Fatal Extraction

by Evangeline Rain

  Everyone rushed to the control panel.

  With shaky fingers, Zane programmed a different code into the panel and showed the others a finger on his lips. A connecting tone came up, and he tried his best to slow his breathing down. He could already feel pins and needles on his fingers with his upper lip starting to curl in from it.

  A click ended the connecting tone.

  “Ani? It’s me. It’s all me. Please take me in and I’ll explain. Don’t punish them first,” Zane pleaded into the microphone.

  “Send the location,” and the call disconnected.

  “My brother caught Nirvana. I believe he has Alden too. I’ll try to talk to him, but I cannot guarantee their release. You should all get out now,” he told everyone as he keyed the location coordinates into the panel.

  The crew went into immediate evacuation mode.

  “Take my equipment,” Zane told Ramsey. “It’s the only way I can communicate with you privately.”

  “What do we tell Dein?”

  “Nothing. We follow our evac plan to Liberty. Ramsey, follow the warp route we planned earlier.” Zane stood up and made his way to the door. “Go before they activate the lockdown shield.”

  He exited Soulcraft and ran towards the pickup point he’d sent his brother.

  Nirvana, he tried to reach her. Hang on, I’m coming.

  As Zane ran, he could hear Soulcraft’s engines starting up. Go, go, go, he urged them in his head. His brother’s transport should be halfway there. Perhaps he could try to meet the vehicle further up so that it would be too far away from Soulcraft to do anything.

  A loud crack and boom reverberated through the air as Soulcraft entered warp speed and blinked into the horizon. Zane slowed down his running and sank to his knees. He collapsed spread eagle onto the ground and looked up at the stars in the sky.

  Think positive, he reminded himself and replaced his panting with slow, deep breaths. He closed his eyes and listened for the sound of the approaching vehicle.

  Chapter 50

  Nirvana came round to sounds of soft sobbing. She jolted awake immediately and tried to get up, but she couldn’t move her limbs. It was dark around her even though she was sure her eyes were open.

  Zane?

  Nirvana!

  I can’t see anything. I think my eyes are open, but I can’t see.

  My brother must have hit your acupoints.

  I can’t move my body either.

  Yes, he immobilized you. Dominion has an MLink installed in his head too!

  If Nirvana could make an expression on her face, it would be that resembling a look of shock.

  We didn’t think we’ll run into someone else with the MLink and all these while we weren’t using frequency specific channels to communicate. We took the easy way out when we did our crash course so Dom heard us when we broadcast our fight earlier.

  Shit.

  Who would have thought? Let’s stop talking for now. I don’t know who else has the MLink implanted. I wouldn’t put it beneath my father to try where others have failed.

  Are Alden and Kseniya with the crew?

  No. They were caught.

  What?!

  Nirvana, I’m coming to you. Stop the MLink for now. Just wait for me.

  Zane! Nirvana could feel him cut off the link. She struggled to move her body, but it was just numbness in her limbs. “Hello?” she croaked.

  “Are you up?” a soft, feminine voice whispered as Nirvana felt cold fingertips brushing her cheeks.

  “Kseniya?” Nirvana tried to lift her hand, but it was restrained. A cold hand clamped over hers immediately and the crying started all over again.

  “They caught us. I knew this would happen. I kept asking Alden to shoot me. I—”

  “We’ll figure something out.” She felt like a horrible liar for trying to offer false comfort although she had no idea in hell how and what they were going to do. “Where’s Alden?”

  “I don’t know,” she choked. “There was so much blood. I don’t know if he’s going to make it.”

  “Blood? Didn’t Alden fight?”

  “A lot of men came in with guns and started firing. He shielded me with his body.” Her voice broke off. “You are Zanetos’ wife,” Kseniya whispered.

  How did she know? Was her bodysuit removed? Nirvana couldn’t feel if she was wearing any clothes. “Am I naked?”

  “I am. You’re not,” she replied in a shaky voice. “I wondered why they let you keep your clothes. Then I saw your insignia.”

