Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension (31 page)

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 because 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 lick 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?"

Caleb frowned, but he didn't let her
go. Instead, he touched her cheek. "No. Because they were your
family, Simone, and now they're gone. Or, we skip right over them
and go to the part about why you're avoiding me."

Simone jerked back and pushed Caleb
away from her. "Don't," she said, pressing a hand to her cheek.
"Don't do that. You can't do that."

Caleb’s brows rose as his hands dropped
to his sides. "Why can't I?"

"Because everyone is dying!" Simone
curled both of her hands into fists. Her nails cut into her palms.
"Don't you get it?! This isn't 1927, Caleb! This isn’t the world we
used to know. This isn't the life we used to live. There won't be
entire afternoons wasted in hammocks or stolen moments in our
offices. We won't be picking the kids' vegetables out of the potted
plants in the dining room or washing mud pies out of their mouths.
There will be no happy ending!"