Sunset (Pact Arcanum)

by Arshad Ahsanuddin

  Ana studied the schematic. “Any idea of the nature of the weapon?”

  “We’re not certain,” Take said grimly. “But we have a pretty good guess.” He tapped another control, and the view zoomed out to show the entire base. It was overlaid with a false-color diagram that showed a brightly lit red zone overlapping the target building.

  Scott frowned. “What is that?”

  “It’s a measure of radioactive decay events.” Take tapped the red overlay over the target building. “The hotspot here indicates the presence of fissionable materials.”

  Ana stared at him. “A nuke?”

  “Probably.”

  “How are they planning to deploy it?”

  “Not sure. But that building is associated with the Space and Missile Systems Center, so I’m guessing some kind of projectile delivery system.”

  “That’s crazy,” Anaba scratched her head as she studied the schematic again. “All of our important facilities are heavily shielded against nuclear attack, and most are in major population centers. They know that. There aren’t any vulnerable primary targets for them to shoot at.”

  Take shrugged. “Maybe they’ve thought of something we haven’t.”

  “How do you want to handle this, Take?” she asked.

  “Obviously, we can’t go in full force and just expect them to hand it over. No matter what we do, we’re walking straight into the possibility of open war with the United States.”

  “So we should just wait for them to nuke us?” Scott asked derisively.

  “No, but we should try to minimize casualties if we can. Afterward, we can spin it to the American public as a preemptive strike, to try to undercut their justification for creating a weapon to attack us. If we simply wipe out the base, there’s no way we’ll be able to head this off before it degenerates into all-out war.” Take turned to Nick, who had been silent so far, standing in corner nervously walking a guitar pick across his knuckles with one hand. “Have you continued to work on that Neural Shock spell?”

  Nick slipped the guitar pick into his pocket as the others focused on him. “Yes. But they know about that already. Their Fire Sentinels might have found a defense against it.”

  “It’s the best we can do. Hopefully, this is a covert operation, so any protections they’ve developed will be limited to the actual combatants. By knocking out the rest of the base, we can keep collateral damage to a minimum.”

  “If you take out the limiting parameters of the spell so it hits everything in the target radius, rather than just armed humans,” Rory suggested, “you might knock out some of their Sentinels as well. Anyone you take out before the battle starts is one more soldier you won’t have to fight.”

  “Good plan,” Take said in approval. “That would be even more useful.” He looked around at the Sentinels. “The Winds are the strongest, most adaptable strike force we can field. Just keep one thing in mind—this is war. We have only two priorities: destroy the weapon and come back alive. I don’t care what we do to succeed, but I want us all to come back. If we need to kill them all, we don’t hesitate for a second.”

  “If Nicholas is going along on this attack,” Layla said, “we should find someone recognizable at the Washington Embassy who can inform the United States government we know of their actions, and tell them what we’ve done in response.”

  “I already know who’s going to deliver the message,” growled Nick. “Toby.”

  The others turned to look at him. “Why him?” asked Take. “He’s a civilian, not Armistice Security.”

  “Because he was in my office when Lorcan told me about the attack. He knows we’re in the middle of a war, and if I don’t put him out of harm’s way, he’ll find a way to come after us. Sentinel or not, I refuse to put my brother in a position to get killed. I would rather drop a gravity pulse on the entire city than let him go into battle beside me. The suits in Washington won’t do anything to him directly as long as he’s out in the open and visible.”

  The Triumvirate assessed his resolve. “Fine,” said Rory. “He goes to Washington, but not alone. We’ll find a way to back him up, in case they try something. In the meantime, while Take is leading the assault, I’ll monitor your progress from here. Layla will coordinate the activation of the rest of our forces and bring them into the local chapterhouses to make their stand behind the fixed defenses.”

  “When do we go?” asked Ana.

  Take turned off the virtual display and reached out psychically to the Winds. The voice of Earth rang in their thoughts as their collective consciousness fused into unity and their personalities were subsumed into their elemental roles. “Now.”

