Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)

by Melissa A. Craven

  “What have you done with Sasha?” Quinn said in a dangerously controlled voice as he made his way down the aisle. “Where is she?”

  “Quinn, get back to your seat,” Livia demanded.

  “Quinn?” The man gave him a once-over. “Yeah, she talked about you.” He nodded. “Way too much talking, that one.”

  “Jayesh, don’t bait him,” Livia said.

  “What have you done with her?” Quinn took another step forward, itching to put his hands around the man’s throat.

  “You don’t want to know,” Jayesh said. “Let it go, man.”

  Quinn lunged at him, but Michael had him flat on the floor with a knee in his back before Quinn’s fist could make contact with Jayesh’s face.

  “Get him back to his seat,” Livia snapped.

  Michael and Ryan dragged Quinn to the back of the plane and belted him in.

  “You get up again and you’re going skydiving without a chute,” Michael said.

  Quinn watched helplessly as the man who’d held Sasha’s freedom in his hands went back to the conference table.

  “What was that about?” Santi asked, trying to loosen his death grip on the armrest.

  “A few months ago, Livia showed me a photo of that guy with Sasha.” Quinn’s nostrils flared in anger. “He was in charge of some kind of special training she was conscripted into by the Senate.”

  “The Senate?”

  “Exactly.” Quinn turned to meet her gaze. “Why would a Soma agent be working for the Senate? He was teaching her how to use a sniper rifle. Livia threatened to have her brought here after her training was completed. If I submitted and signed over my life to Soma, Sasha was supposed to go home none the wiser. But I called her bluff.” Quinn shook his head in disgust. “I knew … I thought Sasha’s father would travel to hell and back to keep her safe.”

  “You care about her a lot, don’t you.” Santi’s voice held a hint of uncertainty.

  “I do. She’s … Sasha.” He couldn’t find the right words to describe what she meant to him. “If anything happens to her … if that man hurt her in any way, I will never forgive myself.”

  “You love her?”

  “I do. I always will. But we aren’t good for each other. We’ve both known that for a long time, but it’s still always been more than just friends with us.”

  “I see.” She stared at her hands in her lap.

  “It’s confusing when you have feelings for two people at the same time,” Quinn said softly, taking her hand in his. “And it’s not fair to you or to Sasha.”

  “Me?” Santi whispered.

  “You know I care about you.” Quinn gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “But the way I left things with Sasha.…”

  “You don’t have to explain.”

  “But you’ll understand more than anyone, Mina.” Quinn smiled. “The night Livia took me, Sasha and I were right in the middle of starting things up again after we’d broken off our relationship the year before. And then we were torn apart. To her, that is all still a fresh wound. To me … it’s ancient history. It still hurts. I still love her in the way you always care about your first love, but this distance … this whole experience … you … it’s all moving me in a different direction. Sasha will always be special to me. I suppose it’s a sad and bittersweet thing when you realize it’s time to move on from that first love.”

  Santi nodded. “I know you don’t want to see her mixed up in all of this. We need to see if we can talk to Jay. He’s a good guy. When he wants to be.”

  “You know him?”

  “Yeah. He and Livia don’t get along because Jayesh is her father’s man. Marcus sends him to help her when he doesn’t think Livia can handle something on her own. She takes offense to it, so they butt heads like siblings vying for daddy’s attention.”

  “Does he outrank Livia?”

  “No. He’s a slave like the rest of us, but he has the old man’s ear. They’ve been together most of Jay’s life. I think he and Livia grew up together. They’re about the same age.”

  “Can he be trusted?”

  “I think so. It’s no secret Jay prefers not to have anything to do with Soma. He keeps himself separate from all of this, working in different parts of the world whenever Marcus hires him out. But he’s broken. He doesn’t care about much. He’s cold and calculated. Kind of goes through the motions of whatever’s expected of him. He doesn’t have much patience for chitchat. He’s a career soldier. Does what he’s told.”

