Domain (56 page)

DECEMBER 20, 2012
MERIDA HOSPITAL,
YUCATAN PENINSULA

A
soft breeze filters through the Venetian blinds, cooling his face. As the feverish haze lifts, he hears the distant voice of an angel, her familiar words echoing in his mind.

An thou gone so
?
Love … lord—ay husband, friend. I must hear from thee every day in the hour, for in a minute there are many days
.

Swimming against the tide of unconsciousness, he forces his eyes open to slits, just enough to see her sitting over him, reading from the paperback.

“Oh, God, I have an ill-divining soul. Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails or thou lookest pale—”

“And trust me, love,” he rasps, “in my eye, so do you.”

“Mick!”

He opens his eyes as she pushes her cheek to his, registering her hot tears and the excruciating weight on his chest as she hugs him, whispering, “I love you.”

“I love you.” He struggles to speak, his throat parched.

She positions a cup of water to his lips, and he takes a few sips.

“Where—”

“You’re in a hospital in Merida. Raymond shot you. The doctor said the bullet stopped an eighth of an inch from your heart. Everyone says you should be dead.”

He forces a smile, rasping, “They jest at scars that never felt a wound.” He attempts to sit up, the pain pushing him back down again. “Maybe a small wound.”

“Mick, so much has happened—”

“What day is it?”

“The twentieth. Tomorrow’s the winter solstice, and everyone’s scared shitless—”

The door bursts open, an American physician strolling in, followed by Ennis Chaney, a Mexican nurse, and Marvin Teperman. Mick notices heavily armed American soldiers stationed in the outer corridor.

The doctor leans down, examining his eyes with a flashlight pen. “Welcome back, Mr. Gabriel. And how are we feeling today?”

“Sore. Hungry. And a bit disoriented.”

“It’s no wonder, you’ve been unconscious for five days. Let’s take a look at that wound.” The doctor pulls back the bandage. “Amazing. Absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen a wound heal so quickly.”

Chaney steps forward. “Is he well enough to speak?”

“I should think so. Nurse, change his dressing, then start him on another IV of—”

“Not now, Doctor,” Chaney interrupts. “We need a few minutes with Mr. Gabriel. Alone.”

“Of course, Mr. President.”

Mick watches the physician and nurse leave, an MP in the corridor closing the door behind them. “Mr. President? Seems like you get a promotion every time we meet.”

The raccoon eyes do not look amused. “President Mailer’s dead. Put a bullet through his own head five days ago in an attempt to get the Russians and Chinese to abort an all-out nuclear assault.”

“Jesus…”

“The world owes you a debt of thanks. Whatever you activated within that Mayan pyramid destroyed the missiles.”

Mick closes his eyes.
My God, it really happened. I thought it was all a dream
…

Dominique squeezes his hand.

“It’s some kind of highly charged, electromagnetic array,” Marvin says, “like nothing we’ve ever seen. The signal’s still active, thank God, because it’s keeping those drones from exploding—”

“Drones?” Mick opens his eyes. “What drones?”

Marvin removes a photograph from his briefcase and hands it to him. “Thirty-eight of these things have landed across the globe since you were brought in.”

He stares at the photo of a black batlike creature, perched on a gray mountaintop, its wings expanded. “It’s the object I saw rising out of the spaceship, the one buried in the Gulf of Mexico.” He looks up at Dominique. “I know where I’ve seen them before. Nazca. Life-size images of these creatures have been carved all over the plateau.”

Marvin looks at Chaney, a bit uncertain. “This photo was taken several days ago on a mountaintop in Arecibo.”

Chaney pulls up a chair. “The creature you claimed seeing in the alien vessel—that drone landed in Australia and wiped out most of the Nullarbor plain. We now know that each one of these objects possesses some sort of pure-fusion device, explosives capable of vaporizing entire landscapes. Six of these drones detonated in Asia over the last two weeks, the last three wiping out more than two million people in China and Russia.”

