Aegis Rising (32 page)

As the joyful acceptance grew, Nageau signaled Saiyu to call upon the five to come and stand with them. As the group walked out from behind the amphitheater, all eyes turned to them, inspecting them closely. The five, though incredibly nervous, somehow managed to keep moving forward and positioned themselves in a row in front of the Elders. As they had learned to do in their training, they bowed to the Elders, then turned to face the crowd. They placed their hands over their hearts and dipped their heads at the villagers. The crowd broke into a roar of approval. The five blushed furiously, but straightened with smiles all around. Glancing back, they saw the beaming faces of Nageau, Tikina, Saiyu, and Tayoka. Even Ashack broke into a grin.

In the shadows at the far edge of the village square, a pair of cold, dark blue eyes narrowed. Hutar watched the proceedings stone-faced, his mind calculating. A few members of his group who were also there looked at him, trying to assess his thoughts, but his expression remained unreadable. He lowered his gaze to the ground as the five were showered with attention.

He rubbed his forehead, then looked up and jerked his chin at his comrades. Silently, he got to his feet and slunk away from the gathering. His comrades followed him. No one noticed them leaving, as they were all too caught up with the Elders and the five.

Once Hutar and his group were out of sight, they broke into a jog and headed for the stable. They slowed when they walked in so as not to alarm the horses, and Hutar’s companions jostled each other for places to sit on the bales of hay.

Hutar crossed his arms. “I had not expected the Elders to announce that the five’s training has begun so quickly. Nor did I expect them to be introduced as our
saviors
.” He hissed the last word derisively.

“To be fair, no one called them our saviors,” one of the younger boys said innocently.

Hutar snarled at him and the boy fell off the bale he was sitting on. “It was implied, you idiot.”

“Sorry,” the boy whimpered.

“What are we going to do?” one of the other boys asked. “Since we last met, we have not heard any plans from you.”

Hutar shot the boy a sharp glare and rested against one of the horses’ stalls, tilting his head back. “That was several days ago. I have a plan in place now.”

The group looked at each other with growing excitement. Despite himself, Hutar smiled slightly. How he loved the feeling of being the article of awe. “Settle, all of you.” He leaned forward and they in turn leaned in, eyes bright and attentive.

The words rolled off his tongue smoothly, intriguing his cohorts with his cold but charismatic ways. Delight arose from the group as he unfolded his plot. Once the scheme was laid out, he assigned each member their task.

The sun had long since set when the group exited the stable and dispersed to head off to their shelters. Hutar was the last to leave, and as he watched his group head their separate ways, he thought:
Failure is but a step toward success. The wolf attack had failed, but that was just the start. This time
—a sadistic growl emanated from deep within his throat—
I will succeed.

36

T
he twin rotors of the strange aircraft whirled in unison as it descended through the thick morning mist that cloaked the mountaintop. The air beating down from its blades created a helical vortex in the cloud. Appearing to float in the air, the Osprey’s descent was gradual as it approached the landing pad. With its nacelles in the vertical position, the huge plane hovered like a helicopter over the pad for several moments as the pilot made fine adjustments on his flight controls right before a perfect touchdown.

The miners who were on their break came to watch the landing. Some had their phones out to take pictures of the aircraft. Most had never seen an Osprey up close like this and were impressed. A crew was on standby as the pilot killed the aircraft’s engines. Two Bobcats and a couple of forklifts stood ready to help unload the cargo.

Ajajdif observed the proceedings from behind a pair of dark RayBan sunglasses. He stood with his hands in the pockets of his flat-front pants, waiting for the crew to get in place to transport the plane’s cargo. The pilot of the craft stepped out of the cockpit and moved away from his plane, taking his helmet off as Ajajdif made his way over to him. “Good morning,” he called out.

The young pilot looked up and smiled. “Morning.” He shook hands with Ajajdif, then removed his aviators and glanced around. “You guys sure are in the middle of nowhere. It was quite a flight getting out here.”

“That’s for sure.” Ajajdif motioned at the cargo that was being unloaded. “I really have to thank you for bringing all this. We’re in dire straits right now, but this will help us get back on track.”

“Hey, it’s my job.”

“You’ve got another loop to do to get what remains at Mayo, right?”

