Ultimate Sacrifice Read online

  “Okay,” Blake answered. I guess a lot happened in three days. Looks like Alex didn’t report my interest in Victor’s whereabouts.

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Wonderful, thank you.”

  “By the way, what’s his name?” Blake asked, leaning forward and glancing at the organizational diagram on the notebook page.

  “His name?” Victor repeated.

  “That’s what I asked. The Archimandrite, what’s his name?”

  Victor hesitated, then supplied the answer. “His name is Nigel Krause.”

  Blake’s eyes popped open with surprise. That’s the same guy in Melvin’s notes, the one in the middle of it all. Now I’m not surprised he came to see me at all.

  Blake sat up and spoke with renewed interest in the conversation. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

  “Very good. See you at two o’clock, then. Oh, and by the way, the Archimandrite will want a demonstration of your powers.

  Blake grinned wickedly. “I’ll be happy to oblige.”

  ❖

  Blake cleared the Seavey Island naval security gate and drove his coupe to the far side of the island to the old naval prison that hosted the orgone facility. He put his cell phone to his ear and when the call connected, he spoke. “I’m going to need you within the hour in your usual spot.”

  “Very good, I come now,” Radoslav answered.

  “Thank you,” Blake said. He hung up the phone and pulled into one of the empty parking spaces and studied the facility buildings. Security had been heightened and a number of guards, including some he didn’t recognize, watched him. They all carried high-powered automatic rifles and wore tactical gear with bulletproof vests.

  A group of four guards, all wearing helmets, approached him. He got out of his BMW and stood tall, brushing down the black suit he decided to wear in honor of the Archimandrite’s surprise visit. He walked toward the facility entrance. Seymour, one of the regular guards who was manning the secure entrance, called out to the four men approaching him. “I wouldn’t get in his way if I were you.”

  The four men blocked his path and their leader raised his hand. “Halt. State your business.”

  “I don’t answer to the help,” Blake sneered. These must be the Archimandrite’s personal guards.

  They raised their weapons and aimed at him.

  “You will halt and state your business, now!” the leader repeated with a menacing tone.

  “Are you threatening me?” Blake asked. “You have three seconds to get out of my way or you’ll be swimming back to the island, unless the riptide gets you first.”

  The men looked at each other with confusion. “Listen, kid, just get back in your fancy car and go home, now!”

  Blake reached back like a baseball pitcher and then thrust his arm forward, launching the four unsuspecting men into the air. They yelled and flailed about as the arc of their flight carried them away from the island.

  “Please don’t kill them, Dark Flame,” Seymour said. “It’ll just piss off the suits.”

  Blake smirked. Before they were out of his reach, he reversed their trajectory and pulled them back. They returned and collapsed to the ground, writhing in panic. Blake squatted next to the leader of the disoriented group and grabbed him by the jaw. He pulled off the man’s expensive black-mirrored sunglasses with his free hand and set them over his face. “The next time you see me, get out of my way. Consider this your only warning.”

  Blake stood and walked into the facility, nodding at Seymour as the man pulled open the main door for him. Additional security had been deployed throughout the facility, including the reception area for the administrative offices. Blake approached the desk and Alex looked up from his computer and smiled. “They’re in the conference room.” Then, he jerked his head in the opposite direction from Victor’s office.

  “Thank you,” Blake replied.

  “Lots of extra security today, huh?” Alex asked, attempting conversation.

  Blake shrugged. “Still won’t be enough.” He walked past the desk and made his way to the conference room. He stopped at the door and raised his hand to knock, but decided against it. Instead, waved his hand in front of door control and the red ring turned green. A moment later, the door slid open and Blake stepped into the doorway.

  The two guards on either side of the door spun around and pointed their weapons at him. Blake glared at the man on his right as Victor extended his hand in greeting from the far side the room.

  “Blake, welcome. We’ve been expecting you.”

