Soul Meaning (Seventeen)

by AD Starrling

  The shots took out the first three Crovir Hunters in the room beyond. Light from a naked bulb glinted on the edge of the wakizashi as it spun through the air and thudded into the neck of the fourth Hunter. The man’s hand slipped from the handle of the door at the opposite end of the chamber and he fell soundlessly to the ground.

  Reid covered the room with his gun while I crossed the floor to retrieve the sword. We paused in front of the second doorway and listened intently. Silence emanated from beyond it. Reid glanced at me: I nodded once. He slowly twisted the handle. The door opened quietly on well-oiled hinges.

  We were faced with a narrow walkway at the top of one of the castle walls. A bank of clouds had moved in from the west and drifted past the moon, causing shadows to dance across the pale stone. Cold air whipped over the tall rampart from the sea on the left. To the right, a thick parapet overlooked a dark courtyard a hundred feet below.

  At the other end of the path, two Crovir guards were engaged in low conversation in front of the door to the next tower. Smoke curled up from the cigarettes in their hands. A low chuckle drifted in our direction.

  The darkness and the rush of the wind helped mask our approach. We were ten feet from the men before they noticed us. They jerked convulsively as our bullets struck them. The sound of their bodies hitting the stone walkway was barely perceptible above the crash of the distant surf.

  An empty room lay through the doorway to the second tower. Narrow windows on the right overlooked an enclosed courtyard. As we headed towards an exit on the other side, I glanced around and froze in my tracks.

  ‘What is it?’ Reid whispered tensely.

  ‘There’re three glasses on that table,’ I said in a low voice, studying the bench tucked beneath the windows. The words had barely left my lips when a faint gasp reached my ears. I turned and saw the third man disappear through a door hidden in the shadows on our right.

  I was the first one over the threshold. Up ahead, the Crovir Hunter was halfway down a dark corridor, his figure darting swiftly between the bars of pale moonlight that shone through the casement windows on the left.

  At the end of the passage was a brightly lit archway framed by a pair of thick, velvet curtains.

  Reid’s silent shot whizzed past me and caught the man on the leg. He stumbled and nearly fell. It was all I needed. I dove and tackled him to the ground a dozen feet from the opening.

  We landed with a dull thud on cold, bare stone. The Hunter quickly rolled out from under me and reached for his gun. He froze when the tip of the wakizashi touched the skin at the base of his throat.

  ‘Do you know who I am?’ I said in a low voice while Reid relieved him of his weapon. The Crovir Hunter nodded faintly and winced when the short blade drew a drop of blood from his flesh. I studied him with a frown. ‘Where are the prisoners?’

  The immortal gazed at me with a blank expression. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said gruffly.

  I leaned forward until my face was mere inches from his and moved my hand slightly. ‘Anna and Tomas Godard. Where are they?’ I repeated slowly.

  The Crovir Hunter gulped. A thin, crimson trickle coursed down his neck and stained the collar of his shirt. As he opened his mouth to reply, voices rose through the brilliant arch ahead.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Reid and I grabbed the Hunter and pulled him into the shadows behind the velvet curtains. I kept the wakizashi pressed against the immortal’s throat and stared at him with narrowed eyes. His breath left his lips in a soft sigh: he nodded with a defeated expression.

  Snatches of conversation reached us as footsteps drew close to the doorway.

  ‘—the chamber ready?’

  ‘Yes, sir. We’ve set it up as per your instructions.’

  ‘Good.’ There was a pause. ‘And the girl?’

  ‘Our scientists are still doing tests on her. As expected, she’s not cooperating. They think—’

  The rest of the exchange was muted as the voices faded out of earshot. I took a step towards the archway, rage stirring the blood in my veins like the turbulent sea outside the fortress. Reid placed a hand on my shoulder and frowned.

  The first voice had belonged to Felix Thorne.

  I drew a slow breath, forced my stiff body to relax and turned a steady gaze on the Crovir Hunter. ‘Where’s the central command room?’ I asked curtly.

  The immortal’s eyes widened. He shook his head. ‘You’ll never get there in one piece,’ he said scornfully.

  I frowned. ‘I didn’t ask for your opinion.’

  Reid sighed. ‘Just show us to the nearest computer terminal,’ he muttered.

