Aegis Rising (35 page)

“I’m just wondering, though,” Mariah said. “Keeping a lens clean is easy enough. But how would I wipe ‘dust’ off my mind?”

“Excellent question. As you would have noticed, a fair amount of your training is spent on achieving mental clarity. It may have taken different forms, whether through meditation or a range of physical activities, or simply by just remaining still. All combined, it helps to burnish the lens that is your mind. However, that is just one half of the equation. The other half requires vigilance in your day to day thoughts and actions.”

The five looked at one another as they tried to piece together what they’d heard. Aari, who seemed lost in thought, was the first to figure it out. “Personal responsibility,” he summarized.

Nageau was pleasantly surprised. “Exactly right. Aligning oneself with the universal precepts found in all of humanity’s cherished scriptures and traditions is the key. The more your thoughts and actions reflect these principles, the stronger your spirit becomes. The stronger your spirit becomes, the keener your mind. And the keener your mind, the greater your powers will be.”

“What are the universal precepts?” Tegan asked.

“It is quite simple, actually. It is something that has guided the thoughts and actions of human beings throughout time. Principles, such as the Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, or Nature’s Law as revered and applied by the founding fathers of your nation. These and other similar belief systems have been society’s protection against excesses. Sadly, these have lately been trampled on by the foot of apathy across the world.”

Jag let out a breath. “That’s a bit to take in.”

“It seems that way,” Nageau agreed, “but it is not a concept that will take you long to fully understand. Now, to recapture this discussion, the first thing you need to understand is that the secret to your powers lies in the keenness of your mind. To attain that keenness, you must remember that the training you are undergoing is one part of the equation. The other key part is vigilance in your thoughts and actions. With this understanding, you are now ready to progress to the second stage of your training. Before long, you will step into the third and final stage. It will be a marvelous experience.”

The five, realizing the meeting was drawing to a close, looked at each other again with anticipation. As they prepared to get up, Nageau held up a hand to halt them. “You know”—he gave the friends a shrewd smile—“one of the things you will be able to do as you sharpen your minds is to communicate with each other without speaking out loud.”

The five gaped at him, wondering if the Elder was toying with them. “Are you . . . are you serious?” Aari stuttered. “We’ll be able to speak to each other with our thoughts?”

“In time. We shall see. The Elders and I are certainly able to when we so wish.” Nageau rocked back on his heels and stretched. He looked each of the five in the eyes, observing the different shades, and then raised his head heavenwards with a smile, awed by the workings of the universe. Just before letting them go, he said, “We will have another gathering such as this one at the end of the second stage of your training just before you commence the final phase.”

The five dipped their heads at the Elder and headed to the exit of the temple. Nageau stood there as they walked away, feeling a sense of warmth and pride for them as if they were his own family. The five stopped and turned around to wave at him with smiles on their faces before strolling out.

As he watched them go, a lump grew in the Elder’s throat. His knowledge of the relentless foe they would be facing in the world outside as mentioned in the prophecy was of grave concern. The memories of the decision he made over two decades ago came crashing down again. He was burdened by thoughts of what may be at the heart of the storm outside, and if the decision he made at that time had exacerbated it. The fact that he would have to inform these younglings very soon of what they were being prepared for weighed heavily on him.
There is so much to do, and so little time
, he thought as he watched the five grow smaller in the distance.

39

T
he mining site at six thousand feet above sea level and a good four hundred feet below the mountain’s peak was teeming with activity. The crew had managed to repair most of the equipment and machinery with the delivery of spare parts two days earlier, and it looked like the weather would be clearing up for them.

In his office, Ajajdif conversed over the phone with Black and his team back in San Francisco. LeChamps was sitting on the opposite side of the table, half-listening to Ajajdif’s end of the conversation as he bit the earpiece of his glasses and looked through a page of a report he was yet to upload onto his iPad. The sides of his head were lightly grayed, something he tried to hide using hair dye to conceal the fact that he had just turned forty-two.

