Capture (The Machinists Book 4)

by Craig Andrews

  The driver hung upside down, held in place by his seatbelt. Blood ran down his face, dripping onto the top of the cab. His eyes were open, cold and lifeless, and he didn’t move. The seat beside him was empty, the door—

  Someone screamed.

  Allyn leaped to the side, trusting instinct over reason, and was rewarded when a wave of searing heat shot passed his face. An instant later, something exploded against the inside of the door.

  Disoriented, but uninjured, Allyn rolled and leaped again just as a second explosion erupted. He hit the ground hard, pain flaring in his shoulder, then rolled onto his feet and sprinted toward a nearby car. He slid across the hood and landed on the other side, placing two thousand pounds of steel and glass between him and his attacker.

  Allyn wasn’t the only one hiding behind the car, though. A middle-aged man with thinning blond hair and dressed in a suit and tie stared at him with a terrified, wide-eyed expression.

  Tearing his eyes off the man, Allyn risked a peek through the passenger window. Still donning his black tactical armor, Sedric advanced toward the car Allyn was hiding behind. And in his hands burned a pair of fireballs.

  Sedric snarled and hurled the fireballs at Allyn, and Allyn had just enough time to duck back under the window before the fireballs struck. The car lurched as glass shattered and fell on Allyn’s head and shoulders. It peppered the ground, cracking against the blacktop as the driver hurried away.

  Allyn looked around desperately. He needed a weapon. A gun. A knife. Anything. Why hadn’t he thought to grab one of the Knights’ guns?

  Stupid! You’ve become too reliant on your abilities.

  But he wasn’t truly weaponless. He felt the energy raging inside him. Enhanced by his sudden brush with death, it was ready to be unleashed.

  He also saw the people around him. Saw the reflection of Sedric’s fireballs in their eyes. Most watched with horrified, confused expressions, though a few were recording the battle with their phones. In one terrible moment, Allyn realized that Sedric Lang, Knight Commander of the Knights of Rakkar, the sworn enemy of the magi Order, had just destroyed everything the magi had worked for since the Fracture.

  Even worse, he’d done so in a way that endangered the lives of innocent civilians, harmless men and women whose only crime was commuting to work on the wrong street on the wrong day. The world would have no choice but to come to the obvious conclusion: The magi were dangerous. Someone to be feared. The enemy.

  In his mind’s eye, Allyn could almost see the fallout. Twenty-four, seven news coverage of marches and protests ending in riots. Hate crimes. The government attempting to restore order by forcing magi to self-register. Bringing in the National Guard when they didn’t. Bloodshed when rogue Families were found. Segregation. Internment camps. And it wouldn’t be relegated to a single state or country—it would be a global phenomenon unlike anything the world had ever seen. And there would be no escape.

  Allyn shook with the injustice of it all. There wasn’t anything he could do. He was helpless.

  Except…

  If he were seen fighting such a threat, that would have to count for something, wouldn’t it? It would show the world that not all magi were like Sedric. At the very least, it would show that there were different factions among the magi. Maybe it wouldn’t counteract all fear and xenophobic feelings toward his people, but it might be a start.

  Another fireball struck the car, shattering the remaining windows, and Allyn was reminded that he had more pressing issues than figuring out the best way to introduce the magi to the world. Issues like surviving the next three minutes.

  Seeing no other options, Allyn took a final look around, making eye contact and nodding compassionately to the remaining pedestrians, and wielded. Fear turned to terror as the remaining pedestrians scrambled to get away from the new threat.

  So much for showing the world I am the good magi.

  “Allyn, Allyn, Allyn,” Sedric’s voice cut through the panic, his tone reminiscent of a disappointed parent. “Why don’t you come out here and face me like a real man and not the coward you really are?”

  Allyn gritted his teeth and stood, finding Sedric only about ten feet away on the other side of the car. A large cut above his eye spilled blood down his face, staining his gray hair and beard red.

