Saven Deliverance

by Siobhan Davis

  It’s pitch-dark by the time we return to the rebel base, and I’m bone-weary. Using my gift in such a manner always zaps my strength. I spent most of the flight back sleeping against Logan’s shoulder.

  “Logan!” a shrill female voice calls out as we exit the hangar into the main lobby area.

  Logan turns around, racing toward Evana and scooping her up into his arms. I loop my arm in Jarod’s, watching their heartwarming reconciliation with a huge smile on my face. Glenn approaches us, lifting his hand in a semi-wave. “Sadie, Jarod, it’s good to see you.” He grabs Vin into a bear hug. “Son.”

  “Hi, Glenn. It’s great to see you both looking so well,” I say, smiling as Vin struggles to extricate himself from Glenn’s resisting arms.

  The change in Glenn is remarkable, as is the change in Evana. Her face has filled out, and all the weight she lost during the period of incarceration in the Saven dungeon appears to have been replaced. She’s holding Logan’s face in her hands, beaming at him.

  “I’ve never felt more content, and I cannot thank you enough for the part you played in reuniting me with my mom. It’s still so surreal.” Glenn gives me a quick peck on the cheek, and predictably, I blush to the tips of my toes.

  “Still you!” Jarod whispers in my ears, and I elbow him in the ribs.

  “We were hoping you four would come back to the house for some dinner. We can catch up while we eat.”

  Vin scrubs a hand over his prickly jaw. “I don’t know, Dad. We’ve a lot to set up.”

  “We can spare a few hours. Besides, I want to talk to your dad about the VP. This is as good a time as any.” I watch as Logan bids goodbye to Haydn, and then he ambles toward us, arms wrapped around Evana.

  Logan slaps Vin on the back. “We’ll teleport there and be back before you know it.” His head jerks to mine. “You up for it?”

  Back on Saven, I teleported on a regular basis and it doesn’t faze me anymore, but I’ve only ever once teleported others—that time I fled Torc with Ax and Izzy.

  “Angel, it is the same process whether you are alone or with others. You have this.”

  Logan’s belief in me seals the deal. “Sure. Let’s do this.”

  Jarod and Vin wrap their arms around me while Logan takes Evana and Glenn with him.

  A couple of minutes later, we are standing in the middle of a sumptuous cabin nestled deep in a busy forest, surrounded by clusters of red maple trees, swaying gently in the breeze.

  “Welcome to my humble abode,” Glenn says, waving his arms around.

  “I don’t think humble exists in your vocabulary,” Vin teases, sinking into one of the three plush, velvety-soft couches arranged in a U-shape before a large open-plan fire. The fire is burning brightly in the hearth, the flames flickering softly against the cream-colored walls, making strange shapes in the dimly-lit room. A tapestry-effect rug lines the dark hardwood floors in the space between the couches. Exposed stone walls alternate with the cream-painted ones, adding to the rustic feel of the place.

  Logan walks to the far side of the room, standing in front of the large, open window. I join him, immediately threading my fingers through his. It’s second nature at this stage.

  The cabin is built on an elevated part of the forest, offering breathtaking views over the valley below. Although it’s nighttime, Glenn has switched the outside lights on, bathing the forest in a magical glow. A large wraparound deck seems to stretch the full length of the perimeter. Potted plants and a myriad of different seated areas offer plenty of opportunity to enjoy the glorious outside space.

  “Wow. This place is something else.”

  “I know,” Evana says, quietly appearing on my other side. She leans into me, giving me a quick one-armed hug. “I pinch myself every day I wake up here. I never thought I’d ever get to see this. To experience this. To spend time with my son again.” Her eyes glisten, and my own tear ducts well up too.

  “You deserve it,” I tell her. “And it’s so wonderful to see someone happy because there has been little to celebrate these last few months.”

  “I heard about Neve,” she whispers. “I’m so sorry.”

  Logan squeezes my hand, and his pain merges with mine, almost destroying me on the inside. “Neve was very fond of you, and I know she’d be happy that you were finally reunited with your son.”

