Chapter Thirty-Four
Ivan blinked his eyes open. A burning pain constricted his throat. He coughed hoarsely and bolted upright, fingers rising to his neck, air whistling in and out of his lungs. He stiffened when he touched his tender, swollen flesh. Memory returned and with it came a stab of dread.
Ivan looked around wildly, his pulse hammering away in his veins.
He was in a room with bare, white walls. A metal door with sliding panels stood on his left. Up ahead and to the right was a wash area. There was an air vent and a camera positioned above it.
Ivan bolted from the bed he lay on and started for the door, a dull ache lancing down his broken left arm. A wave of dizziness swept over him after a couple of steps. He stumbled and collapsed against the wall. The room spun around him.
Shit. Did they drug me?
He gritted his teeth, clutched the cold concrete, and stepped toward the door. A voice came just as he reached for the handle, the sound loud and clear inside his skull.
Wait! Don’t do—
Fire danced through Ivan’s body when his fingers made contact with the metal. He gasped and fell to his knees, his neck and back arching involuntarily as the electric current blasted through his body. It was another couple of excruciating seconds before he managed to let go. The voice in his head came again, its tone contrite.
—that.
Ivan cursed and stared at the perfect imprint of the handle etched into his right palm, wide awake and senses fully alert.
The voice spoke once more. It was female and that of a child, but oddly mature.
I’m sorry, I should have said something earlier. I didn’t want to scare you.
Ivan closed his eyes and gingerly touched his skull. Although he couldn’t feel any lumps, he wondered if he’d hit his head and suffered a concussion at some point during his capture. It was the only logical explanation for what was happening right now.
I’m not hearing voices. This is all in my imagination.
Someone sighed inside his mind. No, it’s not.
Ivan startled. The second voice was male and also young. A sudden premonition flashed through him.
He swallowed convulsively. Are you—?
Yes. I am Lily. Lily Soul.
And I am Tomas.
Ivan opened and closed his mouth soundlessly.
‘How come I can hear you?’ he blurted out.
Lily Soul spoke again. Because we possess the same psychic abilities as our Aunt Olivia.
Ivan blinked, stunned. ‘But—but, you’re just children!’
The boy’s voice came next. I know this is a shock to you, but it would be best if we communicate in our minds only. They are watching us.
A shudder ran through Ivan. He closed his eyes briefly.
Although Victor had warned him that Lucas and Anna Soul’s children were as gifted as, if not more gifted than, their kin, he had not truly believed the man at the time.
I mean, who in their right mind would?!
But, with everything that had happened recently, particularly Vlado’s bitter betrayal of their longstanding friendship, he had no choice but to finally trust in the Bastian leader’s words. Everything the Immortal had said so far had been the truth.
Do you mean Grandpa Victor?
Ivan startled at Lily’s words. You call him Grandpa?!
Tomas’s voice rose in his mind. Well, yes. He is an elder after all. Just like King Bastian. He hesitated. But we can’t call him Grandpa. That would not be good form.
Ivan climbed to his feet and walked unsteadily back to the bed, his mind reeling.
He sat down heavily on the mattress and gazed blindly at the concrete floor of his cell. You mean, you’ve met the kings?
Lily piped up. Sure. Although he can’t communicate psychically, King Bastian is listening in on our conversation right now.
Ivan stiffened. But I thought—
He isn’t our enemy. Tomas’s voice hardened. It’s King Crovir and Vlado Krall who are the ones we need to stop. King Bastian refused to cooperate with them and is a prisoner down here with us.
Ivan fisted his hands, anger surging through him. You know about Vlado?
Yes. Lily’s voice was calmer than her brother’s. We found out his name at the time of the kings’ revival, from the other Immortals in the lab.
Ivan frowned. Lab?
He listened with mounting trepidation as the children told him everything they had discovered since they had woken up in the facility four days ago.
So, Victor and your family were right. The super soldier program is real.
How are our father and mother?
