Shadow Rising (Shadow Born Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  “You’re correct,” Starling said, “but you’re not riding on a bullet train. You could hardly call this vehicle a train at all. As you can see from our surroundings, it’s closer to a subway than anything.”

  Pete walked towards the front of the bus where he could converse with Starling better, and he could see the tunnel in the headlights. “But it still doesn’t make sense. How can a train –or subway system- push the limits of the sound barrier?”

  “Oh, I don’t think you understand. Seven hundred miles per hour isn’t the top speed of this is vehicle.”

  “Thought so,” Pete said smugly.

  “It’s actually fourteen hundred.”

  Pete’s jaw dropped open. He immediately began shaking his head. “Not possible,” he murmured. “It’s just not possible.”

  “It is if you’re using a magnetic rail propulsion system in a vacuum.” Starling had a cocky look on her face as she watched Pete’s gears turning.

  “But…” His eyes lit up as he wrapped his mind around the concept. “What you’re saying… a vehicle like that could travel thousands of miles per hour…”

  “Indeed. Two-thirds the speed of light, theoretically.” Starling now wore a broad grin. She seemed to be taking pleasure from seeing Pete so flummoxed. “Of course that doesn’t account for the time it takes to accelerate, decelerate, and so forth. Not to mention the fact that there will always be some resistance due to friction, gravitational forces, and the restrictions caused by the shape of the tunnel. We aren’t in outer space.”

  “Right,” said Pete. He settled down into one of the seats, his eyes searching for the answer to some elusive equation. “You said the top speed is fourteen hundred?”

  “Yes, for safety reasons. None of our tunnels travel in a straight line, and it can be… difficult to slow down.”

  “I see… How do you maintain the vacuum?”

  “The tunnel is filled with partitions. Each sector opens as we approach, and then the door closes behind us. Computer sensors constantly monitor and control the vacuum, along with our speed.”

  “Fascinating…”

  Just then, there was a sudden jolt and the front of the bus reared in the air. Pete had been about to say something, but instead he jumped back into his seat and pressed his feet up against the seat in front of him, clutching the armrests in a white-knuckled grip. Gabriel had been standing close to Jodi. As he felt the movement, he squatted down next to her and braced himself up against the seat, trying to make sure she wouldn’t fall. He grabbed the metal pole, clenched his jaw, and waited for the inevitable crash. Suddenly he wished he didn’t know they were traveling at close to 1,000 miles per hour. If the vehicle hit the tunnels walls at that speed, Gabriel knew the aluminum structure would be demolished, and they would almost certainly all die in the crash.

  The front of the bus hovered in the air for a few moments, and Gabriel experienced a moment of weightlessness before it slammed down on the ground. Only it wasn’t the ground, it was water. Huge waves splashed up around the sides of the bus, hammering into the walls of the tunnel and raining down on the roof. The vehicle swayed haphazardly like a boat on a stormy ocean. Waves rushed out in front as it cut through the water. Then, the mouth of the tunnel appeared ahead and they whooshed out so fast that Gabriel hardly realized what had happened.

  The train-bus-boat slowed as it slid out of the tunnel and began gliding across a giant underground lake. Gabriel, Pete, and the other children fell speechless as they stared out the windows at the surrealistic scene. The surface of the lake was smooth, barely disturbed by the ripples of the passing bus. The water was clear and dark, and multicolored lights danced under the surface, zipping back and forth like some sort of alien creatures.

  “Those are fish,” Commander Starling said. “All of the fish in this lake have been genetically engineered to glow. And the cavern walls are covered with bioluminescent moss.”

  Gabriel glanced up and saw the blue glow of the moss on the walls. It gave the entire cavern an eerie, unearthly look. He saw a small glowing island poking up out of the center of the lake. Up ahead, in front of the bus, he saw docks along the lakeshore. Buses and boats were moored there, and there was a wide ramp up the center. As he watched, a semi truck with two trailers rolled down the ramp and began chugging across the water. It looked strangely out of place, and Gabriel realized that he may have seen hundreds of trucks or buses like that and never even imagined what they really were.