  She pats my hand, a sadness etched over her features. “I’m going to serve up dinner.”

  “I’ll help.”

  We work silently but efficiently, loading up plates with mouth-watering food. Conversation is kept casual as we eat, comfortably seated around the thick oak table off to the side of the kitchen.

  After dinner, the boys clean up while Evana and I sip coffee facing the toasty fire.

  Logan drops down beside me, slinging his arm around my shoulders and nestling me into his side. Glenn sits on one side of Evana while Vin sits on the other, and Jarod drapes himself over the third couch, stretching out lengthways like the cat that got the cream.

  “Thank you all for coming. It means so much to Mom and me.” Glenn’s face lights up when he says Mom, and it gives me all the feels. Happiness radiates off both of them, immersing the room in good vibes. He sits up straighter, clutching Evana’s hands in his. “But I know time is precious, and we have things to discuss. You wanted to ask me about Horace?” His earnest gaze fixes on mine.

  “Yes. We’ve received some concerning news regarding the VP’s background, and I wanted to know what you know—how you struck up a working relationship with him and what exactly that entailed,” I say.

  “Okay,” Glenn says, leaning forward on his knees. “I’ll tell you everything I know.” He turns to Evana. “Some of this might be hard to hear.”

  Leaning in, she presses a kiss to his cheek. “Don’t worry about me. Tell them what they need to know.”

  He clears his throat. “Horace contacted me five years. At that time, he was running for office, and he looked like a shoo-in. When the man in line for the vice presidency asks you to meet him, you go, even though I was nervous and concerned about what he knew. Our movement was covert, underground, and I was fastidious about maintaining a low profile, yet Horace’s request struck fear into me. I wondered if he had found out about the movement and my identity, but I went to the meeting anyway. What he told me tilted my world upside down.”

  An anguished look spreads across his face as buried memories resurface. “He told me that an alien race—the Saven—had abducted him as a child. My mother too. He said he knew her, that he had spent time with her on Saven, and he showed me photographic proof. I nearly lost my mind.”

  He gets up, standing in front of the fire with his hands clasped behind him, trying to ward off imaginary chills. “I’d never stopped wondering what happened to Mom. How could she disappear into thin air? I’d spent years investigating her disappearance to constantly come up empty, so, when Horace told me his story, I believed him in a heartbeat, because it was the only explanation that made sense. But I was vulnerable and he used that against me.” He glances at Evana, his face awash with love. “He told me you were dead!” His voice cracks and tears glisten in his eyes. “He said the Saven killed you when you were no longer any use to them.” Evana gets up and hugs him, smoothing a hand up and down his back. He whispers in her ear, and she kisses him on the cheek before returning to her seat.

  He composes himself, smiling feebly at us. “Apologies. It’s not easy to relive this stuff.” He rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Horace told me that the aliens made a deal with him. They would return him to Earth if he would infiltrate the government and work with them to line up a deal whereby they could come to Earth and steal human consciousness. In return they promised him power and riches beyond his wildest imagination. Horace said he agreed because he valued his life, but it was always his intention to exact revenge.” He pauses to draw a breath before continuing. “He said he’d been planning it for years, and it would be years before the opportune time presented
itself although he believed that time was close.”

  Logan shifts uncomfortably, staring at his feet. I swing my arm around his waist, hugging him. Glenn looks over at Logan. “I know now it was all bullshit, and Mom has told me everything you did for her. You saved her, Logan, and I’m eternally grateful.” I’m so happy Glenn voiced that sentiment, because Logan needs to hear it. He is buckling under the weight of his father’s legacy and it’s not fair. That isn’t who he is.

  Glenn resumes talking. “But at the time, my rage and fury latched onto Horace’s words with both hands, and it didn’t take much persuasion on his part to bring me into his cause. He knew about my rebel movement, and he wanted us to work together. We had a common enemy—his words, not mine—and he wanted to pool our efforts. He provided financial and technological resources, and, once he was appointed VP, access to some of the most senior officials in government. We went on a massive recruitment drive, bringing thousands into the movement. When the time came, he introduced your father to the president, and thus began the negotiations which led to the agreement for conscience transference.”