Ivan registered the anxiety in Lily’s voice. They’re alright. They’re doing everything they can to find you. Everyone is. And they’re all pretty piss—er, angry about it all.
Tomas spoke then. Will you tell us what you know?
A wry grimace twisted Ivan’s lips. You could read my mind.
We try and avoid spying on the private thoughts of our family and friends. It would be rude to do otherwise.
Ivan stilled at Lily’s words.
Am I your friend?
It was Tomas who replied.
You are not our enemy. Nor are you an evil man. In fact, far from it.
Ivan rubbed his forehead and gathered his thoughts, humbled by the children’s trust. The enormity of what was unfolding still astounded him. He took a ragged breath and told them falteringly of all that Victor had said to him since the attack on their island.
The children listened in silence until the very end.
Ivan contemplated the cell he sat in when he finished. Do you know where we are?
‘Greenland!’
Howard stood framed in a window on the jet’s onboard computer monitor, his eyes bright with excitement. ‘Jordan and I devised a formula that was able to isolate and track old radioactive satellite data relating to the specific nuclear signature of the subs that went missing in 1968.’
‘Eva also uncovered a similar connection,’ Jordan said on the video call from Sumava. ‘She’s been studying the routes the military aircraft leaving Hawthorne have been taking over the last few decades. She found a significant number headed north by northeast, toward Greenland.’
Lucas glanced at the others around him, adrenaline buzzing in his veins. ‘So, the stuff we discovered in the mine was right.’
‘What did you find?’ Anna said, her face pale on the screen where she stood next to Madeleine, Zachary, and Olivia.
They were back at the airport outside Uranium City.
Once Ethan had destroyed the guns of the guards in the underground mine, it had not taken them long to overpower the remaining men at the facility. They’d searched the office they’d discovered next to the main ore pit and set the local miners free before leaving. They had gotten the call from Howard just as they’d driven onto the tarmac of the airport.
‘We found an old flight plan detailing where the supplies of rare earth elements were to be transported to once they had been processed,’ Conrad said. ‘They were headed for the east coast of Greenland.’
‘This would match what Olivia saw in those super soldiers’ minds,’ Ethan added. ‘Snow and ice.’
‘You got any visuals of the location from our satellite networks yet?’ Alexa asked Howard and Jordan.
‘They’re being patched through as we speak,’ Eva replied. ‘I should have them up in a couple of minutes.’
A third call flashed on the monitor. Lucas recognized the number and tapped a key. Victor appeared on the screen.
‘We were trying to call you,’ Lucas said.
‘I know,’ Victor said.
Unease filled Lucas as he studied the Immortal’s grim expression. ‘What’s wrong?’
Victor sighed and ran a hand through his hair. ‘The Crovir First Council just declared war on us.’
Lucas’s stomach plummeted. Alexa and the others stiffened around him.
‘Are they insane?’ Dimitri barked on
the video call from Sumava.
Asgard stood scowling beside him.
‘Sylviana and the others are convinced we’re behind Ivan and Vlado’s disappearance,’ Victor explained. ‘I told her everything we’ve learned so far, including handing over the data we’ve obtained on the super soldiers. She refuses to believe me still. Even after Westwood personally spoke to her about what happened in Nevada.’
‘We know where they are, Victor,’ Lucas said grimly.
Victor’s eyes widened. He straightened in his seat. ‘Where?’
Lucas briefed him on what they’d discovered in the last hour.
‘Satellite pictures coming up now,’ Eva said.
Another window appeared on the display. Whiteness filled it. Eva zoomed the image out. A bleak landscape of snow and ice-covered peaks appeared in the center. It was rimmed by wide, open plains to the west. To the east, the green waters of a series of fjords extended to the cobalt blue of the North Atlantic.
‘Here’s the GPR and infra-red satellite imagery of the same location,’ Eva said.
The screen changed.
‘Son of a—’ Anatole swore.
Lucas studied the three large infra-red hot spots on the monitor with a dry mouth.
