Chapter Sixteen
Into the Mountain
Sparky with Ellanara sauntering along beside him, in her best impression of Eva, approached the checkpoint to the tunnel entrance of the military base side of the mountain. Talaric followed behind dressed in the obvious garb of a menacing henchman.
The guard on duty looked through the glass surprised and got to his feet abruptly, “Mister Vorstrom I thought you were gone for this evening!” The guard asked before his eyes strayed over to the exposed neckline of Ellanara’s ball gown.
“Well as you can see I am back. There’s been a bad accident out on the main road that will take hours to clean up so I diverted to back here. Open up now, I don’t want to be any later than I already am for the ball. I have kept my precious pet waiting long enough as it is!” Sparky said, as he patted Ellanara’s hand.
In dutiful fashion she batted her eyelashes at the man, who was slightly shorter than her and old enough to be her grandfather.
“Certainly Sir, just slide your badge and I’ll call ahead to make sure the rail car is at your disposal!”
“Excellent!” Sparky said, as he made a great search upon his person for his pass.
“It would appear that I forgot to transfer it with my change of clothes. No matter, open up anyway. Time is wasting and you know how I feel about the efficacy of time!”
The guard dragged his eyes back off of Ellanara’s chest to Sparky, “You know I can’t let you through without a pass Sir! It’s protocol!”
Sparky sharply said, “I am well aware what protocol is and is not! I did write it after all. There is no other way of reaching the ball except through the mountain and I am not wasting another precious hour’s time depriving my pet of the pleasurable evening’s experience that I promised her, in order to go back to my quarters and pick up the pass that I wrote the source key for!”
The guard was sweating now and visibly panicking.
He looked completely miserable as he repeated, “I’m sorry sir, but I need a pass.”
Sparky studied him for a minute under an intense stare that left the guard shaking, “I commend you for your dedication Mister Coulson at your assigned task, but what do you suppose will happen to you tomorrow when I will return with my pass, after having disappointed by lady here of the previous night’s entertainment?” Sparky spoke several words then in a foreign language that visibly whitened the guards already white complexion.
The blast door opened and Sparky stopped his verbal assault and stepped through it with Ellanara, “A wise decision that you have made this night Mister Coulson. I will make sure that you do not live to regret it.”
Sparky made as if to continue through into the tunnel beyond, but Talaric piped up.
“What about the package Sir?” He asked holding up a large brown parcel.
“Oh yes!”
Turning back to the guard Sparky asked, “I have a package which I do not wish to leave in the facility. I there someplace that I could leave it where we can pick it up on our return through the mountain?”
The guard pointed to a shelf and Talaric slid the package onto it.
“Thank you. You have been most helpful.”
The guard nodded wanly and watched as the three of them stepped down the corridor.
Sparky stopped and called back, “Mister Coulson.”
The guard shot back up to his feet and turned, “Yes Sir?”
“Since this is somewhat a breach in protocol on your part I should think it wise for you to not mention our presence in the facility.”
Sounding choked the guard responded, “Yes Sir!”
The three of them continued on down the hall. After a while Talaric chuckled, “What did you say to him Sparky to turn him so white?”
With a somewhat wry expression Sparky answered, “Not worth repeating I’m afraid in present company.”
“Hey! I want to know too!” Ellanara exclaimed.
“No my dear. There are some things that you’re better off not knowing about.”
The tunnel came to an opening where the rail car was parked off to one side. Being after hours there was a minimum of personnel and while there were some probing looks, most of which were directed at Ellanara. No one stopped them.
The rail car clicked on its tracks, as it raced along through the mountain. The ride took an average of three minutes to complete. Both Sparky and Talaric pulled out pistols and screwed silencers onto the ends of them.
Ellanara raised her eyebrows at the seriousness of their impending adventure. Talaric looked at Ellanara and gave her a curious smile.
“What?” Ellanara asked defensively.
“I was just thinking about how all grown up you are now. The last time I saw you; you were in pigtails and were a first-class prankster. Now… Look at you. You’re beautiful, poised, and so smart; you make me feel stupid half the time.”
“You’re not the only one there my friend.” Echoed Sparky smiling benevolently at Ellanara, who was blushing profusely at their combined praise of her.
“You are utterly enchanting my dear, it’s a pity that this couldn’t be a simple ballroom experience for you instead of the desperate mission that it is.” Sparky added.
