“I am sure the rebels have gotten a good lead on us. If we backtrack, it could take days to pick up the trail,” Jason said.
“We can’t leave the bot behind.” The whole bot thing was beginning to get on Olivia’s nerves. Yes, it had been helpful for moving the boulders, but since then it had been a hindrance. Schultz had to have known this.
“Bot? What is that?” Valindra gave them a curious look.
Olivia wrinkled her nose. “We have a robot with us, but we had to leave it outside. It couldn’t fit through the crevice.”
“You entered through Ryan’s escape route.” Valindra pointed at the metal door. “He had a plan. If he was ever discovered, he would leave through that door and blow up the laboratory. He placed bombs strategically throughout the caves and tunnels.”
“He told you all this?” Jason shook his head. “I guess he figured he’d hold you forever captive. It didn’t matter what you knew.”
Olivia set her glass on the table. “But he didn’t inject himself. He was old. Production of the serum would have stopped eventually because he couldn’t live forever.”
“His brother knows of the secret ingredients, although not what they are or where he got them. I presume, if Ryan died, the brother would have come to Brevona and taken over Ryan’s research. I am sure Ryan left a letter for his brother in case anything happened to him. At least, those are my thoughts,” Valindra said wryly.
“You seem to know a lot. Did Ryan tell you all this?” Olivia knew for a fact that John Schultz would never have given up so much information. What would make Ryan spill his guts to the goddess?
A faraway expression crossed Valindra’s features, and a sigh escaped her. “I think he was lonely. Sometimes, he came to my cave and would sit and talk to me for hours. If I was lucky, he even brought me some decent food and a bottle of wine.”
Olivia understood loneliness. She had been lonely since the moment she had awoken from her coma. The moment she knew she had lost her family. A beep sounded from the computer jarring her from her thoughts. “Email?” she said and walked to it.
“It’ll be password protected,” Jason warned.
Olivia touched the screen. It lit up, though it was snowy. “It’s not. Seems Ryan kept it open. It’s an email from Schultz.”
“Read it to us? If you can see it, that is.”
Olivia peered at the glittering screen. “The font is quite large. It’s dated yesterday.” She began to read.
“Ryan, the situation on Earth is becoming dire. The virus epidemic is rampant across the planet, which has stopped all space travel to and from Earth. Even after they get the virus under control, our ships will not be able to refuel. A group of terrorists has taken control of the refueling station on Zahiria. We’re sending an eliminator to take out the terrorists. Also sending two eliminators to Brevona to get rid of the faction thwarting our efforts to take the palace. Continue collecting the ingredients. As of right now, we are almost out of the serum. I have enough for six months. Before the epidemic, demand for injections was increasing. We need to increase production. If need be, when space travel resumes, send us your collection. You must have at least three-hundred ampules by now if not more, thanks to your refusal to use them.
John.”
“Interesting. So, Schultz did send him the finished product, and he’s got years of the serum stashed somewhere. Wonder why he was hanging onto them?” Olivia said.
“Wonder where he’s hiding them? Would they stay good for that many years?” Jason opened a cabinet door and peered inside.
“Cryogenics maybe? Just like they store embryos and sperm.” Olivia shrugged.
“Possible.” He closed the cabinet and pointed to the clock. We’ll find it after we take out the rebels. We should go. According to that, it’s still morning.”
“Let me pack more food and water in the backpack.” Olivia grabbed it and headed to the cooler.
Jason stopped her. “We don’t need to take that along. It’ll just be a nuisance. After we eliminate the rebels, we can come back here.”
She set the pack back on the floor. “True. Valindra, you’re coming with us?”
“I will take you to where you are very close to the rebels. After that, I will go home.”
“Alone? You could come back here, and we’ll escort you,” Jason offered.
Valindra smiled. “No need.”
They left the lab through the double doors. Jason stuck the keys in his pocket. “There are several tunnels. Wonder which is the right one?”
Valindra pointed at the far tunnel. “That one.”
Jason went first followed by Valindra and Olivia. It wasn’t a long tunnel, and Jason stopped short when they came to a dead end. “Wrong tunnel.”
“No, it’s not,” Valindra stepped forward, then pulled a metal lever near the ceiling.
The rock wall facing them swung upward revealing the entry from outside. To Olivia’s surprise, the bot was there waiting for them.
“How did Bobo get here?”
“I transported your robot for you. The lever on this side is hidden. Watch so you can get back in.” She reached her hand behind a rock that stuck out several inches, and the stone panel closed.
To anyone entering the cave mouth, it looked like a dead end. Olivia couldn’t even see an impression of the opening. “Ryan thought of everything.”
“It is only a short distance from here to where the rebels have made their camp. It is not far from the palace. I suspect they are making plans to infiltrate it to attack the royal family. I will go with you until we reach the outskirts of their camp. I suggest you leave your robot here.”
Olivia nodded. “Stay, Bobo.”
Valindra led the way into the forest. They had walked for a while when she stopped. Olivia heard male voices in the distance.
“This is where I must leave you. We will soon meet again.” Valindra smiled, then suddenly vanished.
