Darklight – World’s largest private security contractor
Terra Force – Special Forces Subterranean Detachment (SFSD)
S.I.L.V.E.R. – Elite military unit available to the highest bidder
Deep Reach – Special survey team working within the SED
SED – Sanctuary Exploration Division
Sanctuary – Ancient underground structure
USSB Sanctuary – A man-made base built within the Anakim creation, from which the U.S. Subterranean Base took its name
Anakim – an extinct species of Hominid, Homo giganthropsis
—————
Swiss Guard – Catholic military unit based in Vatican City
Holy See – Government of the Roman Catholic Church
Vatican City – Independent city state located in Rome, Italy
The Vatican – Informal term for the Holy See, or Vatican City
Knights of the Apocalypse – Catholic fundamentalists
[For ease of reference this page is duplicated in the final Appendix]
Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Six
Siberian-Mongolia border, Eastern Asia.
‘Tell me I’m wrong,’ Sarah said, looking Avery Cantrell in the eye. ‘Tell me there’s not more than one asteroid heading for this planet. Tell me Heaven’s Gate isn’t an Anakim device designed to stop them.’
No one spoke and the Swiss Guard remained spread out, barring the exit from the excavated cave containing the ancient frieze, their rifles in hand, ready to strike.
The silence dragged on until Avery’s shoulders slumped in defeat. ‘I cannot,’ he said, his expression full of sorrow. ‘What you say is true. You’re right; there is more than one asteroid heading our way. An apocalypse is coming, Sarah. The End of Days is upon us and we chosen few have been tasked with saving all that we hold dear.’
Sarah’s time in Sanctuary ran through her mind like quicksilver. It was as Konstantin had told her. All those underground bases. The GMRC knew. They knew and the world had prepared for the worst-case scenario – Armageddon itself – much like the Anakim had prepared themselves in the distant past. ‘All those people.’ Sarah’s thoughts turned to her friends, colleagues and the billions who remained on the surface.
‘If we don’t stop them,’ Avery said. ‘The surface will burn and everything that walks, crawls, flies and swims will wither and die.’
‘And you think whatever is in me is trying to stop you from succeeding?’
‘There is a force, or power, if you will,’ Avery said, ‘working against us. Of that, we know. Whatever you encountered in Sanctuary, we believe it was responsible for the Anakim’s demise and it’s working to ensure humanity meets the same end.’
Her mind was racing, her tremors and increasing pain once more forgotten in light of the epiphany she’d just experienced. ‘That’s why the Vatican sent two of its highest-ranking cardinals,’ Sarah said. ‘That’s why the Swiss Guard are here.’
Avery glanced at Major Lanter. ‘The ranks of the Guard have been increased far beyond what it was. Our Holy Father has seen fit to instruct us to defend the Faith, and defend it we will. Chaos is coming, Sarah. The underground bases may not protect us as we’d thought. Allegiances change, dark forces are on the move. The GMRC itself is compromised. War looms in the West as it began in the East, and fire descends from the heavens. Our time on this Earth is running out and only God’s will can prevent it.’
The Irish cardinal’s words hung heavy in the air until Chen said, ‘How long do we have?’
‘I’m afraid it’s not a matter of years, months, or even days until the first arrives,’ Avery said, ‘but mere hours. Even as we speak, an asteroid approaches our atmosphere at lightning speed, and War, Famine and Pestilence follow in its wake, like the shadow of Death itself.’
‘The Horsemen of the Apocalypse,’ Sarah murmured, stunned and horrified the United States was so close to annihilation.
‘Hours,’ Chen said, aghast.
‘Which is why we need to act quickly,’ Zinetti said, seizing the opportunity to push home their advantage. ‘No more games, Ms Morgan. You now know what’s at stake. Tell us everything you saw.’