“Yeah. Once your guys are done here, I’ll be off. I should be back within five hours.”

“Great.” Ajajdif looked down as the radio clipped to his belt crackled and the voice of the site’s head of security came on.

“Sir, do you have a minute?”

Ajajdif grabbed the radio and, saying a quick goodbye to the pilot, moved off. “Yes, I do.”

“I’m heading down to check on the trespassers,” the man said. “What do we do with them?”

“Hold on, Elias. I’d like to meet the intruders myself. Are you heading there right now?”

“Yes sir.”

“Then I’ll meet you at the holding cell.”

“Sure thing.”

Ajajdif replaced the radio on his belt and walked away from the landing pad in the direction of the holding cell. The large processing vats were on his left, and as he glanced at them, he recalled his geologist’s worries about using the leaching compound outside of the vats. He dismissed the thought. “I’m hard-pressed for time and you want me to continue using just the vats? Bah!”

He passed the equipment engineer who was heading in the opposite direction to where the cargo was being unloaded. “The equipment is here, and I want it all out of the plane in double-time!” Ajajdif barked.

“Yes sir,” the engineer said. “Also, just so you know, my guys and I managed to lift the tunneling machine back onto its track.”

“Excellent,” Ajajdif muttered. “And not a moment too soon.”

He continued past the tall engineer and walked into the tunnel. On the right side upon entering was a doorless storage room. Ajajdif strode past two sets of shelves on either side of the room meant to hold spare parts for the machines and headed for a door at the very back. The door used to lead into the mining foreman’s office but was now converted to a holding cell. While Ajajdif was furious about the fact that the mining site had been breached, he was also a tad curious. He’d gotten a very brief update from his head of security early in the morning, but was looking to get more details.

He knocked and the door swung open, revealing a giant of a man with a shaved head who blocked Ajajdif’s view of what was behind him. Elias Hajjar, the head of the operation’s security team, was a Lebanese-born ex-mercenary and a true tattoo enthusiast. His muscular arms and thick neck were inked heavily, and his eyes weren’t unlike dark abysses. Standing at six feet, eight inches, Hajjar was nothing less than intimidating.

The head of security saw that it was his superior at the door and stepped aside so Ajajdif could enter. As Hajjar closed the door, Ajajdif studied the intruders for the first time. Four men sat with their hands tied behind their backs and their feet were in chains. They looked tired and badly beaten up with cuts and bruises covering most of what could be seen of their skin. As Ajajdif met the eyes of the men, he noticed varying levels of defiance in each of them. Without taking his gaze away from the intruders, he asked Hajjar, “Why are they restrained like this?”

In a voice deeper than Ajajdif’s, the head of security said, “These are not your hospitable forest hillbillies, sir. Three of my men were seriously injured when they tried to capture these louts last night. They put up one hell of a fight.”

Ajajdif covered his face with his hands in frustration upon hearing those words. “Continue.”

“The only way we were able to subdue them was by sedating them with tranquilizers.” Hajjar nodded toward the intruders. “They’ve got a real nasty bite to them.”

Ajajdif dropped his hands to his sides and glowered at the men tied in their chairs. He slowly crouched in front of one of the intruders and searched his face. The man met his eyes and put up a fearless front, but there were small, obvious signs that he was scared. His legs were shaking slightly, although he looked at Ajajdif and Hajjar as if they were the outsiders, not the other way around.

“Where are you from?” Ajajdif asked the intruder.

The man looked at him and said nothing. “They don’t understand English, sir,” Hajjar said. “We tried to communicate with them through hand signals and such, but they either don’t want to cooperate or they’re playing dumb. They certainly aren’t stupid.”

Ajajdif looked at the man for a while more, then stood up. “I can’t believe there are people actually living out here.” He scratched his eyebrow. “Where are your injured men?”

“They’re in the infirmary.”

Ajajdif shook his head. “HQ won’t be pleased to hear about this intrusion and loss of labor.”

“Does HQ really have to know, sir?”

Ajajdif stared up at the ceiling and nodded reluctantly. “I need to find out how they’ll want us to deal with the trespassers, and they are going to have to deal with the family of my tunneling machine operator. In the meantime, keep them here. I assume you know what to do if they put up a struggle.”

