“Tahlia won't go easy on you,” Sierra warned.
“Tahlia is your enemy; not mine.” In truth, he considered Tahlia a very high threat, but didn't want to give Sierra another reason to prioritise killing Nikolai's lieutenant over the president.
“I'm going out to train,” she said. A gust of wind blew out the back door with her as she ran off to the surrounding woodlands.
Skye exhaled with relief, pleased to have some time to himself. Training with her was invaluable, but she never settled for anything less than what she was capable of. He was the only one even remotely fast enough to train with her; the others would be slaughtered within seconds.
“Are you okay?” Ren asked without looking up, having overheard.
“I'm starting to regret giving her that crossbow.” He walked over and sat on Ren's desk, showing her the carving from the bolt.
“Don't worry about her. I know she can be difficult to deal with, but she's a huge asset.”
Skye sniggered. “I said the same thing to Tango less than an hour ago. I don't doubt that she might prove to be useful, but training with her can be a savage ordeal.”
Ren looked away from the monitor and gave her attention to her friend. “Have your reflexes improved since we recruited her?”
He paused, knowing he had lost the debate before it had even begun. “I suppose they have.”
Ren grinned back at him. “Then the training is worth it.”
“Any luck?” Skye asked, looking at the monitors. He felt that enough time had elapsed since he last checked in with her to ask again.
“Not yet, but I'm not going to give up.” Her hands slid across the keyboard screen, her fingers tapping the glowing buttons gracefully.
“Keep me posted. I'm going to speak with Juliet to see if she's sensed anything in Shangwu.”
“I doubt it. Don't focus too much on Nikolai—we have far more important things to worry about right now.”
Skye considered her suggestion and tried to take it on board, but he was unable to shake his concerns. “I'll try.”
Six
Adam walked down the hallway with haste, offering a slight nod each time he passed one of his colleagues. He was impeccably dressed, wearing a dark suit and tie, and a pin of the red and white Athenian flag fastened to his lapel. He carried a thin tablet computer under his arm.
He stopped outside a set of double doors with six men and women standing around it. All of them wore thick armour and held large automatic weapons. To an outsider, they looked to be an elite battalion preparing for a covert attack, but this was the normal attire for members of the Presidential Guard.
Upon seeing Adam arrive, one of the men stood aside and allowed him access to the room they were protecting. Adam opened one of the doors and closed it tightly behind him. A confused look spread across his face when he saw two unfamiliar people sitting at the table.
“Adam,” the newly elected president said, surprise in his voice. He was an elderly man with grey hair, dressed just as exquisitely as Adam. He sat in his chair, facing the mysterious duo. “Perhaps this isn't the best time.”
Adam looked cautiously at the two guests who sat in front of him. On his left was a large tattooed man with bulging muscles and cold eyes. On his right was a young woman with piercings in her face, who looked to be no older than twenty. Her long scarf loosely touched the ground. Neither of them were dressed appropriately for the president's chamber.
“Sir, who are these two?” Adam asked, a sense of fear evident in his voice.
“Who are you?” the girl retorted.
“I'm Adam Price, the president's chief counsel,” he proudly declared.
The two ominous faces glared at him. A chill ran down his spine.
“Sir,” he continued, looking away from the duo, “I've just been informed that you've given the order to relocate to a private villa in Dongtan Qu until further notice. I must advise against this. You'll be much safer if you stay here in Government House.”
“Adam, please,” the president requested, “we'll need to discuss this later.”
“How did you gain clearance to this room?” he asked the strangers. He tried his best to intimidate them, but his lack of tenaciousness was far too evident.
The girl stared back at him. “You should leave,” she whispered.
“Tell me your names at once,” he said as he opened a document on the tablet. When neither of them uttered a word, he asked his leader. “Sir, who are these two? What are their names?”
Archibald pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked down awkwardly. He knew his staff would eventually run into the strange pair, but he had hoped it would not be until after his impending inauguration. “Their names are Sabina and Aurelius.”
Adam stared at the screen. It only took him a few seconds to confirm what he already knew. “You're not listed on the manifest. Tell me how you gained clearance to this room or I'll have you arrested.”
“Adam!” Archibald hissed, warning his counsel to cease the interrogation.
Sweat began to bead on Adam's forehead. He looked nervously back and forth between the two pairs of unrelenting eyes. The looks on their faces told him that they were very dangerous, whoever they were. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that they wanted him dead for interrupting their meeting.
Adam cleared his throat. “Excellent weather outside today, isn't it, sir?” He stared at his leader, intently waiting for his response. It was standard protocol among high-ranking Athenian officials for the question to be used when duress was suspected. If a president was to respond with a remark about the weather being cloudy, it would secretly inform his or her staff that the leader was in danger.
The president took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment. “The weather is lovely,” he agreed.
Adam stared at his leader momentarily, half expecting him to change his mind and give a different response. When only silence followed, Adam nodded and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.
He looked at the members of the Guard, who stood poised. “Who are those people in the chamber?” he asked anxiously.
The men and women stared back at him blankly. “Sir?” one of them asked.
