Destroyers of the Lost Garden (The Lost Garden Trilogy Book 3) (2 page)

Chapter Two

“Jess!” screamed Evan Knight for the fifth time.

They were close to the Sardroud Islamic Azad University just south of Tabriz. The quiet of night seemed to amplify Evan’s outbursts.

Geronimo knew something was wrong, but he also knew that the last thing they needed was to draw attention to themselves.

“Come on, Evan,” Geronimo said, quietly. “We can’t be doing this here.”

Jess had gone into some sort of a trance just minutes before and she didn’t seem to be coming out of it. Her eyes glazed over and her pupils were dilated.

Geronimo panicked at first when as he saw her freeze up. Once Knight had lost it, he realized he had to be the voice of reason.

The odd thing was that she still stood upright as opposed to falling over. She just froze where she stood.

“Does your babe do this a lot?” Geronimo said, as he tried to calm his friend down.

“No,” Knight replied, with more than just concern in his voice. “I’ve never seen her do this before. I don’t know if there’s a time limit or if we should even try to move her.”

“Damn it, Evan!” Geronimo snapped. He was surprised at his own lack of control. “What does your gut tell you? I know you have degrees and diplomas coming out of your ass! How many times have I told you to stop thinking so much and follow your damn gut?”

Knight smiled, because he knew that his longtime friend was right. His gut never betrayed him.
What exactly was his gut saying?

“We have to wait,” Knight declared. “I believe that my gut is telling me to wait. We don’t know Jess’ physiology and anything we do could cause more damage than good.”

Geronimo slapped his friend on the back.

“Good! See? It wasn’t that hard, man. You’ve got some heavy feelings for her,I can feel it. Don’t let that get in the way of making decisions, Evan. Making a decision when you let emotions get in the way can kill you.”

“When the hell did you become a fucking philosopher, Geronimo?” Knight expected a smartass remark to his question.

Geronimo tilted his head and stuck his chin in the air.

“I’m always fucking as long as Molly’s in the mood. I just recently got my B.A. in B.S. and I plan on working toward my doctorate very soon.”

Knight got the answer he expected.

Jess collapsed as the trance lost its hold on her. She was gasping for air, trying her best to breathe.

Knight went to her side and held her head up.

“Jess! Are you alright? What happened? What can I do?”

Jess pushed him back just far enough to catch her breath.

“Evan...Knight,” she managed to say between breaths. “Mother…Daughter…”

“Don’t try to do so much at once, Jess,” Knight said calmly. “Just try to breathe and then you can tell me what’s going on.”

Geronimo handed her a bottle of water which she drank in a matter of seconds. She started to breathe easier.

Jess sighed once and said, “Mother Daughter…is in trouble.”

Knight put his hand on Jess’ shoulder. “What kind of trouble, Jess? Is there something else going on?”

She tried to shake off the entire experience.

“I believe so, Evan Knight. I think it has started. We have to get to Eden as soon as we can. There is more of a threat than I  ever imagined.”

Knight realized that time was their enemy. They had to hurry if they were going to get to Eden before it was destroyed.

“I need to know everything you know, if I’m going to be of any help. Do we have any other adversaries that we have to look out for, Jess?”

He knew the answer to the question before he had even asked it.

Jess took a breath and closed her eyes as she spoke.

“The Fallen’s numbers have depleted, but they are still not to be taken lightly. Just now, I was as one with Mother Daughter. It was revealed to me that there are many trucks of war approaching Eden.”

“Trucks? Are they Iranian?” Geronimo queried.

Jess strained to find the answer.

“I believe so. There is an army.”

Geronimo looked at Knight as they realized that this was bigger than they both had anticipated.

“Go on, Jess,” urged Knight.

“I could feel the betrayal that Mother Daughter felt, but I am unsure as to who the betrayer is,” Jess continued, as she pressed her hands against her chest. “There is dissention among my sisters. They are without their weapons and now without their fortress inside the Mountain of God. I don’t…know…” she trails off as she lowers her head.

