Ghost held his breath, and his trigger finger, until he saw the last of the humans. Then he gave the signal for his men to fire. One by one, the humans dropped to the ground as the tranquilizing darts found their targets. Ghost rose from his spot and, keeping his gun on the man he’d downed, walked over to him, looked at him for a moment, and then kicked him in his side. He grunted in satisfaction when he got no response. Smokey was going to be jumpin’ up and down when he received the gifts Ghost had just procured for him.
Grabbing the man’s boot, he dragged him down the path to the small clearing, joining the rest of his men and their sedated prisoners. Pulling out his phone from the pocket of his cargo pants, he sent a text to Smokey, letting him know the threat had been neutralized.
“What about these fuckers?” asked Ivan, nudging one of the humans with the tip of his boot.
“Tie ’em up and put ’em in the back,” Ghost ordered. “They have an appointment with Smokey.”
“Dontcha wanna check for trackers first?”
“Yeah.” Grunting, Ghost knelt next to the one closest to him. Grabbing the shirt’s collar, he ripped it open—and froze. “Fuckinbedamned!” He heard, rather than saw, Ivan starts to walk over to him after his comment and, before he could take another step, Ghost growled quietly, “Get back…everyone! This asshole has a bomb wired to his tracker.” Studying it for a minute, he then followed the wires until they ended, embedded in C-4 plastic explosive. Lucky for him whoever rigged the bomb was in a hurry; the wires weren’t totally concealed. Otherwise all that would be left of Ghost when he removed the tracker would be tiny pieces.
Flipping open his knife, he selected one wire and held his breath as he cut it…breathing a quiet sigh of relief when nothing happened. After pulling the other wire from the explosive, Ghost carefully removed all the components from the unconscious man. Glancing over at Ivan, he said, “One down…”
“And too many to go,” Ivan muttered. “What should I do with the C-4?”
“Let’s give the asshole who planted these bombs what he wants,” Ghost said, grinning devilishly. Moving on, he quickly disarmed the bombs one by one until the humans were safe to move. After giving Ivan the go-ahead to bind their wrists and feet, Ghost carried all the trackers and explosives to a location on the trail above them. By the time his men had secured the unconscious humans in the back of the SUV, Ghost had rigged a new bomb that would destroy the electronic trackers.
Returning to his men, Ghost ordered them to get into the SUV, joining them as he slid behind the steering wheel. Putting the vehicle in gear, he slowly backed up until the road was wide enough to make a U-turn and, after doing so, accelerated so he’d be far enough away before detonating his bomb. It was a shame the trackers had to be destroyed but he couldn’t take the chance that whoever rigged them might be able to find him and his men through them. It was better to cut that avenue off and, instead, see what information the humans could give.
After driving for ten minutes, Ghost pulled over to the side of the road, and slid out of the SUV. Opening an app on his phone, he pressed the button that appeared, smirking at the sound of the huge blast that echoed off the mountains around him. Climbing back into the vehicle, he again counted his blessings that he and not Smokey had found the bombs since none of his friends in the agency had ever been able to match his expertise when it came to explosives.
Shifting into drive, Ghost headed to Smokey, satisfied that for now, at least, no one was after his friend. And while that was good, he was pretty sure the mastermind behind this human army would continue his efforts to capture Kevin’s parents. Inwardly sighing at the shit storm his tiger could sense coming, he hoped Glenn was right with his assessment that Kevin’s parents would be safe with the Blackwood Pack, especially with the recent escalation in tactics.
~/~/~/~/~
“Mystia, wait up,” Zane whispered. So far, the hall was empty, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Even though Sawyer’s cloak provided protection from anyone seeing or hearing him, he figured it was still better to err on the side of caution and keeping his voice to a whisper seemed the wise thing to do. After listening to the accusations flying from Brady’s mouth, he gathered Mystia hadn’t been totally honest; the trouble was, he just didn’t understand about what, exactly. Concerned for their mission, he needed some answers in case it might affect Dylon’s plan.
“Mystia! Please stop!” Muttering to himself, he was pissed at this new complication in an otherwise simple assignment. He caught up with her when she stopped next to Brady in front of a non-descript door. Looking first at one, then the other he asked, “Hey, what the hell is going on between you two?”
Ignoring the question, Brady pointed to the door and asked, “What do I have to do to gain access?”
“Brady, I’m very sorry,” Mystia murmured. “I trust you implicitly but I allowed my fear to overrule my judgment because I was desperate for your help. Remy is new to our world and I’m afraid for him…his parents never prepared him for his role and once I found that out, I knew Zohar would exploit his lack of knowledge of the magic world. I would never forgive myself if that happened so I chose to be less than honest with you about how much our world had descended into darkness.”
“So you used my weakness against me?”
“What weakness?” Zane asked, now more confused than ever.
“It’s not a weakness,” Mystia insisted.
“Then why,” Brady demanded, “did you only tell me about the orders the Ruler issued concerning the low-level magic users? Why didn’t you also tell me about the rest of what Remy and Carson are facing?”
“Wait a minute…you saying my brother’s in more trouble?” asked Zane, his worry rising.
Replying to Brady, Mystia said, “Because I thought once you helped Remy free the low-level magic users, he would be able to handle the rest by himself.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” hissed Brady. “Even the Ruler…with all the power he holds…will be hard pressed to contain the darkness much less eradicate it from our world. It would be like plugging a leak in a dam with his thumb. Sure, it might work short term but you know as well as I do, it’s not going to hold back the water forever. Then what? Care to tell me your great plan?”
“I expect the magic users untainted by the darkness will join him in the fight,” Mystia said, softly.
Rendered speechless, Brady’s mouth gaped open while his eyes widened as he stared at her. Then, coming to his senses, he shook his head at the wishful logic of her plan. “As nice as that sounds, I’m afraid it won’t work because, as you saw with what Zohar did to me, he has control over the judges. If magic users can’t trust the courts to give them justice, then why would they ever put themselves at risk by going against Zohar?”
Mystia paused a few seconds to gather her thoughts before answering. “I believe magic users will choose good over evil…that they are tired of seeing other magic users stripped of their rights…that when the Ruler calls for support, those magic users will find their voice and join in the fight to save our world.”
Brady fell silent. There was no argument he could make that would show how foolish Mystia’s belief was becausehe believed it, too. And it was why he had continued to fight against the never-ending laws the Council had enacted that debased—and enslaved—low-level magic users. His belief that changeswerepossible had kept him fighting for justice during his many years of skirmishes with the Council—that, plus the heart-wrenching stories of abuse he’d heard from countless low-level magic users. Sighing, he uttered the words that would seal his fate. “Count me in.”
“Just a minute, Dylon. We’re sorting out something,” Zane responded, using the comm device in his ear. Then he turned to his companions. “I’m not sure what’s going on between the two of you, but can we put a lid on it until our mission is over? Dylon wants to know if we’ve run into any problems.”
Brady looked at Mystia and, seeing her nod, said, “We’re ready to go when you are.”