  The guard nodded at him and both men lowered their weapons and stepped back, resuming their positions on either side of the door. Blake stepped into the boardroom and the mechanical door slid shut behind him with a mechanical hiss.

  Remembering Ira’s training, Blake surveyed the room. In addition to the two guards on either side of him, two additional armed guards stood at the opposite end of the room. Victor sat at the head of the elliptical conference table, with two older gentlemen to his left, a third to his right. One of them had a distinguished beard while the other two were clean shaven. Each wore expensive looking, pinstripe business suits.

  “Archimandrite, it is my extreme honor to introduce Dark Flame to you, The Order’s first successful superhuman genesis.” The men silently nodded at Blake.

  “Please, join us,” Victor suggested, gesturing to the chair at his right.

  Blake approached but did not sit down.

  “Which one of you is Nigel Krause?” The three men regarded him with surprise and Victor’s face turned pale with embarrassment. They looked at Victor, then look back at Blake.

  “I asked you a question, did you forget how to speak?” Blake asked, perturbed.

  The man closest to Victor’s left—one of the clean-shaven men—raised his hand slightly. “I am he.”

  Blake sized him up. “You’re the Archimandrite?”

  “Yes, I am the Archimandrite for the eastern United States.”

  “And your friends? Who are they?” Blake asked.

  “These are my associates,” Nigel replied. Then, the Archimandrite turned on Victor. “Is he always this belligerent?”

  “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Blake snapped.

  Victor swallowed nervously and struggled to respond. “I’m sorry, sir, I…I’m not sure why…”

  Blake raised his hand and cut him off. “Enough. The last time I checked, you weren’t my daddy, so don’t make excuses for me.”

  The Archimandrite rounded on him. “The last time I checked, we made you, young man. You could show us some manners.”

  “By accident,” Blake retorted. “I am my own person, whether you like it not, old man.” He folded his arms across his chest.

  The Archimandrite’s eyebrows popped up with surprise. “What an impudent little cur you are!” Nigel replied. Then, he turned to Victor. “Really, Victor, control your experiment.”

  Victor sat forward, anger blazing in his eyes. “What’s wrong, Blake?”

  Blake grimaced, reached out with his mind, and squeezed the Archimandrite’s testicles, exerting enough pressure to make the man visibly uncomfortable. The man coughed and reacted with mild alarm, unsure of what was going on. Suddenly, panic spread across the man’s face and his head snapped up to Blake.

  “What are you doing?” the Archimandrite asked.

  “Victor told me you wanted a demonstration of my power. Well, here it is!” Blake ignited his eyes with orange fury.

  “Guards!” the Archimandrite yelled.

  Blake pulled the Archimandrite up from his seat and dragged him on his knees across the conference table until he was inches away from Blake’s face. The four guards responded by aiming their weapons at Blake.

  “Unless you want to shoot the Archimandrite, lower your weapons,” Victor yelled.

  The guards hesitated.

  “Do it now!” Victor yelled, and the guards complied. “Blake, stop what you’re doing, right now. Freeze asse
t one!”

  There’s that phrase again.

  “Why are you here?” Blake snarled.

  “I came to meet you,” the man said, his voice strained.

  Unsatisfied, Blake squeezed the man’s torso. “If you lie again, I’ll crush you.”

  “I want to see what our investments are up to.”

  “I’m not your investment, I’m an accident.” Blake snapped.

  “Regardless, your life has changed and we are concerned about…”

  Blake cut the man off and squeezed harder.

  “No, you’re here because I destroyed Mystic River and you’re worried I might do it again, or worse, learn the details about your precious Order.”

  The Archimandrite’s associates looked at each other with surprise, but didn’t move.

  “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Blake squeezed harder, nearly crushing the man’s rib cage. Nigel gasped and clawed at his torso, unsure of what was squeezing him.

  “That’s enough, Blake,” Victor yelled.

