Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension (16 page)

“
Potentially dangerous, too,
from the few things I just read, because the energy is so powerful.
You’re going to want to meditate pretty frequently now, Abe,” Derek
cautioned.

“
I bet him being in the
accumulator helped eased some of the physical symptoms.” Shirley
looked at the machine, then back at Abe. “You’d probably be really
freaking out right about now if not for the
accumulator.”

Abe rubbed a hand across his jaw.
“Great. I’ve officially lost it.”

Derek chuckled. “Or finally gotten
it.”

“
I’m jealous. I didn’t have
a Kundalini activation when I went,” Shirley huffed.

Just then, the elevator doors dinged
opened. Robert and his Cadre came crowding into the lab. He smiled
warmly and excitedly. “Geek squad.” It was his affectionate term
for the three scientists. “Ready for the mother of all
projects?”

“
Does it come with a raise?”
Shirley teased as she stepped forward to kiss Robert’s
cheek.

“
You bet we are.” Derek
said, rubbing his hands together. Abe nodded at the group and got
himself another cup of water.

“
If you can build it, I’ll
definitely consider it.” Robert directed the Cadre to set the
container on one of the empty tables, and then put the briefcase,
still chained to his wrist, next to it. It took Robert a few
moments to get himself detached, and then pull out Tesla’s
blueprints and spread them across an empty table.

Derek slid his glasses on, and Shirley
and Abe stood next to him, looking down at the intricate drawings
and instructions.

“
What do you think?” Robert
asked after a few minutes.

“
This is amazing,” Shirley
said, barely above a whisper.

“
It can really do that?” Abe
looked over at the container that was still closed, and then back
at the blueprints.

Derek rubbed the back of his neck and
looked up at Robert. “Once we get the nomenclature down, and with a
working model to follow, this shouldn’t be too hard,
actually.”

“
That’s what I wanted to
hear.” Robert smiled and took off his blazer. “Let’s get
started.”

Chapter 8

“
An invasion of armies can
be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”

-Victor Hugo

June 20, 2012 - 10:11 AM

Alcyone Island

Dion Corporation Board Room

Vasco stood in front of the long window
that exposed a calm ocean from the 47th floor of the Dion
Corporation building. It was time to shake things up, plant a few
seeds, and pull back the curtain on a few motives. It was time to
let the entire family know what direction it would be taking over
the next six months.

“
I like this first order of
business. Dear Family, for a few decades, we’ve been secretly at
war with this race of aliens that controls the world. We’re about
to put the smack down. In or out.” Lucien sat to the right of
Vasco’s chair, which was at the head of the table, and lit up a
cigarette.

“
I can’t wait to see the
look on Amadeo’s and Olivia’s faces.” Simone’s dark gray eyes
glittered with the hard edge of anticipation.

“
Think Kayla will crack? I’m
betting she doesn’t even blink,” Lucien said.

“
I’m a lot more curious as
to who they contact first,” Vasco said, turning away from the
window. The three of them would have to tread carefully, but they
had decided it would be impossible to move the family in the
direction they needed to while they were under the cover of shadow.
They didn’t have a lot of time, and things would move a lot faster
if they could operate out in the open. The only reason they were
not going to take Olivia, Amadeo and Kayla out of play was because
doing so would lead to questions as to how they knew, and that
might point a finger back at DeMarco. It was imperative that they
keep their relations with that family secret, so DeMarco could
continue to operate from the inside.

A light rap came on the conference room
doors, before Caleb pushed one open and stepped inside. He walked
up to the table and updated them without preamble. “We’ve run the
preliminaries on what you’re looking at from your army, and it’s
good. They’re not so loyal to Amadeo alone that you’ll lose all of
them should it go that route. Half, at most. The air force is
utterly loyal to Archer, Isabella and Christopher.”

Involuntarily, the faintest trace of a
smile sneaked onto Simone’s mouth when Caleb came into the room. It
faded away in the next breath, replaced by the more serious
expression from the news he was feeding them. He was proving his
worth a thousand times over, and she wondered where the hell she’d
been that she hadn’t noticed what an asset he obviously had been to
Grandfather. Plus she just generally liked him. “What about the
Omega Cadre?”

Caleb looked over at Simone. “Yours
without question.” There was double meaning in that sentence, but
she wouldn’t know that. Yet.

“
And Olivia’s sector of SVT
Sec?” Vasco asked, moving to sit down.

“
Trickier to quietly get
information on. At this point, we have to assume that the agents
she’s in direct contact with will follow her lead. The others will
do as you say,” Caleb said.

“
So, unless they bring in
outside forces, if it goes down like that, they’re out numbered,”
Lucien said blowing a thick cloud of smoke into the well ventilated
air.

