The Diamond Bearers' Rising Read online

  He looks directly at me and our eyes lock. The excited expression falls from his face. “I guess I’m not doing it right,” Brand says. “Calli can still see me.”

  Jonas laughs. “You’re doing it, Brand. I can’t see you. I can feel your presence, though.”

  Jie Wen leans forward and looks my direction. I see his movement with my peripheral vision and resist making eye contact with him.

  After everyone masters the art of appearing invisible, and recognizing the locations of others when not visible, we change into provided camouflage fatigues and get ready to leave.

  I walk out to the courtyard and find Jie Wen and Maetha in a hushed discussion. Maetha glances in my direction and says to Jie Wen, “This is not my decision. Take it up with Crimson.”

  I can’t tell if Maetha is upset with the decision, what-ever it is, or if she’s at a loss for words and wants their discussion to end.

  Jie Wen looks over his shoulder and sees me. He motions for me to join them, to which Maetha closes her eyes and inhales deeply. I walk over to them.

  Jie Wen says, “Calli, there’s no tactical advantage of having you participate in this extraction. You should stay here and Maetha should come.”

  “I’m supposed to come with you.”

  “You’ll be a liability.”

  I stand my ground. “I’m a Diamond Bearer, Jie Wen, and not as experienced as you or the others. I need to learn from you, from your expertise.”

  “Don’t patronize me. This is not the time to be learning.”

  “I’m coming. End of story.” I half-expect him to fight the topic further, but he doesn’t. He narrows his eyes and purses his lips, studying me. I try to read his mind but am blocked. I wish he’d try to communicate with Chuang so I could get an idea of what’s going on in his mind.

  He turns his head to the others. “Let’s go. We have an hour-long drive ahead of us and no time to waste.”

  * * *

  We arrive at a location deep in the forest/jungle. After we loaded into the six-seat Jeep back at Jie Wen’s home, I wondered to myself where he planned on putting the three people we were headed to rescue. However, I kept my thoughts to myself. I didn’t want his scrutinizing glare again.

  One thing I found amusing before we left was Chuang and Jie Wen shed their robes, revealing tactical gear underneath. I guess that answers my question about fighting in robes.

  Piling out of the Jeep, Duncan hands each of us one of the self-adhesive bandages for our topazes. “Put it in your pocket for now.”

  “Let’s go.” Chuang slings a long pack over his shoulder and begins walking into the thick undergrowth.

  Brand hops around, panting. He looks like he’s about to enter a boxing ring. He says to me, “Are you ready for this?”

  “Not really sure what ‘this’ actually is, but yes, I’m ready.”

  Jonas moves close to my ear. “I’ve got your back, Calli. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I don’t think that’s a promise you can make. How about we keep an eye open for each other and help wherever we can?”

  He smiles. I realize I haven’t seen him smile much lately. He always seems to have a worried look on his face.

  “Keep quiet back there,” Chuang orders over his shoulder.

  Duncan looks over his shoulder and affirms Chuang’s words.

  Jie Wen nods.

  A shiver climbs my spine, leaving me feeling on edge.

  We walk in silence on a trampled path through the dense undergrowth. Ragged, machete-cut branches stick out precariously, threatening to snag or scratch passersby. I watch my step and keep my distance from anything dangerous.

  Chuang stops the group and motions for us to crouch down. Then he creeps forward to a moss-covered boulder, easing his head up just high enough to see over the top. He moves away and motions for us to look over the boulder like he did. One at a time each of the team peeks over the boulder.

  When it’s my turn, I see a small valley about one-hundred yards across drop down below us. On the other side, a large metal doorway is built into the side of the hill with a narrow road consisting of two muddy ruts leading through the valley. Two armed guards stand on either side of the door. I lower my body and slide out of the way so Jonas can take a look.

  I sit down by Brand who pulls out his topazes and bandage and attaches the stones to the side of his neck. The other Bearers follow his lead and attach their topaz as well, including me.

