by DCS
Now, she was sitting in the back of an SUV in front of the building, with those same soldiers guarding the car. Agata didn’t like whatever the hell was going on—it sounded like a war zone around her—but it seemed like answers weren’t coming any time soon.
Nicholas pulled his SUV to a halt behind the similar model double parked in front of the Dion Corp building. He slapped a fresh clip into his gun before he climbed out of the car. “Is my sister secure?”
The solider in charge nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Thank you.” Nicholas shot that man in the head. As the other two soldiers turned to respond, Nicholas shot them, too. He stepped over to the car and pulled open the back seat door. “Get out. You’re coming with me.”
“Nicholas? Nicholas, what the hell is going on?” Agata demanded, staring at him in shock. She couldn’t believe her brother was carrying a gun. When she saw the dead soldiers on the ground, she thought she might faint.
“Agata, I can’t explain right now. We’ve got to go.” Nicholas grabbed her arm and began dragging her over to the car.
“I’m not going anywhere with you unless you give me some answers!” She dug her heels into the ground, pulling against his grip. “Where’s Dad?”
“Dad’s dead!” Nicholas tightened his grip, still trying to move her. “Aggie, please. I double crossed them. The triplets’ plane is going to leave any second, and we need to be on it.”
“Dad’s dead?” Shock registered on Agata’s face. “What do you mean, you double crossed them? Nicky, what did you do?”
Nicholas opened his mouth to answer, but a Hummer screeched to a halt behind his car. Nicholas whirled around, raising his gun, but not in time. A bullet landed in his shoulder. Agata screamed, and Nicholas shouted in pain, his gun clattering from his fingers as he stumbled back into the car.
The door to the Hummer opened, and Olivia stepped out, walking briskly over to them. “How long have you been a traitor, Nicholas?” She glared at him.
Breathing heavily, Nicholas sneered. “Everybody plays the game better than you, Livy.”
“What are you two talking about? Olivia, put the gun down!” Agata moved to her brothers’ side, staring wide eyed at Olivia.
Olivia shoved the gun into Nicholas’s forehead and pulled the trigger. Agata screamed again, and Olivia shot her in the head, too. They fell on top of each other as they hit the concrete. “Apparently not.”
“Let’s go, Olivia!” Amadeo shouted from the car.
“Such a waste.” Shaking her head, Olivia turned around, marching back over to the Hummer, and got inside. “Get us to the airport. Hurry.”
§
The majority of Alcyone Island’s small but effective military force was stationed at the Loyalty Airlines airfield. Under Christopher’s direction, they had been secretly training for this kind of scenario for the last five months. Holding the perimeter until the triplets’ plane got off the ground was the primary objective.
The triplets’ Hummer zoomed through the gates, skidding to a stop on the tarmac in front of the plane. Vasco was the first to climb out, and Lieutenant General Richie Archer was waiting for him.
“Our air force kicked their ass, so the skies are clear. The ground is a mess. They took the hotel. We lost contact with the governor and Chief Vaughn,” Lieutenant Archer explained. Sadly, Vasco had expected as much. Lucien frowned darkly.
“Where is Simone?” Vasco asked.
“She’ll be here in five minutes. Both she and Mr. Kincade,” Lieutenant Archer said.
“Thank you. Have the Omega Cadre put on their plane. The remainder of the Dion Corp Security team is to come with us.”
“What are your odds of holding them back after we’re gone, Archer?” Lucien looked over at the men guarding the airport, then back at the L.G.
“Sir, General Christopher Zhane made it very clear that if this day came they would be fighting for something greater than themselves. Not false patriotism, or an orchestrated terrorist attack, but something a lot simpler and a whole hell of a lot more valuable. He said they’d be fighting to give people like them a choice. It was a very inspiring speech, sir. So, to answer your question it doesn’t matter. They’ll fight until they can’t, because they choose to.”
That sounded like Uncle Christopher, Lucien thought. His eyes teared up. Jaw working back and forth, he nodded, unable to say anything because of the knot in his throat.
“Rest assured, Archer, General Zhane was right.” Vasco clasped his brothers’ shoulder and led him over to the waiting plane.
“I believe you, sirs.”
“Lieutenant General,” A solider lowered his binoculars and pointed, “We’ve got incoming! A whole fuckin’ lot of them!”
Chapter 16
“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
- Winston Churchill
December 2, 2012 - 1:12 AM
International Airspace
SVT One
The Boeing 787 was its own version of Air Force One. The triplets could have run things from their plane for the next twenty days if they chose to. They sat in the conference room, trying to come to terms with what had just happened. They had all been a lot harder in their past lives. While those memories were helpful in some ways, they didn’t take away the pain, or the reality of the current moment. Lucien’s eyes were as raw as he felt. Watching someone die in front of him, someone he loved and respected, simply hurt. He slouched into his chair, with his fist pressed against his mouth, and stared down at the polished wood of the table.