Knight grabbed Jess’ shoulders.

“Open your eyes, Jess! We need you to snap out of it!”

Jess blinked slowly as she appeared to go in and out of some kind of trance. She placed one hand on Knight’s shoulder. She had a pained expression on her face.

Her eyes pleaded with Knight.

“Evan Knight, we must get there quickly to aid my sisters. My mind is clouded with visions of Mother Daughter and the new threat my sisters face. I’m afraid that I have no further resources to aid in getting us to Eden, the fortress has been shut down and all the routes that are known to me are essentially sealed. You know the way, Evan; the original entrance that was sealed off to the sons of men. You must lead us there before all is lost.”

“Yeah,” Knight agreed, “And I have to do it without letting the Iranians know we’re here.”

Chapter Three

Sulna put her cell phone away, sporting a Cheshire grin.

Alexey had monitored her call to see if he could overhear anything she might have been trying to hide from him but she hadn’t spoken once since she’d answered the call.

It was getting dark and uncomfortably cold as the lead truck rumbled steadily along the old road. There was a sound on the wind that sounded like singing in the distance. Alexey knew the familiar sound but he couldn’t quite place it. Then, driver suddenly stopped and pulled over to the side; the other trucks followed suit. He was puzzled why they stopped, until the driver pointed at the building in front of them.

Alexey saw that there was a mosque a few hundred feet in front of them and he nodded his head appreciatively. That was what he had heard; the Imam’s call to prayer. Even though he detected a hint of exasperation in Sulna’s face, he didn’t mind stopping. A couple hours of rest in a warm place would do them all some good. Alexey smiled to himself. Sulna would not be permitted in the main hall with the men so there was no chance of her besmirching the air with her awful scent. All of the men exited the vehicles and entered the mosque one by one.

Alexey’s truck stopped outside the door and he turned to his partner.

“At least it’s open all night,” he laughed. “Sulna, I would think that by now we would be through with hiding things from one another. Would you like to share your good news?”

“Hiding, Alexey?” she rebutted, leaning against the wall beside the mosque door. “How is this for hiding? From now on call me by my given name, Sulina the Fallen. I am the rightful heir to the Garden of Eden and it is mine now. So if anyone truly has the right to destroy it, it’s me.”

Alexey laughed nervously.

“Rightful heir? What the hell are you talking about now, Sulna? Heir to Eden? Oh, stop it please! I can’t take this masquerade anymore.” He moved from the wall and paced in front of the door. “The way you talk now it’s as if we should all be bowing down, saying ‘All hail the Queen of Eden!’ What exactly has changed to make you feel so righteous in your bid to burn Eden to the ground?’

Sulina the Fallen rushed straight at him, grabbed Alexey by the throat with one hand and squeezed. She gritted her teeth as darkness consumed her eyes.

“Mock me no more, mortal!” she screamed.

He was terrified. He had never heard her raise her voice before.

“What you see before you is no masquerade, this is who I am. Remember, I eat men like you for supper, quite literally. The masquerade was Sulna Obvesky! I have given you the pathway to Eden, Alexey Konstantin and even as you busily gathered your little army of men and machines, I had my own devices at work within the Mountain of God. The leader of the Daughters of Eve is no more and my true heritage can now be revealed.”

She loosened her grip on his throat and pulled herself together. She had no intention of killing him, not yet anyway; she still needed him to lead his army to the doors of Eden.

“Once I was one of them, Alexey,” she said, almost tenderly. “But I dared to question the Mother Daughter. I dared to want more. So I ate the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil, the Forbidden Tree, and I was cursed for it. I am neither dead, nor alive.”

She paused and turned to look at him. In the moonlight, Alexey thought she looked remarkably beautiful but then again the scholars all say that Lucifer was the most beautiful of all God’s angels.

“I am the blood sister to the now deceased Mother Daughter,” she continued looking him straight in the eyes. “So yes, as a matter of fact, you son of a bitch, all hail the Queen of Eden!”

