Avenging Angels (The Seraphim Chronicles Book 1) (37 page)

Reynolds stood up from his desk and walked over to the door. Campbell stood as well, knowing that their meeting was over. Reynolds gripped the door handle, but made no motion to open the door yet.

“You’d better find something out there in that wasteland,” he warned with a menacing glare. “Or so help me I’ll put you in a room with the next person that contracts this disease and watch the two of you fall apart, bit by bit. Do we have an understanding?” He stared down Campbell like a wolf on the hunt.

Campbell gave a low bow, showing deference to Reynolds. “Of course, General!” he said unfettered. “I assure you that I’m more eager to find a resolution to these issues than you are.”

Reynolds opened the door for Campbell, a display that would be visible to the rest of his staff and continue the illusion that his rank was lower than that of his visitor. He donned his biggest false smile on his face and slapped Campbell on the back, as if he were saying goodbye to his dearest friend. Campbell played up to the ruse as he stepped through the door.

“I’ll be sure to pass that on to General Reynolds, Mr. Campbell,” he crowed with enthusiasm. “Have a wonderful day, Sir!”

Campbell turned and gave Reynolds a final bow and a smile, then turned back toward the main door that headed out to the rotunda and the lifts. As he reached the door to leave, he overheard Reynolds calling out to a member of his staff.

“Sara, would you come in here please? The General has some messages he’d like you to transcribe.” Sara stood up and retrieved the tablet that the other Angel had carried out of his office. Reynolds closed the door behind her as she walked in and, once again, detestation boiled within Campbell for Reynolds’ affinity for the pleasures of the flesh.

FIFTY-EIGHT

Jack choked on the dust that permeated the ancient stairwell with each step that took him deeper beneath the ground. While they descended level after dim level, he told Evangeline about the visit from the agent posing as a Counseling Angel, their dangerous scuffle, and his rescue by Felicia. Evangeline filled him in on what happened after her visit to see Daryl and the grotesque scene she witnessed there.

An uneasy look flashed across Felicia’s face. Her fatal injection had killed that pilot. She had done it out of mercy, to put him out of his misery. But she worried if Evangeline ever discovered how Daryl had contracted the disease in the first place and what measures had been taken to end his life, she knew Evangeline would never trust her again. And Felicia was starting to warm up to Kevin’s former protégé.

Jack’s laborious breathing echoed throughout the stairwell as the group tramped down a dozen flights of stairs into the depths of the building abandoned centuries before. The dust and exhaustion had flared Jack’s asthma, and now rasping coughs accented his footfalls down each step. The most physical exertion Jack ever endured in Olympus was dashing through his SimCom arena; his farm years well behind him, he was not suited for the demanding descent after his easy programmer’s lifestyle in the luxury of Olympus society.

Evangeline was not tired like Jack. Her daily fitness sessions of calisthenics and other combat training on the base made her better prepared for physical exertion, but she still felt the searing in her thighs and calves as they reached the bottom floor.

Kevin and Felicia seemed even less effected by the expedition. They took in a single breath for every three breaths that Jack needed. Life outside Olympus, and even the limited comforts of the LTZ, had made them stronger and more resilient.

After the final step, Jack placed one of his hands against the wall of the corridor, bracing himself while he struggled to catch his breath and still his wobbling legs. Evangeline rubbed his back in a circular motion, the others standing nearby to give him a rest. Their breathing and heart rates slowed down to normal while Jack shuddered and wheezed.

Feebly glowing light fixtures were evenly spaced down the long narrow passageway, connected by power cables that descended down through the stairwell from above.

“Where do you get your power from?” Evangeline asked as she continued to help Jack recover. She traced random patterns on his back with her fingernails while he continued to suck in breaths of air. Her mind was busy analyzing how this ancient place sustained itself.

Kevin looked toward the opposite end of the hall, as if noticing the lights for the first time. “We rebuilt an ancient nuclear power plant left behind after the Great Recovery,” he said without looking at them. Their eyes popped open and their mouths fell agape.

“But that’s insane! And illegal!” Evangeline exclaimed. “Nuclear power was banned during the Treaties. Aren’t you concerned about the dangers?”

Kevin turned back to face them and chuckled under his breath. Felicia rolled her eyes as she walked away from the group.

“It’s actually a refurbished power plant from an old ocean transport. It provides enough power for our buildings, and it’s buried deep underground miles away.”

