God's Lions - The Dark Ruin (33 page)

“You came in on that sub?” Doug Peterson asked incredulously.

“Yes, Mr. Peterson, and we’re going out on it. I suggest you and the others come with us, because traveling any other way right now could be very hazardous to your health.”

From their doorways, the people of Orencik could see the blue emblem of the United Nations painted on the armored doors of the white vehicles that sped through the narrow, dusty streets. Riding in the back seat of the second vehicle, a defiant Adrian Acerbi sat silently next to his mother as they looked through the bullet-proof glass at all the vacant-looking faces peering back at them from the doorways of their sun-baked mud houses. It was the second time in recent days that a military force had descended on the village, and even though the villagers had been told ahead of time not to fear the UN soldiers, the cold looks on the faces of the men peering back at them told them otherwise.

“Where are we?” Adrian asked, staring at the thing sitting beside him.

“We’re approaching your birthplace, my son.”

“My birthplace? I was under the impression I was born in France.”

“You were brought to France shortly after your birth, but this is where you were born.”

“Is that why we came to Turkey a few months ago ... to those old ruins you wanted to visit?”

“No. That was the place of my birth ... a very long time ago.”

“Is that when you took over my mother’s body?”

The thing whipped around, its fury temporarily interrupting the holographic-like projection that concealed the horrific features of the demon that had taken possession of a woman Adrian had once called mother. As unnerving as it was for him to see the digital image of her face dissolve in an explosion of fiery, iridescent lines that wavered and shook, Adrian held his ground against the thing’s malevolent gaze. Over the past few days he had discovered that every time he had made the thing angry, its outer shell seemed to crack just enough for him to see beyond the façade, giving him a glimpse of the demon inside.

In an effort to make it strike out, Adrian had purposely pushed and prodded the thing, making it thrash wildly inside his mother’s body, but no matter what he did or said it held back.
Why
? He had called it vile names and taunted it, yet despite the thing’s obvious fury, it always maintained a discreet distance, as if it were afraid of something. Was it under the control of someone or something else? Was there another guiding its actions in this macabre charade? Someone had sent this dark guardian from a world of shadows, and its fury at being exposed was a fury driven by fear—fear of its master’s wrath if it failed to do whatever it was sent here to do.

Stopping at the end of the street at the edge of the village, the thing beside him opened the door and smiled up at the soldiers with his mother’s warm smile, but when the demon stepped out and motioned for Adrian to follow, the boy held back. In a calculated move, Adrian hoped that his refusal to follow would infuriate the demon to the point that it would reveal itself to the soldiers—an event that might give Adrian an opportunity to slip away and somehow escape to the safety of his father.

“I think I’ll stay right here,” Adrian said, folding his arms across his chest.

“You can walk freely with us or we can bind and carry you.” A smirk formed on his mother’s face while the thing inside her remained hidden from view. “It’s your choice.”

“Fine. Tie me up. Handcuff me.” Adrian’s voice became louder as he stepped from the vehicle, drawing the attention of the soldiers and the villagers who had gathered nearby. “What have I done? You have no right to force me to follow you anywhere. You’re not my mother. In fact, you’re not even human. Why don’t you show these people what you really look like?”

Slowly, the demon’s human shell began to emit a bright, pulsating glow that radiated against the surrounding buildings, until finally the snarling, hissing demon broke from its shell and extended its monstrous face to the sky with a piercing scream of pure hate and anger.

Now you’ve done it.
Adrian smiled to himself.
Now everyone has seen you for what you really are, and this evil game you’re playing will soon be over.

But nothing happened. The soldiers and villagers seemed oblivious to the fact that something unearthly was happening right before their eyes. They just stood there, seemingly watching nothing more than a tense exchange between a teen-aged boy and his mother.

