The Battle (6 page)

“You're not going to stop anything,” Trident called after him as he was led away. “You are a spy who has been helping Earth in its devious plan—you are going to jail for a long time.”

“You won't get away with this,” Rusty yelled out. “There are too many good people on Indus —they would never let you be the chief.”

“Ah, but you underestimate how many people are already on my side,” he hissed. “And once I harness these special powers I'm hearing about on Earth, there will be no stopping me.”

“How did you hear about that?” Rusty said as sweat dripped from his brow. “That's not true.”

“Oh, but it is true,” Trident bellowed. “My spies tell me the kids are exhibiting special powers on Earth—guess that means I would have them, too!”

Then Trident turned to the men from security.

“Take him away,” he ordered.

•••••

As Nina and Tim ran through the tunnel, Tim tried to remember which hatch led to Mr. Kull. Along the way, he told Nina all about Rusty being captured and his escape from Nomad.

“It was scary, but no one noticed me and as soon as I got to Briny Deep, I headed for the tunnels,” he said breathing heavily. “I was heading for Rusty's cabin when I found you. I thought about going to my parents, but I didn't want to get them in trouble.”

Tim stopped by a hatch.

“Wait, this one leads to Ms. Duvall,” he whispered. “She can help us, too.”

They climbed up the ladder to the hatch, opened it, and climbed inside. They were in her cellar. It was dark and musty.

A noise from the corner startled them.

“What are you two doing here?” Mr. Kull demanded.

“I came back with Rusty.”

“Rusty is here?”

“Yes, but . . . he's been captured.”

For the first time since he met Mr. Kull, the man looked scared.

“So has Ms. Duvall. I came back to see if they found her safe with some of our papers inside, but luckily they didn't.”

“Rusty said he was here to rescue someone else,” Tim said.

“Yeah—it was Nina.”

Tim and Nina looked at each other in surprise.

“It was Ms. Duvall who found out Nina was one of the kidnapped kids,” he explained.

“She's been watching her parents for a while now—broke into the house and listened to a few of their conversations.”

“They lied to me all this time,” Nina said.

“Yes,” Mr. Kull said. “There are a lot of people in this town who have lied. And we have to get you two back to Earth fast. Things are getting bad in Briny Deep, really bad.”

Using the tunnels, the three of them made their way to the hatch leading to Nomad. Once on the shuttle, Kull used his phone to call someone, and after a few minutes of conversation, he turned to them.

“I've arranged another ship on the other side of the city for you since the one Rusty used to get here is being watched,” Kull said. “I'm going to have someone I trust meet you there to pilot the ship back.”

When the shuttle came to a stop, they followed Kull through the city, taking back alleys and keeping out of sight as much as possible.

Finally, they arrived at a small building. They went inside and took an elevator down to the lowest level. When they exited, Tim saw the ship. It was much smaller than the one he had been on before.

“This is it. This is your ride,” Kull said. “No time for good-byes.”

“But what about Rusty and Ms. Duvall?” Tim asked.

“Don't worry. I'm not leaving them behind,” Kull answered. “Now go.”

Tim nodded and then held out his hand.

“Thank you, Mr. Kull. You're not so mean after all.”

Kull shook Tim's hand firmly.

“No,” he replied. “I am, and the people who took Rusty and Ms. Duvall are going to see just how mean soon enough.”

Trident leaned over the shoulder of the chief as he read the charges.

“We need to have your signature on this right away, sir,” he coaxed. “A ship was just reported leaving our airspace—a ship with more of
our children
on board.”

The chief bellowed back at him.

“Why was I not made aware of this situation earlier?”

“Sir, we just found out that Earth was responsible for the abduction of all the children who went missing in Briny Deep,” he calmly responded. “They are taking them to use them in some sort of dangerous experiment—we must send warships now before it's too late.”

“It certainly is an act of war to take our children,” the chief agreed. “And according to these charges, you have proof that they intended to take hundreds more?”

“Yes, sir, they are trying to destroy Indus by taking the only future we have left.”

As the chief signed the paperwork, Trident placed a call.

“Send the warships to Earth now.”

•••••

They placed Ms. Duvall in a cell just across from Rusty.

“I see they got you, too,” he called to her.

“I just hope they didn't find the safe,” she whispered back. “All the proof we have is in there.”

“Let's hope Mr. Kull gets to it first,” Rusty replied. “Quiet—someone's coming.”

The sound of footsteps echoed down the long hall of cells—all of them empty except for two. They were getting closer, but it was still too dark to see who it was.

For a moment, Rusty thought he saw Trident. If he was coming, they were in trouble. It meant he didn't need them anymore because he had found and destroyed all the evidence Ms. Duvall had hidden away. He would now want to get rid of them for good.

As the shadowy figure approached, Rusty could see it was a man.

“Steve,” Rusty said with a sigh of relief. “I can't believe you made it inside.”

“When I went back for the kid, he was gone,” Steve said apologetically. “I was scared to help you at first, but I realized I had to—this craziness can't go on anymore.”

Steve quickly unlocked the two cell doors.

“Come with me, and stay close,” he said quietly. “We're meeting up with Mr. Kull. He has the papers.”

“I'm so relieved,” Ms. Duvall said.

“Listen carefully, its bad—the regional commander of Briny Deep is behind everything —he's convinced the chief to declare war on Earth—
for taking Briny Deep's kids
.”

“We need to get the proof of their birthplace on Earth to him right away,” she responded.

“I have a car waiting outside to take us to the shuttle station,” Steve offered.

