“Please!” Michelet held up his hands, turning away from the chopper toward her.
Sin Fen fired, a quick pull of her finger, only one bullet coming out of the muzzle, smashing into Michelet’s right leg just above the knee and knocking him to the ground.
“Shut up,” she said as he screamed.
She grabbed her sat-phone, which was lying on top of several packs and punched in a number.
“Yes?” Foreman was aware that his hands were gripping the edge of his seat, the knuckles white.
“Dane is at Angkor Kol Ker,” Sin Fen’s voice was level and controlled. “The Prang in the center of the city is the main source of the propagation. The main Gate.”
“What can we do?”
“We have to destroy it.”
“Yes.” Foreman agreed. “But we can’t send in aircraft. We can’t even fire a cruise missile. Nothing we have will work in the Gate.”
“Dane has a plan.”
“Tell me.”
Beasley was staring at the ruins around them, taping them with his camera. Carpenter was seated on a large stone, exhaustion showing. Ariana was watching Dane, waiting. As was Freed. Flaherty looked tired also, his features drawn, as Dane had remembered them after cross-border missions. He knew the clock was running, that they only had minutes left, but the bulk of the Prang defied them, the golden beam shimmering with power.
Flaherty caught his glance. “Just like back in Kansas, eh, partner?”
Dane nodded. He lowered his voice so only Flaherty could hear. “You don’t know what happened to you?”
Flaherty shook his head. “I don’t know where I am when I’m not here, only that it isn’t here. I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s so confusing. There’s another side. Really ‘over the fence’ if you want to call it that. Some other dimension where these ‘others’ exist. And they’re fighting over there, the Ones Before and the Shadow-that’s what they were called long ago but I don’t even know what they call themselves. I only hear their voices. Inside my head.
“And here,” Flaherty gestured broadly, “is where they cross over into our side and continue their fight. And Earth is just like another place to be conquered and used. And the ones who sent me don’t want the Shadow to succeed in doing that. It’s been going on a long time.”
“Why can’t the Ones Before stop it?”
“They have limited access to Earth. As do the Shadow. But the Shadow’s power is stronger here. From what I gather, the Shadow have better technology and the upper hand in the war. The Ones Before have been fighting a purely defensive battle for a long time. A very long time.
“They fought here on Earth before, in the past,” Flaherty added.
“Atlantis,” Dane said.
Flaherty nodded. “It was destroyed completely. Some people escaped.”
“These others,” Dane said. “Are they human?”
“I’ve never seen them,” Flaherty said once more, but Dane sensed a curtain coming down in his friend’s mind, blocking his mental access, an act that disturbed Dane.
Dane pointed across at the Naga, which was now coiled on the far side of the moat, seven heads staring back with malevolent eyes. “And that? And the other creatures? The things that attacked us?”
“Part of life on the other side.” Flaherty shook his head. “Hell, I don’t know man. I don’t know a lot of things.”
Dane was about to ask another question when he paused. Sin Fen.
Dane closed his eyes. The plan was in progress. He had work to do.
Patricia Conners listened to the plan relayed to her by Foreman.
“I can’t do that,” was her summation.
“Why not?” Foreman asked.
“I can’t see where you want to go,” she protested. “And the only way I can communicate with the KH-12 satellite is by radio and we know that the Gate will disrupt that.”
“Just do what I told you to,” Foreman said. “The rest will be taken care of.”
“But remember what happened to Thunder Dart and Bright Eye,” Conners objected.
“Just do it!” Foreman’s voice was sharp.
“All right.” Conners grabbed her cap off the top of the computer.
“Oh, man,” Jimmy muttered as she sat down at her computer. “You gonna do it?”
“We don’t seem to have any other options.”
“But how are they going to-”
Conners held up her hand as the other one hit a command on the keyboard. “Ours is not to wonder why.”
One hundred and fifty miles directly above the Angkor Gate, the maneuvering thrusters on the KH-12 satellite came to life at Patricia Conners’ relayed command. But instead of moving laterally, the satellite slowly rotated over.
“There’s not much time,” Flaherty said. “I have to go back now.” He stepped away from Dane. “Can you stop it?”
Dane blinked. “Yes.”
Flaherty took another step back. “They can’t keep me here any longer. It will get dangerous for you.” He looked to his right. A ray broke off from the main beam and began coalescing into a golden sphere off to the side of the top of the Prang.
“Oh, no,” Freed was on his feet.
“How do we get out?” Carpenter yelled at Flaherty as he took another step back, a black hole forming behind him.
“You’ll know,” Flaherty said. He raised his hand. Dane could swear he saw tears running down his team leader’s cheeks. Then Flaherty was gone.
Dane turned his gaze back to the sky.
The main thrusters fired and the KH-12 performed a maneuver that had never been envisioned by its creators as it headed straight down, the Earth’s gravity adding to the power from the rockets.
“Something’s happening!” Commander Sills yelled, his voice echoing through the operations center. “We’re picking up something on sonar. Solid contact. Six kilometers away.”
“What is it?” Captain Rogers demanded.
“It seems to be another submarine but the reading is very strange!”
Dane was no longer standing in Angkor Kol Ker. He was above, far above, looking down, seeing the planet from a high altitude. And it was coming closer. He reached, feeling control, able to shift his position as he felt a warmth on his face, the beginning of the atmosphere.
Ariana stared at Dane, his eyes totally unfocused. Then she looked up at the Prang. The golden ball was now solid, about five feet in diameter.
“Get him down from there!” she screamed as the ball streaked toward their position. With Freed and Carpenter helping, they grabbed Dane and rolled him behind several large stones. The ball hit with a loud explosion, sending shards of stone flying through the air.
There was a yelp of pain. Beasley was still standing where he had been, videocamera in one hand, the other pressed against his ample stomach, blood flowing through his fingers. Beasley slowly staggered back against the city’s wall and slid to a sitting position.
“Damn,” Freed muttered as he ran over to the professor, pulling a compress out of the aid kit on his combat vest.
“Look!” Carpenter drew Ariana’s attention away from the first aid efforts.
Another golden ball was forming, this one twice the size of the first one.
“What the hell!” Conners exclaimed. She jiggled the control stick for the KH-12 but there was no response. But her computer told her that the satellite was firing thrusters and maneuvering. “I’ve got no control,” she announced.