After the final step, Jack placed one of his hands against the wall of the corridor, bracing himself while he struggled to catch his breath and still his wobbling legs. Evangeline rubbed his back in a circular motion, the others standing nearby to give him a rest. Their breathing and heart rates slowed down to normal while Jack shuddered and wheezed.
Feebly glowing light fixtures were evenly spaced down the long narrow passageway, connected by power cables that descended down through the stairwell from above.
“Where do you get your power from?” Evangeline asked as she continued to help Jack recover. She traced random patterns on his back with her fingernails while he continued to suck in breaths of air. Her mind was busy analyzing how this ancient place sustained itself.
Kevin looked toward the opposite end of the hall, as if noticing the lights for the first time. “We rebuilt an ancient nuclear power plant left behind after the Great Recovery,” he said without looking at them. Their eyes popped open and their mouths fell agape.
“But that’s insane! And illegal!” Evangeline exclaimed. “Nuclear power was banned during the Treaties. Aren’t you concerned about the dangers?”
Kevin turned back to face them and chuckled under his breath. Felicia rolled her eyes as she walked away from the group.
“It’s actually a refurbished power plant from an old ocean transport. It provides enough power for our buildings, and it’s buried deep underground miles away.”
Kevin saw that they did not understand enough to be convinced of their safety. He remembered his own astonishment when he learned about the nuclear power source and how it conflicted with everything that had been taught to him since he was a boy.
“In the event of a catastrophic disaster, the blast and fallout will be contained deep underground far away from any inhabited area. We’re completely disconnected from Olympus and the LTZ, including their power grid and networks,” he said with a glimmer of pride. “It’s the only way we’ve found that enables us to conceal ourselves from the Quorum. Matthew and Elizabeth thought of everything.”
Kevin smiled with a mischievous upturn in his eyebrows and began to follow Felicia down the corridor. “Are you coming, newbie?” he called over his shoulder. Jack and Evangeline were glued to the floor. Jack was still catching his breath, but Evangeline was stunned at the casual way Kevin dropped her parents’ names.
“My parents built this?” she asked in a whisper, locking eyes with Jack. His breathing had become manageable enough to push himself away from the wall and stand upright beside Evangeline. He glanced down the corridor toward Kevin’s diminishing figure before turning his head back toward his wife.
“Whoa! Talk about surprises, huh?” he said under his breath. “Did your parents know nuclear physics?”
“No!” she shook her head and forced down a hard swallow. “At least, I didn’t think they did.” she answered with a slight lump growing in her throat. “I wonder what else Kevin knows about my parents.”
Evangeline’s face grew hot. Kevin just tossed around information about her parents as if it were common or casual conversation. Knowing he knew more about her parents than she did made her heart start racing again, pumping with a jealous fervor. He had seen them, talked to them! The repressed feelings of betrayal surged to the surface, and the memories of her abandonment filled her with seething anger.
Evangeline wanted to run up to Kevin and give him a solid right hook for his words, but she thought better of it, reaching for Jack’s hand instead. His hands were ice cold to the touch. They always got cold when he was nervous or scared, like on the day he proposed. The chill of his touch also reminded her how much he had also been through in the last two days. She gripped his hand harder, letting the iciness creep through her flesh and cool her simmering spirit.
Kevin’s voice echoed from down the hallway. “Hey, Boyd,” he yelled. “Turn to!”
Despite her best efforts, Evangeline could not repress the smile at Kevin’s old military expression. It meant get back to work, or focus! After all those years, he could still read her well, almost too well. She took a deep breath and exhaled the rest of her angst and frustration.
“It’s Evans now, if you don’t mind!” she yelled back. “I’d appreciate it if you’d at least get my name right!” She flashed Jack a wink. His face was beaming at her display of loyalty.
Kevin had turned a corner, but Jack and Evangeline could hear his chuckles ricochet off the walls.
“Whatever you say, newbie!”