Kevin saw that they did not understand enough to be convinced of their safety. He remembered his own astonishment when he learned about the nuclear power source and how it conflicted with everything that had been taught to him since he was a boy.

“In the event of a catastrophic disaster, the blast and fallout will be contained deep underground far away from any inhabited area. We’re completely disconnected from Olympus and the LTZ, including their power grid and networks,” he said with a glimmer of pride. “It’s the only way we’ve found that enables us to conceal ourselves from the Quorum. Matthew and Elizabeth thought of everything.”

Kevin smiled with a mischievous upturn in his eyebrows and began to follow Felicia down the corridor. “Are you coming, newbie?” he called over his shoulder. Jack and Evangeline were glued to the floor. Jack was still catching his breath, but Evangeline was stunned at the casual way Kevin dropped her parents’ names.

“My parents built this?” she asked in a whisper, locking eyes with Jack. His breathing had become manageable enough to push himself away from the wall and stand upright beside Evangeline. He glanced down the corridor toward Kevin’s diminishing figure before turning his head back toward his wife.

“Whoa! Talk about surprises, huh?” he said under his breath. “Did your parents know nuclear physics?”

“No!” she shook her head and forced down a hard swallow. “At least, I didn’t think they did.” she answered with a slight lump growing in her throat. “I wonder what else Kevin knows about my parents.”

Evangeline’s face grew hot. Kevin just tossed around information about her parents as if it were common or casual conversation. Knowing he knew more about her parents than she did made her heart start racing again, pumping with a jealous fervor. He had seen them, talked to them! The repressed feelings of betrayal surged to the surface, and the memories of her abandonment filled her with seething anger.

Evangeline wanted to run up to Kevin and give him a solid right hook for his words, but she thought better of it, reaching for Jack’s hand instead. His hands were ice cold to the touch. They always got cold when he was nervous or scared, like on the day he proposed. The chill of his touch also reminded her how much he had also been through in the last two days. She gripped his hand harder, letting the iciness creep through her flesh and cool her simmering spirit.

Kevin’s voice echoed from down the hallway. “Hey, Boyd,” he yelled. “Turn to!”

Despite her best efforts, Evangeline could not repress the smile at Kevin’s old military expression. It meant
get back to work,
or
focus!
After all those years, he could still read her well, almost too well. She took a deep breath and exhaled the rest of her angst and frustration.

“It’s Evans now, if you don’t mind!” she yelled back. “I’d appreciate it if you’d at least get my name right!” She flashed Jack a wink. His face was beaming at her display of loyalty. 

Kevin had turned a corner, but Jack and Evangeline could hear his chuckles ricochet off the walls.

“Whatever you say, newbie!”

Jack and Evangeline continued walking hand in hand down the hall as they trailed after Kevin. Jack’s interest in the old building’s original function caused him to examine as many details as he could, slowing Evangeline down as she led him through the corridor.

Jack surmised they were wandering in the nethermost tunnels of an abandoned research building. Along the main corridor, door after door opened up into smaller rooms with no obvious means of looking outside. He guessed it had been designed to be underground, but like the rest of the vicinity, it had been forgotten and long neglected.

“Mr. Turner!” Jack called out as they reached the intersection where Kevin and Felicia had disappeared. “What was this place? Before, I mean?” His genuine curiosity about the building was akin to that of a child’s.

Jack and Evangeline picked up their pace as they turned the corner. About ten yards ahead of them, at a dead-end, Kevin and Felicia were engaged in an intense, but silent, conversation. Their growled words turned to mumbles by the time the echoes reached Evangeline’s ears.

Kevin’s head snapped as Jack and Evangeline breached the corner to catch up to them. With Kevin distracted, Felicia slipped away, passing through an airlock door right behind them. The irritation on Kevin’s face made it clear he was not ready to end their discussion. When he noticed she had snuck away from him, his face turned crimson. He huffed a frustrated breath and turned his attention back to Jack and Evangeline. With an air of resignation to Felicia’s departure, he answered Jack’s question like a distracted parent.

“It was a secret military base, long ago, allegedly used to study artifacts from alien spacecraft that landed on Earth before the Collapse. Now we are using it to try and find a cure, or at least find a way to stop this contagion from spreading.”

His ominous words hung in the air. Jack and Evangeline just stared between Kevin and each other.

