Rafael

by Faith Gibson

  Rafael

  Stone Society Book 1

  Faith Gibson

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction.

  Copyright © 2014 by Faith Gibson

  Published by Faith Gibson

  First ebook edition: November 2014

  First print edition: November 2014

  Cover design by KPG

  ISBN 10: 0692311955

  ISBN 13: 978-0692311950

  This book is intended for mature audiences only.

  Dedication

  To Jennifer – from a telephone conversation, this series was born. Your ideas and your comments have helped shape it into something stellar. You are forever my girl.

  To the man – thank you for putting up with the out-of-the blue epiphanies and random plot ideas as we’re walking the dogs or driving down the road, and just basically dealing with my absence mentally as I get engrossed in all things Gargoyle. I love you.

  Acknowledgements

  As always, I have to thank my writing posse: Kendall, Jen, and Nikki - you encourage me to color outside the lines.

  Thank you to Alex B, Sharon B and Tanya R for reading Rafael and loving him as much as I do. And for telling me you’re ready for more Gargoyles.

  KPG – You took an idea and a few pictures and turned them into an amazing cover. That right there is priceless.

  Kendall FG, the best f’n PA a girl could want. You keep me from coloring too far outside the lines, my little comma queen.

  To the ladies at Tasty Wordgasms, thank you for blogging and pimping me. It is mucho appreciated.

  Jen, this book is all you, baby. Thank you for all your stellar ideas and for being there with me non-stop. You keep me sane.

  Content

  Prologue

  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

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Prologue

  2014

  As the beautiful redhead paced back and forth, cooing her equally beautiful baby girl, Dr. Jonas Montague examined a baby boy. The woman would stop and peer over the doctor’s shoulder to check out the notations he was making about her other child. The doctor didn’t utter a sound until he had written the last note. As carefully as his mother would, Dr. Montague redressed the boy then picked him up gently and held him close to his chest.

  The doctor’s hair and clothes were disheveled as if he hadn’t slept in days. Still, there was an air of excitement about him that couldn’t be suppressed by lack of sleep. Grinning, he said, “We did it my dear. He is as healthy as his sister.”

  The examination room door burst open. Dr. Montague’s assistant, Julia, was frantic. “Jonas, there’s a man here demanding to see you. He said his name’s Flanagan. He’s ranting about his wife and his child.”

  “No, Uncle, NO.” The redhead was in full blown panic mode.

  Calmly, Jonas handed the baby to Julia and instructed them both, “We are prepared for this. Remember the plan. Julia, you take the boy, and both of you get to the tunnel, now.”

  The loud commotion that was Gordon Flanagan became even louder as he closed in on them. Jonas waited until the two women disappeared through a secret panel in the wall behind a bookcase and then stepped through the door to the lobby. A mammoth of a man rushed him, catching him by the throat. “Where is she? What have you done with my wife?”

  Montague couldn’t breathe much less respond. “Answer me!” Gordon yelled as he threw the doctor up against the nearest wall. He hit so hard the sheetrock dented. Jonas had to give the women time to get away. Far away.

  Holding his hands up defensively, knowing it would do no good, he tried to catch his breath. Flanagan loomed above him, face red from the obvious rise in his blood pressure. “I will kill you with my bare hands if you don’t tell me what you have done with my wife.”

  The front door to the building flew open, and a man dressed in black military style fatigues strode to Flanagan. “Sir, we need to leave. We just received a tip that the rioters are making their move today, now.”

  Flanagan glanced down at the doctor who appeared to have lost consciousness. He kicked him in the ribs, “Wake up and tell me where she is!” His voice thundered throughout the building. The doctor slumped even farther toward the floor.

  “Sir, we have to move out now.” The man made his way to the door, holding it for Gordon.

  Realizing he was going to get nothing out of the doctor, Flanagan followed his guard outside. They’d barely cleared the building when the first explosion hit.

  The Mayans got it right. Almost. The bombing of Dr. Jonas Montague’s clinic in Atlanta, Georgia by a group of religious heretics set off a chain of events that left the world in a state of de-evolution. The country was divided, literally. Bombings across America caused the underground fault lines to fissure. The result was a canyon as large as the one named Grand, splitting the US of A almost exactly in half. Civil wars broke out. Governments crumbled.

  Worldwide travel was halted for many years as humanity fell to a level dating back to biblical times. Dr. Montague’s notes on human cloning were scattered causing mass chaos. His body was never recovered, and after several years he was finally declared dead. The cloning research he perfected was eventually achieved once again, and cloning became routine.

