“Our ship didn’t do all this damage,” I mutter.
Drusilla shakes her head. “We didn’t. We’re in one of the processing stations at the Gorge facility. I saw it overhead just before we touched down. Our strike team must have already set off their explosives.”
“Why would you insurrectionists be wasting time with a labor camp?” Cassius asks, sounding truly surprised for once.
“Shut it.” Corin slams him in the jaw with the butt of his weapon, causing him to double over.
I grip Corin’s arm before he can do any serious damage. “Stand down.”
Corin’s eyes ooze venom, but he nods and spits a wad by our captive’s bare feet.
Cassius looks up at him and grins, wiping a streak of blood from his lower lip and teeth. “When this is over, you and I are going to have a very serious talk, little man.”
“Enough,” I mutter, turning to Dru. “Any idea where we might be able to rendezvous with our strike team?”
Drusilla scans the readout on her holo-band. “There’s a whole lot of interference screwing with the signal, but it looks like their beacon’s transmitting from just around that junction.” She nudges her chin in the direction of a fork in the smoke-filled corridor just ahead.
“Time to join’em.” I lead the way through the maze of sparking wires, dead bodies, and crumpled metal, pausing to allow the others to catch up with me.
“You know we could make a lot better time if we ditched the dead weight,” Corin groans.
“Agreed. Go home while you can, little man.” Cass’s eyes reflect the blazing debris surrounding us.
My gaze flits between the two of them and settles on Cassius. “As soon as we meet up with the others you’ll be relieved of your burden.” Then I turn and continue, feeling too guilty to meet Dru’s and Corin’s glares.
It’s frustrating me that I can’t tell them why I need Cassius alive, especially when every instinct is telling me to get rid of him now, while I’ve got the chance I’ve been seeking for so long. But how do I explain to them what my reasons are without bringing up the whole Queran Embers thing? They’d never understand. In any case, I need to think of a reason for keeping Cassius around real quick because there’s no way the others are going to go for it. They’ll take him out as soon as they set eyes on him.
I round the corner.
“According to the readouts,” Dru says, “the team should be just around—”
Shots tear through the corridor around us, blowing holes in the walls and tearing smoking craters into the flooring.
“Throw down your weapons!” A male voice shouts.
“Hands on your heads!” Another voice joins in from the opposite direction, this one female.
“Hold your fire!” I yell back, already on my knees with my hands clasped behind my head. The last thing I want to risk is Cole getting hit in any crossfire. “Stand down,” I half-whisper, half-grumble to Corin and Dru.
Figures emerge from the shadows and surround us.
Figures outfitted in Thorn Regime gear. It’s over.
I silently curse myself that I didn’t take care of Cassius when I had the chance.
That is, until I look up at the shadow that eclipses the light above me.
“Where the bloody hell did you come from, Mate?” Cage stares at me, his expression alternating between shock, anger, and amusement. He lowers his weapon.
I could leap up and kiss him right now, but instead I grab the hand he offers and let him pull me to my feet. “Buy me a drink, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Unstrapping Cole, I scoop him into my arms, patting his cheek. “How you holding up, Buddy?”
“You found your brother?” Cage asks. “That means you’ve been to the Parish. Any word on Tristin?”
“I—”
“Spark! It is you!” Arrah pushes past Cage and engulfs me and Cole in a fierce hug. “Didn’t think I’d see you again,” she whispers in my ear.
“Don’t I get a hug?” Drusilla asks from behind me.
“Dru!” Arrah tears herself from me, dashes to Drusilla, and lifts and spins her around before planting a kiss on her lips. “When we lost contact I thought—” she backs away and jabs a finger in the center of Drusilla’s chest. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“Affirmative, Sir.” Drusilla gives her another squeeze before slowly letting go.
“Don’t worry, I’m okay, thanks,” Corin grumbles.
“Good to see you, kid.” Dahlia ruffles his hair and he shoots her a dirty look, before his face reddens and he bursts into a grin.
