2041 Sanctuary (Let There Be Light) (57 page)

Walker turned round to see Priest standing before him. ‘What do you want?’

Priest sent a right hook slamming into Walker’s jaw, felling him to the floor.

‘If you don’t keep your big mouth shut,’ Priest said, ‘we’ll tie you up and leave you down here. Understand?’

Walker cleared his dazed mind with a shake of the head and looked up with murderous intent.

Priest cocked his rifle. ‘Keep looking at me like that and you’ll wish I had tied you up.’

Walker looked away and Priest continued to glare at him, before turning back to rejoin his fellows.

Goodwin, Rebecca and Joseph followed Manaus past the forlorn form of the corporal, who remained sitting on the floor in a pool of his own torchlight.

Returning the way they’d come, Goodwin slowed as they crossed the frost-laden crystal.

‘Richard.’ Rebecca put a hand on his arm. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘You might as well ask the sphinx,’ he murmured.

‘What?’

‘Walker said, you might as well ask the sphinx.’

‘So?’

‘There was no riddle of the lake. The riddle is here.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘The riddle of the sphinx.’

Rebecca looked confused.

‘The riddle of the sphinx,’ Goodwin said again. ‘What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?’

‘Man,’ Manaus said.

‘Yes, but what most people don’t know is there’s a second riddle. There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?’

Walker wandered past massaging his jaw, disinterested, and Goodwin watched him go.

‘Richard, what’s the answer?’ Rebecca said.

‘Huh?’

‘I said, what’s the answer?’

He looked back at her. ‘Night and day’

‘And that’s relevant, how?’ Manaus said.

‘Night and day,’ he said, wondering how they couldn’t see it.

He trotted forward towards the silver God and her golden throne. Once they’d caught him up, Goodwin stood before the giant figure. ‘Night and day,’ he said again, ‘what two things make them what they are?’

Manaus gave him an odd look. ‘The sun?’

‘And the moon!’ Rebecca said in realisation.

‘Exactly!’

‘I don’t understand.’ The lieutenant looked from Goodwin to Rebecca and back to Goodwin again.

Goodwin pointed at the stars on the silver statue’s clothing. ‘The sun,’ he said, and then pointed down below her feet at the throne and the image they’d seen before, ‘and the moon.’

‘
Revelation 12:1
,’
Rebecca said in excitement
.
‘
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars
.’

Goodwin bent down and ran his fingers over the image of the moon. Glancing up at those gathered nearby, he looked back at the throne, positioned both hands over the crescent moon, and pushed.

Nothing happened.

‘Wow,’ Walker said, ‘impressive.’

Goodwin bit back an angry retort. After trying a variety of different techniques to get the image to move he stood up, heavy with disappointment.
I was sure that was going to work
, he thought.
You’re grabbing at straws, Richard
, he answered himself,
Walker’s right you’re chasing shadows, give it up, you’re wrong
. He continued to berate himself before something else caught his eye. A series of constellations adorned the throne on either side of the moon, each centred in a circular indent with five small semi-circles cut out of their circumference at equidistant intervals. He hadn’t taken much notice of them before. He reached out and touched the representation of Libra and stroked its golden surface. He held up his hand to the five holes.
Could they be
finger holes?
On impulse Goodwin spread his fingers wide, but the tips of each digit fell short of the cut-outs by a couple of inches. ‘They had bigger hands,’ he mumbled.

Priest having rejoined them, moved closer. ‘What’s he going on about?’

Someone else replied, but Goodwin was too intent on the throne to pay them any heed. Using both hands, he placed his thumbs together and bunched his fingers into pairs and inserted these into the five holes. Having recreated an Anakim appendage, he tried twisting the circle clockwise. It gave a little, and with some effort he managed to twist it round another quarter turn until it matched the position of the image he’d just seen on the altar at the frieze.

A distant noise made everyone look round.

Priest and his men raised their weapons.

‘What was that?’ Rebecca said in fear.

