Song of Ariel: A Blue Light Thriller (Book 2) (Blue Light Series)

by Mark Edward Hall

  “Appears you’re an idealist,” Spencer said.

  “And you’re not?”

  “I work for the common good.”

  Jason could not contain a smile. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

  “I’m a patriot,” Spencer said. “I do what’s best for my country.”

  “You lie to people,” Jason said. “That’s what you do best. The real truth about most things gets locked away in secret files and warehouses. That way men like you and your powerful masters can continue to control the conversation.”

  Spencer glared at Jason. “I’m beginning to think I made a mistake trusting you.”

  “Funny, I was thinking the same thing.”

  Spencer got up, signaling an end to the meeting. “I’m going to need those two objects.”

  Jason frowned. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t play coy with me, La Chance. We know you and the woman have them.”

  Jason said nothing.

  “We’re aware of who your grandfather was,” Spencer said. “And we know about Dr. Peterson. We’ve had eyes on you since you were born.”

  “Still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “We’ll search you, you know. All of you. And we’ll just take them.”

  “You’re in charge, Spencer. Search away.”

  Spencer pushed a button on the desk and the two armed soldiers were back.

  “If what you say is true, then we have no need for any of you.” Spencer grinned. “You’re familiar with the saying, ‘it’s not the fall, but the sudden stop?’”

  Jason said nothing.

  “Escort him back to his seat,” Spencer said. “I want them all restrained.” One of the soldiers opened the door while the other indicated with his weapon for Jason to move through it. Jason obliged, moving back through the war room toward the door at the other end. As they passed by the work stations, Jason noticed that one of the technicians was acting wonky, hands trembling, going to the sides of his head.

  Jason hadn’t forgotten what Ariel had told him when he’d had his little psychic meeting with her back in the tobacco field, and now Spencer had confirmed it. Jason was coiled like a snake preparing to strike. With a growl, the infected technician struck out and slammed his closed fist against the head of the tech sitting next to him. The contact was so severe that Jason heard the man’s neck snap.

  When the two armed guards turned to address the problem, Jason spun around and snatched the weapon from one of the soldier’s hands. By that time the infected tech had sprung from his chair and body slammed the second soldier. They both fell back against a work station as equipment and papers went flying. The soldier’s weapon discharged and shot several holes in the ceiling where air and cabin pressure began to escape from the jet. Papers flew toward the holes, which were now widening. Jason felt the pressure wanting to pull him up there too.

  The jet listed suddenly and went into a shallow dive. That’s when Jason made his break. “Stop!” Someone yelled, but it was too late. The command was followed by a grunt of pain, which was followed by a howl of agony. In a matter of seconds the war room was in chaos.

  Jason sprinted through the aft door slamming it shut behind him. In the hours since leaving the ground he’d had time to scope out his environment, and had taken note of several things. First, the door had a dead bolt that could be closed from the aft end of the aircraft. On his way into Spencer’s office he’d made sure to give the latching system a cursory glance, hoping to determine its operation. He saw the lever that opened the door, and just below it, a keyhole which he assumed locked and unlocked the deadbolt from the war room side. Now, as he slammed the deadbolt closed he had no way of knowing if those on the other side would need a key to breach it. If so, then it could buy them the precious few moments they needed. His question was answered as he saw the latch turn. The door did not open. Then something very solid slammed against the door, jarring the entire aircraft.

  Jason sprinted toward his companions and saw that they all wore parachutes. “Good job, guys,” Jason said. Danielle had a parachute waiting, and as Jason slipped his arms through the straps Danielle said, “What are our chances?”

  “Don’t have a clue,” Jason said. “This plane needs to lose some altitude before we can jump. Not enough air up here. Hypoxia would kill us, not to mention that the temperature above thirty thousand feet is as cold as the South Pole.” Jason quickly buckled his chute, making sure it was secure before checking Danielle’s and Charlee’s chutes.

  “I’ll take my chances out there,” Slim said. “This thing feels like it’s going down.” Slim was busy hand cranking the rear cargo door to an open position. At this altitude Jason figured they’d be sucked from the aircraft like rag dolls unless they held onto something solid. The plane continued to lose altitude. At what rate, he could not be sure, but he could certainly feel the almost weightless sensation one experienced in a rapidly descending aircraft.

  The closer to the ground they were when they jumped, the better their chance of survival. Jason knew they needed to be below twenty thousand feet. Ten thousand would be better. But without windows he had no way of knowing what their altitude was at any given moment. He would have to make a judgement call and live—or die—with the consequences. All of these thoughts were just fleeting neurons firing in Jason’s brain as he quickly went about the business of preparing himself and the others for the jump ahead. He and Slim were the only two who had ever had jump experience and that was with static lines. Free falls were totally different, and more dangerous, dependent upon pulling rip cords.

  As the giant cargo door creaked open everything that wasn’t strapped down lifted up and flew toward the opening.

  “Hold onto the bulkheads,” Jason shouted above the ever increasing racket inside the aircraft, “and don’t let go until the door is open far enough to get out.”