  Brand gets up on one knee and addresses everyone. “Okay, so there’s obsidian at the doorway, but not inside the bunker. Jie Wen and I will be let in peacefully if he acts like he’s bringing in a new candidate for experimentation.”

  “What?” Chuang wrinkles his nose and shakes his head back and forth. “You don’t know—”

  Jie Wen hushes Chuang, then asks Brand, “You’ve already repeated?”

  Brand throws a frustrated glance my direction. I think he wants to say, “Duh!” but instead he says, “Yes.”

  Jie Wen moves to a squatted position. “They’ll let us in? Do they question my affiliation with the group?”

  Brand tilts his head to the side. “Uh, no, I don’t think so. Are you part of their group?”

  The question hangs in the air for a brief second, then Jie Wen says, “What happens after we get inside?”

  “The guy with the clipboard leads us down the hallway. That’s how far I got. Look, all I know at this point is we’ll be allowed to enter, and once the doors close behind us, the obsidian effects are canceled. Are we doing this or what?”

  “Let’s go,” Jie Wen rises to a crouched stance and moves toward the bushes.

  Brand grabs his arm. “Let me lead. I know the fastest route.” Brand turns to Chuang. “Don’t go beyond the bush with the red flowers or they’ll see you.”

  Jie Wen and Brand leave the group, but not before Chuang speaks with his thoughts to Jie Wen. You trust his judgment? Chuang asks.

  Yes. We can’t get what we need without him.

  I don’t let on that I hear their exchange. I have to wonder what Jie Wen meant with his words, “can’t get what we need.” He must be referring to the hostages, but it bothers me that he didn’t answer about his affiliation with the group. I hope “we” doesn’t mean someone else.

  Duncan sidles over to the boulder and glimpses over the top. He speaks to our minds with his diamond. Watch through my eyes.

  I access Duncan’s diamond and look through his eyes the same way I looked through Chris’s at Cave Falls. Chris. I wonder for a moment what he’s doing. I send out my thoughts to him. He responds.

  Calli, you have obsidian in your near future.

  I know.

  Please be careful.

  I will. I instantly feel better just knowing he’s watching out for me.

  Duncan’s view of the bunker reveals the two guards at the door are taking defensive positions, aiming their guns in front of them. Jie Wen and Brand come into view having exited the forest. I can see the guards’ mouths moving but can’t read their lips because I don’t know their language. One guard speaks into his radio. Then the huge doors open slowly and a man in a lab coat holding a clipboard walks out to them. Jie Wen pushes Brand forward rather rudely and they enter the bunker. The doors close at the same slow pace and the guards take their position.

  Chuang says, “Let’s go.” He moves forward and the rest of us follow.

  We tread carefully through the undergrowth, keeping our heads down. The path is steep and winding to get to the bottom, but we make it within a minute. We pick our way through the bottom of the valley, jumping across a small stream. As we near the clearing where the road ends at the bunker’s doors, Chuang puts his hand up, signaling for us to stop. To his left is a bush with red flowers. We squat down and hold perfectly still.

  Duncan speaks to my mind. Now we wait.

  Time ticks by at a tortoise’s pace. I try to imagine what might be happening inside the bunker. Brand is probably delivering h
is trademarked groin kicks, knocking out any who stands in his way. I don’t know if we’d be able to hear any gunfire. The doors are so immense and thick. This bunker is probably designed to withstand a nuclear blast.

  What’s taking them so long, Jonas says to my mind.

  Don’t worry. Brand is the best at these things.

  I know. I lived with him for a couple months.

  I clear my mind and try to imagine what Drs. Tod and Mishell and their daughter Sarangerel will be like. Do they speak English?

  A loud clunk is heard and the doors begin to creak, causing the guards to stand at attention. Little by little the doors open

  Now, Chuang announces non-verbally. Invisibility. We’re running inside.

  I activate my invisibility. The others do as well. Then we all run at super speed until we enter the obsidian field, slowing us down to normal human speed because we don’t have Runners topaz. As we run past the two confused guards and into the building the doors slowly pull together behind us. The obsidian field is canceled.

