‘He said he would.’
Lauren enters the foyer, dressed in a sweat suit. ‘Has he told me what? Who are you?’
Dominique turns on a smile. ‘I’m Immanuel’s mother. It’s so good to finally meet you.’
Lauren looks lost. ‘Immanuel? Who’s Immanuel?’
‘I am.’ Manny exits the bathroom.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Lauren, this is my real mother, Dominique Gabriel.’
‘Gabriel? Immanuel Gabriel…’ She makes the connection. ‘Oh, no… oh my God-’
‘Lauren-’
She pushes him away, then covers her mouth, fighting to breath. ‘But you’re dead. And Sam… who’s Sam-’
‘Calm down and listen-’
‘You lied… all these years.’
‘I had to. Can you understand that I had to lie? If word got out-’
‘We have to go,’ Chaney announces.
‘Go where?’ Dominique and Lauren ask in unison.
‘Jacob’s given me very explicit instructions. We’ll take your limo. Dominique, Manny, let’s go. Lauren, you’re supposed to stay here.’
‘No way.’ Lauren grabs Immanuel’s arm. ‘Wherever he goes, I’m going, too.’
‘Out of the question,’ Chaney states.
‘Either she comes, or I stay,’ Immanuel says.
Chaney eyeballs his godson, who returns the old man’s glare. ‘God dammit, I’m too old for this foolishness.’ He looks at Lauren, the girl desperate. ‘Okay, everyone in the goddam car!’
Meteorology Lab, University of Miami
7:50 a.m.
The Meteorology Center is a beehive of activity as dozens of technicians from the Earth Systems Management Agency track Super-Cane Kenneth, its monstrous eye less than twenty miles offshore.
Bruce Doyle stares at the cyclone’s image on his screen.
Sweet Jesus, it’s heading straight for Biscayne Bay…
Two floors down, Special Agent Collin Shelby sips his coffee as he waits for the latest encoded dispatch from UMBRA headquarters in Virginia. Twenty hours earlier, Lauren Beckmeyer’s fiance had placed an unsecured communication from Miami Beach. Satellite eavesdropping had immediately zeroed in on both subjects, who had headed north and were given shelter in a Delray Beach home registered to a retired airline pilot going by the name of Frank Stansbury. This last bit of information was quite disconcerting. What if it’s another biological attack…
Shelby’s communicator vibrates. He places the sunglasses on his face, reading the encrypted message appearing across the inside of the tinted lenses.
ALERT: SUBJECT’S VEHICLE TRAVELING SOUTH ON SH-95, HEADING FOR MIAMI. FLOOD ZONE.
Shelby rubs his sleep-deprived eyes. ‘Flood Zone’ was UMBRA’s term for killing the subject and all witnesses. Whatever act of terrorism this Lauren Beckmeyer and her accomplices were planning had to be something big.
The government assassin checks his weapons, then grabs his rain gear and heads for the door.
Inside the Limousine, Miami Beach, Florida
9:36 a.m.
Immanuel squeezes Lauren’s trembling hand.
They are seated in the back of the swaying limo, along with his mother, Ennis Chaney, and Dr. Mohr’s wife, Eve. The two bodyguards are up front, praying the autopilot will guide them to their undisclosed destination before Super-Cane Kenneth pummels them to death.
The wind is howling so loud, the rain beating on the exterior with such force that communication is impossible. Only the former president knows where they are going, and he refuses to say.
After ninety minutes of steady driving, they exit the Smart-way interstate and snake their way through streets flooded with ocean and rain.
Twenty minutes later, the vehicle abruptly stops.
The rain has eased, the wind turning to a high-pitched whistle, as if they are parked in a tunnel.
Immanuel presses his face to the bulletproof glass. Through the foggy window he sees a brick wall. ‘Wait a second… I know this place.’
