Captured (The Prometheus Project Book 2) (15 page)

While Ryan was speaking, Tezoc shuffled a step or two closer to Ben Resnick and the equipment. Noticing this, two mercenaries on that side moved closer together, pointedly blocking his access.

The tide was beginning to turn! Ryan knew he was reaching the five mercenaries. Several of them raised eyebrows and glanced at each other meaningfully. The boy posed no danger. Why was Tezoc so afraid of what he might say?

Hanly considered Ryan’s argument and knew his fellow mercenaries were doing the same. Even though Tezoc was acting irrationally, Hanly was very loyal to the alien and found it a struggle to even consider disobeying his orders. But if the boy was right, his life depended on doing so now. Besides, he told himself, he wasn’t really refusing an order as much as he was delaying it for five minutes. Finally having come to a firm decision, Hanly turned his weapon away from the boy and trained it on Tezoc. “I say let’s hear the kid out.”

There were nods and low murmurs of agreement all around. Hanley now had the full support of the soldiers—at least temporarily.

“You have five minutes,” said Hanly evenly. “Use them wisely.”

“The kid’s got nothing!”
bellowed Tezoc. “Whatever he says is a lie! If trying to create an exit out of this city will kill us all, why am I still standing here? He has a great imagination and he’s quite clever, but he’s trying to sell you a bill of goods. Just remember you’re listening to nothing but a fantasy story.”

“Well I, for one, am curious to hear this fantasy story of his,” said Hanly. “None of us are stupid, regardless of what you might think. You can’t get this far in the soldiering business without being able to think for yourself.
We’ll
decide if what the boy has to say makes sense. So no more interruptions!” he said with finality.

Hanly knew he had to be forceful with Tezoc, even though he didn’t want to be, because all of his experience told him it was vital that he listen to Ryan. But he had every intention of making it up to the alien later—more than making it up to him. Despite this small hiccup, he was not about to let Tezoc down.

Tezoc fumed but said nothing further.

Hanly nodded at Ryan. “Go ahead,” he said, and then, frowning deeply, added, “Oh, and son, Tezoc makes a good point about his still being here when we’re all about to commit—as you describe it—mass suicide. I’ll be quite interested to hear your explanation for this.”

“The explanation is very simple,” replied Ryan. He pointed to the tall alien. “You see, that man isn’t Tezoc Zoron,” he said with absolute conviction. “The real Tezoc Zoron has no intention of being here when we destroy ourselves.”

C
HAPTER
21
A Convincing Argument

R
yan’s bold assertion hit the gathering like a bombshell, stunning mercenaries and members of the Prometheus team alike.

“Tezoc was right,” snapped Hanly angrily once the commotion this caused had died down. “This
is
a fantasy story.”

Ryan quickly raised his right hand, palm outward. “Let me finish,” he said. “I know it sounds crazy. You said I had five minutes.”

Hanly thought for a few seconds and then nodded. “This had better be good.”

Ryan had been holding his breath and exhaled loudly in relief. Beside him, Regan was thinking furiously, assuming he was right and using this as the key to connect the dots for herself.

“Okay,” began Ryan. “What do we all know about Tezoc?”

“I thought you said this guy
isn’t
Tezoc,” interjected one of the mercs.

“Don’t worry about that for a second,” said Ryan in frustration. He paused and began again. “What do we know about Tezoc? We know he’s an advanced alien. And we can guess he has amazing intelligence and abilities, even among his own kind, because he was able to escape an escape-proof prison and come to this city. And he plans very carefully and doesn’t leave anything to chance.”

Ryan paused to let the group digest what he had said. “Finally,” he added, “we know he has telepathic abilities.”

Ryan could tell from the group’s body language they agreed with everything he had said so far. He knew that his very life depended on his ability to make a convincing argument.

“Tezoc let everyone know that he can use these abilities to sense and detect the minds of adults around him,” he continued. “But what if he can do a lot more with these powers than he’s letting on? What if he can use them to enter people’s thoughts? What if, for one person at a time, he’s able to control them completely? Turn them into his puppets—extensions of himself?”

