40. Chapter 40
That night was easily the happiest of my life, but it was far from over. Or was it early morning?
I just wanted to get to bed with Ghan-Zahr and love on the oversized mattress, but a certain thumb drive was burning a hole into my pocket.
"Can I get you anything?" Ghan-Zahr asked as I sat down behind the laptop, inserting the little drive.
"I would do pretty much anything for a coffee"." I smiled at him.
"Coffee, coming up." I waited a moment, grinning to myself.
"How do I make it?"
I snickered and pointed at the phone by the bedside table. "Use the number 0"—I made an oval with my fingers—"and tell whoever answers that we need coffee. Lots of it. And cake."
"Your wish is my command"." He grinned so handsomely at me that my heart did a little flop, making me wish I could forget about the whole flash drive, but right then it sprang to life, and other instincts took over.
I scrolled through the files Jenna had collected. Stopping at one she had labeled, Your call to show to Amber . A dreadful notion rose inside me. And I clicked it open.
Inside the file was only one file: security footage from a hallway in Dr. Wayland's room. Her name was written by the door. A man had his hand raised to knock on the door. The tape quality was excellent, still, with his back to the camera, he was hard to make out. The door opened, and for a moment, I thought I was staring straight at Amber, but it had to be Dawn.
She didn't look happy to see the man, she looked actually frightened. She had her phone pressed to her ear and was talking rapidly. Something silver glinted—a knife. The man pushed her forward as he forced his way inside.
"Oh my God," I cried out.
"Rachel?" Ghan-Zahr stepped behind me worriedly. His hand landed on my shoulder as his eyes tried to make sense of what I was watching.
"Security footage," I explained, grabbing his hand to have something to hold on to as I watched horrified the man slashing at Dawn's throat. Furniture toppled as she grabbed her neck and tried to hold on to a chair. The man stepped back, trying to stay away from the spray of blood. Nausea rolled through my stomach. The man stood still with his back to the camera, watching Dawn die. Then he turned, slipping out the door, and I finally saw his face. Willis. The man who had been in charge of security.
"Shit"," I cursed.
"That was Amber's sister?" Ghan-Zahr asked. The tone of his voice indicated he didn't need an answer.
Bile rose up my throat right as someone knocked. Ghan-Zahr gave my shoulder a quick squeeze before he opened the door to allow room service in. I shut the laptop closed, lest the man see what we were looking at.
He rolled a tray in, and at the sight of the assorted pastries, my stomach gave in, and I rushed to the bathroom to lose my dinner.
Thanks, Jenna , I cursed.
Ghan-Zahr came in, worriedly wiping my forehead with a wet towel. "Are you all right?"
I shook my head but lifted it from the toilet so he could wipe the corners of my mouth. "We need to call Amber."
He nodded. "Do you think that's a good idea?"
I shook my head. "No, and if it were anybody else besides Amber, I wouldn't even consider it. But I'm pretty sure Amber would kill us if she knew what we watched without getting a chance to see it herself."
"I'll call Dzur-Than," Ghan-Zahr said, leaving me with the wet towel to rub over my face. I heard him talking in Vandruk in the other room. Preparing Dzur-Khan, I assumed.
I brushed my teeth and stared at myself in the mirror.
This is the biggest story of your life, Rachel.
I know, and I wish to God it wasn't so.
"Come in"." Ghan-Zahr's voice brought me back. I schooled my face and took a deep breath. Amber will need all the support she can get.
"That bastard, I wish I could kill him all over again. Him and that other creep."
Amber sat through the tape in stoic silence and kept watching past where I had run out of the room earlier.
A second man appeared, whom Amber identified as Pierre Delon, Dawn's boyfriend. He didn't stay long. He stared into the room and vomited into a corner before he ran out of there like a bat out of hell. Amber fast-forwarded from that point until we saw her enter the hallway. No security had been called by either Willis or Doctor Delon.
"What else is in the files?" Amber demanded, clicking around.
"Amber, do you want to talk about it?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off.
"Nothing to talk about," she insisted, but I noticed the errand tear she surreptitiously wiped off. "What else is on here?"
