“The fact that Greta is with Spencer makes me suspicious,” Doug said. “I know De Roché. He has no conscience, no loyalties except to his own twisted vision. Greta, or Angelica, or whatever the hell she calls herself now, is his bitch. She does whatever he tells her to do. I’m just wondering—if Spencer and De Roché are truly on opposite sides in this battle between good and evil—why that woman is travelling with Spencer. It wouldn’t surprise me if the old man is somehow in control of government forces. And he just might be pitting them against each other.”
“What would be the point?” Jason asked.
“Utter and complete chaos. It’s his MO. My guess is he’s got some sort of trick up his sleeve. Something nobody will expect. I think we should be ready for the unexpected.”
Jennings frowned. “I don’t get it.”
“Neither does anyone else,” Doug said. He turned to Eli. “Okay, you’re sure Ariel and Danny are safe?”
“That’s what Danny says.”
Doug said, “Then let’s keep moving rocks.”
“What? Why?”
“I told you, I have an idea how to defeat them. Getting deep underground is the only way we’ll survive.”
“Well, that definitely makes sense,” Jennings said. “But that’s not defeating them.”
Doug grinned at Jennings. “It just might be, old buddy.”
Jennings looked stunned. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea to me, Doug”
“What are you guys up to?” Eli said.
“Never mind,” Jennings said. “Doug’s being crazy.”
“Actually I’m being as sane as I’ve ever been,” Doug said. He turned to the others. “This cavern is wired to blow. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect Ariel. Even if I have to seal the opening.”
“Well, how do we get out then?”
“We may not need to. What we do need right now is a couple of people out front guarding the entrance against Spencer and that woman. We can’t allow her to get anywhere near this place.”
“I’ll go,” Laura said drawing her weapon.
“Me too, Slim said?”
A loud report shattered the silence inside the cavern.
Everyone stopped and turned toward the main entrance. “That was a gunshot,” Jennings said. “Damn, maybe they’ve already broken through.”
Eli ducked back into the control room, looked at the monitors and said, “Oh, God, no, it’s worse than that. The door’s wide open and Charlee’s outside with a gun in her hand, and she’s walking straight toward that woman.”
CHAPTER 41
Ice Caves. Northern Maine Wilderness. July 6th.
Jason dropped his crowbar and charged out into the main room followed by the others. Johnny Cobain sat in an easy chair, his head back and his hands resting in his lap as if he was taking nice little nap. There was a small round hole in his forehead from which ran a trickle of blood. The chair behind his head was painted with blood and brain matter.
“Sweet Jesus,” Jason said. “This is my fault. I brought her here.”
Doug strode purposefully to the heavy slab door and glanced out before slamming it shut and resetting all the deadbolts.
Danielle came up beside Jason and said. “No, Jason, you can’t blame yourself for this. You did what was right. You saved that child’s life.”
Eli came limping into the room and stopped abruptly when he saw Cobain. “Crap,” he said. “Check his pockets.”
“What?”
“I said check his pockets. I just saw Charlee hand that woman something and I don’t want to think about what it might be.”
Laura got down and checked Cobain’s pockets. “It’s gone,” she said. “Oh my God. That woman has one of the objects. What do we do now?”
“I’m going out there,” Jason said. “I’ll get it back.”
“Are you crazy?” Jennings said. “You’ll never survive.”
“Ariel needs them all. Otherwise nothing will work. If what everybody says about that woman is true then she cannot be allowed to get her hands on the others.”
“She’ll never get them.”
“She got that one,” Slim said.
“She has some kind of power, Jason,” Danielle pleaded. “She’s not human. She’ll mesmerize you. She’ll kill you. I know she will.” Tears welled up in Danielle’s eyes. “I just found you. I can’t lose you now.”
“It might be the only way,” Doug said.
Danielle turned on Doug. “You’re sending him on a suicide mission? You can’t do that to him!”
Jason took Danielle’s hand. “No one’s sending me anywhere, Danielle. I’m a big boy. I make my own decisions.”
Danielle pulled away, her eyes flashing with anger. “Can’t anything I say or do soften that hard soldier heart of yours?”
“It’s not about having a hard heart. It’s about doing the right thing. I can’t let Charlee down, Danielle. You were right. This isn’t her fault.”
“She killed Johnny!”
“You said yourself Angelica has some kind of power. She used it on your boyfriend, maybe she used it on Charlee. She’s not a bad kid. I know she’s not.”
Danielle stared helplessly at Jason.
“I’ll need all the objects.” Doug said. “No way is anyone leaving this cave with another one of those artifacts.”
Jason and Danielle both relinquished theirs. And as Eli was taking the ancient spear point from his pocket he yelped, and dropped it. The artifact clattered to the floor and morphed into a golden object glowing with some sort of inner fire, the likes of which, none of them, save Doug had ever seen.
“That thing burned me,” Eli said.
“It does that sometimes,” Doug said.
“You could have warned me.”
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Laura said, her eyes bright with rapture. “How did it change like that?”