“And your evidence?” said Hanly, still attentively holding his weapon on Tezoc.

“My evidence is that this is the only way that any of this makes sense—so it has to be right. Let me review everything that’s happened here from the beginning and you’ll understand what I mean. Eight days ago Tezoc escaped and arrived in this city.”

“How do you know this happened exactly eight days ago?” asked a mercenary.

“I guess I can’t tell them about the telepathic warning,”
Ryan broadcast to his sister,
“or they’ll think I’m crazy for sure.”
Aloud he said, “Because my sister and I saw something funny last Friday that we thought might be an alien. Maybe he was here before last Friday, but I know he was here then.”

“Go on,” said Hanly.

“Because we thought we saw an alien we asked Carl … Colonel Sharp,” he corrected, “to conduct a security sweep of the city. He didn’t find anything. But later we learned that he had lost his memory of that day. He didn’t remember our conversation and he didn’t remember ordering a sweep.”

Ryan raised his eyebrows. “And while we’re talking about the colonel’s memory loss, have any of you forgotten stuff that happened to you during the past week? Found out you did things you don’t remember doing?”

From the funny looks on the invaders’ faces, Ryan knew he had scored points—vital points. His gamble had paid off in a big way. If he was wrong about this,
they would have been more resistant to further arguments. But he was right!

All five of the mercs nodded with troubled looks in their eyes. Each had had brief memory losses they had explained away to themselves. But none of them had discussed this, even with each other. So how had the boy known? They looked at Ryan with a new respect, now very inclined to take him seriously. Whatever story he was telling, it wasn’t
all
imagination. And the implications of these periodic memory losses were quite disturbing.

Ryan nodded back at the mercs. “A pretty bizarre coincidence, don’t you think,” he said. “But I’ll come back to this in a second. Let me continue with what I think happened in the order it happened. I think the colonel
did
find Tezoc during that sweep. Or Tezoc found him. As I said, I think Tezoc can totally control another person—completely take over their body and mind. But not easily. My guess is he can only control one person at a time—and that this takes major concentration and effort on his part.”

“These are fascinating guesses,” admitted Hanly. “But I still don’t see how you came to your conclusions.”

“First, Colonel Sharp lost his memory of the entire first day that Tezoc was here. Second, Tezoc had to leave this city to recruit his team and then break back in
with all of you. This should have been impossible to do without tripping any alarms, even with advanced alien technology. The only way he could have done it is if the head of security were helping him. The only way.” Ryan paused. “But Colonel Sharp would
never
help him,” he said with absolute conviction. “No way. Not even if his life depended on it.”

“I know of the colonel’s reputation,” volunteered one of the mercs. “He is said to be a man of impeccable honor.” The soldier grinned and then added, “I guess nobody’s perfect.”

Hanly nodded. “I’m also familiar with his reputation. And I agree that Colonel Sharp would never have sold out this project.” He paused, a concerned look now on his face. “When Tezoc laid out his plan for us, he had all the security codes, knew all the fail-safes, knew when guard shifts changed and even the personal habits of the guards. He mapped out a flawless strategy. We joked that he knew as much about security as the man who ran it, but we let ourselves believe he had acquired it using advanced technology.”

Ryan shook his head. “The colonel helped him without knowing it. Tezoc invaded his mind and controlled him like a puppet. Then Tezoc erased his memory. It’s the only possible explanation.”

Ryan waited for this to sink in and then continued. “Once Tezoc left the city, he took control of a super-tall man who he used from a distance to do everything
else. The first thing he had his tall puppet do was to recruit his army. And you’re all here, so it’s obvious he succeeded. But think about it. He shouldn’t have. If you were all thinking normally, would you ever have trusted him? Yes, Tezoc probably had a ton of money. Being able to completely control someone—say a bank president—can help you become rich very fast,” noted Ryan. “But he made all kinds of crazy claims. He said—or had his puppet say at any rate—that he was an alien. He told you there was an alien city deep underground. And he claimed to have security information that should have been impossible to get.” Ryan paused. “But you couldn’t have known if there really was an alien city until you actually stepped through the entrance in the cavern. And your lives would depend on his information about security being totally accurate and up to date. If you were acting normally, you’d think he was insane, or at least you’d be extremely suspicious. Would you really risk your life to attack an alien city—taking his word that there was such a thing in the first place—without carefully checking out who he really was and where he got his information?”

