Chapter 6 - A Broken Silence
I reached the mouth of the cave just as the first mercenary tried to enter.
Phantom hit him with the force of a freight train.
The dog didn't go for the limbs.
He went for the throat.
The man went down,
his screams silenced by the crushing power of Phantom’s jaws.
Two more soldiers raised their rifles.
I slid into the mud,
firing my shotgun upward.
The blast caught one in the chest,
throwing him back.
The other turned to face me,
but Phantom was already on him.
The dog was a blur of black fur and white teeth.
He didn't fight like a dog;
he fought like a demon.
He moved with a speed that defied his size,
dodging a knife thrust and snapping the soldier’s wrist.
I stood up,
reloading my weapon.
The remaining mercenaries in the pass were being hunted by my men.
The helicopter on the ground was trying to take off again.
“Not today,”
I muttered.
I ran toward the cockpit,
firing through the glass.
The pilot slumped over,
and the rotors began to slow,
grinding against the icy ground.
I checked the bodies.
No identification.
No patches.
Just high-tech gear and cold eyes.
I walked back to the cave.
Phantom was standing over the bodies,
his chest heaving.
Blood dripped from his muzzle,
but none of it was his.
He looked at me,
his eyes wild,
then slowly calmed down.
He walked over to Elara,
who was huddled in the back.
He nudged her hand with his nose.
She reached out,
touching the blood on his fur.
“Is it okay?”
she asked,
her voice trembling.
“He’s okay,”
I said,
wiping my own face.
“He’s a good boy.”
We couldn't stay there.
The smoke from the crash would be visible for miles.
We gathered what we could and moved on foot through the forest.
The estate was only three miles away.
As we walked,
Elara stayed close to me.
“Why do they want the book so badly?”
she asked.
“Because it tells the truth,”
I said.
“And in this world,
truth is more valuable than gold.”
“Is that why Mommy is in the hole?”
I stopped.
“What do you mean,
the hole?”
“The dark place,”
she said.
“Under the big stone house with the black gate.”
I knew that place.
The Blackwood Penitentiary.
It was a private facility,
not on any map.
It was where the Council kept their ‘problems’.
“How do you know that?”
“I saw it,”
she said.
“Through the window of the car when they took her.
There was a sign with a crow on it.”
The Blackwood emblem.
My sister was only fifty miles from here.
She wasn't in some distant country.
She was right under my nose.
I felt a surge of hope,
mingled with dread.
Blackwood was a fortress.
Entering it was a suicide mission.
But I looked at Elara,
and then at Phantom.
The dog looked back at me,
his amber eyes reflecting the moonlight.
He knew.
He knew his mistress was close.
“We’re going to get her,”
I said.
Elara’s face lit up.
“Really?”
“Cross my heart,”
I said.
It was a promise I intended to keep,
even if I had to tear the prison down brick by brick.
We reached the ruins of the old estate by dawn.
The stone walls were blackened by fire,
but the cellar was still intact.
It was here that my father had hidden his most precious things.
I moved a heavy stone slab,
revealing a hidden staircase.
“Go down,”
I told the doctor.
“Keep her warm.”
I stayed at the top with Phantom.
The sun was rising,
casting long shadows over the valley.
I looked at the coordinates on the micro-film.
They didn't lead to the prison.
They led to the warden’s house.
The man who ran Blackwood.
May you like
He had the keys.
And I was going to pay him a visit.
