Dark Sentinel: Book one in the Sentinel Series

by Adam Matlow

  Marcus buried his head into the padding of the seat. As he succumbed to the depths of exhaustion his mind twisted with the events of the day, and of his lucky escape. As he fell asleep one last question crossed his mind:

  How on Earth did they find me?

  Chapter Four

  Faces; all around him, terrified. They huddle in corners and cover themselves. Avoiding eye contact, afraid that they will be next. He’s holding a rifle; aiming it at the crowd. There are others here too, wearing black, rounding people up and loading them into trucks. Some try to run away. They are shot, their bodies left on the street where they fall. A man breaks free and runs past Marcus, towards his family who are huddled in a doorway. Marcus beats the man with the butt of his rifle in front of his wife and children, who scream for him to be left alone. He drags him away and throws the beaten man into the back of a truck, loaded with many other townspeople, then slams the rear door. Marcus clambers onto the side of the truck and thuds on the roof with a gloved hand.

  As the trucks drive off a man runs out and grabs the side of one of them, reaching through to try and take the hand of his daughter who has been taken. Marcus kicks the man away. Another guard takes a shot at the man with his rifle but misses. As they drive off, the man in the street sinks to his knees and sobs.

  ◆◆◆

  “Wake up, we’re here.”

  Marcus awoke with a jolt, which sent a stab of pain through his shoulder and along his arm. He shielded his eyes as sunlight streamed through the windscreen. His other clamped onto his wounded shoulder, as it burned with pain. Piles of blood-soaked wadding sat on the seat next to him. He dreaded to think how much blood he’d lost.

  “We need to get you properly patched up,” said Kali, next to him. “I’ve done as much as I can with the med-kit.”

  “Where are we?” asked Marcus.

  “At our camp.”

  The truck pulled over by a small collection of tents and other temporary buildings at the base of a cliff, nestled in a clearing. They were surrounded by pine trees, the only way in and out was the muddy track leading to the small clearing they were in. In the distance, the silhouette of the mountains, their peaks hidden amongst thick cloud, hung above the treeline.

  “Cosy,” remarked Marcus as he lumbered out of the truck.

  “Come on,” she beckoned. “Someone is waiting to see you.”

  Kali appeared beside him and offered a helping hand on the uneven ground, and Marcus leaned on her for support. As they approached one of the buildings he was greeted by a medic who helped them inside.

  Armed guards stood at the doors, keeping a watchful eye on everything going on within the building. Medics scampered around treating the wounds of several other people injured in his rescue.

  “We’re not taking any chances after last night,” said Kali, motioning to the guards. “Davon’s not going to be happy when he realises we have his star pupil.” She pointed to Amara who was strapped to a bed on the other side of the room, still unconscious.

  Marcus scratched his head. I wonder what’s so special about you?

  “Let’s get your shoulder looked at,” said Kali, breaking him from his thoughts.

  She helped Marcus onto the nearest unoccupied bed and made him comfortable. A medic came over with some first aid equipment, placed them on the bed, and examined his wound.

  “Looks like you got lucky, it’s a clean shot, doesn’t appear to be any shrapnel left in there. I’m going to have to clean it and give you a few stitches,” said the medic as he rifled through his supplies.

  Marcus winced as the medic went about fixing his shoulder.

  “Lucky eh? Next time tell your people to not shoot the person they are trying to rescue,” he said.

  “Actually, we were there for Amara,” said Kali.

  “Way to make a guy feel wanted,” huffed Marcus. “And for your information, I’d already escaped once.”

  “Yeah, it looked like it was going well. Right up until you were caught.”

  “You were watching? You could have helped,” said Marcus.

  “If it makes you feel any better, you provided us with a nice distraction. So, in a way, you helped us help you.”

  In the end, it didn’t matter. He was still alive, and free. A much-improved situation from the one he was in a few hours ago.

