Across the Infinite Void
An Eagle’s Revenge
Ashley L. Grapes
Copyright © 2016 Ashley L. Grapes
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1535023058
ISBN-13: 978-1535023054
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my parents, Mary Leann Grapes and Vernon Wayne Grapes. Their love and unwavering support is one in a multiverse.
CONTENTS
1
Final Exam
1
2
The Mad Hatter
15
3
The Brown Floor
33
4
Distance Makes the Heart…
47
5
The Moon Hive
59
6
LDShips, Inc.
67
7
The Dark Side of the Moon
81
8
Conspiranoia
95
9
At Liberty
109
10
The Solar Tsunami
119
11
Back to the Mother Land
133
12
Road Trip
151
13
The Story’s in the Ink
163
14
Stowaway
177
15
Staying Grounded
195
16
Think Like a Terrorist
207
17
Exotic Destination
221
18
Prisoners
237
19
Mind Games
251
20
The Gift of Time
267
21
A Man’s Fantasy
285
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My parents, Leann and Vernon, have been paramount in getting this entire trilogy off the ground. From late night phone calls to eye-rollingly long editing, I could not have done it without you, Mom and Dad.
I would like to thank my husband, Ryan Terry, for his role in this book. Ryan, I cannot put into words how much looking up and seeing your supporting smile during crunch time gave me the strength and energy to continue.
Mike Phillips was again my cover artist, and I could not have found a better person for the job. His incredible creation is the reason people walk by my book and pick up a copy. Thank you, Mike, for being so open, flexible, and professional to my daily tweakings.
www.MikePhillipsArt.org
I would like to express gratitude to my friends, family, and readers who have supported my dreams by reading, reviewing, and spreading the word about my books. As with any dream, it took a strong support system to make this possible. Your kindness and encouragement has given me the confidence to keep trekking along through the pages
PROLOGUE
Kravis was a towering presence in the blackness. His dark blue hands held Levi off the floor by the throat. Her father threw his head back in a taunting laugh as he dangled his prey like a hunter’s pelt. Talon retrieved her gun and shot her father square in the chest without a moment’s hesitation. The bullet ricocheted off the Extension with a spark and Levi’s mouth dropped open in shock as the stray bullet pierced his back. She locked eyes with her beloved, and what she saw drained her to her knees. Talon could only watch in horrified disbelief as his gaze passed her, looking far off into the distance. When Levi’s soul left his body, Kravis dropped him in a heap on the floor and then disappeared into thin air.
“No!” Talon cried out. She rushed over to Levi’s side. Looking up at her was the face of Kaylan. Levi’s father looked desperate as he clung to life. Blood pooled from the sides of his mouth, spurting in gruesome synchrony with a heaving chest. His short, captured breaths were growing further apart and she looked away before he drew his last. Where was Levi?
Talon was trying to run in a grey barren land, but her feet kept sliding from under her and she would collapse, sending dust billowing around her in a suffocating ashen cloud. She lay, defeated and frustrated in the powder, gasping in the same shallowed breaths as the man she had just murdered.
“Help! Don’t kill me!” a man cried out across the desolate wasteland, but she could see no one.
Levi? Talon realized she could jump now. She was leaping in arched bounds and her stomach lurched with the great heights her new superpower allowed. In the distance she saw a lone man running frantically with a silver cloud of kicked up dust trailing behind him like a jet engine’s contrails. The man was not Levi but she could tell he needed her. As Talon grew closer she could see he was old and withered like the landscape around them.
“No! Don’t kill me!” he was yelling.
It’s okay, I will help you, Talon thought. She kicked off from the ground with all the might in her legs and was flying. It was the first time she felt the rush of the wind, and her hair whipped around her face like the flames of a fire. She was so high the coldness stung her ears and began seeping into her hands. Finally, she started descending and watched the old man grow larger against the bleak landscape as she fell.
He looked over his shoulder and his face went from afraid to stunned. A flying being would seem very peculiar, Talon empathized. She could not wait to show him that she was just a harmless Sydces there to help, not some mythical god falling from the sky. Talon landed right behind him and as the old man pivoted around, he tripped over his own feet. The ground rumbled like thunder and opened up into a massive chasm, sending him falling into its bottomless depths. She lunged, skidding on her stomach until half her body was hanging over the precipice. She wasn’t close to saving him as she watched him fall into oblivion. He was watching her too with the same eyes as Levi and Kaylan – disappointment and despair, draining any hope she clung to. Too many people were dying because of her. She was a murderer and now a failure…
Talon awoke to a sweeping wave of anxiety radiating from her chest. She took several deep breaths to alleviate the effects of the nefarious dream. She should be used to them by now, she reckoned, pulling the covers off and swinging her legs over the bed.
“Are you okay?” Levi’s voice cracked in his groggy state.
“Just going to the bathroom, Baby. Go back to sleep.”