  Suddenly, the ground they were on jerked forward, followed by a low whirring sound. Even without her sight, Nirvana could feel they were descending.

  Kseniya’s hand had turned into a death grip. “I’m scared,” she sobbed as she pressed her shivering body against Nirvana’s.

  Nirvana, Dominion is moving your cell to us. Alden’s here. Come inside my head.

  Nirvana focused on the MLink channel Zane had just opened up to her and switched over. Through his eyes, she could see that he was in a room, sitting at a table with a huge, intimidating-looking man with skin of dark brown—Zane’s eldest brother, Dominion Hayashi. His head was cleanly shaved and covered with silver tattoos. His eyes were long and upward-slanted like Chorax. She could see the brothers’ resemblance from the high cheekbones and aquiline noses, but Dominion had grey eyes, fuller lips and a more defined jawline.

  In terms of physical appearance, Dominion and Zane were as different as night and day. If she didn’t have prior knowledge, she wouldn’t have thought of them as brothers.

  To the side of the room was Alden ─ locked up in a PCU, sitting down, naked and slumped against the cell wall.

  Dominion stood up and walked to the control panel on the wall. He pressed a button and the wall next to him retracted, revealing an approaching cage—the one Nirvana was in.

  What’s happening? she asked Zane.

  We’re in an interrogation room. The jail cell you’re in is a cage. He’s moving it to the room.

  Nirvana and Kseniya’s jail cell connected with a loud clang and the bars that were separating them from the room retracted. Nirvana was strapped onto a chair, wearing a tank top and her briefs. Kseniya was kneeling beside her, naked and crying.

  Dominion pulled off his dark grey T-shirt and put it on Kseniya. He pried her fingers off Nirvana’s hand and led her to a chair. She said something to him in a pleading voice, but he shushed her gently. Then, he walked over to Nirvana and retracted the shackle around her neck. He used his knuckle to hit a spot on her temple, and a few spots on her neck and clavicle.

  You can go back to your body now, Zane said.

  Nirvana could open her eyes fully and regained control over her limbs. She made a mental note to herself to learn this acupoint thing from Zane if she ever made it out of there alive. The chair she was on moved over to the table but stopped just beside it so that she was some distance away from Zane. Then it swirled around so that she faced Dominion.

  Now, we talk, Dominion’s voice boomed in her head, causing her to jump a little in her seat. Use the MLink. Leave Kseniya out of this.

  Zane started pleading with Dominion for forgiveness, trying to justify the reasons for his defection. Curiously, Dominion kept his eyes on Nirvana while Zane was “talking.” He was still looking at her when Zane finished.

  Nirvana glared at Dominion. Am I supposed to say something? You keep looking at me like you’re expecting something.

  Dominion leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms. I’m looking for signs of lying.

  From my face? But I’m not the one talking.

  You’re not, but I can gauge if the story he’s telling me is the same as the one he told you.

  I’m not lying! Zane yelled in their heads angrily.

  You should know that the man you married is the most convincing liar of the Hayashi clan. Dominion smirked at Nirvana.

  Zane stood up and banged the table with his fists, causing Kseniya to jump. This earned scowls from both Dom
inion and Nirvana.

  Nirvana turned her gaze back to Dominion and smiled coldly. I have experienced it, but thank you for the information.

  “Ani!” A man resembling Dominion burst into the room—Zane’s second brother, Viktos. He had the same dark skin-tone, shaved head sans tattoos, high cheekbones, but his eyes were smaller and rounder, more like Zane’s. He exuded the same dominating air as Dominion but less intimidating.

  He stormed over to Dominion and said in a hushed tone, “Obaga knows. He’s livid. The twins are with him. We can buy you twenty more minutes at most.” He narrowed his eyes and pointed at Zane before he rushed out of the room.

  Dominion growled and pointed at Zane. “You could have come to me, or any of your brothers, but you chose to do everything yourself. You were too busy wallowing in self-pity, bent on this…” he gritted his teeth, “this me-against-the-whole-world notion, that you kept digging deeper holes for yourself.”