  Quinn laughed at the thought of this guy with Sasha. “She probably made his life a living hell.”

  Quinn caught Jayesh’s eye and thought he saw a subtle nod, as if in agreement.

  ~~~

  “Sir, let me get that for you.” The flight attendant tried to intercept Jayesh at the entrance to the alcove where Santi and Quinn sat.

  “I can make my own drink, thanks.” He stepped around the young man, closing the curtain in his face.

  Jayesh shot them a warning look to keep silent, peering over the curtain to see if Livia was watching.

  “I have maybe five minutes before she get suspicious,” Jayesh said almost inaudibly. “I left Sasha safe with family a few months ago, but she’s drawing too much attention to herself. How do I get her to stop trying to find me? She’s refusing to let me walk away without an argument.”

  “She’s safe?” Quinn rested on the edge of his seat.

  “Yes. But if she doesn’t stop asking questions about both of us, she’s not going to be.”

  “That’s Sasha,” Quinn said.

  “She is … very special to me.” Jayesh busied himself making a drink and a sandwich. “But this life.” He gestured toward Livia and the others. “I can’t ever let this place touch her any more than it already has.”

  “Then you need to do whatever you have to do to get her to forget about you. Simple as that.”

  Jay nodded, taking a bite of his sandwich. “She’s not making that easy.”

  “Sasha is a force to be reckoned with,” Quinn said. “Have you … is there anything going on with you two?”

  “Not like that. I’m too old for her, and I’m not a free man. But we are close. I don’t want to hurt her.”

  “She cares about you?” Quinn asked.

  “I believe she does.” Jay nodded. “Although I don’t know why.”

  “You’re going to have to break her heart. Tell her whatever she needs to hear to keep her from coming after you because she will not rest if she feels like you’ve abandoned her. She’s not going to let it go.”

  “Just like she hasn’t let go of you. Did you know she was planning to show up at Sterling Tower to volunteer?”

  “Someone needs to superglue her ass to the floor.” Quinn sighed.

  “She might slit my throat for this.” Jay smiled, but there was something in his eyes. Something like heartbreak. “But I’d rather have her angry at me than hurt.”

  “If you care about her at all, you do not want to see her wearing the Soma brand. You know how badly they would want someone like her. They would mold her into something she’s not cut out to be. Cut her loose, Jayesh, because if she winds up at Soma, I’m coming for you.”

  Jayesh nodded. “I’ll put an end to her questions. If that means she never thinks about me again, all the better.”

  “See that you do it soon.”

  “I promised her I would help you, but I can’t do much considering how closely tethered Livia is keeping you. The fact that she has you out of Sterling Tower at all surprises me. She would normally never risk it unless she was certain of your loyalty, or she’d managed to break you. If you have the opportunity to run, you take it. I’ll do what I can to give you the time you need to get away, but she will retaliate so you need to be prepared for a fight.”

  With that, Jayesh left them.

  “He cares,” Santi said. “That is a good sign.”

  “How so?” Quinn asked.

  “It means he isn’t broken anymore. He’
s found his way back, and it sounds like Sasha’s the reason. She must be incredible.”

  Quinn smiled. “Leave it to Sasha to unbreak an Immortal.”

  Santi stared out the window at the carpet of clouds just below them. “Do you think we have a chance, Quinnton?” she whispered.

  “Maybe, but this is the only one we’re going to get, so we better make it count.”

  “I can’t wait to see my family.”

  “I know you want to see them again, but if we can actually do this, I don’t think we should go back to Atlanta. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I know.” Santi sighed. “I can send for them once I get settled somewhere.”

  “You’ll come with me back to my family. They will protect us and they’ll get your family out of Atlanta.”

  “You want me to come home with you?” She gave a hesitant smile.

  Quinn took her hands in his. “Santi, I want you with me wherever I go.”