  Armistice Embassy, Washington, D.C.; Fifteen minutes later

  “Let me guess. He wants you to be safe, too.” Toby said bitterly, looking up as Jeremy entered Nick’s office.

  “Maybe,” Jeremy replied, “but he’s not going to get his wish.” He dropped a suit bag on the table between them. “Get dressed, little brother. We have a mission.”

  “What kind of mission?” Toby unzipped the suit bag and assessed the clothes.

  “You’re going to deliver an ultimatum to the President of the United States. So hurry up and get dressed. We don’t have much time before all hell breaks loose.”

  Toby pulled a charcoal-gray suit emblazoned with the Triumvirate seal out of the bag and slipped off his shoes and belt. “What’s happening, Jer?”

  Jeremy hovered by the windows, glaring down upon the crowd of pedestrians who had stopped to gawk at the green glow of the defense screen. “The humans have allied themselves with the Court. They’re about to try to nuke us. Nick and the Winds are trying to destroy their base of operations, but we have to let the Americans know what we’ve done so we can head off wider hostilities.”

  Toby paused in the act of knotting his tie. “They want us to stop a war?”

  “Nope. You’re just the messenger boy. Everything else will be handled by the Triumvirate—and Nick, assuming he survives the attack. You just need to tell them what we know, and get me inside. Then you jump back here and wait it out behind the defense screens.”

  Noticing the artificial invisibility shroud module dangling from Jeremy’s neck, Toby said, “You’re going to sneak in with me? Why?”

  Jeremy’s voice hardened. “Get dressed. You don’t need to know.”

  “Whoa.” Toby placed his hands on Jeremy’s shoulders. “Nick will kill me if I let something happen to you. What’s going on? What are you going to do?”

  Jeremy’s gray eyes locked on his. “I’m going to read Daniels’ mind to see if he can be reasoned with. If he’s intent on pursuing this war past the first battle, I’m supposed to eliminate him, along with as many of the senior officials who know about the operation as I can. Hopefully, that’ll cause enough confusion to buy us the time we need to get our people to safety.”

  “Jesus, Jeremy,” whispered Toby. “Do you understand what you’re talking about doing?”

  “I started out as a terrorist, Tobias. It’s not such a stretch to become an assassin.”

  “Nick wouldn’t want you to do this.”

  “And that’s why he doesn’t know. The Triumvirate doesn’t intend to lose this war. Too many lives are at stake, including Nick’s. It’s too late for idealism. Now there’s only tactics and survival.”

  Toby calmly turned back to the table and slipped the suit jacket over his shoulders. “Give me a minute to finish getting dressed,” he said.

  Armistice Security Headquarters, Anchorpoint City, Grand Mesa, Colorado

  Two thousand miles away, Layla watched Toby and Jeremy prepare over the embassy’s security monitors. “I underestimated Tobias,” Layla said quietly.

  “They are both Sentinels,” said the personification of Air, looking out of Rory’s eyes. “They do not back down, they do not retreat, and they do not take prisoners. Nothing will change that. You have been seeing Toby through Nick’s perception, as someone who needs protecting. Nothing co
uld be further from the truth. The Gift made sure of it.”

  Layla sighed. “Have I changed so much from the day we met that I can almost weep for his loss of innocence?”

  Air smiled. “Let it be our secret.” He turned to the projection of the Armistice Zone on the conference table. “How are we coming with the evacuation?”

  She tapped at the virtual image. “So far, about a third of our population have taken refuge in the chapterhouses for transit to Anchorpoint and Icehaven, so they can be sent off-world to the Citadel and various orbital habitats. But we’re getting close to the limits of our life support systems until we can get enough ships in place to offload them to the Colonies. This will all take time. If Jeremy cannot buy us that time, a great many of our people will die.”

  “Then we will save as many as we can,” Air’s voice was grim as he looked through the eyes of the other Winds. “That is all we can do now.”

  Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California

  A comet of multicolored light plummeted from the clear sky and came to rest on the pavement in the center of the base. Around it, the soldiers stopped what they were doing and backed away in confusion as the light exploded, rapidly expanding in a spherical ripple of brilliance across the confines of the base. As the spell struck them, the soldiers toppled in their tracks. Alone in the center of the carnage stood Nick. He cast his second spell, drawing on the power of the Crown of Souls to create a temporary teleport gateway around him.

  “Rapier, execute group transit the instant you isolate a code for the jumper block.”

  He waited for several seconds, and then the world went white and the rest of the strike team appeared around him.

  The three Winds—Takeshi, Anaba, and Scott—took off in unison at a dead sprint, moving into a triangle formation as they ran. Earth led the way, with Fire and Water to either side. Air watched through their eyes and Nick brought up the rear, maintaining defensive shields for the attacking Sentinels while they ran.

  They reached their target just as a dazzling violet ward sprang into existence around it. Without even slowing down, Fire reduced it to crackling shards of light with a focused burst of pure power. Water ran ahead. His shape blurred, shifting into a stronger form than any other Sentinel of his element could achieve. The red dragon casually tore away the entire front wall of the building before blowing raging white flames over the stunned defenders.

  From eight hundred miles away, using only his mind, Air caught the fragmenting mass of the wall Water had cast aside and launched the broken bricks at each of the remaining minds on the building’s first level. Thunder roared as they broke the sound barrier, punching through reinforced concrete walls and hardened air barriers alike.

  The strike team crossed the shattered threshold of the bunker, ignoring the charred, broken bodies scattered around them. The dragon thrust heavy machinery out of the way to clear an open space in the center of the floor. Fire cast a circular rune on the floor, which burned a vivid crimson and sank through the concrete until the enclosed portion of the floor vaporized, revealing the level below.

  Earth dropped quickly through the breach into an open reception area, followed by the others. Immediately, they were met by a hail of bullets, which ricocheted harmlessly off their shields. Tapping his Gift for speed, Earth blurred into motion, striking down the defenders two and three at a time, cutting them to pieces with a sword in each hand. Not bothering to shift his form back to human entirely, Water lashed out with long, lethal claws. Meanwhile, Air pinpointed the locations of all the other minds on that level and passed that information on to Fire and Nick. Nick neutralized their enemies’ mystical defenses as Fire attacked, her spells navigating through open doors and around corners to strike at the rogue Sentinels who ran to join the battle. In minutes, the four attackers were surrounded only by corpses.

  Focusing her senses on the floor, Fire cast the cutting rune again and frowned as the spell sank just a few inches into the reinforced concrete before burning out ineffectually. “The floor is laced with a composite ward cast by at least twenty Sentinels.” She told them over the link. “It will take ten minutes to break through.”

  “We cannot allow them time to adjust their tactics,” Earth warned her. “Find another route.”

  Nick cast a new spell and the walls faded into transparency to his enhanced senses. Without hesitation, he led them down one of the hallways and through several intersections to the stairs. Ignoring the keycard lock, he struck out with both fists and slammed the door off its reinforced hinges. It tumbled into the stairwell.

  Earth took the lead down the stairs, his bloody swords at the ready. At the bottom, they found a heavy vault door. Fire focused her attacks on the hinges and bolts on either side. The door glowed furnace red as she burned through the attachment points. As soon as she had done so, Nick kicked the door into the next room. Fire was first through the wide opening, Water and Earth flanking her as they fanned out to assess the next level of defenses.

  Reaching out with his mind, Air identified targets, finding a line of almost two-dozen Sentinels hidden behind shrouds of invisibility. A composite ward of force barred their way. The barrier flared brightly as Fire and Nick directed their mystical attacks at destroying it.

  Court of Shadows Council Chamber Complex, Alexandria, Egypt

  Lorcan submitted to the search patiently, turning his sword over to the Council’s security staff. He tossed the portable AI device to the Herald as he casually walked past her, not bothering to switch it off first and ignoring her anger as she fumbled with the power switch. By the time the glowing green orb went out, Lorcan had already entered the Council Chamber at the heart of the Court of Shadows. He made his way directly to the Champion’s lectern, patiently surveying the assembled Magisters, who glared back at him.

