The Life We Lead: Ascending (35 page)

An image of Carissa came over him. He had
that sensation of a warm breath of wind on a slightly hot day that
he always associated with her. His mind flashed on how they’d met
and their first date and …

James’s eyes snapped open. He grabbed Xavier
and went left. The voices were getting closer, but James knew he
was right, or perhaps praying that he was.

He found the small dark side hall behind the
baths and hit the mini-light on his belt.

“Stop!” the boy said. “We can’t go that way.
It is a bottomless pit with the howling monster!”

“Xavier, trust me. It isn’t, and we have to
go.” James pulled the boy behind him. He took his last remaining
explosive stick and placed it in the ceiling arch of the hallway.
He quickly tied an end of the rope he had brought onto the large
pipes on the floor at a bracing bracket and fed the other end into
his belt loops.

“Xavier, I need you to do what I tell you. Go
stand at the edge of the pit,” he ordered the boy. “When I come, I
need you to climb on top of my chest, put your arms around my neck,
and bring your knees as close to my shoulders as you can. Then hang
on tight. Do you understand?” James asked.

The voices were right on top of them; whoever
it was would be hitting the main intersection any second.

“Yes,” the boy said, and hurried to the
edge.

James set the timer for fifteen seconds. He
hit the start switch to begin the countdown and ran. He got down on
his knees and leaned back like he was trying to limbo.

As Xavier climbed on his chest, James found
the edge of the pit with his heels and slowly leaned back before
turning off the light on his belt. He began moving gingerly down
the wall of the pit just as the individuals chasing them appeared
at the end of the small dark hallway. He rushed to slide out of
view and slipped a little.

He regained some steadiness, but Xavier had
started to squeeze harder, his body covering James's mouth and nose
so that he couldn’t inhale or exhale.

James’s brain, still a little out of whack,
processed that he couldn’t breathe. As in the past when he’d almost
drowned, he thought,
You can only survive three minutes without
oxygen.

Suddenly, he recalled that he only had a
total of two minutes after the exit had been eliminated to get out,
and certainly some of that time was gone. They had to go
faster.

As the last set of explosives went off, James
slipped again. This time, he didn’t recover. He used the momentum
of the slip to swing his weight to try to land and roll, then let
go of the rope. This sudden motion created a small breathing space,
and James turned his head into the pocket of air with a deep
exhale.

They fell about fourteen feet. James landed
hard on his back and tried to roll, which was difficult with the
boy on his chest. Xavier’s head knocked into James’s, giving him a
double impact, but adrenaline was doing its job.

James got up, pulled Xavier to his side, and
spun around. There it was, partially blocked by a boiler system.
The exit door that Joseph had mentioned at the football match was
framed in light from the outside. The small gap around the edge was
creating the howling sound Xavier described and he had heard
earlier.

James grabbed Xavier and ran at the door as
hard as he could, intending to bust it open. It opened easily, and
James fell flat on his face. Xavier helped him up.

“How …?” Xavier started, but James said,
“Come on!”

They sprinted around the corner just in time
to see a set of taillights dip down, driving away from them.

“Damn! Come on!” screamed James, now moving
perpendicular to the fortress to get away from it. They had three
minutes before this place was going to meet two F-14’s. He doubted
they could run far enough, as beat up as they were, but they had to
try. Then the sound of an engine came from their right.

“Run!” James screamed to Xavier, thinking the
jets were early, but his hearing was still off, and he was wrong.
It was Matt in the van. James and Xavier changed course and raced
toward him. Matt swung wide and came alongside, while slowing down.
James and Xavier jumped in the open sliding cargo door without Matt
stopping.

James fell to his side in the back of the
cargo van next to Xavier and closed his eyes, breathing heavily.
Slowly, he opened them. He would have time to feel the satisfaction
of completing this challenge soon. Right now, he needed to tend to
Xavier, who was shivering uncontrollably.

