CHAPTER 146
Konrad felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead as the thump-thump-thump of the Bell above grew louder.
Through the glass of the helmet, an image emerged, as if a miniature version of the person were sitting inside the glass. The gray-haired man was sitting in an office, behind a large wooden desk with an Immari Flag behind him. There was a map of the world on the wall, but it was different somehow, all wrong. And the man’s face… Konrad knew him.
“Mallory!” Konrad cried out. “Help me—”
“Of course, Konrad. There’s a syringe sitting on the basket. Inject yourself.”
Konrad bounded forward, desperately trying to reach the basket. He fell twice, then again. He decided that he couldn’t run in the suit, so he waddled awkwardly, making the best speed he could as the Bell droned louder each second. “What’s in the syringe?”
“Something we’re working on. You should hurry, Konrad.”
Konrad reached the basket and picked up the large syringe. “Take me up, Mallory. Forget this science experiment.”
“We can’t take the risk. Inject yourself, Konrad. It’s your only chance.”
Konrad flipped open the metal case and eyed the syringe for a second as the Bell beat louder. There was something else running down his face. He saw the red reflection in the glass of the helmet. How long did he have? Konrad snatched the syringe, pulled the plastic cover off the needle, and plunged it through his suit, into his arm. The case must have been some sort of warming device, but the liquid was still freezing as it flowed into his veins. “I’ve done it, now lift me up.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Konrad.”
Konrad felt wetness on his arms. It wasn’t sweat. The Bell thundered louder. He also felt strange, weak inside. “What have you done to me?”
Mallory leaned back in the chair, a satisfied look on his face. “Do you remember giving me that tour of the camp where you were testing the Bell? It was the early ‘30s, I don’t remember exactly when, but I do remember your speech, what you said to the workers to convince them to do those terrible things. I had wondered how you would pull it off. You said, ‘This is hideous work, but these people are giving their lives so that we can understand the Bell, so that we can save and purify the human race. Their sacrifice is needed. Their sacrifice will be remembered. The few die so the many can survive.’” Mallory shook his head. “I was so impressed, so enamored with you then. That was before you put me in a tube for 40 years, before you took my life. I was loyal. I played second fiddle for so many years, and look at how you repaid me. I won’t give you a second chance.”
“You can’t kill me. I am the Immari. They will never stand for it.” Konrad fell to his knees. He could feel the Bell beating in his heart, ripping him to shreds from the inside out.
“You aren’t the Immari, Konrad. You’re a science experiment. You’re a sacrifice.” Mallory shuffled some papers, then said something to someone off screen. He listened for a moment. “Good news, Konrad, we’re getting data from the suit. It should give us everything we need. We have a fetus with sustained Atlantis Gene activation — it’s actually the child of Kate Warner and Dieter. Talk about irony. Anyway, the trouble is, we needed a genome of the same genetic stock before Atlantis Gene activation. A parent, ideally. We also needed to track and test that genome as the Bell attacked it in order to understand exactly which genes and epigenetic factors are involved. As you’ll remember, it’s a lot of effort to disassemble a Bell, and then there’s the whole power issue.” Mallory waved his hand in the air nonchalantly. “So, we figured we’d just keep this Bell active, prep a syringe with the gene-tracking therapy and wait for you to walk out. I was never very good at speeches, not as good as you, but I was good at figuring out what people would do. And you’re very predictable, Konrad.”
Konrad spit blood as he fell face forward into the ice.
“I guess this is goodbye, old friend. As I said, your sacrifice will be remembered.” As Mallory finished, a man ran into the office. Mallory listened and then looked confused. “Gibraltar? When?”
CHAPTER 147
Kate held her breath as the portal door slid open. It was just as her father had said: a control room with tons of glass consoles. But there was someone there — a guard, leaning on a stool and reading a magazine.
At the sight of Kate and the two boys, he gawked for a brief moment, then returned the stool to its four legs and scrambled to his feet. A magazine with a nude woman on the cover drifted to the floor as the guard grabbed an automatic rifle that had been leaning against the wall and pointed it at Kate. “Don’t move, Dr. Warner.” His face was hard. He pulled his shoulder close to his mouth and said, “This is Mills, Chamber 7, I’ve got them, Warner and both boys. Request assistance.”