Jack and Evangeline continued walking hand in hand down the hall as they trailed after Kevin. Jack’s interest in the old building’s original function caused him to examine as many details as he could, slowing Evangeline down as she led him through the corridor.
Jack surmised they were wandering in the nethermost tunnels of an abandoned research building. Along the main corridor, door after door opened up into smaller rooms with no obvious means of looking outside. He guessed it had been designed to be underground, but like the rest of the vicinity, it had been forgotten and long neglected.
“Mr. Turner!” Jack called out as they reached the intersection where Kevin and Felicia had disappeared. “What was this place? Before, I mean?” His genuine curiosity about the building was akin to that of a child’s.
Jack and Evangeline picked up their pace as they turned the corner. About ten yards ahead of them, at a dead-end, Kevin and Felicia were engaged in an intense, but silent, conversation. Their growled words turned to mumbles by the time the echoes reached Evangeline’s ears.
Kevin’s head snapped as Jack and Evangeline breached the corner to catch up to them. With Kevin distracted, Felicia slipped away, passing through an airlock door right behind them. The irritation on Kevin’s face made it clear he was not ready to end their discussion. When he noticed she had snuck away from him, his face turned crimson. He huffed a frustrated breath and turned his attention back to Jack and Evangeline. With an air of resignation to Felicia’s departure, he answered Jack’s question like a distracted parent.
“It was a secret military base, long ago, allegedly used to study artifacts from alien spacecraft that landed on Earth before the Collapse. Now we are using it to try and find a cure, or at least find a way to stop this contagion from spreading.”
His ominous words hung in the air. Jack and Evangeline just stared between Kevin and each other.
Evangeline took a step back, covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide with worry and horror. “Are you saying there’s some kind of new disease out there?” Her fear gave way to her sense of injustice, overpowered by rage as she stepped up into Kevin’s face. “Is that what happened to Simmonds? Did he catch some new bio weapon you’ve developed to attack Olympus?” she snarled, jabbing him in the chest. Kevin’s face was placid, nonresponsive.
She started pacing across the cramped area in front of the airlock. “It wasn’t enough that you sabotaged power lines and caused explosions which harmed hundreds of people? It wasn’t enough that you kidnapped and murdered innocent Angels?” she roared. “Why? You taught me about serving with honor! How can you now be a part of it?”
She swiped at the tears trailing across her cheeks. “And now,” she sniffed, “now an innocent man, a kid, is lying in a hospital bed suffering from some grotesque bio weapon. How can you justify that?”
Her vocal tirade had been amplified by the maze of corridors, her voice overlapping itself again and again, making her sound like a dozen shouting Evangeline’s. Now that she had gone silent the still and quiet surrounding them was just as upsetting as her angry explosion.
Jack had taken a half step backward; he knew if Evangeline perceived injustice there was no stopping her until her demands were satisfied. Kevin had remained motionless through her volley of accusations. Evangeline planted her feet and stared into his eyes, challenging him to justify his actions.
Kevin raised his hands in a slow motion to rest at chest level, a mixed gesture of surrender and defense, if ne
cessary.
“As I said before,” he said with disarming gentleness, “the Dissidents, as you know them, are a fabrication of the Quorum.” He paused and stared back into her accusing eyes until she calmed down enough to listen. He knew that the bond of trust they developed during her training was rooted deep inside her.
Kevin waited, watching as she fumed and huffed with her hands on her hips. She searched his eyes, his lips, and every other feature of his face for the slightest glimpse of deception.
A full minute passed before she believed he was telling the truth. She let out a deep breath as her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Okay,” she sighed, throwing her hands in the air. “I believe you.”
Jack’s posture relaxed. He had not been sure if he would need to protect Kevin from Evangeline or join her in the attack if the tension continued to escalate.
“Good,” Kevin said as he let out the breath he had been holding. “Now, I really think you should hear the rest from the experts.” He lowered his hands and turned his body toward the airlock door behind him. He pulled the door open and stood out of the way to allow Evangeline and Jack to pass through first.
