Chapter 175
RYDEN
As soon as we made it into the gate, fear was thick in the air. There were supposed to be guards at the entrance. Right now, I saw no one.
It was nearly impossible they left this tower unattended unless it was the plan and planted some explosives to detonate later.
“Where are those people?” Amelia stood still as she scanned around the supposed-to-be crowded reception and sitting area.
“They left for good? Or they’re dead,” Theia said as she went to the reception desk. “This is actually pretty awesome. I was expecting a tomb after a tomb with a counter made of rock and a magic hologram of a world map.”
“Let’s move.” Lucius turned off the safety of his rifle as he headed towards the hallway. “Keep your senses heightened.”
“Be careful. They could be waiting for us,” Amelia told Theia.
“You can scan for living agents, right?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see or sense anyone.” She followed me. Dane and Drak stalked behind us while Ren and Nora went to the next elevator on the right.
“See you there.” Ren gave us a subtle nod.
“We shouldn’t be separating,” Theia complained, joining Ren and Nora.
The elevator took us down in haste, making my senses enhance and my wolf stir.
“I can’t smell any explosives but fear. Fear? Where did they come from? And where the fuck is the director?”
“I’m sure he’s not waiting for us down there. He could have marched with his men to a place where he put his diabolic plan into motion. The question is where?” Guston asked warily.
“I agree, Guston, and something didn’t add up here.” Dane looked at me over his shoulder.
“We’re here to destroy the cloaking device so that he can’t move this place again, then we bomb this place,” Amelia said.
“We don’t have enough explosives, Amelia,” I told her.
“Really?” She looked at me from head to toe in amusement. And the elevator slid open.
Dane and Kailin went ahead to the right hallway. Guston and Bryan followed.
Amelia and I went to the left. The only thing I could hear were our footsteps and breathing. It was so silent, it was alarming.
We started opening doors, making sure no one was left there. Every room wasn’t trashed and it looked like everyone just left in a hurry.
“If you were to hide, where would you go?” Amelia asked me.
“Definitely not the bathroom, maybe the kitchen. At least I won’t get starved. Then I’ll hide inside of one of the cabinets.”
“In the kitchen full of flammable substances and gas?” She chuckled. “Well, you’re the fire wolf. It makes sense.
“Then where would you hide? Armory?”
“Not a bad idea, but this place has no escape route from the bathroom, no windows.”
“Remember Mason? He helped us escape.”
“I hate to break it to you, Alpha, but he wasn’t helping you escape. Everyone knew where he went out, and he was definitely under order.”
“I thought so too.” We headed to the monitor room next. Apparently, Lucius and Drak had the same idea as ours.
“This is a trap,” Drak said as he pushed the monitor room open.
I instantly heard three racing heartbeats. “You can come out now or it will rain bullets.”
Slowly, I saw a hand raise. “Ryden, is that you?”
“Hawk?” Amelia called out.
“What the fuck happened here?” Lucius asked as he stepped forward when Hawk showed up.
Hawk looked like he’d been awake for days. He shook his head in dismay. “Everyone just went nuts. Drake, Fawn, you can come out now.”
Drake and Fawn appeared from another door.
“Wait. How do I know you’re not drug-altered?”
“I could ask the same thing, Hawk.” I snorted. “Start talking.”
“Okay.” He swallowed hard. “Weeks ago, I opened some recent operations on the computer, and I accidentally accessed a file named Imperium. I was curious so I managed to access it after a few tries of codes. Then I watched the whole video. I realized this whole organization was doomed. I met a witch, we dated—”
“Man, just explain what’s going on. We’re not interested in your love life,” Drak said irritably.
“Here me out to make everything sense.” Hawk raised a hand at Drak. “Then I thought maybe I was affected, too. I asked her if there was an antidote to being controlled or compelled to do something without questions, so she made something for me from Physostigmine. She added something to it with a spell of course, so that it wouldn’t be detectable. I started taking it in the form of capsules. I gave these two. The last guys we informed refused to take and now they just went wild and left.”
“So why did you stay here?” Lucius asked.
“I told them we will monitor their movements and give them a heads up.”
“That’s good. Where are they headed?” Amelia asked him.
“There’s no way to trace them now. They went off the grid.” Hawk stared at Amelia. What’s wrong with you? You seem different.”
“I’m fine. What’s their plan? Do you hear anything about it?”
“No. The people in this agency just followed the director without questions. It’s crazy,” Drake said.
“So the lights don’t affect them anymore,” I told Lucius.
“Yes. They’re possessed and drugged,” he said in dismay. “Hawk, do you know how this tower moves?”
“Easy. It’s in the director’s office.”
“Is it empty?”
“Yes. He left.”
“Wait. He showed his face?” Surprised, I asked.
“Yeah. Last week. He made a major announcement about the biggest threat this organization ever faced. He said there was a rogue Nephilim who was an abomination and about to destroy the supernatural world. The council stopped coming since then,” Hawk explained.
“They’re dead,” Lucius said without hesitation.
“How do you know that?” Fawn snorted.
“I’m Lucius—”
“Wait. What the fuck?” Fawn pushed aside Drake to come closer to Lucius and looked at him from head to toe. “The Lucius. Alexander Lucius? I thought you were a myth. Man, it’s an honor.” He took Lucius’ hand and gripped it for a handshake. “I expected you to be old, like fifty years old. Is it true that you killed an entire army of extremists who kidnapped women and children and sold them for slavery? Tell me it’s true?”
Lucius just looked at Fawn without saying a word.
Fawn let go of his hand and swallowed. “So it’s true then.”
“Looks like you have another fan club, Lucy.” Amelia elbowed him with a tease.
“This can’t be. This is impossible. You’re one of the best agents in the 21st Century, and we’ve never seen your face or your photo. You’re a myth, man,” Drake agreed with pride. “It’s good to meet a legend.”
“He’s an Alpha King of werewolves. You can add that to your storybook. Now let’s get back to the plan. We have to destroy the cloaking device so this tower will stop moving.”
“I’m not gonna ask you how did you know about the cloaking device, but let’s go then. By the way, I think there are staff still hiding in the locker.” Hawk informed us as he shut down the monitor.
“I will inform Nora.” I reached out to Nora through the pack link. “I can’t reach to them.”
“This area is under spell,” Drake said. “Once we destroy the cloaking device, it will be exposed to any threats.”
“Noted.”
We went towards the conference room. Ahead was the statue of Enoch. I looked at Amelia, and she was smiling proudly at his father, even in the form of a statue.
Hawk made a small cut on his thumb and pressed it against the left toe. The statue was activated and the whole body moved forward and the pillar split open. The hermetic door appeared with a facial recognition scanner.
“How do we pass by that scanner?” I asked Hawk.
“DNA would work.” Hawk looked at Amelia.
“Hold on. Don’t tell the director has the same DNA as Amelia?”
“No, but her blood,” Hawk replied.
“Fuck,” Lucius cursed out.
I was furious, too. “How do you know all about this? You could be the director?” I pointed my gun at him, and so did everyone.
“Whoa. My blood is red.” He raised his hands. “Let me show you, but don’t shoot me just yet.” He walked through the scanner. Lasers began scanning his whole body, and the automated voice confirmed he was not the director.
“We’ve wasted too much time already.” Amelia walked forward and let herself scan.