  When the medic finished treating his wounds, he placed Marcus’s arm in a sling and gave him a handful of antibiotics and painkillers to take. Marcus swallowed them all in one go and lay back on the bed.

  “So, when do I find out what is going on here then?” asked Marcus, as the medic moved onto his next patient.

  A deep and familiar voice at the back of the room replied. “Right about now I reckon.”

  “Doc!” cried Marcus, “Thank god you’re okay.”

  He hobbled over and embraced his friend.

  “I was on my way back to New Hope looking for you when I was ambushed by a couple of heavies working for Hudson.”

  “I know,” Doc replied. “When Davon’s men attacked the town I hid in my workshop. I have a nice little concealed bunker under the floor I use for some of my more… energetic experiments. Davon’s men might be loyal, but they’re not particularly smart. I was perfectly safe.”

  Marcus limped back over to his bed and sat on the edge, Doc followed, continuing to explain.

  “How come I’ve never heard of this bunker before?”

  “It’s not important now,” Doc said. “After they finished searching the warehouse, I snuck out and met with Kali and helped arrange your escape.”

  “I wasn’t aware you two were acquainted,” said Marcus.

  “We go back,” said Kali, who was stood by the doorway. “You have Doc to thank for your rescue. He’s the reason we could find you at all.”

  Marcus stared blankly at them, waiting for them to explain further.

  “Remember when you were in Hudson’s office and I told you to be co-operative? I got right up in your face about it.”

  “Yeah, I did wonder what that was all about. Thought you were going in for a kiss. Got my hopes up and everything.”

  “Ha, you wish. Actually, it was so I could plant this on you.”

  Kali grabbed his jacket from the bottom of his bed and flipped over the collar. A metallic glint, from an object roughly the size of a coin tucked into a rip in the lining caught his eye.

  “A present from Doc,” she said as she pulled it out and flicked it across the bed towards Marcus. He picked it up and turned it over in his hand.

  Doc beamed with pride. “A beacon of sorts. Something I cobbled together a while ago. Knew it would come in handy one day.”

  “So, you could track me?” asked Marcus.

  “Well, yes and no,” said Doc, “It has a limited range, and it only gives an approximate location, but out here it was enough for Kali to track you down.”

  “This is switched off, right?” asked Marcus, twirling it around in his hand. “We don’t want someone else being able to track us with this.”

  “The battery ran out hours ago. It’s perfectly safe now,” said Doc.

  It was time he found out what was going on here. He didn’t like to be out of the loop. Especially when his life was on the line. He stared at Doc. “Go on, let me in on the big secret. What’s going on?” he asked.

  Kali looked at Doc, who nodded as if he were giving her permission.

  “As you have no doubt heard, the Underground want Davon gone. We don’t know where he came from or why, but life has been intolerable since he arrived. Now, something else is happening.” She paced around the room as she spoke. “In the last few months he’s been shipping large quantities of raw materials to the Forge, and as you know, more and more people have been disappearing. We believe the two are connected. We don’t know what he’s doing in there, but whatever it is, it can’t be good. Everything changed when that Vana girl showed up. There’s something different about her and Davon’s going crazy trying to get his hands o
n her. So much so he left the Forge for the first time in years. We have no idea why, but she might,” said Kali, nodding towards the still unconscious and now well restrained Amara.

  “So, the real objective was to capture her, and I was just, what? A bonus?”

  “Ah don’t get all bent out of shape,” Kali replied, “Doc would never forgive me if we let anything happen to you. The plan was always to rescue you as well as capture her. You should know your rescue cost the lives of two of my people, so don’t consider yourself too hard done by.”

  A stab of guilt hit him, and it brought the reality of the situation into pinpoint focus.

  “I’m... sorry Kali. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful because of course, I am.”

  Amara moaned gently, and her arms twitched. The restraints rattled against the frame of the bed.

  “What’s the plan with her then?” asked Marcus.

  It was Doc who replied to his question. “It’s been difficult to get any information on what Davon is doing. We’ve captured and interrogated several of his men before. They either know nothing or are very well trained. They never reveal any useful information.

