Terregon (Book Two of The Red Diamond Saga) Page 11
“Evoluphra!” He grinned around his declaration as the audience got to their feet. At first only a few people applauded, then the entire room erupted in applause. Corinne's mouth was dry and her heart was racing as she stepped back toward Aaron and Lisa. They were blinded by the flashes of the cameras and barraged with questions that were being shouted in their direction. As
Simeon demanded calm and instructed his men to control the audience, Corinne knew that their lives would never be the same. From now on they would not only be hunted by Simeon and his men, but they would be hunted by the entire world greedily desiring their abilities.
One man stood on a chair amongst the other reporters. He shouted above the other questions.
“Does this mean we finally have some real superheroes?!” He called out hopefully and held out his microphone.
Simeon's eyes flashed with importance as he smiled. “The world is a much safer place, thanks to Evoluphra.”
36
Once Corinne, Aaron, and Lisa had been returned to their confinement and Simeon had declared he was no longer available for questions, he settled into his car with Brianna snuggled close to him.
“Does it feel good?” She murmured in his ear seductively. “To know the whole world wants to be you?”
Simeon was strangely let down. He was not sure what he had expected from the press conference. Sure the whole world was already clamoring for the supplement but that only meant more money. He had plenty of that. What he wanted the most was to be worshiped. He was irritated that the audience members had reserved their awe for Corinne, rather than focusing it where it belonged, on him.
“It's not enough.” Simeon said tensely, despite the soothing strokes of Brianna's fingertips along his shoulders.
“Why?” Brianna pleaded as she gazed at him. “What more could you want Simeon?” She whispered with disbelief.
“The world needs to know that they have to go through me, to get to them.” He said sharply. “They need a bigger demonstration.”
Brianna usually adored the idea of violence and chaos, but the gleam in her husband's eyes actually frightened her.
“What are you planning?” She asked breathlessly.
Simeon did not answer, he simply pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a brief text.
“Kill the girl.”
37
While the press conference was occurring causing a stir on international television, Daniel and Stanley were oblivious to what was unfolding. They were stuck like glue to Alana's side as she went through the morning before her wedding. They had been to two spas, a hair salon, and were now sharing a dressing room at the country club where the evening wedding was to be held.
Daniel had received strict instructions not to let the young woman out of his sight, although he did offer the courtesy of turning away while she dressed. She was surrounded by three bridesmaids and a maid of honor who were all giggling and joking with anticipation of the big moment.
Daniel wondered if Corinne would ever have that special moment. He promised himself that if he was ever able to get out of this alive, he would make their wedding the first priority. He did not want to risk another moment of not being her husband.
As the ceremony drew closer Daniel began to relax. There had not been any sign of the Snakes, nor was there any chatter on the streets about a planned attack. If they got through the wedding without incident then the climate in the neighborhood might actually improve.
Daniel was actually swept up in the romance of the wedding preparations, despite the fact that he knew it was more of a political alignment than an expression of true love. He could not help but think of Corinne, and each time he did, he became more Daniel than Luke.
He knew it was dangerous to fantasize but when Alana's face was disguised beneath her veil, he could not help but dream of it being Corinne hidden behind it.
As the music began to play in indicating it was almost time for Alana to walk down the aisle, the young girl shuddered nervously.
“This is my ticket out.” She told her reflection in the mirror, when only Daniel and Stanley were around to hear. Her bridesmaids and maid of honor were waiting for her at the top of the stairs that she would descend to walk down the aisle to where her husband to be was waiting.
Daniel kept his mouth shut. He knew she would never be free, as long as her blood was the same as Marshall Malita's.
There was a light knock on the door. Daniel opened it cautiously. Marshall Malita dressed in an expensive suit, and glowing with pride was waiting to escort his daughter.
“You do down first.” He instructed Stanley. “I don't want any issues.”
Stanley nodded and took a brief glimpse of Daniel who refused to look back at him.
“You follow behind us.” Marshall instructed Daniel. He also had several men positioned throughout the building to keep Alana safe.
As the procession began Daniel tried to focus on the task at hand, when all he really wanted was to be back with Corinne. He had no idea if she was safe, or if Cori had been found. He was going crazy with wonder, but he had to force his worry out of his mind.
As Alana and Marshall began descending the stairs, neither noticed a pair of eyes gazing down at them from the wide beams that crisscrossed the ceiling of the country club. An assassin had been laying in wait since the day before, and he had just received the text he had been waiting for.
He shifted his weapon until it was positioned perfectly.
Alana and Marshall were mid-way down the stairs when Daniel felt a strange urge to look up. He saw the barrel of a gun poking over the edge of a beam in the ceiling.
“Gun!” He shouted and as he dove for Alana several bullets rang out, followed by three small pre-planned explosions. The entire ceremony erupted into chaos as Daniel and Alana tumbled down the stairs and landed with a thump at the bottom.
