Shadow Rising (Shadow Born Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  Shadow Rising

  By:

  Jamie Sedgwick

  Published by Timber Hill Press

  Chapter 1

  Everything you are about to read is true. Should you ask, government officials will deny any knowledge of these events. Likewise, they will deny the existence of shadowcreatures, deep underground military bases, or genetically engineered assassins. You however, are about to learn the truth.

  It all began inside an old amphibious warplane, ten thousand feet over the Swiss Alps…

  Gabriel stood at the rear of the passenger cabin in the Albatross. He was wearing a cold-weather flight suit and gloves, and he had a parachute strapped to his back. He checked the buckles and bindings to be sure they were secure and then touched the metal sword hilt strapped to his forearm. The weapon appeared to be nothing more than a sword handle, but the touch of a button could summon forth a thirty-inch blade impregnated with R9-11, a chemical that could send shadowkind back to their world. R9-11 was the only known way to dispatch shadowcreatures. In a pinch, the sword could also be useful against shadowfriends, the human traitors who allied themselves with the powers of the Shadow in exchange for wealth and power.

  Gabriel shot a glance across the cabin at his companion, John Reeves. The middle-aged veteran wore a serious look as he watched Gabriel prep for his jump. Gabriel knew the older man didn’t like the fact that he was working in the field. Gabriel was too young and too inexperienced, in Reeves’s judgment. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be helped. The organization known as D.A.S., the Alliance for Defense Against the Shadow, had been destroyed in a series of overwhelming surprise attacks by the Shadow. Reeves and his team were all that was left. Without them, nothing stood between the world and an invasion of ravenous, evil shadowcreatures.

  “Do you have the artifact?” Gabriel said.

  Reeves opened the cabinet over the sink and pulled out a black canvas bag. He set it on the counter and released the knot, letting the fabric slide silently to the countertop. He lifted the statue and handed it to Gabriel.

  “It’s heavy,” Gabriel noted, turning it over in his hands. It looked Egyptian. The statue was the likeness of a man with a lion’s head. It was carved of solid, perfectly clear crystal. There was something else about it too, something that Gabriel couldn’t quite place. The thing seemed to have an energy of its own, almost as if it was alive.

  “Hand-carved crystal,” Reeves said. “Five thousand years old, at least. Scientists say it couldn’t possibly exist. I’ve never seen another artifact like it. It’s a shame we can’t keep it. I know someone at the Smithsonian who’d love to get his hands on a piece like that. I hope it’s worth all we went through to get it.”

  “If it gets Pete’s folks home alive, it is,” Gabriel said. He noted the dark look on Reeves’ face. “What’s wrong? You seem worried.”

  “I don’t know. I’ve had a bad feeling ever since I pulled that statue out of the pyramid at Giza.”

  Gabriel couldn’t help but smile. “You think it’s cursed or something?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Gabriel’s smile vanished as he realized that Reeves was serious. The veteran was not the superstitious type. Reeves believed in things he could touch, things like knives and bullets. Reeves was a big man, solid as a brick wall, and he had years of experience with combat operations. In his youth, he’d been a spy and assassin for the U.S. government. The thought of a simple statue putting Reeves on edge was enough to send a shiver down Gabriel’s spine.

  “The fact that they wanted this instead of money doesn’t help,” Reeves added. “The whole thing smells fishy. The Skeversons aren’t the first people to be taken hostage by shadowfriends, but the ransom has never been an artifact before.”

  Gabriel handed the statue back to Reeves. “What else can we do?” he said. “We can’t let them kill Pete’s parents.”

  Reeves stuffed the figurine back in its bag and then tucked it into Gabriel’s backpack under his chute. “We won’t,” he said. “But I don’t particularly want the shadowfriends to get away with this artifact either. If you get a chance…”

  “I know,” Gabriel said. “If I get a chance, we’ll get Pete’s parents and keep the statue.”

  “Right.” Reeves checked his watch and walked to the hatch at the back of the plane. “It’s time,” he said.

