The Thirteenth Legion (A James Acton Thriller, #15) (James Acton Thrillers) (17 page)

Chaney drew
a deep breath, pursing his lips as he considered the Proconsul and what to do
with him. He exhaled, a decision made. “I see there is no convincing you.” He
raised his weapon, aiming it at the Proconsul.

“No!”
Rodney leapt in front of the Proconsul, a burst of gunfire erupting from
Chaney’s left, Rodney dropping to the floor, clutching at his chest.

“No!”
cried Chaney, shoving the shooter toward the door as Laura cried out, rushing
to Rodney’s side, Acton stepping in front of the Proconsul. “Take the skulls to
the vehicles, I want everyone out of this room, now!”

Acton
glared at him. “You’ve got what you came for. Enough people have died, so why
don’t you just leave?”

Chaney
nodded slowly, his eyes glued to Rodney’s as the man gasped his last breaths.
“He was one of my best friends before this all started.” He looked at the
Proconsul. “I truly am sorry.” He held up his weapon. “Tranquilizer darts. I
could never kill you. You’ve been my mentor for over a decade, a man I admire.
If you could just see past the beliefs you’ve been indoctrinated with and join
us, we could discover the truth together.”

The
Proconsul said nothing, though his anger was clear, Laura glancing up from
Rodney and shaking her head. Chaney knelt at his old friend’s side, gripping
the man’s shoulder and squeezing it. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. He looked up
at the Proconsul. “Sir, please, you are welcome to join us to witness what we
are about to do. You’ve always been our leader, and I will always think of you
as such. I don’t blame you.
You
didn’t lose your way, that was lost
eight hundred years ago and you’ve merely continued the mistake our ancestors
made.”

The
Proconsul stared down at Rodney then at Chaney. “You have all the skulls, and
your people have drained most of our accounts. We are but a shadow of what we
once were. I have failed in my duty, and am the leader of what is now nothing.
Take what you came for. We are done.”

Chaney’s
heart slammed hard, the words painful to hear, the tone they were delivered
with suggesting a finality that indicated there would be no changing this man’s
mind. “As you wish.” Chaney stood, turning to Acton. “Coming?”

Acton’s
eyebrows popped. “Huh? Of course not!”

“I’m
afraid I must insist.”

Laura
rose and Acton placed himself in front of her. “Why?”

“Because
as long as you are with us, they won’t try anything that risks your lives.
They’re like that to a fault.”

“You
used to be.”

“And
will be again. Professor, if we succeed, the world we live in tomorrow will not
be the same one we live in today. Don’t you want to be witness to that?”

Acton’s
head dropped slightly as he drew a breath, his eyes focused like lasers on
Chaney’s. “Of course I do. But the reality is that I expect you to put thirteen
balls of glass next to each other then wonder why you went to all the trouble
to recreate a disco!”

“James!”

Chaney
laughed. “Oh, Professor, I’ve missed you. You are right, of course, to doubt.
We don’t know what will happen, but we do know that three unleashed enough
power to reduce half of London to rubble eight hundred years ago. We also know
that the Great Fire of Rome began the night the first skull arrived there. It
nearly destroyed the greatest city the world had ever known to that point.
Don’t you want to know why you shiver every time you look at one of them? The
Triarii have refused to study them, considering it almost a sacrilege.
We
will test this.
We
want to know the answers to the questions
they
don’t dare to ask. Come with me, Professor, and help us discover the truth.”

Acton
sucked in a breath, Chaney sensing he was winning the notoriously curious man
to his side. “And what if nothing happens?”

“What do
you mean?”

“I mean,
if nothing happens, and this all turns out to be for naught, what will you do?”

Chaney
shook his head. “That won’t happen.”

“But if
it does?”

Chaney
sighed. “Then our life’s purpose will have been for nothing.”

“Will
you return the skulls to the Triarii?”

“
We
are the Triarii.”

Acton
gave him a look. “You know what I mean.”

Chaney
smiled slightly, glancing around the room, then at the Proconsul. “Should we
fail, then yes, we will surrender the skulls to you, Proconsul, return your
funds, and you will never hear from us again.”

Acton
turned to the Proconsul. “Satisfied?”

The
Proconsul shook his head. “Not at all. You forget, Professor Acton, that I
believe in their power. He’s only agreeing because he knows he
will
succeed in unleashing their power. The difference between him and I is that he
thinks he can control this power, I do not. I fear
when
he succeeds, he
will destroy everything around him, including perhaps the world itself.”

Chaney
felt a tightness in his chest as his cheeks flushed, the frustration of the old
arguments coming back to the fore. He turned to Acton. “Professor, we are not
fools. If we detect anything going out of control, we will stop the experiment
immediately. We believe we have the technology to harness the power, but should
we not, then we will stop and await a time when we shall, be that ten years, a
hundred, even a thousand years from now. Eventually the secrets of the skulls
will be revealed.
I
feel it will be tomorrow.” He tilted his head
forward slightly, staring at the professor he had so much respect for. “One last
time, Professor, will you willingly join us?”

