The Third Key (GUARDING THE LIGHT) (11 page)

XV.

Before the gut-wrenching
screams
stopped
,
Jason
could
hear words that set
the
tortured man free
a few minutes later
. Pronouncing those words was
the
worst possible
outcome
, for
7.043 billion
additional reasons
besides the man’s death
.
Those
spoken
words
carried
the potency
to
end
the lives and loves
of 7.043 billion people
on Planet Earth –
children, me
n, women
…
.
‘
when’
became
a
question
of
few
hours.
Those spoken word
s
were:

“
..it
is
…
b
e
low
…
green
copperas
altar…
Templ
e
of
39
.
T10ETG
”

Both warriors
heard
, and their hearts sank
.
Quabil
,
obviously satisfied, ‘allowed’ his prisoner to die
. He understood t
hose
words and started moving fast
,
shouting out orders,
right after hearing them.
“Let’s get that Third part of a damned Key! Take the equipment, prepare the Jet, we move right now!”

Jason
, on the other
hand
,
could not
understand
anything about it. Especially
39
.
T10ETG
part … what it
is, where
it is, nothing.
What next? He sat
down
,
trying to
make
some sense out of it.

Part 4

Cracking It…

XVI.

Gunnar was wal
king up and down,
silently
uttering
his
favorite set of prayers.
Many times
in the past, these had
helped him focus
on solutions, not
on problems
.
On h
is
path
of life
, from
a
poor kid to
a
self-made
Internet
millionaire
,
he
had
gathered
plenty of
experience
. One of t
he t
hings
he learned was
that when nothing
else
he
lps and everything
looks
totally
hopeless,
sincere
prayer
helps
. This
time, they did not need anything else but help
–
the world
needed a miracle.

Gunnar could
understand
the meaning of
silence
on the
other side of the doors
-
everything
must have ended badly
or else
Jason
would have
already call
ed
for him or run out with good news. Gunnar saw that
Jason
’s
protective
powers formed
a
shield
that seemed to
be effective against the evil
of
Quabil
Shazhad
– hope
gr
ew
strong
but was crushed
unexpectedly
by powerful ritual
s
.
Jason
’s
psychotronic
*
power
had been
overpowered
,
and
that
silence
in the
other room
meant that
the
tortured
man had
died in
the
most horrific pain.

With eagerness in
his
eyes
,
Gunn
ar entered the living room.
Surprisingly, the main room of the
s
pacious
presidential s
uite
was
empty.
He called out:

“
Hey.
.. My
man
…
I’m sorry
I could not tolerate those
sounds!
Where are you, you okay?” Gunnar
searched
for his friend all over
the
large luxury
suite
.

He found Jason
on the floor in a corner
, behind the big sofa. H
e was on
his
knees,
palms
sinking
into the soft
Persian
carpet. His i
Phone
had sunk into the
carpet in front of him.
His t-shirt
had
completely
soaked through the
back,
and
he was
breathing deeply.

“Is
everything
… are
you okay
- what happened?
!
” Gunnar asked, worried
. H
e
had never
seen
his friend looking so exhausted
. Gunnar placed his palm on
Jason’s
shoulder and got
a shock
! His body was burning hot.

“
Mensch
*
you
’re
burning! We
have to
take your temperature down
…
right
now!” He
took his phone
out
and started to dial 1
39
1, for
medical
emergency.

Jason
stopped him with
a
hand and spoke in
a
weak
,
soft
voice
:

“
No, stop. This
will
pass in
a
few minut
es, it’s just a reaction.” Though soft, Jason’s
voice w
as filled with intense emotions.
Gunnar’s attention was
completely
focused
on his next words
.

“I need your help
,
my friend
.
I
have
failed to protect the location of the
Third
K
ey. My powers were
overpowered
by
evil and darkness
.”
Jason
paused for a moment,
trying to catch his breath.

“
The d
arkness almost managed to
suck out the
life from my body but
I’ll be
all right.
W
e have work to d
o.
”

Gunnar
watched
the
tired face of a warrior. He just
nodded and listened
carefully
instead of saying anything.

“
Listen: The
Key is hidden below a
green
copperas
altar
of some Temple of
 
39
.
T10ETG
.
Please
,
39.
T10ETG
must be the answer …
send this to anyone you think may help us determine what
or where
is
this
39
.
T10ETG
. We need a
location
for
that
Temple.
Could be a church
, maybe
a cathedral … check everything”, e
xplained
Jason
,
still breath
ing deeply.
“
Send this to your
best
guys
– i
f you think we ne
ed help hire anyone who can
. P
rice
doesn’t matter
, you know that.
”

“
O.K
. ,
O.K.
we are after the location
… some sort of a Temple..”
Gunnar
was already
typing an email.

“W
e
will
crack this code
! What happens after
ward?” Gunnar wanted to know.

“Exactly!
Please prepare
the
Jet. Get
together five or six of your
best guys. Call
Mic
hael
and Ja
nis to joi
n us. Get all the tools
. As soon we know
where,
we just
take off!” Jason’s
voice
already
sound
ed
a
bit
stronger
.
“Just keep in mind
–
Quabil
is already on his
way.
That
Temple located on
39.
T10ETG
-
whatever it is
- is
c
lear to him
but not to me
.
Otherwise
, the fallen Guardian would
still
be
tortured. And he wanted me to hea
r that – I think he wants me to
find him.
But he is way ahead of us ….
!”

Gunnar was worried to hear this. He wasn’t used to hear anything
even near
to concept
of ‘giving up’ from
his
mighty
friend
.
It had to
be a reaction from the
attack and fight
ing the dark forces,
maybe even a fever
.

“
I’m
on it.
Are
YOU
going to be O.K.? We c
an’t do shit without you
…
!”
Gunnar asked
in a
slightly
raised
voice
.

“
I’ll
be just like new
in
an
hour or so
, no
worries.
But,
39.
T10ETG
means
absolutely
nothing to
me – focus on that.
We have to try…
”
With
an uncharacteristic voice wobble
,
Jason
spoke about the puzzle that
stood in
their
way. Time was short
but
he
didn’t
even know where to go. Not
a
good starting point, not at all.

“I’m
on
this
my fr
iend. Please
just
…
” Gunnar paused for a moment
“…
do
whatever you plan
on
do
ing
and come back to normal
.
I’ll be in
my Web
r
oom,
you know the
cod
e
.
”
Gunnar
left
to
go to
his private office on top of the Four Seasons Hotel, w
h
ere
his
office with
extra fast Internet access and
a
few power machines
made
his task
somewhat
easier.