‘The facility on the coastline corresponds with what Miss Ashkarov described,’ Eva said. ‘It’s an underground port housed in three caves, with direct access to the ocean via two fjords. I detect a number of nuclear submarines and warships stationed there. The one to the north matches the weapons manufacturing and storage base.’
‘So the one in the middle—’ Asgard started.
‘Yes. That’s their primary base. The GPR imaging confirms thirteen levels to the underground structure and the largest concentration of people. From what Miss Ashkarov reported of her visions, that’s where most of the super soldiers are stationed.’
Silence filled the jet.
‘You’re going to have a major fight on your hands,’ Victor said quietly.
Lucas observed the Bastian noble’s troubled face with mounting trepidation. ‘How many men can you spare?’
Victor took a shallow breath. ‘As of now, all bilateral agreements between the Crovir and Bastian societies are frozen.’ A muscle twitched in his cheek. ‘We are actively removing staff from our shared facilities around the world and the Crovirs have stated that they will no longer be cooperating with us on security matters. Sylviana has already informed the Secretary General of the UN that our two races are now effectively in direct conflict. She is also mobilizing every Crovir Hunter on the planet in preparation for what I can only assume will be some sort of attack against the Bastian First Council.’ He hesitated. ‘I can give you a thousand Hunters.’
‘Shit,’ Reid said dully. ‘That ain’t gonna be enough. Not against super soldiers and the other Immortals serving that bastard.’
‘I’ll contact the Crovir nobles who helped us fight Vellacrus,’ Dimitri said darkly. ‘If I wasn’t under house arrest, I would—’
‘That’ll take too long, Dimitri,’ Victor said. He studied Lucas. ‘I take it you’re going to make your move soon?’
Lucas nodded. ‘It’ll be night in Greenland soon. Sunrise is fifteen hours from now.’
‘Our best bet is to surprise them in the dark,’ Conrad said. ‘We have a limited time window to act in.’
‘We have other allies,’ Alexa said.
Lucas stared at her.
‘The Freemasons,’ Alexa explained. ‘I had an inkling we might need more man power so I gave them a heads up while we were in Baltimore. They’ll help.’ She smiled faintly. ‘I also called the Order of the Three Spears. There’s a plane full of monks headed for Europe as we speak.’
Zachary grinned. ‘Nice move, babe.’
‘Westwood and Connelly will send us men if we ask them,’ Conrad added. ‘I’m certain of it.’ He grimaced. ‘Besides, I have yet to collect on that debt Westwood owes me.’
‘I bet the Russians, Israelis, and French are going to want to help too,’ Victor said confidently. ‘So will the Germans and the British if Westwood and I talk to them.’
Anticipation sent Lucas’s pulse spiking.
He fisted his hands and dipped his chin. ‘So, we have a plan.’
Chapter Thirty-Five
They landed at Keflavik International Airport, thirty miles southwest of the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, just after midnight local time.
Ethan stepped out of the jet and eyed the troops of Immortal and human soldiers gathered next to the military transport aircraft on the tarmac around them. Though barely seven hours had passed since the Bastian Hunters, Freemasons, and US Rangers had received the call to arms, the men and women were already gearing up for battle, their snow suits stark under the halogen spotlights dotting the ground of the former US naval air station based at the airport. More aircraft circled the sky above them, bringing the rest of the NATO forces joining their ranks from Europe.
Ethan’s gaze sought and found the group he was looking for. Two hundred feet ahead and to the left, Olivia and the others were headed briskly across the tarmac toward them from their jet. Heat surged inside Ethan’s chest. He felt the ancient soul inside him stir. He descended the steps and hastened his stride.
They met at the halfway point, Olivia running into his arms with a low cry. Her hands wrapped around the back of his head and she burrowed her face in his neck as he lifted her off the ground.
Ethan shuddered at her touch and hugged her to him tightly. He reveled in the warmth of her body and drank in her scent. It was as if he had never held her before.