Ellanara didn’t know what to say to all the praise other than to acknowledge in some deep part of her the need every woman has to be told that their beautiful by the men in their lives.
The rail car started slowing down and Talaric and Sparky got up and moved to the door.
Ellanara start to get up, but Talaric motioned her back down, “Just stay here until we clear the way. Leave the package under your skirt in here under a bench.”
The rail car stopped and the doors opened and Sparky and Talaric stepped out. There were the rapid clicks and chokes of the silenced pistols and the sounds of bodies falling.
A hand appeared motioning to Ellanara and she quickly followed along. This for the most part, would be her first mission and seeing death up close was new to her, but she kept her head up and followed dutifully after her brother as Sparky led the way.
They stepped into a large oval shaped room and the two pistols choked away again several times before falling silent. It was a little too much for Ellanara and her hand flew to her mouth as her stomach heaved. Suddenly a wastebasket was before her nose and she grabbed it and retched violently into it.
Wiping her mouth off with a rag that was handed to her she set the wastebasket down and straightened up to see them both expectantly looking at her.
“What?”
Sparky gestured around him to the room and said, “Can you handle all this and direct us from here?”
Ellanara looked around at all the blinking lights and computer monitor displays and thought how similar it appeared to the place where she spent most of her time.
“Yes I’ll manage.”
She went to what looked like the main control station and sat down in a chair trying to ignore the still figure on the floor beside her as she did so.
The similar comparison between her lab and this one ended as her fingers began to tap the keys, as she sought to find her way around in the archaic technology before her.
She shook her head in frustration after several minutes of fast paced typing.
Talaric leaned over to Sparky and whispered a question to the wide-eyed Sparky, “What’s the matter can’t she get into the system?”
Slack-jawed Sparky shook his head no, “No, she owns the system! She’s waiting for it to catch up with her!”
Talaric looked up in shock at the blazing fast flip of menus that were flashing by on all the computer screens faster than the eye could read.
“She can’t have sparked all this just from her typing could she?”
Sparky shook his head his eyes full of wonder, as if he was grappling with a completely alien concept to his line of reasoning.
Slowly as if talking in a daze he said, “Impossible to elicit so much with just a few minutes of typing. She has to be doing most of it in…” He trailed off, as if he didn’t believe it himself.
“My head.” Ellanara finished for him softly.
“But how is that possible? How are you relaying the information?”
She glanced at the screen in front of her for a moment and then to Sparky, “It’s not very easy to explain, but I’ll simply say this. God created humanity with an amazing capacity to reason and create. Humans today rarely access more than eight to ten percent of the creative capacity we were gifted with. Some are born with more awareness than others. I was born with twenty percent and through vigorous process of continuing to learn I have increased my capability to well over sixty percent. The human body is such an engineering marvel of creation Sparky! I’m learning more and more all the time and no matter how much I learn there is still always more to find out. God truly is the master of all creation and I give Him the glory for what He has enabled me to become and allowed me to see. Mysteries that I can’t fully comprehend, if I ever will. Please don’t be jealous of me Sparky!”
“Oh my dear it isn’t that! I’m not sure I would want the responsibility of what you know my dear. I grapple enough as it is with what I do know. But why so much effort to gain control of this facility? That I can’t understand. You have three supercomputers completely maxed out past capacity!”
Her expression darkened, “I’ll tell you about it later. Let’s just say things are worse than we thought and that I have bought us some time to find the bar-Seth. The way to Eleanor’s cell is through there. The crystals they took have already been shielded. They will be delivered to you. You’d better hurry; they’re trying to trace the location of the breach in their network, when they find it they’ll be here in force.”
Talaric and Sparky shared a telling look at each other and broke out of the trance they had been under, as they tried to puzzle out how the crystals would be brought to them. They headed for the part of the facility where Ellanara had indicated that Eleanor was being held.
“Talaric?”
Talaric looked back at his sister, “Remember to pull your hat down low to shield your face.”
He nodded and then they left her alone, as they headed for Eleanor’s holding area. Doors opened before them as they came near them. Long glass lined laboratories were arrayed to either side of the hall as they walked.
Researchers and scientists alike pounded on the glass their voices muffled beyond recognition as they screamed to be let out of their prisons. The hall was empty and they soon entered an area of what looked like holding cells. A door opened and they stepped through it. Eleanor was laying on a cot.
