Mended Throne (Broken Throne Book 5) Page 4

  There was a shout from the floor, then Parnell was running across the line to the large portal opening in the middle of the cavern.

  Frannie stepped through and Parnell wrapped his wife in an embrace. The advance security team from Promise Point rushed through to secure the other side with Frannie’s team.

  Winnie stood and walked to the couple. “What took you so long? We were getting worried.”

  “There was an extra contingent of Red Leg security at the depot tonight,” Frannie said. “They hadn’t been there when we scouted the night before so I’m not sure what was happening.”

  Again, the itch.

  “What did you do?” Victor asked, startling Winnie by appearing at her side without warning.

  “We took care of them,” Frannie said. “It took us a bit longer because we didn’t want to raise the alarm. I had to create a sphere of silence around them before we attacked so that no one could hear the gunfire.”

  Victor nodded then turned to Winnie’s security team and waved them through the portal. They would occupy positions around the other side of the portal, waiting for Winnie to come through.

  The large team of techs and other chanters flowed through the portal next, to begin their work of locating the containers on the list and bringing them back through the portal to Promise Point.

  Winnie walked to the portal’s edge then stepped through, followed by Danny and Victor. Parnell and Frannie came behind them, taking station on either side of the opening between Atlanta and their mountain retreat. They would maintain the doorway until everyone returned. A clerk from Morgan’s division stood next to Parnell, ready to check off the containers as they passed and keep count of everyone so they didn’t leave any of the ream behind.

  “Take me to the Red Legs. I want to see them.”

  “They’re all dead, Winnie,” Victor said. “Frannie’s team took care of them.”

  “I got that. I need to see them anyway. Has anyone searched the bodies, tried to see why they were here?”

  “I have people doing that right now, Winnie,” Victor said, walking beside her as she left the perimeter.

  Victor waived a hand. The security team moved ahead and cleared the way.

  Winnie didn’t try to discourage them. That damned itch refused to leave.

  She was led to a pool of light in the darkness nearby. Scattered about the overhead lights were the bodies of a dozen Red Legs. Dusters were sifting through their pockets. Winnie waited nearby, watching the grisly work.

  Victor walked away, leaving her with Danny.

  “What do you expect them to find?” Danny asked.

  “I’m not sure. But they shouldn’t be here. Victor knows it.”

  Victor leafed through a small pack of papers brought to him by one of the Dusters. At least the ones on top were stained with blood.

  Several of the Red Legs had been shot, but others looked strangled or suffocated. Winnie reached out with her magical senses to see what Frannie had used. She’d created the sphere of silence around them so no one could hear them, but she’d also sucked out the oxygen and created a dead zone within it.

  The few Red Legs who realized that something was wrong before passing out had been gunned down by Frannie’s team.

  Winnie played the gruesome scene in her head, looking for clues or anomalies to explain the Red Legs’ presence.

  Victor returned to her side, shaking his head. “There’s a general order to step up security from General Couch, not Kane. It’s very strange.”

  “They don’t have enough soldiers to spread around,” Danny said. “Maybe it’s a random reassignment.”

  “That’s possible,” Victor replied. “But I don’t like coincidences.”

  “Neither do I,” Winnie agreed. “There’s nothing to suggest that they knew we were coming?”

  “Other than that general order? No. Still, I’d like to spread my team out and supplement the rest of the Dusters until we get all the containers through the portal. But that means I can’t stay here to protect you, Winnie. Would you consider returning to Promise Point while we finish up here?”

  “You know better than that, Victor.” Winnie almost laughed despite the situation. “Besides, you can use me if things go south.”

  “Hopefully we’ll be out of here before the forces stationed in Atlanta get organized enough to respond,” Victor checked his watch. “The Army base is on the far side of town. Estimates give us twenty minutes to get what we need and pull out before they arrive.”

  “Victor’s not wrong,” Danny said. “If you went back, we could concentrate on other things.”

  “Not you, too?” They sure had been disagreeing a lot. “I need to be here, Danny. You know that. The Dusters need to see me leading them on some of these ops. We talked about this back at the Point. I’m here and I’m not leaving until everyone does.”

  An uneasy silence followed her statement, interrupted only by calls to watch out when a giant metal truck container floated by, manipulated by a pair of chanters. The supplies were rolling back toward the portal already.

  Each of the containers listed had at least a pair of the most powerful chanters in the logistics or tech teams assigned to it. Using new magical fields discovered in the aftermath of the dragons’ arrival, they would create a field around each of their assigned containers, allowing them to levitate the heavy metal boxes before moving them back to the portal. The logistics clerk checked off each container from the list, then the list of personnel as they passed.

  The plan allowed fifteen minutes, giving them an extra five based on their assumed military response time to the raid. They wanted to be ghosts before a single soul arrived to see what they’d done or how they escaped.

  “We need to clean up these bodies.” Danny pointed to the Red Leg guards, scattered dead on the ground all around them. “We don’t want to leave evidence of magical involvement here at the train yard.

  “I’ll send one of the tech teams back to stack the bodies on a pallet,” Winnie said. “We can levitate them through the portal for burial back to Promise Point.”

