The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) (41 page)

Tony let go of Marcus and stood
up. He was banged up and weary and ready to get to the bottom of all of this.
In fact, he practically shoved Marcus aside in a very uncharacteristic display
of fury. He was ready to wring Fayd's neck himself.

"Look," he said in a
low, steady voice. "I've just about had enough of this. I don't know what
you take us for, Dr. Fahdlan, but we're not idiots. I've been in the service
for the better part of two decades. I've seen a lot of things, but for you to
tell us that winged people are holding Dr. Trent hostage is just about the
biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. You really expect us to believe
that?"

Ellsner just stood there, waiting
for Fahdlan to answer. He wasn't about to step in and suggest that he had been
convinced of just that. Fayd could see that he was on his own and he was
desperate to convince everyone that he wasn't crying wolf.

"I will tell you what
happened and I swear on my mother's grave that it is the truth." He was
feeling threatened, for good reason. "Dr. Trent and I went into the bowels
of the cave to explore when we came across some sort of settlement; I suppose
that's what it was but I really don't know. It was a cavern with fires in it
and evidence of habitation. As we were observing, something came up behind us
and frightened us. The stench was horrible and Dr. Trent believed she saw wings
on whatever it was that frightened us. We decided to leave and come back later
when we were properly armed.  As we were running out of the cave, something
grabbed Dr. Trent and chased me out of the cavern completely. But I swear to
you, for a split second, I saw what it was that was chasing us and it was a
human-looking creature with great wings sprouting from its shoulders. I cannot
explain to you more than that. It disappeared as quickly as it came."

Had Marcus heard the story two
years before, before he had even met his wife, he would have had the guy thrown
in an insane asylum. But after being married to a woman who believed in myths,
there was room for belief in his mind. More than that, he had seen the
skeletons in the fossil river. Most of them had. He looked at Mark and Otis.

"You guys didn't see
anything?" he asked.

Otis shook his head. "We
just saw Fayd flying out of the cave," he said. "But we did hear
strange sounds. Like a hissing or screeching."

"Then you believe
this?"

Otis drew in a long, deep breath.
"Marcus, we saw the mummies. The most amazing things you've ever seen.
Yes, I believe him. I believe him without a doubt."

That was good enough for Marcus.
If Otis and Mark believed, then he would trust them. The most important thing,
however, was getting to Kathlyn, winged people or no.

"This is pretty goddamn
wild, you know that."

Otis nodded. "I know. But
it's the truth."

"Winged people? Alive?"

"We saw the mummies. If Fahdlan
says they're alive, then I think we should believe him."

"What if it's another trap
for all of us, something to get us in there and corner us like he did
Kathlyn?"

"For what purpose?"
Fayd wouldn't let them continue to talk as if he wasn't standing there. "I
have no motive, Dr. Burton. I know I've not been entirely forthcoming about
things, but this isn't one of those moments. Do you have any idea how foolish I
feel telling you all of this? I'm taking an awful chance, too.  I know how
outlandish it is, but I must try. Kathlyn is in danger and, yes, I am the
cause. You must help her."

Marcus may not have liked Fahdlan,
but something in him believed him.  "Then we've got to get my wife out of
there."

No one said a word in argument.
No one would dare. Burton climbed out of the plane, holding his right arm
against his chest.  Tony jumped out after him. "Let us handle it,
Marcus," he said. "As long as the S.E.A.L.s are here, we might as
well all work together. Besides, I'm down a man. If those things really are
running around down there, then we may need the firepower."

Marcus glanced at him.
"Tony, you know me well enough to know that I'm not going to stand by
while the lot of you go down into the cavern looking for Kathlyn. I'm going,
and you can't stop me." He rubbed his arm and changed the subject before
Tony could fight with him. "Can someone pop this back in the socket for
me? I can't run around with only one good arm."

Tony rolled his eyes in
resignation. Three of the S.E.A.L.s were medics and while one was attending
Gary, still bleeding all over his shirt, the two others went to help Marcus.
One held Marcus steady while the other manipulated the arm back and in.
Everyone heard the joint pop painfully, but Marcus never uttered a sound. He
gingerly moved the arm around the socket; it was sore, but functional.

 "Thanks," he said to
the kids in fatigues. He looked over at Tony, talking to Ellsner.  He hoped
that the military competition would be put aside in lieu of completing a very
important mission. He walked over to the two. "Well, let's get going. I'm
not waiting any longer."

Ellsner didn't look happy at all.
With Tony telling him that the only way to keep Burton out of it would be to
shoot him, he was understandably peeved. But he wasn't about to let the subject
go peacefully.

"Dr. Burton," he said.
"You realize you're going to be a liability to us. We can't worry about
your ass when we've got a job to do."

"You just do your job and
I'll worry about my own ass. All I want is my wife."

"Sir, I realize that. But I
must be frank when I say you'll be in the way. This isn't the way we do
things."

"Marines and S.E.A.L.s don't
normally work together, either, but you're going to, right?"

Ellsner and Tony looked at each
other. "I can't tell you how this goes against protocol," Tony said
grimly.

"I understand. But this is a
special circumstance."

"It is. Still, this kind of
thing can be disasterous. We've never worked together, trained together, we're
in different branches of the military, and...."

"Cut the shit, Tony. Are you
guys going to work together or not?"

No one said anything for a moment
until Ellsner nodded his head. "The sergeant is going to call the shots.
But I still don't think you should come along. That's one more unknown factor
we don't need."

Marcus was glad the boys were
going to play nice. "Look, I don't give a damn about the way you guys do
things. That's your business. I only give a damn about my wife and getting her
out of that cave is my number one concern. I am going. Is that clear enough for
you?"