  Blake uncrossed his arms and raised his left hand, pulled the sleeve back a little bit, and ignited the palm and fingers of his left hand, allowing them to become very hot. The Archimandrite tried to pull away, but he couldn’t break free of Blake’s invisible grasp.

  “The problem with scum like you is that you never learn. You can make all the promises you want, but you’ll never stop being scum. Victor told me The Order wasn’t tied to criminal activity, but I’ve discovered your dirty little secret, Nigel. I know who each and every one of you are and exactly what you do.”

  “How?” Nigel asked, terrified.

  Blake ignored him. “I saw the hopeless faces of the men, women, and children who were forced into slavery to make your drugs and make you money. Tell me, Nigel, have you ever seen an eleven-year-old child stuff drugs into a teddy bear?”

  The Archimandrite shook his head, whimpering as his tears rolled down his face.

  “And you never will,” Blake said. Then, he pressed his hand against the man’s face. The flesh sizzled, and the man screamed in agony as his blood flash-boiled and the skin melted at Blake’s touch. Blake sent a pulse of heat through the man’s skull and incinerated his brain. Then, he released him and gave him a gentle push.

  “Timber,” Blake whispered. The Archimandrite’s body fell backward, his skull and shoulders slamming onto the conference table with a sickening thud. Nigel’s last breath hissed from his mouth while flesh and blood sizzled on the man’s exposed skull bones.

  “Take him down!” one of the Archimandrite’s associates yelled, ducking for cover.

  “No, don’t shoot him!” Victor yelled before diving under the table.

  Blake smirked. “You’ve learned.”

  The two guards at his left and right jumped back while the pair of guards on the opposite side of the boardroom leveled their weapons and fired. Blake raised his hand and curved the bullets back toward their owners. The bullets ripped through their bodies and the men collapsed to the floor, dead. Looking to his right, he met the gaze of a terrified guard.

  “I’m good,” the man said, raising his hands in surrender.

  “Me too,” the guard to his left said.

  Victor popped up from under the table, leaned forward, slammed his palms on the tabletop, and yelled at him. “What the hell, Blake? You were supposed to meet him, not kill him!”

  “I changed the plans, Victor. I suggest you get used to it.”

  “But why?” Victor yelled. “These are our people! Have you lost your bloody mind?”

  Blake glowered at him. “Don’t act like this isn’t what you wanted, Victor.”

  “What are you talking about?” Victor pushed himself to a standing position.

  “When you convinced me to take out Mother Superior so you could take her place, I believed your promises and eliminated her so you would be promoted. You got what you wanted, but I know you aspire to be more than the Hegumen.”

  Victor’s face exploded with surprise as the Archimandrite’s associates looked at him in disbelief.

  “Is this true, Victor?” the bearded associate asked.

  Victor shook his head. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

  “Liar,” Blake responded, gambling on one of the theories he gleaned from Melvin’s notebook. He decided to call Victor’s bluff. “Why did you send me to Boston in the first place, Victor?”

  “So, you could see and understand the other side of life.”

  “The other side of The Order, you mean,” Blake retorted.

  “What?” Victor said, looking confused.

  Blake swallowed, irritated by Victor’s feigned innocence. “You must’ve known I wouldn’t rest after discovering who and what is truly responsible for what I discovered in the power plant.”

  Victor shook his head. “Blake, don’t. Whatever you’re planning, just stop.”

  Blake pointed at the chair behind Victor. “Sit down, Victor, or you’re next.” Victor’s eyes bulged with indignation, but the man obeyed.

  Then, Blake turned and waved his hand over the door control. The door slid open and Blake noticed the two remaining guards were trembling with fear. “Today you work for me, is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” they both responded, vigorously nodding.

  “Traitors!” one of the associates yelled.

  Blake rolled his eyes. “Grab those two and follow me.”

  “Right away, sir.” The guards did as they were told and pulled the associates up from their seats. The men had no choice but to accompany guards.

  “Where are you taking them?” Victor asked, remaining in his chair.