The chief geologist for Quest Mining stepped into the office a few minutes later. Abdul, clad in a tight t-shirt that accentuated her frame and her bright red hair tied back in a long ponytail, took a seat beside LeChamps. The smell of cigarettes was strong on her person. LeChamps grimaced. Attractive as she was, he did not find the smell appealing.

Ajajdif looked up. “Nice. We’re all here.” He put the call on speakerphone and leaned back in his chair, eyes half-closed. “As I was saying, we’ve got good news and bad news over here.”

Black sighed over the speaker. “How could there be bad news? We’ve shipped out everything you needed.”

“Yes, and that’s the good news. The crew is feeling very productive with the equipment now up and running properly. Within the last twelve hours, we’ve had a dramatic increase in our yield.”

“Already? That sounds good. Do you think we can make up for lost time and put this project back on schedule at this rate?”

Ajajdif motioned to LeChamps. The mining engineer cleared his throat and introduced himself before saying, “We switched the angle of the tunneling machine last night and we struck it big. We found a new vein that’s rich with deposits.”

In the background on Black’s end, Ajajdif, Abdul and LeChamps heard a cascade of praises. “That’s great,” Black said, sounding satisfied.

“It just took a little more digging around,” Abdul piped.

“To answer your question, Adrian,” Ajajdif said, “yes, we should be able to get back on schedule and be out of here in four weeks.”

Dattalo’s voice came on the speakerphone. “That’s the best news we’ve had in a while, Vlad. Once you guys get the required amount, we’re going to be the only organization in the world to have this quantity, or this mineral, for that matter.”

Black cut back in. “So that’s the good news. What’s the bad news?”

Ajajdif rested his elbows on his table and pressed his fingertips together. “The secrecy of our operation has been breached.”

There was silence on the other end until Black said acidly, “Breaches are unacceptable, Vlad. That’s what your security team is for.”

“Yes, I know. But these were just natives, not tourists or government authorities.”

“Natives? That place is inhabited?”

“Apparently.” Ajajdif took a drink from the mug of coffee that was resting on the table. “How do we deal with the intruders?”

“Quite frankly, I don’t care what you do, and I don’t want to know. But whatever you do, just remember that we need to maintain our cover. This operation must never go public, ever.”

“Understood. I’ll handle it. There is another small matter, though.”

“What is it?” It was plain to hear the impatience in Black’s tone.

“One of my tunneling machine operators was killed in an accident a couple days ago. His assistant was hurt too, and he’s recovering in the medic camp.”

Gasps were heard on the other end of the call. Black was stressed. “Died? He
died?
And you only tell me this now?”

“I have a hundred other problems to deal with, Adrian. I can’t keep ringing you up for everything.”

“Now we’re going to have to compensate the family!”

“Just tell them it was a workplace accident.”

A hard bang came over the speaker and Ajajdif presumed that Black had pounded his fist on the table. “Splendid. Wonderful. That’s just great. You know I’m going to have to report this to the boss, right?”

“Yes.”

“Just to forewarn you, you might be getting a call.”

“So be it.” Ajajdif sounded calm and collected, but fear had already begun to build up inside him and he felt its gnawing deep within his gut.

“Is there anything else to report?” Black asked.

“No. Well, actually . . . two men from my security team were injured while capturing the natives.”

“You mean to say that two men, trained in combat, were injured by some primitive savages living in a forest?”

“I don’t know, Adrian. You look at them and you know right off the bat that they’re not exactly unintelligent. They even look different. Heck, one of them is blonde and another has green eyes. Plus, when I went through the items they were carrying, I found a few interesting things—”

“Whatever. Look, point is, they can’t be allowed to ever go back, so you’re going to have to deal with them.”

“No problem. Oh, and thank you again for flying the parts and chemicals in. It fired up my guys into full action.”

“Glad to hear it. Are we done?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. We’ll get in touch later.” Black clicked off.

Ajajdif put down the satellite phone and pointed a finger at the door of his office. LeChamps and Abdul hesitatingly got up and left. When Ajajdif was certain he was alone, he picked up his radio and called for the head of his security team to come to his office.

