14. Bomb Believer
BOMB BELIEVER
Earlier...
V alerius pushed past George to look at the video feeds. The Snake Shifter let out a “Hey, who do you think you are?” but then Valerius swept back his hood from his head, and George gasped, “You?! King Valerius?!”
“You’re quite observant. Let’s see if you can do me!” Kaila shook back her hood.
But all George said was, “You’re quite pretty.”
“Yes.” Kaila tossed her hair back. “Yes, I am. But you don’t know who I am.”
“You’re, uhm, an actress or something?” George cocked his head to the side.
“He doesn’t get out much. Or watch TV or the internet,” Stevie burst out. “That’s Queen Kaila, you idiot! She’s another Dragon Shifter. The aquamarine one called Lana.”
“Oh!” George’s eyes grew large though Valerius was pretty sure that the Snake Shifter didn’t know Lana and Kaila from any of the other Dragon Shifters. “That still doesn’t explain what you two are doing busting in here!”
“They thought you were torturing me!” Stevie cackled. “I was being rescued by Dragons!”
George stuck a finger in Stevie’s face who pushed it away. “You are a reprobate who needs to get back to mopping!”
“All of you, quiet !” Valerius growled.
As they had bickered, he had been using the video equipment to focus on the Faith. His gaze flickered over the dozens of white robed figures looking for… what? Guilt on their faces? A bomb strapped to their bodies? Maybe a little bit of both.
“What are you looking at?” George asked.
“The Faith,” Valerius growled and spun around to the Snake Shifter. He pointed at the white robed figures. “How did they get down here? Marban specifically knew they were not to be let in.”
George’s mouth opened and shut. Stevie answered for him, “It's impossible to keep them out.”
“What do you mean?” Kaila asked.
“Even if you keep the ones wearing white out, there are countless people who aren't wearing the robes,” Stevie pointed out. “There were probably people in security who were Faith and let them in.”
George gave an uncomfortable shrug. “Faith is above even Marban. You know how they look at Swarm Shifters. Self-hatred is a sad thing.”
Valerius gritted his teeth and went back to scanning the video feeds. Kaila came up beside him. She studied the video feeds with him, biting her lower lip, as she too looked for some kind of evidence that one of these Faith members--or more--were up to no good.
“Why are you worried about the Faith? I mean other than the bad songs and stuff.” Stevie shuddered at the memory of their songs.
Valerius ignored the boy. Even if he had the time, he had no inclination to scare a child about the Faith. Maybe they were wrong and the Faith wasn’t behind the bombings or maybe only some of them were. He doubted a boy like Stevie would keep his mouth shut and it would cause a panic.
“We’ll never get there from here,” Kaila remarked as she took over one of the cameras and panned it over the now, much more packed area around the Stairs than even when they had made their way over. “Not without causing a commotion.”
“And we do not want that,” Valerius murmured.
Valerius panned one of the cameras to the news crews that were clustered around the Stairs as that gave them the best view of everything happening to prove his point. It wouldn’t just be the people in the Below who would see him and Kaila “attacking” the Faith but people all over the world.
There was a hiss and spitting sound before Marban’s voice came over the radio, “Attention, Security, you are to stop the Faith and turn them back from the Below. Do you hear me? Stop the Faith! Be aware that they may have explosives.”
George and Stevie looked at Valerius and Kaila with open mouths.
“E-explosives?” Stevie squeaked. “Is the Faith behind the bombings?”
“We need to get to them. Fast! How can we do this?” Valerius demanded to know.
“There are back passageways. We can take you,” George said as he stood up stiff-legged from his rolling chair. He looked a bit in shock. Was he a member of the Faith? Like Stevie had said, anyone could be a believer. They didn’t have to wear white and sing bad songs.
This was a mistake. Creating any sort of planned event where thousands of people would gather…
“Take us. Now,” Valerius said.
“I’ll come too! I know the way better than George!” Stevie offered, just as eager to be in on the action as to leave his mopping duties.
