The World After (9 page)

After about an hour of climbing, they entered a small open meadow between the trees from which a stunning view towards the majestic snow-topped peaks of the Himalayas was revealed. The last rays of the sun were reflecting off the snow and wet air and low clouds formed a one-off spectacle of colors. Red, pink, blue, yellow and green entwined in a unique sequence for several minutes while the sun was at the exact angle to allow this to happen. Kushajri patiently waited while the two men watched it with joyful eyes.

With the darkness between the trees already thick Kushajri couldn't allow them a long break. A minute later, the little but very quick man guided them down a steep and narrow path. It was obviously mainly used by wild animals going down for a drink. Just as the darkness was becoming a serious problem, they reached a long rope-bridge which was brightly lit by fiftyish strongly burning torches on each side. The bridge itself was built of entwined lianas and tree bark, while the torches were placed in big glass jars to prevent accidental fires. The bridge itself spread for over two hundred yards over a fast-flowing river. The light from the torches revealed its color as being unnaturally light green; it reminded Taylor of an idyllic sea lagoon in which he once had the pleasure of swimming.

They crossed the bridge in silence and, after taking two sharp turns down the path, the trees suddenly ended. In front of them, Kushajri's village emerged as if out of nowhere. The village was of no more than fifty tiny houses, all of which looked as if they had just popped out of a Chinese painting from the Middle Ages.

The village was nestled on the south slope of a deep ravine, surrounded completely by thick forest and high rocky peaks. On top of these, small lakes already reflected the millions of stars shining above their heads. The streets were very narrow, with all fences made of simple sharpened wooden sticks entwined tightly with lianas. Almost all the houses were one-story and made of rock. The roofs had a nice thick layer of pine branches resting on top of much heavier wooden beams.

Their small party was welcomed by a noisy group of kids whose loud shouts and excited whistling alerted everyone that guests had arrived. Naturally, most of the kids surrounded the red-haired Taylor. He didn't mind and, with a smile on his face, even pinched one or two of them on the cheeks.

Kushajri guided them through the narrow stone streets. He was using a torch passed to him by a villager that stood guard near the last house. After reaching pretty much the center of the small village, he stopped in front of one house, allowing Jinhun to walk past him and enter the garden. The Chinaman waved to Taylor to follow as he disappeared inside the building that looked identical to those on its left and right.

Once inside, Taylor saw that the interior fitted in very well with the whole atmosphere of the village, apart from one strange object. It took center stage in the spacious room. The floor was covered by goat skins to remain warm and dry. In the far corner, there was a fireplace with a heap of dry wood next to it. The middle of the relatively small room was taken up by a solid wooden table and three chairs made of thick branches and entwined lianas for seats and backrests.

The one object not fitting into the surroundings was an ancient radio transmitter placed right in the middle of the table. Taylor knew that such type of old equipment was modern during World War II, and from his short acquaintance with Jinhun, he knew that this was his preferred way of getting in touch with the other members of their organization.

“I'll get in touch with the Base to get the latest updates.”

While waiting for the cryptic conversation to finish, Taylor looked around. On the right wall, there was a wooden door, most likely leading to the maximum of one more room in the house. Through the small square window, he was able to treat himself to a magnificent view towards the dark rocky peak in front and the sky filled with bright stars above it. The torches and gas lamps lit all around the village created a magical scene on the tree tops of the slope opposite. Taylor spent the whole time while his companion was talking transfixed by that spectacle.

Jinhun interrupted him by walking near and saying, “Tonight we rest here, then tomorrow we'll hit the road again.”

“Are we walking all the way?” Taylor asked.

“Yes, it's the safest means of transport. The ground we need to cover is hardly offering an easy passage, but I'm sure you'll be able to cope with it.”

“What's the latest?”

“The other group of important members of our organization is stopping in Athens to pick up someone, while there is confirmation that the big man of the ATU, Shimi Levy, has arrived in Hong Kong.”

“He is after me.” Taylor's face darkened.

“On the bright side, the news connected with
Apocalypse
is all good. The tests and trials are going successfully so far. Come on, let's forget all our worries for one night. Dinner is waiting for us. After all, we're honorable guests.” Taylor followed Jinhun out of the house.

