The Golden Crystal (26 page)

“Calm down, girl. He was not going to make it much further, anyway.” Karn said, as he pinned her arms at her sides. 

Tanning was addressing the dumbstruck Aines. “I do
not
like it when my plans are changed — especially when it is not my idea. That little stunt back there in the shaft is a good example.”

Rather than wait for a response, he fired once more into each of Aines’ kneecaps. 

The soldier wailed in agony, falling forward onto his stomach. He twisted his head around to look up at Vilocek, now only a few feet away. He tried to pull himself forward, but his crippled legs refused to answer. He whimpered in pain and frustration, sinking back to the ground. 

Vilocek pointed his gun down at the man. 

The gunshot came, louder than expected, followed by another. 

Opening her eyes, Corinne was horrified at what lay in front of her. 

Aines lay twisted and sprawled on the ground, blood and sand mixing in an ever-increasing puddle of thick black liquid around his body. His knees were completely smashed, nearly flattened. Likewise, his arms were split at the elbows, nothing but blood and bone fragments where the joints had been.

Sergeant Aines couldn’t lift his head, and he was letting out a guttural moaning sound. His back heaved up and down as he gasped for air. Death was imminent, and he wished for nothing more than to be put out of his misery. Waiting for the final pull of the trigger, he closed his eyes and prayed to Allah. 

But Vilocek was done. He had no interest in letting the man have his last wish. He kicked a bit of dirt at Aines, spat, and stepped over the dying Egyptian. Beka, grinning, followed his boss. Karn, with a shocked Corinne in tow, pointed his gun at Cole and flicked the barrel in Vilocek’s direction.

Cole picked himself up — still shaken from Aines’ backhand — and started to walk.

He looked once more at Aines, gasping on the ground next to the corpse of Professor Andrews, and wondered how he’d somehow ended up in this hell. 

6:12 AM - ATLANTIC OCEAN

“I’m going to kill him, Whittenfield.”

“Bryce — calm down. What’s the situation?” Whittenfield’s voice was distant in Bryce’s earpiece.

Bryce breathed a deep sigh. “We got separated from Vilocek’s group. Bartlinski is dead. I’m with Wayne and Jeff. We’re following the Egyptian convoy heading out of Petra.”

“What about the civilians?” 

“As I said, Professor Jensen is gone — Vilocek murdered him. The girl is with Reed, and they’re under the guard of two Vilocorp men and the last Israeli soldier.”

“Ok, I see. That’s unfortunate. And this other team? The Egyptians?” 

“Vilocek murdered their second in command before he bugged out. The rest of the Egyptians left before we got there. We probably cut down about half of them in the fight at the plaza, but I saw at least twenty, maybe thirty more.”

“Right — listen to me, Bryce.” Whittenfield’s tone grew dire. “We
absolutely
must
get to Easter Island and intercept them. I know this has been mostly a business and philanthropic venture for me, but I think there’s reason to believe now that we’re running out of time. We can’t afford to let Vilocek get there first, and we
really
cannot afford to let this situation go unresolved.” 

Bryce frowned. He was getting angrier as the conversation went on. “What does that mean? Unresolved? Can’t we just steal the crystal from Tanning later?”

“No, we can’t,” Whittenfield answered. “Bryce, I’m uploading a video feed from the night before my facility was breached. One of my computer scientists recovered it from the Vilocorp Laboratories headquarters in New Mexico. It seems the break-in was initiated because Vilocek discovered something about the crystal that puts this entire expedition in a much different light.”

Bryce was confused, but he let Whittenfield finish. 

“I’ll let you watch the video for yourself, but Bryce — we need that kid. Reed is now playing a larger role in all of this than I’d expected, and we’re going to need his full cooperation.”

“Affirmative, sir,” Bryce said. “I’ll take a look at the video, and report back after we get to Easter Island.” 

“Very good, Bryce, thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing you and your mother again. I’ve been told that my research team has been getting closer to a breakthrough. I’m optimistic.”

“Me too. Thanks for that,” Bryce said, thinking of his mom. He’d have to see if there was a way to call her from the plane later. 

“Bryce, there is one more thing,” Whittenfield said. 