  When Gordon Flanagan’s wife disappeared with their daughter, he lost his mind. His twin brother, Magnus, also disappeared. It was assumed that Magnus took the baby that was cloned from his niece, but it couldn’t be proven. Thirty-three years passed and none of them surfaced. Gordon blamed both his brother and Montague for ripping his family in two, and he vowed to find them all, no matter what it took.

  Being one of the richest men in America, he used his money and abused his power to put his hat into the cloning ring. Since most of the military unraveled in the wars, Gordon Flanagan began building his own army. The experimentation by his team of scientists skirted the f
ringes of ethical. Eventually, those fringes unraveled, and the humans that volunteered to serve Flanagan slowly lost their humanity.

  The cloning that produced healthy, intelligent babies met little opposition. The religious zealots that marched against and eventually leveled Montague’s clinic claimed all clones were unholy and damned by God. Over the years, the media adopted the name Unholy for those less than human clones that were being created by Gordon Flanagan. His clones were a mixture of super soldier and monster.

  The leaders of the nation began rebuilding but found they couldn’t contain the Unholy. Without the necessary military intact, the people needed a miracle. What they got was The Stone Society.

  Chapter 1

  Present Day, 2047

  The streets of New Atlanta were in utter chaos. Rafael Stone, King of the Gargouille, rarely flew on scouting missions. However, with the Unholy wreaking havoc at every turn, he wasn’t about to sit on the sidelines and allow his brothers to have all the fun. He may be the leader of the Stone Society, but he wasn’t afraid to get his claws dirty. He streamlined his wings and flew right into the middle of a group of the monsters who were battling each other.

  Something about this felt wrong. Rafe quickly took out four of the Unholy only to find five more ready to take their place. “What the fuck is going on, Rafe?” Frey, one of his Clan, was guarding his back. “Why are they fighting each other?”

  “That is a good question. It’s like they were sent on a suicide mission to draw us out. I’m going to have a look around.” Rafe launched himself back into the sky and flew around the city, taking in the fighting down below. The Unholy were rarely seen in public but when they were, they weren’t known to fight amongst themselves. Their job was to target humans. Rafael didn’t care if they took each other out. That was less scum he had to put in the Basement at the prison. The fighting was mass confusion, and it reeked of a distraction. From what, he didn’t know.

  As he passed over each of his brothers below, he let out a loud whistle, calling them back. When Rafael had gathered everyone, they flew to his office to regroup. Stone, Incorporated was situated on the top floor of the Walnut Street Towers so that he and the Clan could land on the back side of the building without being seen by others.

  Once they were assembled in his office he said, “Whatever is going on out there doesn’t sit well with me. It felt like a diversion. Frey, you and your men take the north quadrant. Jules, head south. Nikolas, take your team and head west. I will contact Gregor and tell him to check around the Pen, and then I will go east. Let them kill each other and then whoever’s left we will load up for the Basement. Keep an eye out to see where they are not fighting. That will be where the real danger lies.”

  Rafael’s younger brother, Gregor, was the Warden at the penitentiary. Once he had given him a heads up, Rafe headed back to the skies. There was something amiss this night, and he needed to find out what.

  Police Chief Kaya Kane walked the length of the loading dock where the bodies of eleven delegates from the World Council were stretched along the edge: bound, gagged, dead. Twelve delegates had disappeared, so there was still a body missing. Make that a person missing. Kaya was going to assume the twelfth was still alive until she saw a body.

  Fucking hell. Kaya had tried several times to convince Governor Jackson Wallace that New Atlanta was no place to hold the World Council Delegation, especially with the Vice President of the United States in attendance. Wallace had argued that the near apocalyptical mess that ruined Atlanta happened a long time ago and this conference was just the thing that was needed to bring some positive light back to their once fair city.

  “Find out who owns this building. I want a name and number,” Kaya told her lead detective, Dane Abbott. She already knew the building would belong to Stone, Incorporated. Rafael Stone and his family owned most of the real estate in New Atlanta, whether it was gorgeous downtown architecture or an abandoned warehouse.

  Kaya stood back out of the way, allowing the Crime Scene Unit to do their job while she thought about the mysterious man. She had never met the elusive Mr. Stone, at least not that one. The Stone name popped up all over New Atlanta from the prison to the hospital to the airport. The family’s fingerprints were on just about every pot in the city.

  She had met a couple of his relatives: his brother Gregor, and his cousin Geoffrey. Both men were intense. Gregor, the Warden at the penitentiary, represented the name Stone well. He was hard, cold, and unmoving. Geoffrey Hartley, owner of the gym where she had trained in martial arts for several years, was just as stern as his cousin.

  Dane returned with the information she asked for. “Stone, Incorporated. I put in a call to Stone’s office, but he wasn’t available so I left a message with his assistant. Here’s his number.”

