LEGACY Book 1: Forgotten Son Read online

  But Freya had already crossed the room and slapped the gun out of his hand. His arm instantly became numb to the elbow. Freya held him at arm’s length while looking at his laptop. The screen was split so that it could see four cameras at once. In the first three, she saw men dressed as ninjas, armed with high powered rifles standing at the top of the circular courtyard in the middle.

  In the fourth, she saw Stone, about to enter the courtyard.

  “Stay put,” Freya said, slapping Tomás hard enough to crack several teeth. When he regained his senses, he scrambled for his gun and looked around. He had not heard the massive door open or close.

  But the devil girl was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Stone walked cautiously along the shaded part of the entryway, careful not to make a noise. He brought out his pistol and it became a silent extension of his hand. Sinanju frowned on the use of weapons, but Stone had grown up with them and he still trusted them more than he trusted his own hands. With his enhanced Sinanju senses, he was a more deadly shot than he had ever been with SEAL Team Six.

  Centering his breathing, Stone glimpsed the small part of Sinanju that he had access to: a world of vibration and motion, senses and nerves.

  As he walked toward the center courtyard, he noticed something odd. It was not something that had triggered his senses, but the exact opposite. Unless there were no more guards, he should have felt the pressure from their attention, but he felt nothing.

  Something was wrong.

  Twelve men lined the roof over the exposed courtyard. Following Helmut’s specific orders, Tomás had told the men to remain looking up at the sky, thinking random thoughts. When the command was given, they were to aim their rifles at a specific door and immediately open fire. The orders confused the men, but being soldiers, they obeyed.

  The thick dark robes of the Mexican Ninja Army burned hot in the early fall sun and a few of the men had to wipe their brows to keep the sweat from streaming into their eyes.

  One ninja glanced at the ninja to his right. The man had been looking at the sky and as the first ninja blinked, the man disappeared. It was as if he were sitting there one instant and after he blinked, he was gone. He turned around to look at another ninja. Again, when he blinked, the man disappeared.

  And then another.

  And another.

  When only he and another ninja remained, he saw a plume of long, golden hair.

  Freya was thrown off-balance as a large section of her hair came loose from the stretch band she used to keep her hair in place. The small amount of unaccounted for personal weight was just enough to shift her center, reducing the power of her attack, leaving her intended target with the rifle still in his hand.

  The man turned, swinging the butt of his rifle at Freya’s head, but she grabbed her hair with one hand while ducking the wooden stock. She recovered and struck the man’s throat with enough force to dislocate his head from his shoulders. Attached only by skin and arteries, his head lolled to one side and he collapsed lifelessly to the rooftop.

  Sloppy! she cursed herself.

  If Sunny Joe had seen that stroke, he would have been ashamed. She needed to find a way to keep her hair more secure in the future, or else she would end up dead.

  The bullets suddenly heading her way peppered the air with individual pressure waves, reaching her skin a millisecond before the bullets did. Freya twisted away from each round, slapping away the ones that she couldn’t dodge, returning them to their point of origin.

  The ninja’s body wiggled in pain as his own bullets found their mark in his abdomen. The man fell backwards, into the courtyard four stories below.

  Glancing around to make sure that all of the roof ninjas were vanquished, Freya leapt into the courtyard below.

  Stone was watching the doors surrounding him, searching for any kind of impulse when he heard gunfire from the roof. He glanced upward but didn’t see anything until the body almost fell on him. Then he detected motion to his left.

  Bringing up his pistol, he placed a bead on the target, only for the target to disappear.

  Freya came from behind and Stone lowered his pistol.

  “I’m not even gonna ask,” Stone said, looking at the dead man in the ninja suit. He tapped his earpiece and was instantly connected to Ben.

  “What’s going on?” Ben asked. “You should have already left.”

  “The guy upstairs knows about the package,” Freya said. “We’re just about to have a talk with him.”

  “We got this, boss,” Stone said, but heard nothing but static.

  “What happened?” Freya asked.

  “Dunno. Sounds like our connection was cut.”

  A small buzz entered his fingernails as Stone centered himself again. He made a quick promise to stop smoking and ran toward the doorway.

  As they approached the staircase, both felt the telltale pressure waves of incoming bullets. There were so many that Stone almost lost his bearing. They hid behind a small wall at the bottom of the staircase.

  “Yeah, even you can’t dodge that many bullets,” Stone said. “Here’s your chance to shine. You got a plan, sis?”

  “Let them come to us,” she said.

  Freya moved to the center of the wall. She could feel the vibrations of a small electric generator behind the stucco.

  She tore through the plaster, pulling the four-hundred-pound unit from the wall, revealing the electrical grid for the entire fortress.

  Instantly, the lights went out and several ninjas could be heard screaming above. They had been leaning on the metal rail that lined the old staircase and their bodies had made a perfect conduit.

  As their weapons clattered to the ground, Stone grabbed a quick peek and returned behind the wall. A barrage of bullets struck the wall just as he pulled his head back in.

  “At least forty guys still up there. This isn’t gonna be easy.”