“Where the hell did she go?” Jason said and swung around.
“I don’t know. One minute she was here, then poof.” Olivia threw her hands up. Did she imagine the woman?
“It’s a good thing we’re together. If I’d been by myself, I would think I was hallucinating.” Jason rubbed his head. “Let’s go. I can hear the rebels.”
Olivia nodded. Relieved she wasn’t the only one thinking that she had clearly lost her damn mind. “I’ll take the lead.”
They stealthily crept closer until they smelled campfires and food cooking. Olivia scooted from tree to tree, watching carefully for guards. She and Jason didn’t speak aloud anymore but used hand signals to communicate.
When she finally saw the camp, she gasped. Thirty or so? Really? There had to be hundreds of men and women. She gestured to Jason to backtrack.
When they were a good distance away from the camp, she let out a long breath. “Phew, what the hell? Thirty? That’s an army.”
“Maybe it’s the king’s army?” Jason suggested.
“No. They wouldn’t be casually camping there. And not all of them were wearing a uniform. Something isn’t right with that picture. Remember what Valindra said? All is not as it seems. Schultz had said there were only about thirty rebels.”
“And his email says there’s a group that’s thwarting their efforts to take the palace. So which group is this? Obviously, there’s more than one group, but which one do we go after?” Jason wondered.
“Yeah. Surely Valindra wouldn’t lead us to the wrong rebels? They’re hardly displaying a sign stating they’re here to save the royals, or we’re here to overtake the palace.” Olivia heaved a sigh. “We need to spy on them for a bit and see if we can hear them talk.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
They watched and listened for quite a while, but there was no talk about plans or strategies. They still didn’t have a clue who these people were. They spied on them from all angles they possibly could, without any results.
“
This is obviously not the group we’re supposed to eliminate. Fuck, we’d need a small army to even take them out. Why Valindra led us here, I’ve got no idea. We need to look for the group Schultz and Schmidt sent us to eliminate.” Jason sounded frustrated.
“And where do we start? If it weren’t for the fact the group is planning to kill the royal family, I’d say fuck it, and let’s take off.” Olivia brushed her hair out of her face. The doctors hid much from her when they sent her and Jason to this planet.
“You’re reading my mind.” Jason let out a deep breath. “Maybe we need to start fresh from where we arrived.”
“The ocean?”
He shook his head. “No, the other side of the mountain. We go back to the caves and leave through that crevice. That’ll put us back in the vicinity where we heard the skirmish between the soldiers and the rebels.”
Olivia grimaced. “What do we do with Bobo?”
“Leave it inside the cave. I don’t know why they sent that thing along in the first place.”
Olivia grinned, the same thoughts had crossed her mind earlier. “It came in handy at the beach.”
“But now it’s useless.” He took her hand and squeezed. “Let’s get a move on before we are discovered.”
They hurried back to the caves. Once inside they left the bot behind the fake wall and headed to the laboratory then the cave beyond.
After they wriggled through the narrow crevice, they backtracked and found the area where they’d heard the fight. There were no bodies, but the trampled greenery and broken branches were enough evidence to show that something had taken place there.
“Here’s a trail.” Olivia pointed to several broken branches and a trail leading back into the woods.
“If you look further down, there’s another one. Two trails. Which one do we follow? And no, we are not splitting up.” Jason stared at her pointedly.
“The second one. Chances are the first is where the rebels fell upon the soldiers.”
“Maybe. We can circle back if the other trail is cold.”
They entered the wood, scanning the trees and brush for any sign that the rebels may have passed through. Several small twigs had been broken, and Olivia could see the impression of footsteps in the dirt, but they looked old as if they had been there for several days.
She examined the end of a broken branch, noting that it was dry and the sap it had excreted was hardened. “They’re long gone by now.”
Chapter Eight
Jason sighed. “We’re on the wrong trail. Let’s head—”
He got no further. Before they had a chance to react, they were efficiently netted. The heavy metal chain-link net trapped them, the bottom drawn tight around their legs.
Olivia tried to reach behind for her weapon, but a hand snatched it out of its holster before she could get a grip on it. “Fuck! See, it was a trap to lure us! I can’t fucking believe we fell for it. We were trained for this sort of thing.”
Men and women, wearing black one-piece armored suits, their faces painted dark, a black cap covering their hair, took hold of the netting and dragged them unceremoniously through the forest.
“We’ve found our targets.” Olivia wiggled around, trying to loosen the net, but no use.
“More like they found us,” Jason grumbled.
A smack against her head sent her brain spinning. Her back was against Jason’s so she couldn’t see if they’d hit him too, but she felt a vibration go through his body when he released a pained grunt.
“I do not know if you understand our language, but do not talk or move,” a gruff voice growled.
Why her enhanced hearing had not picked up the sound of them approaching, she had no clue. She should have heard something. Hell, she could hear a pin drop in a room full of people. Maybe they’d been quietly waiting for them.
It seemed to take forever before they got to what she presumed was their camp. Except for her one arm and leg, her body ached. She was sure she was bruised all over from being hauled over rocks and fallen branches. Jason had not made a sound. Was he unconscious?