Within ten seconds there were two more guards in the room. They searched all three of them with a brief pat down. The soldier in charge smiled as he pocketed the pistol from Kate. “Come with us,” he said.
CHAPTER 148
Mallory Craig paced in his office, waiting for news. He looked up when the Immari Imperial Agent entered. “We got the biometric data from Kane’s suit. Dr. Chang is analyzing it, but he says he needs the body.”
“Fine, get him the body. Where are we on Gibraltar?”
“They have Warner and the two children.”
“Which Warner?” Mallory snapped.
“The woman.”
What was Mallory missing?
“You want us to—”
“Has anyone else come out?”
“No.”
Mallory sat down at the desk and began scribbling feverishly. When he had finished, he stood, stuffed the letter into an envelope, and scribbled an address on the outside. “I need you to deliver this.”
“What about Dr. Warner?”
Mallory looked out the window and thought. Had Vale and her father died in the tombs? “Hold the woman there. We need to interrogate her. And triple the guard on that room. Tell them I’m on my way.”
CHAPTER 149
Kate held the boys close to her side as they followed the men down a series of corridors. Behind them, a familiar voice called out. “Stop.”
Kate and the guards turned to the man, who was accompanied by two guards as well. They wore uniforms with a flag Kate had never seen. Below it were two block letters in a square [II].
“I’ll take her from here,” Martin Grey said.
“No can do, sir. Chairman Craig’s orders.” Her lead captor stepped forward, squaring with Martin and his men.
Kate almost gasped as she took in Martin’s appearance. His hair was wild and unkempt, he hadn’t shaved in… months? He probably hadn’t showered in just as long. His long hair and beard, combined with the ragged, worn look in his eyes were a sharp contrast to the clarity and softness of his voice. “I understand. You have your orders, Captain. I wonder, before you take them, if I could see the children. It’s a research request, something we urgently need.” Before the man could answer, Martin stepped forward and knelt at the children. He gathered them with his arms and held them close to him, covering their eyes and ears as muzzle flashes and the sound of gun shots filled the cramped corridor.
CHAPTER 150
The three soldiers who had been guarding Kate collapsed to the floor, and Martin lifted the children into his arms and marched quickly out of the corridor.
Kate chased after him. “Martin, we have to get out of here quickly.”
Martin’s guards brought up the rear as they raced through the iron hallways.
“That’s quite the understatement, Kate.” Then Martin stopped. “Wait, what are you referring to?”
“A nuclear bomb is coming through, into that room in less than two hours,” Kate said.
Martin glanced at his soldiers. “The submersible.”
The soldiers led them through a series of corridors that ended in a round room made from iron different from the Atlantis structure. This section of the structure was new. And manmade. In the middle of the room, a steel ladder hung out of a large round pipe. It reminded Kate of a manhole that led out of a sewer.
“What’s going on, Martin? What’s happened to you?”
“I’ve been waiting here, hiding for almost two months, hoping you and your father would come out. We’ll talk in the submersible. Get in. Craig is probably on his way by now.”
CHAPTER 151
Patrick stepped through the portal, into the control room. There were at least a dozen guards in the room and at the back, behind all of them, a familiar face. For once, Patrick was actually glad to see the man who had given him a tour of the tunnels almost a hundred years ago. A man who had changed his destiny. A man who could have let the Immari die in 1978, when he was awakened, but instead chose to rebuild the monstrous organization.
Mallory Craig’s words so many years ago ran through Patrick’s head. The call. The lure. The trap. “Patrick. There’s been an accident…”
Craig nodded to a man in a white coat who was holding a syringe. “Get the sample.”
Patrick raised the pistol and pointed it at the white-coated man, stopping him in his tracks.
A small smile spread across Patrick’s face. “Mallory. I guess it’s true then. The meek shall inherit the Earth.”
Craig’s face changed. “I’m not half as meek as you think—”
“Can you withstand a nuclear blast? How about two?”