“No, no, no! That’s no pressure or anything. How dare the universe put that kind of guilt on your shoulders? It’s not fair!” She was standing stomping her feet.
“Life’s not fair, Jaz. You should know that.”
“I know,” her shoulders drooped before she fell onto the couch. “I want them to know what I know. To know what you know.”
“Part of me wants the same; the other part of me wants to spare them the grief of standing over their mate with a Symphor in their hands.”
The memory came back to her, and she could see it from his point of view. Standing, she took his hand leading him out the door.
“Let’s explore a little.” He followed her down the tree lined street.
“It seems so strange to be in a place called Sin City and see real cherry trees lining the path.”
“Nothing here is quite what it looks like and everyone here deserves a second look, or you’ll miss something vital.” They stopped by a huge tree with a great view of the sky. It was lighting up in multiple colors making her gasp.
“The sky looks like it has jewels adorning it.”
She sat against him, leaning her head back to watch the light show being put on just for them.
“I would like to show you some more of my planet if you’re willing.”
“I would love to see more.”
He took her hand telling her to close her eyes.
The beauty of his world still took her breath away. The cruelty of the Scientists there made her want to fight on his behalf.
“What part of the planet are we on.” The land was flat and barren. No trees or flowers. Nothing that would make you want to come here. It was harsh like pictures she had seen of the dessert.
“This was used as a training zone. Mostly the Dare’s used it, but the Scientists also brought different groups out to train here. They didn’t want us to get too comfortable in one situation.”
“Did you and your brothers train here?”
“Rarely. We did very little ground training.”
He tugged on her hand taking her to a memory that was very old.
There were three of them: Dante, Mick, and Julian. Dante was thin and gangly looking like a seven-year-old boy. She could see a mother loving that face. The others were younger, and Mick was standing with his arms crossed and his lips poked out.
“I won’t do it.” His voice was young and tight as he refused to do what his brother was telling him.
“You’re going to do it because I told you to do it.”
Mick turned to walk away. Dante caught him and began to leave the ground going further up in the air until they reached a platform.
“How far up are we?” she whispered, scared to interfere with the fight that was happening.”
“One thousand miles.”
Her eyes swung to him as her mouth dropped. Mick was fighting his brother, screaming at him, telling him he was such a bad brother to do this to him.
“You’re supposed to care for me.” His eyes turned red before they turned totally black.
Dante shrugged, “I’m supposed to do a lot of things. Now you know I don’t care for you. See you on the ground.”
He sat, crossed his legs and his arms and refused to move.
“What’s happening?” She was still whispering.
“I’ll explain when it is over.”
Mick finally stood up and walked over to the edge of the platform. It was solid black and thick as a sheet of metal but not cold to the touch. There was nothing holding it up. It was simply him, the platform and the lavender sky. He laid on the edge and looked down.
Jaz walked over and lay down beside him wanting to see what he saw. About one hundred and fifty miles down was another platform. She looked from the young Mick to the one standing over her.
“How are you supposed to get from here to there?” He simply shrugged his shoulders and watched his younger self.
The boy walked back to the other edge of the platform, screamed, and started running. Then he hurled himself off the platform. Jaz’s scream was with him as he tumbled through the air.
She could see the total fear on his face as he started aiming towards the next platform. He landed on it running and barely managed to stop before tumbling off the edge. Sitting down, his breaths came out in hard pants as he once again talked about his brother and how he would no longer follow him. He said several words that she couldn’t understand.
“The scientist demeaned us every day with words, but they had special words that they kept for Dante. Those words hurt him; I would see him straighten his shoulders, ignoring them. We were forbidden to say them, but the Scientist had convinced me that my brother didn’t care for me, and I said those words because I wanted to hurt him.”
“He didn’t want you to curse?” She took a stab in the dark. Most parents or parental figures had a list of bad words they didn’t want their child saying.
“It was worse than that. Dante felt like to say these words was to open ourselves up to their brainwashing technique.”
Young Mick got up and repeated his earlier descent, but she noticed this one was a little more controlled. His landing was much better. It didn’t take him as long to recover, this time; then he did it again. Finally, he was on the last platform. He never stopped to rest, he simply stepped over the side no running start needed. He floated to the earth gracefully.
When he landed, he walked up to his brother and told him that he would never follow him again. After disowning him, he stalked off.
Dante stood for a long time before he finally started walking. The distance was far, but he never left the ground until he came to a huge structure. He climbed the stairs and walked until he found the head Scientist. With all the swagger a young boy could command, he walked up to him. Mick was behind him hiding wanting to see what he was going to do.
“I followed him that day so sure I was right. I planned to spring out when I caught him in his lie. I was going to fight to be the leader when I knew for a fact that he was selling my life away. The Scientist convinced me he was out to kill me, and I was young enough to believe him.”
The Scientist looked down and sneered at Dante. Calling him one of the names that Mick used earlier. Mick cringed but stayed hidden.
