Conrad took out his cell and dialed a number. Lucas glanced at the clock on the computer dashboard.
It was gone four in the morning. They were a third of the way into their five-hour flight to Maryland. Anna, Madeleine, Zachary, Olivia, and Asgard were in the skies somewhere behind them, having had to wait to retrieve the dead men’s bodies from a Bastian facility in California before they started their journey to Europe. Laura had stayed behind in Santa Monica with Howard.
Conrad ended his call and laid a hand on Lucas’s shoulder.
‘You should get some rest,’ he said quietly. ‘I may have healed your wounds but you still lost a lot of blood during that attack.’
Lucas nodded and swallowed. Were it not for the presence of his family and their friends, he would have gone crazy with worry by now.
He closed his eyes briefly and thought of Anna and their children, before focusing on Conrad’s face.
‘How did it go with Connelly?’
Conrad smiled faintly. ‘Sarah’s on it. She’ll get back to us when she has information.’
Alexa dimmed the cabin lights and they spread out across the seats.
Although he was exhausted, sleep eluded Lucas. He stared out of the window at the dark sky for a long time, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind while he relived the events of the last twenty-four hours. Icy determination filled his heart as the minutes ticked by, erasing the overwhelming sense of helplessness he’d been feeling since that morning.
He’d failed his children once. He would not do so again.
And when he and the others found the ones behind this, they were going to discover that they’d messed with the wrong people.
Chapter Nine
It was mid-morning when their jet landed at Phillips Military Airfield, in Maryland. They boarded the two Jeeps standing by on the tarmac and headed east with their armed escort.
It was Victor who’d wrangled a meeting for them on such short notice at the US Army Research Lab’s Weapons and Materials Research Directorate facility at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Although the Bastians had their own ballistics center in Europe, the one in Maryland was closer; it was the next best place for them to get the casings they’d found on Balthazar Island analyzed.
‘That’s it there,’ the soldier next to Lucas said a couple of minutes after they’d passed the checkpoint and obtained their security passes.
Lucas gazed at the cluster of buildings the man indicated and did his best to quash the restless feeling churning his stomach. The Jeeps pulled up outside the main entrance of the facility a moment later. He exited the vehicles with the others and entered a brightly lit reception manned by two armed soldiers. They signed in at the desk under the guards’ watchful stares.
‘If you could please leave your weapons,’ the female soldier said coolly. ‘You can collect them on the way out.’
‘Sure,’ Lucas muttered.
The woman’s expression froze when they started taking out their guns and bladed weapons.
‘What’s that?’ She pointed at Conrad’s staff.
‘It’s a spear,’ Conrad explained. ‘And a pair of swords.’
She arched an eyebrow before indicating the daisho Lucas had slipped out from under his jacket. ‘Sir, is that some kind of Japanese sword?’
‘It is.’
He decided not to mention the fact that it was the real deal, gifted to him by the greatest samurai warrior who had ever lived.
‘And this?’ The male soldier picked up one of Alexa’s daggers. ‘Ouch!’
‘It’s a sai,’ Alexa said coldly. ‘You’re holding it wrong.’
The female soldier stared pointedly from Reid to his Glock.
‘I’m a gun kind of guy,’ the former Marine said with a shrug.
Her gaze shifted to Ethan.
He grinned. ‘I have magic hands.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Sure. All guys think that.’
An Asian woman with curly, dark hair tied back in a ponytail, thick, black-rimmed glasses, and vivid, pink trainers stood waiting on the other side of the security door they were escorted through.
She smiled at them, scanned their badges, and zeroed in on Lucas.
‘Mr. Soul? I’m Dr. Priya Chatterjee, the chief ballistic expert at WMRD.’
Lucas shook her hand and introduced the others.
‘Follow me.’ Chatterjee turned and marched briskly down a corridor.
‘Hey, isn’t she a bit young to be the top guy—I mean girl—shit, woman here?’ Ethan whispered as they headed after her.
