He smiled and turned, pounding towards the office door. “Let’s hope she refuses them.” Pushing it open, Anepou signaled for his men to follow him. “Get the plane ready. I have some old friends to reconnect with,” he then thought about Boyd and the blonde, “and some others to get to know intimately better.”
I will taste your blood and revel in your fear.
Kunlun was about to get an untimely visit from death himself.
Valladolid, Yucatan
“Are you okay, Nando?” Todd asked, concerned. He’d never met the man, but Hank trusted him enough to bring him into the fold.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Nando replied, opening another beer. “Any word from Hank or Nicole?”
“No…none. I was hoping they’d call in soon. I’m doing what I can to not hit the panic button. But when the Director of ATLAS goes missing…” Nando knew what he meant. “Plus,” Todd continued, “without Kane and Olivia here, we’re extremely short-staffed. It’s not like we’d be able to hop a jet to China and have a look.”
The I.T. guru inhaled and reset his train of thought. “What of Rand?”
“Not sure, honestly,” Nando replied. “A hole opened beneath him and down he went. It sealed before I could react.”
“Right,” Todd replied, “that would be Terra’s doing.”
“Kunlun Mountain?”
“Most likely,” Todd agreed.
Nando bit his lip and patted the object sitting in his lap. Nicole’s backpack was safe. She’d given it to Nando before taking off to help Hank. Unfortunately, it didn’t do them any good without either of them there. Who could lead a mission to the Kunlun Mountains on a whim?
“I’ll go,” Nando mumbled.
“What was that?” Todd asked, half-listening.
“Send me to China.”
“I don’t know, Nando. You’re not a field agent. Heck, Hank and Nicole are barely field agents. You were brought on to be a local contact only. I seriously doubt Director Rollins would approve you going. We have a contingency plan for things like this anyways.”
Damnit, Nando thought, knowing Todd was right.
“Besides,” Todd added, “I need you in Valladolid when our cleanup crew gets there. You’re in charge of recovering everything from Rand’s vault. I want it all. We need as much info on the Order as possible. Whatever it takes. Get into that vault and catalog everything.”
“You’re putting me in charge?” Nando asked, stunned.
“Yes,” Todd replied. “You know the area better than the inbound agents. Meet with them and do what you think is right. I’ll personally be in contact with you the whole way from here.”
“By the way,” Nando said, “what’s the contingency plan you mentioned earlier?”
“Me,” a new voice said.
“Nando, I’d like you to meet Davis Griggs, head of ATLAS security and an overall badass.”
“Oh, hello,” Nando said, “You’re the one from Eridu, right?”
“Correct,” Davey replied, “and I’m the backup plan—”
“Along with half the men here,” Todd added. “Kane and Davey aren’t the only Special Forces soldiers we have stationed here.”
Nando nodded to himself. “Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll meet the cleanup crew.” He looked down at the backpack. ““What about Rand’s notebook? They seemed to think it was priceless in value.”
“That one’s easy. Open it up and have a look. I’ll do the rest from here. Just take it page by page, okay?”
“Sure,” Nando replied, unsure how him just looking at the book would do anything.
“Once we’re done with it, just give it to the recovery team and they’ll bring it to Nowhere.”
Nowhere… Nando thought. That’s exactly where Hank and Nicole are. He opened the book and tried to read the foreign language written in beautiful script. Not being able to, he sighed and waited for Todd to prompt him to turn the page. Silently, the engineer began digitally scanning every page via the ENVY network.
Hopefully, they’ll be okay and come back to us soon. Nando was still new to the whole superhuman god-like thing, but what he did know, was that they needed Hank now more than ever. If he wasn’t around when Anepou showed up again, then he’d be free to raise his army of the dead and wipe humanity from the face of the Earth without so much as breaking a sweat. Nando figured that the Order could apprehend Rand without Hank helping the next time around.
Hank, Nicole, and Rand’s lives, possibly even the world’s, depended on what happened in Kunlun—Shangri-La. The fact that such a place existed still shocked Nando—as everything else he’d seen so far.
“Hang on a second, Nando,” Todd interrupted. “Stay on that page.”
“What is it?” he asked. The page was written in a language he didn’t know but recognized. Greek.
“Give me a moment. TransPro is doing its thing. It picked up something familiar stateside and I want to dig deeper into it before we continue. I think it’s a family tree of some kind.”
“Okay, just tell me when—”
“Holy cow!” Todd exclaimed.