A look of relief washed across her bruised face at the sight of them, but the persistent rowdy Britt in her said, “Took you bloody well long enough. They were about to start hacking off limbs!”
Talaric had to do everything he could to restrain himself as he saw the sorry condition that she was in. She had fingers missing off both hands and it was apparent that what she had said hadn’t really been a joke.
He picked her up into his arms as gently as he could and carried her toward the door the blood pounding hard in his veins, as he focused on getting her to safety and not acting out in the consuming desire to destroy these people.
Eleanor tapped the two remaining fingers of one hand against his chest consolingly, “It’s alright Captain.”
“No it’s not!” Talaric bit out from between gritted teeth.
There was a woman, as white as a sheet, standing in the hall outside with a briefcase in one hand.
She held it out to Sparky quivering like a leaf, “The crystals and the map.”
Sparky took the case and opened it briefly and studied the contents. Nodding he shut the case and brought up his pistol and shot the woman.
She slunk down to the floor slowly, as she clutched at her middle her eyes unbelieving, “But I brought you the case?”
“Yes you brought me the case and this morning you were no doubt lined up outside this cell taking bets with your coworkers as to how many fingers would come off today just as you have done countless times in the past no doubt. Your work and your life have been a complete waste! Shame on you for your heartlessness! Now go and collect your reward!”
The woman’s head sagged bitterly forward, as Sparky turned and followed after Talaric.
Reaching the control room they found Ellanara standing ready to depart with them.
Sparky looked at her questioningly, “This facility, I want it destroyed! Nothing good has come of this place for many years now.”
Ellanara nodded, “Already taken care of Sparky, we need to get out of here!”
She led the way and soon they were passing fallen guards.
“Knockout gas.” Was all Ellanara gave by way of explanation for the collapsed guards.
They stepped through the cleverly hidden false wall door and into the chalet above. They could hear that the ball was in full swing.
Eleanor lifted her head off of Talaric’s chest tiredly and looked around at the fine furnishings all around them, “You’ve got to be joking! They’re having a blinking party!”
“Shhh!” Ellanara whispered putting a hand over Eleanor’s mouth.
Sparky touched an earbud in his ear, “Eva is everything okay?”
A few seconds passed and Talaric started to feel the beat of his heart pick up. Her voice came in clear over the com in their ears.
“The packages are delivered and we are waiting with guest in the northwestern sitting room ground floor.”
“We’re on our way dear.” Sparky said.
He opened the briefcase again and took out its contents, which he put into a small metallic looking bag that he had brought out from beneath his coat. He reclosed the case and locked it.
They made their way through the chalet by way of side rooms, avoiding the ballroom and its increasingly drunk and rowdy occupants.
The sitting room door opened and Roric stepped to the side holding it open. Talaric stepped inside to see Sparky’s mirrored self trussed up in a chair and gagged, with a pair of earphones on his head. Eva stood off to the side of him with a little canon clutched in her hand.
Finally they were here and we could leave. What a relief that would be!
I saw Eleanor and I stepped forward to her. I saw her hands and tears came to my eyes.
She had a sudden desperate look in her eyes and asked, “Raffi you found him safe?”
“Yes! He’s safe all because of you Eleanor. He’s waiting for you.” I said as I leaned forward and gave her a kiss on her cheek softly.
She seemed to fall into a relieved sleep against Talaric’s chest. I brushed some of her hair out of the way from her bruised face. She was still beautiful.
My eyes rose to Talaric’s and we shared an unspoken emotion at how good it was to see each other safe again.
I heard Sparky talking behind me, “Did he give you much of a fuss?”
Roric snorted and started to say something, but I wheeled around and cut him off.
“Not one word! Not one word!” I said forcefully, my cheeks completely red.
Roric couldn’t help but crack a smile and said, “We managed Sparky.”
Sparky didn’t seem to care about what the underlying story to my embarrassment might be thankfully. He had eyes only for his brother.
He set the case down and pulled a syringe with a clear looking fluid inside of it out of his breast pocket. His brother’s eyes lit up with fear at the sight of the needle and what it contained. Sparky reached forward and pulled the headphones off his brother.
“You remember what this is don’t you Evon? You should, after how many of them you stuck me with over the years. After all this treatment is one of your defining achievements.”
