Chapter 52
WHILE GOGG FRETTED and wiggled his articulated digits, all the images of Mel instantly dissolved into an extreme (and extremely ugly) close-up of Number 2.
I was instantly overcome by a severe case of the heebie-jeebies. Number 2’s appearance in the projections was different from the other guises I had already seen him put on. Now he had his face slathered with brightly colored war paint, like William Wallace and his Highlanders in that movie Braveheart. Of course, I knew it was Number 2, no matter how much makeup he put on. His glowing-ember eyes totally gave him away.
“Hello again, Daniel.”
“Hello, Abbadon. Long time, no see.”
“Yes. What a shame you had to leave New York without seeing the Statue of Liberty—facedown and drowning in the harbor.”
“She won’t stay that way for long.”
“Is that a threat?”
I shrugged. “More like a promise.”
“You think you can undo what I have done?”
“Sure. And the humans who built the statue in the first place will help.”
“Oh, yes. Earthlings can be quite helpful when they support one’s cause. Oh, by the way, Daniel—did you enjoy your time in Tomorrowland?”
“It was fantastic. Mostly because you weren’t there.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. A guy named Bob told me you had scurried underground to hide in your rat hole.”
“True. Because you see, Daniel, by tomorrow, underground is where Mel will be. With me. In fact, while you were wasting time, stumbling about in the future, the love of your life had already spent a dozen hours as my prisoner in the underworld.”
I quickly glanced over at Dana.
She had her game face on; Number 2’s little dig about Mel being the “love of my life” hadn’t fazed her in the least.
“Tell me, Daniel,” Abbadon asked, his voice soft and provocative, “had you ever done that before? Had you ever flown forward through time?”
I gave him another shrug. “Never really wanted to. Because, unlike the past, the future is extremely changeable. You never really know what tomorrow may bring, even if you’ve already been there.”
“Bravo, Daniel,” he said with a smile. “Finally you prove yourself a nimble thinker and, perhaps, a worthy adversary. Soon all will be as it was always meant to be! To the victor shall go all the spoils, including your young lady friend.”
“You’re not just going to kill her while no one is watching?”
“Of course not. Where’s the sport in that? I want you to be here when she dies.”
I didn’t answer him, because I didn’t want to say something stupid that might jeopardize Mel’s safety. As it stood, she’d stay alive until Abbadon and I finally did battle—wherever and whenever he needed that smackdown to take place.
“By the way,” Number 2 continued, “while you and Bob were wasting your tomorrow, I was busy amassing my troops to wipe out all those who dared resist my initial invitation to join me in the underworld.”
Now the multiple images of Abbadon were replaced by footage of massive armies on the march.
“Gaze upon another glimpse of the future, Daniel!”
The troops rolling forward under Abbadon’s black banner were a motley assortment of alien outlaws in full combat gear. They had battle drones, robo-tanks, and laser-guided missile launchers. They also had something that totally chilled me to the bone: human allies.
Number 2 smiled, a thin grin crackling across his painted lips. “As I said before, Daniel, these humans can be so very helpful when they find a cause they truly believe in!”
As I stared down in disbelief at the human mercenaries who had taken on Abbadon’s fight, I heard him hiss, “Come to me and save your lady fair!”
And then the two hundred projector beams went black.
The helicopters disappeared from the sky.
Even the mincing Ambassador Gogg was gone.
“How’d he do that?” said Joe, totally perplexed.
“Very well,” mumbled Emma, in a faint echo of what she usually said whenever I pulled off some impossibly spectacular transformation.
“We bought some time,” said Agent Judge. “Abbadon clearly wants the home-field advantage when you two go head-to-head. Any reason why?”
“No, sir. In fact, all I know for sure is that, right now, Mel is safe.”
And, for Agent Judge and me, that was really all that mattered.