Vendetta: A Near Future Thriller (Forsaken Mercenary Book 4)
Page 19
X led us to a section to the rear of Dragon Hold where stone steps descended to the level below.
“There’s more than one level as well,” X remarked as if she were reading schematics. “The cell block is on the first floor.”
I traveled down a well-lit stone path. The damp smell gave me the idea that this section of Dragon Hold was somehow older than the rest. As if the underground levels had been part of some building before that was much older than the one that sat on top of it now.
I crossed the stone floor to a room that lay beyond. There were six cells built with iron bars, stone, and mortar. Angel sat slumped beside one of the cells on the left. Echo sat within. He was completely healed now from when I had seen him last. He sat with his head down, dreadlocks hiding his features.
“Come to join the party?” Angel asked, beckoning me forward. “Come on in, we’re having a reunion.”
Echo looked up. He was gaunt, with bloodshot eyes and a sadness that lived deep within. I might have felt sorry for him if I hadn’t known what he had tried to do to Amber.
Right now, as far as they all knew, Amber was dead and that was the way it had to be. It didn’t matter what would make them feel better or lift a burden off Echo. Amber was out. She was safe. I’d do anything to keep it that way.
“Daniel,” Echo said, standing up from his seat and moving over to the cell bars. “I can help. Let me help. Let me make up for what I’ve done—no, I can never make up for what I’ve done, but let me try and do something good now.”
I just stared at him, not trying to be rude, but I honestly didn’t know what to do in that moment. We could use all the help we could get, but Echo was a wild card at best.
“Angel says Immortal Corp’s been wiped out by the GG,” Echo went on. “She said you’re in charge now and aliens!? I wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t told me. But let me help, Daniel. Let me out of here and I’ll show you I’m ready to put my life on the line for my brothers and sisters again.”
I looked over at Angel, who rose to her feet. She shrugged.
“What do you think?” I asked her.
“I think, we’re all human, mostly anyway.” Angel bit her lower lip. “I think we all make mistakes. I think we’re family no matter what. And maybe forgiveness isn’t in store for any of us for the things we’ve done, but that shouldn’t stop us from doing some good.”
We all heard a slow clap from the door and turned. Jax walked gingerly inside. He was still in a lot of pain, but he looked a heck of a lot better than he did in the dropship.
“I don’t know if any of us deserve another chance, but I’m not going to be the one to vote to keep Echo from his,” Jax said moving into the room.
“We’ve all wronged one another in the past probably more than once,” A familiar voice called from the door. “We’re human, we’re broken people and we mess up on a daily basis. What sets us apart is that we don’t stay down when we mess up. We always get back up.”
Preacher walked into the room with a set of crutches that looked like they hovered just above the ground carrying him with them.
“It’s a freaking reunion,” I said.
“More than you know,” a woman answered, walking into the room with a bow hung over her shoulder and a helmet in the crook of her elbow. Her red hair fell down the side of her face like a waterfall. “You helped me defend my city, my family, and that’s something I’ll never forget.”
Tears fell down Angel’s cheeks as she rushed to Sam’s side and embraced her like a sister.
“Well, aren’t we just a messed up bunch of degenerates,” Jax said, also going to Sam to give her a big bear hug.
“Wait until you see who I brought with me,” Sam said, catching my eye. “When Commander Shaw sent out the call for help, the Reapers said they owed Daniel a debt as well. Some character named Papa marshalled the entire Reaper Corps and is bringing them to Mars to fight.”
I looked at them all from Preacher to Echo. They were right. We were a broken family of killers who had made a lot of mistakes, but looking behind us wasn’t going to move us forward.
X read my mind.
“There’s a handprint scanner on the side of the cell,” She informed me. “The Hold is yours so it’ll open the cell if you place your palm on it.”
“Maybe you don’t deserve another chance for what you did,” I told Echo. Tears welled in the man’s eyes as I spoke. “But I’m not going to be the one to take away your opportunity at redemption.”
I placed my palm on the scanner next to his cell. A light blue light crossed my hand. A second later, the cell door clicked open.
“Thank you,” Echo told me, swallowing hard. His Adam’s apple bobbed then quivered as he fought back another wave of tears. “I won’t let you down.”