Dzur-Khan kneeled beside her. "Amira?"
"I'm good"." She clenched her jaw. "Really, let's get this going, all right?"
Dzur-Khan and I sighed, exchanging a knowing look.
"Okay, here"." Amber opened another file. "An email from Weidenhof to… drumroll, please, the President himself. Informing him about the firerocks and glanzor. And here a directive from the President to Weidenhof, to secure these resources "—she made quotation marks in the air—" at all costs ."
Amber had brought her laptop with her, and now I sat perched behind it on the other side of the table.
"Send it over," I said, not stopping hacking on the keyboard as I worded my expose.
Jenna had already done all the hard work, all I had to do was summarize it as Amber called out one smoking gun after another.
"Holy shit."
"Now what?" I lifted my head, my fingers still typing. I had a feeling they would continue to type even if they started bleeding.
The men had taken their seats on the couch, watching us and listening in. The words on the screens didn't make any sense to them, so they preferred to be silent observers at this point. Now and then, one got up, refilling Amber's water or my coffee.
"Here's a list of all the men, scientists, and security guards who vanished on Vandruk. All two hundred and—"
"—seventy-eight," Ghan-Zahr finished, and we both turned to him.
"You counted?"
"Of course we did"." Dzur-Khan nodded.
"Of course they did," Amber repeated, rolling her eyes. "Now if they'd bothered finding out their names, it would have been a whole lot easier for us."
I agreed and kept on typing.
I kept typing long after Amber and Dzur-Khan left.
"Rachel"." Ghan-Zahr's fingers massaged my neck. "The sun is rising."
"Already?" I looked up and sighed.
I had finished my story an hour ago, but I kept revising it. "I guess this is as good as it will get"," I mused.
I composed an email that I would send to every reporter, news outlet, freelancer, social media reporter, and so on. I even sent it to my entire address book, warning all of them to make copies right away before the government could try to take it down.
"This will be a nice good morning for a lot of people," I remarked sarcastically, hitting send.
"We should get ready."
"One more thing." I needed to call Trevor.
Trevor might have had a lot of shortcomings, but he was as honest as they could get and idealistic, which was why he wanted to be a politician one day. Well, here's your shot , I thought while listening to the phone ring.
The sun was rising faster than I liked, but soon, it was time to pack. We couldn't bring much without raising suspicions. After all, we were supposed to only go to the portal to show it to our families, go through it to give them an idea of what it looked like, and return with Weidenhof. I had brought a small backpack, leaving behind my tattered clothes, wearing three pairs of pants and blouses. I filled the bag with the cosmetics Pattie had requested and a few things lying in the room, like chocolate, Nat's favorite, a can of nuts, a bag of chips, and, adding on a whim, the soft robe and pajamas the hotel had provided. Stealing wasn't really a habit of mine. I had never stolen anything in my life, but without my purse and credit cards, I could not reimburse the hotel. I justified my behavior by telling myself that the government, who bankrolled this endeavor, would most likely take possession of my accounts anyway.
I was a bit nervous, thinking of what was to happen after returning to Vandruk. Watching Matt walk to his own death. I didn't know him, but he was a hero in my book. I didn't want to think about him, or what was to come, so I concentrated on pilfering the room.
"Are you all right?" Ghan-Zahr asked me, taking my backpack.
"I will be"." I smiled at him, willing my dark thoughts down. This was our moment, and I didn't want to spoil it.
Just as we left, my parents exited their room. Dad was already knocking on Nat's room. A few minutes later, we were all together.
We had breakfast in the same room we had the big dinner last night, but without the President.
"I'll miss bread"." Pattie giggled.
"Psst," Nat hissed at her.
"You'll be amazed by the bread they have on Vandruk," Amber, of all people, reassured my sister.
I turned to her. "How do you know?"
She snorted. "I can read people. You were all gloomy last night, and this morning, boom, you beam like a neon sign. Plus"—she leaned forward a bit more—"your sister is wearing like five layers of clothes."
