The Atlantis Plague(131)

The response was swift. “You are cleared for landing, Mr. Vale.”

David’s landing was bumpy at best, but it didn’t evoke a reaction from either of his passengers. They were on the ground, and they were alive. And so was Kate, as far as he knew. One step at a time.

As David, Janus, and Milo exited the aircraft, David spotted a convoy approaching the airfield. He subconsciously tightened his grip on his assault rifle.

The convoy stopped, and the door of the lead Humvee swung open. The Berber chief, the same one who had branded him days earlier and helped him take the base, stepped out and sauntered over to him. A smile spread across her face.

“I thought perhaps that I would never see you again.”

“Likewise.”

She grew serious. “Have you returned to resume your command?”

“No. Just passing through. I need a jeep.”





Fifteen minutes later, David was driving recklessly toward the hills where he had emerged, days earlier, when he’d left the Atlantean ship wearing an Immari colonel’s uniform.

“I don’t know where the entrance is,” David called back to Janus.

“I’ll direct you,” Janus replied.

They drove on for what felt like an eternity to David. The slope grew steeper and the rocky terrain more treacherous. With each passing second, he imagined his chances of rescuing Kate slipping away.

Finally, Janus tapped his shoulder. “Stop here.”

David pulled up next to a steep rock face. Before he’d even come to a complete stop, Janus bounded out and started striding purposefully ahead. David and Milo hopped out and tried to catch up.

“What’s the plan, Janus?” David shouted ahead. Janus had refused to share any real details of his plan on the plane ride, and that made David nervous.

“We’ll get to that,” Janus called back. He turned a corner, and when David cleared the turn, the scientist was gone. David spun around, searching. The rock face of the mountain to his left looked like the one he had emerged from, but David wasn’t sure.

“Hey!” David called. He ran to the rock face and felt it. It was solid. He paced back and forth. Milo merely stood there, as if he were waiting in line for something.

“Janus!” David screamed. Janus had betrayed him. This was his plan all along—

Janus emerged right out of the solid rock, and as he did so, the projection of the rock face dissolved behind him. “I had to disable the forcefield. Follow me.”

“Oh. Well, you could have…” David shook his head and fell in behind Janus, who led them down the tunnel the cube had carved—the path David had followed out. They took the same elevator David had used.

During David’s time here, all the doors had been locked. Now they opened as the three men approached.

Janus cut left, leading them into a room with four doors.

“What now?” David asked.

“Now we wait. If I’m right, Kate will know what to do. She will not only release the tube that holds Ares, she will open the entire ship. That will be our opening. It will be a very, very short window to do what we have to do.”

Janus related the rest of his plan, and David merely nodded. He was out of his element; he had no choice but to trust Janus.

David turned to Milo and held out his sidearm for him to take.

Milo eyed it, then took a small step back.

“Milo, if anyone besides us comes through that door, you have to shoot them.”

“I cannot, Mr. David—”

“You have to—”

“I know. I must do it to survive. But it is not in me. I know if the time comes, I cannot pull the trigger. I cannot take another life. On my journey to the Ark in Malta, I learned many things. The most important thing I learned is who I truly am. I am sorry to disappoint you, Mr. David, but I also cannot lie to you, and I will not pretend to be something I am not.”

David nodded. “Believe me, I’m not disappointed, Milo. And I hope the world never gives you time or reason to change.” For a brief moment, he thought about himself, in his grad school days, before that building had buried him and started him on his own journey of vengeance.

Janus walked to the wall. A panel opened as he approached. He took out another yellow cube and began working his fingers in the light that emerged around it.

He returned to Milo and handed him the cube. “This is a cube similar to the one I used in the catacombs under Malta. It will not take a life, but it will incapacitate everyone within reach—you as well, Milo. And it won’t work on Atlanteans, obviously. But perhaps it will give you some time, time for an ally to arrive.”

“Got any more high-tech weapons?” David asked.

“Nothing of use. Just follow the plan. And follow my cube.” Janus inched closer to the portal door and held the cube up, ready to release it.