Epilogue
The six of us stood there as one big dysfunctional family. Jax injured, Angel drinking, Echo blubbering about how he was going to make things up to us, Preacher’s healing factor nullified and still recovering himself.
I had my own issues. Sam was the only one who somewhat had it together, but I had no doubt she struggled with her own demons.
“Daniel, I’m sorry to interrupt,” X said in my ear. “There’s something going on you need to know about.”
The tone in X’s voice told me everything I didn’t want to know. Something was very seriously wrong.
“Go ahead,” I said in a voice loud enough it made everyone stop talking and look at me to see what was going on.
“The Voy are broadcasting a transmission to Mars, the moon, and Earth,” X said out loud. “I can let you listen now.”
“Do it,” I ordered.
“We gave your leadership seven days to answer,” an alien voice filled the room from X’s external speakers. I recognized the smooth female tone. It belonged to the Voy named Talia I had spoken to once before my torture began. “Instead they attacked us and betrayed our trust. Now they have left us no option but to retaliate. We came in peace and if you will have that peace, stand down and exit your cities when we approach. We will take you in and spare you. You have our word. Those who slaughtered our kind on the far side of Mars must pay.”
The transmission ended.
“That’s playing on a loop along with images of Voy bodies from the fight last night,” X told us. “They’re spinning the whole thing like we attacked them.”
“Sorry to break up the family gathering,” Cassie said, entering the room. She looked at me and Echo. “You guys hang out in cell blocks a lot? Never mind. You hear the news?”
“We did,” I answered.
“Here are the images sent along with it.” Cassie pointed her right vambrace in front of her. A bright holographic light showed images passing over a screen.
The message played again, but this time, we could see what millions of other people were witnessing across our known galaxy.
Talia appeared in a plain white robe. I could imagine how shocking seeing her six eyes and four arms would be to people who had no idea of the Voy’s existence.
The screen in front of us soon transitioned to images showing specific shots of the Shadow Praetorians shooting and killing Voy soldiers. The images were few and cycled through quickly, but it was clear the Voy knew what they were doing.
What followed were images of the aftermath of the battle. Once again, the pictures told a story of how the Voy must have been slaughtered. Any human bodies were taken out of the pictures to reveal only hundreds of dead Voy.
I couldn’t help but notice the Voy had even gone to the extent to remove the weapon and armor from their own dead soldiers to make it look as though they were helpless bystanders when the GG descended on them.
“This makes me sick,” Jax spat to the side. “Nothing about this is true.”
“It’s their narrative. They want people to believe it to divide us before the fighting even starts,” Preacher agreed. “They’ll be humans flocking to their side, others protesting in the street.”
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” X said out loud.
“Good news first,” Sam answered.
“Good news is that the GG is deploying their forces outside the Martian cities to meet the Voy threat,” X reported.
“Bad news?” I asked.
“Bad news is that most of the GG forces on the moon and Earth won’t make it on time for the fight if the Voy attack tomorrow as they said they would,” X rattled off. “We’ll have to make the stand with the forces they already have here on Mars.”
“Wonderful,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Should I even ask about the force they already have here?”
“It’s impossible to tell for sure, since we don’t have accurate numbers on the Voy militia, but we’ll be outnumbered for sure,” X said.
“Story of my freaking life.” Angel drained her flask. She let out a loud burp. “Well, the aliens aren’t going to kill themselves. We should probably get to work.”
The seven of us nodded, looking at Preacher for direction. It just felt right, not because he was the oldest among us, but because he had been the Pack Protocol leader in the field.
He just leaned against his crutches for support, looking at me.
“What do you want us to do first, Daniel?” Preacher asked.
“We’re going to need guns,” I declared. “Lots of guns.”
“I think I might know where you can find those,” Cassie chimed in. “Immortal Corp and Dragon Hold aren’t the only places with a stockpile of weapons. The Order has been testing some new tech. Under the circumstances, I think Julian will allow us to share them with our new friends.”
“Lead the way,” I said, motioning forward. “Time’s running out.”
Daniel Hunt will be back in the next Forsaken Mercenary book, Annihilation. Until then, stay informed by joining our Pack in the “Jonathan’s Reading Wolves” Facebook group and get the latest news on the project.
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Books in the Forsaken Mercenary Universe
Inception
Dropship
Absolution
Fury
Vendetta
Annihilation (Coming Soon!)