An unfamiliar man pushes his way forward––bald, thirties, well over six feet of solid muscle. Unlike my friends, he still has his weapon trained on me. An angry, long scar carves his face from the corner of his right eye down to his lower lip. “Hate to interrupt your little reunion but we’re on a mission here.”
Behind him, a group of about twenty equally intimidating and armed men, women, and teens mutter their agreement.
I hold his stare and pick up my weapon. “Ready when you are, Mister…?
“Call me Deal Breaker,” he growls.
I can’t help let out a chuckle. “Lucian Spark here.”
Cage steps between us. “DB here and his crew are the former recruits and prisoners who formed their own militia and trained right under the Gorge’s noses. They’ve thrown in their lot with the resistance and have been pivotal getting us this far.”
I nod and give Deal Breaker the once over again. “Glad to have you on the team.”
Deal Breaker spits out a wad of tobacco, barely missing my boot. “How much longer till we breach that secured access door, Fontana?” he calls over his shoulder.
I crane my neck and take in the sight of a gaunt young woman with scraggly hair. She’s hunched over a console, which is attached by wires to the digital locking mechanism of a huge, metal door. “Should just be a few more minutes to get the last two numbers in the code.”
“Step it up,” he barks.
Dahlia’s able to read my confused expression. “Once our team infiltrated the Gorge and detonated the explosives, the militia got hold of the latest schematics. There’s a newly constructed tunnel system through that access door. It’s the most direct route to the installation’s control tower.”
Reaching inside my pocket, I pull out Valerian’s chip. “This might help speed things up.” I toss it to Fontana and turn to my friends. “A little gift from Valerian.”
“I wouldn’t go through that door if I were you.” Cassius is still on his knees, muscles tense, coated in dirt and sweat. His head’s tilted downward, obscuring his face.
“Who’s that, Mate?” Cage asks.
Before I can answer him, running feet echo down the corridor, coming right at us.
Everyone snaps to attention, grabbing their weapons and aiming them in the direction of the newcomers.
But as soon as they come into view, weapons are lowered and hushed sighs of relief abound.
It seems I’m the only that’s not feeling at ease at the sight of Rios and Jeptha, both breathless, their eyes brimming with panic.
“An entire battalion is headed this way,” Jeptha announces. “They wiped out the rest of our team.”
“How’re we coming on that door, Fontana?” DB shouts.
“Almost there. The intel Spark provided is really doing the trick. Just one more digit to complete the code.”
“I’m warning you,” Cassius hisses. “Don’t go through that door.”
“And just who the hell asked you?” Deal Breaker shoots back.
As self-preservation seems to be Cassius’s guiding force, my curiosity’s officially peaked. “What’s inside there?”
Rios finally takes notice of me and aims his weapon my way. “What the hell is this traitor doing here? He could jeopardize the entire mission.” He turns to Cage. “Shoot him.”
Cage’s eyes go wide and bounce back between mine and Rios’s. “I can’t do that, Sir.”
/>
Rios turns the gun toward Cage and cocks it. “This scum is guilty of treason. Kill him. That’s an order.”
Cage takes a step back and Dahlia moves to his side.
Jeptha steps in front of his son. “Stand down, Rios. Spark may be guilty as you believe, but we can’t execute him without a hearing to determine the facts. To do so would make us no better than the regime we’re fighting against.”
Deal Breaker smirks. “In case you people haven’t been keeping score, there’s no time for a hearing.”
I hand over Cole to Drusilla and face Rios. “No need to involve anyone else. This is between you and me.”
Rios unleashes his full wrath on me. “Very well then. I’ll kill you myself.”
Cassius stands and clears his throat. “That won’t be necessary. I believe it’s me that you want.”
Everyone turns to him. They’re just as shocked to see him as I am that he spoke up and diverted Rios’s attention from me.
“Thorn,” Rios seethes, shifting the gun toward Cassius instead. “Time for you to pay for all your crimes.”