“Those people,” he repeated. “That man and girl in the chamber. When did they arrive?”
“Sir, no one but the president has entered. We've been stationed here all morning.”
Adam's expression became further perplexed. “You haven't seen anyone enter apart from the president?”
“Correct, sir.”
The counsel rubbed his jaw, trying to piece together what was happening. All visitors to the chamber needed to be pre-approved. Worse still, he'd never seen the two in his life, and he didn't trust the response to the duress signal. He didn't have the time to be dealing with such an odd situation, but was determined to uncover the truth nonetheless. He walked back down the hall, shocked and confused.
Seven
“Skye!” Ren called out.
Skye ran back inside the warehouse no more than a second later. He'd been outside meditating, training his mind and telekinetic ability. “What is it? Did you find something?”
“East Tower,” she said, excitement in her voice. “Tonight at 8:00. The president is attending a meeting there, according to his itinerary.”
Skye gasped. “Are you sure? Is it legitimate?”
“I'd say so. It was incredibly hard to find. I was only in there for a few seconds before their network locked me out.”
Skye smiled broadly. “Well done.” He walked over to Ren and placed his hand on her back. “All hope isn't lost after all.”
“I never lost hope,” she said sarcastically.
“So, what's the plan? Should we storm the tower?” Skye asked, taking in a breath and suddenly feeling very enthusiastic, yet slightly overwhelmed. Situated at the far end of Shangwu Qu, East Tower was the tallest commercial building in Athenia, and a status symbol for the island nation's powerful economy. If the president w
as indeed there tonight, it would be the perfect opportunity they needed to finally take him out.
“Absolutely. Take the team with you and kill Archie once and for all.” Ren started to giggle with excitement. They'd spent an entire year trying to find the man, who had all but vanished from society. He was elusive, and despite Ren's hard work, White Shadow had always been met with cold trails or fabricated itineraries. It was only by sheer luck that Ren had discovered this new information, which was the most promising lead they'd had in a long time.
“Will Tahlia be there?” Sierra asked, suddenly appearing behind Skye. A slight gust came in with her and blew a handful of old paper documents from Ren's desk.
Ren frowned and retrieved the paper from the ground. “I doubt it. She has no way of knowing the president will be there. But it doesn't matter anyway. This is far more important than your petty vendetta right now.”
“My vendetta is no more petty than yours. We both want someone dead.”
“Sierra,” Skye began to lecture, “you want Tahlia dead for personal reasons. And yes, we want the same for Archie after everything he did, but it's so much more than that. If he becomes president, he'll run this country with an iron fist.”
“And that will have a ripple effect on the rest of the world,” Ren added. “Athenia commands a lot of power in Yuezhou. We can't let him rule. Our primary objective is to kill him.”
Skye nodded with agreement. “Once we stop Archie, I promise we'll put all of our resources into finding Black Dawn and Tahlia again. Then you can have your revenge.”
“Why don't you call Nikolai and invite him to come to the tower tonight?” the short woman suggested.
“Out of the question,” Skye groaned, annoyed that Sierra chose to ignore the gravity of the situation. “We can't risk having an all-out war with Black Dawn while the president skulks off into hiding again.”
“We're already at war with them, Skye,” Tango said, emerging from the dormitory. Echo, a man taller than everyone else in the room, was by his side. “It was their fault that Foxtrot was killed.”
“Can we please not start this again?” Ren pleaded. “We have a job to do.”
“Fine. But if Black Dawn or the Tianzu are there, I won't hesitate to kill any of them.”
Skye rubbed the exasperation from his face. “Tango, you need to focus on killing Archie. He's the imminent threat. Once that's done, we can look at stopping the Tianzu.”
“You just said that we were going to stop Tahlia after the president,” Sierra muttered. “Which is it? Tahlia or the Tianzu?”
Ren slammed a fist on her desk. “Enough! We'll get to that later. Sierra, you will have your revenge, but it won't be tonight. And Tango,” she turned to face her colleague, “I've told you before; it was hardly Black Dawn's fault. Foxtrot was a—”
“It was their fault,” he interrupted. “Nikolai invited the Tianzu here.”
Ren bit her lip in an attempt to control her rage. “Foxtrot was a dear friend of mine too, but standing here arguing isn't helping anyone. Charlie and Delta are doing their best to find the ones responsible.”
“And what was the last update?” he argued. “It's been three months and they haven't found a thing! We should be helping them, not trying to assassinate an eighty-year-old man.”
“He's right,” Echo admitted, his voice husky. “The Tianzu have decimated our team. They are the enemy, and our fight should be with them. We all know that we'll never stop the president—it's a dead end.”
“And do you really think the Tianzu are weaklings?” Skye asked. “Any one of them could kill everyone in this room.”
Tango shot him a sideways glance. “Thanks for the confidence, Skye.” It was obvious to everyone that he'd been suffering from terrible mood swings since the gruesome death of Foxtrot, and often went back and forth between choosing acceptance and choosing retribution. His ideals seemed to change on a daily basis, which made it all the more difficult for the group to function in an amicable manner. Tensions had been high during the last three months, and such debates had become a regular occurrence. Although Ren was thought to be the leader of White Shadow, there was no sufficient hierarchy in place to keep order.