Daniel pulled away from her and gazed down at her white wedding dress, which was splattered with blood.
“Where are you hit?” He asked as he searched for the wound.
Alana gasped out her words through the tears that were falling. “It's not my blood.”
Only then did Daniel look up to see that Marshall Malita's body was thrown back on the stairs, his chest covered in crimson fluid, his eyes wide and staring at the ceiling. Daniel rushed up the stairs to his side. Marshall was drawing gurgling breaths. Daniel realized that when he had protected Alana he must have shoved Marshall directly into the line of fire.
If Marshall died as a result of the shot, Daniel would be just as culpable in his death as the assassin. Guns were being fired without regard for caution at the ceiling. Instead of the assassin that Daniel expected, the same man who had confronted Daniel on the street fell off of the beam and into the middle of the crowd. If he had been alive when he fell, the man dressed in the colors of the Snakes, was certainly not for long, as his body was riddled with the bullets of Marshall Malita's loyal family.
Through the chaos and the smoke Daniel caught sight of Stanley, and when the two met eyes they both knew, the entire city was about to be thrust into the middle of a war.
38
The scenes on television of the city streets filled with gunfire and explosions kept people locked inside their homes, and sent some fleeing from the area causing a lot of congestion on the highways that surrounded the city. As the violence worsened and reports of innocent bystanders being slaughtered in the crossfire increased, reporters began to pose the question that Simeon was waiting for.
Before he even arrived at his home the consequences of his order to kill Alana Malita were evident. However, he was surprised and pleased to discover it had been Marshall Malita that was struck by the assassin's bullet. He was struggling to live in a hospital room, machines were breathing for him.
Simeon found it thrilling that one simple text had taken down such a powerful man. He knew that the war between the Snakes and the Malita's would siege the city and it would only be a matter of time before the
city turned its attention to their only hope.
As Simeon strode confidently into his house, one of his servants hurried up to him.
“Sir the Mayor is on the phone for you.”
Simeon smirked as he casually ascended the stairs toward Cori's room. “Let me know when it's the president.” He said arrogantly.
When he found Cori sitting alone in Conner's room he was surprised.
“Where is he?” He asked desperately. Cori pointed to the window.
“You let him leave?!” Simeon roared showing his temper to the little girl for the first time.
Cori was not frightened, though she should have been. “It was Corinne.” She said softly. “She joined energy with Conner.”
“That's impossible!” Simeon shouted. “Their abilities are restrained when they are confined.” Then he realized what had happened. That was why she took so long to demonstrate her abilities to the crowd, she had been joining energies with Conner right under his nose.
Furious, Simeon stormed out of the room. He hated it when his wife turned out to be right, they should have been eliminated in the first place. He had Cori under his control, that was really all he needed. It was time to prove just how powerful he was.
39
In the hospital, Calvin Malita sat beside his second eldest son's bed. He stared hard at his lifeless body as the machines in the room worked to keep him alive.
“How could this happen?” He asked in a breathy voice as he gazed at his child. His hands rested seemingly placidly on his knees, his palms facing up at his weather features. He was in his late sixties, and his once full hair had thinned to the point of being almost non-existent. Beside him his eldest son Michael, and on his other side closest to the door, was his youngest, Miles. Miles had his arm wrapped snugly around the waist of his fiancée Tasha. She offered a cursory greeting as Daniel was led into the room, the white shirt beneath his suit jacket still smeared with Marshall's blood from where he had tried to stop the bleeding.
Daniel kept his eyes low, but not to the floor. He could not display too much weakness, nor could he not appear contrite for his role in the impending death of Marshall Malita.
“I don't understand.” Calvin said in a dazed tone of voice as he lifted his attention to the two men that stood close to Daniel. He was not held, but it was implied that if he did not do as he was asked he would face the consequences. While in the hospital the Malitas would demonstrate some level of civility to prevent the authorities from becoming involved in their business.
Calvin had the same gray eyes his son did, and when they sought out Daniel's, he responded respectfully be meeting them.
“This is the one responsible?” He asked in a shaky voice.
Daniel's breath grew more shallow as he did his best not to display his panic. He was certain he would be heading off for a long drive after this hospital visit.
“Yes, father.” Miles said as he continued to hold Tasha close. He was demonstrating his possession of her because she had been the one to bring Luke into the family, and he had failed to protect one of the highest members, she too could face punishment if he did not make it clear that he did not want her to.
Daniel held Calvin's gaze, afraid to shift his attention from it, or even blink.
The tension in the room was palpable as Calvin pushed himself up from the chair he was sitting in and walked with a limp toward Daniel. When he reached up and cupped Daniel's cheek in his palm, Daniel still did not avert his gaze.
“You do not even offer me an apology?” He asked in a weighted voice.
