Saven Disclosure (The Saven Series Book 2) (35 page)

“This is what happens when you disobey me.” He stares at me as he flicks a button on the wall. A screeching, piercing sound releases as the stone wall splits in two. A glass-paneled section opens across the width of the circular gaps, revealing a succession of round windows into the hidden room beyond.

With a pounding heart, I race to the nearest window, horrified eyes glued to the dirty, bedraggled body chained to the wall. Her head hangs uncomfortably to the side, as if it’s no longer tethered to her body. Strands of matted, stringy hair surround her bruised, scarred face. Sensing the audience, Ella lifts her head and stares at me through dull, barely-recognizable eyes.

My lip wobbles as I contemplate the state of my sister and what she’s had to endure. Rage boils my blood, and I react without conscious thought. Spinning around, I lunge at the VP, my hands aiming for his throat. Logan tugs me away before I make contact with his skin. Scorching heat courses through my veins, and every part of my being vibrates with intense tremors as my entire body quakes and trembles with sheer power. Lightheaded, I slump against Logan as my vision momentarily falters. Shaking myself, I straighten up, the sensation passing as suddenly as it came on.

The VP gawks at me, blinking furiously. Then his eyes narrow on Logan, watching, waiting. “You really shouldn’t have done that.” He presses a different button on the wall and Ella’s body contorts wildly. Her agonizing wail strikes terror straight through my heart. I fail to stifle my tormented cries. “The manacles are fitted with microelectronic transmitters. One touch of this button sends a powerful volt of electricity surging through her veins. I’ve been told the pain is unimaginable.” He depresses the button, and her body slumps forward. “Behave or she will suffer the consequences.”

I want to rip every inch of his body apart with my teeth. Potent hatred fills every nook and cranny of my being, and I yearn to act on it, but I can’t. With great difficulty, I cage my thirst for revenge and retribution. “What do you want?”

“What I’ve always wanted. Complete control.” It’s hard to marry the nondescript man in front of me with that statement. But there’s no denying he has the intelligence and cunning to carry it through. As I study his soulless eyes, I see a wealth of steely determination behind them. The look terrifies me.

Most people dismiss the VP on sight. His slight, short frame and graying hair paint him unremarkable in every way, except what’s lurking underneath the image he presents to the world is the exact opposite. The Saven were wrong to underestimate him. G is wrong to underestimate him.
I
was wrong. Now that I’m seeing things more clearly, I realize that the biggest threat the world faces is the man standing here in front of us. The man who currently holds my sister’s fate in his hands.

In this moment, I’d do anything he asked of me in order to set her free.

“What do you want in return for Ella’s freedom?” Logan asks more directly.

“Your father’s head on a platter.” He doesn’t miss a beat as he calmly relays his demand.

“Why?”

“I have many reasons, but the main one is that I prefer to deal with you going forward. Together we can conquer the world.”

“You’re insane,” I pipe up.

He chuckles. “They do say there’s a fine line between insanity and genius. But know this, little one, I
am
going to change the world. You can bank on it.”

“You won’t get away with it,” Logan says. “You have no idea the type of enemies you’ll make.”

“Boy, you have no idea what I am capable of.” His smug smile contains an underlying threat.

The floor vibrates beneath my feet as a massive explosion rocks the house. Bits of stone chip off the walls and ceiling, showering us in a layer of debris. Dust clouds mushroom as a secondary eruption hits target, and I’m knocked off my feet. Moldy tendrils of dust coat the skin on my face, creeping into my nostrils and mouth, and I gag. Large stone fragments pelt the floor, and the walls start audibly groaning with the impact.

My eyes pan to Ella. She’s unconscious, her limp body dangling at an odd angle under the constraints of her binds. A thin line of blood trickles out of her nose. A gaping hole in the ceiling lets in a steady stream of broken debris. We need to get her out of here before this place caves in.

I lash out incredibly fast, shoving my leg decisively into the VP’s solar plexus. He flies back, tumbling to the ground on his side. I pounce, flattening him to the floor as I jump on his back. Curling my arm securely around his neck, I deliver a swift jab to his carotid artery. He lets out an anguished moan as his eyes roil in his head.

“New plan! Teleport in there and get her out now!”
I silently scream at Logan.