“I don’t know. It happens when it wants to tell me something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know that either. I’ll have to pick it up and hold it in my hands to know.”
“It looks hot.”
“Ask Eli about that.”
Eli made a face but did not reply.
“Will it burn you?”
“Probably. Sometimes it even cuts me.”
“Gross!”
“What is it?” asked Slim.
“Legend says it’s the Roman spear that pierced Christ’s side at the crucifixion.”
“Oh Lordy be,” Slim said clasping his hands together in prayer as his rapturous eyes stared heavenward. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
Jennings said, “Eli, you need to get back to the monitors, keep us up to date on what’s happening outside.”
“What? And miss this? No way. Pick that thing up first.”
Doug bent down and gingerly picked up the golden object. To his great surprise it did not burn him or cut him. Instead it told him what he already knew. It told him what had to be done.
Doug looked over at Jennings and said, “It’s time to do it.”
“Yeah, let’s get Ariel the hell out of there and get on with it,” Jennings said. “You still thinking about going out there, Jason?”
“I’m ready.”
“Come with us then. Laura, you and Slim keep an eye on the front door. Kill anyone who comes through it.”
“Don’t even hesitate,” Jason said to Slim.
“You know I won’t, boss.” Slim said taking up station directly in front of it.
“No one’s coming through that door,” Laura said.
Danielle fell into Jason’s arms. “I’m so damned confused,” she said. “I’ve only known you a few days, and I have no right to say this, but I love you. With all of my heart and soul I love you. In some strange way I think I’ve always loved you.”
Jason kissed the tears from Danielle’s cheeks and hugged her fiercely, and everyone in the room saw the tears in his eyes.
“I lov
e you too, Danielle. I don’t know how or why or if we’ll ever get the chance to know what loving each other truly feels like, but I promise I’ll do everything I can to get back to you.” With that he pulled away and followed Doug, Jennings and Eli into the cave.
“Where are they going?” Danielle said confused.
Laura shrugged her shoulders. “They must know another way out.”
“They’re gonna try and trick that woman,” added Slim.
“I have a feeling that’s going to be a hard thing to do,” Danielle said and her voice was shaky with emotion.
CHAPTER 42
Ice Caves. Northern Maine Wilderness. July 6th.
Behind the control room generator lay a stack of old broken down cardboard boxes surrounded by other everyday junk. Doug and Jennings got busy clearing it away. Above the junk Jason saw a hole in the ceiling. Doug shined a light up there and Jason saw that a narrow vertical tunnel had been cut into the earth, with a steel ladder that led to a trap door perhaps twenty feet up.
“We found a soft vein between two fractured granite plates,” Doug said in way of explanation. “Actually Rick’s father discovered it years ago, but later we dug it out and made the tunnel.”
“An emergency escape plan,” Jennings added.
Jason nodded. He was weighed down with a belt full of grenades, an AR-15 with extra ammo clips and a Glock nine millimeter pistol.
“I have a couple of two way radios,” Doug said. “They don’t work underground but they might reach you out there.”
Jason glanced down at his burden. “I need both hands free. Thanks but no thanks. You’ll know soon enough if I make it or not.”
They all bid farewell and Jason climbed the stairs. When he pushed the door open and popped his head up out of the hole, he heard the sound of circling helicopters, distant explosions, the eerie hum of mini-gun bursts, and the scattered remnants of automatic weapons’ fire. Staying as low as possible he pushed up out of the hole and began a military-style crawl; knees and elbows.
Night was descending over the smoke-clogged forest as he worked his way down toward all the death and destruction.
While Laura and Slim remained out front and guarded the entrance, the only thing Doug, Rick and Danielle could do was keep working at moving rubble, one rock at a time, trying to get to Ariel and Danny as quickly as possible. They’d checked the monitors before resuming work but realized they weren’t much help. The big blast had destroyed the outermost cameras. The only serviceable ones left were the three closest to the caves. One pointed inward and two pointed out. Darkness was coming down and smoke compounded the problem.
Even so, Eli remained in the control room keeping an eye on things, just in case. He saw an occasional bright flash of white light signaling a detonation, as well as small flashes that could only be automatic weapons’ fire. Occasionally the smoke would clear enough so that he could see actual soldiers moving in and out of camera range. He waited in anticipation, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jason, who in his opinion had done a foolish thing going out there alone when so much was at stake.
Doug, Rick and Danielle labored on. In time they realized they were getting close to the end. Through a widening hole in the rubble they could see the small corridor that led to the bedrooms. Ecstatic they set down their tools. “Ariel?” Doug shouted, putting his mouth close to the hole. “Danny? Do you hear me?”
“We’re here, Papa,” Ariel said. And in the next moment he saw her, standing there alone looking like a little waif, covered in dirt and dust but gloriously alive.
“Stay back,” he told her, in case this is still unstable. “Where’s Danny?”
“I’m here,” Wolf said. “I’ve been digging from this end.” In the next moment Doug saw Wolf’s head pop up into the opening. He too was covered in a thick layer of dust and grime. “I’ve tried to keep Ariel in her room but she won’t listen. She wants to help. That one has a mind of her own.”