Before anyone can say anything, Cole leaps from Drusilla’s grasp and dashes to Cassius. I move to pounce on Rios. Something drops from the ceiling and grabs Rios’s gun hand. A shot rings out.
Then everything seems to happen all at once.
Digory’s towering above Rios, having wrenched the gun from his hand.
“Tycho!” Rios shouts and lunges, but Digory grips him by the neck and lifts him off the ground.
I moved toward Digory. “How did you—?
“We completed our regeneration cycle. Upon tracking your accompanying squad back to the Citadel, we accessed the computer network, learned of the security breach, and stowed aboard the rooftop transport just before your escape.”
I let out a long breath. “It was you that grabbed my leg and hitched a ride on Dru’s ship before we crashed. You followed me.”
Cage shakes his head. “I’m not following any of this, Mate.”
“Don’t…you…see…,” Rios gasps, clawing at Digory’s hand. “Spark’s been working…with Thorn…all along…”
“I got it!” Fontana yells. The final digit to the security code flashes bright on her console. The access door swooshes open.
An explosion rocks the corridor, hurling us all about in a blur. It’s accompanied by energy blasts from pulsators striking all around us.
“Into the access corridor!” Deal Breaker shouts.
I catch glimpses of Dahlia, Arrah, and Drusilla, stumbling through the opening, along with Jeptha and members of the militia crew. Cage is trying to haul Rios and me to our feet. I push away and crawl over to Cassius. He’s shielding Cole with his broad back. Blood’s oozing from Cole’s arm where Rios’s shot nicked him.
“Cole! You okay?” Shoving Cassius aside, I give my brother a quick once-over, making sure the injury’s just a flesh wound. “You’re good. C’mon. We gotta get outta—”
“Leave me alone!” Cole claws at me. I wrap my arms around his frenzied body, trying to pin his arms to his side, but it’s like trying to hug fire.
“Let me try.” Cassius holds out his hand and strokes Cole’s hair.
As much as the sight sickens me, it seems to work. In seconds, the frenzied look on Cole’s face dissipates. His face becomes vacant. Even his breathing slows down. He reaches out for Cassius. I can only stare, stunned, as he slips from my grasp and into Cassius’s welcoming hug—just like he used to embrace me after he woke up from one of his nightmares. Only this time, he’s seeking refuge with one of the very same monsters who have plagued our lives for so long.
“What have you done to him?” I mutter more to myself.
More blasts strike all around us, churning up chunks of metal and concrete in clouds of billowing smoke.
I wrench Cassius to his feet and drag him toward the access corridor, pushing him and Cole through.
“Wait, Lucian! I already told you. We can’t,” he protests, trying to go back.
“Shut up.” I thrust him backwards, half in anger, and have just to escape the sight of this unnerving bond between him and Cole.
A split-second after I clear the accessway’s threshold, another blast strikes, and the door slams shut behind me. Deafening clanks and hisses assault the air as a series of locking mechanisms engage with thunderous rumbling.
“That oughtta buy us a little time,” I huff.
Cass’s eyes grow wide. “You don’t realize what you’ve done.”
I stare at the rag tag group huddled close by. Cage, Arrah, Dru, Dahlia, Corin and the rest of my fellow resistance fighters. Deal Breaker, Fontana, and the rest of their militia team, all nursing their wounds, muttering among themselves, shooting glances at Cassius, then at me, eyes filled with suspicion and accusation.
Cassius sets Cole down, never letting go of his hand. Instead he glances upwards, and I follow his gaze.
The walls and ceiling stretch up and away into infinity. Thin grids of red laser light divide the otherwise smooth surfaces. On the ground, multiple pathways snake from our side across the vast field, disappearing into the shadows on the other side. There’s something eerily familiar about this place, but I can’t quite place it.
Drusilla’s frantically adjusting the controls on her scanner. “I can’t get a fix on our location.”
Arrah cranes her neck over Drusilla’s shoulder to study the screen. “Some kind of electrical field’s scrambling the readings.”
