The Phoenix Agency: Arctic Burn (Kindle Worlds Novella) (62 Degrees North Book 1)

by Amy Ruttan

  Something dark and sinister. Something not of this world.

  Every fiber of her being told her to turn and run, that they shouldn’t be here, but General Knight was hell bent on getting to the glacier. It bordered on some kind of madness and, as she looked at the faces of his armed guards, she could tell they were thinking the same thing as she was.

  General Knight led the way, dragging Bryant with him, the gun pointed at Bryant’s head. That gun was the only thing stopping her from reaching out and killing General Knight with her bare hands.

  At least Mason was safe on the ship, and now she could reach out to him telepathically to get the heck out of there and inform the Phoenix Agency about what she was about to do.

  As they got closer to the glacier the white noise dulled to a constant hum of energy. Like electricity in a transformer. A shudder ran down her spine.

  At the north side of the island sat the glacier. It was melting rapidly because of climate change. The cave General Knight had spoken about was gone, but he walked over to a spot.

  “Here!” he shouted. “Here is where they spoke to me.”

  Lexie just stared at the glacier, not sure of how to proceed. She had never tried to retrieve something buried so deep.

  General Knight made Bryant get to his knees, keeping the gun at his head.

  “You don’t need to keep the gun at his head. I’m here and I will do what you want,” Lexie said.

  “This is insurance.”

  She clenched her fist. “How am I to find it?”

  “It’s here, below me. This is where I came to die after my country abandoned me. This is where the aliens saved me by giving me a power I haven’t been able to use properly until this moment. Now I will repay them for their kindness.”

  “You’re crazy,” Bryant snapped. “This is going to bring about the destruction of the world. You want power and you want control, but how are you going to control anything when everyone, including yourself, is dead?”

  General Knight ignored the question. “You will shut up now or I will silence you permanently.”

  He was crazed. Blood still stained his face from where she’d burnt his flesh because he made her do it, such was his lust for power.

  She wasn’t going to argue with him, as much as she wanted to. This was her chance to put an end to all of this.

  “Do it!” General Knight shouted. “You know what to do. I know they told you what to do.”

  Lexie took a deep breath.

  “Don’t do it, Lexie!” Bryant pleaded. “I’m not worth this.”

  “You are,” she whispered. “I have to do this.”

  She took a step toward the glacier. The only sound was the pounding of her pulse between her ears. The aliens had gone quiet. She closed her eyes and visualized what the aliens had sent her through her thoughts.

  She saw the aliens, the space craft they rested in when they came here thousands of years ago, when a lot of this land was covered in ice still. They had come here looking for a way to destroy a powerful energy source that could do a lot of damage.

  She saw it, the remnants of a super race of beings that had died out because of this energy source. The last of their kind frozen in the permafrost below her. She would wipe them away too. They didn’t deserve to be discovered and tested or experimented on.

  She was going to make sure nobody knew they were here.

  Concentrating, she built up the energy inside her like she had never done before. It scared her and she cried out.

  “You’re evil. Evil.”

  Lexie drowned out the voice of her mother for the first time. Doing so stoked the uncontrolled fire that always threatened her below the surface. It was now erupting. Flames were licking at her body as she was engulfed completely.

  She felt like she was ablaze, but there was no pain.

  Instead the Arctic burned. The tundra burned like it was a dry prairie in a wildfire. Her flames moved below the surface, through the earth and the layers of permafrost. Using her mind she saw where the device was stored. It was a sphere, which glowed in the darkness like a beacon through the prehistoric ice.

  She cupped it gently up, guiding it up to the surface through the hole she had made in the earth with her flames. In the distance she could hear Bryant screaming for her, calling out her name, but she ignored him as well.

  All her attention was focused on the orb, so that she could execute the destruction of it. In this moment she felt as if this is what she had been put on earth for, why she had been granted these powers. It was her destiny to put an end to this evil, to destroy this sphere that had wiped out an entire race of sentient beings.

  She brought the orb in front of her. It was like a sphere of water. It shimmered, moved with ripples and glowed with silver. Lexie touched it and it was hot. It was like fire. Like her.

  “Yes! That’s it. That’s it. Control it!” General Knight screamed through the howling flames.

  This is it. Do it.

  She gripped the sphere in her hands and closed her eyes. She heard the voices of the aliens telling her what to do, how to destroy it. She was stronger than the device, which had been drained over the millennia it had been buried.

  Taking everything she had, all her power, all her fire, she sent it into the sphere.

  “No!” General Knight screamed, understanding what she was doing.

  The sphere expanded and grew brighter, hotter.

  Lexie cried out as it grew larger than she could hold on to, before it shattered into a million pieces. The shockwave of the explosion sent her flying backwards to land on the cold tundra.

  Exhausted, she opened her eyes and could see that the darkness was gone.

  The sky was blue.

  There were no more pieces of the orb floating around her. It was quiet. There was no more hum, no more voices in her head.

  All that was left was smoke from the fire.

  “No! We had a deal!”

