The Thirteenth Legion (A James Acton Thriller, #15) (James Acton Thrillers) (29 page)

Definitely
not zero.

“Something’s
happening!” shouted James, but the room knew it, the scientists shouting out
numbers, pointing at displays, the entire room abuzz with excitement. She
glanced over her shoulder at the security cameras covering the facility and
noted not a sole were attending to their duties, everyone from guards to clerks
standing, staring up at the nearest loud speaker or monitor, history in the making.

Thank
God James made me come!

Her
beliefs were being borne out, her secret beliefs that she had only ever shared
with her husband, and even then only partially. She knew, she had always known,
that there was something special, something unexplainable about these
sculptures, and now their power was being revealed.

The
scientist in her desperately wanted to know the reason, how these pieces of
crystal were generating power, but the child inside wanted to simply enjoy the
moment of wonder, the moment where a little magic, a little fantasy, a little
science fiction, became real.

Her
chest heaved as she stifled a sob.

“What’s
wrong?” asked James, staring up at her, taking her hand.

“I-I
don’t know,” she whispered. “I’m just so…so”—she shrugged, wiping away a
tear—“overwhelmed.”

He
smiled up at her, patting her hand. “I understand.”

And she
knew he did. This man understood her like no other, like none had before, and
she was so grateful to the skulls that surrounded them for bringing them
together. She stared up, picking out the skull he had discovered in Peru, the
skull that had caused so much death and destruction, yet had united two people
who would have never met otherwise, and closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer
of thanks.

“Did you
hear that?” asked James.

“Huh?”

“Ten
kilowatts is being generated.”

Her
eyebrows popped. “Is that a lot?”

He
shrugged. “I don’t know, but they sure seem excited.” He raised his voice.
“Martin, what’s happening?”

Chaney
turned toward them, beaming a smile. “Ten kilowatts, and it’s steady!”

Laura
leaned over and hugged her husband, closing her eyes, fully committing to the
excitement around them. There was no longer any shame in her beliefs, in her
years spent studying the skulls, in her secret, childish beliefs that someday the
secrets of the skulls would be revealed when mankind was ready.

Mankind
was
ready.

Today.

And the
secrets of the crystal skulls were being revealed, once and for all.

She
sighed, contentedly, the stress slowly easing as she watched the needle,
steady, above zero, with no signs of a dangerous spike or buildup. But now the
bigger questions needed to be asked. The fact they were generating power proved
they were in fact genuine, not carved by conmen over a century ago to peddle to
wealthy but naïve Europeans. And if they were genuine, then
someone
had
created them.

But who?

Atlanteans,
aliens, some pre-cursor civilization thousands or millions of years ago?

She
believed in aliens, it simply unfathomable to her that life couldn’t exist
elsewhere, especially with so many planets already having been discovered so
close to their own solar system, though she had a hard time believing they
would drop thirteen skulls around a planet millennia ago then leave.

Some
sort of alien reality show? Let’s see how the stupid humans react?

She
thought of the theory some scientists postulated that the entire universe as we
knew it was an artificial construct, they actually designing experiments to
prove whether we were in reality inside a Matrix style creation.

With the
machines manipulating the events, the skulls nothing but simulated neurons
firing in artificial brains.

Chaney
suddenly hugged her, she not even noticing he had walked over to them, she so
engrossed in her thoughts, staring up in wonder at the thirteen eerie faces
that were about to change the world.

“We did
it!” he cried, slapping James on the back as everyone in the control room
exchanged hugs and high fives. “They
are
an energy source!”

She
smiled, shaking her head. “I can’t believe it!”

“I never
doubted it!” Chaney returned back to the group, the woman from earlier planting
a kiss on him that would melt the icebergs offshore.

Laura
leaned over and delivered the same to the man she loved. “Thanks for convincing
me to come.”

He
smiled at her. “Is that how it happened?”

The
entire room shuddered, the revelry immediately halted.

“Report!”
shouted Chaney as Laura glanced up at the skulls then down at the needle, still
holding steady.

An alarm
suddenly sounded and James slapped the kill switch. Her head quickly tilted
back and she watched the arms the skulls were mounted to rapidly retract, the
skulls disappearing into orbs that she assumed were the nonconductive holding
chambers that Chaney had referred to before.

“Look.”

She glanced
down and saw James pointing to the readout.

Zero.

“The
cooling plant just went offline!” shouted someone, pointing at a readout.

“That
was no failure, that was an explosion,” said Chaney. “Do we have cameras in
that area?”

“Yes,
sir.”

Laura
turned to see a large display switch from a view of the skulls to a CCTV image
of a room filled with pipes, cables and other bulky equipment.

Along
with men, dressed in black, dropping from an air vent.

“That’s
Bravo Team,” whispered James, standing and putting a protective arm around her.

“Get
security down there, now!” ordered Chaney. “Detain them if you can, kill them
if you have to. And double the exterior guard. There’s probably more outside.”

James
stepped forward. “Wait! You know these men. They’re Bravo Team. They’re
obviously here for us.”

Chaney
spun toward him, rage in his eyes, the rage a zealot displayed when his plans
were interfered with.