He stabs a button on his comport and … nothing happens. Logan’s eyes meet mine. He tries again and I stare pointedly at him. The VP splutters, straining to say something. I loosen my hold a smidgeon. “You can’t teleport anywhere in my house. It’s blocked.” Though he’s semi-numb from my precise jab, he can’t hide his haughty arrogance. Anger flares and I flex my grip on his neck. He gags noisily.

Another vulgar explosion rocks the compound throwing me clear off him. The stone floor cracks and breaks as I smash into it, my bones quietly moaning. Huge boulders litter the room. Rolling sideways, I narrowly avoid a large piece that crashes on the floor beside me. Billowing smoke snakes through the air hampering my vision. I stagger to my feet on shaky ground. “Sadie! Where are you?” Logan’s panicked voice rings out.

The VP grabs me from behind, and something cold and metallic presses against my temple. His body sways, and I know he’s still weak. I could reach behind me and incapacitate him but for the weapon poking my skin. “I have her, and if you don’t want me to kill her right now, you’ll do as I say.”

Logan emerges from the fog, like some otherworldly avenger, stalking in our direction. Muscles bunch in his biceps and his fists are clenched into balls of fury at his side. “Press that blue button on the wall,” the VP instructs, gesturing with his shoulder. His arm bends with the motion, and I gag as additional pressure restricts my airwaves. I claw at his arm in desperation.

“Loosen your hold first. She can’t breathe.” Though Logan is in no position to bargain, the VP relaxes his arm, and I drag in greedy lungsful of air. Logan jabs the blue button and a door pops open in the wall.

The VP maneuvers toward the opening, dragging me in front of him and pointing the gun at Logan. “Don’t try anything or I’ll shoot.” When he reaches the doorframe, he shoves me at Logan with force. I pitch forward and he catches me before I smash into the ground. The shuttering of a door reverberates behind us. I peer into the window as the VP releases Ella from the chains and swoops her up. His voice resonates clearly in the room. “You have seventy-two hours to kill the king before I end her. Don’t try to follow me, or I’ll kill her on the spot. Go now, before this place collapses.”

We watch helplessly as he exits through a door on the other side of the room. The ground quakes underneath us as a large fault line rips through the ancient slate. Logan tugs me in flush to the wall as he pushes the blue button. Nothing happens, so he urgently presses all of the buttons to no avail. I curse out loud. The VP must have disabled them.

A wide cavity stretches the length of the floor, forming a solid gulf between the exit and us. I step back and position my legs one in front of the other, body angled and ready to jump. Logan mirrors my position. I sprint and push off the ground, propelling myself forward with every ounce of strength I have. I leap over the yawning crack, arms flapping about as I crash land on the other side. My cheek scrapes sorely against broken tile, and something sharp digs into my skin. I scramble to my feet as Logan lands beside me.

A massive tremor hits the building as we run out into the corridor, causing us to falter on our feet. Plumes of smoke rise up in front of us and I cough profusely. “Here.” Logan thrusts a strip ripped from his shirt into my hand. I cover my mouth as we tread carefully through the decrepit passageway, jumping over mounds of broken rock and stone that obstruct our path. The building continues to quake, and the prospect of being buried down here forever is looming larger by the second.

Logan finds the door to the staircase and hurries me through. “Crap,” I state, surveying the shattered bottom portion of the stairs. “We’ll have to find another way out.”

Clutching my hand, he tugs me back into the passageway, and we run in the opposite direction. Lights flicker as we race through an empty hall. If anyone was down here, they are long gone by now. Logan slows as we reach the latter half of the corridor, stopping in front of the only two doors. There’s an obvious dead end up ahead. Time is running out. I enter the door on the left as he takes the opposite room. This is exactly like the previous setup, a blank room with circular windows looking into a hidden cell. Though the floor is cracked, and parts of the wall are crumbling, this room has weathered the attack in much better shape. Dashing to the wall, I press the blue button and the door opens.
“In here, quick, Logan.”

He careens into the room as I dash to the far wall of the cell and press the big round red button. There’s a clicking sound as the door opens into a slim hallway illuminated by a strip of lighting. This corridor is fortified with large steel pillars at regular intervals supporting the structure. “This way.” Logan takes my hand and veers left. We sprint toward the elevator, beckoning us like a shiny beacon of hope. Another powerful quake rocks the compound, and I’m wondering how much more it can withstand.