“Tell the driver to take us to this address,” Rusty said as he scribbled an address on a tiny scrap of paper. “This is the closest hatch to the tunnel. From there we can get past security and catch the shuttle fast.”

“Tunnel?” Steve asked looking puzzled. “Well, as long as it will get us past security, let's go. They will discover you're gone soon and come after us.”

•••••

As their ship docked safely on Earth, Tim quickly escorted Nina off the deck.

John was there to meet them. He ran up to Tim and hugged him.

“I won't get into how reckless it was of you to stow away like that right now,” he said sternly. “But only because we have bigger things to worry about.”

“I know, they have Rusty—they have a whole plan to destroy Earth!” Tim shouted.

“You'll need to come with me and tell us everything you know,” John said. “But when I say bigger things to worry about, I mean
that
.”

John pointed out the huge window and up to the sky.

Four large warships hovered just overhead.

Tim and Nina were whisked into a conference room where they shared all the information they had with a roomful of people from military intelligence.

“I just received information that Rusty and Duvall have escaped,” a short man with a thick mustache said. “They are attempting to get to the highest government official with proof of a cover up.”

“Let's hope they get there very soon, otherwise we are going to have to protect ourselves with all available force,” a tall man with white hair said. Then, turning to another man who was holding a bright red phone, he added, “Scramble our fighter jets, now.”

•••••

Trident was victorious. He couldn't help but smile widely as he watched the radar and saw his warships had reached Earth.

His warships
—that sounded so good. It wouldn't be long before everything was his. He had a lot of support—people that were afraid to speak out publicly—but who would gladly come out of the shadows once he gained control of Indus.

The chief would be laughed out of office once everyone knew he did nothing to protect their children from being taken, and that it was Trident who had finally taken action.

And if he didn't agree to step down—well then—Trident would push him down and take over by force. Either way, he would win.

Once he had control of Earth, they would simply take over and all the children would be his. They would become the new children of Indus, and they would be forced to bow down to him.

•••••

After being escorted from the meeting, Tim looked at John and could see he was nervous.

“It's too late,” John whispered. “They are sending jets up now. Once they start shooting at each other, it won't matter who started it in the first place—we will be at war.”

“What do we do?” Tim asked.

“I want you and Nina to head down to the shelter on the bottom level with the other kids,” he answered softly. “They are going to attack this building first—maybe there you might have a chance.”

“But what about you?” Tim pleaded. “You have to come, too.”

“I have to stay up here, Tim,” he said. “This is what I do. If anything happens to me, I want you to know I feel so blessed that I got to know you, even if it was just for a short time.”

“Wait, look!” Tim shouted pointing up to the sky.

The warships from Indus were pulling away; they pulled up into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.

“What does it mean?” Tim asked.

“I can't believe it,” John said. “It looks like they are retreating.”

•••••

The door to the office where Trident was sitting burst open and several security officers surrounded him.

“What is going on here?” he asked with outrage.

The chief walked in the room, followed closely by Rusty, Steve, Ms. Duvall, and Mr. Kull who was holding a large stack of papers.

“What's going on is that you are going to jail,” the chief loudly replied. “We have proof of your crimes right here.” He pointed to the stack of papers Kull was holding.

Trident jumped up and pushed past security, knocking Kull to the floor, and ran from the room.

“After him!” called the chief.

•••••

They all gathered in a huge reception hall.

“Okay, everyone listen up for a moment,” a man in full military dress called out. “This has been quite a day, so I'm going to give you a chance to relax and just be with each other to celebrate this victory.”

Everyone let out a cheer.

“But tomorrow we have work to do,” he added. “With the discovery of so many special powers among you, we need to test everyone for theirs and see how we might be able to use them for the good of the planet. Agreed?”

Everyone did.

Surrounded by his friends—Max, Luke, Emily, Isabelle, Eva, and Anthony—Tim felt safe for the first time in a very long time. He knew his parents from Briny Deep would be arriving in the next few days, and he couldn't wait to see them! All his friends had parents coming in on the next ship—except for Nina. Her parents could not be located.

He watched as they laughed and hugged each other. It felt so good to be together again —all together.

Tim looked over at Nina. They had been through so much. He turned and walked to look out at a window.

I love you, Nina,
he thought to himself, too afraid to say it aloud.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Looks like we share the same special power,” she laughed. “I love you, too.”

•••••

Somewhere in the desert of Arizona, a man with dark hair passed through a small town. It was evening. The sky was pitch-black, not a star in sight. Darkness covered the old, cracked concrete of the sidewalk where he walked, making it hard to see.

But he could see.

Turning to the bank on his right, and ignoring the “We're closed” sign dangling out front, Trident reached for the metal lock on the door—and it crushed to powder in his hands.

“Two special powers and counting,” he said aloud. “Wait until I harness them all.”

I'm thankful for so many things.

A late night chat years ago under a sea of stars when my son Timmy and I began to dream up a story about a place called Briny Deep.

My daughter Emily who believed in the story and told me to write it now because the laundry could wait.

My daughter Isabelle who agreed (begrudgingly) to take a break from her Movie Star Planet computer game so I could actually use
my
computer to write.

A horrible boss and soul zapping job that made me realize I had to send out what I wrote because my dreams were not going to come find me.

My editors: David Dilkes for believing in me and being the original champion for this story—and the funny, patient, inspiring David Mulrine for all the pep talks and ego boosting emails.

Supportive family members like my dear mother for reading each and every word the minute I wrote it, my Dad, Jim, Danny, Stacey, Matthew, and my sister Natalie.

And finally to my wonderful husband—and fellow dream chaser—John, who refused to hear any more of my “great book ideas” until I actually wrote one to completion. I love you.