  “That’s better,” Sedric said. He sucked his split lips and spat a glob of congealed blood that fell well short of Allyn. “That was a bold move, Allyn, crashing the vehicle your friends rode in. Do you not care about them?”

  “I need to know where you’ve taken my Family.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Sedric said. “Wherever they are, they’re serving the Lord’s purpose.”

  “What are you doing to them?” Allyn growled.

  “Drawing the devil out.”

  “Without the pious bullshit.”

  Sedric laughed. “Come on, Allyn. You know I’m not going to tell you what we’ve done with them.”

  “Then you leave me with no other choice.” Allyn held his arms out wide, letting Sedric see the full glory of his magi abilities.

  Sedric nodded and let out a long breath. “It was always going to end this way, Allyn. You and me. Alone.”

  Allyn shrugged, feigning nonchalance, then in an instant and with a powerful step forward, he brought his hands together in a mighty clap. The coils of electricity writhing around each arm collided, flashing a brilliant white, and a single red cord of electricity shot toward the Knight Commander.

  Sedric didn’t attempt to jump out of the way. Instead, he took a strong step forward of his own and brought his hands and forearms together in front of his face. Just before the cord of electricity struck, Allyn saw a thick coating, vaguely blue in color, solidify around the Knight Commander’s arms.

  Ice.

  Allyn’s cord of electricity struck, shattering the ice around Sedric’s arms and hurling the Knight Commander backward with amazing force. He landed on his back, his tactical armor sliding across the blacktop and protecting him from harm. Before he came to a complete stop, he rolled onto his feet and brought up his right hand.

  Allyn barely had time to register the attack before a translucent shard of ice was erasing the distance between them. He danced to the side just in time to watch it bury itself into the side of the car.

  Sedric spun, launching a second lance of ice from his other hand. Expecting the attack, Allyn planted a foot, reversing course and darting in the opposite direction. The move succeeded, Sedric’s attack going wide.

  No longer on his heels, Allyn readied an attack of his own, and in a blink, he had three static charges racing toward the enemy. The first two sailed wide, but the third flew true and was about to take the Knight Commander in the chest when he punched it out of the air. Ice shattered, and it took Allyn a moment to realize the Knight Commander had coated his hands with it.

  Sedric flexed, his lips curling into a smile. “You’re not the only one who’s been training.” He took a giant breath and ripped his arms out wide, exposing his chest. The air in front of him warped and seemed to collapse upon itself then exploded with an ear-splitting crack.

  The concussion of air threw Allyn off his feet and sent him tumbling through the air. He came to an abrupt and painful halt, smashing into the side of a nearby car. The remaining air in his lungs vanished, and he felt something inside him crack.

  You need to move, he told himself. Move or die.

  With a groan, Allyn rose to his feet, only to be met with a second concussion of air. He crashed into the car with even more force, blacking out from the pain.

  When he came to, he was face down on the blacktop. Blood streaked down his face, smearing across the street. Every inch of him hurt. He coughed, and the sudden expenditure of air splattered more blood onto the street. Allyn blinked, trying to shake th
e cobwebs loose. Instead, the world warped, and his vision went dark again.

  He woke to a heavy boot rolling him onto his back. He stared up into the partly cloudy sky, the sunlight like tiny daggers plunging into his eyes. Sedric looked down at him, the light behind him masking his features.

  “You still with me, Allyn?” Sedric asked. “I’d hate to kill you without you knowing it’s coming.”

  Allyn groaned. Words came to his mind but failed to make it to his lips.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” New light appeared as Sedric wielded fire. “It’s the Lord’s time to judge you, Allyn. Good luck.”

  The final vestiges of Allyn’s fight-or-flight instincts flared, and before he knew what he was doing, his hand was reaching up toward Sedric. Red light mixed with orange for a single, indefinable moment. The world didn’t just slow, but crawled as Allyn watched the static charge collide with Sedric’s fireball.

