The Twelve Stones (53 page)

“You son of a bitch!” Emily screamed as she slapped Alex across the face. “What the hell did you get us into?”

Smiling somewhat, he rubbed his face, “Jesus! That hurt!”

“Good!” Emily snapped, “Maybe it’ll snap some sense into you. What the hell is goin' on?”

Alex sucked in a breath
,
intent on explaining everything, but realized it would take a lot longer than the few brief moments they had.

“There’s no time for
that
now
.
Y
ou
gotta tell me
:
did Kline have a stone on him? Did he take anything from here?” Alex asked urgently.

“There was a stone he had me grab.” Emily replied confused. “It was inside that…”
S
he waved at the
c
rystal
wall in front of them
.
“
…
crystal vault thing over there. Alex
…
”
H
er eyes were as wide as saucers
.
“I’ve never experienced or seen anything like it.”

Alex frowned. This was bad. If Kline had a second stone, there was no telling how powerful he’d be. Siobhan had warned against letting Kline get to this point. He looked at her, stroking her blood
-
matted hair.

“Look, I know it’s a crazy world you’ve been a part of for the last
24
hours, but believe me, if we don’t stop Kline right now, it’ll get a whole lot worse.” Alex took out his assault rifle and checked the safety. “Stay here and don’t come out for anything.”

Alex began moving quickly up the tunnel, when Emily, who had been confused by Alex’s rapid barking of orders, began following him up the tunnel.

“Hey, wait!”
s
he
cried out, “Kline rigged this whole place to explode.”

Alex looked back at Emily
,
incredulous. “Yeah, next time, on the list of priorities, mention bombs first!” He grabbed Emily’s hand
,
and the pair began sprinting out of the tunnel.

Chapter Forty-
One

Kline rubbed his new stone between his fingers as it sparked inside his pocket.
He
was a schoolboy, giddy in his new source of power. He smiled to himself. This was the moment that he ceased to be an extraordinary mortal, and moments away from becoming a God.

Two stones were now in his possession
.
O
ne
granted him incredible strength
;
the other
…
well, it
would need some testing, but Kline’s mind raced with possibilities. Whatever power this stone granted him, he was sure he would leverage it well in his life.

The mere thought of his newfound power made Kline lightheaded. He had dreamed of this moment for years, spent billions of dollars, wasting resources, men
,
and time away on dummy corporations, shell companies, everything in its place to weave a web of deceit and fraud
.
N
o
,
none of these activities could be traced to him.

In truth, he had become much more powerful than his allies in Washington had ever thought possible. After his successful collective privatization of mercenaries had gone so well, the influence he wielded through the globe extended even in the hottest of spots, where the CIA feared to tread.

If he could also capture Mr. McCray’s stone, nothing man had ever devised to kill a fellow human being would be able to stop him. He alone had the tools and knowledge to find the remaining nine stones, and no one would be the wiser.

By the time Kline was ready
,
he could take over quietly from within, and consolidate his power into a massive organization
.
T
hat
organization
would
then
be a quiet cancer in every country that allied itself to his company.

The
a
s
cent
would be so rapid
that
the general populace would have little choice but to accept it. Should anyone fight back (which he fully expected, and even looked forward to the challenge), his remarkable powers should be more than enough to protect him and his interests.

It was a good plan, one that he had gone over night after night repeatedly in his head, ever since the first moment he had held his stone so many years ago. Years of
thought and foresight
had gone into
every detail
. It was time for Rupert Kline to take his rightful place amongst history’s greatest rulers.

His mind, entranced with his future plans
,
was so distracted
that
he nearly stumbled over something. Looking down, he saw the paralyzed face and body of his number two, Geoffrey Tate. Kline sighed, leaned down
,
and picked his assistant up off the ground, lifting him up and over his shoulders
as
easily
as
a sack of potatoes.

“If I’m going to give you toys to play with, you have to be certain they
aren’t
turn
ed
back on you
,
” Kline said patronizingly.

Geoffrey could say nothing at all in return; the poison was still working its way through his system. He would not be able to speak for at least a few more
hours
.

“Women are always taking me by surprise
,
too. Don't feel so bad
,
” Kline said, clucking his tongue in sympathy.

Kline continued down the tunnel, smelling the fresh air of the entrance above.

“Smell that
,
Mr. Tate?” It means we’re only a few yards away from victory.” Kline exited the tunnel triumphantly.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you
,
Mr. Kline.” The voice called out from the bushes. Kline
looked around casually
.

“I’m sorry?” Kline called out politely. “I’m not used to having conversations with no face to put to
them
, so if you wouldn’t mind showing yourself
…
”

Scott removed himself from the shadows
,
pointing his MISAMP at Kline. “I told you
,
don’t move.”