Jack waited for Evangeline to take the first step. He knew what was happening had more to do with her history than anything he had just gone through. She watched him with wary eyes for a minute, then with a huff of frustration she stepped toward the door. She was getting tired of the endless lack of answers.
Before crossing the threshold, Kevin reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her short. His eyes were pleading with her.
“What you’re about to learn is something that the world isn’t ready to know yet,” he said with a gentle squeeze. “This will come as a bit of a shock to you.” He turned his eyes to Jack. “And to you as well.”
Jack was unnerved. In the last few days, it seemed all of the events that had transpired resulted from Evangeline’s relationship with her parent’s years ago and the tragic events in the LTZ just days ago. He could not even begin to fathom how any of it affected him as an individual, let alone the world.
With those words of caution, Kevin removed his hand and Evangeline crossed over the threshold. She entered a small changing room lined with open lockers and a single bench running down the middle. Each locker contained environmental suits, with the exception of one. Felicia’s clothes hung in loose drapes from the hooks, evidence that she had already changed and was waiting for them on the other side of the next airlock.
Evangeline, Jack, and Kevin changed into the sterile undergarments and environmental suits provided in each of the lockers.
“I’ve never worn a civilian environmental suit before,” Evangeline said to Kevin, “These are more comfortable, and easy to move around in compared to my flight suit.”
Evangeline’s statement piqued Jack’s interest. “How so? He asked stepping into the built-in boots of his environmental suit.
Evangeline pulled the seal across her chest closed by the drawstring handle. “The TRTV flight suit has to remain connected to the ports along your spine,” she answered. “Every twist and bend pulled at the connections along your back. It can get extremely uncomfortable depending on how much flexibility you need. These suits allowed more room to twist, turn, and bend.”
Jack stood, pulled the seal across the chest of his own suit, and raised his arms. “I feel like I’m wearing a balloon,” he said. He glanced back and forth between Kevin and Evangeline. “Look at you two, you’re more experienced and accustomed to this kind of get-up.” He lifted his arms and shifted his feet to imitate Evangeline testing out the suit’s capabilities. “I feel like a soap bubble about to pop!”
Kevin seemed bewildered by Jack’s discomfort; Evangeline looked up from securing the seal on her helmet and smiled. “That’s because you’ve got your air filter set in reverse,” she said taking in Jack’s appearance from the oversized helmet tilted to one side of his head down to the puffy leggings spilling out from the tops of his boots. She did her best to suppress the giggles. “Fasten your boots, dear.” She said with a wink.
Once they were all changed, the three of them stepped into another small chamber and sealed the door behind them. Kevin activated the sterilization protocol. The chamber was flushed with a disinfecting liquid, followed by the powerful vacuum that sucked the outside air into the ventilation system.
Evangeline’s ears filled with the hissing sounds of sterilized air seeping into the chamber while she waited for the locking mechanism to show a positive seal to the outer door. The light turned blue and a holographic keypad appeared.
As Kevin raised his hand to enter a code, she had a flashback of walking into the off-world lab. A familiar wave of vulnerability washed over her as she trekked into the unknown without her TRTV armor to protect her.
FIFTY-NINE
Aban followed the tracks of the transport vehicle as they led off the pavement onto a dirt road in the middle of the desert. He parked the security vehicle in an old, dried up riverbed to investigate before proceeding any further.
He got out and opened a utility compartment built into the side of the vehicle. Inside he found a medical kit, emergency rations and water, a sniper rifle with high-powered scope, multiple rounds of ammunition, a vest of plated armor, and various riot gear. He pulled out the scope from the sniper rifle and walked back up to the road level, making sure to avoid exposing his head above the shrubs around him. He followed the tracks in the dirt into the distance.