  The bonds that held the two together shattered, turning the fireball into a horizontal wave of flame. Something similar happened to the static charge—the individual coils that made up the flattened disk came apart, spinning off at random angles. Just as the wave of flame washed across Allyn’s hand, a single tendril of electricity whipped across Sedric’s face.

  Allyn rolled onto his knees as Sedric staggered backward, clutching his face. Spikes of pain shot up his arm, and he looked down to see the skin of his hand was red and blistered, blood and other fluids already seeping from the wound. Allyn stared at it, shock removing pain, replacing emotion with cold logic.

  Sedric pulled his hand from his face, and a six-inch burn stretched up his right cheek, into his eyebrow, where it had left a cleft in its center. Blood seeped from the Knight Commander’s right eye socket, the eye itself deflated.

  Allyn’s stomach threatened to empty itself. The only thing preventing that was the look in the Knight Commander’s good eye. He didn’t say anything—he didn’t need to. His expression said everything. Sedric wasn’t playing games any longer, wasn’t trying to hide his villainous acts behind a righteous mask. He had only one thing on his mind.

  Vengeance.

  Allyn let his bloody hand fall to his side and watched as the Knight Commander limped toward him. He had no intention of going out without a fight, but injured as he was, he knew the odds were not in his favor. He started to rise to his feet when movement behind Sedric reminded him he had something the Knight Commander would never have.

  Family.

  Ren had emerged from the wrecked BearCat and was moving in their direction. Clutching her side, she was a mess of blood, sweat, and anger, but she still rushed toward the unsuspecting magi enemy as fast as her injured body would allow. A lance of ice appeared in her hand at the same time Sedric’s fists came alive with fire. She must not have trusted her aim at the distance, though, as she didn’t hurl it toward the Knight Commander.

  Sedric continued forward, oblivious to the advancing magi.

  Allyn let himself fall backward and slid away from the Knight Commander. The move gave him a few precious seconds—and more importantly, it gave Ren a clearer shot.

  The first lance of ice exploded through Sedric’s upper leg, its tip ripping through his quad. Howling in pain, Sedric fell to one knee, the fire around his hands disappearing. The second lance of ice ripped through his shoulder, sending him face-first into the blacktop.

  Ren appeared behind him, already wielding again, ready to end Sedric’s reign.

  “No!” Allyn choked out. “Wait.”

  Ren hesitated, confusion on her face.

  “We need him alive.” Allyn winced in pain. Damn, it even hurt to talk. “He knows where our people are.”

  Ren gave Sedric a final look then nodded, her hands falling to her sides. She grabbed a fistful of the Knight Commander’s hair, yanking his head from the ground.

  “He’s out,” Ren said.

  “Good. Help me up.” Ren stepped over Sedric and took Allyn’s good hand. “Slowly,” he added at the last second.

  With her help, Allyn rose to his feet. His whole body resisted, screaming in agony, and it was all he could do not to collapse. Once on his feet, he leaned heavily on Ren and surveyed the battlefield. The pedestrians were emerging from their hiding places, heads popping up from behind cars, and stepping out of nearby shops. They stared at Allyn and Ren with a mix of fear and awe, not quite sure if the danger had completely passed.

  Allyn’s heart thundered, his breath quickening. Commotion was building, the pedestrians growing more comfortable by the second. More and more of them were pulling their phones from their pockets, snapping pictures, and taking more video. At any moment, he expected to hear sirens. In fact, now that the battle was behind him, he was surprised a police presence hadn’t arrived already.

  “We need to go,” he muttered.

  “Yeah…” But Ren didn’t move, and worse, there was something in her voice, a deep, resounding disappointment that twisted at Allyn’s insides.

  He looked at her—she was fixated on the crowd of onlookers. And in that moment, he knew his previous assessment of the magi future only told part of the story. Exposing the magi existence to the world wasn’t as simple as no longer living in secret. It meant the end to their entire lifestyle, their very culture, everything that they had held on to and made them who they were. Like it or not, justified or not, Allyn’s and Ren’s faces would forever be the symbols of that change, and in her face, in the tears flooding over the banks of her eyelids, he saw the same regret that pulsed through his own veins.

