Council of Peacocks (46 page)

“Come on, children,” Wisdom said. “The sooner
we get this over with, the sooner we can go back to … whatever it
is we’ll be getting back to.”

Jessica walked toward the portal, coffee cup
still in hand. Todd and Josh waited until she disappeared before
they made their move. David squared his shoulders and followed
them. When it was just Garnet and Wisdom in the room, she walked
over to him and smiled.

“I’ll never forget the things you’ve done for
me, Wisdom.” She felt blood rush to her face. “I’ve never been good
with, you know, these sort of things, but I just wanted to say
something in case something, well...just in case.”

Wisdom bent forward and kissed her on the
forehead. On his face was a smile.

“You’re going to be fine. Don’t worry.”

Then Wisdom stepped through the portal.
Garnet felt the last of her strength fade away. Normally, it was
hard to read Wisdom but, for that instant, he had been exceeding
clear. And she knew he had just told her a lie.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Fifty feet beneath Thessaloniki, Wisdom
stepped out of the portal onto concrete. ‘
Here we go,’
he
thought. He chose a different entrance spot this time, hoping it
would not set off alarms. A quick scan of the area suggested it had
worked: no loud sirens, no gunfire, no buzz of panic in the minds
around him. It was a definite improvement. The first time he’d been
through these events, he had dropped the Anomalies right in the
Vulture Antechamber. Edimmu had swarmed them in seconds just as his
father had made an appearance.

“Is this Greece?” David asked. “I expected
the Mediterranean to be warmer than this.”

“Are you brain dead?” Jessica shook her head.
“Seriously. We’re underground, dummy. Kind of hard for the sun to
get down here.”

Todd smiled. “It is also conceivable they
have air conditioning. You know, being a building and not a
beach.”

“Smart ass,” David said. He looked around.
They were in a storage room lined with industrial-sized plastic
containers of chemical cleaners, large open boxes of sponges and
paper towels and various other supplies. The air smelled of ammonia
and pine. “It’s just not what I was expecting. Where are the big
baddies?”

Wisdom pointed at a blue-green door to the
left of a stack of brooms.

“Oh,” Josh said.

At a motion from Wisdom, Elaine went to the
door. She pressed her ear to the door and closed her eyes. Everyone
held their breath. Then she stood, looked at Wisdom and shook her
head. Wisdom nodded once, a sign for her to continue. She crouched
down, un-holstered her pistol and opened the door. It opened
smoothly to a brightly-lit stairwell. Everyone exhaled.

“Remember, Edimmu can sense your EFHBs,”
Wisdom whispered. “So can Propates. Avoid power usage until we
engage the Council. If you need to communicate, talk before using
telepathy. If you meet resistance, be creative. Move quick and
quiet, but no PK and no fires until I give the word. The more we
can take out before the alarm goes off, the easier the final battle
will be. Understand?”

Everyone nodded except Echo. When Wisdom
looked at her, she squared off her shoulders.

“Don’t even think of taking that tone with
me, Wisdom,” she said. “I’m not a child.”

Wisdom opened his mouth, then shook his head
and turned away. He motioned Elaine to head down the stairs. She
raised her gun and moved downwards. One by one, the Anomalies
followed her. Wisdom took Josh aside.

“Let me know if you see your friend with the
gold ring,” he whispered.

For a moment Josh said nothing. Then, a
fierce glow in his eyes, he nodded.

The stairwell was lit by bare fluorescent
bulbs in the ceiling. The stairs themselves were well-worn stone
with a thin layer of dust, implying this entrance had not been used
for some time. The bottom of the stairwell was an open archway into
darkness. Wisdom used a sliver of his own power to dampen the sound
of their footsteps, so the descent was silent. They traveled
downwards for almost five minutes before Garnet stopped.

“Hold it,” she whispered. “Two men at the
bottom. Humans. Must be Council members.”

Elaine looked back at Wisdom. She mouthed the
word ‘mine’ and moved forward. It was too bright to warrant
creeping, so Elaine moved quickly, descending the staircase.
Everyone else froze in place while she crouched at the foot of the
stairs. She holstered her gun and drew out her custom-made blade.
Faster than Josh’s eyes could follow, she flung herself forward.
Josh heard nothing, but moments later, Garnet sighed.