  Glenn steps away from the fire, perching on the edge of the couch. “He was hopping mad when he came to me with the latest intel. We were both furious at the way the president had sold out humanity and our plan evolved. We now had two common enemies and the agreement was to bring down the Saven and our ruling government in one foul swoop. Our plans escalated, and he got me access to the developments in the DV8 facility, and he started providing more advanced-level intel.”

  “Like what was happening in Sector Twenty?” I guess.

  Glenn hangs his head. “Yes. He played me for a right fool. I see that now.” Glenn looks to Vin. “You tried to tell me, but I wasn’t listening. I’m so sorry, son. I had reached my breaking point. Horace promised me revenge, but it’d been five years and my patience was thin on the ground.”

  “You’d obviously figured something was up or why else did you attack the VP’s home?” Logan asks.

  “My instincts were telling me he was holding something back, and he’d started avoiding my calls. I demanded to meet with him, but he refused, told me we should cut ties for a while as he believed the president was growing suspicious and he needed to distance himself from me and the movement. I flipped. It was the final straw, and I began to question his motives, to rethink everything he had told me. I chose to take matters into my own hands then. I attacked his home because I needed to find evidence that the Saven had indeed kidnapped and killed Mom, but there was nothing. I couldn’t find any proof.”

  He exhales in one long, deep breath. “And I couldn’t find him either which was bizarre given the advanced tech at our disposal. I searched high and low for him, and it was clear he wasn’t on this planet.”

  “I came to the exact same conclusion,” Jarod admits from his horizontal position on the couch.

  “If he wasn’t here, it meant he was on an alien planet, and I knew he hadn’t been abducted this time because I was the one who had forced him to flee. I lost all faith in everything he’d told me, and I believed that he had been working with the Saven the entire time and I was merely another pawn in his game. When Dante took over the airwaves, alleging that Sadie and the president had been in cahoots to kill King Adjani, I sniffed Horace all over it. I took that to mean he was now working with Dante, and I was being pushed out. I became enraged and fixated on ruining whatever they were up to. So, I destroyed Sector Twenty on purpose. Killed thousands of innocents out of anger and misguided injustice.”

  He buries his head in his hands, and Evana kneels up, circling her arms around him, offering him the only comfort she can.

  No words can rectify the wrong, and we all know it.

  “Do you know where he is now?” I ask.

  Glenn lifts his chin, shaking his head. “I haven’t seen or heard from him since.” Disappointment swamps me. “What have you discovered? Tell me.”

  Logan and Vin fill him in firstly on what’s happening with the Amaretti and our meeting with the president and what’s been agreed. Then, I update him on everything we’ve learned about Horace Tonnard in the last few days: that the VP was actually working with Griselda, and it was the Torc who had kidnapped him with the sole purpose of destroying the Saven; how Ax believes he will follow through on Griselda’s plans to kill Logan and me; and that he’s at large somewhere in the universe.

  “Why the hell didn’t you say something?” Jarod roars, swinging his legs around and sitting upright.

  “There hasn’t been time, and, besides, there isn’t anything you can do. He knows how to evade us. We’ll just have to be extra vigilant.”

  “Does he have the same gift as you?” Jarod asks with a frown.

  “We don’t know.”

  “Dammit!” He explodes, flopping back on the couch muttering a string of curses.

  Glenn’s brows knit together. “What gift?”

  I look to Logan and he nods.

  I stand up. “Let’s go outside and I’ll demonstrate.”

  Glenn leads us out a back passageway, across the deck, and down into the forest. When I feel we are far enough away from the house, I summon my gift and train my wrist at a tree a few meters away, destroying it with perfect aim.

