The World After (12 page)

The two men held their breaths as the true master of this mountain appeared from the snow and fixed his eyes on them. The snow leopard stared at them for at least a minute before turning his back and disappearing into the whiteness.

Taylor and Jinhun collapsed in the snow, their hearts pounding. “I've never seen a snow leopard before. The locals say that they're the guardians of the mountain,” Jinhun said.

Their descent continued for another two hours without further interruptions, and eventually they reached the first trees, with the snow under their feet also much less. They were making their way through the forest for an hour when the trace of fresh human footprints made them stop.

“Obviously, they're patrolling the area, waiting for us,” Jinhun said.

“On the way back, they'll see our tracks and signal the alert. We must hurry, we have no idea how far they have to go and when they'll be back.”

They nearly started running down but after half a mile, they stumbled on another obstacle. A steep and very deep crack in the mountain accommodated a fast-running stream. The distance to the other shore was too large for them to even think about jumping over and, left with no choice, they followed the flow of the stream downwards, hoping to find a way across.

Very shortly after that, they stumbled on an opportunity. The storm had uprooted a massive tree over the crack; its top lay over the dangerous looking rapids below. Taylor stepped on the trunk and tested it before inviting his companion to go over. Jinhun made it to the other side successfully. Only then did Taylor follow. He was halfway across the tree, right over the fiercest of vortexes below when a sound coming from behind made him turn. As he was doing so, a gunshot echoed in the forest.

The director of the Agency for Tracing the Untraceables had just entered his Agency's office in New Delhi. Just over an hour ago, he landed in the city, accompanied by his eight new companions. Leaving them in a safe house, he came to the concrete building that was used by the CIA decades ago to interrogate hostages and, after that, was passed on to him.

Shimi Levy stormed into the communication center and, ignoring the startled greetings coming from a few people, he nearly barked at a confused woman in her late twenties, hiding behind thick glasses. “What's the latest?”

The freckles on her face deepened as she quickly left her mug to one side and, clearing her throat, reported, “Yesterday Jinhun Sun and Taylor Swansea crossed the border with India, and the following day, they were detected by the Indian Army in the high mountain range of Arunachal Pradesh. However, a massive snowstorm has delayed their capture, but the locals are confident they have them surrounded. Our satellites are not of much help to detect them as the visibility is near zero.” She shifted nervously the big earphones placed round her neck.

“What are the Indians doing now?”

“They're surrounding the area with even more men as we speak, and the storm seems to be subsiding. Just in the last hour, they sent out search parties.”

“Anything else?”

“There was a plane crash in the early hours of the morning in China. Don't know if it's relevant, but I thought I'd mention it because it's in the same region, close to the Indian border, and the signal you asked us to trace was coming from on board this plane. All we know for now is that the aircraft was owned by a foundation called 'Future for the Amazon Jungle.' ”

“Interesting.” Shimi Levy was scratching his three-day-old beard. “China you say.”

“Yeah, the signal from the nano-chip was strong right until the place crashed.”

“I want the trajectory of this flight.”

“Right away, sir.”

The young woman bashed at lightning speed on the keyboard in front of her for about two minutes. Soon a digital map appeared on the big display monitor to their right. Shimi Levy walked closer to the picture, his eyes fixed on the thick red line crossing India and entering China right over the Himalayas.

“Can you put on this map where exactly the two fugitives the Indians are chasing were located and what info you have about their movement?”

“No problem.”

Two red dots appeared on the Chinese side of the border and another one somewhere in the heart of the mountains on the other side. All of these dots were very close to the line showing where the plane flew over. Shimi Levy looked at the screen for a minute or so and then murmured more to himself than anyone else, “They're going somewhere in the mountains or over them and into the swamps of Itanagar.” He turned towards the freckled woman that was staring at him. “So you're saying we still can't scan the area where the fugitives are.”

“Not yet. The storm subsided but the cloud cover is very thick, plus heavy snowfall is reported in the region and is expected to continue all day.”

“Then I want you to run a full satellite scan of the swamps in the National Park. Right away, and once it's done, send me the results. I have other job to do now.”

“It will be done in due course, sir.” By the time the woman finished her sentence, Shimi Levy was already walking toward the door; he left the building of the Agency.

Instead of going to the underground parking where his driver was waiting for him in the limo, he walked out of the main entrance, raising the eyebrows of the guards, and headed down the busy streets of New Delhi.