Sparky stuck the needle in as his brother violently fought against his restraints his eyes wide and panicked. He abruptly went completely slack as the solution in the needle was fully injected. His eyes rolled around and his breathing was shallow.
“Untie him.” Sparky said calmly.
As Roric went about releasing Evon, Sparky exchanged the memory chip in the headset player for another, which he took from his pocket.
Talaric who was watching the scene that was unfolding was mildly irritated, because this entire setup hadn’t been in the planning that he was aware of, “What’s in that stuff?” He asked.
“It’s a lie serum of sorts I suppose you could say. It scrambles the subject’s memories temporarily and makes the subject open to influence through programming. It’s most often used to change a key witnesses testimony or turn an enemy agent back on their own side in a suicide bomb attempt.”
Sparky picked up the empty case and sat it on his brother’s lap.
“When he awakens in twenty minutes or so he will believe that he is a secret agent tasked with carrying the case to safety and to avoid capture at all costs. The case no doubt has a tracking feature to it. He’ll lead them on a merry chase for a while at least. When he comes around it’s doubtful that they’ll believe him anyway and instead believe him to be a traitor. Come let’s go. Eva is the smoke ready?”
“Yes.”
“Trigger it then dear and the bombs if you would, Talaric.”
I reached up to the arranged piles of decoratively laid up hair on my head. My thumb found the end of the hairpin I was in search of and I pressed it. Screams erupted from the ballroom floor as billowing clouds of smoke filled the brightly lit scene, closely followed by the dull thumps of the floor beneath them, as Talaric detonated the bomb on the shelf at the military base and the one under the seat of the rail car that Ellanara had placed.
In a mass panic everyone fled for the outdoors and their vehicles. We joined the flood of panicked humanity fleeing outside. Once outside we avoided the vehicles and headed towards an old observation point on the chalet grounds.
The road leading down the mountainside would be shut off within moments by security forces stationed there. We arrived at the observation point and to some extent began to strip off some of our clothes.
The skirt part of my dress tore away where it was designed to. My dress now gone my legs were bared to the chilly night breeze. I did not like the cold of this place at all!
I much preferred my native jungle like atmosphere than the sharp cold of this place. Quickly I went about ripping the two harnesses off of the inside of my dress where they had been artfully sewn into it. I slipped into mine clicking it into place and then I helped Talaric slip the extra one onto Eleanor. I caught his gaze traveling up my bare legs to land on the holster strapped high up on my left thigh.
“Nice!” Was all he said, but I felt myself turn several shades of red in the aftermath of his comment and I was glad it was dark, except for the glimmer of the half moon.
I wasn’t at all sure about this next part of the plan. At some point in the past one mode of transportation to the castle chalet had been by the use of a cable car that was no longer in use, but the cables for it still hung stretched down over the gorge below. If we didn’t all die, some of us certainly would, that was for sure.
Even if I made it safely to the bottom I would surely perish from frostbite. I wasn’t ready when I was abruptly lifted off of my feet and hooked onto the little wheel contraption that someone had already snapped onto the old rusty cable. With a half choked off scream I started out over the edge as someone pushed me away with a hand to the small of my back.
Oh God! Oh God please!
I picked up speed and heard the grinding of the little breaks in the pulley contraption overhead, as it tried to slow me down as sparks kicked out into the night air.
It was so cold and I was so going to die. I watched the ground looming up closer and closer and I had to close my eyes. I didn’t want to see my end come. It was bad enough that I was going to have to briefly feel it.
Strong hands jerked me out of midair to an abrupt stop and I grudgingly opened my eyes, which was hard because it felt like my tears of fright had frozen my eyes shut.
A blanket came out of somewhere and was wrapped around me. I clung to it, as I realized how bad my teeth were chattering. I was going to chip off all my teeth at the rate my jaw was hammering away.
Suddenly I was in the front seat of an SUV with Katie across from me in the driver seat, “Oh you poor thing!” Katie exclaimed as she cranked up the heat.
Oh blessed heat!
“Thank you!” I managed to chatter out.
After several long minutes the convoy of vehicles began to move down an old logging road. We were all going to get away. It was hard to imagine how that could happen, but it was.
Dimly I heard Eleanor mutter from the backseat where she lay with her head on Talaric’s lap, “At least the ruddy landing gear deployed this time!”