  The Crovir Hunter reluctantly guided us to a room thirty feet down the bright passageway. Light gleamed on a camera near the ceiling while we strode silently across the carpeted floor. We ignored it and paused on either side of the doorjamb. There was silence from the other side. Reid reached for the handle.

  Five seconds later, we had disposed of the two guards inside. I handcuffed our prisoner to the radiator on the wall; fear filled the immortal’s eyes as he glanced at the dead men on the floor. ‘Don’t worry, you might still prove to be useful,’ I said tersely. I turned my attention to the computer on the table, reached inside my jumpsuit and plugged a slim USB device in one of the ports. ‘We’re in,’ I muttered into the mouthpiece.

  The Bastian tech’s voice came over the earpiece with a faint buzz of static. ‘Good.’ There was a short pause. ‘Victor called. They’re ten minutes from the island.’

  I watched as the screen flickered. The device allowed the Bastians access to the Crovir fortress’s mainframe via satellites positioned in low orbit over Europe. With this, we would be able to see live feeds from the entire complex. Letters and numbers soon streamed across the monitor.

  ‘Here goes,’ murmured the Bastian tech.

  Moments later, video images from dozens of security cameras appeared in separate frames on the screen. My eyes were immediately drawn to one on the bottom right of the monitor. ‘Where is that?’ I said harshly.

  The Bastian tech knew which feed I meant without me having to spell it out. He zoomed in on the picture. Floor plans of the castle appeared at the side of the image. There was an audible intake of breath from the other end of the line. ‘That room is in a secured facility two hundred feet below you,’ he finally said quietly. ‘It’s inside the island.’

  My heart pounded dully in my chest while I stared at the image of Anna lying still on a metal gurney. Her arms and legs were strapped to the bed and she was attached to a life monitor and an IV stand. Her eyes were closed and her face looked deathly pale.

  I glanced at the maps on the screen. ‘Can you override the access doors to that unit?’ I said stiffly.

  The Bastian tech was silent for a while. His voice finally came through the earpiece. ‘No. I’m afraid I’ve got more bad news.’

  ‘What is it?’ I said impatiently.

  ‘It seems they have a completely separate security system for that part of the complex. Even the camera feeds are controlled from a different subframe.’ The tech paused. ‘The best I can do is get you to one of the elevators that will take you down to the facility. After that, you’re on your own.’

  Reid and I glanced at each other. ‘Let the others know where we’re headed,’ I said, gazing at the other pictures on the monitor. ‘My grandfather’s bound to be down there as well.’

  We left the Crovir Hunter gagged and handcuffed inside the room and proceeded east along the corridor. All the while, the image of Anna’s lifeless face burned at the front of my mind.

  The Bastian tech guided us down a further two floors of the castle. We finally reached a hidden alcove in the south facing wall of a tower, where a metal door stood framed by a pair of heavy drapes. ‘This is as far as I can take you,’ said the tech. ‘The lift is through that door.’ He paused. ‘There are five Crovir Hunters between you and that elevator.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I murmured. I holst
ered my guns and lifted the daisho from my waist. ‘Are the others here yet?’

  ‘They’ve just reached the underwater dock.’

  I glanced at Reid. In addition to the Glock, he also held a Beretta pistol in his hand. ‘What about Friedrich and his team?’ I said in a low voice.

  ‘They’re almost at the main command room.’ Static travelled down the connection. ‘Reznak and his men haven’t got control over the subframe security yet,’ the Bastian tech continued in a quiet voice. ‘Once you guys go through that door, the Crovirs will know we’re on the island.’

  Reid frowned, his grip tightening on the guns.

  ‘We’ll take care of the cameras if we can,’ I said into the mouthpiece. ‘Warn Friedrich and the others.’

  ‘Will do,’ murmured the Bastian tech. ‘Good luck.’

  I stared at Reid. ‘Ready?’ I said stiffly.

  He shrugged. ‘Let’s roll.’

  I stepped back, my fingers tightening on the handles of the blades, and nodded once.

  Reid raised the Glock and shot through the lock. I kicked the door open and moved out of the way. He stepped inside the room, took out the camera near the ceiling, lifted the Beretta in his other hand and fired rapidly from both weapons.

