The pass itself was used only by travelers who hastened through, usually early in the morning after camping at the springs to the north, or just before the pass to the south. No one took extra time traversing the pass because there was a strange feel about the place and those who lived north or south told strange tales of the mountains and pass. Animals would have to be forced through, then almost break their reins galloping down after getting through. Dogs howled and snarled when they were in the narrowest part. There were rumors of demons and other strange creatures and the place was avoided if at all possible.
This morning, as lightning cut through the sky and hit the mountain high above, and the strong wind churned up the water in the sea below, the pass was empty of travelers. Thus there was no one to witness as just to the north of the ruined wall a pure black circle appeared, consuming the scant light.
As another bolt of lightning illuminated the land, a hand, skin red and blistered, could be seen extending out of the black circle about five feet above the ground. The fingers were stretched wide, grasping, as if searching for a handhold out of the darkness. The hand disappeared back into the darkness for several moments, then re-appeared, the skin peeling back. Still it groped and reached. And once more was gone.
The third time the hand appeared the flesh was gone and there was just the bone with the tendons stretched tight and burned raw. Still the fingers moved, reaching bones clattering together as they closed on themselves empty-handed.
When the next bolt lit the scene, there was just the black circle and no hand. And with the third strike, the circle itself was gone.
CHAPTER 3
Since the dramatic events of 26 April, 1986, the Russians had monitored the remains of Reactor Four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Although encased in a thick layer of concrete and stone, the interior of Reactor Four had remained clear since the disaster, protected by a shield generated by the gate that had opened inside it and caused the tragic accident that evening.
The core of the reactor, the rods that provided the power, had been tapped by the Shadow. Above the core, a black triangle fifteen feet on each side and ten feet in height had appeared and remained through all the years, drawing energy from the decaying rods. It was a gate, not as large as the others, but a gate nonetheless. A probe, carried by a dying volunteer, had been sent through the gate just two days ago and helped provide information about the make-up of the gates and the connections among the portals that existed inside the gates. It had been discovered that the gates were like foyers established on Earth by the Shadow, and inside the gates were the actual doorways — portals — that led to other places.
The rods were down to less than two percent strength and still the black triangle drew the remaining power. There was quite a bit of speculation among Russian scientists about what would happen when the rods were completely spent, but it was all conjecture, as most everything thought about the gates was.
It was just before midnight when the spetsnatz—Russian special forces- soldiers manning the monitoring station built into the concrete wall surrounding the core jumped to their feet as alarms sounded. Looking at the video screens that were linked to cameras inside the core, they saw a black, cylindrical object with four tail fins fall out of the black triangle onto the floor of the core container. There was no doubt what the object was — a bomb, but one of old design. As they watched, a half-dozen similar objects hit the floor and came to a rest.
The major in charge ordered a withdrawal before the last bomb appeared. The men unbolted the shield door leading to the outside world and dashed up the tunnel, the major taking the time to shut the door and slap one of the bolts in place, before dashing after his men.
They exited the encasement and paused, bodies tensed, waiting for the explosion. But nothing happened.
The strap from Reizer’s leather bag cut so deep into the skin on Davon’s upper thigh that she couldn’t see most of it. Her hand was on the handle of the umbrella, which was attached to a knot on the strap. She had cranked the handle around several times to tighten the tourniquet, but Davon had lost a lot of blood.
She looked up at the wall of flame in front of her, feeling the heat coming off it but not as much as she expected being this close. It was as if the fire was contained between two invisible planes of glass extending up ten feet. For the first time she noted that the ground was trembling slightly.
Reizer was startled as Davon grabbed her arm. She leaned over the young man and ran a comforting hand across his sweat-soaked, pale forehead. His lips moved as he tried to speak. She leaned closer.
“What is it?” he finally managed to get out. His eyes shifted over to the wall of fire to let her know what he was talking about.
“Power into the planet,” Reizer said. “Channeled somehow.”
“The Shadow?”
Reizer shrugged, and then realized he couldn’t see the movement. “I don’t know.”
“Lines of power,” Davon said. He smiled, his lips almost drained of color. “I knew I was right.”
“You need to rest,” Reizer said, although she knew that he had scant seconds, if even a minute of life left.
A surprised look passed over Davon’s face. “I’ve seen—” he paused and the next couple of words weren’t audible—“before. The other—” his head slumped back and the eyes went vacant.
“We have to destroy the portal that’s drawing the power through Nazca,” Foreman said. He and Dane were standing on the deck of the FLIP
Dane shook his head. “We don’t have a priestess to go into the gate and then the portal and stop it, like Kaia did in the Devil’s Sea. We don’t even know exactly what’s going on there,” he tapped the photo of the fiery images that he had carried out of the control center. “We’re not sure there’s a gate there and even if there was, we might have trouble finding the portal. We only managed to find the one here because of the Chernobyl probe.”
“We know more than we did,” Foreman said. “Nagoya has analyzed the data you picked up from the last trip into the gate,” Foreman nodded his head, indicating the dark wall two miles away. “He thinks there are numerous portals inside this space between our worlds. Some lead to other gates on our planet, but at least one has got to lead to the other side. To the Shadow’s world. Maybe we can stop this at the source.”
“And does he know which is which?” Dane asked.
“Not quite.”
“So what are we going to do?” Dane asked. “Try each one?”
“Nagoya has mapped the one that leads to Chernobyl by tracking the emissions from the probe the Russians sent through that Gate. He thinks we can map others doing the same thing. Send probes in, then see where the emissions come out in the space between.”
“That could take a while,” Dane said. “And we don’t have much time according to Ahana’s numbers.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Not yet.” Dane rubbed the stubble on his chin. “What about the Ones Before? Flaherty said they were on our side.”
“If we could contact them, it would help,” Foreman acknowledged. “But getting a hold of them seems as hard as fighting the Shadow.”
“They sent Flaherty into the Angkor Gate,” Dane noted.
Foreman’s SATPhone buzzed and he flipped it open. He listened for a half minute then shut it. “There’s another problem.”
“Great.”
Foreman turned for the control center, Dane following, waiting for the further bad news.
“A half-dozen World War II era five hundred pound bombs were sent out of the Chernobyl gate into the remains of the reactor core,” Foreman said over his shoulder.