Sarah struggled to maintain her calm. More asteroids were heading for Earth. The end of the world was coming and the fate of the surface rested with a handful of people in the middle of nowhere, searching for a lost gate buried for a million years. And they want me to help them. I’m the key! Something else hit her like a bolt from the blue. ‘You didn’t tell me because you fear what’s inside me,’ she said, turning to Avery. ‘You need me, but can’t trust me.’ The memory of the dead explorer and the vision of seeing herself with a blood-spattered jacket rammed home her worst fears. She held up her shaking hands. ‘I can’t trust myself.’
‘The drugs will help you,’ Avery said. ‘Keep taking them and you’ll be fine. When was your last injection?’
‘A few hours ago,’ she said, the lie coming easily. She wanted to tell them the truth, but the voice within told her to keep it to herself. ‘Don’t tell them what you’re doing. They wouldn’t understand. They’re trying to poison you. You can’t trust them.’
Another voice whispered something to her and Sarah glanced round at an empty section of the cave.
Chen followed her gaze and frowned. Nothing was there.
She thinks you’re insane, Sarah thought. I think I’m insane!
Take the drugs, you’ll feel better.
NO! It’ll make me worse. Sarah put her hands to her face and then pressed them to her ears. STOP TALKING!! she shouted in her mind. Just stop talking! But her mind wouldn’t comply, as her thoughts increased, the speed making her throat tighten and skin sweat.
‘Sarah!’
She looked up in surprise.
Ruben removed his hood and touched her arm. ‘Avery asked you a question.’
She shook her head. ‘Did he?’
Ruben lowered his voice, his expression one of concern. ‘Are you okay?’
He only cares because they want to stop the asteroids. He hates you.
She looked at his handsome face. ‘He wants you,’ said the voice. ‘He wants to fuck you. You want to fuck him.’ Images of his naked body filled her mind and she closed her eyes.
Leave me alone!
‘Just imagine it,’ said the voice, ‘imagine what it would be like. His skin on yours, yours on his, your lips parting, his flesh within you.’
STOP IT! Sarah gritted her teeth and glared at the man before her. ‘I’m fine,’ she said, her voice a guttural growl.
Ruben gave her a worried look and retreated from her fierce expression.
‘If only he knew what you thought,’ said the voice. ‘Imagine how he would look at you. He’d think you were disgusting. That you were sick.’
No, he wouldn’t!
‘You’re a killer, Sarah. You’re possessed. You’re evil. The Vatican knows it. Avery knows it. Zinetti knows it. Ruben knows it. You know it.’
‘There’s something behind the frieze!’ Sarah shouted, her raised voice a bid for self control – anything to block out the noise of her mind. ‘There’s something behind the frieze,’ she said again, lowering her voice as she was greeted with strange looks. ‘A tunnel, or passage.’
‘And this was in your vision?’ Avery said. ‘You’re quite sure?’
‘I saw myself activating it.’
‘You were with your friends?’ Zinetti said, his tone suspicious.
‘Yes.’ Sarah winced as she admitted the truth. ‘I think so.’
‘And you can’t remember it, can you?’ Avery said. ‘You can’t remember being here with them.’
Sarah looked at him, her face full of despair. She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak as her eyes welled with tears.
‘What else did you see?’ Chen said. ‘Did you kill our friend?’
Sarah looked from Chen to her Malaysian cohort. ‘I ... I don’t know.
‘I’ll kill her.’ Farish
drew his knife and advanced on Sarah.
Ruben stepped between them.
‘Get out of my way, monk, she needs to pay for what she’s done.’
‘Didn’t you just hear what we said?’ Avery said. ‘We need her help. We all do.’
‘Farish,’ Chen said, ‘leave her be.’
Farish pointed the knife at Sarah and said something in Malay, before repeating it in English: ‘I’ll deal with you later.’
Ruben moved away as Farish retreated to Chen’s side, but the monk remained looking at the Malaysian with a steady gaze.
‘How did you get through the frieze?’ Avery said. ‘In your vision?’
‘I activated a doorway using the circle.’
‘Like you did in Sanctuary with your pendant?’
Sarah nodded.
‘But you don’t have the pendant,’ Zinetti said. ‘Sorensen has it.’