“It doesn't matter anyway,” Skye said, interrupting the tension. “Black Dawn couldn't possibly know that the president will be there tonight. We'll be alone, which is for the best.”
“Ren!” a voice shrieked from above. The group looked up and saw Juliet standing on the catwalk, her expression serious.
“What is it?” Ren called. “Did you find something?”
The girl nodded. “There's someone in the business district with Black Dawn. Nikolai and Tahlia are there, but there are also two others.”
“Are you sure it's not just the others from Black Dawn?”
“No.” Juliet shook her head. “I've never sensed them before. They're new to me.”
Tango and Echo exchanged glances. “The Tianzu are back.”
“We can't possibly know that,” Skye said, although not confidently. “It could be anyone. Are you sure one of them isn't Night?” he asked, despite knowing that the peculiar man was unable to be located. Neither Juliet nor Delta had ever successfully sensed his presence.
A slight breeze brushed his face as Sierra returned from the dormitory. She grasped several large clips of bolts and was loading them into her military-grade weapon. “Tahlia is there. Let's go.”
Skye stroked his short beard. “This might explain what Nikolai was up to this morning. He's obviously been there all day waiting for someone.”
“Maybe he's recruiting again,” Ren thought aloud. She pondered their next move momentarily and sighed. “Fine. Skye, take them with you. See what it is. But if it's the Tianzu, you need to get out of there immediately.”
“No!” Tango shouted. “If they're there, we're going to fight them.”
Ren didn't bother arguing. She had no way to convince Tango that his strength was insignificant in comparison to that of the Tianzu. They were a group that were unrivalled in skill, with the exception of perhaps Nikolai and Sierra. She instead turned her attention to Skye. “Whatever happens, please try to avoid being seen. I've worked too hard on this. The last thing I need is for Archie to go back into hiding.”
Tango and Echo headed to their rooms to grab their armour. Battling was a rare duty for the group, but Ren was wise in recently acquiring military weapons and graphene chest plates for everyone. Despite being numerous times stronger and more skilful than an ordinary human, they were still just as vulnerable.
“Sierra,” Ren said, her voice anxious, “if you do find Tahlia, please don't kill her in front of any civilians. We can't risk a military lockdown of the city or we'll never find the president.”
“It's too risky for her to kill Tahlia right now,” Echo said as he returned from his room. “If she does, Black Dawn will come after us.”
Skye let out a short laugh. “Nikolai couldn't care less about Tahlia or any of Black Dawn. They're expendable to him.”
A small piece of metal flew through the air and lodged itself in the wall next to Echo. His eyes widened when he realised it was a bolt. He turned to Sierra, who stood by the door with her bow raised.
“Hurry up,” she muttered.
Eight
“Like ants, aren't they?” Nikolai stated, observing the busy citizens going about their business. It was now midmorning, and there were even more men and women walking through the promenade than earlier. Seldom did the business district of one of the world's most foremost commercial centres slow down. “Working as hard as they can, running from place to place. It's such a peculiar lifestyle they've chosen. But to what avail? Will they look back on their lives with fond happiness, or with deep regret?”
He turned to Tahlia, who was hardly paying attention to what he was saying.
“They'll never truly know the joys of life as we do,” he continued. “They'll never reach a higher stage of consciousness. Not at this rate anyway.”
/>
“I'm sure they could,” Tahlia chimed in. “If they wanted to.”
“Exactly,” her leader agreed. “But that is my point. None of them want it. They are simply content with being content; living a lifestyle that they have been conditioned to. If they strived for something higher, they could surely attain it, yet it eludes them because they're unaware that anything exists beyond their realm of deceit and lies.
“You know, I too used to be like them. I had a promising career as an economist, but I was just not happy down in my core. I chose that path because it was seemingly expected of me by society. So I left and became a university professor instead. To me, there was no greater honour than educating the next generation of promising young minds. To impart my knowledge to them would fill me with such an incredible feeling of self-worth.” He turned back to the busy citizens. “But it wasn't enough—I craved more.”
“You broke free,” Tahlia said, unwittingly fuelling his ego further.
“That I did. I was not convinced that life was as black and white as these people dress. I just knew that, beneath all of the contracts and deadlines and arbitrary social obligations, there was an entire spectrum just waiting to be discovered. It's not that I judge these people individually, but rather I judge society as a whole for what it has become. We live our lives in accordance with what society believes individuals should do. I think it's a ludicrous concept. We shouldn't live our lives based solely on past events. The world is ever changing, evolving, and so are we. We should bear that in mind.
“And,” his speech resumed, “this nation in particular fascinates me to no end. It lies in the heart of the East Yue Union, yet it possesses so many Western cultural qualities that make it a uniquely hybrid nation. At times I see such strong family orientation that is distinctly inherent of the East, but then at others I feel as though I could be back in Reddingham, caught up in financial chaos. And here, especially in this district, I hardly feel like I'm truly in this part of the world.”
Eternity's War (Books 1-3) (Eternity's War Boxsets) Page 4