Sam
A few months earlier
There was only one man who could help me. One man who had a huge connection with Mom. One man the whole world is talking about. And that one man lives here, inside the Los Angeles Pantheon building. Looking up it seemed to go on forever into the clouds above. The gardens are well maintained and along the path in the plaza stood each of the statues, representing Man's greatest minds.
I walked inside and looked at the huge screen. The 60ft tall woman's projection was obviously some Artificial Intelligence who was the byproduct of the eggheads in this building. Fisher Enterprises claimed they could do some fantastic stuff. I needed to see it for myself. The seven screens in the lobby were occupied by tourist groups and field trip students. But I overheard the spiel:
The asterism in the sky shaped the foundation of Fisher Enterprises. We saw the pattern of the Gate as an opening to a new world. The formulaic writings in the stars bridged the gaps in our research and since then we've had a hand in manufacturing amenities for the home, cosmetics, artificial intelligences, armaments for the United States Government and treatments for many of nature's deadly ailments. We are on the cusp of a new and exciting technology designed to enhance one of Man's constant passions. The ability to travel. For millennia Man has been encumbered by mediocre methods of transportation. We believe you should be able to get to where you are going in the fastest possible way, in comfort and above all else - safety. In the next few days, we'll be presenting our 'method of travel' and we believe you'll be very excited in what….
A holographic image appeared right in front of me. "Hello and welcome to The Pantheon, my name is Altera how can I help you today?" The voice of a holographic female asked. "You are in the lobby. Would you like a guided tour?"
The technology in the building was unbelievable. Orwell had the vision; Philip K Dick brought it to life in the narrative and Redd Fisher made those stories of the future a reality. The blue hologram looked to be waiting patiently for me to answer.
"I have an appointment with Dr Asham, my name is Samuel Drake, I'm a journalist from Scientific Weekly." I said, explaining my cover story.
"Hello Mr Drake, Dr Asham can be found in the research labs, that area is off limits to the general public, would you like me to inform her you have arrived?"
"Yes."
I didn't have to wait too long before someone arrived from the elevator. She looked too meek to be part of this corporation. From what I've been told about this place, it was on the brink of destroying humanity than helping it.
"Hello Mr Drake, please come with me." Her welcoming was cold, much colder than the A.I's I was greeted by. I looked around the elevator and could see how clean and tidy it was. Not a single speck of dust. "Excuse me Mr Drake, please could you come with me." She said in annoyance. I stood unsure of what I was doing. She seemed to be from New York as she spoke in a low talking New Yorker accent.
I wasn't too sure why she was wearing a mask. I thought she was a Doctor of Research not medicine. "Right this way." She commanded.
The elevator door closed. It smelt of ammonia and formaldehyde. This thing had been cleaned top to bottom. Instead of us going up, the doctor pressed the B-3 button and the elevator started to move down, towards the basement.
"You're too pretty to be a doctor?" I said trying my luck.
"Mr Drake, I don't date patients, especially one who has a reputation as you do." She said, knowing me somehow.
"What do you mean patients, and what did you mean by…my…reput…" I felt a little lightheaded and could see her mask seemed to have some kind of filter built into it. The last thing I thought about before hitting the elevator floor, was how much I fancied the doctor.
…
Waking up in the 6 by 4 room with the blinding light shining in my face was too much. I couldn't think of any place on the guided tour that would be where they pumped noxious gas into the elevator and then tied their guests to a steel chair three floors below.
"Ah Mr Drake, you're awake." Another doctor said pressing a button on his control panel to uptilt the chair. "You've been out cold for three hours."
"W-W-Where am I?" My eyes started to focus more on the room. It was white, and the light heightened the brilliance of the walls. "Get that light out of my face." I started to struggle and break free from my restraints.
"Tell me Mr Drake, this disease you have, how did you contract this?" The doctor asked, signalling two guards in to stop me from struggling. I didn't take much convincing to stay still, as they held a gun to my forehead. I had a feeling this was over before it started.
"Just sit back and relax, in a few moments you won't even remember your name." The doctor pressed another button on his control panel and my chair spun around. The large screen on the wall began to play a video with some sorta weird psychedelic pattern on the screen. The machine with two large needles poking out of it got closer.
My mind started to go black, there seemed to be a small projection of what had happened to me a few days ago in Lisbon. As my eyes slowly closed, I thought back to that day.
…
"Ah, Mr Drake, please come with me." A Portuguese doctor said as I followed him through into his office.
