Breaking the Curse

Chapter 37

They proceeded past Special Agent Malcolm when someone called out to Captain Jack in Thai. He responded with an assertive salute and led Margaret to follow the man. They walked to the back, and the man handed Captain Jack the access card.

"Good luck." He said it in Khmer with a heavy accent.

"What did he say?!" Margaret pleaded as he started to head towards the door. "He asked if I was assigned to see the portal; I replied yes."

"Why in the hell did he say good luck to you in Khmer!" Margaret asks again. He looked back at her and responded simply, "We shall see."

The door opened and revealed what everyone had dreaded. The Nether Temple was larger than ever, even larger than Ta Phrom Temple back in Siem Reap, with the Red Portal open right at the front gate of the temple, and it was growing rapidly. It was about the size of an industrial building now. The witch was in there as well, closer to the Thai side.

"Oh, my god. It's open in two locations," Margareth whispered.

"They want to use the witch to open the Nether gateway and use the creature in it as a weapon. They're trying to control it, but they've failed several times." Captain Jack tells his companion, who is still staring in awe.

Then Master Sovan and Special Agent Malcolm enter the room, which is made of steel and bulletproof glass, forming a shield. Together they said, "Let the ceremony begin."

On the Thai side, there was a lot of commotion. General Prayut rushed to push open the glass barrier, allowing the creature to be closer than ever. The man stood along the sidelines, ready with guns and bombs. Then a single chair was wheeled out alone. Behind a thin glass barrier, a kid with short hair and a sack over her head came into view, and the base went silent.

The Witch, who was still hurting from Liny's burns, reached out close to the kids.

The kid's hood was taken off to reveal her identity. It was a much younger and frailer-looking Alice. She was alive, after all, and was being used as a research toy to test the monster's intelligence and memory abilities.

Margareth almost fainted when she saw Alice on the observation screens. She wanted to scream and explode, but she would be caught and killed. Everyone watched intently as the witch blasted its power against Alice's power barrier, cracking it a little more with each blow. "It seems to recall her," Special Agent Malcolm said with a smirk.

Margaret was standing only 20 feet away from Alice, and her tension was greater than ever before.

BACK TO THE KIDS

"Hey, that's kinda weird," Ellis said, staring out the window.

"Isn't that the car that's always parked in Liny's driveway?" The group immediately turned to see a black Chevy speeding up and stopping in a clearing. A bulky man, Liny's bodyguard, jumped out and started running towards the base.

"Oh, my god. It is. It even has the same Sihanoukville Beach bumper sticker."

V started to make her way out of the car but was stopped by her brother. "We told them you wouldn't leave. And so you are not moving."

"C'mon, man, it's right there; it's close, and we will come back right away. They just want to peek in the car." Michael said, wanting to see what the car was all about.

"FINE! 5 minutes! GO!" Jackson said angrily. Miles, Ellis, and Adeline stayed behind in the car and watched the others run out to it. "Oh fuck! It's locked!" V said while trying to pry the door open.

"Well yeah, it's a top Thai agent guy; I'm pretty sure he knows how to lock his doors." The locks were impossible to pick as well, and because it was a new model, they didn't want any alarms to go off.