Logan yanks me into the elevator and stabs the button. If it isn’t functional, I think I’ll cry. Ripping another layer off the bottom of his shirt, he carefully wipes my injured cheek. I practically cheer when the elevator starts its ascent.

“Do you think it’s the Amaretti?” I ask.

“I doubt they would mobilize that efficiently. Besides, if they were the ones attacking, they would’ve taken this place out in one smooth strike.”

That does absolutely nothing to stem my anxiety.

The elevator stops and the door glides open. Sounds of shouting and retaliating gunfire greet my ears. Logan edges carefully out, shielding my body as he scans both directions. Raising a finger to his lips, he pulls me out into the demolished corridor. Flattening our backs to the wall, we shuffle around the elevator bank, carefully tiptoeing over broken glass and glaring holes in the hardwood floor. A monstrous staircase looms in front of us, surprisingly intact. Logan ducks under the protective cover of the stairway, and I follow suit. He tries his comport again, but it’s as the VP said; he can’t teleport in here.

Large holes are visible in the outer wall of the building giving us front-row access to the scene outside. Three enormous black vans are parked in the middle of the grass, crushing the manicured lawn. Some type of high-tech armored tank is now stationary in front of the building, its deadly arm poised and ready to pump more artillery should the need arise. Strewn bodies lie motionless on the ground. A strapping muscle-bound man with clipped gray hair shouts instructions at a group of soldiers dressed in head-to-toe khaki combat gear.

Two Autovees come to a complete stop in front of the water fountain. Doors open and shut. A tall, wiry, distinguished-looking man with close-cropped copper-colored hair and pale skin approaches the beefed-up freak. He salutes him with a respectful bob of his head. They walk off, huddled in conversation.

The landscape out front is unoccupied now. While we could sneak relatively easily out that direction, it’s far too exposed.
“We need to find a back or side entrance.”
I skim a look at the partly open door behind us. It seems vacant. Creeping on tiptoe, I peek in. It is some type of formal ballroom, and the space stretches back to a hideously decorative open fireplace at the rear. A crater-size hole in the roof lets in gusts of hearty wind, and a large gray and black metal rod juts out from its landing place in the floor.

Logan peers over my shoulder as advancing footsteps approach. We swiftly scoot back into the shadows. Gunfire opens, followed immediately by two loud thuds. “Clear on the east wing,” an oddly recognizable voice says into a mouthpiece. My breath rattles around my anxiety-ridden chest. “You three go check on the others in the west wing, and the rest of you follow me.” They run off and I exhale gratefully.

“Come on,” Logan whispers, “let’s get the hell out of here.”

We race through the frosty ballroom and out the doors at the back into another passageway. A long glass wall offers a glimpse into an inner courtyard-slash-sunroom. The glass roof has been completely obliterated, and the surrounding walls have collapsed onto the space, crowding it with rubble and debris. Logan tugs on my hand, and we dash across the floor and into another room. We are halfway across the space when a small door on the left opens and three soldiers enter the room. “Stop right there,” the one at the front says, pointing his weapon at me. His almost black eyes penetrate mine in obvious … recognition?

A memory pitches to the forefront of my mind. “Bo?” Logan’s gaze alternates between Bo’s and mine.

“It’s the rebels.”
Boy does their timing suck.

The other soldiers cower unsurely behind Bo. “What are you waiting for?” he says, twirling his fingers in the air. “Cover the other side.” With cautious steps, they surround us. “Well, this is an added bonus.” Bo sneers at Logan. “I know someone who will be most pleased to make your acquaintance,
Prince
.”

The two soldiers at the rear suddenly slink to the floor, tossing their weapons aside. Puzzled, I stare at them in confusion. “Get those,” Logan tells me, clearly in control of the situation. Then the penny drops. He has commandeered their minds.

“What the …” Bo says, gaping at the guys as he fights an inner battle with his quivering arm.

“What a shame I’m in such a hurry,” Logan says, walking toward Bo and extorting his weapon. I snatch the guns from the ground, slinging them over my shoulder. “Bo here is going to drive us out the front entrance. Let’s go.” Logan prods him in the back with the butt of the weapon.