James grabbed his coat and sat up against the
side of the van with his legs crossed. He called Xavier over and
gave him the coat to put on. He had the boy sit on his lap and
began to vigorously rub him down, hoping to minimize the chance of
him going into shock.

“Um, James,” said Paul softly. “Why is this
kid naked? I mean, none of the others were.”

James looked at Paul as if to say “Really?
Now?” He gestured toward the twins, pulling attention away from
Xavier as he rubbed Xavier’s back and shoulders to create heat.
“The real question is, why are
they
naked?”

Paul handed Xavier some pants that were way
too big for him, but that at least covered him up.

“They haven’t stopped crying yet. We tried to
get them to. Just starting to treat some of Raymond’s burns when we
swung back to get you,” said Ben.

“I gave you all strict orders to leave. Why
did you come back?” James wasn’t being stern or a jerk about it. It
was a sincere question, and the guys knew it. His tone was laced
with gratitude.

“Matt spotted you in the mirror just as we
came out of a little dip. We thought it was still fair game to
rescue you and be the big heroes,” said Paul, and the awkward
tension broke. It wasn’t really funny, but it was good enough to
relieve the intense emotion everyone was feeling. Even the twins
managed to smile between sobs.

They were just passing the outer marker for
where the EMP force field would become ineffective when they felt a
vibration beginning to intensify.

Matt hammered the gas as hard as he could.
“Here they come, boys!”

The two F-14’s came in hot and heavy above
them. Their speed shook the van as they passed and then a
phenomenal explosion sounded. Through the back windows, they could
see huge flames shooting up as the van raced away, unharmed.

“Here,” said Paul, handing a headset to
James.

“My boys say it was a clean hit.” It was the
major. “They dropped two sets on the fortress itself and another
set right into the cliff, which cracked right off and buried the
whole thing.” His voice steamed with satisfaction.

“Any signs of survivors? And is the other
problem handled?” James asked.

“That’s a negative on survivors. Besides,
where they going to go? It’s an hour or two drive to anything, and
without any supplies, that isn’t happening. And a big affirmative
on the other problem. Glad we got you out,” the major said in a
softer tone.

“Thanks, Ian. See you and the others at the
safe spot.”

James wasn’t worried about the evil enemy
somehow surviving in an unrealistic way. That was crap you found in
the movies. The major was right. No one could survive that
blast.

During the forty minute drive, and with
Paul’s help, Ben addressed various medical issues with Raymond,
Xavier, and James. James insisted on being treated last, though he
needed the most attention. His lower back was messed up, and he
probably had a bruised rib or two, along with a concussion, but the
bullet had just nicked him and could have passed as a scratch.

Xavier was doing fine, once the cut on his
forehead was attended to.

The twins were the biggest mess, mainly
because of their emotional state. When they finally got dressed,
James realized something.

“Raymond, those are your clothes!”

Raymond looked down at himself and said
indignantly, “What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean? Course
they are my clothes.”

“What I mean is, they’re the clothes you had
on earlier. The ones they made you strip off,” James said, looking
at him eagerly.

“Right, did you think I should run about
naked for the rest of me life?” Raymond asked in the same indignant
tone.

“Leave him alone!” Calvin glared at James
fiercely, protecting his twin.

Paul tapped James on the left shoulder.
“Looking for this?” He held up the hard drive.

“Yes!”

“Apparently he grabbed his clothes as he made
a run for it,” Paul whispered. “Who would’ve thought he’d have that
much presence of mind, huh?”

As they joined the others around the black
SUV, James saw everyone else for the first time since the mission
had begun. No one looked the worse for the wear, aside from some
scratches Haiden, Keegan, and Rocker had endured from some of the
kids in the process of moving them. The kids were very shaken up
obviously, but no one was hurt.

It was time to address the other problem, but
first James wanted to make sure they had enough room to transport
the children semi-comfortably, that everyone knew where the
location outside of Osh was, and that Joe was all right.