Mick feels his hands shaking. “These detonations precipitated the nuclear assault?”

Chaney nods. “Like Marvin said, another thirty-eight of these things were discharged from that alien vessel over the last five nights. So far, none has detonated.”

Mick recalls Guardian’s words.
The activation of the Nephilim array will forestall the end, but only the destruction of Tezcatilpoca and the Black Road can prevent our enemy from passing through to your world
.

“We’ve compiled a list of the drones that haven’t detonated. Gabriel, are you listening?”

“Huh? Sorry. You say these things are drones?”

“That’s what our scientists are calling them. The Air Force equates them to an alien version of our Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.”

“Each of these drones are essentially pure-fusion weapons with wings,” Marvin explains. “Like our own UAVs, the drones are remotely controlled, linked by some sort of radio signal to their control center—”

“The vessel in the Gulf?”

“Yes. Once the drone lands in its pretargeted area, a radio signal is dispersed, arming the explosive. Situated on the creature’s tail assembly are rows of bizarre-looking sensors that we believe are high-powered photovoltaic cells. The triggering mechanism uses solar power to detonate the explosive at sunrise.”

“Which explains why these things are always released at night,” Chaney adds. “Seven drones detonated prior to the activation of this array, all seven dispersing west after exiting the vessel in the Gulf. The airspeed of the drones matched the Earth’s rotation, keeping them in darkness until they reached their targeted areas.”

“You said another thirty-eight of these drones have been released?”

“Show him the list, Marvin.” The exobiologist searches his briefcase, producing a computer printout.

DRONE TARGETS

AUSTRALIA

Nullarbor Plain [D]

ASIA

Malaysia [D] Irian Jaya [D] Papua New Guinea [D] Yunnan Province. China [D] Vilyui Basin. Russia [D] Kugitangtau Ridge. Turkmenistan [D]

AFRICA

Algeria Botswana Egypt Ivory Coast Israel Libya Madagascar Morocco [Atlas Mountains] Niger Nigeria Saudi Arabia Sudan Tunisia

EUROPE

Austria Bosnia-Herz. Bulgaria Croatia Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Spain

NORTH AMERICA

Canada: Montreal

Cuba

USA: Arecibo [Puerto Rico] Appalachian Valley Colorado Florida [Central & Southeast] Georgia Kentucky Indiana [Southern] Ozark Mountains New Mexico Texas [Northwest]

SOUTH AMERICA

Salvador [Brazil]

CENTRAL AMERICA

Honduras Chichén Itza [Yucatan]

Mick scans the list, pausing at the name of the last site. “A drone landed in Chichén Itza?”

“Enough of this nonsense,” Chaney snaps. “Gabriel, I need some answers, and I need them now. While you’ve been lying here asleep, the world’s lost its collective mind. Religious fanatics are claiming these drones to be part of the Apocalyptic prophecies predicted for the new millennium. The world’s economy has ground to a halt. Terrified masses are preparing for Armageddon. Mobs are hoarding supplies and ammunition and boarding themselves up in their homes. We’ve had to institute dusk-to-dawn curfews. And what’s fueling these fires more than anything is our own inability to ease the public’s concern.”

“So far, our attempts at neutralizing these drones have been ineffective,” Marvin says. “The creatures are held within some kind of protective force field, which makes them invulnerable to attack. While the Mayan array is preventing them from exploding, it’s also jamming the hell out of our satellites. What’s even more incredible is the manner in which the array’s signal is being bounced around the globe.” He removes his notepad. “We’ve isolated three global relay stations, as well as additional signatures from several other antennae. You’ll never guess—”

“The Great Pyramid in Giza, Angkor Wat, and the Sun Pyramid in Teotihuacan.”

The exobiologist’s mouth drops open.

Chaney’s eyes burn like dark lasers. “How the hell did you know that?” He looks at Dominique. “Did you tell him?”

“She didn’t tell me,” Mick says, forcing himself to sit up. “My parents studied those structures for decades. Each monolith shares certain similarities, not the least of which is that they’ve all been erected at integral points along the Earth’s natural power grid.”