  She scrambled to her feet just in time to see General Knight pull the trigger of the gun he was holding to Bryant’s head.

  Without thinking she held up her hand and stopped the bullet. It was like she hit pause on the entire world. She could do anything here, manipulate anything. This was a power she didn’t want to have, but, for now, she would use it to save Bryant’s life.

  It was like a gift from the aliens.

  It was a way out.

  She turned the bullet away and used her power to disarm General Knight and his small contingent of men. She rendered the GKA men unconscious and freed Bryant.

  Bryant grabbed a gun, pointing it at General Knight, holding him hostage.

  It was over.

  “You, bitch! You destroyed everything,” General Knight screamed.

  Lexie turned to Bryant and he was smiled at her.

  It was over. This was all over.

  In that moment, General Knight turned his power on her and she felt her trachea close. She dropped to her knees, unable to breathe. A single shot cracked through the air and the pressure on her neck eased. She bent over, gasping for air, her lungs burning. Bryant was lowering his gun.

  General Knight was on the ground. The bullet had struck him in the chest and he gasped for air as the bullet collapsed his lung. Blood pooled beneath him, staining the grey gravel of the tundra.

  Another contingent of guards came rushing toward them from the beach, but she turned their weapons on them, mowing them down with a flick of her hand.

  “Lexie!” Bryant shouted, as he ran to her.

  She tried to calm herself and looked down at her hands, expecting to see flames, but saw nothing.

  “Lexie, you’re not on fire anymore,” Bryant said in amazement.

  Her body shook as she stared at her hands. No more flames. She’d burned down the Arctic, sent flames through the permafrost to get to the device. It had seemed so easy, and now, with the destruction of the device, the one thing she could never control was gone; it had taken her inner fire.

  The
inner fire that ravaged everything she loved.

  The fire that made her stick out as different whenever her emotions got the better of her.

  The fire she could never release, never explain, was gone, but her body still burned like she was aflame.

  With her mind she undid the handcuffs, releasing Bryant. He raced over to her and took her in his arms, holding her.

  He touched her face.

  “You can touch me,” she whispered. “I’m a wreck and you can touch me.”

  He smiled as he ran his thumb over her cheek. “God, I thought I lost you. You were engulfed in flames, I couldn’t see you anymore.”

  She rested her forehead against his, trying to get a sense of what had happened. She looked over her shoulder to see more of the GKA headed toward them from the boat, but right now she didn’t care.

  Right now she was here with Bryant.

  “I’m sorry for leaving you,” she whispered. “I didn’t want to, but I hurt you so bad. I was worried, this fire inside of me, I didn’t know how to control it. I thought it was bad, evil.”

  Bryant cupped her face. “Nothing about you is evil. When you left it nearly killed me. It’s why I came here. To find you. I’m never going to let you go. You can burn me a thousand times and I’ll always come back for more. I’ve been burned once before by your love and survived. I can survive anything.”

  He kissed her then, fiercely, and she knew that he would never let her go.

  There was a faint sound of a helicopter in the distance. They turned around to see that the rest of the GKA had been cornered by military vessels.

  And above those boats was a black chopper with a red phoenix on its side.

  “It looks like Mason got my message,” Lexie said.

  “What’re you talking about?” Bryant asked.

  “When I transferred him power, he became an empath. I can communicate with him telepathically. Even if I had to destroy us, even if we had to die, I wanted the Phoenix Agency to come in and take care of the rest of these guys and save Mason at least.”

  The chopper landed, blowing dust and gravel as the blades slowed down.

  A door opened and a man jumped out to jog toward them.

  “Mike!” Bryant shouted.

  Mike nodded. “I told you we’d be nearby, that we would help you through this.”

  “I know, but I wasn’t sure if I could believe it.”

  Mike D’Antoni chuckled. “Believe it.”

  Mike turned his attention toward her. “Ms. Nevue I suppose?”

  “Mr. D’Antoni, it’s nice to meet you too, finally.”

  “Pleasure,” he said in a clipped British accent.

  They walked toward the chopper and Lexie saw General Knight was on a stretcher.

  “Is he dead?” Bryant asked.

  “No, he’s alive, barely,” the medic who was carrying one end of the stretcher answered. “We’ll take care of it.”

  “We have a place for guys like him,” Mike said.

  “I hope it’s strong,” Lexie said. “The Phoenix Agency does realize that General Knight has telekinesis right?”

  Mike was shocked “No, I had no idea.”

  “You better watch him and get the members of the Lotus Circle involved so you guys can keep him in prison,” she remarked.

  Mike nodded. “Will do.”

  “Now where?” Bryant asked Lexie.

  “Do you guys want a lift back to Iqaluit? You could walk, but that might prove tricky.” Mike was teasing.

  Bryant nodded. “Yeah a lift would be good. My plane is in Resolute though and, with all due respect, Mike, I would like to retrieve it.”

  “Resolute, and then back to Yellowknife,” Lexie interjected.

  “Well, this chopper doesn’t have that range of distance, but we’ll get you to Resolute and you two can rest before you fly back to Yellowknife. We’ll take care of our man Mason.” Mike headed back toward the chopper.

