Caine knew that neither of these men were men like him. Every time he was in their presence, something changed. An unexplainable fear shrouded his soul. There was something sinister in their aura.
Flies danced around the group, looking for a place to land. On either side of the road stood hundreds of tall, skinny trees and countless shrubs. A few small critters moved around under the vegetation’s shading. Some stray birds fluttered here and there as they glided from branch to branch.
Twenty yards from the road, between the jungle’s trees, ran a stream. It was an offshoot of the Niger River and meandered through the subsequent villages. Only about a mile down the road was the next town. Smoke rose from its direction.
The fair-skinned man was the one to break the silence. His eyes showed that he sensed Caine’s fear. But when he spoke, what he said was the last thing Caine expected. “You were followed.”
Caine’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You have led somebody to us.”
“You must be mistaken.”
A cold voice showered down from above them. “Here’s a word of advice. You should pick a better place to meet.”
All three pairs of eyes looked at the source of the voice. Atop a high tree, lounging on a branch, was the intruder. Ethan wore the same clothes that he had been travelling in for the past several days. Around his waist was a belt full of throwing knives, while his hands were covered by The Guardian’s brown gloves.
In the blink of an eye, Ethan suddenly launched a throwing knife. It cut through the air before nailing Caine’s forehead. Caine’s corpse fell to the ground with a thud.
The remaining two men looked away from their fallen lackey and back at Ethan.
Ethan leapt off the branch and landed perfectly on the ground. “I know who you both are. You’re Daken’s soldiers.”
They watched as Ethan looked at the dark-skinned man.
“Your name is Augustin.” Ethan turned towards the other man. “And you’re Don.” The playfulness in his voice suddenly disappeared. “But your names will join the list of people I’ve killed if you don’t tell me what I want to know.”
“You’re mine!” Augustin loudly unsheathed his dagger and charged at Ethan.
Ethan did not even flinch. Augustin moved with inhuman speed as he angrily roared. But Ethan failed to even glance his way, instead keeping his eyes on Don. Within a split-second, Augustin covered the fifteen yards between them and was upon Ethan. The Guardian still did not move a muscle. The dark-skinned man’s dagger came down towards Ethan.
At the last moment, Ethan’s eyes met his attacker’s. With lightning speed, he effortlessly caught Augustin’s hand with his gloved one. And in the next instant, it happened.
An insurmountable electric current flowed from Ethan’s glove and flooded Augustin’s body. It was enough to kill any man ten times over and more than enough to kill an enhanced soldier of Daken’s. Augustin suddenly bellowed a thunderous cry. His back caved in as his entire body suddenly cringed. Turning his head up towards the sky, his cry was heard for miles. Paralyzed, he could not move a muscle to defend himself. All he could do was endure the current as it fried every inch of his insides.
Ethan showed no mercy. With his eyes on Don, Ethan ignored Augustin’s cries, clamping down harder on Augustin’s hand with every passing moment. Ethan’s free hand was balled into a fist and his attention remained focused on what he was here to do: discover Daken’s location.
He finally let go of Augustin’s hand. The dark-skinned man heavily dropped to the floor without a sound. His cries ended and so did his life.
Don smiled, unfazed by his comrade’s death. “I see that you’ve improved your equipment.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of how many of your kind I’ve killed.” Ethan’s resolve showed in his voice. “You’ll just be another victory.”
“My kind? Do you still refuse to call yourself one of Daken’s children? Even if you are one that has gone astray.”
“Tell me where your master is and I’ll let you live. Don’t… and I’ll beat it out of you.”
“Do you think that you coming here is your own doing? I knew that you would follow that old fool. I knew that Augustin did not stand a chance against you. And now that he’s dead, I will be the one to take you back to our master.” Don smirk grew. “You think you can take me on? You can’t even touch me. You have killed many of my brethren that were like Augustin, but you have yet to face somebody like me.”
“What’s it going to be?” Ethan pulled out a specialized throwing knife.
“I don’t do well with threats.”
Without hesitation, Ethan flung the knife at its target, intent on taking Don down. It cut through the air, aiming for Don’s skull.
But it never hit him. Out of seemingly nowhere, a stream of water ripped through the air with blinding speed. It hit the knife less than three feet away from Don and sent it soaring to the right. A moment later, the knife struck a faraway tree, detonating the hidden explosive. The deafening blast thundered through the jungle, waking up every living creature. Its flames were deadly enough to kill anybody at their center. But the only victim was the aged tree. The heat from the explosion crashed against the two men, and a moment after the detonation, the tree collapsed.
Hundreds of birds suddenly retreated and flew away, cawing as they did. Their silhouettes filled the evening sky. Along with them, numerous animals fled the scene, not knowing what chaos had abruptly started at the stream’s bank.
But the two men ignored the rancor. Ethan hardly believed his eyes. He had predicted all the ways that this fight could play out, but he had not seen that coming. However, Don remained undeterred. “Last year, you met my sister, Vixen. You saw what she could do with her mind.”
The mention of the woman’s name brought the image of the telekinetic red-head to Ethan’s mind. Ethan had nearly been killed by her alongside Katrina.