"Oh shit"." I looked at Pattie. Amber was right underneath Pattie's blouse, I could make out a shirt, a sweater was hung over her shoulders, and what looked like another long-sleeved shirt poked out from underneath her sleeves. "Do you think the others will…"
"I doubt it. They might think you're all hauling the goodies away, which, by the way"—she lifted her backpack and showed me an assortment of creams while raising her voice just a bit—"I promised Gwyn to bring her some goods."
I laughed. "Is it really that easy?"
Amber's face darkened, turned into an expression of fury as she rose from her chair so abruptly, it crashed to the ground.
"Amber?" Dzur-Khan was up in an instant, following her to the window that gave a view of the adjoining golf course, where the President's helicopter sat, rotors moving.
"Un-fucking-believable," Amber spat.
"What?" Jenna and I followed her and asked simultaneously.
"That man there, with the President"." Amber jerked her chin in the general direction of where the President stood, shaking hands with a man before he climbed into the waiting helicopter. "That's Tony Vale. One of the men who tried to kill me."
Dzur-Khan was about to charge out, but Dzar-Ghan and Ghan-Zahr held him back.
"Don't," Amber cautioned, waving us back to the table. "That's the last little puzzle piece. If Tony is here, talking to the President, we know they are all in cahoots."
"What do we do?" Jenna asked.
"Nothing"." Dzur-Khan shook his head. "We'll proceed with the plan. Are we done eating?" He looked around, waiting for heads to nod. "Let's go, show your families the portal."
Sharon waited for us by the hotel entrance. "The cars are ready to take you to the portal and bring you back. I'll have lunch ready for you at two. Will that give you enough time?"
"Plenty of time," I assured her, having no intentions of coming back here.
"The President wanted me to let you know that he will be back for dinner to continue your talks about treaties"." She smiled at the Vandruk.
"We are looking forward to it," Dzur-Khan lied.
"I hope you will have a pleasant morning then"." Sharon's smile was so wide I could see the fillings in her back teeth.
We loaded up into the waiting black SUVs and took off.
Ghan-Zahr held my hand, and like before, we sat all the way in the back while Amber and Dzur-Khan sat in front of us. "I will miss this cream," she mused, applying some all over her face.
"I will have someone make you an even better face cream," Dzur-Khan promised.
"Hmm, promises"." Amber threw a kiss at him.
Silence took over the rest of the ride, and all too soon, we reached the wide gates that led into IC's courtyard. Like before, it was surrounded by reporters, but it seemed like they had doubled in numbers.
A condescending-looking Doctor Kensington awaited us with her hands folded behind her back. She was the picture of hostility, making it clear she wasn't going to shake any hands. She stood rigid, wearing a black blouse and skirt. A pearl necklace hung around her neck, adding a little bit of color to her stark clothing. She and a handful of other members of her team would accompany us to ensure everything worked properly and to check on any damage done to her building.
Tzar-Than and Gwyn greeted us inside.
"Did everything go well?" Tzar-Than asked.
"We will have a trade agreement with the humans soon," Ghan-Zahr filled him in. "But first, Rachel and Jenna's families would like to see Vandruk and the portal."
Those words were spoken to pacify Doctor Kensington and her group. But also a signal to Tzar-Than that we would all return to Vandruk and that Matt's plan was being activated.
Nothing on Tzar-Than's expression gave away anything that would indicate his grief over losing his friend. His voice, however, sounded slightly deeper, "I will fetch Doctor Bauer then"." He looked coldly at Doctor Kensington. "Doctor Bauer has expressed his wishes to return to Earth."
"What about Doctor Weidenhof?" she retorted.
"He will follow soon after," Ghan-Zahr promised. "We have an agreement with the President."
"I hope so," Kensington sneered. "Ah, better late than never, Major Vale, Agent Crawford," she greeted two more men climbing out of an SUV. One I recognized as Tony, the other as Sven, both men who had tried to kill Amber. Alarmed, I looked at her, but she didn't flinch.
"Shall we?" Kensington mock bowed, extending her hand.
"It seems empty," Sven observed.
Most Vandruk warriors had returned through the portal this morning since it only allowed two people through at once, and we didn't want to raise Kensington's suspicion with a mass exodus.