  “I have an idea,” Freya said. She yanked on the cable, dragging the generator all the way through. She pushed it toward the staircase.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Providing cover,” she said.

  They both heard the sound at the same time, but only Stone knew what it was.

  The stairwell’s foundation creaked menacingly and Stone realized in horror that it supported the entire fortress wing.

  He threw his body toward Freya as the foundation above them ruptured, knocking her to the floor behind the generator. Tons of stone and brick collapsed, filling the chamber with debris. Stone shook his head to regain his senses. Freya lay quietly in the dust as the ninjas started down the stairs.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ben’s fingers raced across his FORtab, trying to re-establish a connection with Stone and Freya. Twice he almost had the system bypassed, but then it reinstated a new firewall to stop him. The edges of the screen slowly blinked as a dull buzz emitted from the computer. He was receiving a call.

  Not now, Ben thought and then sighed. Maybe his mysterious boss, Smith, would have a suggestion for this situation?

  Ben answered the call and a man appeared on his screen. Unlike Smith’s usual hidden shadowy image, here he sat boldly in front of a camera. He wore an immaculate business suit, and behind him was a well-stocked library shelf. He was older than Ben, perhaps in his sixties, with finely coiffed gray hair and a trimmed beard that stubbornly retained a few brown hairs. Ben quickly tapped the ‘record’ function of his FORtab for later investigation and sat it on his desk. He blindly reached for his coffee. Something was wrong. Why would Smith establish secrecy so totally, only to abandon it now?

  “Good afternoon, Ben,” the man said with a slight nod. It was not Smith’s usual sour-sounding voice.

  “Why are you showing your face now?” Ben asked, taking a drink from his coffee.

  “I am not the man you have been talking with. My name is Helmut. You need know nothing else.”

  Ben swished the coffee around his mouth for a second before swallowing i
t.

  “Well, Helmut, I’ll tell you what I already know. Your name and mannerisms are German — Eastern German — but your accent is Greek. You speak slowly and methodically, so you’re well-educated. And the way you’re talking to me suggests that you are or were in charge of something you consider important. But while you know who I am and most likely what I do, you’re arrogant, or at the very least feel that I pose no threat to you.”

  “Very impressive, but I already knew that about you. Right now you are attempting to save your agents and are being frustrated by the FORtab which I possess,” Helmut said, seeking a reaction from Ben. Finding none, he continued. “Yes, Smith told you there were only two prototypes of this amazing computer, but obviously he is incorrect. I have the third and unless I authorize it, the security protecting the fortress will not be released, and both of your agents will die.”

  “Easy come, easy go,” Ben said. “But let’s cut to the chase. You are using this as a bargaining chip. So just what do you want?”

  “I am going to have to update my file on you,” Helmut said, in a voice that almost sounded respectful. “You are correct. I need a something. A name. Just the female’s.”

  “This is the part where I ask how I know you will keep your word.”

  “And this is the part where I tell you that you don’t. But the math is simple. I can just try to print her after her death or you can give me her name now.”

  “First, mind telling me why you’re interested?” Ben said.

  “Actually, I don’t mind at all. She’s young and female. This is not a usual profile for spies; I would like to know more about her to find out if some new agency has arrived on the playing field.”

  “Fair enough,” Ben said without hesitation. “Her name is Freya. I don’t know if she even has a last name.”

  Helmut looked down at his FORtab. Ben was telling the truth.

  “That is very intriguing. You must have been placed in quite an interesting situation to accept an agent you hardly know. Perhaps one day you will share the story with me?”

  “Perhaps you better shut down those defenses,” Ben said.

  Helmut looked down, seemingly occupied by something on the screen.

  “You take caramel in your coffee?” Helmut asked. “Interesting.”

  Ben continued to stare forward, but he knew that Helmut had been delaying him so the FORtab could scan as much information as it could. Helmut was letting Ben know that it even scanned what kind of coffee he was drinking.

  Damn, Ben thought. He was going to have to learn more about the FORtab’s capabilities.

  “I am sorry Ben, but there many ways to bypass our deal without violating the actual wording or even spirit of the deal. The bottom line is that I choose not to disable the security at this time. Thank you for providing me with a name. It will assist me when I search her fingerprints. I do not like being kept in the dark. One last thing,” Helmut said. “Our records didn’t indicate that you would develop this level of attachment to your agents, at least, not this early. Perhaps you will learn a lesson with your next agents.”

  “You traded the only commodity we could possibly share — trust — for a simple name? I’ve learned something else about you. You don’t think too far ahead,” Ben said, closing the connection. “And we will meet again.”

  He slammed the palm of his hand on his desk in frustration. He would keep trying to bypass the fortress’ security, but his analytical mind kept coming back with the same conclusion: Stone and Freya were on their own.

  Ben bit his bottom lip and said a quick prayer.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Stone looked around. The generator Freya had pulled from the wall was large enough to provide temporary cover, but he was out of ammunition, leaving them open to attacks from both sides. Freya was dazed, but at least she was conscious enough to lean against the wall.

  Her eyes were open, but didn’t seem to be focused on anything.