“No, you will not, child,” Kaila said as she thrust the mop handle back into the boy’s hands.
“Aw, man! Come on! I can get you there faster!” Stevie whined and began to pout.
“You stay here and monitor the radio, Stevie,” George told the boy, which immediately had Stevie brightening. “And you radio me any shortcuts that you know.”
“Yeah! Awesome! I can do that!” The boy grabbed George’s chair and scooted over to the desk where he put on the headset. “Oh, people are having problems getting over there, George!”
“Yeah, I bet, Stevie,” George answered grimly.
George went to a cabinet and grabbed a gun from inside of it. He slipped it into the back of his pants. He then stuck a bluetooth device in his right ear. He didn’t head towards the door back out into the market area of the Below but instead went to a bank of shelves. He reached between two books and the shelf slid to the side revealing a stone staircase that led up into the bare rock.
“Keep us in the loop, Stevie!” George called back over his shoulder.
“Will do!” The boy made a salute with two fingers.
Valerius wasn’t sure if he felt comforted by having a child as their backup but it was as it was. He took the stairs two at a time after George with Kaila on his heels. The staircase was so narrow that he had to almost turn sideways at times to get through. It was lit only by yellow utility lamps that cast a dirty, ugly light over the stone. The air smelled of damp stone and garbage rotting in corners.
“Ugh! What has died in here?” Kaila hissed from behind him. She was used to salt-tinged breezes and the clean scent of coconut. That was not the case here.
George had led them to a T-intersection. Valerius’ sense of direction told him that the Stairs should be to their right, but George was hesitating.
“What’s wrong? Shouldn’t we go to the right?” Valerius asked him.
“One of these tunnels has collapsed,” George answered. “I’m not sure if it is this one or the level above this one.”
“Should we have brought the boy?” Kaila’s right eyebrow rose.
“Contact Stevie if you do not know!” Valerius cried, feeling time ticking down.
George pressed a finger against the bluetooth device in his ear. Even before he had a chance to say anything, even Valerius could hear Stevie’s voice rising over the device, “George! George! Iolaire flew over to the Stairs!”
What? Valerius’ eyes widened in alarm .
“Iolaire must have seen them coming in,” Kaila guessed. “Well, if one of them has a bomb on them, Iolaire will deal with it.”
“How? By cuddling them?” Valerius hissed. He knew that was unfair. Iolaire was, of course, capable of violence. Every dragon was. But both Iolaire and Caden were not killers and violence of any kind was not natural to them.
“Bah! Iolaire is no lightweight! They will take action to help others,” Kaila said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“I do not want them to have to do anything like that!” Valerius hissed.
Kaila’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, well, I see.”
He wondered what she did see. He leaned in towards George menacingly. “Find out which way.”
George gave a jerky nod and cut off Stevie’s excited-panicked patter, “Stevie! Stevie! Chill! King Valerius needs to know if its Level 4a or 4b that’s blocked.”
“Oh! Yeah, it’s like both, dude! Didn’t you know that?” Stevie asked. “Where have you been that you--”
“Stevie!” George hissed with a scared glance at Valerius. “How do I get them to the Stairs?”
“Easy! You take stairwell 7i to passage 1z and then…” Stevie rattled off more stairwells and passageways.
Valerius listened to them carefully even as adrenaline poured into his system. Raziel was now completely awake and shifting uneasily. Its claws dug into the earth of its lair. It wanted to get to the White Dragon.
Iolaire is brave. It will take care of Caden, Raziel assured him.
They are goodhearted, Raziel. I do not want them to have to kill…
Raziel’s eyes burned redly. It said nothing, but he knew it was intent on the same thing. He also caught a whiff of Raziel’s former attitude towards humans, and even other Shifters, which was that they would be better off on a mountaintop with just them, Caden and Iolaire.
Sometimes I feel the same, Valerius admitted.
“Okay, I know which way to go,” George told them .
“You best ,” Valerius growled.
“This way!” George moved more like a frightened rabbit than a Snake Shifter as he headed left instead of right and up another set of stairs.