James found Joe with Kevin and Jason. As he
peered inside the cargo van, Jason told him, “He was fighting with
two guys. By the time we got cleared to extract him, he was cut
bad. We gave him some morphine to stop the pain.”

Kevin slid back so James could see Joe’s
stomach. It was drenched in blood.

Joe was very pale and taking short rapid
breaths. James knew he didn’t have the time or tools to save Joe’s
life.

“Kevin, can you go look at the twins please.
Thank you, Joe, for your help.” He grasped Joe’s right hand in his
left.

“You saved my life, man. I can’t thank you
enough,” said Jason in a mournful voice.

“Help children,” Joe gasped. “Save their
life. Kill evil people that hurt them. He knows.” Joe pointed
accusatorily at the Black SUV with his left hand. “He have other
pouches with papers. He knows,” Joe said, fainter. He slowly closed
his eyes.

“Thank you, Joe. The children will be looked
after, and Noi will answer for his role.”

Joe gave an audible grunt and James left.
Within two minutes, Joe was dead.

The team had brought a number of extra
vehicles with them to the fortress. After securing Noi and his
driver, they’d left the vehicles with the black SUV as part of an
emergency evacuation.

James got the kids loaded up and sent
everyone off to the home he had arranged for the kids. Just before
the vehicles left, he caught Xavier’s eye and waved. The boy smiled
and waved back, still wearing James’s coat.

Only the major and Ben still stood at the
black SUV. They were holding Noi and his driver. The kids did not
see this, nor did they see Joe’s body removed from the van and
placed on the ground.

Ben and the major dragged the two men out of
the SUV and released their mouth gags. They were still tied with
their hands behind their backs and were on their knees when James
walked up with a pistol in his hands.

“If you tell me the truth, I won’t kill you.
Lie to me, even slightly about anything, and you die. Understand?”
His voice was flat and emotionless.

Both men nodded.

“Did you know they were trading children for
cash?” James asked this question first. Obviously they did, but
this admission of guilt was a great way to break them down and get
additional truthful answers.

“Please, sir, Mr. Mathers, please. I have
family and …” Noi began.

James placed the gun to his head and
chambered a bullet. Noi began to cry.

“Before I pull the trigger, how about you?”
He addressed the driver.

“Yes, I was just his driver, though,” he said
with an accent that sounded like he was from South Africa.

James addressed Noi again. “One last time.
Did you know?”

“Yes, yes I know, yes, but I have no choice.”
He began to cry harder.

Multiple questions later, it turned out that
Noi did have a choice. He collected a ten percent commission, plus
the car sale, for each of the transactions. Noi was initially
reluctant to give up key codes and passwords, but after being
promised that no physical harm would befall his family, he
complied.

“You had a choice. Greed or the innocence of
children—you made your choice,” James said in a condemning
tone.

“Please, sir, I had to provide for myself and
my family,” cried Noi.

James lowered the gun he had kept pointed at
Noi during the questioning. He grabbed Noi’s carrier bag and
noticed it had a yin and yang symbol burned into the leather. He
snorted in disgust.

Joe had been right, in a sense, about the
“pouches.” Noi used his carrier bag to exchange only parts of his
records with the Tans. The Tans, in turn, did the same. This meant
that neither side had a complete record of any transaction at any
one time. This meant neither side could operate truly independently
of the other, and if one side somehow got busted, it allowed a
reasonably talented lawyer a way to get them off.

During the questioning, the part that really
got Ben worked up was finding out about the “training videos” or
“visit videos” potential masters could log into at their leisure.
This explained why certain cameras were in place, and why the
servers housed the video files. Noi explained most of this, but
when he messed up the servers, the driver jumped in.

“No, you idiot. Those servers had a 2048-bit
encryption and cycled the IP address to proxies. They said to tell
the truth, and I am not dying because you can’t explain a simple
set up. You ordered all the parts, so you should know!”

James gazed impassively at the man.
So
much for being just the driver.

When they were done answering questions, Ben
walked over with two shovels and commanded, “Dig.”