Chaney checks his watch. ‘You should. It’s one of the emergency vehicle passageways at the MTI Bowl.’ He taps Kurtz on the shoulder. ‘The eye of the storm should be passing over us any moment. When it does, pop the gate and drive us straight onto the field.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Immanuel’s heart races. Jacob’s orchestrating something… but what?
Lauren stares at him as if they’ve just met. ‘You should have told me… Manny.’
‘I couldn’t. Try to understand, it was a lifetime ago, it’s not who I am.’
‘I don’t know who you are anymore. Do you even love me?’
‘Lauren-’
The wind stops howling.
Ryan Beck steps out of the vehicle, aims his laser rifle, and blasts open the locked gate. Kurtz guides the limo up the concrete ramp, using the vehicle’s reinforced front bumper to bash through the unhinged iron doors.
The limousine climbs a river of water, then drives onto the flooded football field.
Kurtz maneuvers to the fifty yard line and parks. Moments later, the rain stops and the wind ceases blowing. Wisps of blue sky and sunshine warm the drenched field.
They are within the very eye of the storm.
Everyone climbs out of the car, sloshing in calf-deep water.
Lauren looks toward the heavens. ‘How is this possible? How did you know the cyclone’s eye would pass directly over this spot?’
Immanuel Gabriel’s insides are trembling, his mind screaming at him to run, to get the hell out of this stadium while he still can.
‘Look!’ Kurtz points to the approaching western eye wall.
An object has emerged from the foreboding lead gray vortex, the sun’s rays shimmering off the mirrorlike gold panels of its dagger-shaped bow.
The Balam…
Immanuel drops to his knees, hyperventilating as he recalls Jacob’s words. ‘… the wormhole’s closest mouth will pass outside Mars in a week. To rendezvous in time means we’ll have to leave Earth’s orbit in ninety-eight hours.’
The Guardian’s starship hovers high over the flooded field, then descends, its landing gear splashing onto the flooded field with a walloping thud, its dissipating force field sending waves rippling in every direction.
Ryan Beck is supporting Dominique, who is close to fainting.
Lauren stares at the object, slack-jawed, then spins around to face her fiance. ‘The Popol Vuh… the legend of the Hero Twins! All this time you knew… you knew you’d be leaving me!’
‘It’s his destiny.’ Jacob descends from a ramp located beneath the starship, Dr. Mohr in tow. Seeing his wife, the teary-eyed NASA scientist slogs through the flooded field and hugs her.
Jacob stares hard at Chaney, his azure eyes violet with anger. ‘I was very specific. The girl wasn’t supposed to be here.’
‘Don’t blame me,’ rasps the former president. ‘Your brother insisted.’
The white-haired twin turns to his brother. ‘Say your good-byes, Manny. We have to board the Balam before the eye passes.’
‘I’m not going,’ Immanuel states.
‘You have no choice.’
‘He said he’s not going,’ Lauren says, stepping in between them.
Jacob ignores her. ‘Manny, you must trust me, there’s nothing for you here. Even if you did stay, Lilith Mabus would hunt you down, and all would be lost.’
‘No.’
‘Then you leave me no choice.’ Jacob slips into the nexus and grabs his twin from behind, subduing him in a full nelson as he forcibly drags him toward the starship.
Immanuel enters the zone, struggling against his overpowering foe. ‘Let… me… go-’
‘For once in your life, trust me!’
‘No!’
‘Humanity’s future depends upon you fulfilling your destiny-’
‘You’re wrong! I wasn’t meant to go! Lauren loves me!’
‘Lauren’s as good as dead.’
‘What?’ A tsunami of rage washes over Immanuel, drenching his muscles with adrenaline. Whirling around, he grabs Jacob’s head in his hands, drops to one knee, and flips his brother over his shoulder, slamming him onto the flooded turf.
Both Hunahpu tumble free from the nexus.
Dominique reaches into the fray, separating her two sons. ‘Jacob, stop! Leave him be. Manny… my God, Manny, your eyes!’