Enigma: A Space Opera: Book Six of The Shadow Order
Page 18
After he’d drawn a deep breath to try to pull himself back into the moment, Seb found he couldn’t fully do it. A part of him still wound tight, he nodded and tried to keep his impatience from his voice. “Yes.”
CHAPTER 53
When Seb had finished explaining everything he could remember about the process, Moses and Mr. H stared at one another before looking back at him.
Mr. H hadn’t spoken until that point. “But you don’t know what the trigger words are?”
Seb shook his head. “Or where Enigma is based. We found out what the Countess’ organisation does to slaves, but nothing else useful.”
“You did what we asked you to do. One step at a time. Besides, you have a hostage,” Moses said.
Sparks stepped forward. “A hostage they’re bound to notice has gone sooner or later.”
“We’d best get what we need out of him sooner, then,” Moses said. “In the meantime, Seb, I want you to get some rest. You need it.”
“Although I don’t know what the trigger words are,” Seb said, “what I can tell you is that when Enigma uses them, there will be total chaos. We don’t know how many slaves they’ve gotten to, but if even the smallest fraction of them have been—”
“Spread throughout the galaxy on illegal trade routes,” Mr. H said.
“Right.” Seb zoned out for a moment. “When they go off … well, I’m not sure any military force in the galaxy will be able to defeat them.”
“And you?” Moses said. After glancing over Seb’s shoulder, he quickly looked back at him. “You could flip out too?”
Although he didn’t look at her, Seb felt SA approach him from behind. A warm touch on his shoulder, he fought against his fury again. Moses had just looked at her. Whatever happened, she shouldn’t be blamed. “I don’t know. I hope—”
But before Seb could finish, the projector came to life, showing them footage on the wall at the front of the room.
“What the …?” Sparks said and then held her computer up. The same image had taken over her screen.
Impossible to identify, the silhouette looked like a human woman. An angel of a woman. A white glowing figure against a jet-black background. It shone so brightly, Seb squinted against its glare. It had a female voice. “I’m the head of Enigma,” she said. “We’ve been building to this moment for years, and now it’s finally ready. The galaxy has been going the wrong way for a long time now, and we’re about to correct that. We’re about to take over.”
“Looks like they found out about our hostage.” Mr. H said.
Sparks shook her head. “We had no choice.”
“Never mind that,” Owsk said as he stared at Seb. “I think we should be more worried about what we have next to us right now.”
“… greed, control, exploitation …” the leader of Enigma said.
When Owsk and Buster closed in on Seb, SA moved across in front of him.
“They’re right,” Seb said, gently pushing her aside. “I need to be watched.”
Another twist of her features, SA stepped out of the way.
As much as Seb wanted to have faith, now the moment had come, his trust that everything would be okay had abandoned him. As he looked from Buster to Owsk, he said, “If I can’t be stopped—” he pulled a deep breath in “—do whatever you need to do, okay? I don’t want to harm anyone.”
SA walked out of the room and Seb watched her go. He needed her by his side, but he didn’t blame her for not wanting to watch.
Although Enigma had continued her monologue in the background, the next few words came through with a clarity that excluded everything else around him. They existed as the only sound in the galaxy at that moment, and they spoke to Seb more clearly than anything he’d ever heard before. “It’s time to wake, my army,” she said. “It’s time to rise up.”
END OF BOOK SIX.
Thank you for reading Enigma - Book Six of The Shadow Order.
Would you like to be notified when The Shadow Order Book Seven becomes available? Join my spam-free mailing list for all of my updates HERE
Want more of the Shadow Order, and specifically Reyes? Dive into a story set in her past and get to know her better in 120-Seconds: A Shadow Order Story - available HERE
Support the Author
DEAR READER, as an independent author I don’t have the resources of a huge publisher. If you like my work and would like to see more from me in the future, there are two things you can do to help: leaving a review, and a word-of-mouth referral.
RELEASING a book takes many hours and hundreds of dollars. I love to write, and would love to continue to do so. All I ask is that you leave an Amazon review. It shows other readers that you’ve enjoyed the book and will encourage them to give it a try too. The review can be just one sentence, or as long as you like. Click HERE to go straight to the book page.
IF YOU’D LIKE to be notified of when the next book in this series becomes available, you can sign up to my spam-free mailing list HERE
If you’ve enjoyed The Shadow Order, you may also enjoy my post-apocalyptic series - The Alpha Plague - Book 1 is FREE:
The Alpha Plague - Available Now For FREE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Like most children born in the seventies, Michael grew up with Star Wars in his life. An obsessive watcher of the films, and an avid reader from an early age, he found himself taken over with stories whenever he let his mind wander.
