Lightning World's Divide Book 1 Read online

  The circular table of presidents and their most trusted advisors all nodded in agreement. Russia would be the key. No broad alliances were signed on expensive paper or solemn oaths taken, but the first step towards the world’s unification of its lesser nations for a common goal was achieved. The meeting’s success was the first step to another worldwide war.

  * * *

  “Tell me we had eyes and ears in that room,” President Robert Davis demanded. His intelligence officers had just informed him their intel suggested the OPEC meeting in Baghdad had been in fact a front for war. The world had become a bubbling pot of anger and resentment of international inequalities and it was close to boiling over.

  “We did sir. The president of Algeria’s closest confidant is on our payroll,” the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Jack Marsh responded.

  “Well we better have had someone in there. The world is so close to erupting in violence we can’t afford not to have an inside man in these types of meetings.” The president paused. “So, spill it, what were they discussing? Was it how to gouge us even more on their light crude or were your sources correct that the meeting was a front?”

  “Unfortunately Mr. President, our sources were correct. Oil wasn’t the topic, war was.”

  “You can’t be serious? I know those nations have been struggling financially lately, but war? Who do they think they are?”

  “I don’t know sir, but it was a serious conversation,” Jack Marsh straightforwardly replied. There had always been chatter through the CIA’s communication channels about imminent attacks or strikes in various stages of planning against the United States and its allies. But over the past few years the chatter had increased both in volume and in detail. Unlike the past, when the secretive talk mainly originated from fanatical Muslim sects, the past few months had been different. Now, the talk was not just from fanatics, but from countries the United States had once considered unthreatening.

  South America, Africa, those continents had more problems than the president could count. And now they wanted to add America, the most powerful nation in the world onto their list? Fools he thought.

  “So, what are they planning?” The president turned his back to Jack Marsh and poured himself a neat glass of scotch. “Would you like one?” he asked over his shoulder.

  “No thank you Mr. President,” Jack politely responded. He watched as the president raised the hand blown shot glass to his mouth and downed it in one large gulp. Jack licked his lips, wanting to drink the entire bottle alone in his condo, but forced himself to look away. Twenty three years he’d been sober and every time he was in the vicinity of the vile liquid he remembered his last drink as if it were yesterday.

  “We have the entire discussion on tape sir. I would say this meeting was mainly for each of the countries present to feel the others out. Unfortunately by the end of their little get-together we believe they were all in agreement on war.”

  “Regardless of what they decided, it just doesn’t make sense. How does Africa and South America think they can defeat us? Even if it is solely the United States against those two continents, I still don’t see how they could be much of a threat. Not one of their countries even has the nuclear option. Well, there’s the chance that South Africa might have hidden a few of their missiles before their disarmament, but none of the others have but a handful of operational nuclear power plants, let alone missiles.”

  “That is true Mr. President, but they are not planning on fighting alone,” Jack countered.

  “Oh? And who do they plan on asking, the Chinese? Let me tell you Jack, China is not the Japan of the nineteen thirties and forties. China might claim to be communist, but their government’s unquenchable thirst for economic growth, through capitalism mind you, has made their economy subject to the way the wind blows in this country and Europe. Whether or not we see eye to eye on world issues is another issue entirely, but our economies are tied together as one. There’s a reason it’s called a one world economy you know. The only country that could deal us serious damage at the moment is probably Russia.”

  “Very true sir and you’re right; it’s not the Chinese they are planning to ask. It’s Russia.”

  The president was about to pour a second and final glass of scotch, of which he planned on nursing for at least a couple minutes, but froze at the mention of Russia.

  “Well that is a different story. Our relationship with Russia couldn’t be icier at the moment. Has the CIA heard anything from the Russians concerning OPEC?”

  “No sir. We believe none of the OPEC countries have yet to make contact with Russia concerning this new development.”

  President Davis immediately understood the severity of the situation. He walked to his desk phone and pushed the intercom button. “Jerry, I want the Joint Chiefs of Staff assembled pronto.”