"So, what's the prognosis doc?" I asked thinking how much I needed a cigarette. I could already smell the thick tobacco on the doctor. I'd estimate at least a pack a day. If this disease was because of copious amounts of tar pressed against my lungs, it was already too late.
"It's not good Mr Drake." He pointed out a chart with a lot of ups and downs in a finite timeline. "There seems to be some kind of virus attacking your neurological system."
I was no expert and he needed to break it down into components, but it appeared as though my central nervous system was degrading more quickly than the peripheral.
"Prognosis doctor?" I asked again.
"The apparatus here isn't as good as that which you'll find in the states, but I'm guessing you have a few months before you see some noticeable difficulties in your brain's genetic makeup."
He was basically tellin' me this was going to be a rough ride. In a few months I would lose my mind.
"I suggest you make amends; find solace in the things you love; enjoy what time you have left with those close to you." The clinical words were impactful. I wasn't ready to go, there was still so much more to do. With Nathan out, and Cassie to groom. I had so much more to give.
"Is there a cure?" I stupidly asked.
"Nothing natural, I'm afraid. I don't even know what this is, just its journey."
"Nothing natural?" I looked quizzical.
The doctor smiled and walked towards his desk. He took out a key for a section on his bookcase that was concealing some more…well, books. He opened the compartment and inside were seven volumes comprising of alchemical transmutative methods in forging stones with healing properties.
The last book, the last chapter, the last few pages. There it was:
"Have you heard of this rare stone before Mr Drake?" The doctor asked handing me the book. My Portuguese was a little rusty, so I stared at the images. Each image on the page was a sketch, then turning the page I saw the beautiful red stone. Whoever painted this picture had done a magnificent job in bringing it to life.
He waited for my answer. I of course had heard tell of the stone.
"To be honest with you doc, yes I have, in fact I have even heard of you." I said handing him the book back. "I have known about you for a while, and I need you to help me find the 'Stone of Eve' before it ends up in the wrong hands.
Taking aback, the doctor wasn't sure where to look, he felt betrayed by my words. But I hadn't even started telling him what else I knew. "Tell me doc, the other man that came here, he too has the same disease, doesn't he?"
The whole patient confidentiality clause had gone out of the window. If I didn't know better, I would think the doctor didn't care much for Redd Fisher.
"You mean Mr Fisher?" The doctor replied. "Horrible, horrible man."
See what I mean.
"What did you tell him?" I wanted to know more about what Redd Fisher, the billionaire had confided in him. The doctor once again opened his desk drawer and removed a sketch of the rare stone. Placing it in my hand I stared at it hard. There were a number of pictograms around the side of it, and two islands. One of which I had never seen before.
"That Mr Drake is the last known whereabouts of the stone." He said before going into more detail about the stone of Eve, describing it in ways I couldn't even imagine. To think my brother sought after lost treasures of the world and hadn't even come across this beauty. I wanted to see what it did for real.
"You seem to know a lot about this artifact doctor." I was sure he had more to tell, it was just a matter of coaxing it out of him.
"Now controlled by the Russians, the Varangian houses who controlled transport, health and engineering came upon it." The doctor sounded more like Dr Livingstone than a medical professional. "Comparable to the holy grail, this piece of life's history has been buried deep within the four corners of the world. Until now."
I listened attentively as the doctor went on about the stone.
"Where is it located now?" I asked.
When he told me that the answer lies in the Pantheon building in Los Angeles it all started to make sense.
I left the hospital wanting to get started on rooting out where The Protectors were and the whereabouts of the stone. Not only would this be one of the most lucrative finds, but it would also be the cure to my disease.
Lighting my much-needed cigarette, I got on my bike and headed for the open road.
BANG BANG my trip down memory lane came to a halt as I watched the two goons' heads fall to the ground. Dr Asham had shot them, and Dr Death had stopped the machine. She seemed to inject him with a knockout drug.
"Quickly you must get to the top of this building, my clearance will take so far. You will need this…" Dr Asham hurried her speech trying to get me out of the restraints. She handed me her Walter PPK weapon. "Now go…GO!"
"I'm sorry, why are you helping me?" I asked wondering why this woman was helping me. I thought I was the one undercover not her.
"We have a friend in common," she said. I had never come across her before, but I soon realised, straight after I left the hospital.
Oh wait…"Victor Sullivan", I said out loud.
"Yes Victor, he is so sexy, like an animal…" Her words were too much for me to paint that picture. I had to stop her from talking.
"Yes, I get the picture, not that I wanted that. Where is the stone?"
