What
is the status?" Typheryian asks turning in his chair to face Oriatis.
Magnus takes a seat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk before answering. "The cargo ship has already left and is on its way to the crater. However, our facility there has taken substantial damage and will take several months to get repairs made."
"No matter. The
Ancients
have been waiting for a long time, what's another few months," Typheryian says smiling. "What of the woman?"
"Samantha?" Oriatis asks. Typheryian nods confirming his question. "It seems Rythern let the other human pass as he deemed it necessary to fight her himself."
"And you let him?" Typheryian asks fuming. He stands and slams his fists onto the desk. "You know how egotistical he is. He could have ruined it all for us." Oriatis remains silent not daring to anger the other demon anymore. Of the
Ternion
, Typheryian is the strongest and if his plans come to fruition he'd become an
Ancient
. Oriatis wanted to stay on the stronger demon's good side as long as he could. "I can understand
that
little shit not succeeding in killing the human, but how were you defeated?" he finally asks after his anger subsides and he sits back down.
"The humans do prove to be more resourceful than we expect them to be," Oriatis explains. "He used some sort of grenade that not only exploited our weakness but managed to destroy the equipment."
"Yes they have been getting more and more resourceful throughout the centuries haven't they? When we finish with the portal, it won't be a problem any longer. Soon, my dear Oriatis, we'll have everything we have spent millennia working toward. We will erase the mistakes of Anubis and Ra and their foolishness. Have we heard anything about Natalya?" he asked almost as an afterthought.
"Nothing as of yet, but I suspect she'll turn up."
"With the winning side no doubt. Watch her Oriatis. She may be weak compared to us but she is conniving and slithery and we need not drop our guard with her."
——
CATU Headquarters, Washington D.C.
Sam
and Spencer take the first plane back to the United States having to resort to using false passports and aliases to do so. The police reacted quickly with the attack on
True Energy
and mobilizing their force to find the suspects. The two agents, however, were in time leaving the country before pictures were distributed.
They now sit in Director Mike Grines' office giving him the details of the entire mission. "Well at least now we know the demons run the
True Group
. The question is the players themselves. From the sound of things you two put their plans on hold for a little while buying us time to form some kind of plan against them."
"Have we any leads on Avyanna?" Spencer asks.
"That's the interesting thing," Grines' says with a chuckle. "Up until I received a call from Major Duncan Graves, we had no idea where she was."
"Graves huh?" Sam smirks. "That slimy bastard only helps when he wants something in return."
"Well at least he asked for something we can help him with."
"Let me guess. He fucked up somewhere and now needs our help," Spencer speculates.
"You could say that. It seems he sent a team in, the same one you two worked with in Madagascar and they were supposed to have taken the base the demons set up in Antarctica and report in."
"Not the one on White Island?" Sam asks in shock.
"The very same one."
"But I destroyed it after the scientist and I escaped."
"From the looks of the satellite imaging it was destroyed. We didn't have the resources at the time to send a confirmation team. So we used thermal satellite imaging and it didn't show any activity. Unfortunately we assumed wrong."
"Out of curiosity," Spencer says. "Do any current pictures show anything?"
"Up until twenty-four hours ago no. Since then there has been a lot of activity. It won't be long before another agency sees the same thing we have been seeing. I have contacts in the FBI and CIA clamping down on things, but even they aren't sure they can contain it."
"So basically we have to hold our breath and hope for the best," Sam states.
"So far, but that doesn't mean I'm not sending you in. Consider this your first mission of your new task force. I will be sending you two in to find Avyanna and destroy her and gather information about the gate. The other team—the two members I told you about—will go in and rescue the stranded DEP Six team."
"Sounds easy enough," Spencer says.
"Always does in the planning stages," Sam remarks.
"Nothing is ever easy," Grines confirms.
"How soon do we leave?" Spencer asks.
"You're flight leaves in thirty minutes."
——
Spencer
and Sam take a flight to Punta Arenas, Chile where they then get a flight provided by the Chile Coast Guard and dropped off sixty miles off the coast. Their wait doesn't take long. The
USS Seawolf
breaks the surface within five minutes of them treading water. The trip takes only a few hours and they are dropped off as close to the shore as the submarine would allow. Clothed in heavy winter gear and restocked equipment they begin their trek. The other two members of the newly formed division were coming in a different way, much like the way DEP Six were dropped in.
The trip through the ice fields isn't too bad. They are able to match much of the surface features with the aerial map and the trek is just over five miles. They chose a path that would bring them to the east gate, which upon reaching it they can see evidence of a battle.
"Think this is where the team's mission went wrong?" Sam asks.
"Could be," Spencer speculates. "Whatever the hell hit them though was big."
"I'd say. Hey, the door!"
The two agents duck behind a snow bank as a group of Russian soldiers run out and turn north. "Well this makes it easy for us," Spencer says grabbing Sam's arm.
The two agents run across the field keeping alert for any surprises that might jump out at them. They don't encounter any resistance and both make it through the door
just
before it closes. They stand in the doorway for a moment around seeing they have a choice to make.