Those stories had to come out.
He hopes you enjoy reading his books as much as he does writing them.
Michael loves to travel when he can. He has a young family, who are his world, and when he’s not reading, he enjoys walking so he can dream up more stories.
Contact
www.michaelrobertson.co.uk
subscribers@michaelrobertson.co.uk
ALSO BY MICHAEL ROBERTSON
The Shadow Order
The First Mission - Book Two of The Shadow Order
The Crimson War - Book Three of The Shadow Order
Eradication - Book Four of The Shadow Order
Fugitive - Book Five of The Shadow Order
Enigma - Book Six of The Shadow Order
120-Seconds: A Shadow Order Story
The Alpha Plague: A Post-Apocalyptic Action Thriller
The Alpha Plague 2
The Alpha Plague 3
The Alpha Plague 4
The Alpha Plague 5
The Alpha Plague 6
The Alpha Plague 7
The Alpha Plague 8
Crash - A Dark Post-Apocalyptic Tale
Crash II: Highrise Hell
Crash III: There’s No Place Like Home
Crash IV: Run Free
Crash V: The Final Showdown
New Reality: Truth
New Reality 2: Justice
New Reality 3: Fear
OTHER AUTHORS UNDER THE SHIELD OF PHALANX PRESS
Sixth Cycle
Nuclear war has destroyed human civilization.
Captain Jake Phillips wakes into a dangerous new world, where he finds the remaining fragments of the population living in a series of strongholds, connected across the country. Uneasy alliances have maintained their safety, but things are about to change. -- Discovery leads to danger. -- Skye Reed, a tracker from the Omega stronghold, uncovers a threat that could spell the end for their fragile society. With friends and enemies revealing truths about the past, she will need to decide who to trust. -- Sixth Cycle is a gritty post-apocalyptic story of survival and adventure.
Darren Wearmouth ~ Carl Sinclair
DEAD ISLAND: Operation Zulu
Ten years after the world was nearly brought to its knees by a zombie Armageddon, there is a race for the antidote! On a remote Caribbean island, surrounded by a horde of hungry living dead, a team of American and Australian commandos must rescue the Antidotes' scientist. Filled with zombies, guns, Russian bad guys, shady government types, serial killers and elevator muzak. Dead Island is an action packed blood soaked h
orror adventure.
Allen Gamboa
Invasion Of The Dead Series
This is the first book in a series of nine, about an ordinary bunch of friends, and their plight to survive an apocalypse in Australia. -- Deep beneath defense headquarters in the Australian Capital Territory, the last ranking Army chief and a brilliant scientist struggle with answers to the collapse of the world, and the aftermath of an unprecedented virus. Is it a natural mutation, or does the infection contain -- more sinister roots? -- One hundred and fifty miles away, five friends returning from a month-long camping trip slowly discover that death has swept through the country. What greets them in a gradual revelation is an enemy beyond compare. -- Armed with dwindling ammunition, the friends must overcome their disagreements, utilize their individual skills, and face unimaginable horrors as they battle to reach their hometown...
Owen Ballie
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Alone in a foreign land. The radio goes quiet while on convoy in Afghanistan, a lost patrol alone in the desert. With his unit and his home base destroyed, Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson suddenly finds himself isolated and in command of a small group of men trying to survive in the Afghan wasteland. Every turn leads to danger
The local population has been afflicted with an illness that turns them into rabid animals. They pursue him and his men at every corner and stop. Struggling to hold his team together and unite survivors, he must fight and evade his way to safety. A fast paced zombie war story like no other.
W.J. Lundy
Zombie Rush
New to the Hot Springs PD Lisa Reynolds was not all that welcomed by her coworkers especially those who were passed over for the position. It didn’t matter, her thirty days probation ended on the same day of the Z-poc’s arrival. Overnight the world goes from bad to worse as thousands die in the initial onslaught. National Guard and regular military unit deployed the day before to the north leaves the city in mayhem. All directions lead to death until one unlikely candidate steps forward with a plan. A plan that became an avalanche raging down the mountain culminating in the salvation or destruction of them all.
Joseph Hansen
The Gathering Horde
The most ambitious terrorist plot ever undertaken is about to be put into motion, releasing an unstoppable force against humanity. Ordinary people – A group of students celebrating the end of the semester, suburban and rural families – are about to themselves in the center of something that threatens the survival of the human species. As they battle the dead – and the living – it’s going to take every bit of skill, knowledge and luck for them to survive in Zed’s World.
Rich Baker
Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
Edited and Cover by …
Copyright
Mailing List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
About the Author
Also by Michael Robertson
Other Authors Under the Shield of Phalanx Press