  Winnie walked back towards the portal, squinting at the faint blue glow outlining the portal ahead. Two of the security detail followed close behind. Danny and Victor wouldn’t leave her alone, even inside their perimeter.

  They had learned that lesson before.

  Winnie turned the corner around a stack of metal trailers, and saw a line of the chosen containers moving through the portal, slow but steady.

  The guard on her left jerked backward with a round to his chest.

  On her right, the second guard fell — the back of his head blown out by a bullet.

  More bullets whizzed by.

  Winnie ducked behind the wall of a container, drew in her magic, and tried to weave a personal force field strong enough to stop bullets.

  But she was a fool. Winnie needed the field in place already.

  Bullets clanged off the corner and showered her in sparks.

  Shouts rang from the portal.

  But they’d never make it to Winnie in time.

  She had a pistol, but that was useless. Danny and the others had laughed at her poor marksmanship the few times she’d practiced.

  That didn’t mean she was unarmed. With the force field in place, Winnie stepped back out from behind the container to face her attacker.

  Bullets ricocheted off her force field and spilled to the dirt. She’d be bruised but it was doing the job.

  “You people killed all my friends!” Someone shouted from the darkness. “They all just died gasping for breath.”

  Muzzles flashed in the dark. More bullets whined by, dinging her magical shield. Winnie pointed into the darkness, drawing more magic. “Light.”

  A blazing ball of white light formed in the narrow corridor between the container stacks. Another Red Leg guard stood in plain sight. Young, judging from his face and lack of rank on his shoulders.

  He winced when the light flared above him but kep
t firing at Winnie until his pistol was clicking.

  The Red Leg fumbled at his belt to reload.

  She had to end this. Eventually, if she let him shoot long enough, a bullet would break through. “Drop the gun and I’ll let you live,” Winnie said, pointing at the guard. “I won’t say it again.”

  Shouts, from ahead and behind.

  The guard didn’t stop. His fumbling attempts to reload grew more frantic.

  Winnie drew in more energy, loathing the need to loose it at the scared boy between the containers. He was a pawn. Kane needed to die.

  She throttled her power, creating a charge that would stun rather than kill.

  The Red Leg finished reloading, racking the slide closed, and inserting a cartridge into the chamber.

  He raised the gun again to fire.

  Winnie tensed and raised her hand, pointing at the Red Leg.

  His head jerked backward and he was flung to the ground, before Winnie could release her magic.

  The gunshot bellowed from behind, but it didn’t register immediately.

  Turning her head, she looked behind her to see Danny standing there with his pistol in a two-hand grip, aimed at the dead guard.

  Victor and four Duster guards rounded the corner.

  “Danny, I was trying to take him prisoner.” Winnie’s adrenaline turned energy into anger. “You killed him for nothing. He didn’t have to die.”

  “I was trying to save your life,” Danny said. “Are you insane?”

  Victor ignored their exchange. He detailed two guards to check their fallen comrades while he sent the other two to check on the assailant.

  Then they jogged past Winnie, rifles pointed at the body lying in the pool of white light cast by the ball of floating magic above.

  “What were you thinking?” Victor asked, turning on Winnie. “I saw you step out from behind cover like you didn’t have a care in the world.”

  “I had a shield up. He couldn’t hurt me.”

  “Danny’s right. You’re a fool.” Victor looked around, scanning the containers on either side. “Was anyone else with him? Was he alone?”

  “He was alone. And I was fine,” Winnie said, stunned by their reaction.

  Victor shook his head, too angry to answer. He walked over to the other guards were checking their fallen teammates. “How are they?”

  “Sloane’s dead, sir,” said the first Duster. “He took a round to the head, just under the edge of his helmet.”

  “What about Ridley?” Victor asked.

  “He might live if we can get him back to Promise Point and the menders. And fast. He’s losing a lot of blood.” A guard pressed his hand against a bandage over a spreading flow of blood leaking the wound in Ridley’s chest. He hadn’t been wearing armor because there wasn’t enough for everyone.

  A crowd started to gather. Victor detailed several gawkers to help carry Ridley back to the portal for medical attention. A few others started to pick up Sloane.

  Winnie turned away and took a few steps into the shadows of a nearby container stack. She crouched low, trying to catch her breath.

  Victor followed her into the shadows, standing over her.

  Winnie looked up, barely able to see him through the pooling tears. “I didn’t have a chance to defend them. It all happened so fast.”

  “It was their job to defend you, Winnie. Not the other way around. Sloane and Ridley knew the risk when they volunteered for the job.”

  “I didn’t even know their names. How did you?”

  “I take the time to interview every member of your security detail. It’s important that I know what kind of people they are, and whether they’re willing to die for you or not.”

  Winnie didn’t know how to respond. She closed her mouth, trying to blink her tears away.

  “I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Victor finally said. “We can’t afford to lose you, especially over something as stupid as a random encounter on a raid like this. It would mean the end of everything we’ve worked so hard for.”

  Winnie wiped her eyes and looked around. “Where’s Danny? I yelled at him.”

  “He left with Ridley,” Victor said.