  “Yellowknife?” Bryant asked.

  “I hope you don’t mind. Although they promised to hide me down in the States, I’d rather stay in the north now. I know you only came up here to find me, but you said the north changed you.”

  He nodded. “Wherever you go is home for me, Lexie. I’m willing to stay in Yellowknife. Besides, Mason’s going to need some help with his new powers, huh? And I think you’re the one to help him.”

  “That’s good and yeah I can help him. I think. I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”

  “You’ll be lots of help, but I do have one condition.”

  “Oh?” she asked.

  “One condition for me to stay in Yellowknife.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “For you to marry me.”

  She gasped, totally taken aback. Tears stung her eyes. “I would like that. I love you, Bryant. I always have. You’re the only one who has ever been kind to me, understood me and accepted me.”

  “I love you too, Lexie.”

  They kissed again, sealing the deal, the promises made to each other after the Arctic burned.

  Epilogue

  One year later

  Lexie sat on the edge of a dock, her eyes trained on the horizon. Even though no one else could see it, she knew that Bryant’s bush plane was headed back from Deline. As soon as it landed they’d grab their gear, which was cluttering up Mason’s cargo room at 62 Degrees North’s terminal, and head up for a two week honeymoon at a cabin on the shore of Great Bear Lake.

  “Don’t you want to go somewhere tropical?” Mason teased, as he stood next to her.

  “Why would I want to do that?”

  “Change of scenery?” Mason asked. “I thought you were tired of the north.”

  “Never. Besides I just spent a month down south with The Lotus Circle. I’m done with the south, it’s too hot. I’d rather have cool, clear nights and it’s late August. Less bugs, and the northern lights return.”

  Mason frowned. “Bugs? There haven’t been bugs this year.”

  She laughed. She’d forgotten to tell him that she was never bothered by bugs. He must’ve picked that up too when he took on some of her power.

  “You know, you need to go down south and work to hone your skills,” Lexie suggested.

  Mason snorted. “Like I have time to do that with my business to run. When my brothers get back from their holidays, then maybe I can think about it.”

  There was a distant hum and they both looked back over the lake.

  “Looks like Bryant is back. Good, you guys can get your junk out of my cargo terminal.” He turned to leave, but then paused and Lexie’s ears pricked, as she heard it too.

  A static sound distortion. It lasted only for a moment and then it was gone.

  “Did you…” he shook his head. “Never mind.”

  Bryant’s plane landed and he pulled it right up to the dock. The engine went silent and he opened the door, dropping down onto the dock.

  He didn’t say anything as he scooped her up and kissed her, his kissing promising her what awaited her when they got to their remote cabin. They hadn’t seen each other for a month. She’d been down south and he’d stayed in Yellowknife.

  “Ready to go? I can’t wait to get you alone.” He kissed her neck, making her blood burn, but not with fire, just desire.

  “More than ready.”

  Bryant took her hand and they headed to the cargo terminal.

  The sound of a helicopter approaching made them both turn. It was flying low and headed toward the airport to the north. It flew low enough, Lexie picked out the markings. She knew that helicopter. It was the Phoenix Agency.

  Mason came out of his office. “Don’t worry. It’s for me.”

  Bryant frowned. “You? Are you okay?”

  Mason nodded. “I’ll be fine. You both go.”

  “What about the business?” Lexie asked. “Your brothers are still on holiday.”

  “It’ll be fine.” But she could tell Mason was agitated, as he headed toward his truck. H
e climbed in and then rolled down the passenger side window. “Go, enjoy your honeymoon.”

  They watched his truck speed away through Old Town, north to the airport.

  Although Mason had blocked his mind to her, she had a feeling something was up, but he was more than capable of handling it.

  “Do you think we should follow?” Bryant asked.

  She shook her head. “No. He knows where to find us and how to get in touch.”

  Bryant frowned. “I really don’t like the idea of another man being able to get a hold of you.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, I could try and give it to you.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “You’re going to give it to me?”

  “Oh yeah,” she teased.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  ABOUT AMY RUTTAN

  Born and raised just outside of Toronto, Ontario, Amy fled the big city to settle down with the country boy of her dreams.

  After the birth of her second child, Amy was lucky enough to realize her life long dream of becoming a romance author. When she's not furiously typing away at her computer, she's a mom to three wonderful children who use her as a personal taxi and chef.

  http://www.amyruttan.com/contact.html#newsletter

  http://www.amyruttan.com

  http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Ruttan/e/B002UBVGUK/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1488245276&sr=8-1

  Twitter: @ruttanamy

  OTHER BOOKS BY AMY

  Harlequin Medical Romance

  Safe in His Hands

  Melting the Ice Queen’s Heart

  Pregnant with the Soldier’s Son

  Dare She Date Again?

  It Happened in Vegas

  Taming Her Navy Doc

  Tempting Nashville’s Celebrity Doc

  Unwrapped by the Duke

  Convenient Marriage, Surprise Twins!

  NYC Docs Quad

  One Night in New York