Simone felt numb. While her family was being attacked and murdered, she had been giving into something that wasn’t hers to claim this lifetime. She knew better. She fucking knew better, but the selfish, undisciplined part of her had wanted something that she’d had before, instead of focusing on what she needed to do now. She was here to play the game, and win it. She might die trying to accomplish it, but so long as she and her brothers called checkmate, who cared?
Vasco walked into the tensely silent conference room and took his seat. Briefly, he traded glances between his siblings, locked in their internal struggles. As a family, they had prepared for the worst; expected that, at some point, the members of the Brotherhood would decide that it was in their best interest to get rid of the force that was working so hard against them.
Plans and reality were always so very different.
It was with an odd sort of detachment that Vasco observed his own feelings. The loss of family was a blow, but they had a very important task to accomplish, and he just wanted to get it done. “All the SVT offices have been vacated and moved to the ghost locations that Marcello set up for them, twenty miles away from each concentration camp we’re going to hit. Derek’s team is already at the compound. We’ll get the status of our weapons when we get there.”
“What about Alcyone Island? Leone and Isabella? Do we know what’s going on there?” Lucien asked.
Vasco shook his head. “Caleb is in the control room and has just informed me we’ve lost all contact. The boys on Phoenix Isle knew that when code red hit, they were to destroy everything so the enemy couldn’t use it.”
Anger was a much more familiar, much easier emotion than pain. Simone latched onto it, instead of her grief. It helped her think. “I know we’ve got an escort, but how far away are we from the landing? I don’t understand why the Brotherhood wouldn’t just scramble a few of their own fighter jets and come after us. They’re pretty much in do whatever the fuck they want mode.”
“We’re an hour away from Casablanca. And they still mi—”
Caleb threw open the door to the conference room. “Hang on, everyone. We’ve got bogeys coming in.”
Simone frowned darkly. “I spoke too soon.”
“How many?” Lucien asked, sitting up.
“Five.” Caleb answered. “That’s not good.”
Vasco stood up. “What are the odds—” His words died mid-sentence becau
se of an explosion just outside one of the windows. The plane shook “That was one of ours, wasn’t it?”
Caleb braced himself on the doorframe. His headset exploded with noise, and he nodded grimly. “Yes, sir.”
“It’s going to be a real fucking bummer if we get blown out of the sky,” Lucien growled, and then gripped the arms of his chair as the plane suddenly broke a hard right, sending coffee mugs sliding off the table, and shattering on the floor.
“Why the fuck do we have people on the inside if, at pivotal moments, they’re useless?” Simone hissed, then jumped, startled, when two more explosions thundered in the sky.
Caleb looked over at Vasco. “Sir, is there anyone you can call—”
Suddenly, one of the uniformed soldiers from the control room crashed into Caleb from behind. There was an excited, relieved expression on his face. “Sirs. Ma'am. We’ve gotten assistance from an—an—”
“Jesus Christ, spit it out!” Simone snapped.
“An unidentified flying aircraft.”
Vasco arched a brow. “A what?”
“Come see for yourself, sir,” the solider said, and then braced himself, because two more explosions stained the sky, littering it with balls of fire, clouds of black smoke, and broken pieces of metal, raining down into the ocean below.
“Unidentified flying aircraft,” Lucien repeated as he, his siblings, and Caleb followed the solider out of the conference room, and up a short flight of stairs to the control room. “Does he mean a UFO?”
“I’m not sure what else it could be.” Simone followed the soldier as he knocked on the cockpit door, then pushed it open. From behind them, another soldier, sitting at a terminal, announced with no small amount of relief in his voice, “Sir, remaining bogeys are booking out.”
Lucien stood behind the co-pilot’s chair, peering out the windshield. “What am I looking at?”
Archer waited a moment, searching the sky himself, and then he pointed. “Right there.” At first, the triplets saw nothing. A second later, a long, oval-shaped aircraft simply appeared where it had not been before. They could barely see it. It looked almost translucent against the black sky, and when it passed through a cloud, it became invisible again.
“Wow,” Simone whispered.
“There’s that help when we needed it,” Vasco said. “Have they made radio contact?”
“No, sir. Just showed up and started blowing the bad guys out of the air. It appears to be following us.” Archer grinned. “I’d love to get in the cockpit of that thing.”
“All right. Stay on course.” Vasco stepped out of the cockpit, his siblings following him. Lucien walked up to the solider that had originally alerted them of the UFO’s presence.
“By the way, it’s called an interdimensional traveling vessel, okay?” Lucien clasped the young man’s shoulder.
Simone smirked, and Lucien shrugged, faint amusement flickering through his eyes. “Just trying to educate him.”
§
December 2, 2012 - 2:15 AM
Alcyone Island
Phoenix Isle Command Center
“They got away. The fighters that the Brotherhood had on standby, in case we failed, were attacked by an alien vessel and destroyed.”
Instead of throwing his phone across the room Caesar kicked the table in front of him. “Goddammit, Kayla, we sent you an army. How did they manage to get off the island?”
“Nicholas was a traitor. He warned them ahead of time. We also underestimated the efficiency of the Alcyone Island military.”
“Fuck,” Caesar growled and shoved a frustrated hand back through his hair. “Who’s alive that might know where they are?”