‘I know. I can’t explain it.’ She turned to look at the frieze once more, while still trying to ignore the whispers of her mind. She reached out and touched the circle again, concentrated, but to no avail.
She peered at the inscriptions round the edge of the sculpture and frowned. ‘Beware seraph’s love,’ she murmured. ‘Its opposite is in us.’
‘The words of a dying man,’ Avery said, coming to stand by her side.
Sarah shook her head. ‘No.’ She ran her fingers over a line of the Anakim symbols. ‘Beware seraph’s love,’ – she moved her hand to more inscriptions beneath it – ‘its opposite is in us.’
Avery looked at her in shock. ‘You can read it?’
‘I don’t know.’ She gave her head a shake. ‘It just makes ... sense.’ She looked at Avery. ‘Does that sound strange?’
‘A little,’ Avery said, his eyes alight with intrigue. ‘What else does it say?’
Sarah concentrated as a pain built between her eyes. ‘Beware seraph’s love. Its opposite is in us.’ She moved to the next section of text. ‘It says something about finding something in their search, something ancient, an ancient creation.’
‘Search for what?’ Avery said. ‘Heaven’s Gate?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’ She looked up at the Anakim sculpture and the depictions of its ancient peoples, some of whom crouched around a central pentagram. ‘They were searching for something else.’
‘She’s making it up,’ Zinetti said. ‘Don’t be deceived by her silver tongue. We know what she’s capable of.’
‘You forget her drawings,’ Avery said. ‘Without them, we wouldn’t be here. She may have more control of whatever is in her than she knows.’ He turned back to Sarah. ‘Keep trying.’
‘He’s right,’ Sarah said. She stared at the meaningless text. It was like grasping at mist. ‘It’s gone. I can’t see anything else.’
‘How convenient,’ Zinetti said. ‘She can say anything she wants and no one can verify it.’
‘How do we get through if we can’t activate it?’ Avery murmured to himself.
The roar of an engine filled the chamber and Avery dragged Sarah out of the way as Chen drove the small excavator at the frieze.
‘NO!!’ Zinetti said in horror.
But it was too late; the digger smashed into the sculpture was a metallic clang. A crack in its centre widened and Chen slammed the gearstick in reverse, drove the vehicle back, and then slammed it forward, into the frieze again.
‘Stop her!’ Avery said.
Major Lanter leapt forward and knocked Chen from the driver’s seat. The Australian fell to the ground with a thud, but the damage had been done. The frieze was split in two, right down the middle, where the circular indentation had become two halves of a greater whole.
Sarah stared at the destruction. If the device had transported Trish and Jason to another location, she would never find them now.
‘What were you thinking?!’ Avery said, furious.
Farish helped Chen to her feet and the Australian pointed at her handiwork. ‘I was making a hole.’
Sarah looked closer at the damage as Major Lanter shone his flashlight over it.
‘There’s a tunnel behind it,’ Lanter said.
Avery peered inside then turned to the other soldiers. ‘Get more tools!’ He turned to look back into the newly discovered void. ‘The way ahead is clear.’
Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Seven
The Swiss guards swung heavy picks at the broken Anakim sculpture, each strike a hollow clank of metal on metal. The repetitive tempo continued to reverberate around the cave, until another piece of the frieze fell to the ground with a thud, further widening the dark void beyond.
‘That’s enough!’ Avery said, calling a halt to their efforts.
The red-clad soldiers laid down their tools and Avery was the first to peer into the hole they’d created.
‘It’s a passageway,’ he said. ‘Inform the rest of your men, Major, we’re going inside.’
Major Lanter signalled for one of his guards to send the communication and, not long after, the nucleus of the Vatican expedition entered the dark opening.
Major Lanter led the way inside, followed by three of his men, with weapons raised. Sarah, Avery and Zinetti came next, with Ruben, Chen and the Malaysian, Farish, bringing up the rear.
Sarah pointed her flashlight around the interior and realised the tunnel was a natural formation, much like the cave they’d just departed.
The footfalls of the small party echoed off the walls and Chen moved up to walk beside Sarah.