  Jason crawled carefully toward Slim to give him a hand. Hand cranking a cargo door of this magnitude was an arduous task. They were using the manual override, put in place in case the aircraft’s electric and/or hydraulic systems failed. Access to those systems were controlled in the cockpit.

  In the meantime came the sound of automatic weapon’s fire. Several rounds tore through the thin magnesium skin of the bulkhead. Then an explosion erupted somewhere forward, and the aircraft listed sickeningly to the left, its massive engines screaming like monstrous creatures in agony. Then came more pounding on the door, enough to dent the inside and loosen the hinges; blood-curdling screams ensued, and still more gunfire erupted. The big jet listed further over and fell into a steep dive. Danielle and Charlee were holding on for dear life as Slim and Jason worked frantically to get the door open far enough to accommodate them. Everything that wasn’t strapped down went whizzing past them and flinging from the rear of the aircraft.

  “I think we’re okay now,” Jason shouted. “We’re breathing real air. Let’s get out of here before this thing hits the ground. Pull your cords as soon as you’re clear of the aircraft. Remember, these chutes are steerable using the lines. You’ll have to experiment with them to get the hang of it. Once your chutes are open try to stay as close together as possible.”

  Jason took both Danielle and Charlee in his arms and gave them a bear hug. “God speed,” he said. “See you on the ground.”

  Danielle and Charlee went first, jumping into the abyss. Slim went next. Jason was just about to jump when the door blasted open and several crazed looking human animals rushed in. Jason was holding the weapon he’d taken from the soldier in the war room and unleashed a volley of rounds into the creatures as he backed toward the opening. The creatures flinched but hardly seemed to notice. Two more backward steps and Jason fell out of the aircraft. The creatures followed, bent on catching him. Jason pulled his ripcord almost immediately. The parachute opened with a jolt as the creatures fell away beneath him, arms and legs flailing as they continued their freefall toward the earth.
r />   Once Jason got his bearings he estimated that they were somewhere below ten thousand feet, and beneath him he saw a mix of rural homes and roads, forests and fields. He didn’t know exactly where they were but suspected they were somewhere over New England. The flight had been bound for Bangor, Maine, and according to his estimation they’d been in the air for nearly four hours. Jason knew the C-5 Galaxy’s cruise speed was somewhere north of five-hundred mph. A quick calculation told him they were somewhere over Maine.

  A brilliant flash lit up the world as the giant transport plane struck the earth. If there had been anyone alive onboard, they weren’t alive now. Jason wondered if those living/dead things could survive something so catastrophic.

  He looked down and spotted three chutes just beneath him. Jason turned all the way around and scanned the sky. He saw two more chutes several thousand feet below and several miles south of his position. Further to the south and closer to the ground he saw several more. Damn. Others had gotten out. He wagered that one of them was Spencer and the others were armed soldiers. Jason was pretty sure the three closest to him were his companions. He pulled on a line to partially collapse his chute in order to lose altitude more quickly. It worked. As he neared the altitude of the others he saw that they had quickly learned to manipulate the lines and had grouped closer together. When he was abreast of them he shouted instructions urging everyone to steer north, clear of the other parachutists, several of which had already landed. Jason looked around and saw a large pasture just to the north. Believing they had the altitude to make it he told the others to steer toward it.

  Ten minutes later they were all on the ground, and after Jason had made sure everyone was safe and unhurt, they quickly rolled up their chutes and stashed them in the woods at the edge of the pasture.

  “We need to move,” Jason said. “Those guys are three, maybe four miles behind us and you can bet they’re already hoofing this way. We have to outpace them.”

  “There’s a road over there,” Charlee said, even as they began moving toward it. “Maybe we can find a vehicle.”

  “Possible,” Jason replied. “But it’s also possible that Spencer and his crew are doing the same thing. Or maybe he’s called in reinforcements.”

  “What happened between you and Spencer?” Danielle asked. “This whole thing was a lie wasn’t it?”

  Jason said nothing.

  Danielle was fuming. “You knew what was going to happen before any of us boarded that plane, didn’t you?” When Jason still didn’t answer, Danielle stopped walking. Slim and Charlee halted behind her. “I’m not going another step until I get some answers,” Danielle said.

  Jason stopped and turned around. “We need to keep moving. This weapon and half a clip of ammo is the only defense we have.”

  Danielle did not move. “Well?”

  Jason turned back toward the road and resumed walking. “You can stay here if you want. I’m getting to safety.”

  “Jason!”

  “Okay, I knew, but it was the only chance we had of getting from Alabama to Maine in hours instead of days. Everything happened so fast I didn’t have time to explain then.”

  Danielle and the others hurried to catch up. “Back when you were fixing Charlee you said something about trying to fix the future. Is that why we had to jump out of that airplane? Did you know we were going to crash?”

  “I knew they would betray us,” Jason said. “I had reason to believe I could fix whatever happened.”

  “How did you know?”

  “Ariel told me.”

  “She’s the little girl we saw when we touched the object, isn’t she?” Charlee said.

  “Yup.”

  “By the way,” Charlee continued, “how the hell did you fix me?”