“What is it?” Davey asked from somewhere else.
“It…it’s the Order—the other members I mean. I know who one of them is.”
“Who?” Davey asked.
Nando could hear Todd grumble under his breath.
“It’s the boss,” Todd said.
“Springsteen?” Davey asked.
“Director Rollins?” Nando asked.
“No, no, no… It’s not The Boss or our boss… It’s Rollins’ boss. Well, one of them anyhow.”
“Good god!” Davey announced, laughing. “You can’t be serious? You do know who Rollins answers to, right?”
“I do,” Todd replied, sullen, “and it can’t be good for any of us.”
“What do we do?” Davey asked. “We aren’t safe if this is true.”
“If what’s true?” Nando asked, still not understanding.
“Think about it Nando,” Todd explained. “Rollins only answers to two different people at any given time. The first is the Director of National Intelligence and the other—”
“Is the President of the United States…” Nando finished, eyes wide.
“Get your shit together Todd, we’re leaving,” Davey ordered, getting no rebuttal from the ATLAS technician. “Call Ben and warn him—Rollins too...if it’s not too late for them both. After what happened today, we’re all sitting ducks.”
“Can we trust Rollins?” Todd asked.
“Don’t know, but it’s our duty to warn him just in case he’s unaware. If he’s in on it, then it won’t matter. What does matter is that we aren’t here when the Order’s noose tightens around Nowhere’s neck. They’ll use our lives against Hank and force his hand.”
There was a beat of silence as Davey gathered his thoughts.
“Forget the cleanup crew, Nando,” he continued, taking over the comms. “Go underground and wait to be contacted. Do whatever you can to stay alive—whatever personal resources we don’t have a record of—legit or not. We’ll come for you ourselves. Todd is the only one that can track your glasses. Do not lose them! Keep that notebook safe at all costs too. The Order can’t get their hands on it.”
“Alright,” Nando said, bewildered. While he knew Hank and his team had made a good deal of enemies as of late, there was nothing that could prepare them for this. Finding out that the United States government would be one of them was mind-blowing.
“What about Hank and Nicole?” Nando asked, standing and sobering up all at the same time. He gathered his things and moved to the door.
“As of right now,” Davey replied, meeting Todd’s gaze, “they’re on their own.”
A MESSAGE FROM MATTHEW JAMES
Thank you again for supporting me and picking up a copy of this book and anything else I’ve released. Even now with seven titles to my name and an eighth coming this spring, it’s still hard for me to grasp that I do this for a living.
Elixir of Life was a blast to put together for the sole fact that I was able to release an extra Hank Boyd book. Stories that include the Elixir of Life and the Fountain of Youth have always intrigued me since I was young. Each subject has been told in several ways through the years and I was challenged to do it in my own way like when I decided to take on Atlantis. (And from the glowing reviews most of you have left, I feel like I’ve succeeded in doing so).
By now I hope you’ve familiarized yourself with my Facebook page, Instagram account, website, or even my Twitter feed. On each, I send out the current happenings in my life and what’s next on my agenda. But like most people nowadays, I spend most of my time on Facebook. If you ever have a question/comment, that’ll be the easiest place to find me.
Also, if you have a spare moment, could you please leave a review on Amazon.com and/or on Goodreads.com? It would be extremely appreciated. As an indie author, I rely heavily on word-of-mouth and social media, and every little bit counts. The more interest I get…the more books I can write. It’s the same as reading a review on a hotel website. If you see a hotel with a ton of reviews, good or bad, it immediately peeks your interest? The exact same thing happens on websites like Amazon.com.
Thanks again, Matt
*If you do want to leave a review, here are the links to do so:
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Matthew-James/e/B010GDUME4/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14177924.Matthew_James
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matthew James is the critically acclaimed author of seven titles, including Plague, Evolve, Dead Moon, Blood & Sand, Mayan Darkness, Babel Found, and now, Elixir of Life. He lives in West Palm Beach, Florida with his family.
*Look for his next project, a collaboration with Bestselling author, David Wood. It’s called, Berserk: A Dane Maddock Adventure, and is coming soon.
You can visit Matthew at:
www.Facebook.com/MatthewJamesAuthor
www.JamestownBooks.Wordpress.com
Instagram: MatthewJames_Author
Twitter: @MJames_Books
Copyright © 2017 Matthew James
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The right of Matthew James to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover design © Matthew James
Used under Creative Commons licenses
All rights reserved.
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