“What she could do with her mind, I can do with water.” Don raised his palms to face Ethan as his wicked smile grew tenfold. “And right now, we’re standing in my backyard.”
From the stream, two balls of water rose up. They quickly froze and crystalized themselves into narrow and sharp knives that were aimed directly at Ethan. Without looking back at them, Don slightly moved his wrists. And in the next instant, they shot off.
Ethan jumped up just in time to dodge them. Instead of cutting him down, they drove straight through the tree trunk behind him without losing any of their momentum. The top half of the tree collapsed, violently uprooting the tall tree next to it.
Leaping to his left, Ethan dodged the next stream of water. Landing, Ethan kept moving as he threw another electrically charged knife at Don.
Don did not move an inch. Without even looking at the knife as it flew towards him, he directed a short stream of water to knock it away before it even got close to him. The knife harmlessly struck the grass instead.
Using his mind, Don made the water droplets and dew on the short grass levitate several feet in the air. With a quick motion of his wrist, they all came together, forming countless balls of water three feet in diameter. Ethan knew what would come next.
Ethan kicked off the ground and landed on a low lying branch, dodging the first stream. A good enough shot from that would knock the wind out of him or knock him out.
Arriving at the next tree, Ethan reached up and grabbed the branch above his head while in midair. Using his momentum to swing off of it, he launched himself towards the adjacent tree. Soaring through the air, Ethan instinctively twirled his body in a way that three streams of water missed him by mere inches.
Hitting the jungle floor, Ethan did a frontal role before rising to his feet. But even before he did, his instincts told him what was coming. More crystallized knives flew towards Ethan, frozen by Don’s mind.
As the first two frozen knives arrived upon him, Ethan ducked to barely avoid the first. The second projectile grazed Ethan’s cheek as he barely sidestepped it
. But then more came. Some were easily evaded but many came too close for comfort. Ethan kept moving, not staying in a single spot for more than a moment. Sometimes he was leaping and swinging off branches and other times he was on the jungle floor. But he could not get any closer to Don. He was running circles around his foe, but was unable to close the distance between them.
Don suddenly leapt up and twisted his body.
A major gush of water rose up from the stream and shot itself at Ethan. It was more than enough to knock him out of his senses. Seeing it, Ethan kicked off of the ground and jumped to the right, barely dodging the attack.
But he leapt into Don’s trap.
A second gush of water hit Ethan square in the chest, completely knocking his breath out. It swept him off of his feet and dragged him along with it. Completely immersed in it, he was trapped. And within a matter of seconds—before he even fully realized what was happening—it slammed him into a thick tree trunk, nearly with almost enough power to uproot the tree.
The water dispersed and Ethan fell onto all fours. His head was spinning. Breaths were quick. His back ached with pain. He knew that the chances of him taking Don alive were waning fast. If he was going to win, he only had one option.
Ethan looked up as another gush of water blasted into his left side. He flew several feet before slamming into another tree just as powerfully as before. Ethan groaned in pain as he collapsed onto the thin-grassed ground. A couple of more hits and he would be out cold.
His entire body was wet and trembling with pain. But he needed to ignore that like he had trained himself to do. He only had one shot left. Mess up, and he was as good as dead.
Before he even had a chance to collect himself, another flood of water hit him from his right. It again dragged him with it and smashed him into another tree. Don’s face displayed nothing but enjoyment.
Hardly able to even breath, Ethan’s mind momentarily blacked out. Everything remained a blur. He sensed Don moving in closer to him. Just as Ethan staggered back to his feet, his vision returned. And what he found was the last thing he hoped for.
He was completely surrounded by a thick bubble of water. It all collapsed down on him. Taking control of Ethan and keeping him paralyzed, it forced his back against the tree trunk. But this time, it did not disperse and let him fall onto the ground. The water around him suddenly froze into solid ice, pinning Ethan to the tree.
The ice covered each and every inch of Ethan’s body. Don moved closer before stopping ten feet away from Ethan. With the careless flick of a wrist, Don made the ice covering Ethan’s face turn back into water and wash away, allowing Ethan to breathe.
Even being helpless and half knocked out, Ethan’s focused eyes stared down at Don and did not show a single ounce of the pain ringing through him. He could not break through the six-inch solid ice pinning to the tree trunk, but he would not give his nemesis any more reason to gloat.
“After all the legendary tales I’ve heard of you, I’m disappointed, Ethan.”
The ice crushing down on him, Ethan spoke through a clenched jaw. “The fights… not over… yet. You and Vixen… have something in common.”
Don smirked. “And what’s that?”
“Neither of you… know how to mind your surroundings.”
Don heard something. It was a faint beeping. Looking down at his feet, he saw the source of the sound. It was a small device, no larger than a grape. The black ball was right next to his heel and one look at it told Don what it was.
His death.
In the next instant, the black ball deafeningly exploded. Don flew backwards before landing onto his back five yards away. And by the time he hit the ground, he was done for.
***
The ice captivating Ethan turned back into water moments after Don’s death. It splashed down onto the ground and so did Ethan. Landing hunched over, Ethan stayed in that position. He was freezing cold and shivering uncontrollably. Closing his eyes, Ethan took a few deep breaths, calming his body and senses down. That was closer than expected. Had he known Don had that kind of power, he wouldn’t have attacked like this. But he had been so intent on finding Daken that he acted sloppily.