  Blake turned back to address him. “When I decide to tell you, that’s when you’ll know. Perhaps you should think about what it is you really want and show a little more gratitude when it’s delivered to you.”

  Victor frowned and sat back in the chair.

  Blake turned back to the guards. “Let’s go.”

  Then, he led them through the unfinished part of the facility to the interrogation room and knocked on the door. It unlocked, slowly cracked open, and then Radoslav peered through the narrow opening.

  Radoslav saw the two men and grinned from ear to ear. “Dark Flame, my new best friend, I so happy you brought me things to play with today.”

  Blake handed him two notebooks and two pens. The interrogator’s shoulders dropped, and he sighed. “Oh, I expected more fun today.”

  “I doubt they’ll be easy. Just don’t break their writing hands. The rest is up to you.”

  “What is it you want to know?”

  “Everything Melvin did not know.”

  “Melvin ratted us out?” the bearded associate asked. Blake turned in anger and thrust the man against the wall. He fell to the ground, unconscious. Then, Blake gestured to the man at his left. “Start with this one.”

  “What makes you think they don’t have dinte moarte…a death tooth?”

  “Would you recognize one if you saw it?” Blake asked, glaring at the standing associate.

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” Then, Blake raised his arm and spread the fingers of his left hand, simultaneously opening the associate’s mouth. “Have a look,”

  Radoslav chuckled. “You make too easy,” he responded in broken English. He pulled a pocket flashlight from his pocket and shined it in the associate’s mouth. Then, he pointed and shined the light so Blake could see. “Right there, second from back on left.”

  “I see it.” With the swift motion of his index finger, Blake ripped the tooth out. The man howled in agony and grabbed the side of his mouth as Blake released him. The death tooth fell to the floor.

  Blake took the flashlight from Radoslav and walked over to the unconscious associate on the floor and opened his mouth. Quickly finding the death tooth, he extracted it and let it fall to the floor. The unconscious man moaned but didn’t react. He must have hit his head harder than I realized.


  Blake turned to the two guards. “You now work for Radoslav, who works for me. If you want to leave this place alive, you will never speak of what you saw here today. Is that clear?”

  They both nodded emphatically.

  “Good. You can leave when Radoslav is finished. And, one more thing. If you have any residual loyalty to these two ass clowns and even think about helping them out and hurting Radoslav, I will rip you apart from the inside, bone by bone, and organ by organ. Understood?”

  The guards whimpered and nodded.

  “Good. Call me when you’re finished, Radoslav.”

  “Will do, Dark Flame.”

  ❖

  Blake was about to exit the facility when Victor caught up with him. “Blake, we need to talk.”

  Blake slowly turned around, noting that for the first time ever, he felt completely free of Victor’s authority over his life.

  “No, we don’t.”

  “What you did today can never happen again,” Victor said. “You pull a stunt like that again and I’ll cut you off and throw you out to the streets so fast you’ll have no choice but to…”

  “You seem to forget how dangerous it is to threaten a man who can kill you simply by lifting a finger.” Blake stepped forward and ignited his eyes. Victor turned pale with fear as Blake raised his right hand to Victor’s lapel and gently dusted off a rogue piece of lint. “If you cut me off, I’ll cut you off, and I promise you won’t like it, either.”

  Victor silently blinked at him.

  Blake inched his face closer to Victor’s face. “Boo!”

  Victor blinked and twitched, involuntarily trembling as he gasped. He fought to regain his composure.

  “I’m glad we finally have an understanding, Victor.” Then, Blake turned and made his way to his car.

  3 | Power Play

  Quinn

  The next day at school, students gathered in the cafeteria and the conversational buzz was vibrant and relaxed. True to his word, Agent Potter removed the Department of Homeland Security, relieving the teenage population of unnecessary angst now that Agent Potter understood Blue Spekter was on their side. Only the regularly-assigned high school police officer remained on campus, and even he seemed happy to have the place back to himself.