Destiny Run: Book Summary
Brigid, and two other exiles are in the Gobi desert on an information gathering mission when tribesmen capture them. She is severely beaten, but the other two, Adrian and Davis are killed.
She finds herself in the local warlord's camp, which is located very near the black city of Kharo-Khota. Days before they had received word about a warlords band in Mongolia and went off to investigate. That is when they had been captured.
She and the others were awaiting their fate when the leader of the Mongols, a man calling himself the Tushe Gun arrived.
While she is hanging a Russian shows up and talks to her. His name is Sverolovosk. He said he could have taken her into custody if the Tushe Gun hadn't arrived when he did. So he has to improvise to help her escape. He tells her to say something in Russian so he can pretend to get angry.
She does so. While he is up close and raging at her, the Russian slips her a pen knife and lets her know that the keys are still inside the vehicle and that she must get to the gateway as quickly as possible.
After cutting the ropes she steals the truck and heads towards the redoubt and the safety of the gateway. She makes it within a mile before the truck runs out of gas and the Mongolians are hot on her heels.
Luckily for her, Kane and Grant show up. They fight the Mongols and manage to take one of the Chief's sons, a man named Bautu, hostage. They make it back to the redoubt and jump out back to Cerberus.
Three months time has passed since the events which lead up the four of them being exiled to the Montana redoubt. The redoubt suffered badly at the loss of the two scientists. The reason Lakesh sent them to the Gobi desert was to check on the excavation and reconstruction of a very ancient city, Kharo-Khota. Kane is very angry that Brigid and the others had been placed in such personal danger when it should have been him and Grant on the mission.
Back in Cobaltville Salvo is unable to accept the fact that Kane, Grant and Baptist have somehow managed to disappear without a trace He greatly fears that one night the Baron will send the other Magistrates to arrest him and that he will be put to death slowly and painfully.
One of the other members of the redoubt staff, Rane is in the middle of interrogating Bautu. During the drug induced interrogation the man goes berserk and almost kills several more staff members before he suddenly keels over dead. The body is taken to be autopsied right away.
The Autopsy reveals that he had an implant in his head that was responsible for killing him.
Brigid goes into a detailed explanation of the events surrounding the Gobi desert and how that at one time it had been a lush forested area. Lakesh theorizes that the Archons were responsible for the area becoming a desert almost overnight, and that there must be an artifact of Archon origin located below the city that the Mongolians are clearing out.
Lakesh decides to send Kane, Grant and Brigid back to the Gobi. The only problem is that they have to return to Russia, to the redoubt located out in the suburbs of Moscow. The gateway there is still functional, but the trip is going to be rough on everyone involved. They all head to their separate quarters to get as much rest as possible.
Grant steps out of his shower and discovers Domi lying on his bed, wearing nothing except her hip length Red stockings. She is more than ready and willing to make love to him, but he doesn't want it due to the age difference between the two of them. It has happened time and again over the past three months and he tosses her out on her supple rump.
The next morning the arrive at the gateway dressed and armed, prepped for the cold weather they are expecting in mother Russia. Without fanfare, they enter the gateway and jump.
During the jump, they all suffer from jump induced nightmares. But for Kane and Brigid it is far, far deeper. They both seem to regress through past lives, discovering that they, as well as Grant and Salvo have been linked together, their souls, since time immortal. The dream leaves both very shaken.
The Dacha where the gateway had been hidden is long gone. All that is left is the chimney where the stairwell to the gateway had been located. They do find a warning that had been left by Zimyanin all those years ago after he discovered the gateway while trying to stop Ryan Cawdor and his band from escaping.
They waste no time leaving the gateway and go exploring the surroundings. They come across a barn that is filled with bones of animals and humans. They meet the people who are members of the cult that live in the area. The cultists try to appear to be friendly but it doesn't last. The fight between the three of them and the cultists is brief and brutal. Despite that he is no longer a Magistrate Grant goes off the deep end with the cultists for assaulting him, a Magistrate. He wants to wipe them all out.
Common sense overcomes raw passion and instead of killing them in cold blood, they truss them up and take the cultists horse and hitch it to a wag. After that, they leave. Kane Tosses a grenade into the barn, but gives the cultists enough time to escape before it blows.
The dawn breaks and they are on the road to Moscow. They encounter a single soldier. He buys the story that they are special agents who are returning to Moscow after dealing with the Cultists. Brigid does all the talking since she knows how to speak Russian. The soldier allows them to continue.