  Gabriel glanced at the darkness outside the window and saw the black silhouettes of jagged mountains cutting across the horizon. The plane shuddered with a hint of turbulence. Gabriel stepped up to the hatch and steadied himself, grabbing the handles alongside the door. Reeves reached past him and threw the hatch open.

  Gabriel gasped as a blast of icy air hit his face. The cold swirled around him, sucking all the warmth out of the plane and splashing his face with icy crystals. “Something about this feels awfully familiar,” Gabriel shouted over the roar of the engines and the howling wind. It wasn’t that different from the jump he’d made over a Chinese palace less than a year earlier, rescuing the orphans who’d been abducted by shadowfriends. Only this time Gabriel was going alone.

  Five thousand feet below, the twinkling lights of private cabins flashed up and down the Alpine slopes like lights on a Christmas tree. Rivers of white stood out in the darkness, and Gabriel recognized the shapes as ski slopes. Below them, at the base of the mountain, he saw a busy ski lodge.

  “There,” Reeves called over his shoulder. The older man pointed, and Gabriel followed his gesture to the eastern slope.

  “That’s the cabin?” Gabriel shouted.

  “Yeah.”

  The Skeverson’s so-called cabin was almost the size of Winschfield Manor. Gabriel saw the unmistakable blue glow of a swimming pool staring up out of the snow. “They really like to rough it, don’t they?” he shouted.

  Reeves laughed. He looked at his watch. “Okay, you’re on. Give me time to get there before you make the exchange. You’ve got twenty minutes.”

  “Got it,” Gabriel said. He checked the buckles on his chute again, making sure they were secure. The last thing he wanted to do was plummet several thousand feet to an icy death on the side of the mountain.

  “Go!” Reeves shouted.

  Gabriel felt Reeves’ hand on his shoulder and he jumped. He caught his breath as he vaulted out of the plane and the subzero air washed over him. The icy cold found its way through the cracks in his flight suit and a frigid chill crept up his pant legs and down the back of his neck.

  The plane moved away as he fell, and the starry sky stretched out overhead, impossibly huge. It looked like it might swallow him. Below, rocks covered the harsh uneven terrain of the mountainside, their dark forms jutting out of the snow. Gabriel was calm, relaxed. He’d done this before. It was colder this time, but he was okay. If his flight suit sensed his body temperature dropping, the heater would automatically kick in. For the moment, all he had to do was enjoy the ride.

  That was when things went wrong. A shadow passed through Gabriel’s vision and a jolt like lightning shot through his body. His eyes went blurry and the world below seemed to vanish. He blinked as the landscape turned a luminescent violet color, like the unearthly glow of a fluorescent black light. The sky overhead shimmered with thousands of stars and planets he’d never seen before.

  Gabriel’s eyes flashed back and forth across the surreal landscape. He knew this place. Gabriel had seen this place before. He knew where he was. Somehow, Gabriel had crossed into the shadow world.

  Chapter 2

  At the exact same moment, nearly six thousand miles away…

  “Heather, can you tell me the most important rules of combat?” Jodi said. She stood at the
center of the circle, surrounded by thirteen children varying in age from five to ten. They were all orphans, and had been living at Winschfield Manor since the D.A.S. team rescued them from the crumbling Celestial Palace in China. Six months later, none of the children’s parents had been located.

  “Focus, determination, and fearlessness,” Heather answered with rehearsed perfection.

  “Good,” said Jodi. “And what do you do if you meet a shadowfriend?”

  “We kill him,” said Matt, an eight-year-old with a freckled face and dark red hair.

  “Wrong,” Jodi said loudly. “If you even think you see a shadowfriend, you come straight to me or Gabriel, or to Julia or one of the other grownups.”

  “You’re not a grownup,” Matt said with a sneer. “You’re a wannabe grownup.”

  Jodi cocked an eyebrow. Matt was a problem kid. He was a disrespectful little loudmouth. On the other hand, he reminded Jodi a lot of herself, and she was inclined to like him. She just wished she didn’t have to deal with him every single day.