“What do you want? I have an execution to plan.”
“I took Milj to the platform that is a thousand dills up and left him up there alone.”
“You killed him? I wanted that pleasure!” the Scientist roared, his yellow eyes becoming bright.
“He was able to descend safely without missing a platform. His last decent was graceful as if he were born to fly.”
Dante turned around ready to leave.
“You lie.”
“I can’t lie, and you gave your word. As long as Milj was able to make his way back to the planet surface without help, he would live.” Head held high he walked out of the structure.
“He saved my life that day. The Scientists were brainwashing me just like he said. I believed I couldn’t do it because they told me I couldn’t.”
“That’s why you told me I needed to face my fears, face the people who are coming after me.”
“Yes, but only because I know I’ll be there to protect you.”
“Mick, why did they want to kill you? You were just a child.”
“The Scientist wanted a bond between their killers but they didn’t want the bond the three of us formed. They believed my death would sow enough dissension that they would always be able to control us. If they waited until we were adults, it would never have worked.”
“I’m ready to face the Patron.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Maybe she should have thought about this some more. She was lying on the side of a hill that was nothing but dirt. No trees, no flowers, just dirt. It was at this moment that she realized she was a little squeamish. There was a bug crawling on her leg or was it just in her mind. Either way, it was freaking her out she wanted to stand up and
start patting herself down to get it off of her.
“Calm down.”
Why was his voice so soothing?
“I’m trying. Covert operations are all new to me.”
Mick had designed the outfit she was wearing. He told her that they were born with the ability to make clothing out of the natural components of the Earth. The best part about it was the clothes would blend better than anything they could buy, and since it was of the Earth, she didn’t have to worry about the dirt clinging to her when she stood. Now if he could only do something about the bugs.
The black pants fit like a glove; she was beginning to think Mick liked how her ass looked. She caught him looking more than once, and these pants left nothing to the imagination.
“Why do you think he came back? The Patron left the earth not wanting Ash to track him down, so what would bring him back?”
“The elaborate trap he has waiting for us. Let’s go spring it.”
That didn’t make her feel good at all. The most she could do was nod her head as she tried to crawl as silently as Mick up the hill.
At the top, there was a large compound laid out before her. Guards rounded it every fifteen minutes along with the modified dogs they used. The dogs were clones; she could tell by the longer fangs in their mouths as well as the bulkier bodies and longer legs. But the real giveaway was the eyes. They were orange; the color allowed them to see perfectly in any weather day or night. They had bigger ears making it easier for them to catch sound and they loved to kill. A cloned dog could kill a two-hundred-pound male in perfect fighting shape in three minutes. The dogs in front of them had all gone through genetic modification since they all looked alike.
When she studied clones, she made sure to study all the variations.
“How are we going to get past them?”
“The old-fashioned way.” He gestured to a bag he brought with them.
She turned her head and lifted a brow. He smiled at her.
“Just trust me. There’s a reason you don’t feed dogs synthetic food especially not your watch dogs.”
They laid there until the guards made another round. The weather started to change, a low-lying cloud layer came in bringing with it fog.
“Mick, are you doing this?”
“Just making sure his vid screen doesn’t pick up anything.”
He tapped her and indicated for her to follow. Together they made their way down the hill. He pulled her behind a large brick wall as the guard came around. The dogs began to bark. Not one, but what sounded like all of them.
The guard laughed. “Looks like we got intruders. Go get them, boys; I’ll call for clean up the next time I come around.”
She could see them sniffing the air. Slobber began to drip from their mouths highlighting the sharp teeth; there were five of them, and they were all focused on her and Mick.
“Mick, maybe you should take whatever is in that bag out and save us.”
“Not yet.”
One of the dogs growled and went down on his front legs. He’s thinking about how best to kill us. Jaz’s mind went crazy with thoughts.
The dogs surrounded them snarling and acting like they were going to jump out at them.
“Come closer,” Mick said softly, allowing his voice to touch each one. “They haven’t been nice to you.”
The dogs came a little closer, weary of Mick but his voice was captivating them.
“What are you doing?” Jaz whispered never having seen dogs act like this.
“Healing their minds. Humans think the only mind that can be broken is theirs. They’re wrong.” He slowly slipped his hands into the bag and brought out a large piece of meat.
“What’s on that?” She was more confused than ever.
“Something we designed to be able to transport raw meat and keep it fresh.” He took out more large pieces of meat, unwrapped them, and placed them away from him.
“Eat,” he whispered, “the meat is safe.”
The lead dog went over to the meat and sniffed before he finally took a bite. His howl brought the others running. They each began to eat ignoring Mick and Jaz.
Mick canted his head, and Jaz nodded and followed him over the compound staying low.
“How did you know?”
“The Patron cares about two things: accumulating money and saving face. A male like that doesn’t care about his staff, and that goes for his four-legged staff.”