She entered a few codes on her tablet, and it brought up the building's schematics. It seemed to be a warren of corridors and offices. In the basement was the research labs, which were interconnected to another building built underneath the Pantheon. There was a subway out into the city.
"Let me get this straight, I need to go all the way to the top and then all the way back down again to get out." I was already lost where to go in the first place. I had no idea how much resistance I would meet along the way. The Pantheon building wasn't just some atypical high-rise tower, it is home to the hundreds of employees that work here.
"I know someone at the executive entrance past the food court." She said showing the elevator. I had already had one bad experience with an elevator, and I was starting to feel a little anxious.
"An elevator, I usually take steps to avoid them." I said smiling at her. She didn't get the joke and I didn't have time to explain it to her. But it was clear I couldn't use the elevator in the lobby. And it would only be a matter of time before they discovered what had happened down here.
The lower levels were science and research, the lobby and first upper floors were the museum. I had to make my way through the residential floors, the gardens, the amusement park, the food court…it seemed to go on and on before finally reaching the executive offices, where she tapped on the screen of Fisher's Office, she called the Black Museum.
"I thought you guys were ready to unveil a new method of technology for transport. What is it a teleportation device?" I asked knowing how much that would be useful right now.
"No, it's a High-Speed train than runs underground." She said anti-climatically.
"You mean it's a subway train." I wasn't impressed. Upstairs it sounded like something from a new Golden Age of Technology. I listened as she explained what it was.
"It's a train that travels through the earth's core, impervious to heat and moves almost at the speed of light. It's called ANTT, after the Saharan Silver ant, which incidentally is the fastest underground ant in the world."
"An Ant?"
"Not an ant, A-N-T-T – Artificially-Intelligent Neurodivergent Tactical Train." She confirmed. At least it sounded like something out of a science fiction writer's mind.
"Wouldn't that be Aint?"
She'd heard enough of my jovial comments and pointed to the way out. Handing me her keycard she explained how much access it would grant the rest was up to me. To blend in I needed to dress the part. I couldn't simply walk around the building in a white overcoat. Thankfully her husband was out of town, so she let me have a key to her quarters.
Taking the key, I ran up the staircase and returned to the lobby.
Looking down and trying to stop the gun bulging from my side I headed towards the residential area. The long glass elevator went up multiple floors as I watched it shoot like water coming out of a geyser.
"Excuse me sir this elevator is off limits to the public," the balding guard said, sounding like the A.I. in the building. He held his hand out to stop me from entering. He looked like security, the kind of security that saw Redd's officers wearing Armani Suits and expensive loafers. I could see his weapon was bulging out of his sports jacket.
"I'm a friend of Dr Asham, you know a friend." I winked my eye, and he could see what I meant. "Her husband's out of town and she needs some R & R, if you get me pal."
The goon took the keycard and looked it over. He looked me over too. He pressed the button, and the elevator came flying down ready to take me flying up. Getting on I felt this was too easy, pushing the words 'nothing can go wrong' to enter my mind. I watched as the glass doors closed and the ride up took me high above the lobby.
BING – the sound of the elevator indicated I had reached the residential area.
The large number of plants spread across the main lobby and the black tiled floor made it look like I was in a Tokyo high-rise. I walked past the receptionists holding out the keycard. Walking to the bank of elevators to Dr Asham's quarters I held my breath and swiped the card.
It worked.
The glass door opened, and I got inside, shooting me up to another floor.
Stepping out into the corridor it was lined with wooden panelling on the walls, a sort of stone garden running down the side and nice calming lighting. The tranquil sounds made it seem as though you were walking through a Zen Garden.
I swiped the keycard for Dr Asham's quarters.
The loud noise of the alarm flooded the corridor. The lights above me began flashing red and I could hear all the doors locking the rooms, preventing anyone from getting out of their quarters.
PING PING – the bullets ricocheted off the door as they nearly hit me. I rolled out of the way and drew my gun firing two shots at the guards who felt the need to open fire on me. I ran down the corridor firing and headed towards the dining room.
Bursting open the doors a few of the employees were eating, but not as soon as I arrived. They screamed heading for the door as more guards came in shooting at me. I guided the staff out of harm's way and began firing back.
Rolling from one table to another, shielding myself from the slew of bullets firing from all directions. More guards shot their way through destroying the exquisite furniture and pieces of art scattered around the room.
PLEASE VACATE THE EMERALD RESIDENTIAL ZONE – WARNING - THE EMERALD RESIDENTIAL ZONE IS CURRENTLY LOCKED DOWN, the repeating sound of the alarm kept sounding as I shot the last of the guards and headed for the stairwell to the Gardens.
