The Mayan Resurrection

35

Friday Night

Manny sits alone on the sofa opposite Ennis Chaney’s mahogany desk, feeling lost in time. ‘Jacob told you I’d be coming?’

‘Years ago. Your brother’s ability to foresee certain events convinced me long ago to go along with his schemes.’

‘So what happens now?’

‘I don’t know. Jacob told me to expect you, nothing more. So let’s talk about your fiancee. Lovely girl. Why haven’t you told her who you really are?’

‘How can I? How do you tell the person you love that you’ve been living a lie, that you’re not the person you claim to be?’

‘She deserves to know. What if you two have children? They could turn out like Jake.’

‘I know.’

‘Tell her.’

‘I will.’

‘When?’

‘Soon.’

‘Do it tonight.’

Immanuel looks up at his godfather. ‘Why tonight? What’s the rush?’

‘Just do it tonight.’ He leans back in his easy chair. ‘Now go bring her in, and let’s see if I can help her out of the mess she’s in.’

Immanuel finds Lauren in one of the guest rooms, changing into dry clothes.

‘Lauren, I spoke with Chaney. He wants to help.’

‘Thank God.’ Lauren hugs her fiance, then follows him back to the office.

Chaney sits back in his chair and thinks. ‘Okay, young lady, let’s say you’re right. Let’s say Professor Gabeheart was murdered because he suspected something someone wanted kept quiet. How do we prove it? Where’s the evidence?’

‘The evidence is in Yellowstone,’ she says. ‘The evidence is hidden beneath the hot springs and caldera.’

‘Assume things are as bad as you say, that the caldera is getting ready to erupt. Who’d want to keep it secret? And how could they?’

‘They’d do it by shutting down the park. They’d want it kept a secret to prevent a widespread panic.’

‘Mr., uh… President, we need you to bring Gabeheart’s death and this entire issue into the public eye. Once you do that, it eliminates the need for outside parties to keep Lauren silent.’

Chaney nods. ‘Okay, consider it done. By Sunday morning, the story will be sent to every media outlet in the world. Only then will we bring the FBI in. Sound like a plan?’

‘Oh, God, thank you.’ Lauren wipes back tears of gratitude. ‘Thank you so much. And thank God you’re a big Miami booster.’ She looks at Immanuel. ‘Sam, I had no idea your father had such influential friends.’

Manny shrugs.

Chaney grins. ‘For now, the two of you will stay with me. Bad storm coming, but we should be okay.’ He stands, hobbling like an old soldier to the den door. ‘Come on, my wife’s prepared a Thanksgiving feast. Eat everything, or I’ll be dealing with leftovers past Christmas.’

Hangar 13, Kennedy Space Center,

Cape Canaveral, Florida

Hand in hand, Lilith and Jacob stand before the Balam ’s sealed entry.

‘Incredible,’ she whispers. ‘And this was built by our Hunahpu ancestors?’

‘No,’ Jacob says. ‘The origins of the starship remain a mystery.’

Danny Diaz, Dr. Mohr, Benjamin Merchant, and two gorillasized security guards join them on the gantry platform.

Merchant smiles. ‘Why, Lilith darlin’, you’re positively glowing. I’m extremely jealous.’

Jacob looks below. More than six hundred MTI technicians, scientists, and VIPs have gathered, all waiting to tour the interior of the sleek, gold-paneled vessel.

Lilith coos in his ear. ‘Open it, my love.’

‘Of course.’ Jacob closes his eyes.

The sealed panel door of the Balam slides open.

Lilith steps forward – and suddenly she is sent hurtling over the rail, falling to the crowd below.

The blur of movement that is Jacob Gabriel grabs Dave Mohr by his wrist, yanking the scientist inside the starship.

Lilith lands awkwardly atop the crowd. ‘Jacob!’ She scrambles to her feet. ‘Damn you, Jacob…’ She slips inside the nexus.

Jacob pulls Dave Mohr to his feet. ‘You okay?’

The scientist nods. ‘What happened?’

‘No time to explain, just hold on.’

A low rumbling sound, like a generator, echoes throughout the hangar, quickly increasing to a dull thunder.

The gantry trembles, sending the crowd rushing toward the nearest exits.

Lilith is flung free of the nexus as the long-dormant engines of the Balam power up. An invisible wave of electromagnetic energy is expelled from beneath the hull, blasting bodies, equipment, and ten years of dust in all directions.