  “How could you have helped me?” Zane argued fiercely. “You are the heir apparent. You listen to everything Father says.”

  “I’m tired of this repetitive argument.” Dominion shook his head. “We’re out of time. I need to know if we can trust her.” He pointed to Nirvana.

  “Yes,” Zane replied with conviction.

  Nirvana could see Dominion having some sort of internal struggle before he sat up and seared her with an intense gaze. He raised his gloved hand, bent his thumb and spoke into it. “Viktos. Come in.”

  Viktos entered the room almost immediately, pulled out a gun and shot Zane. Kseniya screamed and scrambled towards the corner of the room where Alden’s PCU was.

  There was nothing Nirvana could do with her hands and feet shackled to the chair. She watched helplessly as Zane struggled to his feet, Viktos rushing forward to catch him before he fell on his face.

  Zane slumped into Viktos’ arms, causing Viktos to look at Dominion in alarm. “The dosage should only sedate him, not make him pass out completely!”

  Nirvana let out the breath she was holding and slumped back onto the chair. “He was tranqed before this,” she explained. “Long story.”

  “No problem.” Dominion marched over, pulled a chair opposite hers and bared his teeth at her. “I can find out for myself quickly.” Viktos pointed his gun at her and suddenly, a sharp pain hit her on the back of her head.

  Her mind ripped opened and a flood of images came pouring in furiously. It felt as if her brain was being sucked into the MLink. She could see the glimpses of Dominion’s memories as they flashed through her mind, but she couldn’t focus on them enough to see the details.

  It felt like forever with the initial dull ache in her head growing in intensity. She pressed her head against the back of the chair, trying to use the pressure to relieve the pain. She was about to scream when everything stopped suddenly.

  Nirvana slumped forward, feeling her face tingling with pins and needles as she tried to suck back the drool that was coming out of her mouth.

  “What did you do?” she gasped, when she finally gained control of her facial muscles. She looked up and saw that Dominion was bent over in pain too.

  Gun still pointing at Nirvana, Viktos edged slowly towards Dominion. “Ani?”

  Dominion held out his hand, head still facing down. His brows were tightly knit and the cords twanging in his neck. She could see his bald head glistening with perspiration and his eyes were moving quickly behind the closed lids like he was speed-reading. The hands which were gripping tightly onto the armrests gradually loosened until finally, he slumped back onto the chair.

  He opened his grey eyes and looked into Nirvana’s. “We swapped memories. If you look carefully in your MLink programme later, you’ll see an unnamed file. Access it via keywords and you’ll see everything from my side. I’ll let you decide if you want to share them with Zanetos later, but I would advise against it.”

  “I did not give permission for this intrusion,” Nirvana hissed through her teeth.

  “I do not need permission when you are the one who intruded in the first place,” Dominion snarled at her. He barked a series of instructions in a language she didn’t understand to Viktos, who fireman-lifted Zane from his chair and strode towards the cage.

  Dominion bent over and spoke to Nirvana in a strained but low voice. “Viktos will take you to Liberty. On the way there, look into my memory about Kerimar Dein and tell my brother what an idiot he is. Tell him to craft more clever lies to get everyone out of this clusterfuck he created.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and let out a breath. “Kseniya will take the blame for Maximil’s death. If this Alden is as good a fighter as you think he is, he will keep them alive in the dungeon prison until you and Zanetos return.”

  He straightened up and Nirvana’s chair started moving backwards into the cage before she could ask any questions. The bars snapped into place and the cage started moving.

  Dominion stared at her as the wall to the opening descended. We will have to learn to trust each other with our secrets, he told her before he turned away and the opening sealed.

  Chapter 51

  Viktos finished snapping the MagRes onto Zane’s hands and feet and looked at Nirvana. “Are you going to cooperate?” he asked with a warning tone.

  She quickly ran through a series of possible ways to take Viktos down in her head and replied, “Yes.”

