The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart: A Hart Brothers Novel (35 page)

My shadow flicks his head and another shadow
grabs Kade and locks him down. “Save the heroics for later, Mr.
Hart. You really don’t want to go there with us. Besides, do you
really think you stand a chance as we grossly outnumber you?”

Kade struggles against the shadow who holds
him.

“You son of a bitch! Let her go! If you hurt
her, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” the shadow that restrains me
asks. “I doubt there is very much you are capable of doing right
now.” Then my shadow instructs the one who holds Kade to keep him
quiet.

“Juliette!” Kade calls out.

“Kade, I’m fine,” I say, trying to calm him
down. I see anger flash in his eyes.

“No harm will come to her if you stop
interrupting us. Now cease!” His irritation with Kade grows.

Kade’s eyes still burn with anger, and I
mouth, “I’m fine.” When he sees me, his tension and anger dissipate
some.

The shadow holding Kade guides him further
away from me. I relax a little when I see Kade allowing himself to
be led away, instead of struggling against the shadow who holds
him.

Hands grip my arms and my attention is
diverted back to the shadow that stands before me. He makes it
clear that my bones could be instantly crushed if he so much as
applied the slightest amount of pressure. He’s controlling his
strength but his power is conveyed to me. It courses through my
veins. I wince.

“Explain yourself, and be
very
specific, Juliette.” He drags the word ‘very’ out. This man is not
playing. At all.

I tremble. I’m afraid of him, and he never
gave me reason to fear him before. The tables have now turned.

He shakes me and I feel like a Raggedy Ann
doll. “Now, Juliette! We don’t have all day.”

I can hear Kade again so I quickly answer.
“I threw it into the sea.”

“You what?” Each word is emphasized.
Distinct. Clear.

“I threw it away. Into the sea.”

He leans down so we are nose to nose. I
breathe in his scent. It’s something I’m unfamiliar with, but it’s
more than pleasant. It’s heady. Almost intoxicating. I don’t like
the effect it has on me. He sighs. He’s exasperated.

“Stay focused, damn it! Where?”

“I don’t know. Back there. Kade, where did I
throw it?”

“West of here, not far, but I don’t know the
exact place. I can’t be sure. And stop man-handling her like
that!”

The shadow ignores him. “Do you know what
you’ve done? Do you realize what you’ve done!” he shakes me and my
teeth rattle.

“Sabin! Release her!” one of the other
shadows shouts, as Kade does the same in the background.

The other shadow appears, and Sabin (I guess
that’s his name) eases up on my arms. I’m sure I’ll be bruised
tomorrow. But this entire thing pisses me off.

I ram my face back into his, grit my teeth,
and say, “Hell, no, I don’t know. And do you know why I don’t know?
Because
you
wouldn’t tell me! After I begged you. I even
tried to give the damn thing to you, you idiot!”

“That’s not how it works. It’s not possible
for me to take it!” he’s roaring at me and it’s so loud my ears are
ringing.

“She’s right,” Kade yells. “She tried to get
information from you!”

“Shut him the fuck up, Edge. Now!” Sabin
yells back.

“It’s true, you asshole,” I say.

“Oh, you think calling me asshole is going
to help? Believe me, I’ve been called a lot worse.”

“I can see why.”

Then he yells out, “Verus!”

“Can you not talk in a normal voice? You’re
ruining my ears!”

“Shut up.”

Another shadow moves forward and says, “Yes,
sir.”

“Can you use your monitoring and track where
this hunk of plastic was in the last couple of hours?”

“I can try.”

“No, no, no! Wrong answer, Verus.”

“You are such a buttwipe.” I call out to the
other shadows, “I don’t know how you guys stand this jerkface.”

He yanks me against him again, saying, “This
jerkface is going to save your ass, or die trying.”

“Will you just explain to me what it is
about that necklace that’s so damn important?”

“It’s not just a necklace. It’s Judgment
Day, for fuck’s sake.” His nostrils flare as he seethes. Anger
radiates off him in waves. He looks at Kade and says, “I want you
to drive us to the vicinity to where you
think
‘the
necklace’ is,” and he says the necklace in a real singsongy voice.
“Now, pretty boy.”