  “I never would have guessed…,” he mumbled.

  “What was that?” said Commander Starling.

  Gabriel shook his head, mystified. “How many of these things do you have?”

  “That’s classified,” Starling said with a wink.

  “Where’s that truck going?” Pete said. “What do they haul?”

  “Could be a lot of things,” Starling said. “It might be food, supplies… or it might be something classified.”

  Gabriel and Pete exchanged a look. It seemed that a lot of what they were seeing was classified. It reminded Gabriel not to trust Starling too quickly. She had rescued them from the shadowkind, there was no doubt about that, but what did she have in mind for them now? And what exactly was her relationship with Julia anyway? Neither Julia nor Reeves had ever mentioned Commander Starling in the past.

  “How long have you known about D.A.S.?” Gabriel blurted out. Pete gave him a warning look, but Gabriel shrugged it off. It was obvious at that point, that D.A.S. was not a secret anymore.

  “The United States government has known about D.A.S. for decades,” she said. “D.A.S. was doing its job just fine so we chose not to intervene until now. Unfortunately, it became necessary.”

  “I don’t understand,” Gabriel said. “D.A.S. has been attacked by the Shadow before. We’ve always managed to get through it. And we did it without any help. Why now? What’s different now?”

  “We had to intervene now because the situation had become critical. The risk to you and the other children had become unacceptable.”

  “The children?” Gabriel said. “What’s it got to do with us?”

  Starling fixed her eyes on Gabriel and in a very cool voice said, “Gabriel, you and the other children must be protected because we have so much invested in you. We can’t risk that investment. We can’t risk losing you like we did before.”

  Gabriel felt his pulse rising as she spoke. The implications of her words bounced around inside his head. “You lost us?” he said. “You didn’t lose us… we were taken from our parents by the shadowfriends…”

  “That’s one way to say it. Not entirely honest, though. Is that what Julia told you?”

  Gabriel’s mouth was dry, his heart drumming in his chest. “My parents died,” he said angrily. “They died on Highway 1, when their car crashed into the ocean.”

  “Yes, they did,” Starling said coolly, “and it was their own fault. They shouldn’t have tried to steal you. They were their own undoing.”

  “Steal?” Gabriel felt his hands knotting up into fists. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about you and the other children, Gabriel. The reason we can’t risk losing you, the reason we have so much invested in you, is because you’re property of the United State s government. And the reason your parents died was because they tried to steal you.”

  Chapter 12

  Gabriel was speechless. He tried to wrap his brain around what Starling had said but he didn’t even know where to start. “Are you saying you killed my parents?”

  “Absolutely not. Your parents died because they were driving too fast on a narrow, windy road at night. It was storming, and they lost control.”

  “Because they were trying to take me away from the government?”

  “Yes.” Starling answered so casually that it rendered Gabriel numb. How could the woman be so callous? She was talking about his dead parents! He felt his knuckles tightening into fists and he forced them to relax.

  “What about the
others?” he said. “What happened to the other parents?”

  “They were reprimanded and released from The Program. Most of them moved out of the state.”

  “The Program!” Pete said, snapping his fingers. He glanced back and forth between her and Gabriel. “That’s what this is about… that’s why you called them government property.”

  “You really should stay away from those internet conspiracy sites, Pete. People will think you’re crazy.”

  “But it’s true, isn’t it?” Pete said. “Everything I read about The Program is true. You were doing genetic experiments on humans. You were trying to make assassins!”

  Gabriel was so angry that he wanted to punch something. He gripped the back of the bus seat to keep himself from doing anything stupid. “I don’t care what you did, or who you think we are. We’re not your property!” he shouted.

  “I’m afraid you are,” Starling said flatly. “You see, in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court determined that any genetically modified organisms can be patented. This opened the door for things like corn with frog DNA, and fish that have DNA from horses. Scientists can take anything in nature and patent it now. Including you. The change in law allowed us to create you.”