As he spun around, Adrian began to panic.
It must be invisible to everyone but me!
Looking out at the faces of the soldiers and villagers who had gathered nearby, he scanned the crowd for some kind of sign—a sign that those who were watching had just witnessed the sudden appearance of the monstrous apparition that was now standing right before them. But instead of fear and panic, Adrian saw only boredom drawn from lives spent in the tedious repetition of living. It was as if an invisible screen had been draped over their eyes, blinding everyone except Adrian to the fact that a sweet, mild-mannered woman had just changed into a demon.

Standing in the street, surrounded by soldiers and indifferent-looking villagers, Adrian’s hearing disappeared as the world began to spin all around him, and in less time than it took to blink his eyes, the demon had changed back into its human form. He was once again looking into the smiling face of his mother, and as the thing smiled back at him, a sudden chill ran down his spine as it pointed to the hills beyond the village. Looking off toward the horizon, Adrian stopped. Something had changed, and for a brief moment a feeling of exhilaration flowed through his body. It was a feeling he had never experienced before, and he found himself smiling, for he realized the chill he had just felt was one of excitement instead of dread.

In the shadows next to the maintenance building, Ben Zamir and Team 5 looked out across a brightly-lit open space at the cooling tower in the distance.

“Do you want us to short-circuit the floodlights, Captain?” Efron asked.

Ben shook his head. “No. After the burst transmission we sent to the choppers, a stunt like that would probably be the tipping point that would send the entire compound on high alert.”

The sergeant squinted into the distance. “We’ll never make it to the tower across that wide-open space without being spotted.”

“We need to rethink this.” Ben signaled for the soldiers behind him to move back inside the building before gathering everyone around him. “If we all go we’ll be spotted, but two of us might make it without drawing any attention. I’ll take Daniel in while the rest of you remain here with Sergeant Efron.”

“You’ll never make it, sir,” Efron said. “You saw how lit up it is around that tower. They’ll spot you as soon as you step out into the lights.”

“Not if we’re wearing the uniforms we took off those guards in the back of the truck. They’ll think we’re just a security patrol.”

“What about the ID badges?”

“You ever take a good look at the picture on an ID badge, Sarge?”

Efron grinned. “Good point, but we’re still operating in the blind. Without any architectural diagrams of the underground facilities beneath this compound we have zero intelligence on what’s down there.”

“Look, everyone, this is an intelligence mission. We came here to gather as much intelligence about this site as we can, and that’s just what we’re going to do.” Ben nodded to Daniel. “Time to suit up, Danny boy.”

Quickly, Ben and Daniel grabbed the weapons they had taken from the security men and changed into their uniforms before slipping out the side door. Crouching in the shadows, they both took deep breaths before stepping out into the brightly lit compound and walking directly toward the cooling tower at a fast clip. It took them less than a minute to cover the distance, but as soon as they reached the door at the base of the tower they found themselves staring at a lock with a keypad combination, and to make matters worse, a very obvious security camera was pointed straight at them.

“At least they’re still using relatively primitive entry devices,” Daniel said, studying the lock. “Stand between me and the camera.”

As Ben dutifully moved his body between the door and the camera, Daniel pulled a small metal box from his pocket and attached it to the keypad. In less than five seconds, a series of green numbers flashed across the small digital screen and the door swung open.

Once inside, the two men were relieved to find themselves standing all alone in a room that contained several desks in front of a metal-sheathed wall covered with various control knobs and digital read-out screens. “This is probably the control center for the cooling tower,” Daniel said. “Whatever they’re hiding is probably below us somewhere.”

Crossing the room, they opened an unlocked door that led into a bare concrete stairwell. Peering over a metal railing, Ben could see that the stairs descended at least seven stories below ground level. With another security camera located above them, the two men headed down the stairs and crossed their fingers in hopes the cameras weren’t tied into any facial recognition software that would alert the security force to the presence of intruders.

When they reached the first landing, they paused next to an unmarked door.

“I think we should keep on going,” Daniel said. “If they’re building some kind of advanced computer system, it will most likely be located on the lowest level.”