  ~~~

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-ONE

  Quinn: Fall

  Cleveland, Ohio

  Cleveland was covered in a blanket of fog when they stepped off the private jet at Burke Lakefront Airfield. The small airstrip was bordered by Lake Erie on one side and the bustling city center on the other. As they waited for their driver to pull up on the tarmac, Quinn caught sight of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Browns’ Stadium nearby. The nostalgic feeling of homecoming burst inside him. Freedom was at their fingertips and Quinn was anxious to get away. Returning to Soma was just not an option.

  “Pull it together, people!” Livia screamed after a nasty couple of minutes when none of them could remember why they were there. “I will dedicate the rest of my life to tracking down your Complements just for the pleasure of killing every single one of you if you don’t focus, now!”

  Quinn didn’t believe they would actually find the Scholar. Every time they made a decision, half of them forgot what they were doing. Michael had spent most of the flight replaying the Scholar’s YouTube video because he couldn’t remember he’d already seen it. But Livia somehow managed to stay focused and refused to forget. She had eyes and ears stationed all across Cleveland, reporting in at different intervals. If the Scholar showed his face anywhere, she would know well before her sentries forgot to make a report.

  Quinn and Santi piled into the back of the limo with Livia, Michael, Ryan, Selena and Jayesh. He wasn’t sure where they would go, but Quinn knew this city like the back of his hand. Wherever they ended up, he would have the hometown advantage on his side.

  “We’ll get settled at the hat factory tonight and see what the surveillance reports yield. Then we’ll make our moves tomorrow,” Livia said.

  “Hat factory? Really?” Quinn scowled at her.

  “Yes. I believe you’re familiar with the place?”

  Quinn had spent one of the worst nights of his life in that old warehouse—right before Livia stole him away from his family.

  “Jayesh keeps it concealed for our use. Once we’re holed up there, the Scholar won’t be able to locate us.”

  “So I can thank you for all this?” Quinn shot a glare at the man who’d made his capture possible so many months ago. If Jayesh’s gift hadn’t blocked Liam’s, his family would have found them sooner and Quinn would likely be home now. And Santi would be here alone. He glanced at her beside him. If he had to do it all over again, he wouldn’t change anything.

  “My deepest apologies,” Jayesh said, absently staring out of the window.

  “If we can all remember to stay on point, we will maintain the upper hand,” Livia said. “With Jayesh, we’ll be working a few steps ahead of the Scholar. We will get between him and the queen, attempt to take them both if we can, or settle for the Scholar if we can’t.”

  “They’re ancients, Liv,” Quinn said. “Don’t forget there are things about them you won’t know.”

  “I know how to use people against each other, Quinn. Your only job here is to stand on the sidelines, keep your mouth shut and hand over your gift when I have need of it.”

  “Well, good luck with that,” Quinn muttered. She was walking right into the Scholar’s trap and she was either too arrogant to realize it or too desperate to care.

  “We’ve been discreet,” Livia said, flipping through the surveillance reports on her lap. “And we have certain abilities at our disposal that will protect us, so stop bothering me with your needless concerns.”

  Quinn snorted in disgust. They had no idea who they were dealing with.

  “You have something to say?” Livia demanded. “Something an untested child would think of that we haven’t?”

  “You are hunting the Scholar and you haven’t got a clue what that man is capable of. He sees you coming. They both do. If anyone is in control of how this is going to go down, it’s them. Not you.”

  “How so?” Ryan asked. “We’ve covered everything.”

  “Doesn’t anyone study history around here?” Quinn shook his head in disgust. I should just let them hang themselves.

  “Out with it or we’ll be back to carving up Santi’s face and other parts of her I’m sure you quite enjoy.”

  “Stop making idle threats and just do it already,” Santi said. “Maybe I’ll fetch a big price at market if you make me look scary enough. Or better yet, I’ll end up in the clearance bin and all your efforts to break me will be for nothing. I like that idea. Let’s do it.”

  “Santi. Stop baiting her. Please.” Quinn sighed, turning to face Livia beside him. “You are tracking the man who has shaped every aspect of our history, Livia. He’s practically omniscient.”