The celebratory dinner party took place in Kushajri's house, which was at least three times bigger than the one they were in. For the evening, the elder had invited ten men and their wives and a group of very loud and cheery self-taught musicians. All women were dressed in spotless white blouses and all of them, as well as most of the men, had around their necks the same extravagant blue necklaces that Taylor had already seen on Kushajri.

The warmth of the crackling open fire, the subdued light coming from a few gas lamps, the goat skins on which all of them sat, and the cheerful conversation of the locals, of which Taylor was unable to understand even a word, made the red-haired guest relax properly for the first time in years. All this woke up long forgotten memories about his own home and the life that would never return for him.

The dinner started with roasted pumpkin covered with honey, followed with as much as they wanted of homemade goat cheese, fried fish of an unknown species to Taylor, and a generously large roasted piece of goat meat rolled while fresh in an aromatic mixture of herbs and spices. All this was accompanied by soft, hot bread which two of the women were taking out of a small tray over the fire when it was ready. To finish all this, the two guests and Kushajri's family – all other guests left around midnight – treated themselves to a bowl of mixed fruits covered with sugar syrup.

Once the last piece of food was eaten, the two guests thanked heartily their generous hosts and walked out into the chill of the mountain night. They headed slowly towards their house. The sounds coming from the forest around them only increased Taylor's feeling that he was home. The strong smell of orchids was wrapping them in waves of perfume with every gust of the wind, which wasn't too surprising as almost every garden in the village had plenty of these wonderful flowers.

“Are the locals chipped?” Taylor asked as they walked slowly thought the dark streets.

“No, they're isolated and, luckily for them and for us, nobody bothers with them. In this area, there are seven very similar villages in which probably altogether less than a thousand people live. For generations, nobody from these settlements has left the mountain regions, even the young kids are happy to stay all their lives here where they were born.”

“The last remaining paradise,” Taylor said.

“Well-formulated, although their life is hardly easy. They're pretty much self-sufficient and can live on what they have for years. I have never known of any village having electricity.”

“Still, they must have contact with the outside world. I saw agricultural tools, and also where does the gas come from for the lamps?”

“When they need something, normally tools, gas, coffee or sugar, they simply walk all the way to Itanagar and purchase them. Mind you, money is not in use here.”

“What do you mean?”

“This area is famous for its thousands of orchids growing wild and in people's gardens. When they need something, they simply pick as many as they need and exchange them for goods.”

Their conversation ended there as they reached their house. It was already well past two in the morning. The two men entered the small side-room and dropped their tired bodies into the bunk beds covered with soft goat skins.

Taylor had his calmest night for years; he didn't have any nightmares and woke up later than usual. The moment he opened his eyes, the tempting aroma of boiling coffee filled his nostrils. He quickly got up and walked into the main room to find Jinhun bent over the fire and the crackling small pot over it.

“It's not latte, but I'm sure you'll like it,” he said to Taylor as he filled two metal mugs with hot steaming liquid.

The two sat on chairs facing the small window and picturesque view. Only after half of the coffee was gone did Taylor break the silence, “How far are we from your Base?”

“A full day of intense walking. We'll be setting off in about an hour. Kushajri will accompany us for part of the way, but after a while, we'll be on our own again.”

“This means that the plane from Athens will be back before us.”

“Yeah, we'll be the last ones back in the Base.”

“And where will this assumingly big plane land?” Taylor's curiosity continued.

“It won't be landing. All the passengers will jump out with parachutes, while guided by the autopilot the plane will cross the nearby border with China and then crash. Tragic incident, no survivors.”

“And how long after we reach the Base do you think we'll set in motion
Apocalypse
?”

“If everything has gone smoothly with the computer simulations, the moment we're all together and the tasks are split, we'll be good to go.” Jinhun finished his coffee.

“How certain are you that the information on the movement of all satellites is accurate?”

“A hundred percent,” Jinhun explained. “Most of the satellites are clustered between six hundred and a thousand miles high, plus three main surveillance ones at thirty-one thousand miles and many old ones at fifty thousand miles. According to our very accurate estimates at the minute, out of all artificial bodies circling our atmosphere, only just over twelve percent are actually active and used.”

“Everything else is space rubbish?”

“Yes, there are over thirty thousand pieces bigger than fifteen centimeters and any one of them is big enough to serve our purposes.”