  “I didn’t. The objects did.”

  “Objects. What are you talking about? You mean there’s more than one?”

  “I have one,” Danielle said.

  “Holy crap!” Charlee said. “This is getting crazier by the minute.”

  “You said a mouthful there, young lady,” Slim said.

  “And there’s a third one,” Danielle said.

  Charlee glanced at her. “How do you know that?”

  “Jason and I read about it in a document.”

  “What document?”

  Jason stopped, turned and lifted his shirt. There was a manila envelope taped to his torso. “Good thing they didn’t search us before getting on that plane.”

  “Where did it come from?” Slim asked.

  “I brought it with me,” Danielle said. “I found it in my murdered grandfather’s house. Someone was looking for it. It’s why he was killed.”

  “Is the third object in the envelope?” Charlee asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Well, where is it?”

  “I don’t have the slightest idea,” Jason said and picked up his pace.

  Several miles along the roadway they stopped for a breather. They had passed by several houses and a couple of family farms, but had not encountered anyone dead or alive. They saw cows grazing in a field and several other wild animals, but no people. It was possible that the houses were all deserted, or maybe folks were inside hiding and waiting. They weren’t about to knock on any doors to find out. People were spooked, and rightly so. They didn’t need anyone shooting at them.

  So far they had encountered no vehicles, moving or deserted. They’d seen a few road signs but nothing that told them where they were, other than they were going north on route 132. This was an extremely rural area.

  They drank ice-cold water from a small, clear running brook that crossed the road, and then sought shelter from the burning sun beneath the brook’s canopy of shade trees.

  Once they’d gotten comfortable with their backs against a tree Danielle said, “Now that we have a few minutes, please tell us what happened. How did we get here?”

  “Something came over me after Charlee got shot,” Jason said. “It was a moment out of time that I cannot place with any other memory in my life. I saw the face of the child, but it was different . . . deeper than the other times. It was like we were one for a few moments, and together we were able to glimpse several versions of the future. She showed me how to fix Charlee. I saw us boarding the plane, but I also saw us being betrayed and the plane crashing to earth in a ball of fire. She told me that everything I was seeing was truth but it didn’t necessarily have to be our truth, that the future was malleable. She said the decisions I made in the next several hours might make the difference between saving humanity and destroying it.”

  “Humanity?” Charlee said. “That’s some pretty heavy shit.”

  “No kidding. And I believe that decision process is still in play. She said that either way, she couldn’t help me any longer. I was on my own. But I needed to hurry. I needed to find her.” Jason reached over and took Danielle’s hand, gave it a squeeze. “There’s more, but it’s so complicated I haven’t sorted it all out yet. When I do, I’ll share.”

  Danielle stared rapturously at Jason. “Did you know Spencer was going to try and take the objects from us when we boarded the plane?”

  “I did. But I also knew that I wasn’t going to let him.” Jason fell silent.

  “There’s something else you’re not telling us,” Danielle said.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “I’ve only known you for a day but I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

  “Oh, please,” Charlee said and rolled her eyes.

  Jason heaved a deep sigh. “Spencer said the virus was stolen from a secret lab by an anti-government militia group. The government doesn’t know if the contagion was released by accident or by intention. He also said it wasn’t over.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “He said it was different, that it had mutated and that we were all vulnerable.”

  “Damn,” Slim breathed.

  “Is it possible that he was just messing with you?” Danielle said.

&n
bsp; Jason shook his head. “I saw a technician go crazy and attack another tech. He wasn’t right in the head. He’d turned into something … not human. Then the whole room went crazy. It’s what gave me the opportunity to get back through that door and lock it. It just might be what saved our lives.”

  “Do you think Ariel knew what was going to happen?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. We’re here, right?”

  “Maybe Ariel caused it to happen so that we could all escape,” Slim said. “Maybe it was part of the plan.”

  Charlee gave Slim a look. “What do you mean by that?”

  “What, the plan? I think God’s looking out for us.”

  “God didn’t do this!” Charlee spat. “The devil did.” She lowered her head as tears spilled from her eyes. “I think God’s given up on us.”

  “I’m not sure any of us are in a position to know the will of God,” Jason said.

  Charlee’s head came up. “You hear that?”

  Everyone listened. “It’s a vehicle,” Slim said, “and it’s moving north toward us.”

  “Everyone stay down,” Jason said. “Might be Spencer and his cronies.”

  But it wasn’t Spencer and his cronies. It was just some old guy cruising by in a rust bucket Chevy Suburban that had seen better days. They all watched from the shelter of trees beside the brook.

  “Looks kind of relaxed,” Slim said.

  “Like he’s out for a Sunday drive,” Charlee added.

  After he passed by, Jason and Charlee stepped out of the woods and watched him go. The road was straight here, and a quarter mile or so north they saw a left turn signal come on and then brake lights. The Suburban turned left onto either another road or perhaps into a driveway.

  “Not like he needs to use his blinkers,” Charlee commented. “Ain’t like there’s a lot of traffic here in Bumfuck, USA.

  “Old habits die hard,” Jason said. “Either that or he was sending someone a signal.”