Beneath this cushion of energy, the alien starship rises. Dorsal plates punch upward through the roof. Steel beams and metal sheeting tumble like kindling.

Lilith pulls herself free from beneath the fallen gantry and looks up, screaming her outrage, as the starship Balam disappears into the approaching gray storm clouds of Super-Cane Kenneth.

Delray Beach, Florida

11:37 p.m.

One-hundred-thirty-mile-an-hour gusts whip through the deserted streets of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, announcing the arrival of Super-Cane Kenneth’s outer wind bands. The once-tranquil ocean swells thirty-five feet, the storm surge submerging the beach before pouring over sea walls to inundate scenic highway A-1-A. Waves lap against storefronts. A driving rain lashes palm fronds and debris, turning refuse into miniature missiles.

And the superstorm’s eye is still nine hours out to sea.

Cuddling beneath the blanket, Immanuel Gabriel curls his naked body around Lauren, nuzzling her neck, while outside, fierce winds hammer the steel hurricane storm shutters.

‘I feel safe in your arms,’ Lauren whispers.

‘I missed you.’

‘Why you were at the Cape?’

‘I was… visiting a relative.’

She rolls over to face him. ‘Who?’

‘My mother. My biological mother.’

‘I don’t understand?’

‘Lauren, I was adopted. I never told you about it because, well, I sort of wrote them out of my life long ago.’

She sits up. ‘Them?’

‘I have a brother. I saw him this week for the first time in six years. He has problems, mental problems. My mother may have to put him in an asylum. That’s why I had to come up to the Cape this week. She wanted me to see him before he’s locked away.’

‘I don’t know what to say. Are you okay with all this?’

‘Guess I’m a little screwed up.’

‘Can I meet them?’

‘Someday.’

She lays her head on his chest. ‘All this time, I had this terrible premonition you were getting ready to leave me.’

He swallows the lump in his throat. ‘I’m not leaving you.’

‘Promise?’

The wind howls outside and he hugs her tighter. ‘I’m not leaving you, Lauren. I promise.’

Hope Control Room, MTI Operational Headquarters,

Cocoa Beach, Florida

Saturday

2:35 a.m.

Lilith Mabus is in her late husband’s private office, seated before a wall of computer monitors. The upper two rows are real-time links being broadcast from NATS-Nanosat Trailblazer Spheres-cluster satellites, no larger than a basketball. Thousands of these spheres orbit the Earth, scanning every square inch of the planet.

Despite NATS extensive coverage, the alien starship is nowhere to be found.

‘Computer, replay security sequence.’

Another set of screens activate, revealing different angles of the perimeter security fencing surrounding Hangar 13.

The figure of a dark-haired man appears on screen. He crosses the compound and heads for the fence. Pauses, then practically vaults over the steel barrier before disappearing into the night.

Lilith’s azure eyes widen. ‘Computer, rewind and replay sequence at half speed.’

The image begins again.

‘Freeze. Focus on subject’s face. Increase magnification by ten.’

A blue square frames the man’s face, expanding and focusing.

The image of Samuel Agler appears on screen, frozen in time.

Jacob’s twin… the dark-haired one still lives! ‘Computer, identify subject.’

SAMUEL AGLER, IDENTIFICATION 13-9-23-FL-742-45-M. SUBJECT IS A PCAA ATHLETE CURRENTLY ENROLLED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI.

Lilith claps her hands in delight. ‘Samuel, “the Mule” Agler is Immanuel Gabriel? Computer, tap into all government resources and communication links. Check identifications in all storm shelters and every mode of transportation. I want Samuel Agler found before dawn.’

Delray Beach, Florida

7:50 a.m.

Super-Cane Kenneth’s fury rips across South Florida’s landmass like a mad bull, uprooting trees, peeling away antiquated tile roofs, churning the community beneath a blizzard of wind and water.

Guided by its autopilot, the black stretch limousine finds its way through the storm, eventually arriving at the estate registered to Frank Stansbury. The vehicle parks itself beneath the huge porte cochere. A woman dashes for the front door.

Dominique shakes water from her hair, then hugs Ennis Chaney. ‘Where is he?’

‘In the shower. His fiancee’s here, too.’

‘Lauren’s here? Has he told her?’