  “I have to apologize. I knew what he was trying to do but yelled at him anyway.”

  Victor placed his hand on her shoulder. “You were in the heat of the moment. It happens. Danny will understand.”

  Winnie nodded. Then she stood. “I should get back. Can you finish up here?”

  “I can. But let me walk you back to the portal first.”

  Victor walked Winnie to the portal. And soon she was back in Promise Point.

  The formerly empty cavern was full of trailer containers now. People were milling about, talking in hushed circles. Several of them stopped talking when she approached. They nodded when she looked their way, resuming conversation only once she was past.

  Winnie turned towards the mender’s cavern where they tended the wounds and ills of the Duster army. She had to check on Ripley and find Danny.

  There was something else as well.

  Now back inside Promise Point, the itch was relentless.

  And now, Winnie knew what it was.

  Kane was up to something.

  The excitement at the raid had masked it, but now she could feel it again.

  Kane was ready to do something big. And soon.

  The survivors of Fort Brick had run out of time to regroup.

  Winnie had to reveal herself, and take the fight to Kane for a change.

  CHAPTER 7

  “What do you mean you found nothing to prove that Durham’s alive?” Kane asked.

  General Couch barely stopped himself from physically recoiling as Kane lurched toward him, his finger aimed in accusation.

  “General Couch, I didn’t ask you to verify what I already knew to be true. My source on this is unimpeachable. I asked you to FIND her.”

  “Yes, Director.” Couch had to be careful in wording his reply. “I was merely pointing out that we’ve heard nothing at all for months. There’s been no sign of Durham or her companions since the battle at the hospital.”

  “You said yourself that you found no bodies.”

  “We didn’t,” Couch said. “Not their dead, our dead, or even the bodies of your creatures once we shelled that valley with your special weapons. That valley floor had the most complete destruction I’ve ever seen.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re being incompetent, or stupid. Winnie allowed you to see what you wanted to. It’s all part of her plan to destroy me.”

  “Sir, it is possible that Durham is still alive, but my resources are stretched thin. Petty raids from the remaining rebel forces, uprisings in cities we thought were pacified, signs of resistance nearly everywhere my soldiers or your Red Legs travel. Just last night, during a raid at a rail yard in Atlanta, they kidnapped a squad of Red Legs on security detail. My few resources working intelligence leads haven’t found a single whiff of her whereabouts.”

  Kane turned in his chair, stared at the map of the United Americas on the wall, and tapped a finger to his chin in thought.

  “Maybe we need the right bait to lure her out of hiding, General,” Kane mused. “There is something I wanted to discuss with you that might help solve two problems with but a single blow.”

  Kane stood. The bones in his twisted form creaked and popped as he rose. He crossed to the map and pointed.

  “I’ve been working on a plan and a new weapon to deploy in our battle against the chanter and middling rebels. They’ve been gaining in strength because of their ties to rejuvenated nexuses of power around the country. If we can destroy those points of power, the chanters will lose their connection.”

  “Won’t that affect your own powers, sir?” Couch asked, wondering if maybe that would be for the best.

  “Not at all. I have transcended their petty connection to this world. My power comes from beyond. A loss for them is a gain for me.”

  Couch looked at the map. “Where are these
nexuses?”

  “Based on my research, the closest is in Baltimore.” Kane stabbed a gnarled finger at the white pin poking from the map’s eastern edge.

  “Baltimore is already pacified, sir; we don’t have to attack it.”

  “Your forces hold portions, not the whole city. And it’s time we made an example. Attack the city with your forces and my Fell beasts, until there isn’t a living thing left inside it. Then I want you to trigger our new weapon in the center of the city to shut down the nexus.”

  “Killing civilians, many of whom are already on your side, isn’t something I or my men signed up for, Director.”

  This would surely spell his end, but Couch had to take a stand.

  Kane waived a hand, dismissing the General. “Just surround the city with your forces, if you and your people lack the stomach for anything else. My beasts will do your job. Once they’ve taken the city, you can trigger the device.”

  Couch paused. He didn’t have a reply. The Director had countered his argument in a way that he couldn’t deny. He tried again.

  “I’m not sure I have the forces available right now. A delay might be prudent.”

  “I had hoped for more time to gather our strength, but if Winnie is alive then the time to strike is now.”

  “It will take —”

  “No excuses, General Couch. If you need more time, fine. You have seventy-two hours to gather your forces. Then the attack on Baltimore shall commence.”

  “Some of the inhabitants will escape, sir.”

  “So be it. They can travel to other cities and tell them what happened in Baltimore. It will get back to Durham and she’ll have no choice but to react. Then we’ll finish her off, once and for all.”

  “That might work,” Couch admitted.

  “Of course it will. It’s her hometown. This will smoke her out and weaken her power base. She’d be forced to spread her forces out to defend the other nexuses. Then we will dismantle her pitiful army piecemeal.”

  Kane looked at the map, his long pointed nails tracing its surface. He turned to Couch. “Seventy-two hours. Three days. Defy me and regret it.”

  Couch swallowed and nodded, unable to speak. It was the first time Kane had threatened him with harm. Would he even be given warning the next time?