  “No one’s omniscient.”

  “He’s older than dirt. Nothing dates back as far as the Scholar. History calls him a ghost. He sees everything of importance and he records it. When Caesar was stabbed twenty-three times on the Ides of March, Alexander was there. When Carthage was sacked, Alexander was there. When the Twin Towers fell, he was there. He doesn’t need to be physically present to see the most important moments in history. Just as his psychic wife sees the future in her prophecies. You can’t surprise a man like that. Not an ancient with power you can’t even fathom. He has the upper hand, and he will keep it.”

  “You’ve been listening to too many myths. Alexander is not the all-powerful presence he would like you to believe he is. At the end of the day, he is just a man. Jayesh will stay five steps ahead him and warn us when trouble is coming. He will conceal our headquarters so we can continue our surveillance undetected. And your gift, my little darling, will get me close enough to collar him, so I can touch him with Santi’s gift to discover what I need to know to find the queen.”

  “Alexander will not be so easily affected by my gift,” Santi said.

  “Maybe if you were wielding your gift, but I will be using it for you and I have a much better sense of what your gift can do.”

  “Why not go after the queen directly?” Selena asked. “She’s the one Marcus wants. At least we can remember who she is,” she muttered.

  “The queen is a prophet and a warrior. The Scholar is a couch potato. Alísun would see us coming through her gift and we’d never be able to touch her. But as Quinn said, the Scholar’s gift only shows him the most pivotal moments in history. Important events and people that shape the world to come. He will not see a couple of insignificant slaves until it is too late. We will not be a blip on his radar. Not until it is too late for him.”

  “I didn’t say ‘only.’” Quinn sighed, but Livia wasn’t listening.

  Shadows threw them into darkness as the limo entered a long, crumbling tunnel.

  “What is this place? Driver, where have you taken us?” Livia demanded.

  “I think it’s the old subway tunnel under the Detroit-Superior Bridge,” Quinn said, looking around. “It’s been closed for decades.”

  “You should listen to the boy. He’s the smartest one back there,” the driver said as he lowered the privacy window.


  “Alexander?” Livia’s face flushed at the sight of the man she was supposed to be hunting.

  The Scholar sat in the front seat wearing a chauffeur’s hat with dark sunglasses, torn jeans and a Darth Vader t-shirt with the slogan, “Use the Force, Harry.”

  “You wanted to speak with me?” He eyed her over his sunglasses. “You could have just called, my dear.”

  “Jayesh, what have you done?” Livia snarled.

  “Oh, no, the boy’s done his job,” Alexander said. “But I’ve been working double time to make him forget his own name.”

  “How did you find us?” Livia asked.

  “You forget … I am much more than a scholar. I am the father of all scholars who have come after me. I am an ancient with omniscient access to all of history. Even history in the making. Even history made, say, a couple of hours ago.” He checked his Apple Watch. “Things like mundane flight manifests. Public record, you know. I knew you were coming the moment your pilot filed her flight plan. You young people forget to use your brains and rely too much on your gifts.”

  “Out.” Livia snapped her fingers and everyone exited the vehicle.

  It was time. She would do what she came here to do, and Quinn would slip away with Santi before Livia even realized what happened. He had the advantage, too. He knew exactly where to go where she would never find them.

  “You two, stay with me. I don’t want any bullshit from you, Quinn. Lennox is my insurance policy. You try anything, you even think about running, and she pays the price.”

  Quinn didn’t buy her threat. Livia loved that little girl and she wouldn’t follow through with it—especially if he wasn’t there to see it carried out.

  Livia shoved Santi ahead of her, keeping them in her sights, daring them to step a toe out of line. Her team lined up in the darkness of the old subway station. The Scholar stood alone. They had him surrounded, but he gazed around like he was meeting old friends for brunch.

  “Lovely to meet you all,” he said, with a beaming smile.

  Ryan and Michael lit the flashlights on their phones, washing them all in the dim blue LED light.