I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could narrowly avoiding being shot at.
Bursting open the doors I quickly ran through the virtual garden. The plants were real and the furniture, but the ceiling showed a projection of a calming sky with birds flying over on occasion. I continued running past people as more bullets came flying at me.
Looking back, I watched as employees fell, as though they were hit with a plague.
Stopping and turning around, I shot back and disabled the brute before running at him and punching my way through. The final hit on his face brought him to the ground as some people watched - those that didn't flee the scene.
I practically threatened my way through to get to the executive offices. A couple pointed at another elevator to the amusement park. I tried to remember what I had seen on the doctor's tablet. Yes, I did see that, I thought to myself. I couldn't hang around.
Arriving at the amusement park; there wasn't much moving but there were plenty of attractions. I ran through the main arcade and past the food court. Nobody seemed to be pursuing me, but I got plenty of looks from the staff.
Running around the interconnecting corridors I finally ran into a guard. He soon realised who I was and drew his weapon. Without thinking I charged at him and bulldozed my way through, knocking his gun out of his hand.
I could see Dr Asham's friend was not at the elevator, and it was on the way up at speed. I ran faster and faster towards the glass door. Bullets whizzed past my ears and into the glass in front. It was now or never. The two panes of glass were cracking by the sheer force of the bullets penetrating them.
I leapt through the glass and landed on the roof of the elevator as it shot up towards the executive offices. Laying down I undid the hatch and climbed into the elevator landing at the feet of two executives.
"Hi, I don't like elevators really, I usually take steps to avoid them." I said having the only joke in my mind, still thinking it was funny as the elevator came to a halt. The execs didn't seem to get it either. I needed to lose the jokes; Nathan's were funnier. I walked out and made my way through the corridors. I got closer to the double doors in front of me and they seemed to open automatically, as though I was being invited in.
I walked in and saw pictures I hadn't seen in a lifetime.
It was St Francis' orphanage in Boston.
I thought back to a day Nathan and I were together at the orphanage. I remembered being in the garden looking up at the skies above. I didn't want to be at that place, I wanted to be out in the world, discovering my own adventure. You can't keep an explorer grounded, I thought to myself.
The images on the wall of the orphanage reminded me of a fight I had had with a boy. Looking at my once bruised knuckles then and bruised ones now, I knew it was only a matter of time before Sister Teresa would have found me. I remember the gates being locked in the grounds, so I had no choice but to climb up on to the greenskeeper's hut. I scurried across the roof watching the sister searching for me.
"Sister Magdella, Sister Cartwright, have you seen the morgan boy?" I remembered her saying. I heard her bellowing to the other sisters near the chapel.
Seeing the young boy being pulled around by the sister and looking at his bruised face, I knew I had gone a step too far. I didn't want Nathan getting wind of this and so needed to get out of the place. I had visions of traversing the open road in search of adventure.
The sisters recognised it was my handy work and they began looking for me.
The flashback took me to when I heard another of the sisters shout from her window. She was having a cheeky cigarette. I laid down and crawled across to the main hall's roof. Jumping towards Farther Fisher's room.
Father Fisher's progenitor was some big billionaire but didn't share his wealth with him. Cared more for his younger brother, who didn't appear to do a thing wrong. I thought it was because the father had turned to God instead of Gold. Father Fisher told me that he despised his father.
The Father was rebellious and much like Father Duffy he often bent the rules once or twice.
I climbed into his office and searched his desk for a pack of smokes. I knew he had some, because he offered me one, once or twice. We used to hang out at the back of the toolshed. Until Sister Catherine caught us.
Opening the drawer and pulling out the smokes I saw a piece of paper that had partly been decoded the words were the same as what I saw. Redd Fisher had kept this on his wall:
It is in God we trust with our lives. We offer him sacrifice so we may walk with him in our time of death. For he shall wash away our sins on arrival and show us a world of peace and prosperity. My fellow traders, I too shall show you this world, for I hold the location to the key and the lock shall open the gate to the divine Garden. Our ancestors are remembered in stone, but their secrets lie within.
I thought back to that day, I had never seen anything like it. I had no idea what it meant. I thought about taking it, but I heard footsteps outside the room and heard the door creak open. I hid under Father Fisher's desk and waited for Sister Cartwright to leave.
"Where is that child?" I remember her saying as she closed the door.
I spent days and days trying to work out what that mantra meant.