Every moment being crushed beneath the mountain in those stinking, twisting tunnels had Valerius’ skin twitching. Raziel was pressed against the inside of his chest as if it would break through at any moment. That would be a disaster and both of them knew it. But the dragon within him was almost on top and his eyes burned with crimson fire, which he realized when George happened to glance back at him and jumped three feet up into the air. George ran faster , which suited Valerius just fine.
Stevie must have called George again because George put a finger to the bluetooth and asked, “Stevie? What is it?” There was a pause and then, “Seriously? Iolaire is sniffing the Faith? No, no, you must be misunderstanding what they’re doing.”
But Valerius suddenly knew that Stevie was right. Iolaire was sniffing the Faith. They were smelling for bombs!
Very clever, Caden! He thought.
His thoughts though did not reach the young man or the White Dragon Spirit. They were too far away or maybe they were both too tense to connect.
“How far?” Valerius barked.
Another fearful glance was sent back towards him. “N-not far! Just down this hallway and then there’s a door and you’re there and--”
The rest of George’s words were lost as Valerius surged forward with Kaila keeping up with him. He raced until he reached the metal and wood bound door. If he had kept up at that speed, he would have burst through the door as if it were made of paper instead of inches of solid wood and metal. But he slowed his forward momentum. He reached for the handle. The door may have been locked--it probably was--but he wrenched it open. There was a scream of metal, but it was overshadowed by the singing. The Faith were singing. Loudly. About the White Dragon.
Valerius pulled up his hood and gestured for Kaila to do the same. They might have to reveal themselves, but maybe they could somehow keep this under wraps. He stuck his head out of the door. The door was situated at the base of the last set of Stairs. There was a platform that was about one hundred feet long and wide before there were a few more steps into the huge market area.
They were about twenty feet behind the line of dozens of the members of the Faith all lined up with Iolaire’s head leaning towards them. In fact, Iolaire was being hugged very fiercely by one of the Faith. Iolaire’s eyes were closed and it looked so happy. For a moment, Valerius wondered if he had misunderstood the “sniffing” that Stevie had been talking about. But then the Faith member’s hood fell back and she turned her head. Her profile explained everything.
Caden’s mother!
The one beside her, Raziel murmured. I smell…
Valerius?! Caden’s voice blasted in his mind.
Valerius’ gaze shot up to Iolaire’s head. The White Dragon’s gaze was fixed upon him and there was panic in those huge eyes.
Caden--
Bomb! My mom! Beside her! Caden cried, his ability to communicate overwhelmed by fear for his mother.
Valerius’ gaze snapped to the person that Raziel had indicated something seemed off about. His heart stutter-stopped in his chest. There was something in the person’s right hand. They had curled their hand around what looked like a pen with a button on the end. There looked to be a cord connected to the bottom of this pen-like object that snaked underneath the person’s sleeve and was attached to something hidden beneath the voluminous robes.
In less than a second, Valerius knew that there were only so many ways this could go and if they picked the wrong way to stop it then a lot of people were going to die, potentially Caden’s mother.
If that was a handheld detonator, all the person needed to do was push the button on the top. An act that would take a second. They would blow up right there and then.
Caden could grab his mother and protect her from the blast but that would mean others would die. Such an act would save Caden’s mother, but would wound the young man for the lives lost. He would not be able to forgive himself.
Valerius and Kaila could run out there and each of them take an arm. They could break the person’s fingers and stop them from pressing the button if they could get to them before they noticed. But the trigger in the person’s hand might not be the only one. Perhaps there was a co-conspirator with them, watching, who could set the bomb off. Or maybe there was a timer that would go off eventually anyways well before a bomb squad could get there.
There was only one way that Valerius saw this working. Caden would have to grab the person and fly them out through the Gash. Valerius and Kaila’s Dragons were too big to fit. Only Iolaire could get through. They could fly the person away from any other people and the bomb could be dealt with that way. If they exploded themselves, neither Caden nor Iolaire would be hurt. Not physically anyways.