“Will you please explain to me again how exactly we'll control and redirect the…” Taylor's words were lost in the loud sound of plane engines.

In order for the sound to be that loud, the plane must be flying very low and, as they both knew, only trained military pilots were able to do that.

Panicked and scared shouts echoed around the village as the two men simultaneously rushed towards the front door.

Carolina, her father and Fabio ran up the loading ramp of the plane as the police cars and the vehicle from the agency quickly approached them. The heavy plane had already turned its nose towards the long launch stretch up front. Despite being heavy and not very maneuverable, the old bird started gathering speed quickly.

Carolina pulled her father through the cargo hold to the front of the plane. Fabio stayed behind and fired with his Colt at the pursuing cars while the ramp was slowly closing with a creaky noise. The plane's speed wasn't yet enough to allow it to break free of the police cars that kept firing at will, but most of their bullets bounced back from the exterior armored plates.

Fabio knew that it was only a matter of seconds before the door closed and the speed of the plane became too fast for the cars of the authorities. He continued to fire while the last few inches of open space left by the ramp were slowly closing them away from the outside world. The young Brazilian could have easily abandoned his post at that point; but, just as the gap was no wider than a human's hand, he spotted out of the corner of his eye the indigo car emerging right behind the plane. From that moment on, everything happened as if in slow motion for Fabio. The agent sitting next to the driver leaned out of the side window and fired just as the ramp closed. Fabio flew backwards, falling heavily on his back. A sharp pain in his chest took away his air. The last thing he felt before he closed his eyes was the change in elevation; the plane was airborne.

In the front compartments of the big Boeing, Carolina guided her father through several small areas before stopping in a nicely furbished area just behind the cockpit. She looked through the illuminators to see that they were already above Athens. Fabiana rushed to her and the two best friends hugged each other.

Wong ended their moment when walking in from the cockpit to confirm with a thumb's up that they were okay and good to go. Carolina nodded to him. After that, her turquoise eyes rested on a jaded Ian MacGeady, who was sitting in a side seat with handcuffs restraining him.

“Father, I want to introduce you to the man that was supposed to murder you,” she said with an ice-cold voice.

“Don't be judging too quickly, honey. He's trained to follow orders,” Ademar Gamejro responded. “I'll be more interested if, first, you introduce me to your friends.”

“This is Fabi, my best friend of the past four years. You've heard about her before. We joined the Yuyuan together.” Fabiana moved to shake the minister's hand at first, but the old man pulled her near and hugged her tightly.

“I really need to sit now. It was a heck of a ride out of Athens,” he said as he collapsed into a leather armchair.

Carolina continued with the introductions, “This is Wong Wei, another member of our organization and close friend. He is a master in martial arts and also a genius at breaking and intercepting tracing signals.”

“It's an honor to meet you, sir.” Wong bowed. Turning towards the two women he added, “I'll be getting back to the pilots to make sure that the device that is supposed to hide our plane from the radars is working properly. Please send Fabio to me when he appears. I don't know what he is still doing back there.”

“I wonder where he is,” Carolina said with a trace of concern in her voice.

“You sit and rest, I'll go and find him,” Fabiana said as she left the room.

Once alone again, with MacGeady's presence ignored by both of them, Ademar Gamejro smiled at his daughter, “So, fiancé, eh.”

“Yeah, we've been together for two years now. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier.” Her father nodded understandingly and she continued. “We got engaged just a month ago. In the crazy fast and chaotic world we're living, we decided that it's pointless to wait longer. We both want kids.”

“I know I only got a glimpse of him, but he looks a very nice guy. I'm really happy that you finally shared this news with me, although not entirely by choice. Is he a naturalist like you?”

“No, he's much smarter than me and maybe any of us here on this plane. He used to be one of the prodigies creating brain implants years ago, but after crucial changes in his thinking and some horrific finds he made, he set himself a goal to remove the implants from as many people as he could. I know for sure that over four hundred of the Yuyuan need to thank him for the removal of their implants. On top of that, he can give us temporary ones; I have one in me now.” Carolina looked nervously at the door leading towards the cargo hold. She knew that by now Fabiana should have reached the tail of the plane.