  “Yes sir,” came the dutiful reply.

  “Do you want me to leave?” Jack March asked, already backing towards the door.

  “Nope. As soon as the team is assembled you’re going to tell them word for word what you just told me.”

  Chapter

  3

  “Colt. Colt!” Hillary shouted. Dominic had laid is lifeless body on the temple room’s floor and was pounding on his chest with his fists in a rather crude form of CPR.

  “Wake up!” Dominic yelled. He pushed some more. After Colt had touched the mysterious artifact, what Hillary and Dominic could only describe as a massive bolt of lightning, had devoured the room. Needing to overt their vision from the bolt’s blinding radiance, they had both turned away and covered their eyes from the striking pain. They heard Colt being slammed against the temple room’s rock wall and then silence. The eerie yellow-white light was completely gone.

  Now, shouting at their friend to wake, the only light in the dark corridor was from their two flashlights resting on the floor. Neither of them had given a moment’s thought to checking what was on the alter after Colt’s electrocution. The pedestal and its contents were left untouched; their friend’s life was their only concern.

  “Come on buddy,” Dominic pleaded as he continued his crude chest compressions. Hillary gently touched Colt’s forehead and fingered a few strands of his brown hair back into place.

  “Push harder,” she urged Dominic. She remembered from a CPR class long ago, that if ribs weren’t cracking, it wasn’t being done right. Dominic nodded and flattened his hands. He began pushing harder and in turn with a more rhythmic pattern.

  Another minute passed. Nothing.

  Sweat poured down Dominic’s back and front. The cool recesses of the underground temple were doing little to abate the sheer sense of panic he felt at the possible loss of one of the best people he’d ever known. Regardless of the beginnings of cramps in his arms and the tiring of his muscles, Dominic continued to push.

  Out of nowhere, Colt gasped. His lungs swiftly pulled in a breath of fresh new air; mixing it with the old. After his first inhalation he immediately coughed as his body tried to expel the stale buildup of carbon dioxide left behind. Colt continued coughing and gasping while Hillary and Dominic pulled him to a more upright sitting position.

  Colt’s fingers and toes tingled from their temporary lack of oxygen. His chest ached as though someone had been punching him repeatedly.

  “Are you okay?” Hillary cried as she dove in for a hug.

  “The man’s heart just stopped,” Dominic stated matter-of-factly as he pulled her back. “Give him some room.” Hillary shot him a quick glare, but knew he was right and backed away.

  Colt raised his hand into the air and formed a thumbs up. “Never felt better,” he hoarsely whispered. Another five minutes passed before Colt felt like standing. The tingling of sleep in his extremities eventually subsided and his breathing was quickly returning to normal. “You guys mind giving me a hand?” he asked.

  Dominic and Hillary each grabbed an arm and slowly helped him to his feet. For a few seconds the room swirled as blood flowed out of his
head down to his core, leaving him temporarily light-headed. Colt took a long deep breath after standing and exhaled slowly. Except for a bit of a headache and his sore ribcage, he didn’t feel all that bad for having been almost electrocuted to death.

  “Did either of you check the artifact?” Colt asked.

  “You were dead. What do you think we were doing?” Hillary incredulously returned. She folded her arms in annoyance and turned aside.

  “Ahem, yeah, well thanks guys. I didn’t mean to imply I’m ungrateful or anything; just asking.” Colt reached out and placed a warm hand on each of their shoulders and loving squeezed a thank you. Hillary scowled in return, but patted his hand with hers nonetheless.

  All three then turned to face the darkened middle of the room. Hillary handed Colt his flashlight, turning it on. He moved the beam from the floor to his empty shoes and then to the pedestal, at the sight of which Colt grinned. He had been right, it was a pedestal.

