Shards of Hope (Page 103)
- Page 1
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 159
“Aden has authorized it. You’ll catch a jet back home.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once in New York, he didn’t waste time killing the boy. Instead, he gave a short nod and blended into the bustling metropolis. His PsyNet trail was already secure; the squad couldn’t hunt him on that level.
He was free.
Chapter 55
THE HUMAN FEMALE Blake had kidnapped was unconscious when Vasic led a team to rescue her. “She’ll live,” the teleporter told Zaira and Aden afterward, the three of them standing near one of the new houses in the valley. “A cut across one breast, psychological torture, but no permanent physical damage, though she would’ve died from lack of water within the next day.”
“He wanted Beatrice to kill her.” Zaira’s voice vibrated with withheld fury.
Aden brushed his fingers over hers as they stood side by side. “He’ll pay for what he did.”
Glancing to his left and down before looking back up, Vasic said, “None of the teleporters in the squad can get to him. Blake was well trained in telepathic cloaking.”
It took Aden a second to realize his friend had looked automatically toward where his gauntlet had been on his left forearm before the amputation. You miss the gauntlet, he said telepathically while he considered how to track down the rogue and murderous Arrow. It wasn’t only that Blake was a threat to innocent people—he could do major damage to the squad’s reputation, which would feed back into the Arrows’ ability to live their lives.
Winter gray eyes met his. I became used to having easy, immediate access to various systems. He took out a small organizer. I’ll adapt. A pause before he said, “I have the details of Blake’s office in the valley and his quarters at Central Command. I’ll check out Command first, since he spent more time there.” He teleported out.
Able to sense Zaira’s frustration, Aden closed his hand around her own. “We’ll find him. He’s well trained, but he’s being hunted by the entire squad.” It was rare for Arrows to hunt their own, but when they did, the pursuit was relentless. “He won’t have time to catch a breath, much less do damage.”
Fingers curling around his own, Zaira gritted her teeth. “I want to be part of the team hunting him. Right now, Persephone is out of my reach but I can do something productive about Blake.”
“The operation is already under Amin’s command, and you have visitors in Venice to keep an eye on.” BlackSea had a dangerous advantage in the watery city.
“I just feel like we’re losing the battle against evil.” She leaned her body against his on those words, and at that instant, Aden realized they had any number of eyes on them. Arrows and children.
Weaving his fingers through her own, he looked down into her face. “You saved two lives today. Evil didn’t win there.” And it won’t win in our fight to be together.
The fire flickered in her gaze. Raising her hand, she laid her fingers against his jaw.
A public claim. A declaration of intent.
• • •
PAX Marshall was arrogant but he wasn’t stupid. His vehicle was an armor-plated tank. Safe in most circumstances. Except against a man who had the growing ability to control metal and machines.
Waiting until Pax was on a quiet road outside of the Marshall estate in Vermont, Dev pulled over behind him, focused on the other vehicle’s engine . . . and Pax’s car stopped moving.
He could see the Psy male attempting to reboot the onboard computer as Dev got out, walked to his car, and knocked on his window.
Pax looked at him with cool blue eyes, a weapon no doubt in his hand, but he opened the door and got out. “Is this how you usually arrange a meeting?” he asked as he buttoned his dark blue suit jacket, his hands as elegant as his features and the cut of his blond hair.
“A necessity.” Dev kept his hands in the open as Pax had done.
Pax’s upper-class English accent was clipped as he said, “The necessity being?”
Dev told him, watching his face for any indication of guilt or otherwise, but Pax Marshall had the expressionless face down to an art. “I see,” the other man said. “You realize I’m not lacking in intelligence. Why would I send in a black ops team emblazoned with our well-known emblem?”
“Precisely because you’re smart—smart enough to run a double bluff.” Dev had done his research, knew that the reason Pax was CEO of the Marshall Group despite his youth was that he had a way of doing the unexpected, leaving his competitors stunned and off balance.
“Then it appears we are at an impasse.”
“Guess so.” He couldn’t get a read on Pax, but he knew one thing. “If it wasn’t you, I suggest you track down the perpetrators, or the next time, your plane might be the vehicle that stops moving.” Dev couldn’t actually affect objects that distant or large yet, but Pax had no need to know that.
“Do you have the DNA profiles of the ones who left behind blood?”
Dev handed them over.
Two hours after he and Pax parted ways, word came that all the men on that list, plus two others, had been found shot point-blank in the back of the head. Pax sent him a short message not long afterward: They were not ours and they knew nothing beyond the strict parameters of their mission, which was to abduct the children and leave behind a witness. Contractors should really take care when choosing clients. Your children are safe.
Dev took everything the other man said with a grain of salt. The double-bluff possibility still applied; from everything Dev knew, Pax Marshall was ruthless enough to kill his own people to make a point.
- Page 1
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 159