  Jodi had found herself doing just that over the last few months. Julia had to work full time to keep the estate running and Pete was often busy with security and computer issues. Gabriel was usually gallivanting around the globe with Reeves, working on top-secret D.A.S. missions. That left Jodi to take up the slack by helping keep the kids occupied, especially over the weekends. Gabriel and Pete helped when they could of course, but unfortunately, they just weren’t available most of the time. The whole situation was rather disappointing, considering the fact that Jodi had once been D.A.S.’s most promising field-agent-in-training.

  After the China fiasco, Jodi’s parents no longer allowed her to leave the country without their foreknowledge and permission. Lenient as they were, they certainly weren’t going to let her go on a wild rescue mission to the Swiss Alps. That meant Gabriel got to do all the fun stuff, and Jodi and been relegated to little more than a babysitter. She made the best of it though, by trying to teach the children about the Shadow, and giving them some of the skills they’d need to survive if the shadowfriends ever came after them.

  The heavy rumble of a UPS truck coming up the drive yanked Jodi from her thoughts. “Wait here,” she said absently. “Crystal, run the group through some calisthenics.”

  Crystal, a ten-year-old with bright blue eyes, came forward. She was the oldest of the orphans. She was quick as a whip and Jodi never worried about leaving her in charge for a few minutes. Crystal ordered everyone to assume the position for jumping jacks.

  As Jodi reached the driveway, the driver stepped out of the truck. He was a tall, gangly man with a pale face and deep, dark eyes. Jodi eyed him suspiciously. He had the deathly pallor of a shadowfriend. That could mean that he was tired and overworked, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Jodi stopped a few steps away.

  “Can I help you?” she said.

  He held a large manila envelope and an electronic signature pad in his hands. He held the pad out. “Hi, there. I have a delivery for Julia Winschfield. I need a signature.”

  “Sure,” Jodi said. “I’ll sign for it.” She accepted the pad and sketched her name across the front. Then she handed it back to the man. He smiled, handed her the envelope, and crawled back in his truck. Jodi watched as the big brown delivery truck disappeared down the drive. She glanced at the envelope. Julia’s name and address were scrawled in sloppy penmanship across the front. There was no return address, but there were a number of strange looking stamps across the top. One of them said “Afghanistan,” another said “Egypt” and another said “India.” There were many more. The thing looked like it had traversed the entire globe.

  Jodi glanced back at her students. They had finished doing jumping jacks and were now teaming up for sit-ups. Satisfied that they’d be okay for a few more minutes, she jogged up the steps and went into the mansion. She found Julia in the kitchen. The elder woman had the door of the walk-in refrigerator propped open and she was taking inventory on a clipboard.

  “Julia, you got a delivery.”

  Julia popped her head around the corner. “Oh… what is it?” Jodi held up the envelope so she could see it.

  “Okay. Would you mind setting it there on the counter? I need to finish taking inventory and get this order placed before the suppliers close for the day. If I don’t, we’ll run out of food by the end of the week.”

  “Sure.” Jodi plopped the envelope down. She jogged back out to the field and found the kids running laps. She could tell from their puffy red faces that Crystal was giving them a solid workout.

  “All right, that’s enough for today,” Jodi called out. “Let’s get cleaned up and ready for lunch.”

  “I claim the X-box!” Matt said.

  “Lunch first!” Jodi said. “And take turns!”

  At that moment, Jodi heard a bloodcurdling shriek and the sound of crashing pots and pans coming from the kitchen. She broke into a run with the orphans hot on her tail. They found Julia’s unconscious body on the kitchen floor, the envelope lying next to her. Julia held a crushed up letter in her hands.

  “Is she dead?” Matt said anxiously. Jodi glanced at the orphans’ frightened faces and then knelt down next to Julia. She felt her neck and found a pulse.

  “She’s alive,” Jodi said, her voice filled with worry. “I think she might have had a heart attack. Crystal, call Doctor Pratchet!”