“Sorry, you lost me there,” Marvin says, jotting down notes. “Did you say power grid?”

“The Earth is not just some hunk of rock floating in space, Marvin, it’s a living, harmonic sphere, at the heart of which is a magnetic core that channels energy. Certain locations along the planet’s surface, especially around the equator, are considered power areas, dynamic locations radiating high levels of geothermal, geophysical, or magnetic energy.”

“And these three ancient sites—they were all built on power areas?”

“That’s right. Each structure also reflects an advanced knowledge of precession, mathematics, and astronomy within its design.”

Marvin stops writing. “We’ve also pinpointed alien devices that seem to be functioning as antennae, buried beneath Stonehenge and the city of Tiahuanaco. We believe another may be buried deep beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.”

Mick nods.
The Piri Re’is map. Guardian must have constructed the antennae before the ice sheets formed
. He looks up at Dominique. “Did you tell them about the Nephilim?”

“All that I know, which isn’t much.”

“An advanced race of humanoids?” Marvin shakes his head. “I’m supposed to be the exobiologist around here, and I’m confused as hell.”

“Marvin, the beings that created this array had to be certain their relay stations and antennae would remain undisturbed over thousands of years. Even burying them wouldn’t ensure their safety. Building a vast architectural wonder like Stonehenge or the Great Pyramid directly over the site was inspired thinking. Even modern man knew enough to leave these ruins alone.”

“What about the array?” Chaney says. “How long will it keep these drones from detonating?”

The memory of Guardian’s words echoes in his ears.
The porthole to
Xibalba Be
will ascend on 4
Ahau,
3
Kankin.
It can only be destroyed from within. Only a Hunahpu can enter. Only a Hunahpu can expel the evil from your garden and save your species from annihilation
.

Mick feels queasy. “We have a problem. That alien vessel—it’s going to ascend tomorrow—”

Chaney’s eyes widen. “How do you know that?”

“It’s part of a three thousand-year-old Mayan prophecy. The entity within the vessel. We have to destroy it. We have to get inside.”

“How do we get inside?” Marvin asks.

“I don’t know, I mean, I guess the same way Dom and I entered before, through its ventilation system.” A wave of exhaustion overcomes him. He closes his eyes.

Dominique touches his forehead, registering a fever. “He’s had enough, President Chaney. He’s done his part to save the world; now go and do yours.”

Chaney’s eyes lose a bit of their harshness. “Our scientists happen to agree with you, Gabriel. They feel we need to destroy the alien vessel to end the threat of the drones exploding. I’ve ordered the
John C. Stennis
and her fleet into the Gulf of Mexico to do the job. If that vessel really is going to rise tomorrow, then we’ll blow it out of the water.”

The new president stands to leave. “An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council has been scheduled for seven o’clock this evening aboard the
Stennis
. We’re expecting representatives from every nation, as well as some of the top scientists from around the world. You and Dominique are coming with us. One of my aides will bring you something to wear.”

“Wait,” Dominique says. “Tell him about Borgia.”

“Your would-be assassin led us straight to Dr. Foletta. His confession included information about how Borgia managed to have you committed to an asylum eleven years ago. Even provided us with a tape of the secretary of state hiring him to kill you.” Chaney offers a grim smile. “I’ll be nailing his ass to the wall once things settle down. Meanwhile, Dominique and her mother are off the hook, and you’ve been certified as competent, so you are a free man, Gabriel, as loony as the rest of us.”

Dominique whispers in Mick’s ear. “Your nightmare’s over. No more asylums, no more solitary confinement. You’re free.” She squeezes his hand. “We can spend the rest of our lives together.”

Aboard the Aircraft Carrier
John C. Stennis

6:43 P.M
.

Mick gazes out the window of the chopper as the airship descends upon the enormous four-and-a-half-acre flight deck of the
John C. Stennis
, now a virtual parking lot of helicopters.