Christina emerged from the bushes on the other side of the trail,
a gun in her hand
. She pulled the hammer back, cocking it loudly for Kline’s benefit. Siobhan remained in the shadows, observing it all from a safe distance.

“I watched you knock some needles out of the air
.
H
ow
about a bullet
?
C
an
you do that?” Christina snarled at him.

Kline sneered back at her. He looked at the two of them. They would be no match at all for his stone.

“I wouldn’t put so much stock in your stone
,
Mr. Kline.” A third voice from the shadows.

Alex emerged from the tunnel
,
holding Emily back from rushing Kline. This was their moment. They needed to do this right. Blind rushing a man who could easily turn them into Hamburger Helper was not a wise strategy.

“So, you’re all going to stop me
,
are you?” Kline asked
,
amused. He took stock of the situation around him, his body and mind refocusing into th
e
moment. He tossed Geoffrey’s body to the side, away from the
miscreants who dared to
threaten him.

“
Someone has to, and I believe I’m a better man to hold onto that stone there
,” Alex shot back. He motioned to Scott, who nodded at Alex and adjusted a knob on the MISAMP.

“I
would love
an honest debate about that
,
” Kline said spiritedly. “
But, since I simply do not have the t
ime to engage in such fluffery,
I’ll
instead
thank you to give me your stone
and be on my merry way
.”

Alex smiled. “You’re a little overconfident
,
don’t you think?” He motioned to his friends. “
In case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered.
”

Kline smiled and removed from his pocket the green and glowing stone. “Two stones are better than one.”

“Hey look, I have one of those.” Siobhan finally stepped forward, her earring flashing brilliant
ly
as her shape began to shift.

Siobhan’s entire body shook and expanded
.
A
s Scott, Christina, Emily
,
and Alex watched
,
the Irishwoman rapidly shifted into a dragon that could have come right out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Alex
never got tired of watching Siobhan transform. He smiled as he watched t
he dragon rear back on its mighty haunches and scream into the night sky, lighting it up with a flame fifty feet long.

Kline smiled and withdrew the green stone he had taken from Emily earlier.
As he concentrated
, sweat appeared on his brow, and the green stone flashed brilliantly.

Suddenly, the dragon stopped menacing Kline and began turning towards Alex and Christina. Screaming, it blew fire towards Alex, scorching his behind as he quickly jumped into the cave and away from the incoming fire.

“
What the…?” Scott cried out, and aimed the MISAMP at Siobhan.

“
OK, well that’s not something you see every day
,
” Alex muttered to himself, moving behind a rock outcropping which concealed him from Siobhan’s mad dragon form.

Kline smile
d
cruelly, the green stone glowing brightly in his hand as he watched the dragon go after Scott and Christina.

“
It’s the stone!” Alex cursed to himself.

Aiming the MP4 at Kline’s hand, he shot several times, catching him in the fist, making him drop the stone for a moment. Kline spat in dismay, and took out his PDA. Turning towards Alex, he smirked, “Boom.”

He clicked
the PDA once,
and
a ton of rock and rubble exploded all over
Alex’s
body, burying him beneath a landslide of material that now covered the entrance to Kline’s mineshaft.

Scott and Christina were running for their lives
.
T
he great flying dragon behind them screamed and began to blow fire right behind them. Suddenly, Scott and Christina ran into a cul-de-sac of rocks.

“
Can you climb?” Scott called out to Christina. She shook her head no. Scott turned and faced the oncoming dragon, extending his arm to protect Christina from the onslaught of fiery death. Closing his eyes, Scott waited for the dragon to roast them.

But instead, the dragon stopped, roaring in confusion, and began beating its wings, moving quickly back towards Kline and Alex. Whatever was controlling Siobhan had been stopped just in the nick of time.

Siobhan was furious. She watched Kline withdraw his second stone too late. After changing into her dragon form, she had intended on snapping the billionaire up in her massive teeth and taking him for a tour
of
the stratosphere. But
that second stone he was holding had clouded her thoughts
,
and suddenly, she had found her body completely under Kline's control. She remembered nothing about the last few minutes of her life
but
a few hazy green memories. Kline needed to be stopped
,
now
. Her wings beat the night air
as she sped towards Alex, hoping she could get there in time.

Kline cried out in pain as he examined the
damage
his hand
had taken
from Alex’s bullets. Grasping his bleeding hand, he picked up the mind control stone and placed it back in his pocket. There was no more time for
this foolishness
;
he needed to get out of Joshua Tree and regroup someplace else.

Hearing another terrifying roar behind him, he looked up to see Siobhan still transformed in the intimidating dragon body. The dragon
screeched, her claws
aimed directly for his head.

Kline grabbed a massive boulder from behind him with great effort. Slowly, he moved it off the ground, grimacing as his red stone shined brightly on his finger.