Daniel's throat was dry as he replied in a submissive tone. “Sir, I made a choice.” He said clearly. He knew better than to apologize, it would seal his fate if he took responsibility for the incident.
“Leave him alone.” Alana said sharply from the doorway of the hospital room. She was hunched over a set of crutches which she awkwardly used to enter the room. In falling down the stairs with Daniel she had fracture a bone in her leg.
“His job was to protect me, and he did it.” Alana said defiantly.
Daniel did not allow any sign of relief to enter his expression.
“Alana, it is not your place to get in the middle of the business of men.” Calvin chastised with a frown.
“Really?” Alana asked incredulously. “I could not even get married without my father being shot, and you tell me that it is not my place?” She narrowed her heavy lashes with the severity of her father's gaze. “No more. I will not let you take this man's life because he chose to protect me, as my father asked him to.”
Miles released Tasha and began to approach his niece while Michael stood beside his father.
“Alana, careful.” Miles said sternly as he paused just beside her. “We are all grieving, but you are to treat your grandfather with respect.”
Alana smiled faintly as she met her uncle's gaze, and then looked back at her grandfather. “I am.” She said quietly. “I am respectfully asking that you not waste the skills of a man who could take down five men, who was the only one who even spotted the gun, and who managed to save me even though I was obviously the target.”
She paused as she tried to catch sight of Daniel's eyes who refused to look directly at her. “Set him loose Grandpa, that's all I am asking. Send him to the streets and let him prove his loyalty to my father and this family by taking the lives of every Snake he sees.”
Miles could not help but smile in admiration at his niece's blood thirst. He had assumed for some time that she did not have what it took to be a real Malita, but in that moment she was proving it. She was demanding revenge.
“Fine.” Calvin agreed as he took a step back from Daniel. “You are Marshall's only child, I will let you have your revenge in the way that you wish. However, if he fails to accomplish it, we can all agree his loyalty will be in question.”
Alana nodded along with her uncles. Tasha met Daniel's eyes briefly with a flicker of horror. She knew that what Daniel was being asked to do went beyond being undercover, he was expected to hunt and murder as many men as possible, and if he did not, it was his own life on the line.
40
Corinne frowned as she was injected with yet another needle. She did not know what she was being given but she assumed it could not be anything could. Because of their seclusion none of the three were aware that the city was melting down around them. Aaron and Lisa were injected as well.
Lisa was still weakened from the healing work she had done, and could not bring herself to speak. Aaron was so livid over the entire situation that he chose not to speak either. Corinne was only thinking of whether Simeon would ever think that they had done enough to release his hold over Daniel, Stanley, and Cori.
There was a bit of a commotion outside of their room, followed by Simeon's presence.
“Great news guys.” He said with false bravado. “The president has requested your assistance.”
He had called Simeon personally to ask for the help of his super humans with the incident that was only escalating by the moment as Marshall Malita had been taken off of life support.
“President?” Corinne asked suspiciously.
“Of the United States.” Simeon explained as if her mind was not capable of comprehending.
“With what?” Aaron asked skeptically.
“Well, there's been a bit of an incident.”
Corinne narrowed her eyes and glared at Simeon. “What do you mean?”
“It seems that a member of the Snakes assassinated one of Calvin Malita's sons today, at his granddaughter's wedding.” He grimaced as he added. “As you can guess, the ensuing reaction was less than docile.”
“But Daniel and Stanley are in the middle of it!” Corinne exclaimed, which made Lisa pay closer attention. “You promised that if we did what you asked then you would keep them safe.” Corinne hissed her words venomously.
“And they will be.” Simeon grinned as he patted Corinne lightly on the shoulder. “Once you three show up.”
“It's like a different world.” Lisa gasped as she stepped out on to the street. The sun was setting and the fires that burned out of control were glowing in the evening light. They could hear sirens in all directions, but it was not safe enough for the fire trucks to enter downtown.
All emergency personnel had been ordered to stand down until the gunfire and explosions were brought under control. The area around the center of the violence was being evacuated but there were thousands of people trapped within the perimeter of the violence.
Corinne was tortured by the violently charged emotions that emitted from the men and women that were hurling bullets at each other with no thought to the life they were taking. In the middle of it all, she began to reach out for Daniel's energy.
She caught a brief glimpse of his thoughts, and they were murderous, images of the men he would have to slaughter filled his mind. Then suddenly, after they were left in the middle of all of the violence, Corinne's ability to reach Daniel, her ability to wield energy at all began to fade.
Aaron was trying to lift a telephone pole off of a woman which had snapped in half from one of the smaller explosions. It should have been like lifting a toothpick, but instead his muscles strained as hard as they could and the pole would not budge.
Lisa reached down to offer comfort to the woman who had a deep laceration on her head, but when she attempted to heal her, she felt no rush of heat.
“He drugged us.” Corinne gasped as she recalled the injection she had received right before Simeon had arrived.