Chapter 7 - The Storm Breaks
The warden’s name was Silas Vane.
He was a man who enjoyed the finer things in life,
bought with the blood of his prisoners.
His mansion was a sprawling estate on the edge of the mountains.
It was guarded,
but not like my fortress.
He felt safe.
He thought no one knew where he lived.
I left Elara and the doctor at the ruins with three of my best men.
Phantom came with me.
I needed his nose.
And I needed his rage.
We approached the mansion under the cover of a mounting blizzard.
The snow was falling so hard you couldn't see five feet ahead.
Perfect for a ghost.
Phantom stayed low,
moving through the brush like a panther.
I followed,
my heartbeat slow and steady.
We reached the perimeter fence.
I cut the power,
disabling the cameras and the sensors.
We slipped through the shadows.
Two guards were patrolling the gardens.
Phantom took the one on the left.
I took the one on the right.
No noise.
No fuss.
Just two more bodies in the snow.
We reached the back door.
It was locked,
but a simple bypass took care of that.
The interior of the house was warm and smelled of expensive cigars.
I heard music playing in the distance.
Classical.
Vane was a man of culture.
I found him in his study,
sipping brandy by the fireplace.
He was an older man,
with thin hair and a cruel mouth.
He didn't hear me enter.
He didn't even notice the massive black dog standing in the doorway.
I stepped into the light.
“Silas,”
I said.
He jumped,
spilling his drink.
He reached for the drawer in his desk,
but Phantom was there in a heartbeat.
The dog’s head was inches from Vane’s face,
a low growl vibrating the air.
Vane froze.
“Holden Cross,”
he wheezed.
“I heard you were dead.”
“You heard wrong,”
I said,
pulling up a chair.
“I want my sister.”
Vane tried to regain his composure.
“I don't know what you’re talking about.”
I leaned forward,
my eyes cold.
“Don't lie to me.
I’ve seen the girl.
I’ve seen the pendant.”
Vane’s eyes flickered with fear.
“The Council will kill me if I talk.”
“And I will kill you if you don't,”
I said.
“The difference is,
I’ll let the dog start with your legs.”
Phantom snapped his teeth,
a sharp,
metallic sound.
Vane turned pale.
“She’s in Level 4,”
he stammered.
“The solitary wing.
But you can't get in.
The security is biometric.”
“Then you’re going to give me your eyes,”
I said.
He blinked.
“What?”
“Or better yet,
you’re going to come with me and open the doors.”
“They’ll kill us both!”
“Then we’ll have company,”
I said.
I stood up and grabbed him by the collar.
“Where is the ledger,
Silas?
The Star of the North?”
He swallowed hard.
“It’s not a book.
It’s a person.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The information isn't written down,”
he whispered.
“It’s encoded in the girl’s DNA.
That’s why they want her.
She is the ledger.”
My world tilted.
My father hadn't hidden a book.
He had used his own granddaughter as a biological drive.
The cruelty of it made me sick.
“They were going to harvest her,”
Vane said.
“To get the data out,
they have to…
dissect her.”
The rage that filled me then was unlike anything I had ever felt.
It was a white-hot sun in my chest.
I looked at Phantom.
The dog seemed to feel it too.
His hair was standing on end,
and his eyes were fixed on Vane.
“Get the car,”
I told the dog,
though I was really talking to myself.
“We’re going to Blackwood.”
I dragged Vane out into the cold.
He was shivering,
whining about the weather.
I didn't care.
I threw him into the back of the SUV.
“If you make a sound,”
I said,
“I’ll let the dog eat.”
We drove toward the prison,
the blizzard howling around us.
The Council wanted a ledger.
I was going to give them a massacre.
I was going to save my sister,
and then I was going to take Elara far away from this madness.
May you like
But first,
Blackwood had to fall.