They arrive at a check point and once again Brigid does all the talking. They meet more young soldiers as well as their commander, a very attractive woman named Captain Ivornich. The bluff this time is only semi successful. She uses the name of the Russian she met in the Gobi desert. The captain tells them to head to the train station in Moscow. They do so.
Back in Cobaltville, Lakesh has returned and is slightly amused by the scrutinization he is getting from Salvo and the other Magistrates. Lakesh is taken to see Baron Cobalt. He is surprised when he is taken to meet the Hybrid in private. The baron is highly emotional due to the treatment he received at the hands of Kane, even three months after the fact. He demands that Lakesh and the others help hunt down the exiles.
Meanwhile, back in Moscow the group make their way to the train station. They start to hunt for the station they were told to go to. Kane decides to go on a recce and that is when they run into trouble. He finds himself under attack from the Captain they met earlier.
He is captured and finds himself strapped to a chair designed for interrogation. The captain begins the interrogation. During this he learns that she lived through two revolutions during her lifetime. She asks him to go along with her, no matter what happens. Kane takes him to meet with Sverolovosk.
Brigid and Grant end up hijacking a train to try and go after Kane. As they approach the area where Kane is being held, he contacts them, letting them know that he is fine and asks them to give up peacefully and join him with the Russians for a drink and a meal.
Over dinner they learn about District twelve which had been set up over twenty years before. The current government is just over two years old and that another revolution is very near. Sverolovosk was assigned to it several years back. They also learn the fate of Zimyanin, nearly a century before.
The group discuss the Archon directive and Sverolovosk agrees that they will work together to find out exactly what is going on in the Gobi Desert. After the meal they are all given rooms for the night and are allowed to rest up.
At ten in the morning they go to a local airport and hop on a TU 144 and they fly over the next four hours. Once they land they meet a local tribesman, Boro Orolok. It turns out that he is the father of the Tushe Gun and Bautu. They tell him that his son is back in the states still.
While they are talking, Brigid asks Boro to tell his other sons to remove their caps. He is surprised to see the mark of the Dragon's kiss on their heads. They draw their blasters and start firing. Ivornich is killed in the fight. Grant and Kane take them both down, disabling them. The implants then kill the two brothers.
Sverolovosk grieves over the loss of his daughter, Ivornich, as does Boro over the loss of his sons.
Despite the loss, they continue to discuss their plans and about the events that have occurred over the past little while. The history of the Gobi desert is also brought up as well. It turns out that the massive explosion in Siberia was due to an Archon ship exploding. This is where Balam was captured. They decide to head to the city and infiltrate it.
The next day they are on a ridge looking down upon the valley where the city is located. The see a huge sea of tents where the Tushe Gun's followers are camped. The area it's self is very radioactive. Sverolovosk tells them to follow his lead and he finally gives them back their weapons. Brigid is separated from the others and will enter the city inside a crate.
They head deep into the excavated city where the Tushe Gun resides. Once there, Sverolovosk ends up betraying them to the man. They try to fight and Grant is stunned, unable to do anything. They grab Kane and the Tushe gun tries to place an implant in Kane's Brain. But fear of what would happen gave him the strength he needed to break free. He escapes and finds his way to Boro's tent where the man hides him.
Grant awakens and jumps on Sverolovosk, severely beating him, then escapes. He manages to contact Kane through his trans comm unit. They meet together and plan to go after the Russian, Tushe Gun and Brigid.
The crate containing Brigid is taken deep into the vault located below the city itself. She slips out of it and starts to explore her surroundings. She is surprised to find herself inside a ship.
She finds a failed stasis chamber and the mummified remains of the Archon that it contained.
Tushe Gun and Sverolovosk discover her. They take her captive and she does her best to escape. She manages to lash out with her foot and knocks the mask from Tushe Gun's face. What she sees horrifies and disgusts her.
They strip Brigid naked and place her on the Archon altar. She tries to explain to Tushe Gun what the altar is and what had happened to him. The Tushe Gun plans to kill her by using the altar, by putting her through the same process. He starts it.
Kane and Grant sneak into the vault and end up killing a group of soldiers, then blow off the vault doors right off the hinges. Inside Kane goes to the altar and rescues Brigid, destroying the equipment. In the fight both Kane and Grant are badly wounded. Sverolovosk is killed, as well as the Tushe Gun.
They plant charges all over the place and set the detonator timer. Despite the injuries, they run as hard as they can. They barely escape as the ship explodes, destroying a large portion of the city as well.
They head towards the Gateway and jump for home.
End of Destiny Run