Doorways to Infinity (29 page)

Terry held the tube close to her face for a moment and furrowed her brow. “Doesn’t say.”

“Just do the backs, then. I don’t want them catching on fire when I use the blasting spell.”

“I see how that could be a problem.”

Eric reached down into the open duffle bag and pulled out a gray cake the size and shape of a half-sandwich made of modeling clay. “You can teleport stuff with your magic, can’t you?”

“Sure, but it’s called translocating. Why?”

“It’ll be safer than manually placing this on the targets.” Eric showed Jamie the rectangular chunk in his hand. “This is plastic explosive. We don’t have much, so I had to split it into smaller charges, but it won’t matter much, since your magic will be doing most of the destruction. These are just for show. Phillip Cage is an expert on munitions, so after we blow up his aircraft, he’s going to study the wreckage carefully to try to figure out how it was done. This stuff will leave a chemical residue on the debris, and Cage will detect that and assume it was a standard act of sabotage.”

“Does he have any enemies who would even try something like that?”

“He has a ship load of enemies,” Terry said. “That’s why he has such a large security force.”

“So,” Eric continued, “if you can translocate this stuff onto the aircraft before you blast them, it’ll leave a false clue that will cover up your involvement. We don’t want to give him any hints of what our true capabilities are.”

“That sounds simple enough,” Jamie said. “Anything else?”

Eric reached into the bag again and pulled out another hunk of gray clay, only larger, and attached to it was a small electronic device with a keypad. “This explosive has a detonator with a timer. I figure that our biggest problem tonight is that we have to blow up the aircraft and the access road at the same time, because once the explosions start, that place is going to be swarming with security men and the bullets will start flying. We’re not going to have enough time to do the jobs separately.”

Jamie pointed at the device in Eric’s hand. “So what do we do with that?”

“This is for the road. You’ll arm this as you place it, then return to our position. When it goes off, you can blast the aircraft.”

“Where’s the road?”

“On the far right of the building, east of where we’ll be. The best place to put the bomb is where the road goes over a narrow ridge that’s about fifty yards downhill from the monastery. It’ll do the most damage there and make the repair much harder.”

“I’ll need to carry the bomb there,” Jamie said. “I can’t translocate stuff accurately unless I can see where it’s going, or if I’m really familiar with the area, which I’m not.”

“You can’t put a doorway by the access road because the glowing lines will give you away. If you fly there, you’d probably have to go over the trees and his radar might pick you up. Do you have another way to get the explosive in position, besides on foot? That might be too risky.”

“I can translocate myself in stages. I can go pretty fast, too, once I see where my next spot will be. Do you have an aerial view of the compound?”

They led him to the big table, which was still covered by electronic equipment. Terry pressed a key on the laptop, and an image appeared on the external monitor, showing an overhead view of the sprawling stone building. A runway stretched off to the left of the monastery, and a narrow ribbon of road snaked away to the right. “This is it.” She pointed to an area at the bottom of the screen, on the southernmost side of the compound. “This cliff is probably the best spot for you to make the portal for us to enter the area. There’s a small ledge just below the top of it that’s hidden from view, and there’s a steep drop below that. It’s sheer rock, probably covered with ice right now. Nobody would expect intruders from this location because it’s nearly impossible to scale this cliff in the winter, especially at night.”

“Why can’t I make the doorway by the runway?”

“Because your doorway glows. It’ll stand out like a flare.”

“Right, I forgot. So nobody can see us on that ledge?”

“No, but it’s at least twenty or thirty feet down, so Eric and I will have to climb up to the runway. Unless you can fly us there.”

“I’ll levitate you. It’s easy.”

“Yeah, easy,” Eric said with a straight face. “Normal, run-of-the-mill magic.”

“Sorry. I don’t mean to sound cocky.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you can do that stuff.”

Terry pointed to a line of trees that framed the bottom of the image on the monitor. “To get to the access road, you can translocate around this way. It’ll give you a little cover. There probably won’t be any guards there because it runs along the edge of the cliff.” Then she tapped a spot where the small road ran eastward. “Your target is down this way. Can you manage that?”

Jamie nodded. “How do I work the timer on the detonator?”