Acton
looked at Laura who shook her head slightly. “Somebody has to be there to stop
this if it goes wrong.”

Her eyes
popped wide. “Surely you don’t believe?”

Acton inhaled
slowly. “I didn’t, not for a second, until he mentioned the shiver. Didn’t you
feel it too?”

Laura
frowned, her reluctance in admitting to the truth undeniable. She nodded.
“Almost every time I looked at it.”

“Could
it actually be something other than an emotional response?”

Laura
closed her eyes and nodded. “I don’t want to believe, but you know I’ve devoted
a huge portion of my career to the study of the one I had access to. We
couldn’t determine how or when it was made, and we now know why the televised
and reported studies claimed they were fake.”

“The
fakes the Triarii substituted.”

Laura
nodded. “I can’t explain them, and that has always made me think there was
something special about them.”

Acton stared
into her eyes, crouching slightly. “You want to go, don’t you?”

Laura
looked up at him, a sheepish smile spreading. “I’m gobsmacked that I’m saying
yes, but I do.”

Acton
gave her a peck on the forehead, then turned to Chaney. “If we go, I man the
kill switch.”

A rush of
adrenaline flowed through Chaney as he smiled.

“Absolutely.”

Milton Residence, St. Paul, Maryland

Reading’s phone vibrated on the kitchen table, everyone flinching,
even Milton’s young daughter, Niskha. Her mother, Sandra, quickly led the
little girl from the room as Reading swiped his thumb across the display, putting
the call on speaker so Milton could hear.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is
this Hugh?”

“Yes.”

“This is
Dylan. How are you?”

Reading
breathed a sigh of relief. There weren’t a lot of young whippersnappers that he
had faith in, he one of those that felt today’s generation was a lost
generation, though Dylan Kane was one of the exceptions. “I’ve been better.”

“I guess
so. Has there been any word since your message?”

“Negative,
but I’m out of the loop on this one. The FBI was humoring me and now have cut
me off.”

“Any
thoughts on who took them?”

Reading
leaned back in his chair. “Those two have pissed off so many people around the
world, it could be anyone—”

Kane
chuckled. “Too true!”

“—but
we’re pretty confident it’s an offshoot of the Triarii, the so called Deniers.”

Kane
sighed. “I see. Well, I can’t do much from where I am, but I’m going to make
some calls. You should be hearing from trusted friends shortly.”

It was
Reading’s turn to sigh. “Glad to hear it, Dylan. Thanks.”

“No
problem. Now I’ve gotta go, but keep me posted.”

“Will
do.”

The call
ended and Reading turned to Milton.

“Trusted
friends?”

Reading
smiled. “If it’s who I think it is, we’re in good hands.”

Lee Fang Residence, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Fang sprinted, hard, screamo music blaring in her ears, it an
excruciating experiment never to be repeated. Sure, it pissed her off so much
that she did indeed run faster, but it also took any joy out of the workout.

Tomorrow,
disco.

Her
phone beeped in her ear and she lifted her arm to read the call display. She
grinned, hitting the stop button on her treadmill then pulling the phone out, she
recognizing the spoofed number of her boyfriend.

Boyfriend!

That was
a word she had been certain was relegated to distant memory after her exile,
and even in her wildest fantasies she never thought she would be attracted to a
white guy. But Kane was different, different from any Caucasian she had met
before, and surrounded by them now for over a year, she realized a lot of her
misconceptions and prejudices were based upon propaganda inflicted on her by
her former government.

Kane was
incredible.

Americans
were nice people.

Life was
looking up.

“Hi!”

“Hey
there, how are you?”

She felt
goosebumps at the sound of his voice. “Sweaty and breathing hard.”

“Ooh,
just the way I like you!”

A wave
of embarrassment washed over her. “You’re so bad!”

“Listen,
I can’t talk, this is fast. You up for some potential action?”

Fang’s
grin spread as her heart slammed for an entirely new reason. “Absolutely!”

Kane’s
charming laugh had her eyes closing as she pictured his face. “Thought you
might be. The professors are missing.”

“Acton
and Palmer?”

“Yes.
Hugh Reading is in St. Paul now with Dean Milton. I want you to take the go bag
and join them. I’ve sent details to your secure account.”

“Ok. Who
do you think took them?”

“We’re
not sure, but we think it might be some cult. The details are in the email. I’m
going to get Chris involved so we can start to get some intel, but people are
dead, and it’s been over twenty-four hours with no word.”

“From what
you’ve told me, those two have annoyed quite a few powerful people.”

“Yes, so
you might need more firepower.”

“Who?”

“I’m
going to give BD a shout, see if he can shake loose a few of his team to help
you. Laura also has her own ex-SAS team that is ready to deploy the moment they
have a target.”

Fang
frowned as she wiped her forehead with a towel. “Lots of guns.”

“Yup.
That’s what has me worried. If it’s outside the country, you can’t go, it’s too
risky. Just act as liaison here for Reading. Hopefully Delta and the SAS guys
can take care of everything else.”

“You can
count on me.”

She
could almost see his smile. “I never had any doubt.”