  “Then there are the others, like Amara over there. They are different. The elite Legion soldiers. They act as his personal bodyguards and are the eyes and ears of Davon. Amara is one of them, she must know more about what is going on up there, and perhaps this would give us a clue as to how to stop him for good. Capturing an Elite alive had proven to be impossible. Until now...”

  “How come?” asked Marcus, rubbing his temples with his hands. He was getting a lot of information all at once, and it made his head pound.

  “Quite simply they don’t allow themselves to be taken alive,” said Doc. “We’ve had two previous attempts to do so. The first came to a rather messy end with a self-inflicted shotgun wound, the second threw herself off the roof of a building after we cornered her. Davon’s control over them is unnerving.”

  “But you managed to capture Amara,” said Marcus.

  “Thanks to the charge gun, yes,” said Doc. “It delivers a massive electric shock to the target, rendering them unconscious. So far it’s the only thing to have worked.”

  “Still some bugs to work out though Doc,” said Kali. “The damn thing melted in my hand after the first shot.”

  “So that’s what you shot her with?” said Marcus. “Pretty effective if you ask me. Any chance I can get my hands on one? It looks fun.”

  “I’m afraid there’s only the prototype,” said Doc. “And it’s going to be out of commission for a while.”

  “Shame. I was planning on dishing out some divine justice. You know - Zeus style, with the lightning and th--”

  “Maybe we should have the medic check you for a concussion,” smirked Kali. “You sound delirious.”

  “Just happy to be alive. After everything that’s happened to me in the last few days, I think I can be forgiven for letting off a bit of steam.”

  Amara twitched, which caught Marcus’s attention. He walked over to her.

  “First Elite ever to be captured alive eh?” he said. “Do you think she will talk?”

  “We have no idea,” said Doc, “We’ve got her sedated for now until we can get her somewhere more secure to try and break her conditioning.”

  Doc walked over to the bed and placed his hand gently on her cheek, “We have a chance to save her,” he said.

  Marcus hadn’t noticed it before now but there was a remarkable resemblance between the two. Her nose, eyes - the shape of her face. He’d seen these before in the face of his friend.

  Amara was Doc’s daughter.

  ◆◆◆

  Marcus was reeling from the revelations of the last few hours. He’d known Doc for years, and he didn’t recall him ever mentioning a daughter. What’s more, Doc had been working with Kali all this time - investigating Davon. Marcus considered himself to be fairly switched on, so felt a little disconcerted this had been going on without him knowing about it.

  Doc sat in a chair next to Amara’s bed and talked indistinctly with the medic, who was busy checking Amara’s vitals while he scribbled notes on a pad.

  “How’s the shoulder?” asked Kali.

  Marcus rose slowly, wary of making any sudden movements. The sling across his shoulder was helping; the pain now a bearable ache.

  “Okay I guess. The drugs must be kicking in.”

  “Let’s take a walk shall we?” she nodded towards the doorway.

  “Yeah, I could do with some air.”

  Kali held the door open for him as he hobbled out, his eyes strained against the sunlight.

  Marcus got his first good look at the camp. There were at least ten tents pitched in a rough circle. Trucks were parked in the centre of the ring of tents and armed guards patrolled the perimeter.

  “What’s the deal with this place then?” asked Marcus, kicking lumps of mud as he walked.

  “After the attack on New Hope the underground members scattered. We needed to regroup to plan our next move. This has been coming for a long time now, but it needed something like this to happen to force everyone into action. So, we set up shop here. It’s out of the way, so we won’t be getting any uninvited guests. Gives us a little time to breathe and prepare. Now we have one of their elite we might start getting some answers.”

  “He’s her father, isn’t he. I can see it in his eyes. Just another one of the many secrets he’s been keeping from me. Did you know about this?”