A year later I learned about our mom's journals and where they were. I brought Nathan along and we got into some shit at Evelyn's mansion. I could never return to the orphanage, but I still had the code with me. A few days later after watching Evelyn die, I returned to the mansion and found the key to reading the rest of the cipher. I read it over and over, the words from an unknown trader had been imprinted into my brain. I needed to know more. What did this mean?
I pressed a button under the image, and it opened a bookcase showing more books than I had ever seen. Taking one off the shelf it showed they had been written by Casandra Morgan, my mom. These were copies of her journals. They detailed the stone in its infinite power. It wasn't the words of my mom; it was the words of Redd Fisher; his addendums were more recent. They had worked together in the past. And he had continued her work.
Where is the stone? I asked myself, looking around the room for another door to the so-called Black Museum. I didn't have much time it was only going to be a few moments before Redd Fisher and his armed mercenaries would crash the party.
There is something in this room which leads to the Black Museum I was certain of it.
I walked towards a darkened corner of the room and found a keypad with a four-digit code. I entered the One year I knew would be the most remembered for Fisher.
ACCESS GRANTED
The door opened and I walked into an explorer's treasure trove. In the centre of the room was an empty glass cabinet, it either held the stone before, or it was where the stone was going to be held once Redd Fisher had found it.
The last artifact I looked at was all I needed to understand what this was all about. I walked around the items and soaked up some more information before Redd finally made an appearance surrounding me with more than a few of his guards.
"Well, well Mr Drake, what did you learn?" Red Fisher said as his cannonball bald head gleamed from the fluorescent lighting. He signalled his goons to watch over the area. They'd followed me with the cameras. I was worried they were gonna kill me, but there was something in the back of my mind that screamed out, 'they're going to need you'.
My mom's journal was a sea of adventure. But there was always someone who wants to uninvitingly join you on the ship to shore, each chapter, an adventure, each page a clue. When I learned of the stone, I unknowingly opened Pandora's Box.
"I think I get the idea now." I said lighting a cigarette and walking over to the map on the wall. I could see the drinks cabinet and took a bottle of scotch. I poured two glasses and offered one to Redd.
"Where is the stone now?" I asked. I looked around wondering if I could escape somehow. But there was no escape. Redd didn't take the drink, so I chucked it down my gullet. Feeling the burning sensation on the back of my throat.
I pointed to the map on the wall, and took a cipher out of my pocket, placing it on the table in front of me. Turning my attention to the map, I could see a place in the Philippines, one of the 1000s of uninhabited islands. But this one was habited and held safe the two people holding the keys to the Garden.
"Magellan didn't come by the Philippines by accident, he went there in search of something. He knew what was there." I drank another shot, "of course he was killed by a poison arrow."
I referenced my mom's journal, the one from the broken city and told Redd Fisher everything I knew about the stone. From Drake to Magellan, many explorers were in search of it.
"What did you take from my brother?" Redd asked, "he was the man you ripped off back at the orphanage."
What now, I thought.
I proceeded to tell him about this disease I had running through me. Fisher recognised the symptoms and told me about the secret city in London. There he explained that he too had seen what this thing could do.
"We took something from that place, your mother and I." Redd Fisher smiled; I could tell he greatly admired my mom. "Maybe we can help each other."
I knew this wasn't going to end well for any of us and when he asked me to kidnap two children, I think that was the last straw.
"There's no way," I shouted approaching the billionaire psychopath. I was accosted by two brutes who shook me. Fisher took my wallet and opened it to the picture of Cassie. He stared into her eyes; he could see my mother's eyes in them.
"Here's what's going to happen Mr Drake, in a few days you and I are going to take a trip to Kanlungan Island, situated between Cebu and Leyte." He said pointing at the map of the Philippines and putting the picture of my niece in his jacket pocket. "A simple extraction, minimal bloodshed."
Why did I think he couldn't be any farther from the truth. I didn't want any part of this. I wanted to find the stone, that part was true, but I didn't want to kidnap children to get it. The part about storming an innocent village in a part of the Philippines that wasn't even on the map.
"How's your Russian?" Redd asked.
I was able to convince him I could get by but Listening to his plan sounding like it was never going to work. It was to deceive, to make whoever we were collecting trust us. I needed to do my research on this guy and the protectors. Redd needed to fill in the blanks for me.
"My contact on the inside will secure us a helicopter. You in the air, Matvey and me in the sea. It will be like storming Normandy." Redd laughed maniacally. "This is going to be biblical."