“You bet she does.” Doug thought his heart would burst with joy.
“There isn’t much time left,” Ariel said.
“I know, sweetheart,” Doug said, but my priority is keeping you safe. “Please, stay back until we break through. We’re almost there.”
“Oh, all right, Papa, but please hurry.”
Within five minutes there was a hole big enough so Wolf could pass Ariel through. Doug took her in his arms and hugged her fiercely, kissing her tears away even as his own tears ran down his cheeks.
“So happy to see you, little one,” he said, unable to stop planting kisses all over her dirty face. Tears were running down everyone’s cheeks as Doug carried her into the control room. “Stay here with Eli,” Doug told her, “so that we can get Danny out.”
“Okay, Papa, but you have to hurry. Something’s going to happen.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“I don’t know exactly. But something big and something bad. A storm is coming.”
Ten minutes later they had a hole big enough to get Wolf through. He burst into the room looking like a harried coal miner. “Where’s Laura?”
Jennings pointed toward the entrance chamber where she and Slim were keeping watch. Wolf took off to find her.
“Come in here, you guys,” Eli said. “You have to see what’s on the monitors.”
They all rushed into the control room.
CHAPTER 43
Ice Caves. Northern Maine Wilderness. July 6th.
You must be very careful, a voice Jason recognized as Ariel’s—perhaps the older version of Ariel—the Ariel from the future—said as he crawled snakelike through scorched scrubland down from a lofty crag toward the smoldering forestland below. This could end very badly.
What would you have me do?
I understand and admire your courage and compassion and I empathize. But you alone cannot save the world.
I just want to save one child.
Perhaps that’s not possible.
I won’t accept that. Besides, that woman has the artifact.
The artifact is important but not crucial. Just one will not give her any more power than she already has.
That’s good to know. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get any more of them. By the way, I’m still going after Charlee.
You are a good and brave man, Jason La Chance. Just remember, you are more crucial to the equation than the artifacts.
She killed Johnny Cobain. I have to know why.
She did not kill him. She pulled the trigger yes, but someone else killed him. Her young, impressionable mind was exploited by a greater power. But do as you will. Just make sure you survive.
In that moment Jason spotted Charlee. There could be no mistake. Her unruly nimbus of red hair stood out against the sooty landscape like a beacon of hope. Her arms bound behind her back, she was between two soldiers being lead toward a distant idling helicopter. The woman was nowhere in sight. Neither was Spencer.
Jason stopped and lay perfectly still, breathing slowly in and out, scanning the landscape, using only his eyes, careful not to move his head. He knew that soldiers were trained to look for any movement, however subtle.
The lack of green foliage was disorienting. There were a few smoldering tree trunks and small skeletal trees still standing. Most trees out here away from the epicenter were uprooted, blackened by the intense fire and lying with their tops pointed away from the blast center. Whoever ordered the strike—Spencer? De Roché?—had purposely kept the center of the blast far enough from the caves so as not to harm Ariel. They didn’t know about the two perimeters of explosives and therefore didn’t have a clue how close they’d come to killing her. He suspected that nothing would have survived a direct strike, except for the eternal boulders—some as big as houses—that were deposited here during the last ice age. They stood out like defiant sentinels against the ruined landscape.
Jason saw few soldiers, but knew from the sound of approaching choppers that soon the forest would be alive with them. He needed to do what
he came here to do, and fast. Acrid smoke drifted like fog across the landscape. The smell burned his nostrils and made his eyes water.
Without the luxury of further thought he was up and sprinting through narrow passages between boulders and charred tree trunks. Like an obstacle course he leapt and hurdled. In the distance some trees still flamed and sputtered against the darkening sky and he could feel the blistering heat on his exposed flesh.
Bodies were on the ground here and there, darkly sprawled shapes, and his pulse spiked when his eyes focused enough to see moving silhouettes of men with automatic rifles, several off to his left and more approaching from the right.
He’d been seen. There was no doubt about it. A soldier sprinted toward him through whorls of smoke, his weapon blazing, the rounds spraying a haphazard pattern. The man was just guessing, firing at ghosts. Jason raised his weapon, aimed and pulled the trigger. The man exploded, or rather leapt up in the air, as the bullets struck him, a quick lift, body contorting followed by a heavy thump to the ground.
The gunfire drew the attention of others. Jason snapped a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin and tossed it at a small group to his left. Before they had time to react the grenade detonated and the men came apart.
A single soldier ran screaming towards him, a spray of bullets spitting from his weapon. He looked to be a kid, no more than eighteen, and scared shitless. He was firing wildly and Jason only had to raise his weapon and fire from the hip. The young soldier danced and collapsed. Jason shook his head in sadness. These soldier’s masters sat inside air conditioned bunkers safe, watching monitors while their pawns died so carelessly. The majority of his adult life had been spent doing the exact same thing. But unlike the soldier he’d just killed Jason had been lucky, and he wondered, not for the first time, when his luck would run out.
Song of Ariel: A Blue Light Thriller (Book 2) (Blue Light Series) Page 37