  Kaya took the piece of paper from Dane and put it in her jacket pocket. She wouldn’t hold her breath for a phone call from the man himself. No, someone as powerful as Rafael Stone would employ minions to take calls, make appearances, see to the little people.

  “Has CSU come up with COD?” Cause of Death was not clearly detectable. Other than the ligature marks from the ropes binding their hands, there were no visible signs of trauma to the bodies.

  Dane shook his head. “They will have to take the bodies back to the lab and run some tests. Some type of injection is Dante’s first guess. He’s already called for the buses to come retrieve the victims. Speak of the devil.”

  Dante Di Pietro, medical examiner, approached with a scowl on his face. It was a look Kaya never got used to. Standing well over six foot tall, the ME was handsome in a rugged sort of way. He spoke with a slight accent that might be Italian. It wasn’t prominent and came and went depending on his mood. The moodier he was, the thicker the accent. “Chief Kane, with your permission I will take the bodies and begin testing. Upon initial observation, I believe the victims to have been poisoned but until I get them to my lab, I am only speculating.”

  “Of course, Dante. Please keep me posted.” He didn’t bother to respond, just nodded to both Kaya and Dane and stalked off. “Friendly sort.” Dane muttered.

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass if he’s friendly or not as long as he discovers the COD. Come on, we have a missing person to find.” Kaya’s cell phone vibrated on her hip. She pulled it out of its holder and without looking at the caller ID she answered, “Kane.”

  “Chief Kane, this is Willow Bridges, assistant to Mr. Rafael Stone. He asked that I call and provide any information you might need.”

  “I will need to speak to Mr. Stone personally since he is the owner of a building involved in a crime scene. No offense, sweetheart, but this is a police matter. If he cannot oblige me by returning my call, I will have a police officer escort him to the precinct. Please tell him it’s his choice.” Kaya hung up her cell phone. She was used to dealing with men such as Rafael Stone. She would not be bullied.

  Dane was smirking at her. He flirted with her constantly, but she did not fraternize with her employees even if they were gorgeous blonds with eyes the color of the clearest sea in the Caribbean. Dane was former military and a damn good cop. If they were ever in a desperate situation, she knew he would have her back. Besides, she knew the type of women he went after, and it wasn’t older women who were tall and on the thick side. He chased those young, petite girls.

  “What?” She didn’t bother waiting for an answer. There was a delegate missing and the longer they stood around, the less chance that person had of living. “Do we know who the twelfth person is?”

  “Yeah, Magnus Flanagan.”

  She stopped walking. “You have got to be kidding me. Magnus Flanagan as in Gordon Flanagan’s brother?”

  “One in the same.”

  “This just went from a bad dream to a fucking nightmare. And speaking of nightmares, how in the hell did she get wind of this?”

  Dane turned from his scowling boss to see Katherine Fox and the Channel 5 news crew van pulling into the lot. Once parked, t
he petite reporter slid out of the passenger seat, landing on five inch stiletto heels with the grace of a ballerina. Flipping open her notepad, she stopped Dante before he could get into his SUV.

  “No worries, Boss, I got this.” Dane headed toward the auburn-haired beauty before Kaya could stop him.

  “Yeah, I just bet you do,” Kaya mumbled. “Get rid of her then meet me at the hotel. We need to interview the other delegates.” Dane gave her a two-fingered salute over his head letting her know he heard.

  An albino looking brute leaned against an older model van; long legs crossed at the ankle while smoking a cigarette. Pulling off a kidnapping of this scale would secure his place in Mr. Flanagan’s organization. The cigarette was down to the filter as he sucked in one last lungful of nicotine then flicked the butt to the ground. A black sedan with dark windows pulled up, stopping just short of his boots. The driver’s door opened, and a man dressed in black camouflage angled out. He stalked around to the passenger side and opened the back door. Mr. Flanagan himself slid out of the car.

  Without a thank you or a job well done, he rounded the car and demanded, “Where is he?”

  The kidnapper thumbed over his shoulder at the building. Flanagan headed that direction, telling him, “I’ll be in touch.”

  Chapter 2

  The previous night had been a long one with the Clan fighting and capturing Unholy until three in the morning. Rafael was still uneasy and the ringing phone didn’t help. His brother Dante, the city’s medical examiner, rarely called just to chat.

  “Rafe.”

  “I wish I had good news, Brother, but I do not. Twelve delegates were abducted from the World Council, and one is still missing. The bodies were dumped at one of our warehouses, the one out on Oakley. All eleven were poisoned. There are no visible puncture wounds, but I can smell the offensive odor seeping through their skin. I am on my way back to the morgue to conduct the examination. I overheard the Chief’s conversation with one of her detectives. You know she’s a tenacious one. Miss Kane is not going to stop until you call her back.”