Hajjar cracked a merciless grin. “Yes, sir.”

Casting one last look at the intruders, Ajajdif walked out of the room and into the tunnel. He watched the miners scrambling around trying to repair the ore conveyor with the parts they just received, and then exited the tunnel to head back to the landing pad. A young woman was heading in the same general direction. Ajajdif recognized her as one of the Marauders’ keepers. He quickly caught up to her as she neared the metal building close to the landing pad where the animals were caged and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped in surprise but relaxed when she saw Ajajdif. “Is there anything I can help you with, sir?”

“Have the Marauders had their breakfast yet?”

“No, sir, they haven’t.”

“Excellent. Listen, why don’t you let me feed them? You can take a short break.”

She looked at him, eyes wide. “Really?”

Ajajdif nodded. The woman appeared relieved and thanked him, then trotted off to check out the Osprey whose cargo was just about unloaded. Ajajdif headed toward the building and paused at the steel door to punch a code into the security keypad. There was a buzz and he pulled the heavy door open, grunting, and slid into a six-by-six room with another entrance, this one with a thumbprint recognition system beside the door. As soon as the system evaluated Ajajdif’s print, a small light on the door turned from red to a flashing green. Ajajdif shoved the door inwards and entered. It was lit dimly inside. A woman who appeared a little older than Ajajdif walked toward him with a wrist-tied flashlight.

“Credentials?” she asked, businesslike, as she shone her light and examined him. When she recognized her supervisor, she lowered her hand. “Oh! Good morning, sir.”

“Good morning. I’m here to feed the Marauders.”

“Oh, really?” She sounded surprised. “Well, alright. If you could just step this way . . .” She led him down a narrow metal-walled hallway and opened yet another security door at the far end. As they stepped through they were immediately greeted by monstrous snarls.

The woman looked uneasy as she showed him where the creatures’ food was stored. Ajajdif noticed and she smiled at him apologetically. “No matter how many times I step through that door, I can never get used to the sound of these beasts.”

“That’s okay,” he soothed. “They can be quite unnerving. Thanks for bringing me—I can take it from here.”

“If you’re sure . . .”

“I am.”

The woman nodded and quickly walked back out and closed the door. Ajajdif grinned as he heard the hybrids growl again before the noises died down. Clasping his hands behind his back, he slowly marched down two rows of spacious cages—three on one side and two on the other—and caught glimpses of large shapes crouching at the far corners of their enclosures. Their dark yellow eyes scrutinized him with cold calmness as he went to grab their food. When they realized they were about to be fed, they slowly rose to their full height.

The Marauders, standing close to four feet at the shoulder and about six feet from their snouts to their cropped tails, were completely new creatures designed and created at Quest Biotech. They were the result of years of genetic manipulation and were enhanced with reconstituted DNA from some of the world’s most fearsome predators. They were ferocious and unpredictable; it would have been extremely difficult—and dangerous—to train them using traditional methods. In order to have effective control, the scientists at Biotech had surgically implanted nano-transducers into the brains and nerve centers of the creatures. A handheld transmitter gave their handlers complete control over these ultimate watchdogs.

The sound of the Marauders’ retractable, unsheathed claws on the titanium floor of their cages grew louder as they drew closer to the front of their barred enclosures. The cages had two-inch thick steel bars, as the hybrids had been known to bite through anything less than that.

“Hello, love,” he murmured, crouching down in front of one of the cages and sticking his hand through the bars to stroke the Marauder’s smooth head. He was one of only two humans the hybrids would accept any form of affection from, the other being Dr. Deol, their creator.

The Marauder blinked slowly, allowing Ajajdif to fawn over her for only a few seconds before pulling away and retreating back to the far side of her cage. He went around, greeting the other hybrids, and they all pulled back after a few seconds of contact.

It was hard to see the Marauders clearly in the low light, but the dimness allowed them to rest better due to their extremely sensitive vision. Ajajdif smiled. The Marauders were the most amazing creatures he’d ever seen and were the greatest asset to the security team. He moved from cage to cage, feeding the beasts the last of the raw chunks of meat from the grizzly bear that was killed some nights ago. Once he finished, he leaned back against the food storage door and closed his eyes, listening as the hybrids tore savagely at the meat.