Evvie flittered about the stairs, directing her cameraman. When she saw me noticing her, she cried, "What the hell, Rachel?" She was one of the people who had gotten an email from me.
"Hold on one sec, I'll explain," I called back, holding up a finger and herding my family toward the portal, hoping Evvie would hold it together for just a few more moments.
When I turned around, I noticed Pattie fidgeting and took her hand. "Are you sure?" I whispered, "We can still change the plan."
My heart sank with each word I spoke, but I meant them. I would change the plan if she or anybody else had second thoughts.
Pattie grinned. "No way. I'm just fidgeting because I want to see those hunky men."
I knew her well enough to realize this wasn't entirely true. She wasn't that man wild, never had been. All her words about hunks were more for my benefit, but I could tell that she was excited, not dreadful. She had been like this before the Europe trip too. I pressed her arm. "Love you, sis."
"Yeah, don't get all sentimental on me. I love you too."
"Oh, wow," Jenna's mom exclaimed when we stepped into the room with the open portal, giving a somewhat obstructed view of Vandruk. Ever since the Vandruks had moved boulders as a wall, the view had taken a beating.
Still, we could see several Vandruks standing on the other side, waiting for us.
"Good to see you again, Amber," Tony shuffled next to her.
"Can't say the same about you," Amber retorted, staring coldly at him while using her hand to hold Dzur-Khan back. "Major, huh? Are you active again?"
"When the homeland calls, I answer"." Tony smirked.
"Oh, I see Than-Rod. Come, you must meet him," I yelled louder than necessary, pulling Pattie and Nat forward and pushing them through the portal. I looked back and saw my parents follow Ghan-Zahr, making sure Brian and Cara were close.
"I'll go get Matt," I heard Tzar-Than call.
"Wait, I want to say goodbye too"." Gwyn was right on his heels.
"Oh my God," someone exclaimed.
"What the hell?"
Loud groans accompanied the exclamations and my head lifted to a TV set to one of the major news stations.
NEWS ALERT: VANDRUK SCANDAL was written over a red bulletin. It was happening. It was really happening.
"Hands in the air where I can see them"." FBI agents began to swarm the floor, cuffing people left and right. "You're all under arrest."
Trevor walked into the room. In his vest with the white three letters stamped on it, he looked very handsome. His expression was dark. Our little talk this morning had pretty much ruined all of his illusions of the kind of world he lived in. But he was hell-bent on fixing it.
With a lot of satisfaction, I watched him cuff a protesting Doctor Kensington while Tony and Sven were berating the agents cuffing them, threatening them that they would lose their jobs, and yelling their credentials at the nonplussed men and women. Jenna's family watched open-mouthed and were quickly led away by other agents.
Soon, they were all gone, all but Trevor, who stood by the entrance, staring at the empty portal room and me. He looked as if he wanted to say something.
"Goodbye, Trevor," I mouthed and stepped through the portal, welcomed by Vandruk's hazy sun. Even though I was happy to set foot back on the rocky ground, I had no time to appreciate the fact that I felt like coming home.
Ghan-Zahr waved at me from behind a boulder, where he and my family stood, waiting for me.
"What took you so long?" Ghan-Zahr asked after a quick kiss.
"I watched them all get arrested"." I beamed. "You guys missed quite the show."
I noticed everyone falling silent, and when I looked for the cause, my heart hitched as I watched Matt walk toward the portal. He held a backpack in his hand, swinging it nonchalantly back and forth. I heard a small cry from Gwyn as we watched the man walk to his death, whistling "The Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner.
My hands clamped around Ghan-Zahr's arm. I didn't want to look, didn't want to watch, but I felt that I owed Matt to at least bear witness to his last moments.
"Amber! Nek!" A cry erupted from Dzur-Khan. It sounded raw and tortured. He was ripping at his wrist, and I barely registered that she had zip-tied him to a sturdy branch as she sprinted full speed straight for Matt, who stopped, surprised, dead in his tracks.
She ripped the backpack from his hand and pushed him back toward the boulders, yelling, "Run!"
Followed by, "Jenna! Now!"
While she yelled now , she threw the backpack the last few feet toward the portal. It landed with a slight thud on the other side just as Jenna pushed a small black box.