Kade is released, starts the engine, and we
set off. I pray he gets it right.

“What the hell is Judgment Day?”

“Seriously? And you were going to be a nun?
I don’t fucking believe it.” The Sabin dude shakes his head.

“Well, I know what Judgment Day means
biblically.”

“So, little girl, think about the end of the
world, and figure the shit out.”

Then a thought strikes me. “Hey, how did you
get here? Where’s your boat?”

He cocks his head and stares. The one
standing next to him says, “Just tell her, Sabin. We’re going to
put them through the wash and rinse cycle anyway, so what does it
matter?”

“Rafe, everything matters. This whole ops
has been nothing but one massive fuck up. And if we don’t find
Judgment Day, then what?”

“I know, but we’re going to have to give
them some kind of explanation.”

Facing me, he says, “We didn’t come by
boat.”

“Then how—?”

“Long story,” he bites out.

This is getting really freaky. “Who are you
people? Really? Are you with some super secret government agency
that no one knows about?”

“Yeah, we’ll go with that. The necklace,
Judgment Day, is part of a weapon system called Paradox. It’s an
activator. Neither can work without the other. The people who want
you dead want Judgment Day, so they can either sell it to the
highest bidder or go after Paradox and use it to destroy.” Then he
sticks his face up against mine until we’re nose to nose and says
in that husky voice of his, “And little girl, it can destroy.”

“Like atomic bombs?” I ask.

His eyes bore into mine as he shakes his
head, very, very slowly.

“Worse?”

His head slices up and down once.

“How much worse?”

“One activation could take out this entire
planet.”

Oh, holymotherfuck.

“But why me?”

“One reason only. You put the fucking thing
around your neck and until we get it back, its imprint is on your
body. They can still find you and kill you. You don’t want to die,
do you Juliette?”

I shake my head.

“Didn’t think so.”

The Seven

“Verus? What have you got for me?” Sabin
yells.

Juliette covers her ears. “Please, whatever
your name is.”

“It’s Sabin.”

“Do you always speak loud enough to rupture
everyone’s eardrums?”

“When the world is in this kind of peril,
you bet your sweet little ass I do.”

“Can you not talk to her in such a
derogatory manner?” Kade asks.

“Oh, I forgot. The boyfriend is in the
house.” Sabin never takes his eyes off Juliette.

“Okay, stop! You are the most obnoxious,
overbearing, prick.”

He laughs. “You are the only one who dares
speak to me as such.”

“I’m not afraid of you. You’re nothing but a
bully. Bullies are people who have no self-esteem, who only pick on
those they can push around. Size. That’s the only advantage you
have over me, Mr. Sabin.”

“Drop the mister, and that’s not quite true.
I have a lot of advantages over you, but I don’t particularly care
to list them.”

“Well, I insist.”

Sabin instantly melts into the environment,
blending in as if he weren’t there. Then he reappears.

Juliette’s mouth is a yawning chasm. “How’d
you do that? And that’s what you all would do every day, right? My
shadows?”

Sabin never blinks, then shouts, “Verus?”
Juliette jumps a foot.

“Getting close,” a voice comes back.

His head turns to the left. “Not good
enough. What about your tracer?”

“Not picking anything up.”

“How the fuck can that be?”

“No idea.”

His head swivels back to Juliette. “Do you
have any idea how many problems you’ve caused?”

“No! All I wanted to know was a little bit
about that necklace, but NOOOO! You wouldn’t tell me.” Her face
rises closer to his. She stands on her tiptoes. It does no good. He
towers over her.

“You really don’t want to go there. Do you
know how many times we’ve saved your ass from getting flayed open
by the Shaurok?”

“I can’t answer that because I don’t even
know what a Shaurok is.”

“That night that I covered your body, little
girl, with mine. The night I told you not to walk home in the dark
by yourself. Yeah that night, the night I took the beating for you,
those were Shaurok. And they want your blood. In the worst way. And
won’t stop until they have it. Oh, and don’t think just because you
don’t have the necklace now they’ll forget. It doesn’t work that
way. They feel its imprint on your skin. They know you had it. They
smell it. Therefore, they’ll always want you.”