“Yeah?”

“You asked about this character Jabari.”

Bryce paused. Something about Whittenfield’s tone struck him as odd. “Yeah — thanks for reminding me. What about him?” Bryce asked.

“I don’t know him personally, but I know
of
him,” Whittenfield said. “He’s a politician; a snake. He’s also a treasure hunter — it’s his hobby. He’s after the crystal, like Vilocek, but he wants it for himself. As a prize.”

“I gathered that,” Bryce said, not bothering to hide his annoyance. “He seems to be pretty intent on
preventing
us from getting it, by the way.”

“Yes, he’s got quite the temper, I’m afraid. My recommendation is to stay away from him — just get to the crystal
first,
and get it back to me. Work with Vilocek only if necessary, but under no circumstances let either of them get away with the stone.”

“Fine,” Bryce said, his voice hardening. “See you on the other side.”

He switched off his headset and turned to the Thompsons.

“All right boys. Looks like we’ve got one more stop before home.”

8:02 AM - THE NEXT Day

Bryce could tell Whittenfield was getting impatient, unsure of how much time they had until the crystal broke down. After leaving Jordan, they’d made one stop to refuel the plane. The 90 minute layover had barely broken up the monotony of the insanely long flight. The trip gave everyone ample time to rest and prepare for whatever lay ahead, but Bryce was unable to get more than a few brief moments of sleep.

He thought about the men that had been lost in pursuit of the prize Whittenfield and his enemies were seeking. He thought about Vilocek, the cold, calculating man who unflinchingly murdered — in cold blood — an enemy and a feeble old man. He thought about Madu Jabari, a man he initially thought was only interested in revenge, but who for some reason was now leading the charge toward Easter Island, apparently intent on acquiring the crystal for himself. None of it made sense, Bryce thought, but at least there was a simple solution: get to Easter Island, find and secure the crystal, and keep it out of the wrong hands. 

He thought about Cole — he’d seemed distant the whole time, sort of lost in his own thoughts. Through it all, Cole hadn’t tried any kind of escape, and that somehow surprised Bryce. He knew that the boy was strong and smart, and probably capable of making a run for it without getting caught. Especially since the old professor was now gone, Bryce would have almost bet that Cole would make a break for it with Corinne. Something was keeping Cole grounded, and Bryce couldn’t figure out what it was. 

Bryce also thought of his mother. Linda, his mother’s caretaker, had left three messages since he’d left America. He knew that they were most likely just updates; he’d asked her to check in once a day to keep him posted. Still, he’d try to find out if he could reach her during the flight. 

Finally, Bryce thought about the video Whittenfield had uploaded to his server before leaving his personal jet to Bryce and taking a commercial jet home. Bryce had watched it alone in the airborne lab, and he was still shaken by what he had seen.

When he double-clicked the video, it opened and began playing. The video was about five minutes long, and was obviously a stolen recording from a security feed. The shot jumped from one camera angle to another, hovering at each for five seconds, cycling to the next and then starting again. A counter in the bottom-right corner of the screen showed the time and date — three weeks ago. Bryce couldn’t tell where it all took place, but it looked like half of the cameras were in some sort of laboratory, while the others were in a smaller, closed-off area. 

The laboratory shots were unremarkable at first — it was the feed taken from the smaller room that made Bryce sit up and stare. 

At 1 minute, 33 seconds into the film, a young boy was dragged into the room — stripped naked and slightly malnourished. He was pale and bony, and only about twelve or thirteen years old — and he was strapped to a wheeled metal table. There was no sound, but Bryce could see that the boy was awake, and he saw him scream when an older man — Vilocek, from the way he walked — came into the room. Two scientists were in attendance, one checking and rechecking an IV unit and heart monitor in the corner, the other acting as an aide to Vilocek. 

Vilocek reached into a pocket of his white lab coat and removed a small object. It glowed with an intensity that caused the camera feed to temporarily pixelate — giving off some sort of radiation, no doubt. The young boy on the table stared wide-eyed, never letting the object out of his sight. Ever so slowly, Bryce saw the boy’s skin begin to glow. It soon lit up the room, and the scientists donned sunglasses to diminish the effect. Bryce watched as Vilocek waved the object up and down over the boy’s spasming body. 