And he had nearly paid the price for it.
Gaining his composure, Ethan looked at the corpse. Slowly, his quivering subsided. Ethan thanked God that he healed up so quickly. The well placed trap had easily killed Don, but that was not what Ethan came here for. He needed information, not a higher body count.
But there had been no other option. Dropping the bomb while receiving the beating from Don was the only choice. Just like all of Daken’s soldiers, Don enjoyed pain and suffering so much that it blinded him from noticing anything else.
Ethan took a deep breath as he continued to look at his dead lead. His only real chance of finding Daken was a gone, putting him back at square one. Now he had even less time to find out what Daken was planning and to put an end to it.
Feeling something behind him, Ethan turned around. Even before he saw the woman, he sensed she was not a threat. She emerged from behind a tree. Her emerald eyes looked right at Ethan. A pure white dress covered her fair skin all the way down to her ankles. Her long, light brown locks hung freely. Even with all the heat, there on was no hint of sweat anywhere on her. Something about her seemed unearthly. But something else about her made Ethan lower his guard.
There was a moment of silence between them. Ethan was slow to speak as he stared at the stranger. “…who are you?”
“The only one who can now help you find Daken.”
Something about her seemed familiar—both in her voice and aura—but Ethan could not put his finger on it. He knew that they’d never met, but her presence gave the feeling of familiarity. And her voice reminded him of the people in Crown City. “Give me a name.”
“You know my name, Ethan. I’m the one who warned William of Vixen’s attack. I’m the one who sent him to save your life.”
“…Veila.”
The woman slightly smiled.
Chapter 8
Ambush
Adam returned to the warehouse in the early hours of the morning and found William at the master computer. The screen displayed a regional map of Tripton and its nearby nations. A few points were highlighted by a red dot with information displayed next to the dot. Adam was too far to read it all, but noticed that on the bottom corner of one of the screens was the face of a known assassin: Jaing.
“You’re working early.”
William replied without glancing back, “I’m pulling up the last sightings of Jaing. These are all the places close to us that his sighting has been either confirmed, or close to being confirmed, over the past three months.”
“What are you trying to find?”
“The chances of him showing up tonight at the airport.”
Adam finally arrived by William’s side. “Is there a hit on the princess?”
“There’s always a hit on people like the princess. I just want to know if Jaing will be the one who is going to try and carry it out.”
On the screen, the highlighted points were all at least two countries over from Tripton. It appeared as if Jaing was moving further and further away from Crown City with each assumed sighting. “Well, it looks like we’ll be in luck.”
“Or maybe he is throwing us off his scent.”
“Need me at the airport tonight?”
“No. There are six other high-profile targets that have reason to believe Jaing is coming after them. Chances are he won’t be in Crown City.” William looked at his comrade with a slight smile. “Besides, you have a date tonight.”
Adam smirked. “Keeping tabs on everyone?”
“Only the important people.” William’s gaze returned to the computer screens.
“Is this what Villanueva called you about last night?”
“Yes. I was tracking Jaing since his first high profile assassination a few months ago. I had thought that he would try to take out the princess at some point. Her
parents are dead and once she comes of age, she’ll be taking the crown from her uncle. A lot of people, for one reason or another, don’t want to see that happen. I’ll be there when she arrives tonight, and will follow her until she reaches the embassy.”
“Discreetly, I presume.”
“Of course.”
Adam thought for a moment. “But even if she reaches the embassy, I doubt that the security there will keep her safe from an assassin of Jaing’s… caliber.”
“He wouldn’t attack here there. She’ll be most vulnerable at the airport. Jaing likes to hit them when they’re on the move, just like he killed Prime Minister Torres.” William glanced away from the screen. “But if he tries to hit her tonight, I’ll be waiting. And I’ll end him.”
***
The airport’s entire wing was clear of travelers. Nobody outside of security had been allowed in this section for the past two days. They had worked tirelessly to ensure it was as secure as possible. By the time nightfall arrived, the place was as ready as ever to receive the princess.
A small crowd of reporters, numbering no more than twelve, surrounded the bottom of the escalator on the ground floor. Cameras and recorders in hands, they were all held back by a semicircle of men dressed in black suits. At the top of the escalators, two of Crown City’s security officers observed the entire scene.
The reporters grew anxious, awaiting the world-famous princess. Cameras rapidly flashed as the reporters loudly tried to speak over one another. It seemed that with every passing day, as she came closer and closer to taking the crown, the media attention devoted to her intensified.
From the high rafters, The Guardian watched over the entire scene.
The shadows were his friend and concealed him from the people nearly forty feet below. He arrived a little over an hour ago without raising any alarms. If he could bypass security this easily, so could Jaing. With a camera-like device in his hand, he zoomed in and took a photo of each and every one of the security personnel. As each photo was taken, the face was run through the master computer back at the warehouse. Seconds after each photo was sent back, The Guardian received confirmation that the armed officers were indeed part of the secret service. Along with a confirmation came a brief history of each man.