Once Vane was on the clock, targets weren’t just found; they got deleted; no negotiations, no prisoners, and zero survivors.
‘Got my deposit?’ Ty growled.
Vane jerked his chin and grinned, revealing teeth stained crimson from his addiction to betel nuts. ‘Tis generous, sire.’
‘I want the freak dead,’ Ty barked into the receiver. ‘Idan,whateverthefokkhe calls himself, is a walking corpse. Find him here on Tansinia, gut him, and I’ll double your final fee.’
Without warning, the air in the room whipped as if a mini storm was incoming.
The line cut to static, and Vane’s vermilion facade disappeared.
‘Thefokk?’
Ty twisted around as the space in the center of the room began to ripple as if under a heat mirage, and an older man shimmered into existence.
The bent figure wore a threadbare cloak, sported long, wild hair the color of ash, and his eyes pinned Ty down, bright as stars.
The magnate flinched, his heart thudding against his ribs.
‘What or who the hell are you?’ he gasped, hand darting for the holster concealed beneath his jacket.
The intruder stood still, draped in shadows, observing the mining baron with unnerving focus.
‘Need help with your ‘Idan’ problem, Lord Si’Rhix?’
Ty froze, his fingers brushing the cold metal of his weapon. ‘Who’s asking?’
‘Someone who knows exactly who Idan is and what he’s capable of,’ the man replied, his utterance not unlike grinding stones. ‘However, I want him alive; I must have him for my cause. It’s a win-win, Ty. So here’s the deal, we bait him, perhaps even use your contact Vane, then I bag him, and he’s out of your hair forever.’
Ty’s panic shifted back into his customary arrogance. ‘I don’t require your help, old man. Get out before I put your head on a spike.’
‘Oh, but you do need me,’ the visitor whispered, closing the gap between them.
‘Is that right?’ Ty’s sneer widened.
He whipped out his flare-pistol and fired point-blank.
The phosphorus blast hissed through the air, but the projectile passed cleanly through the older man’s chest and buried itself in the far wall.
The mining lord paled, the blood draining from his face. ‘What in Devansi hell?’
The man stepped forward and pressed a single finger to Ty’s forehead.
The world tilted, and Ty’s knees gave out.
‘You’re welcome,’ the stranger whispered, his breath smelling of ancient dust and ozone.
Before Ty could make a sound, a whirlwind of dark gold energy erupted from within the stranger’s form, launching into Ty’s body.
In a flash of light and a roar of static, the room went silent, leaving only the pop and fizz of Ty’s overpriced champagne still bubbling in its glass.
12
A Storm in Paradise
The atmosphere curdled into a slate-gray wall as a blizzard descended upon the mountain.
The white erasure claimed the horizon as the mercury collapsed within the gauges Idan kept on his mantelpiece.