  He moved the flashlight slowly up the tiny stone tower. At the flattened top of the small rocky podium sat four legs belonging to a metal stand. Finally, resting atop of the stand was an object, the likes of which Colt and the others had never seen before. The unfamiliar relic at first glance appeared to be made of a dull metal and was now completely devoid of its previous light.

  “You ever see anything like this before Colt?” Dominic asked by his side.

  Colt shook his head no. He took another step closer to the foreign object and then another. The best way he could describe the odd piece was thinking that two individually carved lightning bolts had been attached with a horizontal handle in the middle. The metal didn’t appear to be sharp, nor did the blades’ craftsmanship seem to be overly extraordinary, but the length of the entire object was close to six feet long.

  Colt reached out to touch the strange blade for the second time.

  “Whoa, you sure that’s such a good idea there Colt? Isn’t that what you did the last time when it blew you clear across the room?” Dominic worriedly asked.

  “Yeah, but this time it’s not glowing,” Colt replied, a little uncertain himself.

  “Please, at least be careful. Why not touch it with something besides your hand this time?” Hillary suggested.

  “That’s probably not a bad idea,” he admitted. Colt looked around the room with his flashlight for something nonliving he could touch the device with. Unlike most other temple rooms, untouched for hundreds of years, this particular chamber was utterly empty except for the pedestal and its treasure in the center of the room.

  Not finding a stick or any other long object, Colt took off his baseball cap and crept towards the idol-like stand. Gingerly, he reached out and dabbed the back of his hat against the metal object. Nothing. He then swiped his hat against it harder than before. Still nothing.

  “Whatever that light was, I don’t think it’s here anymore,” Colt said.

  “Just because that doohickey isn’t glowing like the sun, doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous,” Dominic advised.

  Colt heard Dom’s statement of caution, but had already made his decision. He returned the baseball cap atop his head and took a final step forward, bringing the odd sword-like piece within reach.

  With extreme trepidation, Colt inched his extended pointer finger towards the weapon. An inch from the object he stopped. He looked side to side at his companions as Hillary and Dominic had flanked alongside him showing support.

  Colt moved his finger closer. Half an inch. A quarter of an inch. With a touch as quick as a viper strike, Colt touched the artifact and withdrew his finger expecting a shock. The situation instantly reminded him of the phrase about insanity his father had taught him years ago. According to his dad the definition of insanity was trying something again and again under the exact same circumstances and expecting a different result. Well, this time the object wasn’t glowing and that was different.

  The instant Colt’s finger touched the device it pulsed with a beat of energy at the point of contact. The bright golden-white light at first only pulsed from where his finger had touched the object, but then spread throughout the weapon; like ripples on a pond. However unlike before, the light in the object was gone in an instant; almost as fast as Colt had withdrawn his finger.

  Unlike before, this time there had been no pain. Colt had felt a strange warmth radiate up his arm at making contact, but that was all. Encouraged by the result and without discussion he reached out again. Instead of touching the blade, Colt extended the entirety of his hand around the central shaft connecting the two lightning bolt-like blades.

  His hand curled around the shaft, but he was careful not to touch it. Colt took a deep breath, closed his eyes and squeezed. The warmth he had felt before shot up his arm and this time radiated throughout his entire body. There was no pain, only warmth and power. The odd artifact glowed as before, but this time the light did not recede.

  Colt opened his eyes and lifted the artifact off its metal stand atop the stone chiseled podium. The intensity of the golden-white light grew in his grasp until it flashed so bright all three of them were blinded for a few seconds. As Hillary and Dominic’s sight slowly returned, their jaws dropped to the floor. Standing in the middle of the temple was Colt holding the strange device, now perpendicular to the floor. Their eyes widened even more as they realized both Colt and the artifact were now pulsing with the strange light.

  Colt methodically moved the artifact around in the air, carefully studying it inch by inch. “What do you guys make of this?” he questioned in a booming almost god-like voice.