  Brand comes running down the hall, visible to anyone watching cameras. “Come quick,” he says in a hushed voice. “You don’t need your invisibility now.”

  Dropping my connection to the topaz, I hear Chuang’s telepathic voice, This kid is crazy.

  I reply, No, he just knows we’re safe for the next two minutes.

  We follow Brand to the control room where we find two unconscious guards on the floor. Jie Wen searches the multiple surveillance screens. Jonas dumps himself in the main chair and goes right to work trying to hack the system. A voice comes across the radio. Jie Wen picks up the receiver and responds.

  Duncan translates. “The guards are wondering about the main door malfunction. That’s all.”

  Jie Wen hangs up the receiver and points to the diagram on the wall of the bunker floor plan. “The females are here in room 8. We need a four-digit code to gain entry. Dr. Tod is here in Lab 1. We need a keycard for the lock.”

  Brand points to the guards on the floor, “I already tried their cards on the lab door. They don’t work.” I look up at the monitors and see four guards standing outside Lab 1, talking to each other. Brand adds, “My Mind-Control topaz loses strength each time I repeat. It’s half-way gone now.”

  I rip mine off my neck, holding onto the Healer topaz. “Trade with me. You need it more than I do.”

  We exchange topazes and re-attach our bandages. I focus on re-infusing his topaz with more power. As long as I’m not around obsidian I can use the Blue shard instead of the topaz.

  Brand pauses, points to the monitor displaying the four guards outside the lab, and says, “Okay. That guard’s card, the one standing by the lock, opens the door.”

  Chuang asks. “How do you know that?”

  Brand ignores him. “Jonas, how’s it going? In yet?”

  “No.” Jonas furiously types on the keyboard trying to find a way into the system.

  Brand says, “Jie Wen, Chuang, and Duncan, go disable those guards, get the scientist and bring him back here. Calli and I will go get the wife and kid. Use invisibility.”

  Brand doesn’t wait for anyone to agree or disagree. He takes my hand, activates his invisibility, waits until I do the same, then we run down the hall to room 8. Brand halts abruptly, putting his hand up to signal a stop. A door further down the hall opens. Voices filter out into the hallway, then the door closes. Footsteps are heard, fading as they move away from us.

  I’ll never stop being grateful for Brand’s ability.

  We reach the door and Brand becomes visible again. “Keep your invisibility up, Calli. I don’t want to drain mine any more than I have to.” Brand stands still, staring at the number pad by the door to room 8. He enters a code and the light turns green.

  “That was fast,” I say. “How many repeats did it take to figure that out?”

  “None. I saw a four-digit code written on the board by the monitors. Figured I’d try that one first. Ta-da. Oh, and you better stop being invisible. It freaks them out to see you reappear.”

  “So, you did repeat.” I discontinue my use of the Blue’s power.

  “Just now, yeah.” He pulls the door open. Inside the room, a woman gets up from her chair where she was reading a book. A girl around my age peeks over the top of her computer. Both look confused. Brand puts his finger to his mouth, signaling silence. I really hope they don’t scream or sound an alarm.

  I say, hoping they speak English, “We’re here to help. Come and I’ll take you to Jie Wen.” Boy, I really hope he used that name with them. What if he’s like Maetha, using a different name at each town?

  “Jie Wen is here?” the girl asks, her voice rising.

  “Yes. We have to go now.”

  They both run over. I look to Brand, wondering if we need to be invisible. He answers before I ask the question.

  “No. We’ll be fine, but we have to be silent.” He turns on his heel and leads us back in the direction of the control room.

  On the way there, I notice Sarangerel’s height is close to mine, her frame is petite, and her skin is perfect like porcelain. Her mother Mishell is a bit taller, also petite, yet clearly more mature. Both are beautiful.

  We enter the control room, closing the door behind us. I ask Jonas, “How’s it going?”

  “Not good. It’s not working.” He doesn’t look our way, he just keeps typing.

  Sarangerel hurries over to him and says, “Move.” Jonas reluctantly glances up at her. She repeats, “Move!”

