoes?” Catherine said.
“I guess,” KJ said. “I loved seeing her happy. She’d always tell me off for pulling a stunt, but in her eyes... they told another story. And to be fair, I loved the idea that my old man would be proud if I was like him, too. Ya know? Brave. But, now we’re here. And it’s real and people could get hurt. I fucked up. Should’ve come alone.”
Catherine’s tone hardened. “Now that would have been a fuck up. Coming here alone? We’re your friends. They followed you here because they believe in you.”
KJ scoffed.
“They do. I do. You got us this far. Let’s get Svetlana. If we can bring her back, hell, she may be able to help us end these assholes for good.”
KJ looked to Catherine, and their gazes locked. He wanted to grab her and kiss her so badly he thought he may explode. But she wasn’t a Stratum groupie, or a naive young girl he could manipulate with his powers. He could manipulate her, but he refused. She was a real woman and deserved respect. He opened his mouth, but no words came. Instead, K’awin leaped up between them like a jealous dog, slapping her tiny lips together.
“Yeah you’re right girl,” KJ said, already turning to the camp. “We should eat.”
Once the sun had disappeared behind the rice terrac
es, darkness fell upon the forest. A full blue-grey moon hung high in the sky, its metallic glow reflected in the many pools. Just enough light to maneuver without flashlights, but not so bright as to be seen easily. While the west side of the terraces had a conveniently carved path that cut in a winding fashion up the mountain and right to the front door, KJ and his crew agreed that approaching from the south was better. Though more of a climb, it provided a little cover and perhaps even a covert way into the compound.
The Thueng had given everyone moving up the mountain a weapon and stayed with the truck. KJ took the vanguard with K’awin, clawing at the soft water-logged mud as he climbed. His fatigues quickly became caked in muck, weighing him down. The exertion at this altitude was more exhausting than he had anticipated, but with labored breaths, he kept low to the ground and pressed on. Merry, Lex, Kiska and Kroshka, and Igor, Leo and their Huahuqui held the center. Catherine was sandwiched between them. Nikolaj and Chernoukh brought up the rear.
They reached the lip of a shelf two lower than the summit on which the compound sat. KJ crouched down, K’awin by his side, and caught his breath—which was now beginning to fog the air as the warmth of the day dissipated. He scanned the grassy ledge punctuated with great pools. Up close they were just as beautiful, the details of the starry heavens mirrored in exquisite accuracy—amplified even, so the amethyst wash of the Milky Way seemed to swirl through the very land on which they sat.
“You feel that?” KJ whispered.
Nikolaj sidled up with Chernoukh whose black gills were billowing with each deep breath. “Yeah... they’re here. Lots of them, it’s hard to say how many. At least as many as we have at Alpha Base. Maybe more?”
KJ closed his eyes, allowing the warm completeness to fill his chest.
“KJ,” Catherine said. “If you can feel them, they can feel you, right?”
Merry and Lex nodded, glancing between KJ, Nikolaj, and Catherine.
“We’re kinda like white noise. There are so many here... but we can shut ourselves off from them somewhat.” KJ laughed to himself. “So many... but, they’re not looking for us, so won’t probe the collective consciousness for us.”
“You know that for a fact?” Nikolaj asked, though his head was cocked in a way that KJ knew the question was rhetorical. “Because you said Svetlana is still in that fat head of yours.”
“It’s an educated guess,” KJ said, winking at Merry and Lex.
“So how do we find her?” Nikolaj asked.
“I guess we look. Climb up to the uppermost platform and see what we can see.”
“I really don’t like this, Junior,” Nikolaj said through clenched teeth.
“We’re here now. In for a penny—” KJ didn’t bother to finish his proverb, already climbing again. Behind he could hear Nikolaj muttering.
The last few natural shelves in the mountain were the hardest. More pools meant less solid earth on which to hold and the ground that was available was like clay, sucking at their boots. Catherine complained with seemingly every inch, while Igor and Leo grunted and pushed forward, somehow moving stealthily despite their sizeable bulk. The Huahuqui had the easiest time, their slightly webbed feet and powerful limbs allowed them to push against the slush and spring from one grassy outcropping to the next. Eventually, they neared the summit.
KJ had never been to Teotihuacan, but now, peering over the edge of the grassy shelf, it was as if he was in South America, not China. Every stone, every small wall, building and temple, seemed to be in the exact place he had seen in every photo. The only difference was that here the reflecting pools were full and connected by narrow channels.
The compound was deathly still.
A light breeze blew across KJ’s neck and his skin prickled. “I don’t like it,” he said.
“It looks deserted,” Catherine said.
KJ shook his head. “No, they’re here. It’s just—” his voice trailed off.
“What,” Catherine said inching forward.
KJ held his arm out to stay the reporter.
“What’s up?” Catherine asked.
“She’s here,” KJ hissed.
“Who, Svetlana?” Nikolaj pressed.
KJ nodded. “She knows I’m here.”
“What? How’s tha—” Catherine started.