‘It came from back there.’ A sullen Walker pointed back to where they’d just been.

‘That’s what I thought, too,’ Goodwin said.

‘And Lieutenant Manaus is about to confirm it for us,’ Priest said, ‘isn’t that so, Lieutenant?’

Manaus glowered at him before sealing her helmet and sending the eye-like sculpturing to glowing blue. Everyone followed behind as the Darklight officer led the way back up to the pewter sculptures.

The oppressive darkness closed in around them and Goodwin found himself holding his breath.

‘There’s nothing,’ Manaus called out after she’d swept the area.

Goodwin moved past Priest, who still had his rifle raised as he searched for potential threats with its torch.

They were about to leave when Rebecca pointed at one of the Anakim women. ‘The Lieutenant’s wrong, there is something; that statue’s moved.’

Goodwin looked again at the figure. Where before it had been standing tall, head held high, it now looked down at the ground towards the centre of the pentagram. It was a subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless. On closer inspection nothing else appeared to be out of place, but Goodwin had the distinct impression the woman was trying to tell him something. He looked up at the wall and the giant frieze where the constellations in its skyscape sent understanding coursing through him.

‘Lieutenant, are you able to transfer a static image of the frieze to this helmet?’ He held up the headgear he’d used for diving in the lake.

‘Yes, sir, no problem. Switch it on and I’ll send it you.’

Goodwin pulled on the helmet and turned on its computer system. Seconds later he’d received the desired photo. Minimising it, he reattached the light bar onto his helmet and returned to the throne, with everyone trailing behind. Standing in front of the silver God once more, Goodwin superimposed the Anakim frieze onto his helmet’s display and compared the constellations to those on the throne. Combining his fingers and thumbs, as he’d done before, Goodwin proceeded to turn each constellation on the throne to match the position depicted on the frieze. After he’d rotated ten of the circles, another sound echoed through the great hall, the noise once again coming from the area that contained the frieze.

‘It’s a combination lock,’ Rebecca said, amazed.

Goodwin didn’t stop, but continued to rearrange the constellations until all but one remained. With aching fingers, he dialled in the correct position of the final circle and a flash of light blew through the hall. Pitch-darkness returned before a cool wind whistled past, its invisible hands tugging at clothing and ruffling hair.

With nervous anticipation, Goodwin led them back once more to find all three statues had altered position. Each of the women now knelt on one knee with head bowed. The one directly before the frieze, which faced them, had placed its hands on the shoulders of its two sisters, creating a semi-circle around the silver pentagram’s centre.

That the statues had moved so much and yet still retained their smooth surfaces and lifelike form sent shivers down Goodwin’s spine. It really was like they were alive, reanimated by an unseen power, their movements hidden in the dark like an elicit meeting in the night. But the statues were not the only things that had altered form; whereas before the pewter seas had washed over and around the pentagram in its entirety, the pentagon in its centre was now a black void of nothing. Goodwin approached the gaping hole, his breathing sounding loud inside his stifling helmet.

Goodwin’s eyes grew wide. ‘There’s stairs,’ he said, glancing round before looking back down into the newly revealed passage with renewed hope.
There might be a way out of Sanctuary yet!

Chapter Seventy

Back outside the Anakim Sphinx, past the standing stones and beyond the great hall of wailing statues, up the great shaft and across the causeway to the lakeshore, a host of dark forms appeared out of the black. Torchlights bloomed into existence like a host of Will o’ the Wisps in the night.

A figure knelt on the water’s surface before standing to walk across it like the son of God himself.

‘Well?’ a man said as he approached.

‘Sir, the causeway is secure. It appears to extend into the lake and out to a small island.’

‘An island?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘So, Goodwin may have been right after all?’

‘It looks that way.’

The man sucked on his teeth for a moment, considering his options, and then turned to a woman at his side. ‘Get me command.’

‘Patching you through, sir.’

A few seconds later she passed him a radio handset.

‘Command,’ a voice said,

‘This is Captain Winter; put me through to the major.’