  He jumps out of the chair and she sits. She clicks on the login screen and begins entering keys.

  Brand moves to the wall of monitors and focuses on Lab 1’s. “Hurry,” he mutters to himself. I look at the monitor and see Duncan, Chuang, and Jie Wen slowly moving in for the attack, invisibly I presume. The guards talk animatedly, not knowing what’s coming their way.

  Bam! They attack. Jie Wen takes two down faster than the others. Chuang flattens his guard and grabs the keycard, swipes it, and opens the door. On another monitor I see Tod in the lab as he looks up to see who’s coming. He rushes over to Jie Wen, who must be visible at this point.

  Brand turns to me with a frighteningly panicked expression on his face. “This is going south. They have obsidian bullets! We need more time.”

  The room whirls around and around.

  We arrive at the point where Brand and I stand outside room 8, invisibly.

  Brand says, “5591 is the code.” He turns and starts running away. He calls over his shoulder, “I have to go help the others. Get those two to the control room.”

  Crap! I disconnect with my invisibility, open the door, and raise my finger to my lips. The two females look at me and I say, “I’m here to help.”

  Sarangerel looks over the top of her computer. “Who are you?”

  “Friends with Jie Wen,” sort of.

  “He’s here?”

  “Yes. We must go now.”

  They jump up and join me in an instant.

  We arrive at the control room. Jonas is still trying to crack the code.

  “Jonas,” I say, “move so Sarangerel can work.”

  Sarangerel looks at me and I read her mind. She knows my name?

  Jonas states, “I’ve almost got it.”

  “Move!” Sarangerel and I both say at once.

  He jumps up, possibly on the verge of firing off at Sarangerel. Then he notices the monitor for Lab 1. He points. I follow his finger and watch as Brand single-handedly takes down three of the guards as Jie Wen takes down one. Chuang opens the door and rushes into Lab 1.

  I try to figure out how much time Brand has saved with this change. It can’t be much, mere seconds, but to Brand, that’s huge.

  “Are they saving my husband?” Mishell asks.

  “Yes,” I say, not knowing if I can promise anything.

  Sarangerel says, “I know the password for the system is seven characters long and consists of only lettered keys on the bottom row.”

&n
bsp; Jonas crosses his arms and scoffs. “A password consisting of seven characters will be impossible to crack before we’re discovered. Are all letters used once? Are any letters repeated?”

  Sarangerel doesn’t answer and begins entering letters.

  Jonas moves back and forth in his spot. “Do you realize how big of a number seven to the seventh power is? I say we keep on my path of working around the pass-word.”

  Sarangerel’s attempt fails. She types a second in the blink of an eye. Failure again.

  “This method will take too long.” Jonas points to the unconscious guards. “They’re going to wake up, and the system is going to lock down.”

  She says, “I know for sure the first key is Z and the last key is B.”

  Brand and the other Bearers enter the control room with Tod. Brand responds as if he’s heard the whole password conversation. “Hang on, that narrows it down a lot. Let me try.” He grabs a pad of paper and a pen, then pulls the keyboard closer to him.

  Now Sarangerel acts a bit slighted. She gets up and moves over to her father, who has an arm around Mishell and the other wrapped around a bundle the size of a basketball.

  Brand stares at the paper, pen in hand. Ten seconds tick by.

  Chuang paces behind us.

  Ten more seconds pass.

  Sarangerel comes back to the computer with a confused expression as she looks Brand over. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing—”

  Brand jots down letters on the pad, then types them in. The computer accepts the code. “Got it!” Brand exclaims, moving from his spot so Sarangerel can take over. “Okay, do your magic.”

  She throws him a wary glance. “How did you know the code?” She doesn’t wait for his answer. A new screen opens. She maneuvers through the files and moves them to the flash drive file. As the progress bar slowly moves across the bottom of the screen, she looks at the security monitors and the unconscious guards on the floor.

  Brand announces, “Bearers, we need to give her time while the files load.”