Amber ran back toward Matt, who was still trying to figure out what happened. Tzar-Than reached forward, pulling him behind the boulder.
The last sound of Amber's cry wasn't even finished when an immense explosion ripped through the air. Ghan-Zahr pulled me behind the boulder, but I managed to catch a glimpse of a cursing Dzur-Khan. His wrist bloodied, he threw himself over Amber, both of them flying through the air for a few paces as the explosion hit.
Dirt, rocks, and dust filled the air. I could taste grit on my teeth. My tongue felt as if I had stuck it in a bucket full of sand. My ears were ringing, and when I looked at Ghan-Zahr, he looked pasty, bathed from head to toe in Vandruk's soil.
A cough made me turn, alarmed. I stared at my mom, whose white teeth stood out in a dirt-covered face as she smiled reassuringly at me, holding her thumb up. The rest of my family seemed okay as well, so I could turn my concern on the others, mainly Dzur-Khan and Amber.
Dzur-Khan was slowly rising, covered in rocks, debris, dirt, and blood coming from several cuts and slices. He pulled Amber up by the neck of her shirt, shaking her and yelling. I assumed he was yelling because I watched his lips move, but I didn't hear a sound.
Amber, hanging half in the air, seemed non-plussed. She wiped her hair from her face and dusted her clothes even before Dzur-Khan put her down on her feet.
A dazed-looking Matt came forward, shaking his head, looking a bit worse for wear.
I turned to where the portal had stood, but there was nothing. No indication it had ever been there besides a few pieces of metal dissolving in front of my eyes.
Arms folded around me as I was pulled against a strong chest. Ghan-Zahr. How I loved this man.
My hearing returned, and the first sound I made out was Dzur-Khan's tirade at Amber for putting herself in danger.
Tzar-Than walked up to them and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, saying something in Vandruk, which reminded me that now I really needed to learn it, as well as my family.
Dzur-Khan's hands rose in the air in defeat before he pulled Amber into his arms.
"Amber, what the hell?" Jenna called, rushing forward and stumbling over a piece of debris. Tzar-Than caught her.
"Thanks," Dzur-Khan called at Tzar-Than, running over.
"It takes a village"." Gwyn snickered, making me laugh so loud that everybody turned to me. But I couldn't stop. Ghan-Zahr held me up as I stood there, bending over and shaking.
"Better?" he asked when I finally had myself under control.
"Better," I said, rubbing the tears of laughter off my face, imagining how that probably smeared the dirt and fought to hold back another round of laughter.
"What were you thinking?" Now it was Jenna yelling at Amber. "What if I hadn't pushed the button?"
Amber looked at her, unimpressed. "Why wouldn't you have pushed the button?"
"Because… because… this wasn't the plan," Jenna screamed, exasperated.
"So you would have rather blown Matt up?" Amber asked, trying hard to portray an innocent pose.
"Of course not," Jenna blustered. "But you should have told me."
"Or me," Dzur-Khan asserted.
"You would have never let me do this," Amber accused, stabbing her finger into his chest. "And you"—her face softened when she looked at Jenna—"I'm sorry, but you can't hold a secret to save your life. You would have told Dzar-Ghan, who would have told Dzur-Khan…" she trailed off.
"Either way, thank you." Matt coughed.
"Yes, thank you," Gwyn added, hugging her friend.
Tzar-Than petted Amber on the shoulder. "You are a brave warrior. Thank you for saving my friend."
"See, others are grateful," Amber hissed at Dzur-Khan.
"You should have told me," he reiterated.
"Let's have a feast!" Amber yelled. "It's time to celebrate."
I supposed she was right, and I was happy that my family would see a feast on their first day on Vandruk.
I stared at the empty air. It was hard to believe that minutes ago, there had been a portal to another world guarded by a red fog. Nothing of it remained. Nothing. Only a smoldering hole.
"Are you all right?" Ghan-Zahr embraced me.
"Perfectly fine," I assured him. And I was. Now, in his arms.
"I love you," I said.
"I love you," he replied, and really, that was all that mattered.