It is the only way, Raziel growled. Who is doing this? Who is making these foolish people kill themselves?
I do not know. But we will find out, Valerius promised the Black Dragon Spirit.
“What if they are not the only one?” Kaila fiercely whispered. “Why send one when you could send two or ten? And not have them be wearing white and sing? They stand out.”
She was right. Truthfully, smuggling explosives into the Below before the event would have been easier. This person was the only one they’d found, but there could be others mixed in the crowd.
Valerius grunted, “But we can only see one bomber. If either of us starts to look for others--”
“They might see and detonate the bomb?” Kaila nodded. “Perhaps Iolaire can cut off the bomb? It is likely in a vest or--”
“No. We cannot chance it detonating. Iolaire must get them out of here then you and I can start looking for others involved in this,” Valerius said, though he knew that it was likely the others--if there were others--would simply detonate themselves.
There’s no other choice. Already they are getting suspicious as Caden isn’t sniffing anyone any longer .
Indeed, the reporters nearest them started to note that Iolaire was now seemingly as frozen as the ice they’d created on the steps.
A male reporter nervously remarked to his petite female counterpart, “What do you suppose Iolaire is thinking, Janet? I would swear that it looks afraid or alarmed!”
“You’re right, Roger. The evident emotion shown by Iolaire with that last member of the Faith has been replaced! I wonder what’s wrong?”
The believer with the bomb was twitching and looking around surreptitiously. He saw their feet shifting. They were afraid the gig was up. They would race towards the crowd any minute now and end their lives with as many others as they could in the hopes that Spirits would join with the humans. No matter that he wanted to shield Caden, he couldn’t.
Just like in everything else…
Valerius, what do we do? They’re getting suspicious! Caden’s voice was high and tight.
Valerius breathed in deeply. Caden, you and Iolaire need to snatch the bomber up as fast as you can. Then you need to fly them out of the Below to the open fields far beyond Reach. I’ll have a bomb squad meet you out there.
They’ll detonate before then! The horror in Caden’s voice was unmistakable. But before Valerius had to say some meaningless soothing words, Caden said himself, I understand. The only thing that matters is that they don’t detonate near anyone else!
Exactly. Move as fast as you can, Valerius told him. It won’t hurt you or Iolaire if they detonate.
I know. I’m not worried about that, Caden told him.
Brave boy. Now do it, Caden, Valerius told him.
There was no hesitation. Iolaire’s massive right clawed forelimb shot out and snatched the person with the bomb around the middle. Their arms were pinned to their sides, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t press that trigger. The only hope was that they had dropped the detonator. Then in one fluid movement, Iolaire flexed its legs and was up in the air. The crowd let out confused cries as Iolaire streaked from the Below and was free of the mountain. Valerius let out a breath of relief. They hadn’t detonated! Maybe Caden really could keep them from doing so until he got the bomb squad out there.
Valerius turned to George. “Call Captain Simi of the Claw. Tell him to get the bomb squad out to Iolaire. Do you understand?”
George was just beginning to nod when Kaila grabbed his arm. He swung around and realized that there was another member of the Faith who had a detonator in their hand. They were frantically pressing it but nothing was happening. A few white robed members of the Faith were pointing and crying out at them, not clear what they were doing or why, but knowing it was bad. The bomb was not going off though. Something had gone wrong.
Valerius did not think. He moved. He dove towards the figure in white that was still frantically trying to kill themselves and any others that they could take with them. Or maybe they thought that, like Caden, they would be chosen to bond with a Spirit. He would never let that happen.
Valerius grabbed the figure and then turned with them tight against his body as he leaped into the air and shifted. There were screams from the crowd. He saw people trying to scatter as Raziel appeared above them. The member of the Faith was in his right clawed hand, still frantically pressing the detonator. He crushed them to his chest and covered them with both of his powerful forelimbs. He got in one pump of his powerful wings before he felt the bomb go off and the person become splatter in his claws.
Blood and particles of flesh, bone and organs rained down on the crowd below.