  “Sis, you’ve got to snap out of it,” Stone said, gently shaking her. “And I mean right now.”

  The men above were at the bottom of the stairs, almost in Stone’s direct sight. They began firing again and the bullets ricocheted all around them. One of the bullets struck the generator, triggering an electrical spike to the floor.

  Unable to dodge, unable to move, unable to escape the biting electricity, Stone could do nothing but stand as the fillings in his back teeth grounded to each other.

  The short discharge ended in seconds as the machine exploded into sparks.

  Stone was able to relax his muscles, but Freya collapsed.

  She was not breathing.

  Then, the air itself began to shudder, with pressure waves seeming to come from every direction at once. Stone tried to block it, but his Sinanju training was partially based on sensing pressure waves. Every nerve in his body seemed to tremble as the sensation increased. Whatever was happening was creating sound waves far below the range of human hearing, but to Stone’s Sinanju-trained ears, it was a low rumble that was vibrating his internal organs, keeping him off center.

  Infrasound.

  While in the SEALs, he had heard about it being used to disperse crowds, but until this moment, he had not personally experienced it. Whatever was producing it, there was no protection from its piercing sound waves.

  And beyond the wave of deadly sound, he sensed the rest of the Mexican Ninja Army as they descended down the stairs.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Ignoring the aural attack and the incoming army, Stone leaned Freya against the generator and was about to administer CPR when he found himself sprawled back against the wall, dazed.

  Whatever had hit him had shredded his bullet-proof vest.

  He glanced back toward Freya and sighed in relief. She was standing again.

  But as he looked closer, he could tell that something wasn’t right. Freya’s eyes were dark. Alien. She looked around as if she did not know where she was.

  And she still was not breathing.

  One of the Mexican Ninjas rounded the corner and Freya instantly separated the man’s head from his body. The movement was so smooth and so fast that the man’s momentum was enough to keep his body running for a few steps before realizing it had no head.

  Then it collapsed to the floor.

  Others came around the corner and Freya turned toward them. That was when Stone realized that the infrasound that had alerted him so was originating from Freya. The soldiers stood no chance. They were so close to the infrasound and so afraid, that they forgot they held guns in their hands.

  Freya opened her mouth and tilted her head back, and though her lips did not move, her voice roared and froze the men in their tracks.

  “I am created Shiva, the Destroyer! Death, the shatterer of worlds! The night tiger made whole by the Master of Sinanju! Who is this dog meat that dares challenge me?”

  She tore into the men, reducing them to a whirlwind of bones and gore. Stone had to hide behind the generator to shield himself from bone shrapnel. Freya advanced past the guard, moving up the stairs toward Tomás’ top floor office. The floor seemed to spin beneath Stone’s feet as his sister slowly advanced toward the remaining ninjas. Just before she disappeared up the stairwell, she turned to look Stone in the eye and smiled.

  Stone followed quickly behind.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Tomás cursed his laptop. He had not asked the Eurotrash how to contact him and now, with the empire crashing around him, Helmut was nowhere to be found. The scene below was sheer carnage as his ninja army fell before the two American agents. Tomás grabbed his Uzi and loaded the magazine.

  He wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

  Tomás was not regretting his decision to take over, but in hindsight, maybe he should have waited. No matter. He had two problems and thirty bullets. The math was on his side.

  Tomás took a shooting stance behind the steel-lined desk. If the agents somehow found a way to get through the door, h
e would have a direct line of fire to them while they would only have access to the top of his head.

  Then he heard the footfalls.

  Like a giant coming down the marbled floor hallway, each step was a slow declaration of power. Tomás glanced at his laptop. The hallway monitors merely showed a barely-visible blob moving toward his door. It was as if the marbled floor itself was warping in the direction of his office. In fact, he could have sworn he heard the marble crack with each step. He switched off the safety and wiped the sweat that had gathered on his brow and waited.

  He did not have long to wait.

  The steel-reinforced lead door caved in a single, thunderous blow, surrendering its massive weight to the floor before Tomás. Without thinking, he squeezed the trigger as the woman with the black eyes walked toward him. And although he aimed the pistol directly at her, the bullets never hit their target.

  Had he been able to see the bullets in slow motion, he would have seen each bullet slowly turning through the air, directly toward Freya.

  Then he would have seen their trajectory change, as if each bullet bent out of the way so as not to offend her.

  The bullets went left and right, up and down, everywhere but at Freya.

  Tomás advanced at the small girl. He would pistol whip her to death.

  Stone entered the room as Tomás advanced toward Freya. Instinctively, he aimed his empty pistol at Stone and pulled the trigger. “Madre!” Tomás shouted.

  “Sis,” Stone yelled, trying to get her attention. Freya did not turn around.

  Stone had to find some way to get her breathing again. Her fingers were already turning black. Stone tried to kick her in the abdomen to force her to breathe in, but his foot somehow missed. Without a target, the force of the kick almost tore his leg out of its socket.

  Stone howled in pain.

  Freya grabbed Tomás.

  “The box,” she said.

  “Too late. It has been shipped.”