Over the past five months, the recurring nightmares had become progressively worse, and Talon did not understand what had triggered them. She cracked open her bottle of sleeping pills from the medicine cabinet and dry swallowed one. It scratched down her throat in a reluctant, undulating wave. Talon looked in the mirror and pulled down the skin underneath her eyes, wondering how worse the dark circles would be without the help of her little white saviors.
1 FINAL EXAM
Talon Terry’s legs were beginning to cramp. Despite how much her muscles screamed for her to move just one little bit, she dared not accommodate them. Thirty minutes had passed of her crouching low behind an alabaster statue that barely blocked her athletic frame. There was a cocktail party winding to a close on the other side. She was dressed in tight clothing the color of the shadows, her auburn hair pulled into a tight bun and tucked neatly under her favorite beanie. Murmured voices grew closer and she was in luck – one of them belonged to her target.
A famous surgeon, Frank Garvie, and his mistress, Kasilla Mayport, were sauntering over to the very spot where she was hiding. This party was his annual charity fundraising gala, and it was always held at his ostentatious home on the south edge of the asteroid
. The luscious greenery at the poles, although meant for oxygen supply, made for desirable real-estate. After weeks of study, she knew these grounds – every room, every hallway, every pathway, bush, crack, crevasse, angle and sightline.
Talon heard the woman giggle as she drunkenly frolicked her way over to lean against the statue, oblivious to the operative-in-training hiding on the other side. Kasilla gave a breathy, come-hither purr to her plump lover. A sandpapery sound scratched above Talon and she snapped her head to see the doctor’s sausage fingers creep around the statue. Dr. Garvie settled his plump digits around the buttocks of the chiseled maiden whilst successfully entrapping his mistress between his arms. Talon heard the unpleasant slurping of spit as the surgeon’s fingertips clutched the derriere of the sculpture in a white-knuckled grasp.
Dr. Frank Garvie, famous surgeon and public figure, was the worst kind of criminal…a terrorist as far as she was concerned. According to his file, Frank had laundered a percentage of his charitable donations to fund terrorist activities. Little did his party guests know that their contributions, meant for expensive and difficult operations, would be muled through wormholes to radical crime rings. Thinking of Dr. Garvie cheating children out of treatment and directly aiding terrorists like her father was the fuel she needed right now. She knew of two others who had failed before her, and Talon refused to join the list. This mission was but a hurdle, albeit a necessary one, on the path to her ultimate goal.
Her mission was clear. Get the device that could be used to indict the surgeon in a court of law. She had been given his file, the layouts of the grounds, and two weeks to prepare. Talon’s original plan was to wait until all guests had found their way out of the courtyard before continuing. She rather preferred covert-style execution over other aggressive alternatives. But as she waited, her muscles burning from fatigue and her patience with their public display of affection wearing thin, she quickly regrouped to change tactics. A fire of anticipation lit up inside of her.
With breakneck speed and incredible grace she took the handcuffs from her waistband and with one flick had them around the doctor’s wrists. Talon then wielded a blade and tucked it below the mistress’s throat. Kasilla gasped and threw her head back in reaction. Talon responded by grabbing the woman’s hair and forcing it back on the marble with a hard thud.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Talon spoke low. “You wouldn’t want to get blood on that pretty dress.” She knew from her research that the young lady meant more to the surgeon than just a night in the bedroom. Although her target was currently married, his real wife knew of the affair and cared little so long as she could have her fun too. Love was always a good weakness to exploit.
Dr. Garvie jiggled his wrists and tugged his arms, gasping at his current state of imprisonment. “Who are you? What do you want?” he spoke in obvious distress.
“I want your computer.”
“My computer has already been taken by authorities and given back to me because I’m innocent. I have nothing to hide.”
“Everything alright?” A voice yelled from the center of the courtyard. It was another party-goer that hadn’t quite made his way out.
Damn, Talon swore under her breath. She wondered if she had made the right decision to deviate from her original action plan. “Send him away…now.” Talon quickly un-cuffed one of the doctor’s hands but kept the small blade pressing so hard against the mistress’s throat, any more pressure and blood would be drawn. At least she was cooperating without damsel-in-distress drama.
The doctor’s eyes grew large with worry. He spun around, his arms already waving the onlooker off. “Yes, everything is fine. Thank you for coming, Leon. Good night,” he offered swiftly and unnaturally.
There was a strong, tense-filled silence. For a scant moment Talon wondered if her cover had been blown. The surgeon dived forward, kissing his girlfriend like it would be the last time. Talon’s prisoner gasped at the surprise, but yielded to the advance with an open mouth. Talon quickly made more space between the knife and her throat.
“Alright, you two love-crullens have a good night!” the man called again, now convinced.
Talon listened as his footsteps become fainter against the stone. “Give me your hand.” The knife was again under Kasilla’s throat.
