Willis and Matt appeared a few minutes later, looking sweaty and frustrated.
“We didn’t find nothing.” Willis cast an angry glance in the direction from which they’d come. “I don’t know where those boys got off too.”
“We’ll have to keep looking.” Tam turned toward their vehicle, where Corey sat, pecking away at his laptop. “Any luck tracing their cellphones?”
“No signal out here,” Corey said. “You should have issued satellite phones.”
Tam bit off her reply as the ground began to tremble.
“What the hell is that?” Willis scanned the horizon. “Somebody drop a bomb?”
A low rumble resounded from somewhere deep beneath the earth, and with it the ground shook even more violently. Tam staggered and grabbed hold of Willis’ arm for support.
A column of brilliant, blue light shot up from the ground, consuming the hotel. Tam shielded her eyes from the blinding light. Oddly, it generated no heat, but she felt as if every hair on her body were standing on end. It went on for the span of ten heartbeats, and then stopped without warning.
“What in the name of Jesus?” she muttered, blinking the spots out of her eyes.
“It was like a beam of pure energy.” Professor’s face was ashen. “It went straight up into space, almost like a…”
“Like what?” Tam asked.
“Like a beacon.” He turned his eyes up to the sky. “You know, like the way researchers send messages into space, hoping to make contact with alien life.”
Tam’s breath caught in her throat. She remembered Tyson’s words. “…prepare for the return.” Could this be what he meant? Was the so-called Revelation Machine designed to send a message into space? No, she couldn’t even contemplate that right now. They still needed to find Maddock and the others.
“Tam, look at this,” Greg called.
Where the hotel once stood, a shaft, perfectly round and smooth, plunged deep into the ground. She joined Greg at its edge.
“The stone seems to have melted away, but it’s cool to the touch.” He ran his fingers along the inside of the shaft to demonstrate.
“Dissolved is more like it,” Professor added. “How is that possible?”
“We can figure that out later,” Tam said. “Look at what’s down there.”
Down at the bottom of the shaft, a circle of crystals flickered in the darkness. Tam’s sharp eyes could just make out a metallic ring around the crystals. It had to be the Revelation Machine, which meant there was a good chance that was where they’d find Maddock.
Or the Dominion.
Chapter 50
When Bishop Hadel placed the last crystal into place, Dane closed his eyes and shielded them with his hands. The surprised cries from the Dominion’s agents told him he’d guessed correctly.
He spun about and struck at the Dominion agent, who had been rendered temporarily blind by the brilliant light from the Revelation Machine. His fist connected solidly with the man’s chin. His legs turned to rubber and Dane kicked him in the temple on the way down. Beside him, Bones had eliminated his guard with ruthless efficiency, and now closed in in the agent who guarded Jade. She, too had understood Dane’s plan, and now grappled with the man for control of his AK-47.
Dane turned and made a dash for Robinson, who squinted against the bright light and looked around for a target on which to bring his weapon to bear. He reached Robinson, drove his shoulder into Robinson’s chest, and knocked his rifle barrel upward just as the man squeezed the trigger, sending bullets ricocheting through the chamber.
Like a football player hitting the blocking sled, Dane drove the larger man backward. Surprised, Robinson lost his grip on his rifle, stumbled backward, and hit the rail. For a moment, he struggled to regain his balance, but Dane drove a sidekick into Robinson’s chest, sending him toppling backward.
Robinson’s head struck the nearest crystal and a blue aura engulfed him. His body jerked, his mouth twisted in a silent scream of anguish. His hair blackened and crumbled to dust in an instant. Even after the burst of energy ceased, Robinson continued to thrash about like a fish on dry land.
Slowly, the crystals dimmed, flickered, and died. It felt like an eternity, but Dane knew the phenomenon couldn’t have lasted much more than ten seconds. He looked around and saw Bones hauling a whimpering Bishop Hadel to his feet. Jade hurried to him and crushed him in a tight embrace.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He gently extracted himself from her arms. “You okay, Bones?”
“Hell yes. I almost fell asleep waiting for you to decide what to do.”
Dane recovered their weapons from the fallen Dominion operatives and assessed the situation. The men who had guarded Bones and Jade lay dead, while the man Dane had taken out wobbled on hands and knees as he slowly regained consciousness. Dane gave him another kick to the head and then bound him with his own belt.
Still holding on to Hadel, Bones glanced up at the ceiling, where the blast had carved a perfect circle where the apex of the temple had been moments earlier. “I saw you looking up there. What did you see?”
“Orion.” Dane pointed at the remaining crystals. “Most of it’s gone, but you can still see his bow. His belt lay centered at the top of the ceiling and the crystals were pointed right at it. It just didn’t seem like a weapon to me. With all we’ve seen, the connections to Orion, I just had a feeling.”
“You think Hadel just sent a signal to the aliens?” Bones asked. “I should have thought of that myself.”
“I don’t know. If we assume the Atlanteans came from a planet orbiting a star in Orion, he picked the wrong time of day. Orion won’t be overhead for several hours yet.”
“But signals sent into space will diffuse over great distances,” Jade said. “They might get the message someday.”
Hadel, who stood stock-still next to Bones, his nose still dripping blood, slumped to the ground. “No,” he whispered.
“Seriously, dude? You kill thousands of people and don’t bat an eye, but make one little call to E.T. and you lose it?”
“You don’t understand what will happen if the people find out…”
“Find out what? The truth?” Dane said. “People are resilient. How about putting a little faith in them instead of in your twisted version of God?”
“People are sheep. They must be shown the way, else they stray into peril.”
“After all the people you’ve killed, you’re going to talk about keeping them from peril?” Dane clenched his fists and, with a supreme effort of will, stopped himself from decking the man.
“Better a temporal death than an eternal one.” The madness now receded from Hadel’s eyes. Now a crafty grin spread across his face as he rose to his feet. “Besides, I have killed no one.”
“Neither did Hitler,” Dane retorted, “but you’re responsible for every killing done by your minions. For Sofia Perez, for the people of Norfolk and Key West, and all the others.”
“Key West?” Hadel forced a laugh. “A modern day Sodom. I was proud to give the order.”
“I’d watch what I say about Sodom,” Bones cautioned, “considering where you’re headed. We work for the government now, and I can guarantee you our boss will find you an affectionate cellmate to comfort you in your declining years.”
Hadel blanched. “You’ll never get a conviction. The government can’t hope to match the attorneys I have at my disposal.”
“Who says you’ll be going to trial?”
Dane turned to see Tam, in rappelling gear, lowering herself to the floor. A few seconds later, Willis and Greg followed.
“Where’s Matt?” Dane asked.
“Watching our backs with Professor. They weren’t happy about it but I couldn’t trust nerd boy to do it by himself.”