To distract herself from worrying thoughts, she continued to introduce the love of her life to her father. “Fabio is actually the first man to fully comprehend the entire idea behind the brain implants. In his previous career, he discovered that all implants are controlled and monitored through short radio waves coming from supercomputers and satellites. The day he publicly announced this finding and the one that even a completely healthy person with a brain implant can be forced to have hallucinations and hear voices just through simple commands transported to their brain by these radio waves, he automatically became one of the most wanted men around the globe.”

“Any relatives?” the minister asked.

“No, he's an orphan. Why are they not here?” Carolina got off her seat.

Just at that moment Fabiana pushed the door with a groan and entered, supporting with not much conviction Fabio. On his chest, there was a big blood stain that was growing quickly.

“Oh my God!” Carolina and her father rushed to help them.

“He's been shot,” Fabiana said. “You have medical education, yes?” Her question was addressed to Agent MacGeady who only nodded in confirmation.

“Cari bring the bunk bed from the corner and please remove Ian's cuffs. I need his help to check on Fabio.”

Carolina didn't argue and, grabbing the key from a small hook above MacGeady's seat, released him. The agent got up, put a firm hand on Carolina's shoulder and squeezed lightly for a second. After that he walked to the corner and dragged the bunk bed to the middle of the room.

Fabiana and Ademar Gamejro carefully placed Fabio's wounded body on it, which forced a painful moan from his drained-of-color lips. Carolina started crying. Her father stepped aside to comfort her while Ian MacGeady started helping Fabiana to remove the blood-soaked shirt.

Once they were able to cut the T-shirt and carefully clear the wound, they saw that the bullet had entered the body just below the chest. Thick, dark red blood was oozing out of the wound. MacGeady lifted his eyes to meet Fabiana's. His head shook negatively.

At this moment, the cockpit's door opened and, without paying much attention to the atmosphere, Wong Wei walked in talking quickly. “Okay, we're practically invisible on the radars. My little signal deafening device works perfectly, and now it's Fabio's job to quickly remove the minister's implants before…” He froze in the middle of the sentence after finally seeing the body in front of him. “Is he dead?” he asked.

“Not yet.” Fabiana's voice drained of emotions.

“What are we going to do now?” Wong panicked. “We can't continue towards the Base.”

“Drop me somewhere and save yourselves,” Ademar Gamejro said.

“No!” Two simultaneous shouts had come from the mouths of Carolina and Fabio.

All eyes turned towards the wounded man as he was trying to push himself up on his elbows. MacGeady gave him a hand and Fabio managed to sit. After a few deep breaths, he said in a very weak voice, “I'm not quite dead yet. With your help, I should be able to remove the minister's implants.” A bad cough stopped him for a few seconds, but soon he added, “Fabiana will give me an adrenalin injection, and hopefully the time this will give me will be enough.”

“There's no way I'll do that. It's suicide. If I inject you with adrenalin, there's no way we can control your bleeding. The heart will be pumping blood out of your wound, plus you might have a cardiac arrest and die immediately.”

“Oh, come on.” Fabio forced a sort of smile. “I don't need to be a doctor to know that I'm a goner anyway.” His eyes met Carolina's as he very slowly finished his sentence and lay back on the bed.

His fiancé walked to him and put her hand on his burning forehead. Her lips found his, her sobs mixing with his heavy breathing.

Fabio gently stroke one curl of hair away from her face and, trying to be brave, said, “Everything will be okay.”

Fabiana looked at the faces in the room; nobody dared to say anything. She sighed and with a firm voice said, “Wong, prepare the sterile room for the procedure while I talk the minister through the whole thing.” Turning to Ian MacGeady, she added, “In the meantime, you help Carolina clean and dress Fabio's wound the best you can.”

At the exact same time through the ruined gates of Elada Airport, the big indigo car drove out. The ATU agent next to the driver had a phone pressed to his ear and just said, “Yes, Mr. Levy, the nano-implant was placed successfully and the signal is strong. Even in the event of death, I'm certain that they'll keep the body. I'll keep you posted. Over.”

Ademar Gamejro had listened carefully to everything Fabiana had to say to him about the surgical intervention he was about to have. Once she explained everything important she could think of, she finished with, “Naturally, we'll give you a full body scan, but I know that it will be much easier on Fabio if you can talk us through the implants in your body you know about. This will optimize the procedure and also will reduce the risk level.”