  I dove in after him, hit the floor, rolled and rose to my feet. Bullets ricocheted off the edges of the steel as I weaved the blades around, my steps quick and measured. The tips of the daisho gleamed with blood, and crimson sprays quickly splattered the ground and the walls of the anteroom.

  Eight seconds later, the Crovir Hunters were dead. I reached for the swipe card on one of the dead men and stepped towards the lift.

  ‘Lucas,’ Reid murmured warningly.

  I glanced to where he stared. The numbers on the indicator panel above the elevator had started to glow. The cabin was moving up.

  We shifted to the sides of the lift. A moment later, a soft ping sounded and the panels swung open with a faint hiss. Olsson stepped out and stood perfectly still for a split second, his eyes widening in incomprehension as he took in the bloody scene. His hand was halfway to his gun when the katana arched through the air and stopped a hairbreadth from the base of his throat. He froze again.

  ‘Hello, Mikael,’ I said coldly. I was surprised at how composed I felt at seeing him again.

  ‘How did you—’ Olsson’s voice was interrupted by Reid’s near silent shot. The Crovir Hunter at the back of the elevator cabin slowly slid to the floor, his eyes turning dull beneath the fresh bullet wound in his forehead. His index finger slid across a button on the control panel before his arm swung down lifelessly next to his body.

  A shrill alarm sounded through the room. It was undoubtedly being transmitted to the entire complex.

  Reid sighed. ‘Well, they were gonna find out about us soon anyway,’ he said with a grimace. ‘What do you wanna do with him?’ He indicated Olsson with the Glock.

  Olsson’s eyes burned with anger, his body rigid from trying to keep still. ‘He might prove useful as leverage,’ I muttered. I grabbed a cable tie from my backpack and closed it around Olsson’s wrists.

  ‘And if he doesn’t?’ said Reid dubiously. A thoughtful frown appeared on his face. He suddenly brightened up. ‘I know! We can use him as a shield.’

  Olsson scowled. I pushed him inside the lift, shifted him until he faced the doorway and carefully placed the wakizashi next to the pulsing artery in his neck. ‘You’re going to take us to Anna and my grandfather,’ I ordered curtly.

  ‘Like hell I will!’ Olsson retorted with a sneer.

  ‘I don’t think you understand.’ I dug the tip of the short blade into his skin. ‘I will kill you without a second thought if you don’t do as I say.’

  A mocking chuckle left Olsson’s lips. ‘Go ahead. You have no idea what these people are capable of, do you? Besides, Tomas Godard deserves to die!’

  I paused at his words. ‘My grandfather was not responsible for your father’s death,’ I said slowly.

  ‘Yes, he was!’ barked Olsson. The wakizashi cut into his skin as he shook with rage. ‘He ordered the Bastians into Khotyn!’

  The alarm blared loudly in the silence that followed. ‘Your father was a Hunter. He knew what he was getting himself into,’ I said quietly.

  Olsson glared at me. ‘Go to hell, Soul! I’ll never help you, so you might as well kill me now!’

  Reid frowned. I hesitated and studied the numbers on the elevator control panel. ‘Not yet, Mikael,’ I finally murmured. ‘Not while there’s a chance that we could still use you.’ I pressed the button that would take us to the lowest floor, roughly one hundred and sixty feet below ground. The doors closed and the lift started to move.

  Moments later, we neared the innermost depths of the island. The sound of distant shots reached our ears.

  ‘Looks like they started the party without us,’ said Reid. He absentmindedly stroked the end of his nose with the Glock and sighed. ‘I could really do with a smoke.’

  Olsson glared at him. ‘For a mortal, you sure are taking things lightly,’ he spat out.

  Reid’s eyes narrowed. ‘You know, if Lucas doesn’t shut you up soon, I swear I’m gonna shoot you.’

  The noise of the gunfire grew louder. The doors of the elevator swung open.

  Smoke wreathed the air and bullets crisscrossed a wide subterranean lobby ahead of us. To the left, taking cover behind a makeshift barricade, were Victor, Anatole and a dozen Bastian Hunters. At least fifty Crovirs stood across the way from them.

  ‘Take him!’ I said harshly and pushed Olsson towards Reid. I sheathed the swords, drew the weapons from the holsters at my hips and stepped out of the lift.