“Done. She took them out.”

One by one, they left the stairs and gathered
in the small reception area at the base. Wisdom knew this to be a
secondary reception area, nowhere near the apartment complex
Propates used. Instead, Wisdom’s team was almost directly below the
White Tower.

The reception area was banal. Colorful prints
of peacocks with inspirational sayings were propped up on three of
the four walls. Although there was a sign-in book, there were no
magazines. Nor were there any armed guards. A set of elevators was
embedded in a nearby wall. There was only one other exit from the
reception area: a dark metal door with a large glass window that
showed the area beyond. A quick glance revealed rough dirt walls,
high ceilings and a turquoise carpet.

Josh walked in as Garnet dropped the first
dead body behind a large metal desk. Jessica made a choking sound
when Elaine pulled her knife from the man’s skull. Echo moved to
the other body, a twenty-something man with a broken neck.

“Get ready,” Wisdom said. “Edimmu were once
revered as bringers of dead souls to the afterlife. They will have
felt these deaths.”

“What kind of resistance are we expecting?”
Garnet asked.

“There will be Edimmu – perhaps hundreds of
them – and men with guns. Just in case we have to split up, I’m
putting you in teams. Josh, you go with David and Elaine. Jessica,
stick by me and Echo. Todd and Garnet, you two team up as
well.”

“What’s our mission, Wisdom?” Jessica asked.
“Search and destroy?”

Wisdom gave a toothy smile. “Heavy on the
destroy. The Council is up to something. We may not be able to
completely destroy them in one day, but I want to hurt them. In
fact, we need to hurt them, damage them so much that they’ll be too
focused on rebuilding to follow through with whatever they have
been planning. But, whatever you do, avoid contact with Propates.
That means you too, Echo. Leave him to me. He’s too powerful for
you and I need to ask him some very specific questions before I
kill him. Everyone and everyt
hing
else is fair game.”

The Anomalies gathered together in the groups
Wisdom had assigned. Josh rubbed the tension from his neck muscles
and forced himself to take deep breaths.

“Are you going to be okay?” Elaine asked as
she wiped blood from her knife against the white robes of one of
the dead men.

Josh nodded. “Just the jitters. This is a
first for me – invasion.”

“I thought you knew how to take care of
yourself,” David said with a look of grim satisfaction on his
face.”

“This is a little different than taking care
of yourself now, isn’t it?” Josh took a deep breath and looked
behind him. Jessica adjusted the elastic keeping her hair in a
ponytail while Todd mumbled something and crossed himself in
prayer. “My dad never taught me this stuff. He taught me how to get
out of bad situations, not how to throw myself into one. Back in
Quebec, dealing with those psychos, that was easy.
Self-preservation is a natural instinct.”

“A proactive strike can be
self-preservation,” Elaine said, sheathing her knife.

“I’m sure that’s the logic you used when you
shot my mother. No, don’t give me that look. I’m doing my best to
put it behind me… at least for now. I may be new to this, but I
know enough to realize we don’t have time for vendettas. You and I
can have a nice long conversation when this is all over.”

Elaine smiled. “Fine by me. Looks like Wisdom
is ready to head out. How about you, David? How are the
nerves?”

David said nothing. He rubbed his sweaty
palms off on his pants. Clenching his fists, he took two steps
toward a closed door and grabbed the knob.

The lights went out.

David squealed. The sound, far too much like
a pig being butchered, threatened to drown the resolve he was just
finding. He turned in a tight circle but it was no help. Everywhere
he turned was only the pitch black void of absolute darkness.

“Wisdom, what is this?”

No answer.

His voice sounded very weak to his ears, as
if his ears were blocked. Then he realized it was not his voice or
his ears to blame. It was the darkness. It consumed his words, ate
them like nourishment. In response it became all the more dark.

“Wisdom?”

This time there was a response.

A sound like the call of a crow mixed with a
long squeal of tires.

***

Todd felt sticks of ice jabbing into his
skin.

“Where the hell did David go?”

Everyone turned quickly, searching the
reception area. David was gone.

“Where did he go? There wasn’t even a flash
of light, so it couldn’t be one of those portals.”