“Of course, I understand.” He thought for a few seconds. “Maybe I should start with the brain electrode put in my head right after my birth without the knowledge of my own parents.”

“Yeah, I'm familiar with those types of implants. It used to be common practice in many hospitals around the world. The first such electrodes were placed in kids' heads without the consent or even knowledge of their parents in the distant 1946 in America.”

“That's right. I also had one silicone implant when I was older in my right wrist. I have very high intracranial pressure,” the minister explained.

“That's not a problem, even I can remove that,” Fabiana encouraged him with a smile.

“Well, the last one I know of was put inside me with last-year's vaccine. It's the newest type of technology. I was told that it was made from gallium arsenide and it's so small that it's virtually impossible to find in my bloodstream.”

“Don't worry, Fabio can find anything. He practically designed this model of implant. He removed exactly this type of implant from Agent MacGeady.” Fabiana sounded encouraging. “Is that it?”

“That I know of.”

Carolina walked over to them, her eyes red from crying. Her voice was weak as she said, “Fabio asks if you're ready. He wants the adrenalin because his sight is getting blurry and he's worried about losing consciousness while operating.”

“I'm ready for this, honey.” Her father gave her an encouraging smile.

“Okay, let's not waste any more time,” Fabiana said. “Cari, sterilize the scalpels and prepare the machines; we're coming.”

Fifteen minutes later, Fabiana walked into the sterile surgical room supporting Fabio. One could tell that the young man was moving much better and his hands looked steady with no sign of shaking. Leaving his support, he walked to the surgical table where Ademar Gamejro sat half naked and said, “Minister, I want to make it perfectly clear that the following surgery carries serious risks for your life in normal circumstances and now even more. That said, I feel confident to proceed with it.”

“Go on, young man. Since you're good enough for my daughter's heart, who am I not to trust my life in your hands. Let's do this.” Ademar Gamejro laid back and, without asking anyone, put the mask with the anesthetic over his face and soon fell asleep.

An hour and a half later after a series of intricate medical procedures, Ademar Gamejro's body was cleared of all implants. The minister was still sleeping under the effect of the anesthetic on the surgical table, while a completely drained Fabio needed the support of the two women to make it to the bunk bed in the main room of the plane. He lay down with a painful moan. Fabiana leaned forward, kissed his cheeks and, getting back up, said to Carolina, “I'll go and be with your father so he's not alone when he wakes up.” A slight nod in MacGeady's direction was enough for him to follow her out of the room.

Left alone, the engaged couple looked into each other's eyes. A thin line of blood came out of Fabio's mouth. She gently wiped it with her trembling fingers as her tears flowed down her cheeks. Carolina leaned over his head, the blond ends of her hair feeling soft on his burning skin. Fabio tried to smile but the pain was too strong. Instead, he made a grimace.

Carolina couldn't keep it up for much longer; her shoulders shook in convulsions. The tears rolling down her face were coming straight from the deepest corners of her heart.

Fabio felt it first and realized that the road was ending for him. His limbs became numb. He tried to speak, but his swollen and dry tongue didn't allow a sound to come out of his cracked lips. Carolina leaned over, her blue eyes bathing him with love. Her lips touched his with passion; the tops of their tongues touched for a split second.

A moment later, Carolina removed her lips from his and, through her tears, saw the lifeless chestnut eyes staring at her in an expression of calmness and bliss. Her crying echoed through the entire plane.

* * *

Shimi Levy sat on the back seat of his limo, swaying nervously from side to side. The big vehicle was parked in the VIP area of the underground parking of the Laboratory for Genetic Engineering of Beijing Institute for Genomic in Hong Kong.

The main boss of the Agency for Tracking the Untraceables was waiting for doctor Yao. The Chinese Mengele was supposed to deliver, in secrecy, the final results of a project started years ago jointly by the Agency and Yao's Institute.

Project Archangels was basically a group of carefully selected young teenage boys with differing natural gifts. Among those selected was a blond-haired Danish boy that was able to calculate all sorts of complicated equations faster than a computer, an Indian kid who proved extremely useful at bending metal spoons and all kinds of objects just with thought, and a Peruvian sixteen-year-old with natural telekinesis.