Ellsner started to say something,
but he caught Tony's eye and the Marine shook his head. Ellsner was in a
precarious situation anyway and didn't want to compound it by letting a
civilian in on an operation he wasn't even supposed to be doing. But he could
see, without much prompting, that Burton wouldn't be discouraged.  The man's
wife was at stake and he hardly blamed him.

"All right," he
growled, motioning to his S.E.A.Ls. "Let's get this over with. It's
turning into a goddamn circus right before my eyes."

Tony and his remaining men picked
up their weapons followed. Mark, Otis, Fayd and the others trudged after them.
The pilot bailed out of the door of the plane, watching the group walk away. 
Looking at his ruined plane, he yelled after Marcus.

"Shall I keep the engines
running for you, Dr. Burton?"

Marcus heard him laughing.
"Crazy bastard," he muttered.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

Unfortunately, Kathlyn had never
been one for deciphering wall glyphs or pictographs. Her talents in archaeology
lay elsewhere. But the Ancient one had taken her to a portion of the cavern
that was littered with graffiti, drawings on the walls like nothing she had
ever seen. The lure to decipher them was irresistible. She spent hours trying
to put the pictographs into some sort of order so she could understand what
they were trying to say, but so far, it was like trying to match pieces of a
jigsaw puzzle that just didn't fit. It was hard, frustrating work, but she'd
never wanted to understand anything so badly in all her life.

The Ancient one had left her soon
after showing her the cavern. But the Curious one remained, eventually bringing
her food, cooked meat of unknown origin and something else she thought may have
been mushrooms; what else would grow in a cave? She forced down the meat
because she was starving, but she politely refused the mushrooms. She had no
idea if they were toxic to her and she didn't want to risk it.  But there was
the matter of building trust between herself and the beings who held her, so
she thought perhaps a piece or two of the fungus couldn't hurt. It was showing
good faith.

  It didn't take long for her to
realize, nor was she particularly surprised, that the mushrooms had some sort
of drug-like quality. Back in high school, kids had eaten hallucinogenic
mushrooms as a kick, though Kathlyn had never tried them herself. But she knew
that something was up as her head began to buzz and her body felt strangely
light.

There were a couple of torches in
the cavern, smoldering dark smoke and emitting little light. Kathlyn had to sit
down as the effects of the mushrooms increased.  She found herself leaning back
against the wall, staring up at the glyphs, trying to make heads or tails of
the crude drawings of winged people and humans, animals, and what looked like
flora and fauna. In the eerie flicker of the torchlight, her mushroom-expanded
mind attempted to put together a picture.

"When men began to increase
in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw
that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they
chose," she again recited the passage that had become very well known to
her. "Then the Lord said, 'My Spirit will not contend with man forever,
for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.' The Nephilim
were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went
to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old,
men of renown."

Kathlyn's world was a fuzzy, soft
thing. But like most people on hallucinogens, she thought she was thinking very
clearly as the glyphs on the wall began to form a story. The Curious one was
still crouched over by the entrance to the cavern, watching her closely as she
sat spaced out like a drug addict. He had remained at his post but had been
totally inconspicuous. Kathlyn turned to him.

"God?" she whispered at
him. "God?"

He didn't react.
"Jehovah?" she said softly. "Immanuel?"

The last word drew a reaction.
Kathlyn sighed, as if she had just achieved something marvelous. "As the
book of James states, even the demons believe there is one God and
shudder." She looked back up at the wall. "But I think I see a tale
coming together here."

It was a struggle to stand. She
weaved her way over to a section of the wall that looked to her as if it told a
clear story. There were people standing about, profile-like as the ancient
Egyptians used to draw, pointing at things above them. Winged creatures flew
high over head; one of them had something in his arms that looked suspiciously
like a small child or baby. Further along the wall, there were many more winged
creatures accompanied by smaller winged creature, all mixed around in crazy
disarray. Some of the creatures were sprawled on the ground. It was simplistic
story telling at its very best, a fascinating look at something deeply
primitive.

"Do you know what I
think?" she finally murmured, more to herself than to the Curious one.
"I think that you people have lived on this earth far longer than modern
man. Like Fayd said, you're some sort of freak of nature, some offshoot that
didn't follow the normal evolutionary patterns. I think your race was dying off
when Man as we know it started flourishing. I also think Man was terrified of
you and tried to kill you off. But I furthermore think you may have brought
some of it on yourselves because you realized that mating with human women was
the only way to preserve your race. You saw a stronger race of humans emerging
and you saw the chance to perpetuate your dying species. So you went after the
women and, naturally, Man fought you to protect their mates."

The Curious one said nothing. He
didn't understand her. Kathlyn turned to look at him. "Do you know why I
think that? I haven't seen one female winged creature since I've been here.
You're all obviously... male," she tried not to look at the blatant
anatomy of the creature and turned back to the drawings. "I think you
mated with humans, and I think all of those skulls we came across were the
result of that. But humans don't have a long lifespan, so those of your pure
race outlived the ones procreated to continue your lines. So you keep the
skulls as sort of a shrine to your dead children. Your attempt to propagate
your race those thousands of years ago failed, which is why you've made sure to
be gentle with me. From your hand against my stomach, I'm guessing you can
sense what is inside of me. Maybe you look at me as the last hope."

She looked for a reaction from
him, but there was none. It was yet another reminder that he could not
understand her, like talking to a baby who simply stared and listened. There
was a spot on the wall where smaller winged creatures mingled bigger ones; the
more she looked at it, the more it looked like a battle.