  Hillary and Dominic covered their ears in pain as the unexpected force from Colt’s voice caused the room to tremble. Pieces of unsecured rock fell from the ceiling and dust sprayed from cracks in the wall. Colt gasped at the enhanced sound of his voice and covered his mouth with his free hand.

  Eventually a peaceful silence again overtook the area. Colt spoke again, but as softly and slowly as he could without degrading to a whisper. “Are you two okay?” Even though barely using enough breath to be audible, his voice escaped his throat loud and strong.

  “What is that thing?” Dominic begged, while still digging with a finger in one of his ears, trying to regain his hearing.

  “I, I’m not sure,” Colt uncharacteristically stuttered.

  “I think you should put it down Colt. Nothing that’s happened so far makes me think it’s safe to be holding that thing,” Hillary added. “I mean, you’re glowing for God’s sake. That can’t be healthy.”

  Colt looked down at his torso and legs. If Hillary hadn’t mentioned the light pulsating from his body, he’d have never known it was him glowing. He had thought the light was only coming from the strange artifact and bouncing off his clothes. As Colt continued holding the artifact he realized the light radiating from his body was slowly beginning to fade. Eventually his body went dark, while only the object in his hand continued to pulse the strange golden-white light.

  Curious he softly said, “Is my voice better now?” He used the same amount of breath as before, but this time his words were barely audible.

  “What’d you say? Man, are you feeling okay?” Dominic asked looking him up and down.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Colt replied with his normal voice. “I tell you guys I can’t really describe what I felt when I picked this up. Warmth seemed to flow from it into me. It’s as if this lightning staff holds some kind of power and fed it into my body.”

  Ordinarily Hillary would have called Colt crazy and punched him in the arm, but as ridiculous as what he had said sounded, she whole-heartedly believed him.

  “Let me give that thing a try,” Dominic pleaded.

  “It’s not a toy Dom,” Colt replied.

  “I know, I know. Come on. I just want to hold it for a sec. Please,” he cried.

  “Alright,” Colt relented. “But just hold it, don’t try anything stupid.”

  Dominic’s face lit up in expectation as he tentatively reached for an open portion of th
e handle centered in between the two blades just above Colt’s closed grip. As Dominic inched his hand closer to the object, the glowing pulses it was emitting increased in both brightness and succession.

  “Wait,” Colt cautioned, but it was too late. As the word escaped his lips, Dominic made contact with the blades’ handle. Much like Colt before, electricity flowed from the device into Dominic’s unguarded body. Against his will the volume of electricity caused his muscles to grip the device even tighter. He screamed in agony and tried prying open his closed hand, which was wrapped like a vice around the staff with his free one. Eventually he was able to reduce the strength of his ironclad grip just enough for the force of the powerful shock to shoot him backwards and onto the floor. Dominic, still conscious, groaned on impact and rolled to his side. Colt wasn’t sure, maybe due to Dominic’s larger frame or higher percentage of body fat, but fortunately for him, his heart was not knocked out of rhythm like Colt’s had been before.

  “Dominic are you okay?” Hillary yelled as she scurried towards him on the floor. Colt tossed the staff to the ground, which immediately lost its pulsing glow and ran to his friend. The room smelled of putrid burnt hair and flesh. Dominic’s hand had been singed from his fingers to a little past his wrist. Any hairs that might have resided in that area were now slender pieces of ash.

  “Yeow, that hurts,” he cried in pain. Already, red and white blisters were beginning to form across the singed area. Hillary quickly retrieved a bottle of slimy green aloe from her backpack. She generously dumped the bottle on the affected skin and began gently rubbing it in.

  Dominic let out a refreshing, “Oh yeah,” as the aloe’s cool feeling fought against the burning pain.

  “Guess that wasn’t such a good idea, huh boss,” Dominic said to Colt, while refusing to remove his gaze from Hillary’s hands as they gently wrapped his wounded hand in gauze.

  “Guess not,” Colt replied.

  “I told you that thing was dangerous,” Hillary added disapprovingly.