I had an idea who Matvey was, comparing him to some warlord. His reputation of razing villages and hurting innocents defined his modus operandi. And now more people were going to get hurt – all in the name of power.
The brutes threw me back.
"Why does he want the stone?" I said, still struggling to understand why some billionaire wanted the artifact. It couldn't be for money; the guy was already one of the richest on the planet, even compared to Redd Fisher, albeit how Fisher rose to fame was very questionable. My sister-in-law did a great expose on him. I don't think he appreciated the irony in most of what Elena had written about him.
…
Hearing why Sergei Romanov was pursuing the stone scared me even more. What was supposedly a tale of adventure had now become an act of desperation.
"I don't think you realise how long we've been searching for this thing Mr Drake. I'm not going to let some illness reshape the genetic makeup of my brain."
We left heading towards the roof.
The helicopter was already waiting for us. I couldn't help wondering what Nathan was doing, I knew I needed him to get me out of this. But he wasn't in the game anymore, he was out. And so should I be. Chloe, Cutter, Sully the whole gang – were out.
The door opened and I climbed inside the helicopter along with Redd and more of his goons.
"Anyone know what the inflight movie is?" I said smiling. No one smiled back.
I felt the helicopter move as we began to rise into the sky. I overheard the pilot mention it being one hour to the oilrig. I looked out of the window as we flew over Portland and out into the Atlantic Ocean.
The hour went by as I could see the oilrig below.
I saw the huge submersible bobbing in the ocean too.
The rain beat down hard as we entered the area waiting on the helipad. There were trucks and boats bobbing up and down waiting to be loaded. Then I saw Matvey for the first time, Jesus I thought, if there was ever a giant in the Jack 'n the Beanstalk, this guy would be it. I couldn't imagine going up against someone like him. He commanded the vehicles to drive up on the trawlers.
Walking off the helicopter and across the rig, the rain was even more violent than before. Some tech guy approached Redd. "Sir Atlantis is recording unusual waves coming from the Petoria?" The bespectacled nerd in a white coat sounded nervous when giving the news.
Redd Fisher took the electronic pad off him and looked at the flashing beacon. "It's there I know it is." He said handing it back to him.
"Atlantis?" I asked him puzzled.
"It's good to give yer bases a strong name." Redd glared at me. A soldier walked up to him holding a satellite phone.
"Where are you?" Redd commanded to someone on the other end.
"Europe, I've sourced some bigger ships there and safe passage through to the Philippines." The voice said as I listened attentively.
"We'll be there in less than 5 hours." Redd said finishing the call.
This was some huge operation, to storm a village and kidnap two kids in the hopes they could lead us to the Stone.
"Is this one of the brother's Drake?" Matvey asked as we walked near him.
Redd explained to him, who I was. He seemed to know a lot about me, more than I knew about Fisher anyway and his big, ugly, tank-like bodyguard.
Returning to London I convinced Nathan to let Cassie stay over for a couple of nights. She and I talked all night about the stone, who was involved, the parchment in the statue stolen by Redd Fisher. Although I left the part out about what I was going to do. Staring at the photograph of Sergei Romanov was all the inspiration I needed.
There was so much deceit in the room, but I needed Nathan otherwise Redd would kill me.
And how to get to Nathan? Well, the way to a man's heart is through his child.
This was a new low, even for me. I could feel my stomach churning. Thinking up a story about a South American drug lord busting me out of the joint to convince Nathan we needed to find Libertalia was nothing compared to what I was about to do here. At least that story had action – this story was mostly about Mans' avarice.
The story however involves children, one of whom is my niece. Convincing her to go to Barbados was the low I'm talking about. Keeping things from Nathan was more genetics, which I assume I got from mom. But tricking my niece was more the deceptive traits I've developed over the years, something Nathan didn't seem to possess.
When living life devolves to surviving life - all bets are off.
Cassie had enough information to do what I needed. And when I heard they were going, the plan was already in motion. I read the letter from the doctor again and again. It didn't make any sense, mostly because it described parts of the human organism I didn't get. I mean c'mon what am I – a doctor. No! But I suppose if I didn't do this…
Deciding, where on one hand, was the weight of death and the other was the weight of life. On the imbalanced proverbial scales, death was weighing it down.
After Cassie had left and I had started the wheels in motion. It was time to head out.
Arriving at the place Redd had told me to be at I climbed aboard the huge white submersible with Redd and his armed to the teeth mercenaries and we headed for the Philippines.
Thank you for reading this chapter. In the next one we'll continue with Sam's backstory as he arrives at Kanlungan Island.