Through the scope, he spotted a subtle mound off in the distance with a large opening on one side. At first glance, it appeared to be natural-looking opening to an extinct lava vent, but as he zoomed in with the scope, he noticed the concealed guard station and sentries. He had good reason to suspect this was where Captain Evans had been taken, and if Campbell was correct, the location of the Dissidents.
Crouching down between the shrubs and cacti, he relayed his report to Olympus through his partner. A reply popped up on his console at once. Campbell must have been waiting at his desk for any word on their progress.
“INFILTRATE THEIR QUARTERS. LOCATE EVANS AND ASCERTAIN THE IDENTITY OF ALL OTHER OCCUPANTS. REPORT BACK ASAP. DO NOT ENGAGE.”
The agent looked up into the sky. It was near midday and far too bright out to make a direct approach. He returned to the security vehicle in search of any equipment and supplies that would aid in getting him into the mound undetected. He retrieved the medical kit, emergency rations, and water, but decided to leave the weapons and armor behind. The dark-plated armor would only slow him down and contrasted against the light-colored desert floor. The weapons caused unforeseeable damage and drew too much unwanted attention. He had needed firepower only on rare occasions during previous missions, so it seemed weapons would be of little use to him now.
“Besides,” he thought, “if it’s really the Dissidents in there, they will have plenty of weapons to choose from.”
He used the console on his arm to change the color of his uniform to blend in with landscape before he began creeping toward the mound in an arc, hoping to detect a blind spot in their security and flank the sentries before they realized he was there.
Given the sparse vegetation in the landscape, Aban determined that he would have to crawl on his stomach to maximize his camouflage. Calculating the distance he was from the mound, the circuitous path he would have to take among the foliage, and his optimum pace to retain concealment, he determined it would take five hours to make his way to the mound undetected.
He had the strength, the endurance, and the patience. Such a task was child’s play. He lowered himself down onto the dirt and began his slow trek toward his objective.
SIXTY
Gabriella lay motionless, trapped like a statue in her prison on the desert floor. After her partner had reported his progress to the Dissident base access, she had received a private encryption with additional instructions from Campbell. A blinking light flashed on the HUD of her hood; white, green, red. The message icon dema
nded her attention, but Gabriella knew she had to wait until the mission was complete.
The white pulse meant the message came from Campbell in the Cathedral. The green pulse meant it could wait to be opened until her next opportune moment to respond. The red pulse meant it was a death sentence for someone.
Since separating from her partner, and becoming a living transponder under the scorching sun, several small desert creatures had taken refuge in the pockets of shade created by her body. Ants, scorpions, and even a few small snakes had made themselves at home in the cooler nooks and crannies of her shadow. She felt every movement and adjustment of the creatures digging their way through the hot dirt. Her suit would protect her from bites or stings, but if one of the snakes decided to sink their fangs into her flesh there would be nothing she could do.
If she moved even an inch, the connection between Olympus and Aban would be lost. The mission would be a failure. Aban’s life, as well as her own and others, would be forfeit for risking the exposure of the Quorum’s biggest secret.
The wriggling of her new neighbors all about her body was growing increasingly tiresome. How she longed to swat them away, even take some frivolous shots at them with her weapon. “No,” she whispered in her mind, “no, be still. You are more powerful than these creeping things.” However, her mind wandered to the beasts out in this wilderness that were more powerful than she was.
Even if a larger carnivore noticed the scent of a possible meal out in the desert, she would not dare to budge for fear of the repercussions. Campbell was fiercer than any vicious creature out in the sandy expanses.
“Luckily for me,” she thought to herself, “it’s hot out.” The roasting daytime heat discouraged the larger beasts from leaving their dens. When then sun would begin to disappear behind the horizon is when she would begin to fret for her safety in earnest. She had faith in Aban that he would finish his mission before dusk. If either of them failed at their assigned duties, both their lives would be in serious danger.
Avenging Angels (The Seraphim Chronicles Book 1) Page 32