  Time slowed. I breathed slowly and deeply, the guns barely jerking in my hands as I emptied the magazines with deadly accuracy. Ten seconds passed. I slowed briefly to reload. A stray bullet grazed my cheek. Another ruffled the hair above my left ear. One struck my body vest. I hardly noticed and finished clipping the fresh chambers into place before raising the guns once more, my stride unbroken.

  The final cartridge clattered to the floor twenty seconds later. I blinked slowly at the clearing haze and stared at the bodies covering the vestibule.

  Footsteps rose behind me. ‘Well, that seems to be it for the time being,’ said Victor briskly. He came to a stop at my side and changed the magazine in his gun. ‘Though I’m sure there’ll be plenty more where they came from.’ The Bastian Hunters started to divest the fallen Crovirs of their weapons.

  ‘You look like shit,’ Reid told Anatole with a grin.

  ‘Well, yeah, travelling by submarine is not exactly my favourite mode of transportation. Give me the high road anytime,’ the ashen-faced immortal muttered dully. A gleam appeared in his eyes as his gaze shifted to the left. ‘Why, look who we have here. We meet again, asshole.’ This he directed at Olsson, who stood nursing a wounded leg with a scowl on his face.

  I looked questioningly at Reid. ‘One of his own men shot him. Go figure,’ he said with a non-committal shrug.

  ‘The research facility where they’re holding Anna and your grandfather is through there.’ Victor indicated a pair of steel doors behind the dead Crovirs. ‘Costas and Bruno are holding the lower floors to the dock. I don’t know how much longer they’ll be able to stall the Crovirs.’ He frowned. ‘Reznak and his men are still in the main fortress.’

  Faint explosions from above punctuated the end of his statement. ‘Friedrich?’ I said brusquely.

  ‘He’s fighting his way into the command room as we speak,’ said Victor. ‘One of the Crovir nobles is helping. Once they’re in, we’ll be able to get the rest of our men on the island.’

  While we had been making our way to the Crovir fortress by air and by sea, Roman Dvorsky had finally contacted his son with the Councils’ decision: the rest of the Bastian army was on its way from Europe to assist us.

  Unfortunately, I feared they would be too late. The expression on Victor’s face mirrored my own doubts.

 
I pushed aside the dread coursing through my veins and turned to study the metal doors in our path. A security panel sat on the wall to the left of the jamb. From what I could see, it was going to take more than an access card to get us inside the core of the Crovir fortress. I looked up.

  Victor followed my gaze to a panel on the ceiling. ‘What are you thinking?’ he said softly.

  ‘From the floor plans I saw earlier, there’s a ventilation duct right above us. I think it leads into the facility.’ I frowned thoughtfully. ‘It won’t be practical for all of us to go that way.’ I crossed the floor to the control panel next to the steel doors. It was similar to the one I had in my apartment in Boston. I glanced at Olsson. ‘I suspect his fingerprint and retinal scan will get you through here,’ I said to Victor. ‘We’ll create a diversion to give you a fighting chance.’

  Reid linked his fingers together into a foothold underneath the panel. I stepped on, climbed onto his shoulders and unscrewed the metal plate above our heads. Seconds later, I was inside the vent. I pulled Reid and Anatole in after me.

  ‘See you on the other side,’ Victor murmured from below.

  The passage inside the duct was hot and tight. We crawled along it as quietly as we could, our breaths coming hard and fast in the enclosed space. A minute later, we came to an opening in the ceiling. I unbolted the metal cover, moved it aside silently and peered carefully out of the hole.

  A crowd of thirty Crovir Hunters stood in front of the steel doors at one end of a white-walled corridor, their guns at the ready. Behind them, an empty passage led into the facility.

  I gripped the edge of the ventilation duct and slowly lowered myself to the tiled floor. Reid and Anatole followed behind me.

  The Bastian immortal removed a pair of Steyr AUG rifles from his backpack and handed one to Reid. He depressed the safety button on his and grinned at us before waving wildly at the Crovirs. ‘Hey, assholes! We’re right here!’

  The immortals at the end of the corridor turned, their eyes widening in shocked surprise. By then, our bullets had already struck ten of them. On cue, the metal doors opened, revealing Victor and the Bastians.