They were at the door. Mick raised his hand and allowed the heat from it to overwhelm the sensors. The door sprung open.
“Won’t he know we’re here?”
“He’s been expecting us and I don’t want to disappoint.”
They walked into the foyer, and a cage dropped over them. Mick never touched the cage; he simply took a seat and drew Jaz down in his lap.”
“Visitors.” The Patron’s lead assassin walked out. He was the one that made the rest tremble in their boots.
“Nice of you to come and visit as well as bring the lovely clone with you.”
“When the Patron sends you an engraved invitation, it seems rude to ignore him.” Mick gave him a pleasant smile.
“Ahh yes, so you did get our little calling card, but you didn’t send them back.”
“They were scared they would be tortured to death. My heart went out to them, so I provided a simpler and much kinder death.”
“More’s the pity. I was looking forward to relieving some frustration using them. It seems you will have to do. You do know that she,” his hand stretched out towards Jaz. “Has been scheduled for termination or harvesting, the same thing. The Patron doesn’t like it when his plans are interrupted.”
“I have heard the Patron is known for throwing tantrums,” Mick whispered as if he had the hottest piece of gossip. “That can’t be true, such a fine cultured male.”
“Give me the clone.”
“If you want the female, come get her.”
“Bring me the dogs.”
A younger assassin walked in with the dogs.
“Sir,” his voice trembled.
“Who are you?”
“Doyle, sir this is my first day on the job.” The young man was trembling, his black hair falling into his face.
“Unless you want it to be your last day, you don’t address me unless I call you understood?”
“Yes, sir!” He released the dogs and slowly backed away.
The lead assassin pointed into the cage. “Tear the man apart, bring me the woman.”
The cage lifted and the dogs took off charging them. They bumped into their backs until Mick finally raised his hand and petted them.
“I’ll be taking them with me when we leave.” He stood up and placed Jaz within the circle of the dogs. “Protect her.” He looked each one in the eye before he turned to walk to the assassin.
The assassin paled for a minute as the dogs stood around Jaz making sure no could get close to her.
“What did you do to my dogs?” he demanded furiously.
“Kill him,” he spoke to the dogs, “or I will kill you.”
Soft growls came from the dogs as they looked from Mick to their owner but they refused to move.
“You want me dead?” Mick said softly, drawing the assassin’s attention back to him.
“I’ve heard about you and your brothers. I know you don’t do mates, so why this one?”
“That’s the thing about listening to rumors. Most of them are wrong.”
He threw a knife coated in poison at Mick who fell to the floor allowing it to pass over his head. A section of the floor burned where the knife touched it.
“I see you have some nice toys.” Mick pulled the laser pistol attached to his belt and fired it at the assassin catching him on his side.
“Do you know why I send my assassins out while I stay here?”
“So you don’t talk your opponents to death?”
He pulled a laser pistol from his boot, catching Mick unaware as he turned to check on Jaz shooting
him in the back of the knee knocking him off balance.
“There are no opponent’s worthy of my skills. When I saw you trigger my trap, I knew that killing you would be a feather in my cap.”
“I’m still going with the talk them to death answer.”
The assassin raised his laser a second time but this time, Mick was faster and shot it out of his hand. He reached for the dagger that was sticking out of his boot.
A look of satisfaction flared in his eyes as he tested the dagger reacquainting himself with its weight.
“Perfect, I get to kill you with my bare hands.” The assassin came at Mick with his dagger intending to plunge it in his back.
Mick flipped to his back, used one leg to push him away while using the other foot to kick the dagger out of his hand. He jumped to his feet and moved back allowing the assassin to get on his feet.
“What’s your name?”
“John, and a good question. You should know the name of the man that’s going to kill you.”
He threw a second knife at Mick following up with a roundhouse kick that led into a punch. Mick rolled from the kick and deflected the punch.
John’s eyes darkened with rage but he kept a smile on his face letting Mick know that he was in charge of the situation.
“After you’re dead, I’m going to kill her before I turn her body over for harvesting.”
Mick flinched, John’s blows hadn’t affected him but his words painted a picture of Jaz dead. His anger led him to knocking John’s legs from under him with more force than he intended. He backed up giving himself time to calm down.
John smiled, feeling more in control of the fight. An angry opponent was a sloppy opponent. He had used this technique more than once and was sure it gave him the upper hand.
John came at Mick rushing him, trying to keep him off balance. Mick deflected the knife once again aimed at him and knocked John to the floor.
John smile when he turned his head, the laser was at his fingertips. He picked it up, thinking how sweet his victory would be. Blood ran from his busted lip, and he limped a little after he stood up, but he was coming for Mick. He walked up to him pointing the laser at his temple. Mick never made a move to stop him. Jaz bit the heel of her hand to keep from crying out.
Mick (The A'rouk Brothers Book 1) Page 14