***

After a few hours all of the men returned to their respective trucks. The lead truck pulled out toward their destination…Sahand, a stratovolcano that stood over 12,000 feet high and one of the tallest mountains in Iranian Azerbaijan. It lay directly south of Tabriz, but more importantly, it was the key to finding Eden.

Alexey had been silent ever since Sulina had removed her hand from his throat. He could still smell the stench that surrounded his neck from her touch. He gagged a few times while trying to breathe. He couldn’t believe that he had ever shared a bed with her.

He now knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was in charge and he hated her for it. No one had even attempted to belittle Alexey Konstantin and lived; but she had made her position in the game abundantly clear. He would bide his time.

Sulina glared at him in his reverie.

“The defenses of Eden have been disabled. They have no way of telling our position or when we will be arriving. Do you have anything we can send them to
warm them up?”

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Alexey whined.

“You know now, Alexey,” Sulina said, sarcastically. “So what do you have for our situation? It’s better that we attack now, but it will be impossible to get over the mountain walls before the Daughters find weapons and sufficient cover.”

Alexey pulled out his cell phone and made his call. He smiled as the other party picked up. “This is Alexey. Do you have access to the equipment that we talked about earlier? Good. Do you know where Sahand is?” He hands the phone to Sulina who reluctantly takes it.

She listens quietly as the voice on the other end says, “I need the coordinates. There is nothing but landscape in that area.”

“You are mistaken,” she responds. “What exactly are you sending?” Sulina assumed that she wouldn’t get a straight answer out of Alexey, especially after almost strangling him…again.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone and then, “I have several well-manned and well-gunned CH-47 Chinook helicopters.”

Sulina looked confused and pleased at the same time. She gave the coordinates and then handed the phone back to Alexey.

“Did you get that?” Alexey queried, into the phone.

He then smiled and put his phone away. It was Sulina’s turn to let her curiosity get the better of her. “What exactly is a Chin…ook?”

Alexey laughed at her ignorance.

“So there is something that you don’t know after all, Sulina the Fallen? It’s a good thing that I am so knowledgeable in the ways of real war! The United States and Iran had a wonderful relationship in the 70’s; Iranian armed forces utilized many American military aircraft including the Chinook. They were the same aircraft used in Vietnam. I’m sure you’ve seen the dual bladed helicopters in pictures. The Imperial Iranian Army purchased 70 of these American made helicopters. In the latter part of the 70’s, Iran placed an order for 50 more to use them in their 1979 revolution. Some were lost and some were destroyed along the way. Someone was smart. It was just like when American soldiers took artifacts from Saddam Hussein’s palace when he was killed; certain Iranians hid several of these helicopters for personal use.”

“You know a lot of people who hide things, Alexey,” Sulina accused.

“The war has now begun,” he replied. “It will only take several hours for our air attack to begin. Since our birds of prey have been stagnant for so long, the helicopters must be prepared for combat.”

Sulina glared at her partner. “I hope this isn’t a stall tactic, Alexey. If you are correct then we will arrive at Sahand far ahead of your helicopters.”

“I have more allies now than I ever have before,” he continued. “Sometimes, we cannot pick and choose who we ally ourselves with, as long as they have something that will benefit us. We have worked as a team to accomplish what we have so far,
Sulina
. Your connections inside of Eden and my connections everywhere else have made this possible.”

“I’m not sure if that is an attempt to kiss my ass or not,” she replied, as she smirked. “Maybe you should also realize that without my help on the inside, you would have to deal with the weapons and defense of the Daughter’s fortress.”

Alexey was prepared for that statement. He straightened up in his seat and made direct eye contact. “Sulina,” Alexey said, confidently. “From what you informed me about this fortress, I can only assume that it is the only known entrance to Eden. With the electronics shut down, then I would think that we would need some powerful weapons to cut into Sahand. Even the heir of Eden should realize not to bite the hand that supplies the army.”