“Yes, okay! Please, just don’t hurt her!” The man pleaded rather loudly, throwing his arm back into the handcuff. “Who are you?”
It was to her advantage that the marble kept her hidden from the surgeon’s view. Her overall appearance didn’t necessarily portray that of a true-born killer. For God’s sake she was standing on her tip-toes. Luckily her aura of mystery kept him more willing to cooperate. He certainly seemed terrified.
“Who do you think I am?” She didn’t know why she asked the question. His opinion of her mattered little.
“You can’t break into my office if you’re a cop. It’s illegal. You can’t use evidence against me in court if it has been collected without a warrant. I know my rights!”
Obviously he didn’t and, oh, was she a fan of the laws here in Ohmani. Evidence could indeed be used against him in court if obtained without a warrant under two conditions. First, the extraction must be performed by a certified intelligence operative under a formalized plan approved by the division, and second, the extraction must not ‘unnecessarily harm any persons or properties.’ Talon wasn’t going to educate him now, or he would realize the knife was a bluff.
“I’m not a cop.” It wasn’t a lie.
Frank began shaking uncontrollably. “No…no. You’re not her, are you?” he asked in a quivering falsetto. “The older one? You came back for me. Please, don’t kill me!”
Talon immediately became confused. Who was he talking about? Talon decided to go with it. “Yes, that’s right.”
“I knew you would come for me again! Please don’t kill me, please don’t—”
The doctor fell forward, bouncing off Kasilla’s breasts and continuing onto the pavement in a sweaty, motionless mound. Kasilla jumped out of the way and shrilled into the crisp air. Talon had to think fast. She removed the handcuffs from the surgeon and ran around the statuette. Kasilla was already on her knees, shaking him by the shoulders.
“Baby? Are you alright?”
“Help me move him,” she commanded. It was pure luck no one saw the incident. For the first time tonight, Talon worried she might be on the road to failing the mission.
Kasilla looked up and saw her mysterious attacker for the first time. Her eyes squinted in hatred. “What did you do to him?”
Talon didn’t know, but it sure seemed as though he actually fainted in fear. The man was more pathetic than she imagined. “He will be fine. Help me move him,” she repeated.
Kasilla stood up, but instead of obeying Talon she turned and began to make a run for it. Her long legs didn’t get too far with the heels that were attached to them. Talon grabbed the mistress’s upper arm and Kasilla thrashed at her assailant’s face. It was easy to block and take the gazelle of a woman down. When Kasilla was on her back, her breasts rising and falling with frantic breaths, Talon decided to step up her game. Apparently Frank’s model-esque mistress wasn’t too terrified of Talon after seeing just how unintimidating she really was. Talon pulled an MF-816 from her waistband and pressed the barrel between her sapphire eyes. Kasilla stopped breathing.
“Don’t let my appearance fool you,” Talon warned softly, but with a tone that surprised even her.
“If you’re a cop or a spy you can’t hurt me,” Kasilla noted hastily. Talon was happy to see her finally losing her poise. It would make the next phase of her new game plan much easier.
“Do you want to take that chance, Kasilla Mayport?” People were always unnerved to hear a stranger speaking their full name without a proper introduction.
Kasilla thought for several moments, her eyes darting in all directions in extension of her racing thoughts. Finally she stood up and wobbled her way back to her boyfriend’s body. Sh
e grabbed one of the doctor’s wrists and stood silently for Talon to join her. Talon tucked the gun back into her hip holster and together they dragged his dead weight behind the statuette. The women leaned him up against the cold marble, and Talon double-checked that the surgeon still had a pulse.
“What are you going to do?” Kasilla asked with a newfound tremble in her voice.
It wasn’t a bad question. Talon couldn’t leave Kasilla behind and she certainly couldn’t knock her over the head and break the injury clause. Luckily, the sprinklers came on for their nightly watering, which gave her an idea. Talon pulled the thin black cylinder from her belt and shoved it into the Kasilla’s hands. She had always wondered when this tool would come in handy in the field.
“Come with me.” Talon yanked Kasilla to her feet and pushed her gun into the woman’s kidney. “Produce an airbrella, full body, and walk towards the front door. Get me in and stay quiet and I won’t come back to kill your little love crullen. Deal?”
Kasilla nodded understanding. Air shot up and over their frames, deflecting the few drops of water that made contact with the rushing current.
“Change the color…let’s go with blood red.” Talon needed to step up her scary factor if she was going to get through this bold tactic of walking through the front door unbeknownst.
The woman pressed another button on the device and the air began to tinge pink as the red dye began to saturate into the stream. Talon made sure to step in line with Kasilla’s feet. Hiding behind her was fairly easy seeing as the woman stood a head taller in her towering stilettos. She was also a Sydces, with thick lavender hair that made a wide curtain around her upper body.
An Eagle's Revenge (Across the Infinite Void Book 2) Page 1