It was
chilling.

Chaney
pointed at the two guards manning the door. “Secure them.”

The two
men advanced, grabbing them both by an arm and hauling them back toward the
door and away from any of the terminals.

James
yanked his arm loose, pointing a finger at Chaney. “Hey, this wasn’t our deal!”

“The
deal is off. I can no longer trust that you’ll do what’s best for the
experiment now that your friends have arrived.” Chaney pointed at the screen. “
Nothing
stops what we are doing here tonight. Nothing!”

“Just
hand us over and they’ll leave, I guarantee it!”

“It’s
too late for that now.” Chaney turned his back on them. “Resume the experiment
from the previous position. Now!”

“Yes,
sir!”

Laura stared
up as the protective pods opened, the skulls reemerging, steadily advancing
toward each other.

“Look!”
hissed James, nodding toward the power read out. It was steadily climbing,
higher than it ever had before. Laura felt her chest begin to tighten, her
sense of joy and wonder from moments ago now lost.

Caution
had been dismissed, panic had taken over.

Which
meant mistakes could be made.

And
James was no longer the source of reason, his kill switch now far out of reach.

“We have
reached the pre-abort position.”

Laura glanced
over at the needle and saw it immediately drop, settling to where it had been
before Delta had arrived. She turned to the security feeds, the Delta team
advancing, another showing a large security detail rushing their way.

Be
careful!

Mechanical Room, Denier Installation, Iceland

Niner dropped to the floor, raising his weapon and scanning the area
from the new perspective, his perch from above already suggesting the room was
empty, though it wouldn’t be for long, not with the size of the explosion that
had just occurred.

To his
right, the fan blade still vibrated from the impact, it now embedded deeply in
the concrete wall, several important looking cables severed, the mangled mess
of the cooling system above him hanging on by a wire, ready to collapse at any
moment. Dawson, Spock and Leather silently dropped from the duct above.

“We
better book, I’m pretty sure they heard that,” said Niner, pointing toward the
only door in the room.

Spock
cocked an eyebrow. “Ya think?”

Niner
gave him a look then snap-kicked him to the chest before stepping back,
spreading his arms out to herd Dawson and Leather out of the way as the rest of
the cooling unit smashed into the floor, the lone cable above finally giving
out.

Niner glanced
at Spock. “Do you think they heard
that
?”

Spock
grinned. “Ya think?”

Niner
yanked him to his feet. “Is that mouth of yours still working? Seems to be
stuck on repeat.”

“Wouldn’t
you like to know.”

“I guess
it is.” He lowered his voice. “We’ll talk later.”

Dawson
pointed to the door. “Check it out.”

Niner
nodded and he and Spock rushed to the only exit as Dawson called for a comm
check, the sniper teams outside reporting in. Niner peered through the small
window to see an empty hallway lined with plain doors.

“Team Two,
standby to detonate.”

“Roger
that, Zero-One,” replied Atlas.

Niner
frowned as half a dozen armed men turned the corner at the end of the hallway.
“We’ve got company. Six hostiles, armed.”

Using
hand signals, Dawson ordered them to spread out. “Let’s try to take them alive,
we need intel.”

“Roger
that,” said Niner as he took cover behind what appeared to be a large battery
of some sort.

I
wonder how this reacts to gunfire.

The door
burst open and the six men poured in, fanning out.

“Halt!”
shouted Dawson, popping up from behind his cover, his MP5 aimed directly at the
new arrivals, the others doing the same. “Drop your weapons!”

The men
hesitated.

Then one
of them didn’t.

The
battle didn’t last long, from the moment the first hostile fired, four MP5s
opened up on them. Niner picked off the two in his arc within seconds, the
others doing the same, it only taking two short bursts from each operator to
eliminate the six hostiles.

Unfortunately
though, eliminate indeed appeared to be the end result.

Niner
emerged from behind the battery, weapon still aimed at the hostiles, when one
suddenly gasped, beginning to writhe in agony. Spock and Leather checked for
vitals on the others, headshakes indicating their status as Dawson knelt beside
the one survivor.

“Where
are the professors?”

The man
stared up at him, his eyes filled with pain, his expression suggesting he
wanted it to end, even if it meant his death.

But he
said nothing.

Dawson
leaned in, grabbing the man by the jacket and hauling him up so their faces
were nearly touching. “I’ll ask one last time before I tear this place apart
looking for them. Any goddamned experiment you nutbars have going on here will
be destroyed.”

The
man’s eyes flared in panic, his pain momentarily forgotten. “N-no, you can’t!”

“I will.
Now where the hell are they?”

“Down the…”

The
man’s voice drifted off, his eyes fluttering as his head fell backward, the
last spark of life gone, his suffering, and their source of intel, done.

“Well,
I’m guessing he didn’t mean down the rabbit hole,” said Niner, watching the
hallway.

“Might
as well have,” muttered Dawson as he laid the man gently back on the floor.

“Well, I
guess we know whether or not they’ll shoot first,” said Spock as he took up
position with Niner.

Dawson
nodded, activating his comm. “Zero-One to all teams. Weapons free, repeat,
weapons free. Just watch for our professors, over.”