  “Come on,” Allyn sighed. “We need to go.”

  Ren nodded, wiped the tears from her eyes, and left, quickly bringing the BearCat around. With Canary’s help, they pulled the Knight Commander into the back of the vehicle. Like Allyn and Ren, she looked worse for wear, though it had less to do with any outward injuries. Her eyes were sunken and skin ashen as if she hadn’t slept for days, and suddenly, the lack of police presence made sense.

  “You stopped their calls from going through,” Allyn said.

  “Yes.” If exhaustion had a sound, Canary’s voice was it.

  Allyn laid a hand on her shoulder and gave her his most thankful expression. “Good work.”

  “Thank you,” she said, smiling.

  With Sedric securely in the vehicle, Ren pulled the BearCat beside the second, and she and Canary repeated the process, bringing the injured Leira into their care. The cleric had struck her head in the crash, and though her injuries didn’t appear to be dire, head injuries were difficult to predict. Canary stayed with Leira in the back of the BearCat, keeping an eye on her and the prostrate body of the Knight Commander.

  Ren left the crowd of pedestrians behind, and even as the BearCat pulled away, Allyn knew the onlookers were still recording their retreat. In hours, maybe even minutes, video of the entire ordeal would be picked up by local news stations, and after that, the international networks.

  Before the magi even returned to the Klausner Manor, their existence would be known to the world.

  Chapter 34

  The full light of day showed the true cost of the battle. The total number of the dead was still being calculated, but having been in the thick of it, Jaxon knew it was going to be devastatingly high—for both sides.

  After Arch Mage Westarra’s fall and following resuscitation, Jaxon and Rohn had led the magi forces against the remaining Knights. With their leader’s life hanging in the balance, and having already weakened the Knights’ line with Nolan, Jaxon and Rohn had been able to successfully repel the enemy force, killing or taking prisoner every member of the enemy force.

  The other prisoners taken from the church months before hadn’t netted much in the way of information, but like Jaxon, Arch Mage Westarra didn’t believe in killing when he didn’t have to. Besides, if only one of them knew somethi
ng worthwhile, the magi could get it out of them. If nothing else, the Knights would be a good bargaining chip if the Rakkaran leadership every became willing to do a prisoner swap. It all added up the same—the Knights were more useful alive and safely disarmed than dead.

  With the dead gathered and the injured tended to, the magi quickly set their sights on the complex of buildings. Leira had been in Allyn’s squad, but no one had seen or heard from the squad since they’d gone in. The turn of events was more than enough to unnerve Jaxon, and when it became apparent that the Knight Commander had disappeared as well, he drew the obvious connection.

  “He took them,” Jaxon said.

  Nolan was walking at his shoulder, his eyes distant, skin pale and blood splattered. “We can’t be sure of that.”

  “No,” Jaxon said. “I can feel her. She’s…” His face contorted as he attempted to concentrate. The connection was weak, strained—the magical equivalent of losing someone to bad reception. Only their connection didn’t rely on towers and satellites. It relied on their well-being. “She’s hurt.”

  Nolan looked at him sharply, a silent question on his lips. Like most of the magi in the Order, Nolan didn’t know that Jaxon and Leira had developed an echo. He didn’t question Jaxon, though, and Jaxon felt a wave of respect for the man.

  “We’ll find her, Jaxon,” Nolan said. “I promise.”

  The former FBI agent disappeared shortly thereafter, assembling a team to search the Knight Commander’s quarters for clues. Those not wounded or tending to the wounded were quickly recruited into salvage teams. They gathered guns, ammunition, explosives, computers, even personal belongings from the base, not knowing what would aid them in the future.

  Jaxon watched the work numbly, remaining aloof until the magi gathered their forces and prepared to depart. Nolan found Jaxon as they climbed into their vehicles. He shook his head but told Jaxon to remain positive. They still had time.