After turning two corners, he crossed the road and entered a miserable looking local pub. Big pieces of god-knows-how-old paint were hanging down from the dirty and mold-stained walls, while the flies inside the one big room definitely numbered more than the customers inside. Dirty table covers in bright colors contrasted massively with the brown chairs, and Shimi Levy wouldn't bet against the possibility that the bartender staring at him was wiping the glasses and the plates with his awfully greasy beard.

He didn't loiter long in the doorway. After his eyes adjusted to the subdued light, he quickly walked towards the far corner where a tall man was sitting alone at a secluded table in one niche.

Shimi Levy collapsed heavily on the chair and his eyes examined the beautiful young face staring at him with curiosity. The pointy, pink cheekbones only increased the effect his turquoise blue eyes had. The high forehead and mathematically perfect proportions of his face made him look even more unearthly.

“So, Lucifer, we'll have to work a bit to raise you to the throne prepared for you.” Shimi Levy smiled at him. “You and your archangels will have to provide the final element of our masterplan called
Phoenix
. We started it way back in 1974 and here we are now, so close.”

“But we did not exist back then,” Lucifer said in a very soft, melodic voice.

“That's true, you were only an idea back then. Even the Agency didn't exist and China was one shit hole full of communists. I used to work for a nonexistent agency called the CIA; but, in late 1973, everything changed.” Lucifer was drinking in every word coming out of the mouth of the relaxed old man across the table. “I was invited to an annual meeting of a private club, and there I was given all the information needed to create you. In fact, you and your brothers are not my children; you're the vision of the high members of this club.”

“Who are they?”

“That is not important. The important thing is that we achieved our goal and here you are – the perfect human being. Your gifts will light the road for the entire planet; your destiny is to bring to Earth world peace, one religion and one law.”

“That's our destiny.” Lucifer repeated it as a fact.

“Absolutely. At the end of the day you already know that the supreme goal of Novus Ordo Seclorum is to control the behavior and the thoughts of everyone deviating from the approved norms. Such individuals will be corrected by you and your brothers or simply terminated.” Shimi Levy's eyes glowed as he was talking. “All through history, individuals believed that the most important thing is their existence, but this is shallow and soon it will be changed. There is no future in such thinking and, once the masses realize that, they will be much more useful as servants and slaves to a chosen few. All problems will be gone. We already control the majority through electric brain signals broadcast by supercomputers, and those without implants need to be eradicated soon. After that it will be your responsibility to determine the importance and the meaning of everyone's existence.”

“I and my brothers are ready for this honor.”

“That's true, my dear. It's time for you to step forward and take your rightful places, places prepared for your arrival by thousands of hard workers over the past five decades. Barachiel will become the leader of an International Court we'll create soon that will be governing the justice throughout the entire planet. Michael and Gabriel will be the perfect new generals of the World Army, while Raphael is destined to be the main priest of a single religion with his oratory skills.”

“Yes, I know our roles. Uriel is ready to be the new general secretary of the UN, and Selaphiel was working hard with Yao's scientists to synchronize his brain with the supercomputer you call
Beast
.”

Lucifer was talking about the underground supercomputer that gathered information from all active brain implants and analyzed it. It was also used to send hallucinations and outside thoughts to target groups of people.

At that moment, Shimi Levy's phone signaled he received a message and he looked at it. A smile appeared on his face as he read the text twice. He put his phone away and turned to Lucifer. “I'm going to the loo, and then we'll be off to the airport. You and your archangels will have work to do in the swamps of Itanagar.”

Lucifer gazed after the director as he disappeared through a rotting wooden door in the far corner. Without waiting for his return, he got up and walked slowly towards the front door. Under his breath, he mumbled to himself, “What you failed to say is that I'm ready to be the President of the new World Government. I will be the new God!” A self-satisfied smile appeared on his face as he stepped out into the bright sunlight.

* * *

Fabiana, Carolina and the others stood in the middle of the swamps with the smelly, stale water reaching up to their chests, while the three barrels coming out of the nearby trees pointed threateningly at them.

The men holding the guns came out from their cover. They were all Indians; the oldest one was probably barely twenty. He spoke to the little group standing helpless in the middle of the swamp. “You got a bit wet, eh?” After which his companions burst out laughing.

“You, Rama! You cheeky bastard,” Wong Wei said and, grabbing the barrel of the man's gun, pulled him into the water with them. The friendly atmosphere followed by hugs and kisses showed Ademar Gamejro and Ian MacGeady that the three Indians were actually friends.

