2041 Sanctuary (Genesis) (56 page)

The chieftain considered the man’s shallow breath before making a decision. ‘Then we shall help him.’ He bent down and picked up the discarded helmet and ran his fingers over the strange design before gazing back down at the symbol that had saved the man’s life:

He didn’t know what the images meant, but whatever they were they had not served its owner well. He dropped the helmet to the ground and helped his kin drag the man into shade.

The child who’d first encountered the intruder picked up the forgotten headwear while his parents attended to the demon’s health. He ran his fingers over black markings and wondered, like his father, what they could mean. But if he’d had the relevant schooling, he would have known they were sets of letters that spelt out two, simple identifying words:

Colonel Samson

The boy placed the helmet over his head and a dazzling blaze of light lit up the interior. Amazed and scared in equal measure, he stood transfixed as an image appeared on the visor, an image of the man to whom the headwear belonged.

The image fuzzed and crackled. ‘My name’s Colonel Samson, U.S. military Special Forces.’ He glanced up at the sky as beads of sweat trickled down his face. ‘I have been lost in this wilderness for two months and a day. My navigation systems are down. My sense of direction—’ He gave a shake of his head, his eyes haunted with fever. ‘If anyone sees this, find my daughter, find Brett Taylor. Tell her – tell her there’s no time left, the world as we know it is at an end.’ He dragged the camera closer until only his maddened eyes filled the screen. ‘Listen – listen to me now; this is what I know …’

♦   ♦   ♦

Cloud Forest Biological Reserve

Monteverde, Costa Rica

A lone car, splattered with mud, bumped and rolled across a sun-dappled dirt track road before coming to a stop outside a dilapidated cabin surrounded by trees. The driver’s door creaked open and banged shut an instant later.

Jason stretched his legs, arched his back and gave a groan of relief. ‘Next time we need to go to town, I’m staying here.’

Trish grunted something in response and collected a bag from the back seat before clambering out and hooking the door shut with her foot. She walked up the porch steps and stopped in the doorway. ‘Jason,’ she said, ‘come here, something’s wrong.’

Dropping the bag, Trish ran inside with Jason following close behind.

The scene inside the cabin was one of disarray. Upended furniture, cushions torn apart and floorboards prised up.

‘Sarah!’ Trish ran to the kitchen. ‘Sarah!’

Jason sprinted upstairs and burst into Sarah’s bedroom, which had been similarly trashed. He rushed back out to search the other rooms.

After more frantic moments, Trish came to a halt on the landing and stared at Jason in despair. ‘Oh my God, where is she?’

Jason shook his head. ‘They took the parchments and Mayan tablet, too. They knew what they were looking for.’

‘Do you think …?’

‘It must be,’ he said, ‘they must have found us somehow.’

Trish wiped a tear from her eye, her face stunned by shock and Jason walked over and hugged her to him.

‘What do we do?’ she said.

He kissed the top of her head and stared out of a window at the forest beyond. ‘We’ll find her. Even if we have to break back into Sanctuary itself, we’ll find her.’

♦

‘All the locals agree, they had helicopters,’ Trish said, ‘and they heard voices, American accents. Some even saw the men that took her, they wore black tactical gear and others the grey armour used by the GMRC.’

Jason righted the kitchen table and spread a map across its surface. ‘Did they see what direction they headed?’

‘North.’

‘Then that confirms it. If the GMRC are involved, they’ve taken her back to Sanctuary. We have to go back.’

‘But we just sold our Deep Reach helmets.’

Jason jabbed his finger at the town they’d just visited. ‘Then that’s where we start.’

‘But how will we get back into the base when we get there? We don’t have the pendant and there’s no way we can breach their security.’

Jason stuffed more supplies into a holdall and zipped it closed. ‘We’ll find a way, or find someone that can.’ He shouldered the bag and walked back into the living room where the TV fuzzed and flickered behind cracked glass as it searched for a signal. ‘Have you got everything?’

Trish nodded and Jason’s face hardened into determination. ‘Then let’s go.’

The two explorers left the cabin and returned to the car. With their supplies loaded, and direction set, Jason revved the engine and reversed round before slamming the gear stick in first and flooring the accelerator. Wheels spun, dirt and stones sprayed out, and they surged forwards back the way they’d come, the car slipping and sliding as it struggled to gain traction as they sped towards civilisation and the mission to come.

♦

An hour out from the cabin and they tore along the gravel road at breakneck speed.

‘Which way?’ Trish said, looking at the map.

Jason recognised the T-junction ahead. ‘It’s left.’ He dropped gears from fourth to second and slid the car round the corner.

Trish screamed. ‘Watch out!’

An oncoming four-by-four swerved off the road and the fleeting glimpse of its passengers’ shocked faces vanished behind as Jason regained control.

Trish glanced back as the other vehicle rejoined the narrow highway. ‘Was that a police car?’

‘I hope not; are they turning round?’

She shook her head. ‘Not yet they haven’t. You need to slow down; we’re no good to Sarah dead.’

‘Or in prison.’ Jason dipped the clutch, slammed it into third and accelerated. ‘If that was the police, let’s not give them the chance to catch up.’

The engine roared and the car barrelled on through the forest and, if she could have seen, Sarah would have known … her friends were on their way.

♦

Two hours later, back at the abandoned cabin, night had fallen and a foreign wind rustled through the cloud forest’s trees. The front door creaked open and banged shut in the breeze before repeating the process again and then again, in unending percussion. A vehicle crept along the nearby road, its fat, off-road tyres cracking and popping the gravel underneath. Main beams streamed bright and the shadows swung round as the four-by-four parked up to highlight the surrounding area in a blaze of headlights. The gasoline engine stuttered to silence and the illumination dimmed. Suspension creaked and car doors slammed as four people emerged into the dark of night.