After a few more seconds, the feed switched again to the empty laboratory. Bryce moved to fast-forward through the section, but then the three men came into the room. They fixed their attention on a bank of monitors that were just off-camera.

They stood there for almost a minute. Suddenly, their expressions changed from blank nonchalance to frantic confusion. Whatever they’d seen hadn’t made them happy, and they all turned at once and ran from the lab.

A few seconds passed before the camera switched back to the smaller room. Bryce leaned closer, trying to get a better view of the now blurry shot. He thought something might be wrong with the feed until he realized the small room was filling with smoke, which was obscuring the camera.
Shit
, he thought — he didn’t want to see what that meant.

Ever so slowly, as the shot jumped from one camera to the next, the smoke cleared and Bryce held his breath in horror at the sight on the screen. 

The boy lay motionless on the table. His body still glowed, but the luminescence was much weaker, and seemed to be fading. There were dark, curving streaks of blood all over the boy’s skin, rolling off and puddling around his sides and legs on the metal table. The boy was obviously dead, which was upsetting enough, but it was his eyes — the young kid’s eyes — that made Bryce swallow hard and almost lose his breath. 

They were empty. Not in an emotionless,
dead
way, but
physically empty
. Where moments before there had been the confused and scared eyes of a young, helpless boy, there were now only deep, hollow sockets. The cadaver on the metal table reminded Bryce of an autopsy procedure in a morgue, though the holes in the skull where eyes had been seemed more fitting of a skeleton that hadn’t fully decomposed. 

It was a terrible sight. Whatever had happened to the boy was the direct result of the actions of the three scientists. Most likely, there was some sort of serum or poison in the IV drip that had been transfused into the boy’s bloodstream. And it was quite obvious that the object — either the original, pure sliver of the crystal that Vilocek’s father had stolen from Whittenfield Laboratories, or the synthetic version he said they’d been experimenting with — had caused the violent reaction in the boy, and his horrible death. Bryce had just witnessed Vilocek commit a third murder, and this one especially made his blood boil.
What the
hell
were they trying to do here,
he thought, rage building inside him. What were they trying to accomplish? How many other “experiments” like this one had gone wrong, and…

Bryce knew the answer to his next question almost before he’d finished the thought. 

There was only one other person he knew whose skin lit up that way in the presence of the crystal. Bryce suddenly knew that Vilocorp had, in fact, gotten past their failures, however many they might be, gruesomely and collectively depicted in the video. 

Their successful experiment — their breakthrough —was Cole Reed. 

THE MORNING SUNLIGHT TRICKLED DOWN through sparse clouds, revealing an overly blue sphere of ocean below. Bryce could see the plane’s reflection like a mirage on the glassy surface of the water. Beyond the reflection, he could see three small mountain peaks rolling out of the sea and forming the triangular shape of Easter Island. 

It wasn’t big — only fifteen miles long, and less than eight miles across at its widest point. Bryce could see the whole island as the plane descended toward its southwestern point. There he could see the small Rano Kau volcano, with its divot of a crater just beyond. To the right of Rano Kau there was layer of fog that had settled in the morning hours and hadn’t quite dispersed. Just below the fog was their destination — the single runway of Mataveri International Airport.

But Bryce’s attention was focused toward the most recognizable feature of Easter Island — the giant Moai statues that dotted the beaches and hilltops, facing inland toward the larger volcano at the center of the island. The stone statues, each hand-chiseled from blocks of solidified volcanic ash, were believed to be monuments to fallen deities that offered protection to the islanders. 

These people, the Rapa Nui, still lived on the island — mostly in the city of Hanga Roa near the airport. Although they appeared much like other Polynesians, they were far removed from the Rapa Nui tribe. The island got its name from Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, and it soon became known to the Western world. 

It is believed that the Rapa Nui people first landed on the island as early as 300 A.D., but some historians and archeologists argue about the exact century, and some claim it was much earlier. Eventually, Europeans visited and began the process of imperialism, starting Roman Catholic churches on the island and effectively bringing the islanders into the modern age.