Ben looked up at another security camera pointed at the door. “Sounds logical. Besides, if they see us checking the doors on every landing it will raise suspicions.”

As soon as they took the first step a door slammed below them, followed by footsteps coming up the stairwell. Exchanging glances, Ben and Daniel kept walking as a man in a white lab coat climbed toward them up the stairs and stopped.

“Good evening,” the man said in broken English with a German accent.

“Good evening to you, sir,” Ben replied.

“American?”

“Canadian,” Ben responded, using his standard cover story.

“You’re the first Canadian I’ve met in this place. Everyone else here seems to have been recruited from Europe.”

Ben grinned. “I was ready for a change to warmer weather, and it looks like I got my wish.”

The man laughed. “You certainly did, young man.”

Ben looked past the man’s white lab coat down into the stairwell. “Well, we need to keep moving. We’re on a strict schedule. Nice talking to you, sir.”

The man turned and took a step before pausing once again. “All that money and Saddam didn’t even bother to put in elevators.”

“I know,” Ben forced a laugh. “Keeps us in shape.”

“Ah, I see all of you young men exercising every day up in the courtyard. I wish I could join you, but I’m too old for that now.” The man arched and popped his back. “I hear more new people will be arriving in the morning.”

“I wouldn’t know, sir. They don’t tell us anything until the last moment.”

“What’s the big secret, eh?” The man winked. “After next week we’ll control the world, but I guess I don’t have to tell you two that. I see you are both wearing the badges of the elite guard.” The man looked up the stairs and took a deep breath. “Have a nice evening,” he said, reaching for the hand rail before continuing his wheezing climb.

As soon as he was gone, Daniel looked down at his ID badge. “Elite guard? I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Who knows,” Ben said, continuing down the stairs, “but it seemed to impress him.”

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairwell, they entered a circular concrete space and came face-to-face with a guard sitting behind a desk next to an immense, vault-like door. Immediately the guard stood and saluted.

“As you were,” Ben said. “We’re just making a quick walk-through inspection.”

“Yes, sir. We just finished installing the new retinal scanner. I think you’ll be impressed.”

Ben felt a sudden chill run down his spine. He had to think fast, because his next response could well determine the success or failure of the mission. “I would be impressed if someone had thought to tell me about it. We haven’t been scanned yet for entry into the new system.”

“No problem, sir. We can take care of that right now.”

Ben exhaled. “Good, we’re running late as it is. Has all the new equipment arrived from tonight’s shipment?”

“Yes, sir ... except for one piece of missing hardware. All the lab coats are really pissed off.”

“That’s one of the reasons we’re here. Can we get this scan business out of the way so we can find out what all the excitement is about?”

“Of course, sir.” The man’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly. “Swipe your badges and look into that scanner on the wall. After it scans your retinal pattern and matches it with your name in the computer you’ll be good to go.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“It is.” The guard’s eyes seemed to be boring holes through the two men. “I thought all of the elite guards were the first ones to be scanned.”

Ben felt the crawly sensation of a thinly disguised interrogation. “We just returned from a training mission.”

“Oh, the one in Turkey?”

Ben hesitated, looking for a trap. He had to answer one way or the other. “Yeah, how did you know?”

“At lot of guys have been going there lately for some kind of training. I kinda wish I had been picked to go. Not a whole lot to do around here ... if you know what I mean.”

Ben smiled. “I do.” Before the guard could engage them in any more small talk, Ben and Daniel swiped their badges and took turns peering into the scanner. After waiting for a few nervous seconds, the guard looked up from his computer screen and gave them the thumbs-up as the red light above the gigantic door changed from red to green. Slowly, the round, two-foot-thick door began to swing open, revealing a stark-white room lined with lockers and manned by another guard holding an assault rifle.

“Another security sweep?” the guard huffed. “The lab coats won’t like it. Every scientist in the facility is in a foul mood tonight.”

“They’ll just have to deal with it,” Ben shot back.