  “But you couldn’t,” Pete said. “It’s impossible. You can’t create a person. Scientists can hardly even clone animals. Most of those have immunodeficiency, shortened life spans… rapid cellular decay.”

  “Yes but you’re forgetting a few things,” said Starling. “First, we’re the United States government. Scientifically speaking, we’re twenty years ahead of the rest of the world, if not more. Additionally, Gabriel is not a clone. He’s a mutant. He’s a genetically modified human.”

  Gabriel felt the world spiraling out of control. Images of his parents flashed through his mind, of them trying to escape and take him somewhere normal… of them dying because of their love for him. He felt his chest growing tight and suddenly all he wanted to do was escape.

  He looked at Starling and her guard, sizing them up. They were well armed and reasonably trained, but they weren’t like him. They weren’t assassins. They were just soldiers. He looked out the windows and saw the docks growing nearer by the second. Gabriel knew he was on the verge of doing something stupid. He could feel the anger inside of him, the need to get revenge for all that had happened, and the need to get as far away from that place as possible. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

  A glance at the other orphans was all it took to calm him. Gabriel wouldn’t do anything to risk their well-being. And he sure as heck wouldn’t abandon them. He was going to have to wait. He’d bide his time until the moment was right, and then Starling and her power-mad scientists wouldn’t know what hit them…

  Jodi suddenly bolted upright, spilling Oglesby’s cane and her blanket onto the floor. “Gabriel!” she shouted. She looked around, wide-eyed and confused. Gabriel rushed to her side.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “We’re okay now.”

  Jodi blinked in disbelief. Her eyes searched his face and then flashed back and forth around the bus. “What happened?” she said. “We were in the library…”

  “I know, I’ll explain everything later.”

  Jodi’s eyes fell on Starling and the armed guards. She frowned. “Who are they?” she said in a hushed tone.

  Gabriel shot Pete a glance. “They’re with the government,” he said. “They rescued us.” He didn’t dare say more. Not for the moment, anyway.

  Jodi noticed Mr. Oglesby’s cane on the floor next to her. She lifted it, narrowing her eyebrows. “What’s this… why is Oglesby’s cane here?” she cast her gaze around the bus. “Where is Mr. Oglesby?”

  Gabriel and Pete exchanged a glance. “Mr. Oglesby died in the attack,” Gabriel said awkwardly. “There was nothing I could do…”

  Jodi started sobbing. He put his arms around her, trying to comfort her, and looked at Pete helplessly. Pete’s eyes watered up and he looked away. Gabriel knew that he should tell Jodi the rest, that he should tell her about the cane and what it might mean for her, but he didn’t know how. For the moment, she was too broken up. Not to mention that he certainly couldn’t tell her in front of Starling. The last thing he wanted was to have them turn Jodi into another scientific test subject for the government.

  A minute later, the bus’s diesel engine roared back to life and they chugged up the boat ramp. The vehicle lurched slightly as the rubber tires touched the concrete, and water splashed down as they rolled up into the parking area. The driver guided the bus across the lot and parked near a tunnel marked “31.” Starling rose from her seat and stood at the front of the bus.

  “Children, welcome to D.U.M.B. 79, also known as Black Mountain.”

  “Dumb?” Jodi echoed. She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  “It means deep underground military base,” Pete explained. “You can read about them on the internet, but officially the government says they don’t exist.”

  “Kind of like the Shadow?” said Gabriel.

  “Yeah.”

  The driver opened the doors and Starling moved aside to let him and the other guard out. “We’ll start with a tour of the facilities,” she said to the children, “and then I’ll show you all to your quarters.”