Cage points a finger at Cassius. “We need to take this bloody filth out now while we’ve got the chance.”
Rising silently from the ground, Digory’s limbs unspool until he’s towering above Cage and standing between everyone else and Cassius.
“Thorn may be your only hope of escaping this place.” His voice is as cold and devoid of emotion as the first time I heard it at the Cape.
Rios, arm slung around Jeptha for support, lets go and steps forward, still rubbing his neck, still raw with Digory’s handprint. “Why should we listen to you? You killed my son. And you’re not even human anymore.”
Digory’s eyes flit in my direction and hold for a moment before darting away again. He doesn’t respond. Instead he bows his head and stares at the ground, as if daring anyone to step over an invisible line.
Deal Breaker’s ear is pressed against the sealed access door. He turns to us. “Won’t take ’em long to figure out where we went and come after us. We need to get our butts in motion.”
“Let’s go!” Corin chimes in. His face twitches. He bounces from one foot to the other. Cass’s expression looks grave. “It’s not that simple.”
Dahlia turns to him. “Why? Just where the hell are we?”
Before Cassius can respond, the lights grow dim and a high pitched vibration fills the air.
“What the hell is going on?” I lunge for Cassius, but Digory intercepts me, grabbing my arm in an iron grip. I glare at him and the pressure eases just a bit.
“We’re being scanned,” Cassius announces.
His voice is stripped of its usual cockiness and aloofness. I sense genuine fear and my eyes reflexively fix on Cole before settling back on him.
“Scanned for what?” I ask.
The red glow descends, engulfing each of us in quick succession. The sky crackles with a data storm. All our images flash, intercut with images of body scans, bio readouts, brain wave patterns, and a slew of other info before fading out.
New Recruit profiles complete, a voice announces over the com system.
The sound of it freezes my heart in mid-pump. That vague sense of impending doom crystalizes. This vast underground facility. Each of us being catalogued into the system.
Cass’s warning.
Nightmares of Infiernos burst through the carefully compartmentalized walls in my brain. I can tell by the looks on Cage, Drusilla, Deal Breaker, and the others’ faces they get it too. Even Digory, in his new, ice-cold incarnation, looks ill at ease, his former self responding
through some primordial instinct to the memories of the horrors we once faced together.
It’s happening again.
Cassius’s lips curl into a bitter smile. “We’ve just been drafted.”
My jaw drops and I turn to Cassius, unable to give voice to my shock.
“You should have listened,” Cassius’s voice is low. “The blasts must have shorted the system and locked in the start-up sequence. Once it’s begun, there’s no way to stop it except to make it through. All of us. Together.”
Your Final Trial is about to begin, the computer voice blares. Good luck, Recruits.
FOURTEEN
A spherical containment field springs to life around us, crackling with energy, holding us at bay until the starting signal goes off. I’ve seen enough of these now to know that if we attempt to cross the field before the trial begins, we’ll be instantly shocked to death or just plain vaped into an unrecognizable mound of goop.
I whip my head around to face Cassius. “What the hell have you done? The Trials are over. I made sure of that back at Infiernos.”
He shakes his head. “We’ve scrutinized the recruitment process. Learned from the mistakes of the past. Refined it. This new experimental program will train soldiers more efficiently. Maximize their abilities without the barbarism of forcing them to choose which of their loved ones dies.” His eyes soften. “I thought you of all people would be pleased at the lack of collateral damage.”
Cage rushes toward Cassius, but Digory’s hand shoots out and jams against Cage’s chest, stopping him short.
“Stay back,” he drones in a monotone.
“You get one pass because we used to be friends, Mate.” Cage grips Digory’s wrist, and the two stare each other down, one seething, the other like ice, until Digory lowers his arm, as if he’s merely lost interest.
I’m still in shock. How naïve I was to think the Trials were behind me forever. Isn’t this all life really is? A series of endless challenges until the day you die?
Deep rumbling vibrates through my core, jolting all my senses on the alert.
The Raising (The Torch Keeper Book 3) Page 11