  “He had his reasons for not telling you about her. You’ll need to talk to him about it. It’s not my place. He’s been looking for her for years. We’d heard rumours that she was still alive, but until she showed up in New Hope with Davon we couldn’t be sure.”

  “Shit, and seeing her in that condition… he’s taking it better than I would.”

  “Doc is important to what we’re doing here. I don’t want to put him in the position of choosing between us and his daughter.”

  Marcus understood. To have thought something was lost forever, only to get it back. There’s no telling what lengths Doc would go to in order to ensure he never lost her again. Better to take things slowly and let Doc deal with it in his own time.

  “I wonder whatever happened to Vana?” said Marcus. “Davon said he found the truck, but she wasn’t there.”

  Kali shifted her feet uncomfortably.

  “You know where she is don’t you?” asked Marcus.

  “I know where she is.”

  “Is she safe?”

  “She’s with one of my people, we have her tucked away in a safe-house.”

  The fact that she wasn’t in the hands of Davon gave Marcus a small sense of satisfaction. It must be driving him crazy to have lost her twice.

  “Lucky you got to her first I suppose.”

  “Doc’s been with us for a while now and he knows all your little secret ways in and out of New Hope. It didn’t take us long to find her, waiting for you. Feisty though isn’t she? It wasn’t easy convincing her to come with us.”

  “Well, I hope you get the answers you’re looking for. Ever since she showed up, everything’s gone crazy. She’s hiding something. Something big. Part of me is intrigued by what is going on. The other part, the rational part, is encouraging me to find a nice quiet hole to live in for the next ten years.”

  “Not gonna happen I’m afraid. My friends have been talking with her, and it seems that she’ll only deal with you. Apparently, she only trusts you.”

  “Well, I did save her life. Gotta count for something right?”

  Marcus stopped and leaned against a low brick wall, at one point in its life part of a much larger building, but now reduced to rubble.

  “So, where’ve you been keeping her?”

  Kali didn’t get a chance to answer.

  The relative calm of the camp was shattered by yelling and screaming coming from the medical building. Marcus and Kali rushed back and burst through the doors. Amara was conscious, screaming and strugglin
g to break free of her restraints.

  “Hold her,” yelled Doc to the two guards by her bed.

  “What’s going on?” Kali shouted through the confusion.

  “I don’t know,” Doc grabbed a syringe and filled it with a clear liquid from one of the many vials scattered around. “She woke up and started screaming. I’ve given her twice as much sedative as normal, but it’s not working on her. I’m preparing another dose.”

  “Let me go!” screamed Amara, “I’ll kill you all!”

  The thrashing intensified and she foamed at the mouth.

  “It looks like she’s having a seizure,” said Kali, who struggled against Amara.

  Marcus moved closer. Amara’s eyes locked on him and the struggling stopped.

  “You!” she bellowed, her voice cracking with the strain. “This is all your fault.”

  “Hold her steady,” said Doc. “Her arm, hold it.”

  Kali grabbed Amara’s arm as Doc plunged the needle into it, pumping its contents into her.

  “I can’t give her anymore. I’ve already given her the maximum safe dosage. If this doesn’t work I’m out of ideas.”

  Her screams of anger turned to whimpers, her body relaxed and her eyes glossed over as the drug took hold. As quickly as it started it was over. The guards released their grips, her skin mottled where she had been restrained.

  “Thank god for that,” Kali said, letting out a sigh of relief.

  Doc checked her pulse and nodded, “Good. She’s out again, but I don’t know for how long.”

  “I don’t get it Doc,” said Marcus, “Don’t you want her awake?”

  “No, not yet. We need to keep her unconscious until we are in a more secure environment and have all the right equipment to treat her condition.”

  “Sounds like you’ve done this before.”

  “Once, a long time ago, but the conditions were quite different back then.” He shifted his feet and shuffled some papers on his desk randomly, lost in thought.

  The awkward silence was broken by Kali, “Right then, we need to get Amara back to the bunker, I’ll arrange a truck for you. How long before you can move her Doc?”