His tone, and what he says, makes Juliette
shiver. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“Because I was protecting you so you could
live in your nice little fantasy world. Well, guess what, little
girl, the shit’s about to get ugly.”

Juliette glances at the guy next to Sabin
and he only shrugs. She guesses he’s confirming what Sabin
says.

“What are you people?”

“Nothing you need to know about.”

“You used to be kind.”

“You used to pay attention. And listen.”

“We’re here, I think. To the best of my
knowledge,” Kade calls out.

“Verus! Now! What have you found? Anything?
Get your ass up here.”

“Just a minute.”

“We don’t have a fucking minute!”

Verus appears and has a device in his hand.
“I’ve got something, not entirely sure it’s Judgment Day because
it’s element is so faint, I’m barely getting a signal.”

“How can that be?”

“You’re not going to like this. I believe it
was here, but it’s not anymore. It could be the trace of what’s
left behind.”

“Aw, fuck. Get down there and have a look
for yourself. Take Helios.”

Juliette watches, her mouth wide and gaping
once again, as the two men jump into the water fully clothed
without any masks to see or anything. A fleeting thought has her
wondering if she’ll always feel like some stupid fish around these
men.

“What the—? How will they see? This is
crazy. You all are just a damn bunch of kooks. I have never seen
anyone jump in the water, fully clothed like that.” Then an idea
strikes her. “Hey, are those Shaurok people, are they Russian
mafia? Is that why I couldn’t understand what you all were
saying?”

Sabin’s gaze gouges into her, but he doesn’t
answer. He’s so close to her; she notices how black his eyes are.
Pools of ink, deep and dark, they pull her in. Images flit past,
bloody figures lying ripped and mangled. But then he blinks and the
thread between them snaps.

Juliette rubs her eyes, wondering if she
just imagined it. She turns her attention back to the water and
speculates on whether this whole escapade is really happening.
Seven men magically appear on their boat. Two jump into the water.
Then she looks around and sees them. No, they’re here all
right.

“Hey, they’ve been under way too long. You
need to check on them.”

“Don’t concern yourself,” Sabin says
abruptly.

They’re down there for the longest time and
never come up for air.

“You need to check on them. Something
must’ve happened. They may have drowned.”

“They’re fine.”

“No, really, they’ve been down without
coming up at all. It’s too long. How can you be so damned
nonchalant?”

When no one responds, Juliette starts
yelling, “Will someone just go and check on them? They could be in
serious trouble. Don’t any of you even care at all?” She wrings her
hands.

“I said, they’re fine,” Sabin grits out.

Rafe walks up and says to Juliette, “Don’t
worry, they have um, an ability that will ensure they will not
drown. Do not fear for them.”

Juliette turns her attention to him. “An
ability?”

He shrugs. “We have certain abilities that
you don’t possess.”

Juliette stares at him in confusion. What
kind of people are these? She looks around and assesses them.
Everything screams military. The look, the build, they way they
carry themselves. And this one in front of her, this Sabin, they
way he orders everyone around, like he owns them all, must be their
commander.

“Where are you from?” she asks. She looks up
for Kade and sees him watching her like a hawk. Did she imagine
that slight shake of his head? It’s so dark; it’s too difficult to
tell.

“As I’ve said before, it is not your
concern.”

“It’s far too late for that,” she says.

Sabin’s eyes possess hers, but he doesn’t
speak.

“You look human.” Juliette decides to push
it.

“Arrogance is such a ridiculous trait.”

“I’m not—”

“I could say you look human. Everyone thinks
Earth is the only inhabited planet in the universe. But there could
be hundreds.”

“Are you saying—”

“I’m not saying anything, except it’s a
ludicrous notion not to expand one’s thinking. That is all.”

“Sabin, shut it,” Rafe says.

Sabin looks at Rafe like he wants to eat him
for breakfast. “She’s only curious.” Sabin responds, not quite but
almost under his breath, “And too damned intuitive for her own
good.”

Juliette says, “I saw a picture, an ancient
one of a Pict woman wearing a necklace that looked like this one.
Was that coincidence?”