“Shh.” Garnet moved to Todd and put a firm
hand on his shoulder. “No need to yell. Remember, we’re supposed to
be sneaking in here.”

“I think we can forget about the sneaking-in
part.” Echo crouched down, the fingertips of her right hand resting
on the ground. “Somebody obviously knows we’re here. Wisdom, can
you…”

Her voice disappeared a moment before she
did. Todd felt his face going limp as Echo slipped away. It was
sudden, quiet, like the image from a projector after the plug was
pulled. He took a step back, distancing himself from the others.
His head shook in small spasms of denial. He was halfway through
his second step when the darkness came to him. And he was gone.

***

Jessica pulled at her ponytail, her hands
moving erratically. Josh worried she would pull her hair out but he
didn’t dare take a step toward her to stop her.

“Stay still,” Josh said as he squared his
shoulders. “The last three people to move disappeared.

Elaine leaned towards Wisdom. “Is this
Propates? Can he do this sort of thing?”

Wisdom shook his head. “No. This smells more
like my father. He’s early. Earlier than expected, I mean. Josh,
this settles it for me. Our friend with the gold ring is playing ‘I
spy’. Expect him to show up any time now.”

“Do we stay on mission, Wisdom?” Elaine
shifted her shotgun. Josh noticed for the first time that her
forehead was glistening with sweat although the room was far from
warm.

For a moment, Wisdom was silent. He took a
deep breath and then the muscles in his jaw relaxed. “We don’t run.
The more times I try, the more I try to manipulate, the more
complicated this thing gets. One way or another, this ends today.
Change of plans. Elaine, take the others through that door and head
left at the third intersection. It’s a processing room, a place
where the Council conducts their experiments. Don’t worry about my
father snatching you away. I’ve just altered your auras slightly.
It should be enough to shield you from his eyes, at least for a
little while. Smash as much equipment as possible and kill anyone
that looks like a scientist. Scratch that. Kill anyone that gets in
your way. If you see any of the captured Anomalies, try not to kill
them. Just remember they may not be themselves anymore. Also
remember, do not engage Propates. You see him, you run. I’m going
to look for our mysterious friend and then it’s off to deal with my
father. Don’t go any further than the processing room until you
hear my signal. After that, get heavy with the death and
destruction. Start down here and make your way up to the apartment
complex. Try to stick together. You’re stronger that way. If you
get separated, stay with your teams.”

Elaine shook her head. “Wisdom, you
can’t…”

Wisdom raised his left eyebrow.

“Oh, grow up,” she spat. “You know, despite
your age, you still act like every other man I’ve ever known.
Always about the ego. I saw what happened the last time you fought
your father. We all did. He’s too powerful to take on alone. And
remember, he’s got help now. This is no time for macho bull
crap.”

Wisdom smiled. “You’re quite the woman,
Elaine Radiq. The whole reason I’m going after that man with the
gold ring is to make sure my father is alone for our final
conversation. That, and I have about a billion questions that need
answers. There’s something else going on here, something I know
nothing about. I’m not comfortable with ignorance. Have a little
faith in me. I’m not exactly walking into this blind.”

Elaine stared at Wisdom, her lips set in a
firm frown. After a moment, she nodded.

“Fine,” she said. “What’s the signal?”

Wisdom’s face lit up, a shrewd smile spread
across his face. “I think you’ll recognize it when you hear it.”
Then, Wisdom opened a portal and was gone.

“Well, at least we’re off to a good start,”
Josh said. He yelped a second later when Jessica punched him in his
thigh. “Nice to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor,
Jessica.”

“Excuse me for not laughing in the face of
certain death.”

“Hey, it always works for Spider-man.” Josh
ran his fingers through his blond hair. They came back damp. He
shook the sweat free. “And since when do you lose faith in
yourself? I thought you were supposed to be the baddest of the
bad.”

Jessica crossed her arms over her chest and
frowned. “You know, you are nearly as annoying as David. I think I
liked you better when you were shivering and twitching over your
screwed-up family.”

Josh smiled, nodding as she spoke. “Ah,
there’s the little fighter we know and love. Maybe tomorrow we can
go find a pet store and make fun of the puppies that can't get
adopted.”