‘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!’

Jacob stares at his twin. Immanuel’s irises are radiating a striking azure blue, just like his own. ‘It’s happening. He’s changing-turning full Hunahpu. Manny, everything will become clear to you soon, but we have to hurry if we have any hope of rescuing Mick.’

‘Mick’s alive?’ Dominique grabs Jacob by his shoulders. ‘How do you know? How can you be sure?’

Immanuel takes Lauren’s hand. ‘Jake claims he speaks to him.’

‘You’ve been speaking with your father? How? Why didn’t you tell me?!’

Jacob glances over his shoulder at the approaching eye wall. ‘We don’t have time for this, we have to hurry. The Balam ’s force field can’t manipulate the storm much longer.’

‘You hurry, I’m not going anywhere.’

‘Manny, our destiny’s on Xibalba!’

‘Yours, not mine. I was meant to stay behind. Think about it. The Balam should have opened for me, but it didn’t.’

‘You weren’t full Hunahpu then.’

‘Neither was Mick, but it opened for him.’

‘We don’t have time for this nonsense.’ Jacob turns to Kurtz. ‘Salt, stun him!’

Kurtz shakes his head. ‘Manny said he wants to stay. It’s his choice.’

‘Pep-’

‘Back off, Jake. Let the kid choose.’

Jacob approaches his brother, becoming desperate. ‘Manny, listen-please, it takes two people to resurrect our father and save the Nephilim. I can’t do it alone.’

‘Then take me instead,’ Dominique demands.

‘Mother-’

‘I said, take me!’

‘Impossible.’

‘Impossible? Don’t you tell me impossible! I’ve kowtowed to your every whim for twenty years. I’ve dedicated my life to you and this… this Mayan mythology, all in the hopes of seeing Mick again. Now you’re going to take me to see him!’

*

Collin Shelby hurries through a river of rainwater streaming down the tunnel’s concrete incline. He stays close to the brick wall, remaining in the shadows, as he scans the group of people in the scope of his XE-29 sniper rifle.

Isolated at midfield… like shooting ducks on a pond. Uh-oh… what’s this? He focuses on the three EMP suits worn by the two bodyguards and one of the women. Have to use the tungsten rounds.

Shelby loads a tungsten dart into the chamber of his rifle, then switches the trigger from taser fire to explosive bullets. Unlike old-fashioned bullets, these lethal projectiles contain the latest biocide, nanoswarm EPI-46, a fast-spreading, human flesh-consuming agent. Any contact ensures a lethal strike.

The UMBRA assassin steadies himself as he aims the crosshairs of his scope.

‘Think about it, Jake,’ Immanuel pleads. ‘For six years you’ve been devising strategies for defeating the Xibalban sentry, and you’ve never won. Didn’t it ever occur to you that they know we’re coming, too?’

Jacob stares at his twin, pondering the thought.

‘You say you’ve been communicating with our father. How do you know Lilith wasn’t eavesdropping? Maybe that’s why we lost the first battle, because Lilith was listening to Mick.’

‘Yes… it’s possible.’

Manny takes Lauren’s hand. ‘You once told me Lilith was your soul mate. Well, Lauren’s mine, and I’m not leaving her.’

Dominique nods. ‘I’m coming with you, Jacob. Case closed.’

Jacob turns to her. ‘Okay, Mother. Say your good-byes quickly.’

Dominique rushes to Immanuel, hugging him as hard as she can.

‘Ma… thank you. I love you.’

‘I love you, Manny, I love you, too.’ She hugs Lauren. ‘You take care of him.’

‘I will.’

Jacob hands Dr. Mohr a microdisk. ‘This will allow you access to everything you’ll need. I don’t know what’s going to happen from this point on, but all of you are fugitives. Go now, before Lilith finds you.’ He looks at the big African-American bodyguard. ‘Take care of my brother, Pep. Lilith won’t rest until she finds him.’

Ryan Beck nods. ‘Do what you were born to do. We’ll watch over them.’

Jacob embraces Manny, whispering into his ear. ‘Remember the young lady named Bright, whose speed was far faster than light. She went out one day, in a relative way, and returned the previous night.’

‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘Because your actions today will create a new fork in the road of space-time. Where that road leads is up to you. I hope you’re ready to face its consequences.’

‘It’s what I choose.’

