The Atlantis Gene (The Origin Mystery 1)

Konrad spit blood as he fell face forward into the ice.

“I guess this is goodbye, old friend. As I said, your sacrifice will be remembered.” As Mallory finished, a man ran into the office. Mallory listened and then looked confused. “Gibraltar? When?”

CHAPTER 147

Kate held her breath as the portal door slid open. It was just as her father had said: a control room with tons of glass consoles. But there was someone there — a guard, leaning on a stool and reading a magazine.

At the sight of Kate and the two boys, he gawked for a brief moment, then returned the stool to its four legs and scrambled to his feet. A magazine with a nude woman on the cover drifted to the floor as the guard grabbed an automatic rifle that had been leaning against the wall and pointed it at Kate. “Don’t move, Dr. Warner.” His face was hard. He pulled his shoulder close to his mouth and said, “This is Mills, Chamber 7, I’ve got them, Warner and both boys. Request assistance.”

Within ten seconds there were two more guards in the room. They searched all three of them with a brief pat down. The soldier in charge smiled as he pocketed the pistol from Kate. “Come with us,” he said.

CHAPTER 148

Mallory Craig paced in his office, waiting for news. He looked up when the Immari Imperial Agent entered. “We got the biometric data from Kane’s suit. Dr. Chang is analyzing it, but he says he needs the body.”

“Fine, get him the body. Where are we on Gibraltar?”

“They have Warner and the two children.”

“Which Warner?” Mallory snapped.

“The woman.”

What was Mallory missing?

“You want us to—”

“Has anyone else come out?”

“No.”

Mallory sat down at the desk and began scribbling feverishly. When he had finished, he stood, stuffed the letter into an envelope, and scribbled an address on the outside. “I need you to deliver this.”

“What about Dr. Warner?”

Mallory looked out the window and thought. Had Vale and her father died in the tombs? “Hold the woman there. We need to interrogate her. And triple the guard on that room. Tell them I’m on my way.”

CHAPTER 149

Kate held the boys close to her side as they followed the men down a series of corridors. Behind them, a familiar voice called out. “Stop.”

Kate and the guards turned to the man, who was accompanied by two guards as well. They wore uniforms with a flag Kate had never seen. Below it were two block letters in a square [II].

“I’ll take her from here,” Martin Grey said.

“No can do, sir. Chairman Craig’s orders.” Her lead captor stepped forward, squaring with Martin and his men.

Kate almost gasped as she took in Martin’s appearance. His hair was wild and unkempt, he hadn’t shaved in… months? He probably hadn’t showered in just as long. His long hair and beard, combined with the ragged, worn look in his eyes were a sharp contrast to the clarity and softness of his voice. “I understand. You have your orders, Captain. I wonder, before you take them, if I could see the children. It’s a research request, something we urgently need.” Before the man could answer, Martin stepped forward and knelt at the children. He gathered them with his arms and held them close to him, covering their eyes and ears as muzzle flashes and the sound of gun shots filled the cramped corridor.

CHAPTER 150

The three soldiers who had been guarding Kate collapsed to the floor, and Martin lifted the children into his arms and marched quickly out of the corridor.

Kate chased after him. “Martin, we have to get out of here quickly.”

Martin’s guards brought up the rear as they raced through the iron hallways.

“That’s quite the understatement, Kate.” Then Martin stopped. “Wait, what are you referring to?”

“A nuclear bomb is coming through, into that room in less than two hours,” Kate said.

Martin glanced at his soldiers. “The submersible.”

The soldiers led them through a series of corridors that ended in a round room made from iron different from the Atlantis structure. This section of the structure was new. And manmade. In the middle of the room, a steel ladder hung out of a large round pipe. It reminded Kate of a manhole that led out of a sewer.

“What’s going on, Martin? What’s happened to you?”

“I’ve been waiting here, hiding for almost two months, hoping you and your father would come out. We’ll talk in the submersible. Get in. Craig is probably on his way by now.”

CHAPTER 151

Patrick stepped through the portal, into the control room. There were at least a dozen guards in the room and at the back, behind all of them, a familiar face. For once, Patrick was actually glad to see the man who had given him a tour of the tunnels almost a hundred years ago. A man who had changed his destiny. A man who could have let the Immari die in 1978, when he was awakened, but instead chose to rebuild the monstrous organization.

Mallory Craig’s words so many years ago ran through Patrick’s head. The call. The lure. The trap. “Patrick. There’s been an accident…”

Craig nodded to a man in a white coat who was holding a syringe. “Get the sample.”

Patrick raised the pistol and pointed it at the white-coated man, stopping him in his tracks.

A small smile spread across Patrick’s face. “Mallory. I guess it’s true then. The meek shall inherit the Earth.”

Craig’s face changed. “I’m not half as meek as you think—”

“Can you withstand a nuclear blast? How about two?”

CHAPTER 152

One by one, Kate, Martin, the children, and Martin’s men climbed the ladder into the sub. Thirty minutes later, the sub rose through the waters of the Bay of Gibraltar. It was a small sub with no sub-compartments, and when it surfaced, Martin instructed the soldiers to “head out into the Atlantic, and watch your speed, they’re patrolling the straits.” He motioned for Kate to follow him up another steel ladder that led to the oval lookout deck on top of the sub.

Kate walked to the solid steel half wall and leaned against the rail, next to Martin. The wind was cooler now, much cooler than yesterday in Gibraltar. Not yesterday. How long had she been in the tombs? Something else was different. Gibraltar. It was dark.

“Why aren’t there any lights in Gibraltar?” Kate asked.

Martin turned. His unshaven, unkempt appearance still mildly unnerved her. “Evacuated.”