‘Do you believe them?’ she whispered, motioning to the two cardinals who walked ahead of them.
‘About?’ Sarah said.
‘The asteroids. You really think there’s more than one?’
Sarah didn’t say anything for a moment as she resisted the desperate urge to inject the drug she craved more than life itself. Just the thought of its pleasurable release made her go weak at the knees and it was all she could do to keep walking.
‘Well?’ Chen said.
‘I do,’ Sarah said. ‘If you’d seen what I’ve seen you’d know it was true.’ She reached into a pocket of her Deep Reach jacket and grasped the drugs pouch, which nestled within.
Avery and Zinetti came to a halt. The Swiss guards ahead of them had stopped.
‘What is it, Major?’ Avery said.
Lanter turned to them and said, ‘A body.’ He waved them forward.
As Sarah joined those ahead of her, she looked down at the form of another mutilated corpse, much like the one they’d found back at the dig site.
‘Is he one of yours?’ Avery said, grimacing at the sight of the eviscerated cadaver.
Chen shone her flashlight over the unmoving form. ‘It’s hard to tell.’
Farish pushed past the soldiers and crouched down next to the body. He withdrew his knife, extracted a watch from the mess and held it up to the light.
‘It’s Killian,’ he said.
Chen couldn’t help but look at Sarah with a mixture of fear and horror, and Sarah knew the chances she might be found innocent weren’t just falling, but plummeting like a stone. What had Lanter said? Their helmet visors had exhibited a malfunction the previous night, allowing someone to get inside without anyone noticing. She recalled her vision, in which she’d activated the frieze and led Jason and Trish through it, perhaps into the tunnel they now traversed. She looked down at the body and for the first time truly believed it might have been her. She was possessed. She’d seen the shadow on the video footage and everyone else had accepted it but her, as, despite her mind’s cries of self confessed guilt, she’d been holding onto the reality they were wrong about her. I’ve been here before, she thought as the truth finally hit home. I killed this man!
Sarah went to say something but caught Avery’s look and wisely chose to stay silent.
‘Let’s keep moving,’ Zinetti said.
They moved forward again and Sarah noticed Ruben was walking much closer to her, as Farish and Chen entered into a whispered conversation behind.
Major Lanter held up a torn jacket.
‘That’s Trish’s,’ Sarah said, and stepped up to take it.
‘Are you sure?’ Avery said.
Sarah held it close. It was the same jacket she’d seen Trish wearing in the vision. ‘Positive.’
A distant noise made the soldiers swing round with weapons raised.
‘What was that?’ Zinetti said, sounding anxious.
‘Quiet.’ Lanter held up a hand for silence, and then, after some more time had passed, the noise came again.
It sounded like a woman’s voice.
‘Trish!’ Sarah said, and rushed past the guards.
‘Sarah, wait!’ Avery said.
But Sarah was done waiting, done worrying. She ran down the tunnel with the soldiers in hot pursuit, her flashlight illuminating the way ahead.
‘TRISH!’ she shouted. ‘JASON!!’
Her voice echoed down the tunnel and she ran faster.
‘Stay with her!’ Lanter said. He slowed and glanced back at the cardinals.
Sarah kept running, and so did the two Swiss guards behind her.
She ducked round a bend and entered a series of interconnecting chambers, before bursting out into a larger area, where she fell headlong into a deep pool of freezing water.
She exploded from the surface, gasping for air, the shock of the cold snapping her back to her senses.
The two soldiers skidded to a stop and teetered at the edge of the rippling pool.
‘Give me your hand,’ one of them said, holding out an armoured glove.
Sarah reached out, noticing as she did so that her wet hand mirrored the dark red panelling on the soldier’s high-tech suit of armour.
She looked down at the water and saw a second fluid meandered across its surface, like a miniature oil slick.
‘What is that?’ one of the soldiers said, as the rest of the group arrived behind them.
More flashlights lit up the area and Sarah’s eyes widened in horror as she realised what she was looking at. It wasn’t oil, but blood!
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 101