Eric showed him the device, which consisted of a number pad and a small display, and touched a button on the controls. “Tap this to set the countdown, then punch in the numbers. If you type thirty, it’ll be thirty seconds. Three hundred is three minutes. Then press the red key twice to arm it.”

“Uh…can’t you do that?”

Eric gave Jamie a steady look. “It’s better if you do it at the last possible second.”

Terry smiled thinly. “Relax. It’s a piece of cake.”

“Easy for you to say. I’ve never worked a bomb before.”

“So you’ll learn something new tonight.” She turned to Eric. “Have we covered everything?”

Eric narrowed his eyes and mouth for a moment. “Keep the noise to an absolute minimum while we’re exposed. Whispers and hand gestures only. There will probably be security lights on the runway and around the monastery, so stay low. You want to offer the smallest possible target to the enemy.”

“Target. Never thought of myself that way.” Jamie gritted his teeth and stared at the view of the monastery displayed on the screen. “Call up a wider map of the area, please.”

Terry clicked the mouse and the display changed. Jamie studied the layout and the distances, and fixed them into his magic sense of space. “Okay, I got it. Should I make the doorway now?”

“Hold on.” Eric reached into the duffle bag again and pulled out three black ski masks. He handed one to Jamie and one to Terry. “Put these on.”

They pulled them over their heads and Jamie considered the two agents, now completely covered in black except for their eyes and mouths. “We look like terrorists.”

“We are, in a way,” Eric said. “We’re going to terrorize Phillip Cage.” He turned off the overhead light and said, “Let’s give our eyes time to adjust to the dark.”

“I wouldn’t have thought of that,” Jamie said, and after about thirty seconds, started to make the doorway to Romania. “I’ll go first in case the ledge is unsafe.”

“I should go instead,” Terry said. “I’m a trained climber.”

“But I can fly. If it’s icy or unstable, it won’t matter to me.”

“Good point. Nice to have that capability on a mission.”

Jamie finished the portal and pushed it open to face cold darkness. He took two tentative steps forward and felt snow crunch underfoot. He found himself standing on an outcropping, less than five feet wide and barely ten feet long, which jutted out from the side of a steep cliff. The stars overhead were brittle and bright in the black sky. He crept to the edge, glanced down over the sheer drop and saw nothing but gloomy vastness below, untouched by moonlight, waiting to swallow anyone who made a misstep and fell.
I’m glad I can fly
. He sucked in his breath and was shocked by the sharp bite of the frigid air. “Brrr,” he muttered and tucked his bare hands under his armpits.

He tilted his head back and his gaze followed the rock face to where it ended twenty feet higher.
This is the spot
.

Jamie motioned to Eric and Terry and they followed him onto the ledge with their weapons ready, Eric with the duffle bag over one shoulder.

Eric leaned close to Jamie’s ear and whispered, “Check to see if there’s a guard up there.”

Jamie ascended slowly and silently until he could see over the top of the cliff, and he hovered while he studied the situation. Directly ahead and perpendicular to him was the runway, only a stone’s throw from his position, and lit by security lights on tall poles set fifty yards apart. The helicopter sat on the concrete to his left, and the airplane was on his right, closer to the monastery, which appeared as a massive pile of stone that loomed into the night, the bulk of its expanse disappearing into sinister shadows.

He stiffened when he spotted a sentry nearby with his back to Jamie, leaning against a tree, hunched against the cold with a rifle slung over his shoulder. His frosty breath appeared as cloudy puffs, lit by the harsh glare of the security lights. Jamie realized that the man must be miserable, and he suddenly seemed less threatening.
Poor guy’s freezing. What a crummy job he’s got
.

Jamie rejoined the agents on the ledge below and whispered, “I saw one guard. Close by on the right, facing the other way. What should we do?”

“I got this,” Terry whispered. “Can you float me up there?”

Jamie levitated her over the top and she disappeared without a sound. Moments later, she stuck her head over the edge and signaled for them to come on. Jamie sent Eric first and then followed him. When Jamie settled beside them, he looked around for the security guard.

