Page 21 of A Demon’s Resolve (Demonic Tales and Adventures #3)
CHAPTER 21
“Sir, there are more quakes being reported in Tibet.” General Rose appeared on one of the twenty screens that lined the front of the room. As he spoke, a map of the area took over two rows of screens.
The satellite images of the terrain weren’t exactly helpful. Most people knew they could read a license plate number off a car if they choose but seeing through trees still wasn’t an option.
Infrared wouldn’t help much as they couldn’t define who was causing the destruction, just that there were people down there. Hell, they didn’t even know if the people creating the earthquakes were down there.
“Sir, the first quakes happened about 10 minutes ago, registering a 9.3, but it was very localized. This one is gaining in strength.” All eyes in the room widened in horror as the ground shook hard enough the satellites couldn’t keep up which caused the images to blur.
Trees swayed, although by the way the branches were all flowing in one direction, Daniel suspected there was more than just an earthquake happening down there. Several huge trees toppled over. But it was the way in which it all took place that had Daniel glancing over at Jennifer, who wore an ‘I told you so,’ expression.
Unlike the catastrophic widespread damage that occurred on the east coast, this was localized to a square mile based on the dimensions at the bottom of the screen. Outside that area, nothing.
He had no idea how it could be possible. Then again, it could be the trembling just wasn’t enough to cause the picture to be blurry. “General Rose, how extensive is the earthquake?”
The General went off screen, returning within a minute, his face ghostly white. “Mr. President, our readings, which admittedly may not be accurate since it isn’t our equipment over there, but they indicate the earthquake extends for a mile in most directions but no further.”
“Is that even possible?” Brad Flynn, Director of Homeland Security, asked. Just as the others in the room, Brad couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.
The general didn’t have a good answer. “Not that we are aware of, sir.”
Daniel turned back to Jennifer and gestured for her to come over. When she stood next to him, Daniel leaned in close enough that no one else would hear him. “Your expression tells me there is proof of your claims. What do you see that we don’t?”
She kept her voice pitched low, “Tell them to roll back about five minutes.”
He gave the order, studying the film, but still he didn’t see anything. Her eyes flicked to his, telling him he just missed it. Sighing, Daniel asked them to rewind again. Jennifer stiffened when he leaned in even closer to her. He tried to squash the hurt that washed through him, but it wasn’t as easy as it should have been.
Not wanting to push himself where he wasn’t wanted, Daniel put a tiny bit of distance between them once more. It wasn’t much, for he was having trouble giving her the space she clearly wanted, when all he wanted to do was wrap her up in his arms and hold her.
Daniel wasn’t even sure it was for her benefit. If the things Jennifer had told him were possible, he feared the world as he knew it was about to be tossed on its ear.
Forcing himself to pay attention to what was happening around them, he watched the video once again. He shook his head having seen nothing new. “Tell them to stop the clip on whatever you think you see.”
Jennifer nodded but her body tensed up even more at his words. It would seem he couldn’t say or do anything right when it came to her. Worse, his need to be closer to her had him pressing the palm of his hand on the small of her back. He’d known it was wrong. She may not have said anything about keeping his distance but her body language had. Yet, he couldn’t control his need to touch.
“Stop.” Daniel wasn’t sure if Jennifer was talking to him or the marine manning the video, but he wasn’t about to let her order him around, so he kept his hand right where it was.
It wasn’t until her chocolate eyes turned to him pointedly, that he realized she was waiting for his reaction. His gaze returned to the satellite image but he still had no idea what she thought proved anything.
The picture revealed a blurry image of the earthquake taking place but nothing could be seen. He raised a brow at her in question.
Blowing an exasperated breath, Jennifer reached for one of the laser pointers. Off to the far left of the screen, one man stood. Then she shifted the red dot to the far right upper corner where another man stood. Finally, she moved that red dot again to reveal a third man at the bottom right corner. The small red light stayed on the last man.
Her chocolate eyes flashed with triumph as Daniel’s, and every other person in the room along with him, jaws dropped. As if she hadn’t done enough, she whispered, “This is Tarak, the one I told you about earlier.”
Having learned to control his emotions in front of others since childhood, Daniel didn’t give in to the shock of her words. The man she pointed to was definitely built but still looked like a normal man.
Yet, he definitely didn’t belong there. Rewinding the footage a minute, all three men had abruptly appeared just like with the tsunami. The noise in the room confirmed that the others saw the same thing. How were they standing? That quake was strong, most men would be on the ground or at least holding onto something, but all three just stood there like they were waiting for something.
The hand Daniel had at the small of Jennifer’s back slid to her hip pulling her even closer to him as he leaned down so his lips were touching her ear. Even as terrified as he was that she was right about demons, Daniel couldn’t help but smile when he felt her shiver. “What are they doing?”
Jennifer shrugged but he noticed she didn’t move away even when she turned to face him, causing their lips to nearly touch. “Honestly, I don’t know. My guess would be they are trying to stop whatever is going on.” Her lashes swept up to meet his gaze. “Just like the others did when the tsunami hit.”
It was too surreal. There was no way Daniel could actually consider there were demons out there. Could he?
Jennifer must have sensed his incredulity, for her faced flushed a bright red. “Look, you don’t have to believe,” Jennifer spat out. She pointed to the screen. “But the facts are there, Mr. President ,” her sarcasm dripped with those words. “All of your advisors have told you this is not something natural and we all know there isn’t a human out there that could have created this without someone knowing.”
What she said was true but still demons ? Hell, he might believe aliens at this point but there was just no way… A gasp resounded around the room. Snapping his attention to the room to give them a quelling look for interrupting him, he found no one was even looking at him.
Astonished faces stared at the screen, which was now back to the live feed. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he glanced back at the satellite image. Fire engulfed the trees in between the three men. But that wasn’t what had everyone’s mouth agape.
No, that was just a blip on the radar. It was witnessing all three men holding out their hands as water poured out of their palms onto the surrounding trees to stop the spread of the blaze.
If the others in the room weren’t just as stunned as he was, Daniel would have thought he was hallucinating. A few startled cries rang out as the ground around the trees that were burning started to move. Not shake from the earthquake but actually move, as if someone were digging down into the earth. Moments later, a ring of dirt encircled the area.
“What are they doing?” One of the men in the room asked.
“It’s a trench to stop the flames from spreading,” General Rose said in disbelief. “But how? I didn’t see anyone digging.”
Daniel’s eyes swung to hers. “How -?” He couldn’t seem to get the words out but he knew, deep down, he knew she’d been telling the truth.
Her eyes held understanding. She better than anyone would know how hard it was to believe.