After a few exchanges of formalities, Wong Wei asked, “Did Jinhun arrived?”

“Not yet,” Rama answered.

After a short break and quick briefing on what had happened to Fabio, the men that were standing watch remained behind in the cluster of trees, while the small group lead by Wong Wei continued through the winding invisible safe passage through the swamps.

Half an hour later, they reached the shores of a relatively big lake with calm, clean, green-blue waters. Wong didn't waste time out in the open. Resembling Jesus, he bravely stepped on what appeared to be the surface of obviously deep water and, with small steps, started advancing towards the center of the lake.

“Pa, you're about to see our underground city,” Carolina said. “Its entrance is- in the middle of the lake. Follow my lead carefully please, because the path to it is invisible from above the water surface and it's very narrow. Only we know it step by step.”

She slowly followed the man in front of her, and Ademar Gamejro made sure he put his foot exactly where his daughter's had been just before that.

Fabiana and Ian MacGeady hung about a bit longer on the shore, admiring the quiet natural paradise surrounding them.

“So what do you think? Are you ready to cross to the other side, never to return?” Fabiana asked.

“Were you serious when you talked about those things? The house, the kids.”

“Absolutely.”

“For that, I'm ready to walk to another planet.” Fabiana was caught off guard when a tear rolled down MacGeady's cheek. She drew his face down and kissed him passionately. After a moment of intimacy, she took his hand in hers and slowly started guiding him across the lake's invisible path.

For all of them to reach the approximate center of the lake took over ten minutes, but Wong Wei waited patiently. Only once everyone was there did he kneel down. They heard him knocking a very specific sequence, and the sound they heard resembled someone knocking on metal.

A moment later, a square on the surface opened in two halves. It lifted the few inches of water away and revealed a staircase underneath. Ademar Gamejro noticed that the doors that opened were actually solar panels hidden just under the water surface.

“Genius,” he whispered.

“Pa, welcome to the underground city of the Yuyuan, or as we call it, the Base.” Carolina smiled at him and led the way inside.

Once they were all inside, the panels above them closed quietly again and, from the air, the surface of the lake looked tranquil once more.

Wong Wei stopped near a side tunnel in the confined square room they found themselves in and said to the two women, “I'll go to the command center to report. I think our guests would be interested to see more of our city.” He disappeared into a side niche while Fabiana led the way down the tunnel ahead of them.

The light on the walls was obviously provided by solar energy because all bulbs were nature-friendly solar prototypes designed back in 2015 in Canada. After a short distance through the blank tunnel, they entered a spacious compartment that left both Ademar Gamejro and Ian MacGeady with their mouths wide open.

They were looking at a very large vegetable garden, with a high ceiling that was definitely made from hundreds of solar panels like the ones that opened for them earlier. All around them were perfectly arranged and maintained lanes of blossoming strawberries, cucumbers climbing up sticks, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes and many other different varieties of edible plants. All these plants were organized in near-perfect straight rows, the ends they couldn't see from where they were, but their attention was attracted to a wonderful aroma wafting into their noses from their right. Dozens of herbs and spices grew in squares; they resembled, to Carolina's father, a chessboard the way they were dotted around. Beyond the herb patch was an endless line of fruit trees that Ian MacGeady was ready to swear ended with a cluster of olives.

Many men and women of all races and skin color were bustling around to keep this large garden in pristine order.

Fabiana noticed MacGeady's face and said, “Past the olive trees is our animal section. Later, you'll have time to look there. We have sheep, cows, horses, chickens, rabbits, pigs and ducks. It's fair to say that, as far is it goes feeding ourselves, we live like kings.”

“Obviously, you have a plentiful supply of fresh water since we're under a lake,” Ademar Gamejro commented.

“Oh, we're not using what you see above. We're pumping it from three underground streams below us. The deepest one is so far below the surface that it's virtually impossible for it to be poisoned or polluted deliberately if we come under attack one day,” his daughter explained.

“Is everything above us solar panels?”

“Yes, Pa,” she answered while leading them through rows of pepper plants heavy with fruit. “They provide all the energy needed on this level, as well as a major part for the next level of the city.”

“What's below us?”

“Sixty-floor skyscrapers built inside a massive underground cavity used as living quarters. At their base, there are even several small houses which are reserved for the members of the City Council. I'm on it, by the way.” She smiled at her father over her shoulder.