A dark heap lay in the shadow of the nearest tree.
I hope Terry didn’t kill him
.
Now I wish I’d gotten one of Fred’s pendants
. He didn’t have time to worry about it because Eric was motioning for Jamie to kneel next to him.

Eric pulled the bomb with the detonator out of the duffle bag while Terry crouched nearby, her gun leveled, eyes darting everywhere. Eric handed Jamie the explosive and whispered, “Remember how to arm it?” Jamie nodded and Eric tapped the keypad on it. Red numbers appeared on the display — 4:00. “Once you arm it, you’ll have four minutes to get back here and destroy the aircraft. You need to go now, and try not to be seen. Hurry.”

Jamie took a moment to get up his nerve, staring at the destructive device. Then he looked toward the monastery off to their right, and translocated with the bomb in one hand. He reappeared behind a large poplar tree near the corner of the building, turned quickly to find another spot farther away, and vanished again.

He was now seventy feet from the first black SUV that sat in a long row of others, lining the front side of the massive stone structure. He picked another destination and translocated once more. He found himself standing in the snow beside the access road, where he dropped to a crouch and held his breath, listening for any sign that he’d been detected.

Hearing nothing suspicious, he sprinted the last twenty yards to where it crossed the narrow ridge, squatted and laid the bomb in the middle of the pavement. He held his breath and bit his lip so hard that it hurt.
Here goes nothing
. He pressed the key twice to arm it and exhaled heavily. The timer’s display began counting down in stark red numbers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a flicker of light in the distance. He turned and peered down the winding road, but the view was blocked by the trees. After a few seconds, he saw it again, and he could tell it was moving uphill, toward him.
That must be a car
. He looked at the bomb at his feet and his heart began to hammer in his chest and his breath shortened to staccato gasps.
They could get blown up. How do I deactivate this?

Eric had not shown him that procedure, and the timer now read 3:35.
I’ll take it back to Eric and he’ll turn it off
. Jamie put one hand to his forehead as he stared at the deadly apparatus.
But it might kill him and Terry
. Out of desperation, he left it and translocated back, hoping that Eric would know what to do.

Jamie materialized by the two agents near the runway and Eric whispered, “Did you arm it?”

“Yes, but I think a car is coming.”

“So?”

“They could get blown up.”

“Good.”

“Good? Are you crazy?”

“They’re mercenaries.”

“You don’t know that for sure. They could be household staff or something.”

“Not at three in the morning. It’s probably just more security men, and those guys are killers, every one of them. They’d shoot you in a heartbeat and not lose any sleep over it.”

“But…what if you’re wrong?”

“He’s not, Jamie,” Terry said. “And we need to hurry if we’re going to finish the job. This isn’t a good time to be having second thoughts.”

“We have less than three minutes before that bomb goes off and all hell breaks loose,” Eric said. “Are you going to blow up the aircraft or not?”

“Ugh….” Jamie squeezed his hands into fists.
I’m doing this to help them. They won’t go home for Christmas if I chicken out
. “Okay.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll do it. What’s next?”

Eric handed him a chunk of C-4. “You have to place all of these and wait before you start blasting. When the bomb on the road goes off, you can fire away.”

Jamie held the gray cake and eyed the helicopter. Then he flicked the fingers of his other hand and the explosive vanished, reappearing a split-second later on the hull of the aircraft. Eric gave him the next chunk and Jamie sent it to the silver plane, settling it on the wing, right where it joined the fuselage. “How much time do we have?”

Eric checked his watch. “Eighty seconds.”

“How many more explosives?”

“Five, all smaller ones for the runway.”

Eric offered them to him one at a time and Jamie used his magic to place them on the long stretch of concrete, putting them twenty yards apart. After the last one, Jamie said, “Now how much time?”

“Fifteen seconds.”

“You guys get close to me so I can cover you with my shield.”

“Think the blast will reach this far?” Terry asked.

“I hope so.” Jamie waited while the two agents moved beside him and crouched even lower. “Countdown?”

Eric focused on his watch and said, “In five, four, three, two, one,” and the bomb on the access road detonated with a terrific
boom
. Jamie felt the ground rumble and saw the flash of light through the trees in the distance.