  He sighed and shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

  She gave him a questioning look. “You have the MLink too?”

  “No, I don’t. I just realized how stupid my question was.” He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Nirvana.

  “No! Wait!” she yelled just as he was about to pull the trigger. “I need to be conscious to look through the information Dominion sent me!”

  He frowned.

  “The MLink. He transferred some information to me earlier when we looked like we were in pain.”

  The tension between his brows loosened, and he lowered his gun. “So, you’ll cooperate?”

  “Yes.”

  He touched some buttons behind the chair and the neck and hand restraints retracted into the seat. “Put your hands behind you.”

  “I’m trying,” she told him honestly as she was wrestling herself internally. In the first place, it was not in her nature to be compliant. She was also fighting the temptation not to try to escape.

  “Let me help you.” Viktos brought the back of his gun down and instinctively, she deflected his blow. He dropped the gun, grabbed onto her wrist and yanked her forward. She was about to twist her body to grab him when she felt a stinging pain between her shoulder blades, causing numbness to her upper body.

  He caught her in his arms as she slumped forward. Resting her chin on his shoulder, he jabbed his third knuckles into the side of both her kneecaps, making her legs numb. Then, he retracted the restraints on her feet, lifted her from the seat and laid her onto the floor.

  “I need to learn this acupoint thing,” Nirvana struggled to speak as her words came out garbled.

  Viktos snorted as he cuffed her with the MagRes. “You can get Zanetos to teach you.” He hit the same spots he did earlier, and she regained control over her body again. “I’m going to smuggle the both of you out the same way I usually help my father get rid of people he doesn’t like. You have to pretend you’re unconscious. Can you do that? Or do you need ‘help?’”

  “No, I don’t need help.”

  “Good.” He pulled out two black spheres from his pocket, placed them on the floor and flicked his gloved hand to activate the control screen projected from his wrist. He pressed a few keys, and the spheres expanded into two long, black cylinders coffins. He opened them, placing Nirvana in one and Zane in the other, and sealed them.

  Nirvana was suddenly engulfed in total darkness and the size of the cylinder coffin triggered her claustrophobia. She fought not to panic and closed her eyes to center herself before she had hysterics. She looked into her mind and focused on looking for the folder Dominion sent h
er, but she couldn’t find it no matter how hard she tried.

  Dominion? She tried reaching out. There was no response. She looked into the MLink interface again and tried to find the channel Dominion used to communicate with her earlier. She was about to try again when he replied.

  Make it quick. I’m with Obaga.

  I can’t find the folder you put in.

  Use image triggers then.

  Nirvana could feel him shut her out even though she still couldn’t find the channel. Image triggers, what could they be? She tried to recall what happened at the server room and immediately, she was hit by a series of flashbacks.

  She saw Dominion planning to catch Maximil red-handed by hiding another camera in the room and using the recording to blackmail him. Instead, he saw Alden and Nirvana emerge from the water. He listened in to their conversations with Kseniya and heard Zane being mentioned. So he sent his twin brothers, Arkanon and Aryax, to deal with Alden while he waited in ambush for Nirvana. Viktos dealt with the “crime scene” after Arkanon and Aryax removed Alden and Kseniya.

  A sudden movement broke her out of her thoughts as her head bumped against the cylinder and she started rolling very quickly down a slope. She smashed into the cylinder again when it came to a stop. She was about to curse out loud when she remembered she was supposed to play dead.

  The cylinder vibrated with the purring of an engine starting. She must be in some kind of vehicle. What if she was in a hearse drone and Viktos was going to discard them in the body dump? Her heart raced as she saw the image in her head of how he calmly disassembled the coffin and pocketed the sphere as he used his foot to nudge the body off the drone into the pile of naked corpses.

  It was only when she spoke to him in a man’s voice did she realized the memory of the central body dump area triggered her reference to Dominion’s memories. She did some rhythmic breathing to calm herself down before she used her mental image of Dein to trigger Dominion’s memories.

  What she saw, turned her blood cold.