One after the other, massive floodlights clapped to life drowning KJ and his companions in blinding yellow light. The moon paled against the false illumination which revealed row upon row of shadows, both human and Huahuqui.
“Fuck!” KJ shouted. “Run!”
They scattered, clambering over the mud, struggling to flee. The whizz pop of gun fire and snap of bullets striking the ground and water around them was deafening. It lasted only seconds but was long enough to make KJ and his friends freeze on the spot.
“I wouldn’t bother,” came a female voice.
KJ looked up to see Svetlana slink from the shadows into a cone of light, Ribka at her side. She wore a military style jumpsuit and carried a katana on her back. Her Huahuqui seemed to eye K’awin and then the others in KJ’s group, sizing up the competition.
“Svetlana,” KJ said, his voice trailing off as his focus was drawn to the figure who walked with a malevolent gait up to the side of his long-lost friend.
“Young Kelly Graham,” the woman said. She had bobbed greying hair that was once likely blond and cold blue eyes. Her accent was British, harsh, each syllable enunciated in such a way that every word felt as if it were designed to cut to the bone.
“Do I know you, lady?” KJ fired back.
“In a way. I knew your father, very well.”
KJ’s heart stopped. Who the hell was this woman? “So?” KJ retorted. “He’s pretty famous. I’m sure you’re just another fan.”
Nikolaj glared at KJ. “Really?” he projected. “Provoking the crazy woman?”
The woman laughed, a contemptuous shrill sound. “It seems having a big mouth runs in the family. As does sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
“Feeling butt hurt he didn’t respond to an Instagram message or something? Or was it a fax in your day?” KJ slowly began to pull the revolver from the back of his pants as he spoke. “I forget how it works with old people.”
The woman’s face fell into a cruel, knowing snarl. “His idiocy got him killed. I should know. I’m the one who killed him.”
KJ’s skin prickled hot. He yanked the pistol out, pointed at the woman, and pulled the trigger. The muzzle flashed, and the British witch went down.
The air set ablaze with gunfire, ammunition raining down on KJ and his friends like hell fire itself. KJ dove on top of Catherine, shielding her with his body. But no bullets tore through him. None of his friends screamed. He lifted his head, squinting to see. Standing in the vanguard, behind a dome of telekinetic energy that flashed bright with gunfire were Merry and Lex. They screamed long and loud in defiance matching the roar of exploding shells.
And above their war cry, KJ could make out another voice. Svetlana’s voice yelling for it to end.
“Stop!” another voice commanded above the din. The British woman slowly rose from the ground, seemingly unfazed. She brushed down her clothes and stepped once again into the harsh yellow of the floodlights. A thick gash cut through the meat of her right cheek, apparently where KJ’s bullet had passed through. Yet, as KJ stared at the bloodied wound, he watched in awe as it slowly began to seal on its own—just as his wounds did.
KJ glanced at Nikolaj, whose face was slack, and then back to the woman.
“Who the fuck are you, lady?” KJ shouted.
The woman wiped the blood away from the nearly healed wound and leveled a desert eagle at KJ’s head.
KJ held her stare, his stomach knotting. He tried to control her mind, but it was unlike any other he’d encountered. Dark, lifeless. A void.
“Wait!” Svetlana yelled. “The Doyen wants him alive.”
Victoria took another step forward, re-aiming her weapon.
“Svetlana is correct, Victoria. I do.” The army parted in two as if they were the Red Sea and the large man in flowing robes who glided through their ranks was Moses himself. “We will have much to discuss, he and I. Once the Great Syzygy has come to pass.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Location: TAO headquarters, Texas, USA
Lucy paced inside the TAO situation room. Keyboards clicked and clacked with furious effort. People with clipboards ran from station to station. The monitors flicked from image to image so quickly that she could barely recognize what was being shown. And at the front of the room, like a silent conductor, Jim Waltham conducted everything.
“Sir, we have a communication coming in for the President,” said one of the operatives at a station.
The room quietened.
“Demands for the hostages?” Lucy asked, her heart in her throat.
“It’s Alpha Base. Jonathan Teller?”
Lucy heaved a sigh of exasperation. She was sure Jonathan would be calling for good reason, but every minute that passed without demands for the hostages added yet more weight to her emotional baggage.
“Put him on the screen,” the admiral ordered.
The OLED wall screen faded to black, clearing all previous feeds, then illuminated with the faces of both Jonathan and Freya Teller.
“Madam President,” Jonathan said.
“Hello Jonathan. I hope you are calling because you’ve made it to Alpha Base with the orb, and connected with Doctor Brown?”
“I did. But it will take time to see if we can do anything with it. I’ll get to that in a moment, if you don’t mind,” Jonathan said.
“Okay, you have me intrigued. What’s on your mind, Jonathan?” Lucy asked.
“Ma’am, you need to find a man named Tatsuro Sagane.”
“Who?” Waltham asked.
Lucy’s head swam. Sagane? Another Sagane?
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