“Only Leone.”
“Fine. Work Leone until he squeals.”
“Yes, Caesar. Did your team capture the scientists?”
Caesar stared around at the empty lab. “No. Call me when you know something.”
Kayla disconnected the call, tucking the phone into her pocket. She understood Caesar’s irritation. The Brotherhood wouldn’t be pleased with the multiple failures. Kayla stepped out of the conference room in the Phoenix Isle Command Center. Once populated by the Alcyone Island military, the center was a mess of destroyed computers and dead bodies.
Olivia walked up to Kayla, curling her fingers around the mouthpiece of her head set. “FBI started their raid of SVT offices and every single one, so far, has been empty. No files, no computers, just empty desks.”
Kayla arched a brow. “Every single one?”
“Yes!” The lines of Olivia’s face were strained. “We have no fucking idea where they’ve gone.”
“Clever. Very, very clever. They knew about us for a long time.” Kayla turned her back on Olivia, walking to the sliding doors. “Have Leone worked until he talks.”
“Where are you going?” Olivia asked.
“To get my father’s journal.”
§
December 2, 2012 - 2:22 AM
Alcyone Island
Cellar underneath Governor’s Mansion
“What does Leone know?” John asked. The cellar underneath the governor’s mansion, didn’t just house the heads of the family’s enemies. Isabella had added a section and turned it into her own small personal security center. From there, they could hear and see what was going on in the Command Center on Phoenix Isle. While Kayla’s robotic army was marching to the airport and the hotel was being overrun, Leone had helped her escape.
“You do no good to this family dying a noble death, Isabel. Go. Your reincarnated mother shouldn’t lose all her children in one day.”
“A great deal. Information is backed up on the servers at Phoenix, and then flown twice a month to the compound where the triplets are going. Leone makes those trips.” Isabella sat in a chair against the wall. She was exhausted. She was heartbroken. She was pissed off and ornery. “Kayla’s going after Marcello’s journal. We need to get it before she does.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“Vasco had it, so it’s probably at his home.” Calling upon a new reserve of strength, Isabella rose to her feet. “And then we’re going to get off this island.”
“What’s your plan, Isabel?” John canted his head at her.
“The airport’s overrun. But I know of a hangar they didn’t check—if we can get there.”
“Where?” John picked his gun off the table and grabbed an extra from the cabinet on the wall, tucking both into his belt.
“My father’s.” Isabella pulled her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head, then took one of the semi-automatic pistols from the same cabinet.
“You know how to fly?”
Isabella gave John a look. “My father was one of the best goddamn fighter pilots ever. You bet your ass I know how to fly.”
John smiled. “Lead the way, Governor.”
Chapter 17
“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
- Anais Nin
December 5, 2012 - 10:44 AM
Somewhere in Egypt
Terenzio Compound
*Zones clean?” Caleb stood in the security center in the east wing of the compound, looking at the row of monitors.
There were three Dion Corp security guards seated at the table. The one on the far right nodded. “Yes, sir. Nobody here but us.”
“Air waves are quiet, too,” said the one in the middle.
Caleb nodded. “Good. I’m going to make my rounds. I’ll be back later.”
The triplets’ plane had landed in Casablanca, Morocco, three days ago. The interdimensional traveling vessel that had assisted earlier followed them to their destination, and then simply disappeared. From Casablanca, the three heirs to SVT’s empire made the long, secretive journey back to the compound. The entirety of the trip, Simone had been distant. They had reached quite the climax, and Caleb had been busy coordinating the moves of the military and the Dion Corp security that had come with them. He had noticed her reserve, but hadn't said a lic
k about it. Now that he had the time, he intended to go and find her.
It was strange for Simone to be back in the compound. She supposed it was a bit ironic, too. It was because of this place that she knew who she had been, once upon a time. It was because of this place that she knew who Caleb had been, as well. It stood as a reminder of everything she once had—and would not have again. Restless, she walked the corridors of the east wing, frowning with thought.
Caleb rounded a corner and came nearly face to face with her. He couldn't imagine what must be going through her head at his juncture. He wanted to know, though. "How are you holding up?"
Simone glanced up, startled. Her first instinct was to step into him. She resisted that urge and frowned more deeply. "How do you think?"
Caleb would have liked it if Simone had leaned into him and let go of her troubles against his shoulder, if only for a short while, but he wasn't surprised when she didn't. That didn't stop him from stepping into her, though, and rubbing his hands over her arms, keeping his eyes on her. "Talk to me."
Simone stiffened, but torn between wanting to push him away and wanting to take comfort in him, she held still. "What do you want me to say, Caleb?"
"Anything but the silent treatment you've been giving me,” Caleb said quietly, studying her face. "Tell me you’re mad as hell, tell me you scared, tell me you can't wait to go blow up their underground bases. Tell me you’re heartbroken that Christopher's dead and Isabella probably is, too."
Simone had yet to perfect the mask of neutrality that the Terenzios so often wore. Shadows darkened her eyes, and the lines of her face were taut. "Why? So we can pretend that we're Liliana and Kyle again?"