Olivia finally lifted her head and stared at him, her green eyes glittering with emotion.
‘It is good to see you,’ she whispered.
Ethan knew it was Navia who had spoken then. His throat clogged up as a torrent of feelings washed through him from Jared. The agony of their long forbidden love, a love that had gone unfulfilled during their ancient lives, caused his pulse to stutter.
‘It is good to see you too.’
Ethan lowered his head and took her lips. It was a slow, reverent kiss, one that was meant for the ones who dwelled inside them.
It felt like their first time all over again.
Alexa slowed when she beheld Asgard, her chest tight with emotion. She knew now why it was she had felt such a strange affinity toward him, ever since their first meeting. She wondered whether Mila had always sensed it where she lay dormant in her heart—sensed that a piece of Romerus lived inside the man descended from his noble bloodline.
She walked into Asgard’s arms and wrapped her hands around his waist wordlessly.
Peace filled her when he held her tightly to his chest. A peace as old as time and full of the centuries of love and adoration Mila and Romerus had once shared.
‘I never thought—’ Asgard started gruffly.
Alexa felt him swallow convulsively against her. She raised her head and smiled at him tremulously, the feelings coursing through her from the soul within so strong she felt her body tremble.
‘I know.’
She stepped out of his hold reluctantly and watched as he turned to the man next to her.
‘It is good to see you, Romerus,’ Conrad said hoarsely.
Asgard engulfed Conrad in a hug. ‘It is good to see you too, Rafael.’
Alexa twisted on her heels and faced the woman beside Asgard.
Madeleine touched her cheek lightly before dropping a kiss on her forehead, tears brimming in her eyes.
Alexa clutched her fingers where they lay against her skin, too full of emotion to speak. She took a shuddering breath and finally looked at the silent man who stood watching her with a heated gaze.
Zachary’s eyes burned as bright as diamonds.
Alexa hesitated before taking a step toward him, her senses overwhelmed by the fiery storm in her chest. She could see the other soul inside him, the one to whom the warrior within her had once utterly lost herself, just as she herself had to his reinc
arnated form.
Zachary closed the distance between them and raised his hands to her face. She swallowed a moan as his touch scorched her flesh and sent electricity sparking along her nerve endings. He lowered his head, his fingers trembling where they lay on her skin. As his breath washed across her lips, a memory flashed through Alexa, one filled with so much yearning and loss it robbed her of air.
It was a memory of the last kiss these two souls had shared, on a battlefield in a distant land and time.
Just as Mila had once stolen Aäron’s last breath, Alexa now returned it to Zachary, his lips when he pressed them to hers so sweet and warm all she could do was cling to him.
It was a long, slow kiss. One that tasted of the past and spoke of a love so deep it had lasted millennia. Of a bond so powerful it could never be broken, even by death.
‘It is good to see you, my Queen,’ Zachary whispered against her mouth.
Alexa blinked, her vision blurring with tears while her heart sang with the fiercest joy. ‘It is good to see you too, my Prince.’
Anna hesitated when she stopped before Lucas. Her anxious gaze roamed his face.
Lucas smiled faintly, aware of the two souls watching her curiously from behind his eyes. ‘I’m still me.’
Relief washed across her face. Her breath left her lips shakily. She wrapped her arms around his neck, rose on her tip toes, and pressed her mouth to his.
Lucas stifled a groan, hugged her to his chest, and deepened the kiss. Though they had only been apart five days, it felt like a lifetime since he had last touched her. Anna’s fingers speared his hair as she molded her body to his and responded just as ardently.
Someone chuckled close by.
Lucas reluctantly pulled away from Anna and gazed dazedly at her flushed face before looking over at Reid. ‘What?’
Reid grinned at his defensive tone. ‘It’s like watching you two fall for each other all over again.’
Anna rolled her eyes at him and dropped back down on her heels.
A sliver of anxiety danced through Lucas as he studied her. ‘Are you sure you want to come?’
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