Footsteps thumped up wooden steps and into the cabin, where the TV continued to flicker in the living area with an ethereal glow. Broken glass crunched underfoot and someone switched on the light.

‘Search the rooms,’ a woman said, ‘this happened recently.’

The newcomers spread out into the cabin to search for signs of continued habitation, but when they’d quickly exhausted all avenues they regrouped back in front of the TV.

‘It’s totally cleaned out, no food, no clothes, nothing.’

‘Whoever was here had something of great value; you wouldn’t go to these lengths for anything else.’

‘So what’s next? What do we do now?’

The three who’d spoken looked to their leader, who had, up until now, remained silent.

‘He told us we were to meet someone here,’ the man said, concerned. ‘It looks like someone beat us to it, or he got it wrong.’

The woman who’d been the first to speak gave a snort of derision. ‘Of course he got it wrong. I don’t even know why you keep trusting him.’

The young man next to her made a rude gesture. ‘
Ach
, what do you know.’

‘More than you, little man.’

The bickering continued and the voice of another woman joined in before the leader stepped between them.

‘Enough! Enough!!’ Professor Steiner said, his voice ringing with authority. ‘This is getting us nowhere.’

Brett Taylor laughed. ‘Nowhere? Look around, nowhere is exactly where we are.’

‘We agreed we had to come,’ Steiner said, ‘you included.’

The disgraced FBI agent glowered at him and the young man chuckled and made a derogatory remark.

Jessica Klein touched his arm. ‘That’s not helping, Eric.’

The young German made a face and wandered away to the kitchen.

Jessica watched him go before turning back to the professor. ‘And Bic didn’t say who was supposed to be here?’ she said. ‘You’re sure?’

Steiner nodded. ‘He said he didn’t know, only that the GMRC were interested in her.’

‘And some random woman would have helped us, how?’ Brett said. ‘If we’d have got here sooner it could have been us in harm’s way. I thought he was supposed to be helping us
avoid
the authorities, not lead us to them.’

‘He obviously thought the risk was worth it,’ Steiner said.

‘That’s because we’re the ones in the firing line!’ Brett shook her head in disbelief and stalked out of the front door.

Steiner sighed. ‘She’s got a point.’

‘Bic has got us this far,’ Jessica said, ‘we have to trust him.’

Steiner wanted to agree, but relying on a man regarded as the world’s foremost terrorist was still something he was finding hard to accept.

A message on the TV flashed up reading:
Satellite
signal acquired
. The screen crackled to life and the fractured image of a woman in a yellow power suit appeared.

‘This is the BBC’s World News Service, reporting to you live from—’

Jessica hit the off button and the damaged screen went blank. ‘I can’t stand that woman,’ she muttered and then looked back to the professor. ‘I’ll go ask some of the locals if they saw anything, it might give us a better idea of what’s going on and who it was we were supposed to meet.’

Steiner gave a nod and adjusted his spectacles. ‘I’ll have another look round in case we missed anything. I’ll meet you out front.’

‘Eric!’ Jessica said.

The young German poked his head out from the kitchen. ‘
Ja
?’

‘Are you coming?’

He glanced at Steiner and then gave a nod and the two of them left the professor alone in the cabin to mull over his thoughts.

The sound of frogs croaking and crickets chirping drifted in from the balcony and Steiner removed his glasses to massage tired eyes. This was not how he’d envisaged spending his twilight years, going from country to country branded as a murderous fugitive.
Perhaps it’s Bic who finds it distasteful working with me
, he thought. The irony brought a wry smile to his face. Putting his glasses back on, he trudged upstairs to give the rooms a second look and it was in the bathroom where he spied something of interest. He bent down and slid out a sheet of paper that had become trapped in the crevice between sink and wall. Smoothing it out, he held together its torn sections to reveal the drawing of a crucifix. He turned it over and found more drawings on the back, but unlike the single image, these were stylised constellations and letters, or more accurately, symbols. And they were familiar enough to make him frown. He glanced round to make sure the others hadn’t returned before running his fingers over the images. He was by no means an expert in historical matters, but having been in Sanctuary on numerous occasions, and having visited its fabulous Smithsonian museum, he knew Anakim inscriptions when he saw them.
The question is
,
he thought,
what are they doing here?

He shivered. The room suddenly felt cold and the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. He looked round in unease and tucked the paper into a pocket before retreating downstairs. The balcony’s net curtain fluttered in the air and a chill breeze blew through the cabin. Steiner pushed the curtain aside and moved out to look up into the night sky. His eyes drifted out of focus as he delved into memories past before a distant flash drew him back to the present. Another shooting star zipped across the heavens, and then another, and another after that. The light show continued, but rather than enjoying the spectacular vision of the distant meteor shower, Steiner saw it for it was, a premonition of what was to come.

The sound of the staircase creaking made him turn just as a flurry of wings erupted in his face. Steiner yelped and jumped back as a bird flew squawking into the sky. Spooked, he ducked back into the cabin and glanced up at the bathroom’s dark doorway before switching off the light and hurrying outside.

A second later he was climbing into the front passenger seat of the four-by-four and slamming the door shut behind him.

Brett, who sat in the driver’s seat, gave him a quizzical look.

Steiner slowed his breathing and tried to ignore the strange sense of dread that had descended on him in the cabin. He peered up at dark shutters that concealed the bathroom window and told himself,
it was just the bird. Stop being an old fool.

He jumped as the back doors opened.

Jessica and Eric clambered inside.