  They piled out of the bus. Gabriel looked around the cavern. There was something familiar about the place, something about the way the humidity felt against his skin and the way the lights glistened against the smooth, damp stone… and the smell. The place even smelled familiar. Even though he couldn’t remember it, Gabriel knew he’d been there before. It bothered him that he couldn’t remember more. Without a past, Gabriel was incomplete. He had no memory of his parents or his childhood and he was suddenly reminded of that. He felt like half a person.

  A long vehicle pulled up next to them. It was similar to a golf cart in design, with no roof, a plastic body, and narrow bench seats. It was towing a second, smaller vehicle. The driver was a woman in her twenties with dark brown hair and a nametag that said “Gretchen.” She was wearing combat fatigues.

  “Ah, here we are,” said Starling. “Everybody in.” She motioned towards Gabriel, Pete and Jodi. “You three come in the second vehicle with me.”

  A few moments later, they entered one of the smaller tunnels that opened out of the cavern wall. It was about ten feet wide and shaped like an upside-down pyramid, so that it was narrower at the bottom and wider at the top. The walls were smooth stone, decorated with engravings that looked like some sort of hieroglyphic alien language. Doors and windows opened up along the tunnel, revealing glimpses of workers in offices and small laboratories.

  A few minutes later, they stopped at one of the labs. A row of windows offered a clear view of the scientific equipment, computers, and tables inside. Colored lights flashed here and there, but the room appeared to be empty.

  “Gretchen, show the children to Sector 17. Get them a snack. We’ll catch up to you.” Gretchen nodded and drove away. Gabriel felt a little apprehensive about watching the orphans being taken away by a total stranger.

  “They’ll be fine,” Starling said reassuringly.

  “They better be,” said Jodi. A smile turned up the corners of Gabriel’s mouth. Leave it to Jodi to say just what he was thinking. The girl was fearless. She was also tough as nails. The first time Gabriel had met her, Jodi had seemed determined to beat him up. Fortunately, it hadn’t come to that.

  Gabriel glanced at the flashing lights inside the lab and once again got that sense of familiarity. What was it about the place? Starling turned in her seat to face the children. “I’m going to tell you the truth now, Gabriel,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “This is where you were made. Your parents agreed to come here so that they could be part of our program. Follow me.”

  Gabriel felt his chest tightening as she spoke. He watched Starling’s face, searching for some indication of a lie, but she was unreadable. “What do you mean made?” said Jodi. She sounded defensive, angry. She was being protec
tive of Gabriel, and he was grateful. The same question was rattling through his mind but he was speechless. In truth, part of him was afraid to know the answer.

  Starling stepped out of the cart and headed for the door. They followed after her. The laboratory lights came up automatically as they entered the room. It was larger on the inside than it had looked. The laboratory stretched past the windows in either direction, and a series of rooms went deep into the mountainside. At the far wall of the main room, Gabriel noted a number of tall glass chambers that appeared to be filled with water. Computer panels blinked along the edges, displaying the time, date, temperature, and a ton of other information. He crossed the room to look at them. His companions followed him.

  “Do you remember, Gabriel?” Starling said. She was standing off to his side.

  Gabriel shook his head and said, “No.” He reached out and touched the glass. It was warm. Bubbles rolled up through the water inside the chamber. “It’s familiar,” he said. “This whole place is, in some way. But I don’t remember it.”

  “This is where you grew after birth. We had to make sure you remained genetically stable. You slept in this solution for the first three years of your life.”

  “Stable?” Pete said. “What are you talking about?”

  “You haven’t guessed?” Starling said. Pete shrugged. She turned her attention to Gabriel. “You know, don’t you Gabriel?” she said.

  Gabriel took a deep breath. “They gave us Shadow DNA,” he said, his voice a near-whisper. “The orphans and me…”

  “That’s correct. We used the same techniques that scientists use to make genetically modified plants. Our engineers injected the DNA into your embryos. Then, given the right care and environment, you all grew up into perfectly healthy children.”

  Gabriel looked at Pete and Jodi. They gave him a sympathetic look. They understood what he was going through. “What happened?” he said. “Why did our parents try to take us away?”