A pause followed before Offiah spoke, ‘Captain, what news?’

‘Sir, we’ve found something. There’s a land bridge out to an island in the centre of the lake.’

Silence ensued as Offiah digested what he’d just been told. ‘And Goodwin?’

‘No sign of him or the decontamination team.’

‘The carer and her ward? The Lieutenant?’

‘The same, Major. But their tracks tell us they must have crossed onto the island and have yet to return.’

‘Then nothing’s changed. Hunt them down and flush them out. I want the director back; use all means necessary.’

‘What about Manaus and the other two civilians? A full assault, I can’t guarantee their safety. The doctor, Vandervoort she won’t—’

‘Leave her to me. The director is all that matters for the stability of the camp, the rest is collateral damage. If you can keep it to a minimum do so, but the time for caution has passed.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘And if Goodwin has found a way out, secure it and await reinforcements.’

‘Roger that, sir.

‘And Captain.’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘Consider the director a hostile; if you need to disable him, take the shot.’

The Darklight officer paused as he computed the order. ‘Copy that.’

‘Keep me updated, Offiah out.’

Winter passed the handset back to the radio operator before turning to face the rest of his Darklight unit. ‘Listen up, the mission is still a go. Weapons hot, eyes on. This is virgin territory and we all know what’s at stake. Secure the director and nullify U.S. Army personnel; nothing else matters. If it’s your life or his, I expect you to take the bullet. If the director resists, shoot to subdue. Do you get me?’

‘Sir, yes, sir!’ his team said, as one.

Winter nodded in satisfaction and sent his visor down over his eyes before sealing his face inside his helmet with the lower face-plate. Checking his rifle and syncing it to his combat system, he slapped back the bolt and slid a round into the chamber. ‘On me!’ he said, and ghosted out onto the causeway.

Chapter Seventy One

The tick tick tick of his antique wristwatch sounded loud to Malcolm Joiner’s ears as he watched the second hand complete another minute on its cyclical journey. He’d received a message from the Committee which had told him to expect a video call within the hour. It had been fifty seven minutes and fifteen – sixteen – seventeen – eighteen seconds, and still he waited in his office in USSB Sanctuary. A sense of expectation and dread seeped into his mind, their poisonous talons gnawing at his core and keeping him from his work. He knew this was how the Committee liked to operate, keeping people hanging on their every word, their every command. It was infuriating! Joiner felt a surge of anger quash the fear that tormented him.
What do they want now?
Have I not just been successful in taking down two major players, two men that have been a thorn in the Committee’s side for decades?

At first he’d assumed he was to be congratulated for his work, but as time had passed, doubts had risen. He remembered the pendant and the challenge from S.I.L.V.E.R.’s leader, Ophion Nexus, and how he’d been forced to act against the Committee’s wishes and install Colonel Samson as the mission commander.
I had to act
, he thought,
I had no choice. I had to preserve my control over the situation.
It was the right decision; the only decision … wasn’t it?

He’d gone against the Committee’s orders before, but always to attain a goal, to further their interests beyond their remit. But he’d never confronted them so boldly. He’d never usurped their orders on anything so important. But what choice had they left him? None. They knew the position they’d put him in. Do nothing and he looked weak while his fate was left in the hands of another. Do something and he challenged the Committee’s power head on, risking all. But as he knew, it was always better to be strong, to take control, and so that’s what he’d done.

A flashing red sign on his computer ended his wait. The incoming message resolved itself onto his 3D wallscreen, covering part of the Brazilian rainforest that hunkered in the shadows of a full moon’s light. The graphical window expanded to reveal the tall figure of Selene Dubois.

‘Malcolm Joiner, I have heard worrying things.’

‘I thought you would be pleased. Professor Steiner is out of the picture, as you desired, and the cyber terrorist has been captured in the Philippines.’

‘I was referring to your decision to install a U.S. colonel at the head of our search of Sanctuary Proper,’ Selene said, her tone scathing and expression fierce. ‘Did you think we would not find out?’