Evangeline took a step back, covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide with worry and horror. “Are you saying there’s some kind of new disease out there?” Her fear gave way to her sense of injustice, overpowered by rage as she stepped up into Kevin’s face. “Is that what happened to Simmonds? Did he catch some new bio weapon you’ve developed to attack Olympus?” she snarled, jabbing him in the chest. Kevin’s face was placid, nonresponsive.

She started pacing across the cramped area in front of the airlock. “It wasn’t enough that you sabotaged power lines and caused explosions which harmed hundreds of people? It wasn’t enough that you kidnapped and murdered innocent Angels?” she roared. “Why? You taught me about serving with honor! How can you now be a part of it?”

She swiped at the tears trailing across her cheeks. “And now,” she sniffed, “now an innocent man, a
kid
, is lying in a hospital bed suffering from some grotesque bio weapon. How can you justify that?”

Her vocal tirade had been amplified by the maze of corridors, her voice overlapping itself again and again, making her sound like a dozen shouting Evangeline’s. Now that she had gone silent the still and quiet surrounding them was just as upsetting as her angry explosion.

Jack had taken a half step backward; he knew if Evangeline perceived injustice there was no stopping her until her demands were satisfied. Kevin had remained motionless through her volley of accusations. Evangeline planted her feet and stared into his eyes, challenging him to justify his actions.

Kevin raised his hands in a slow motion to rest at chest level, a mixed gesture of surrender and defense, if necessary.

“As I said before,” he said with disarming gentleness, “the Dissidents, as you know them, are a fabrication of the Quorum.” He paused and stared back into her accusing eyes until she calmed down enough to listen. He knew that the bond of trust they developed during her training was rooted deep inside her.

Kevin waited, watching as she fumed and huffed with her hands on her hips. She searched his eyes, his lips, and every other feature of his face for the slightest glimpse of deception.

A full minute passed before she believed he was telling the truth. She let out a deep breath as her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Okay,” she sighed, throwing her hands in the air. “I believe you.”

Jack’s posture relaxed. He had not been sure if he would need to protect Kevin from Evangeline or join her in the attack if the tension continued to escalate.

“Good,” Kevin said as he let out the breath he had been holding. “Now, I really think you should hear the rest from the experts.” He lowered his hands and turned his body toward the airlock door behind him. He pulled the door open and stood out of the way to allow Evangeline and Jack to pass through first.

Jack waited for Evangeline to take the first step. He knew what was happening had more to do with her history than anything he had just gone through. She watched him with wary eyes for a minute, then with a huff of frustration she stepped toward the door. She was getting tired of the endless lack of answers.

Before crossing the threshold, Kevin reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her short. His eyes were pleading with her.

“What you’re about to learn is something that the world isn’t ready to know yet,” he said with a gentle squeeze. “This will come as a bit of a shock to you.” He turned his eyes to Jack. “And to you as well.”

Jack was unnerved. In the last few days, it seemed all of the events that had transpired resulted from Evangeline’s relationship with her parent’s years ago and the tragic events in the LTZ just days ago. He could not even begin to fathom how any of it affected him as an individual, let alone the world.

With those words of caution, Kevin removed his hand and Evangeline crossed over the threshold. She entered a small changing room lined with open lockers and a single bench running down the middle. Each locker contained environmental suits, with the exception of one. Felicia’s clothes hung in loose drapes from the hooks, evidence that she had already changed and was waiting for them on the other side of the next airlock.

Evangeline, Jack, and Kevin changed into the sterile undergarments and environmental suits provided in each of the lockers.

“I’ve never worn a civilian environmental suit before,” Evangeline said to Kevin, “These are more comfortable, and easy to move around in compared to my flight suit.”

Evangeline’s statement piqued Jack’s interest. “How so? He asked stepping into the built-in boots of his environmental suit.

Evangeline pulled the seal across her chest closed by the drawstring handle. “The TRTV flight suit has to remain connected to the ports along your spine,” she answered. “Every twist and bend pulled at the connections along your back. It can get extremely uncomfortable depending on how much flexibility you need. These suits allowed more room to twist, turn, and bend.”

Jack stood, pulled the seal across the chest of his own suit, and raised his arms. “I feel like I’m wearing a balloon,” he said. He glanced back and forth between Kevin and Evangeline. “Look at you two, you’re more experienced and accustomed to this kind of get-up.” He lifted his arms and shifted his feet to imitate Evangeline testing out the suit’s capabilities. “I feel like a soap bubble about to pop!”