The edge of the storm reaches the stadium, its 196-mile-an-hour winds causing the folded-down arena seats to flap open and closed, the sound echoing across the empty arena like a flock of cackling geese.

Immanuel nods at the Balam. ‘Go find our father.’

Jacob takes Dominique by the crook of her arm and leads her into the starship, the portal resealing behind them.

Waves form on the flooded field. The wind howls in Immanuel’s ears as the starship’s engines power up. Salt grabs the Mohrs, Beck takes Chaney. ‘Move! Everyone in the limo!’

Immanuel turns to Lauren, who is smiling at him, tears in her eyes. ‘I love you, Immanuel Gabriel.’

‘I love you.’ He reaches for her – a scarlet explosion splattering his face. He falls backward, Lauren collapsing against his chest in a shattered heap.

Kurtz wheels around, his smart-glasses instantly retracing the line of fire. Zooming in on the target, he fires, the laser burst from his rifle igniting inside the tunnel, vaporizing Collin Shelby into a wisp of organic ash.

Manny holds Lauren, his fiancee’s life gushing from the still-expanding scarlet gap in her waist. ‘Lauren! Lauren!’

She glances up at him, unable to speak, her face pale and drained.

‘Oh, God, Lauren, don’t leave me!’

The hazel eyes glass over. The pulse in her neck stops beating.

‘Oh, God! Oh, God, help!’

Kurtz scans the stadium with his smart-glasses. ‘We’re sitting ducks out here. Pep, grab Manny.’

Lauren Beckmeyer’s remains continue disintegrating in blood-soaked clumps. Immanuel releases her detached upper torso and stands in rigid defiance against Ryan Beck’s grip and the blasting wind, his fists balled, tears streaming from his azure-blue eyes as he looks up and screams, ‘Ja-cob!’

The gold starship continues its majestic ascent into the swirling heavens until it disappears into the diminishing blue eye of the storm – leaving him behind.

A wisp of thought, in the consciousness of existence.

The site of the gold-paneled starship on that distant moon did something to me.

Michael Gabriel’s anguished soul seemed to cry out to me for your mother, or maybe it was Bill Raby’s tortured heart, refusing to go on without his Jude.

Whatever it was, I had finally had enough. Aiming a high-energy taser at my head, I pulled the trigger – and awoke!

Bill Raby was gone. I was Michael Gabriel again, still aboard the Guardian’s pod, only my vessel was no longer moving through space, I was hovering over the alien moon.

Moments later the pod landed in the domed subterranean facility.

Before me stood the Guardian survivors, behind them the Balam.

The wormhole…

The time loop…

Am I conscious, or is this all a dream?

Am I Michael Gabriel or Bill Raby?

Where am I? On a moon somewhere in the Orion Belt, or lying unconscious in solitary confinement back in my cell in Massachusetts?

Michael Gabriel? One Hunahpu?

Bill Raby? Osiris?

Jacob, are you there? Are you real, or are you part of the delusions?

Michael?

Dominique?

God, why must you torture me? Why must you…

The white fog! Two pinpoints… angry violet eyes, stare at me from within the nexus haze.

‘One Hunahpu…’

Her shadow appears, her form pushing forward… cocoa skin… so intoxicating. The Abomination! How could I have let my guard down?

‘Come closer, One Hunahpu, so that I might taste your soul.’

No, please… God! God help me!

‘God? God is like eternity, his existence cold and lonely. Bathe in my heat, Michael, and let me thaw your mind. Crawl into my womb as I entwine your being. Inhale my breath as I caress your lonely soul.’

No! I am Michael Gabriel. I am One Hunahpu. I am in control. I control my mind, not the Abomination. My mind is a safe haven.

‘The Guardian have deceived you, Michael. I am not your enemy, I am your salvation.’

… I will focus on the echoes of my mind and not the coos of the Abomination. I shall control my mind, and the Abomination cannot hurt me. I shall retell my tale to my sons, and occupy my thoughts ‘No more tales. Our destiny together begins anew as we await the arrival of your sons.’

Boys, can you hear me? Jacob? Stay away! The Abomination knows you’re coming!

‘The cosmos has turned a deaf ear, Michael. Now, there is only us.’

No! God is out there, God will help me!

‘God? God is dead, Michael – a mere wisp of thought, in the consciousness of existence…’