“On my way, sir,” Hajjar responded, his voice like thunder over the radio.

Ajajdif picked up his mug and downed the rest of his coffee, waiting for Hajjar to arrive. He didn’t realize that his mind had roamed elsewhere until there was a knock on his door and Hajjar stepped in. The tattooed giant stood in front of his supervisor’s desk. “Good afternoon, sir.”

“And to you.” Ajajdif put his mug down. “I have something for you to do. I just got off a call with the head office and I told them about the trespassers.”

Hajjar listened intently as Ajajdif carried on. “They said that it doesn’t matter what we do with them, just that news of the operation cannot get out.”

Hajjar’s lips slowly spread into a humorless smile. “They really don’t care?”

“No. And they don’t wish to know either.” Ajajdif saw the eyes of the head of security already glazing over as he contemplated many tempting ideas as to how to get rid of the intruders. “Just bear in mind that we do not want to leave any trace.”

Hajjar sneered. This, he could do. He thought for a moment, and then a quiet growl rippled in his throat. “The Marauders are hungry.”

*  *  *

Hajjar walked out of Ajajdif’s office and jogged to the security post near the tunnel. He found one of the guards who was off shift with his ear buds plugged in and nodding his head to an unheard beat. “Dave!” he boomed. The guard thrashed in surprise, nearly dropping his mp3 player. He saw Hajjar and quickly snapped to attention while removing his ear buds and putting his device aside.

Hajjar grabbed a paper cup and went to fill it from the water dispenser. “I want you to go to the holding cell and help the guard who’s posted there move the intruders to the cave where we found them. I want them secured there properly.”

“They don’t like us getting near them, and they put up a good fight. We can’t move them while they’re conscious. Do we have permission to sedate them?”

“Yes.” Hajjar looked out of the post’s window, downing the water in his cup in one gulp.

The guard quickly moved around the room, collecting a syringe and vials of the tranquilizer. As he grabbed his gun and turned to head out of the post, the guard shot an inquiring look at Hajjar. “What are you planning to do with the intruders?”

“That’s none of your business. Just move them to the cave and leave them there. I’ll take care of them later.”

The guard walked out of the post and into the tunnel, pausing for a moment to watch the miners at work, then turned right toward the holding cell and knocked on the door. The guard currently assigned to watch the four intruders opened it and the two talked quickly.

“Dave, I hate going down that tunnel. Can’t you find someone else to do this?” the guard complained.

“Hajjar told me to take the guy who’s on shift.” He poked the other guard’s chest. “That’s you.”

“Haven’t you heard the talk? That tunnel can come down any time.”

“Well, yeah, but this is what we get paid to do. Just hurry and get this done.”

They approached the first of the bound intruders but the man squirmed, not allowing the guards to slip the needle into his arm. Frustrated, one of the guards slapped him across the cheek, leaving a bright red mark. “We’re not in the mood for games! Dave, hold him still.” The other guard obliged and finally they managed to inject the sedative into the captive’s arm. They repeated the tactic with the other three trespassers, who also struggled against them. The guards stepped back and waited for the drug to take effect. They saw one of the intruders already beginning to nod off.

“So did you hear what Ajajdif told the miners to do?” the guard on shift asked.

“No. What?”

“They’re using the leaching chemicals in the tunnel instead of just in the vats.”

“So? Who cares?”

“You do know what that stuff is made of, right?”

“No.”

“It’s a cyanide blend, you moron! It’s a dangerous poison and it’s soaking into the ground— if it gets into the groundwater it could affect any and every living organism it comes in contact with.”

“You tree-huggers are all alike, nothing but alarmists.”

The guard on shift shook his head and sighed. Caught up in their exchange, the two did not notice a pair of eyes looking intently at them, glaring. The intruder who was listening in stayed conscious for only a moment or two longer before the drugs kicked in and he passed out.

The guards watched, indifferent, as the intruders lost consciousness one by one. Removing the chains and cables that bound the trespassers, they dragged the men’s limp bodies to the cable conveyor that ran down to the cave where they’d been captured.