‘I think she heard that,’ Conrad murmured.
The scientist’s ears had turned red up ahead.
‘May I remind you that you’re the youngest one of all of us?’ Alexa told Ethan in a low voice.
‘Well, technically, Olivia holds that title,’ he retorted.
Reid grunted. ‘I beg to differ. I’m a babe in arms compared to you lot. No offense, but she could probably carbon date all of you.’
Lucas stifled a sigh at the scientist’s reddening neck.
Chatterjee led them to a large lab overlooking woodland and the Bush River flowing in the distance. It was empty save for the rows of weapons testing and analysis equipment crowding the worktops and floor.
She headed for a workstation at the back of the room and propped herself on a swivel chair in front of a complex, dual-stage microscope attached to a computer. A mini control panel featuring a rotary knob and joystick sat beneath the instrument.
‘You have the casings?’
Lucas removed a small specimen bag from the rear pocket of his jeans and gave it to her.
Chatterjee slipped on some gloves and carefully emptied the contents onto a tray. Her eyes narrowed behind her glasses as she inspected the fragments.
‘Interesting,’ she murmured. ‘These are indeed frangibles.’
‘Frangibles?’ Ethan said.
‘Bullets that fragment on impact, or fragmenting bullets as they’re also known,’ Chatterjee said absentmindedly, her gaze still locked on the casings. She glanced at Lucas. ‘My superior didn’t tell me much except that you want to know the possible source of these rounds? These look like they could be homemade at first glance.’
Lucas nodded. ‘Yes. I’m afraid we can’t reveal more than that.’ He paused. ‘All I can tell you is that these were fired from rotary machine guns and semi-automatic pistols by men who behaved like trained soldiers. I doubt someone cooked them up in their garage.’
Chatterjee frowned faintly before moving one of the 9mm casings to a grip device on a stage on the microscope. She climbed off the stool, walked over to a cabinet, and returned with two small specimen bags containing a spent casing each.
She placed the first in the second grip device on the microscope and peered into the eyepieces.
They waited patiently while she examined the casing from Balthazar Island and the test specimen side by side. Lines furrowed her brow as she worked the various knobs and buttons on the instrument, angling the two cartridges through three-sixty degrees in all planes. She replaced the first test sample with the second and compared the casings once more.
Lucas’s stomach sank when she finally looked up from the microscope.
‘I have never seen a cartridge like this,’ Chatterjee said with a troubled expression. ‘Here, take a look.’
She worked the rotary knob and joystick on the mini control panel. The computer next to the microscope blinked into life. A split window appeared on the screen, showing magnified views of the two cartridges side by side.
‘The one on the right is our test sample. One of two 9mm frangible cartridges. The only two fragmenting bullets in production in the world right now.’
Reid raised an eyebrow. ‘There are only two companies making these?’
‘The ones with the eight-segmented nose like your 9mm casing? Yeah, only two.’ Chatterjee indicated the monitor. ‘There are a number of rifling markings we look at when we compare spent cartridges. Bree
ch-block marks, firing pin impressions, extractor marks, and ejector marks.’
She pointed these out patiently shot by shot while she worked the joystick and knob, saving the images to the side of the screen.
‘And here’s the first test specimen again.’
She replaced the samples and froze the comparison images once more.
They stared at the screen for some time.
‘None of them match the one we brought you,’ Alexa said quietly.
Chatterjee nodded. ‘Yes. And I suspect that will also be the case with the 7.62mm cartridge.’ She looked at Lucas. ‘You are right. There is no way these bullets were made in someone’s backyard. Whoever designed these is using pioneering technology years ahead of any military or private ammunition manufacturer that I’m aware of. And I know all of them.’
‘So I was right,’ Reid said. ‘They are more advanced.’