Heads were shaking in disbelief all around. The boy made some excellent points and they were beginning to seriously question their own behavior.

“If Tezoc was wrong about anything,” continued Ryan, “you’d fail instantly. And even if there really was an alien city, and you were able to capture it, you had to
know you’d have to fight off the country’s entire army to keep it.”

The mercenaries were blinking now as if coming out of a fog. They were in complete confusion. Why
had
they signed on for this? Why
had
they followed Tezoc so blindly? When they broke into the city, they had truly kicked a hornet’s nest. The kid was right. How could they have failed to realize that even success would only buy them a war they couldn’t possibly win?

Hanly voiced what everyone was thinking. “You’re absolutely right. No amount of money in the world could have gotten us to agree to this. Under normal circumstances,” he added pointedly.

Ryan nodded. “Exactly. You never would have agreed to it—unless you had a strong push. Unless Tezoc snuck into your minds and searched your memories. Then he would know exactly what arguments would work on you. He probably controlled you during this time and then erased your memory of it. Even that wouldn’t be enough. He would have had to slightly adjust your mind, your way of thinking. Make you more open to his arguments. Change you so you’d be greedier than normal; less suspicious than normal. Change you so you wouldn’t think as clearly as normal. Even increase your feelings of loyalty to him once you agreed to join him.”

The soldiers looked ill. They knew Ryan was right. It was the only way to explain how they had totally
lost the judgment that had kept them alive for so many years in a dangerous profession. It was the only way to explain why they were so fiercely loyal to the alien. Why questioning any of Tezoc’s orders, no matter how strange or irrational they were, had been so incredibly difficult for them to do.

Ryan continued to press home the point relentlessly. “Captain Hanly. You were about to shoot an unarmed kid. You didn’t, but you were pretty close. I know you’re a mercenary, but I can’t believe this is part of the mercenary code.”

Hanly shook his head in horror. He knew Ryan was right. He had resisted Tezoc’s order, but under normal circumstances he would have flat out refused it. He wasn’t a saint but he didn’t shoot unarmed children. Perhaps psychos like Brice might, but not him. But he had been close. He had almost pulled the trigger.

“Tezoc made you more loyal to him and more likely to follow his orders,” explained Ryan. “Fortunately for me—for all of us—you were still yourself enough that you didn’t do it. I think he has to be very close to someone—or even in contact with them—when he takes control of them. After that they can be separated and he can still keep control. But he can’t seize control from a distance.” Ryan paused. “He couldn’t give up control of his tall puppet here to take control of someone else just now. Not from a distance.”

“How do you know that?” asked Hanly.

Ryan shrugged. “If he could have, he would have done it already,” he replied simply.

Ryan knew he had completely won the mercs over. He was no longer the enemy. They were hanging on his every word and knew he was right. They were horrified to realize that Tezoc had entered their minds and manipulated them against their will.

Hanly signaled to two mercenaries closest to Tezoc. “Let’s make sure he can’t go anywhere,” he said.

The soldiers immediately went to work binding Tezoc. He didn’t complain and he didn’t resist. His eyes were open but he was very still, as if he were moments away from falling asleep.

“While you’re at it,” said Regan. “Do you think you could free the prisoners?”

Hanly considered. “I don’t see why not. I guess in a way we’re all on the same team now.”

Ryan frowned deeply. While it was great that the mercenaries were now on their team, at least for the time being, he knew something that Hanly did not. He knew that their team was losing. Losing badly.

In fact, he was almost certain that their team had already lost.

C
HAPTER
22
Connecting the Dots

A
fter the prisoners’ plasticuffs were cut, the entire group relocated so everyone was more comfortable. The five mercenaries sat around the smooth, yellow table. After having been prisoners for so long, the newly freed members of the Prometheus team preferred to stand, relieved to finally be able to do so.