  “Wow,” Glenn exclaims, staggering back. “That is …”

  “Yeah, I know.” I tuck my hands in my pockets, rocking back on my heels.

  When we are back in the warmth and security of the cabin, I probe Glenn for more info on the VP. “Did you ever see him do anything unusual? Anything that would lead you to believe he might share the same ability as me?”

  Glenn’s face is serious as he concentrates on searching his mind. “I never saw him do anything like that, but, there were a few occasions where he seemed to kind of curl into his mind.”

  I sit up straighter. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s hard to explain, but he would go rigidly still, and his eyes seemed to waver, and he’d often clutch his head in his hands, like the onset of a sudden migraine, and he was lost in his own world. I’d shake him, talk to him, but it was like he wasn’t there or he couldn’t hear me.”

  Logan and I exchange knowing looks.

  “When he’d come out of it, he’d say it was a bad headache, claiming it was genetic and he’d suffered with similar symptoms from the time he was a child. I thought it was a little odd, but I never paid too much attention to it.”

  “He was implanted too!” I can’t keep the excitement from my voice. “Why didn’t we think of that?” I ask Logan.

  “Why didn’t Axton tell us that?”

  I frown. “He said there was no way of tracking him, but if he’s chipped then we should be able to, right?”

  Logan growls. “That bastard is lying to us again.”

  I grip his arm. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. Call him now. Let’s ask him.”

  Logan stabs in the coordinates on his comport, and we wait for the comm line to connect.

  “Sadie? Is that you?” Ax’s voice comes across loud and clear. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Ax. I’m in a meeting and I need to ask you something about the VP. Was he implanted, too?”

  “Yes, bu—”

  “I frigging knew it!” Logan barks out, tossing his hands into the air. “How can we ever believe anything that comes out of your mouth?”

  “If you would let me finish, I—”

  “Why, th—” I smash my hand over Logan’s mouth, muting him.

  “Ax, why aren’t you able to track the VP’s whereabouts using the implant?” I inquire.

  “It was the first thing I thought to do, naturally, but the implant isn’t active, Sadie. It’s been removed, which is why I have no way of tracing him or controlling him.”

  I release my hand from Logan’s mouth, sending him a cautionary look. “Is there anything we can do to locate him?”

  “Believe me, I’m wracking my brains,” he admits. “I’ve hired a couple of bounty hunters,
and I’ve got our control room running technical scans using the latest technology so if he shows up in the galaxy, we’ll find him. Trust me, I’m on it. I want to stop him before he finds either of you.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Logan rudely ends the comm before Ax has a chance to say goodbye.

  “I presume you’re running a heat signature scan, too?” Glenn asks Jarod.

  “Yep. I’ve a few programs running, but so far there is no trace of him here either.”

  “You two shouldn’t go anywhere without armed protection,” Glenn says, looking at Logan and me in a reprimanding manner.

  “We are armed,” I tell him. “I’m the best protection we have.”

  Glenn’s eyes sparkle as he stares off into space. “You could very well be the best protection Earth has.” His brows lift. “Think about it. The Amaretti are waiting for us to make the next move, and they need to be convinced that there’s a good reason for them to surrender. What if you gave a demonstration, like the one outside, but on a wider scale? Do it in public, have it televised, show them you are a force to be reckoned with. Show them you could take out their mother ship, exterminate them, and then have Logan step forward and offer them the chance to surrender and no harm will come to any of their people. It could work.” His brows lift as his gaze vaults between us.

  “Or it could force them into panic mode,” Vin supplies.

  “Dali’s father is highly unpredictable and notorious for not thinking things through, so I think Vin is right. We’d only be taunting the big bully in the sky,” Logan agrees.

  “Well, then, prepare for that. Have your armies ready to jump into battle if the Amaretti attack instead of surrender. If you plan it carefully, you could still minimize loss of life. It’s worth considering.”

  Logan massages his temples. “I don’t know. Every nut job in the galaxy will target Sadie, and I’m not comfortable with outing her identity in such a public way. She already has to deal with so much hostility.”