The group stopped, and Olivia peered through the net. A group of people surrounded them, dressed the same as their captors, except their faces weren’t painted, and they wore no cap. They had strange scales on their foreheads and temples.
“You! Wake up!” A man who looked like he could be the leader poked Jason. He looked at Olivia. “Who are you? Why are you following us?”
She kept her mouth shut. We need to complete our assignment, but how in Hades are we going to do that? These people must be our targets.
All she wanted was to escape, start a life of her own, away from the Institute. Hopefully, with Jason. She couldn’t imagine life without him anymore. And Valindra had confirmed they were meant for each other.
The man poked her with his gun. It looked like a high-powered laser rifle. She noticed a curious expression on his face, in his eyes, as if he could read her mind, knew what she was thinking.
“Who sent you? Where are you from? We have ways and means to make you talk. It is far from pleasant,” he barked.
A grunt from behind her. Jason had come to. “Don’t tell them anything,” she muttered under her breath.
“Are you members of the Blood Eclipse faction?”
Olivia shook her head. “No.”
“She speaks. If you are not in league with Blood Eclipse, why are you hunting us?”
“Who and what is this Blood Eclipse faction, and who are you?” Olivia fired at him.
“And they speak our language. I will answer your question if you will answer mine. Blood Eclipse is a group of insurgents from Brevona, the planet Earth, and the planet Rurmondo. Rurmondo is a dying planet, and from what we have learned, the planet Earth is close to dying and heavily overpopulated with much sickness and starvation. Blood Eclipse wishes to overthrow our royal house and take over. Earth’s leaders are planning to settle many of their people on Brevona and have promised the ruler of Rurmondo that they will help bring their people here in return for their assistance. We need to find and stop the traitors.”
“What does your king say about this?” Jason asked.
“I said I would answer your question if you will answer mine. Who are you and where are you from? Why are you here?”
“That’s three questions. We are from Earth.” Olivia had instantly realized that these people could not be their targets although, for some reason, Schultz and Schmidt wanted them out of the way. Of course, they did. This group interfered with their plans, and Brevona was the source of supply for the forever young serum. She and Jason needed to focus on the Blood Eclipse faction.
This put a whole new light on their mission. World Leadership was planning a major exodus from Earth? By getting rid of Brevona’s royal house? Schultz and Schmidt had made it sound like their target was a group of resistance fighters, that they were former men of the slain general and that those men were going to proceed with the general’s plan, kill the royals, and take over the palace. These people were rebels or part of a resistance cell. But they weren’t the ones to fear. They were defending the royal house and their planet.
“Schultz and Schmidt lied to us,” Olivia mumbled. “They’re in league with that other group.”
“Is this Blood Eclipse faction planning an assassination of the king?” Jason asked the man.
“Not as far as we know, though I wouldn’t put it past them. That could mean war. The king will not give up his throne willingly. Our spies have learned that the leaders of Earth are sending an army of engineered and enhanced soldiers to Brevona after Blood Eclipse has secured the palace.”
“Such an act could initiate a full-scale interplanetary or even galactic war. Like the rulers of some of the other planets are going to silently stand by and watch,” Jason said in a sarcastic tone.
The man grabbed her arm and examined her wrist, then shifted to Jason. After a few moments, he stepped back from the nettin
g. “Now that you know about us, are you going to make an attempt to escape if we release you?”
Schultz and Schmidt had sent them to eliminate these insurgents and told them they were going to assassinate the royal family. That was so wrong. A lie. These people were trying to protect their home and their king. It was the other group that should have been their target. Making up her mind that they would defy Schultz’s order and change the directive, she said, “No, it seems we are on the same team. We are after the same target.” Although how she and Jason could take out about three-hundred, was beyond her.
“What about you?” the man cocked his head at Jason.
“Same here. How about telling us who you are?” Jason queried.
“We have your weapons. Even if you attempt to run, without any means of defense, you can do nothing.” He nodded to two shadowy figures who stepped forward and proceeded to release them from their bondage. “My name is Edrian.”
“I am Olivia, and my partner is Jason.” Olivia edged closer to Jason and almost sighed in relief when he clasped her hand in his.
Edrian studied them a moment. “I now believe you belong to the same group as our new friends, Starla, David, and Jane. You would know them as Two, Four, and Seventeen.”
Olivia sucked in a breath. “Oh my God! They’re alive? We were told they had died.”
“They are very much alive. I heard you say that your superiors lied to you. Yes, they did. There is something else you need to know. The implants in your wrists will not wipe your memory of your mission, they will kill you. Starla found out the truth about the implants before she came to Brevona. She left a warning with one of the girls.”
That would be Twelve. She gave me the note.
“Exactly. Starla warned Twelve,” Edrian said.
What the hell? These people can hear me think? “Can you take us to Two and the others?”
It unsettled Olivia that he could read her mind. He didn’t look like a Brevonian. He lacked the ridges on his forehead. Instead, he had tiny little scales on his face and neck, and the man was huge. He towered over her and even stood a head taller than Jason.
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