Conrad frowned at the scientist. ‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because these bullets look like they’re made of a new metal. One I’ve never seen before.’ She glanced at the images on the computer monitor. ‘I think that’s why they leave so little in terms of rifling markings. This—’ she unclamped the 9mm casing from Balthazar Island from the grip device and brought it to eye level, ‘—is possibly the bullet of the future.’ Her gaze shifted to Lucas, her eyes bright with curiosity. ‘Where did you get them?’
Lucas looked at her steadily. ‘It would be in your best interest not to know the answer to that question.’
Chatterjee hesitated before nodding, a sigh leaving her lips. ‘Can you leave the 9mm casing with me for further analysis? I want to see what this new metal is.’ She smiled drily at his expression. ‘I promise this will be for my eyes only.’
Lucas glanced at the others. They shrugged.
‘Alright,’ he told the scientist reluctantly. ‘Give us a call if you find something.’
He lifted a pen and a piece of paper from a stationary rack and wrote out a number.
Ivan Mihael Vlašic leaned back in his chair and observed the Immortal seated across the desk from him.
‘That’s quite a story,’ he said coolly.
Victor Dvorsky gazed at him with a relaxed expression. ‘An accurate one. I can show you the satellite images.’
They were in Ivan’s office, at the headquarters of the Crovir First Council, in Dresden. Though he would never admit it to the man opposite him, Ivan had been somewhat surprised when he’d received the phone call from the Bastian First Council that morning requesting an urgent private meeting with him. Had he known the representative traveling from Vienna would be none other than the leader of the Bastian race himself, he would have made sure he was more prepared.
Vlado Krall, the Head of the Crovir Counter-Terrorism Section and Ivan’s friend and right-hand man, leaned against the wall next to him, his dark eyes thoughtful as he silently studied Victor.
‘So, you’re telling me in addition to the two Immortals with special abilities involved in the Yuma incident, there are others like them out there?’ Ivan frowned faintly. ‘This—Conrad Greene and the Crovir First Council’s very own Alexa King? And Lucas Soul and Anna Godard?’
Victor nodded wordlessly.
Ivan arched an eyebrow. ‘And you thought I should be privy to this information only now? When you need my help?’
Victor crossed his legs, dropped his elbows on the armrests of his seat, and steepled his fingers under his chin. ‘Bearing in mind that all the major conflicts between our races in the last century have been instigated by a Crovir, you will forgive me for having kept this information on a need-to-know basis.’
Ivan fought back the sliver of irritation that darted through him at the Bastian noble’s words.
He knew that many in both Immortal societies deemed him too young to have taken on the role of Head of the Order of Crovir Hunters and de facto leader of the Crovir race six years ago. Still, he had been a politician long enough to know when to speak his mind and when to abstain from revealing his innermost thoughts.
Besides, the man is right. The Crovirs have always had a nasty habit of starting wars.
‘I have heard of Lucas Soul’s abilities, obviously, but I thought the rumors of him surviving his seventeenth death were just that. Rumors.’
Of all the things Victor had told him, that statement had stunned Ivan the most. No Immortal had ever survived their seventeenth death. The possible ramifications if word of this got out and it became common knowledge among the Immortal societies unnerved him.
Lucas Soul had once been the most hunted Immortal on Earth. That he had only ever defended himself throughout that time did not mean he might not one day decide to take up arms. If he did, he would be unstoppable.
‘They were not,’ Victor said. ‘Anna can theoretically also survive her seventeenth death. And although neither of them have voiced it, I suspect I know the reason why Tomas and Lily Soul were taken.’
Ivan stared.
Vlado stirred next to him. ‘Their blood.’
Victor glanced at Vlado. ‘Correct. Lucas and Anna have unique genetic profiles. We’ve never explored the full extent of what their blood could do. Suffice to say there are no two people like them on Earth. Tomas and Lily’s genetic profiles must be doubly special. They also have—’ he faltered for a moment, ‘—other abilities.’
Ivan narrowed his eyes. ‘What abilities?’
Victor shook his head. ‘It’s too early to say yet. They may share their parents’ and their relatives’—gifts.’