  Chapter 3

  Gabriel stared in disbelief at the strange world spread out below him. He clenched his chattering teeth and thought, It’s not real. It can’t be real. He blinked his watering eyes and scanned the landscape from horizon to horizon. The world below him was different, and yet familiar. The overall shape of the landscape was the same as it had been in the real world, but the snow was gone and large forms moved here and there in the darkness. Gabriel couldn’t make out their shapes.

  A large red planet hung in the sky overhead. It looked a lot like the moon; desolate with deep, dark craters and sharp-ridged mountains. It wasn’t the moon, though. Gabriel could see the moon hanging over the eastern horizon. He blinked again and as fast as it had appeared, the vision was gone.

  Suddenly the sky overhead was normal, an ocean of black filled with a billion shimmering stars. He recognized the Milky Way and the big dipper. The crescent moon dangled just over the horizon. The landscape below was steep, rocky, and covered in snow.

  The alarm on Gabriel’s watch turned red, warning him that it was time to open his chute. If he didn’t pull the ripcord now, he’d be going too fast when he hit the ground and he’d risk breaking his legs… maybe even worse. Gabriel pulled the cord and the fabric unrolled behind him. The parachute opened and caught air with a whoosh sound. The shimmering black silk spread out over his head, almost invisible against the midnight sky.

  Gabriel took a deep breath and tried to steady his jangled nerves. Whatever had happened, it was over. He was back in the real world. He was safe… at least as safe as he could be under the circumstances. A question taunted him at the back of his mind: What if it happens again? He pushed it away, ignoring it. He was on a mission and he needed to focus. There would be time to sort the rest of it out later.

  Gabriel visually located the Skeverson’s cabin and guided the parachute in that direction. He saw a small clearing in the woods behind the house and circled in for a landing. Just then, a gust of wind caught the chute and blew him off course. Gabriel shielded his face as the chute pulled him through the treetops. He jerked to a stop and hung there, suspended in midair. Stuck.

  Gabriel looked down past his feet and found himself dangling ten feet in the air He surveyed the ground below. The terrain looked smooth under the heavy blanket of snow, but there was no telling what that icy surface might be hiding. He didn’t see any logs or rocks sticking up in the air. That was a good sign at least.

  He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. Then he released the buckles on his chute. He dropped like a rock. An older, heavier man might have broken his leg
s. Even a kid like Gabriel could have been hurt badly, but Gabriel had the advantage of his years of training as an assassin. His legs buckled slowly beneath him as his feet touched the snow. His body compressed, and he rolled forward with the impact. He somersaulted across the powdery surface and came up on one knee.

  His eyes scanned the darkness, alert for any sign of danger. He waited a few breathless moments, searching the woods for any sign of life. Under the trees, the land was an unbroken layer of white. The snow was smooth, crisp, glistening under the starlight. A dozen yards to the north, he saw a deer trail, and off to his right the light but unmistakable tracks of a wild hare.

  A light breeze moved through the treetops and the branches swayed, making creaking sounds that echoed through the forest. Gabriel took a deep breath, billowing out steam as he exhaled. Satisfied, he rose to his feet and rushed down the gently sloping hillside towards the cabin where the shadowfriends were waiting.

  Chapter 4

  Reeves had just settled the plane down on the lake on the west side of the mountain when Julia called. She was frantic:

  “Reeves, are you there? Reeves!”

  He activated the microphone on his headset. “I’m here, Julia. This isn’t a good time, can I get back to you? Gabriel’s already up the mountain-”

  “Reeves, do not give them the artifact! It’s a trick!”

  “A trick? What are you talking about?”

  “I don’t have time to explain. You can’t let them have the statue, Reeves. Do you understand?”

  “Affirmative.” Reeves switched off the radio. He climbed out of the hatch, cautiously testing the ice under his feet. The plane was parked about ten yards offshore. Reeves had no way of knowing just how thick the ice was, but he knew that if he fell through, he might never come back up. Most people who fell through ice ended up drowning because they couldn’t find the way back out. From under the water, everything looked the same. He shuddered thinking about it. Reeves had fought half a dozen wars, had been through situations that would make grown men cry, but he wasn’t prepared to die like that. The thought of drowning in those icy black waters sent a chill crawling down his spine.