  “Are we all here?” he asked.

  Imperator Aleksei glowered from the head table. “You have your Full Assembly Primogenitor Luscian, as requested. Now tell us the nature of this terrible emergency that required us all to be present.” He smiled and his fangs extended menacingly. “It had better be worth it, Lorcan, or you will suffer greatly for your temerity in wasting our time.”

  “I assure you, My Lords, that the threat I have identified is credible and unprecedented.” Lorcan rubbed his hands briefly in a show of concern, before placing them firmly on either side of the lectern and addressing his words directly to the Huntmaster. “It has come to my attention that elements of the Court of Shadows have allied themselves with the United States government to bring down the Armistice and allow our forces to invade North America.”

  The Huntmaster laughed out loud, joined by many of the assembled Magisters. “This is your emergency, Lorcan?” He stared at Lorcan in great amusement, but his eyes sparked red and his fangs were fully extended. “I assure you, the decision to give the humans enough information to allow them to neutralize our enemies for us was made with the consent of the full Court behind it.”

  Lorcan gave a low hiss, exposing his own fangs. “Not the full Court, my Lord. House Diluthical did not agree to this plan of attack.”

  Aleksei shook his head. “You are gravely mistaken, Lorcan. Brion Magister Diluthical gave his full support to the operation. You were not informed when you ascended to mastery because you are clearly untrustworthy. Honor and protocol demanded we accept you among us, once House Diluthical agreed to your yoke, but we know your loyalty is compromised. Our agents who survived Brion’s operation reported that you cast aside your honor for the Daywalker’s sake. In your heart, the two of you are already mated. How else can you explain your debasement of your house’s honor in service to a lapdog of the Triumvirate?”

  Lorcan drew himself up to his full height. “Nicholas Magister Luscian is my mate and my Master. I admit this freely, Huntmaster, but I do not serve the Triumvirate.”

  “Yet you personally led an assault on our headquarters in London,” said Geoffrey Magister Daviroquir, newly ascended to mastery. “
The security footage indicated you allied yourself with Sentinels to penetrate our defenses. No doubt you have already informed the Triumvirate of our plans.”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I have.” Lorcan braced himself against the angry denunciations raining down on him from the stands. “My Lords, it was necessary,” he yelled over their voices. “I needed a way to gain their trust!”

  “SILENCE!” roared Aleksei. The assembled Magisters reluctantly fell quiet. He turned his attention to Lorcan, his eyes blazing. “You betrayed us all to our enemies, and you would have us believe it was a ploy?”

  Lorcan faced him squarely. “My Lord, from what I have learned, it is too late for the Triumvirate to avoid their fate, but Nicholas may yet survive. I wish only to guarantee the safety of my mate. For that, I was willing to betray you to learn how they plan to counterattack. If you offer Nicholas asylum with the Court, I will tell you everything you need to know to evade their preemptive strike.”

  The Huntmaster regarded him with slitted eyes. “Very well, Lorcan. We will shield your pathetic, half-breed lover. Tell us how the Triumvirate intends to attack.”

  “Do I have your word you will protect him, my Lord?”

  “You do.” Aleksei snarled at him. “Now speak quickly, before I lose my patience.”

  “Takeshi Nakamura informed me that Armistice Security has recruited a spy within the Court hierarchy. This agent has access to the Council Chamber Complex and intends to neutralize our defenses here, allowing the Triumvirate to engage the Court directly in battle. In so doing, they hope to eliminate enough of the Court leadership to throw our forces into disarray, thereby forestalling our order to attack.”

  “Ridiculous!” Alejandro Magister Tervilant stepped up to the Challenger’s lectern. “The defenses of the Council Chamber have held for more than two thousand years. No single agent could possibly bring them down!” He turned to Lorcan and his eyes burned with hatred. “The Magister Diluthical is trying to play us all for fools. I say we reject his amateurish dissembling and make him pay the price for his treachery.”