Ivan masked a scowl beneath his stare. He knew he had just blatantly been lied to.
‘Now that you’ve told me all of this, what is it exactly that you expect from me, Victor?’ he said, unable to suppress his sharp tone.
Victor’s eyes glinted with a hard light. ‘The attack on Balthazar Island was well planned and carried out with military precision. It speaks of an organization being behind all of this rather than a small group of individuals who bear some kind of grudge against Lucas or Anna. It is evident the children were the targets and that they wanted them alive. As for Lucas and Anna, they had every intention of killing them that night.’
Unease filled Ivan as the undeniable meaning behind Victor’s words sank in.
‘I am not pointing the finger of accusation at you or the Crovir First Council,’ Victor continued in a steely voice. ‘I only want you to understand why I’m here. You need to ask questions of the rest of your Councils. Tidy your affairs. See if someone is, excuse the expression, shitting in your backyard. That is all I want from you right now.’
Although Ivan’s every instinct warned him that Dvorsky was only doing what any sensible leader should do, he could not stop the words that escaped his lips. ‘And if I don’t?’
Victor’s mouth curved into a thin smile. ‘Then, this time, it will be the Bastians who start the war.’
Ivan straightened in his chair. He could sense tension radiating from Vlado where he stood beside him.
‘That’s pretty bold of you when you’re sitting in the headquarters of your future enemy,’ he said grimly.
Victor sighed and rose to his feet, his expression suddenly tired. ‘There’s one thing you need to understand. Although I am the current leader of the Bastian race, I am but a glorified representative occupying that position. It belongs to the Godards.’ He paused. ‘Asgard never wanted the job, but Lucas and Anna were both invited to be members of the Bastian and Crovir First Councils.’
Ivan startled.
Victor looked at him steadily. ‘That’s something your predecessor obviously never revealed to you.’
Ivan clenched his jaw. It seemed surprising that such a significant matter would have slipped Dimitri Reznak’s attention when he handed over the mantle of leadership to him six years ago. He could not help but feel that the Crovir noble had deliberately not divulged the information, probably to keep Lucas Soul and Anna Godard’s incredible secrets buried.
‘So, you see, by
attacking Lucas and Anna, whoever is behind all of this just declared war with the true leaders of the Bastian race,’ Victor continued. ‘And not just the Bastian race, but the Crovirs too. Lucas and Anna are the last surviving heirs of Agatha Vellacrus and, as such, have justifiable claims to her former position as your leader. You are also occupying a seat that does not truly belong to you, Ivan.’
With that, he turned and exited the room.
Chapter Ten
Tomas walked barefoot in the center of the group of armed men guiding Lily and him along a brightly lit, concrete corridor. Though he couldn’t read their minds, he could sense a flicker of nervousness here and there from their consciousness.
News of what the two of them had done on the island had obviously reached their ears. He clenched his jaw. The undercurrent of dread radiating across his mental connection with his twin unnerved him more than their escort’s unease.
I’m okay, Tomas.
Tomas maintained a neutral expression as he swallowed an internal sigh of relief. Although he suspected he and Lily could take out the men around them with their powers, he knew there were more of them out there. He could discern hundreds in the complex around and above them, spheres of energy that flickered in and out of sight across his inner radar.
Many were similar to those of the masked soldiers who had attacked their home and the guards currently herding them through a maze of empty passages lined by doors identical to those of their cells. They were odd, elusive minds he couldn’t penetrate, their thoughts shifting clouds that offered the barest of glimpses into their souls.
Among them, concentrated in a different section of the facility, was another collection of strange consciousness. Whereas the soldiers’ brains projected a physical barrier that protected them, these minds seemed almost unformed, as if they were still maturing.
There were also normal humans and Immortals on the premises with them.
If we can get close enough to someone with an unshielded mind, we should be able to find out where we are and why we were brought here.
His sister murmured her agreement inside his head.
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