“
Exactly.” Caleb looked over
at Lucien, then spread his gaze between the three of them. “The
Worthington twins, your best spies, will be split up. One on
Olivia, the other on Amadeo.”

“
We’re about to find out how
good our spies really are,” Vasco said, sipping from his coffee
mug. “Taps in place at Amadeo’s and Olivia’s houses?”

“
They will be while they’re
in this meeting. We’ve got to assume that they have their own
people watching out. We’ve identified a few point guards, but I
suspect there may be more. If everything goes as planned, they’ll
be fully bugged by the time they walk out of here,” Caleb
said.

“
Which means something will
go wrong and they’ll be halfway bugged, at most.” Vasco set his
elbow on the arm of the chair and pressed his fingers against his
temples. “Make sure they don’t risk exposure.”

“
You’re such a wet dream
killer, V,” Lucien said good naturedly, though he agreed with his
brother; nothing ever went according to plan.

“
Half is better than
nothing. DeMarco and Xavier will fill in the gaps as need be. And
don’t forget we’ve got Nicholas, too,” Simone said as she reached
out and stole Vasco’s coffee mug. She eyed Caleb over the rim. “You
look tired.”

Caleb smiled lightly at her. “Never.”
He sobered quickly and looked at the two brothers. “I’m going to go
make sure everything is in place for the hundredth time. I’ll
update you all after your meeting.”

“
Thank you Caleb,” Vasco
said.

“
I second that. You’re a
good man, Kincade.” Lucien gave him a little salute, then crushed
his cigarette.

“
Just doing my job. But
you’re right, I am.” Caleb smiled again, allowed it to briefly
linger in Simone’s direction, and left the room.

There was a small tinge of arrogance in
that smile of his, and Simone noticed it. She hid her own answering
smile behind another stolen sip of her brother’s coffee. She’d
loved that about Kyle, too, once upon a time; that cockiness that
he had worn so well. And she needed to stop making those
comparisons, immediately, Simone mentally scolded herself. That was
a chapter in a lifetime she wasn’t living in anymore. There was no
time for that in this.

Vasco didn’t miss the subtleties
between his sister and Caleb. He had come to a quiet understanding,
too, about why Marcello had left it in his hands when Caleb should
reveal himself to Simone. He was a little surprised, frankly, that
Simone had not made the connection herself. But as much as he
wanted to throw her that line and give her that brief bit of
happiness, he couldn’t. Not yet. They needed to move a few more
things into play. They needed to be focused, centered, and utterly
committed to what they were about to undertake before he let that
kind of emotion wreak havoc on her sensibilities. It was an utterly
Stefano-like call. Marcello had turned out to be anything but a
disappointment.

Pulling back into the present, Vasco
looked over at his siblings. “Lets go over these topics again. And
try not to get into a fight with Amadeo, Lucien.”

Lucien stacked his feet up onto the
table and pulled the laptop into his lap, grinning faintly. “I’ll
give it my best.”

§

June 20, 2012 - 10:50 AM

Alcyone Island

Dion Corporation
Headquarters

Kayla Terenzio never understood the
concept of loss; until the day her mother died. She could describe
it in no terms other than a heavy, aching weight in her heart; the
same she felt today, standing in her deceased pseudo-father’s
office. She leaned against one of the full glass windows that
overlooked the tropical city of Alcyone. Memories plagued her, not
just of Marcello, but her mother, too. Their voices haunted her.
The letter Marcello had left her, that she had read once and knew
every word of, made the strike of emotion flare up with more
frequency.

Kayla turned from the window, pressing
her fingers to her mouth as her dark eyes traveled over his space.
A fond memory came to her, insignificant in the grand scheme of the
world, but important to her.

Marcello was perched on the
end of the round table, next to Kayla’s chair. He said something
that caused what appeared to be full, genuine laughter to take over
Kayla’s face. Marcello’s eyes visibly gentled, and sadness came to
mingle with his clear affection for her. “You look so much like
your mother.”

Kayla never felt like she
was a part of this family. Even knowing she was Marilyn’s daughter,
she didn’t feel that way. She wanted to, because she’d loved her
mother fiercely. Her father’s words stirred up unexpected emotion
inside of her, sitting quietly behind her programming. She smiled
tremulously up at Marcello. “Really?”

Marcello returned her smile,
nodding slowly. “Especially when you smile.”

Kayla watched Marcello, the
faraway look that leaked into his eyes. “Do you miss her a
lot?”

Marcello pulled away from
some fond memory and brought his gaze back to her. “As much as I
know you loved her, I’d have to selfishly say, more than you can
imagine.”

Kayla had believed him. She would have
believed him, even if she hadn’t seen him the day her mother had
died. But, as horrible as that day had been for her—for Marcello—it
was on the night her mother died that, for whatever reason, Kayla’s
aversion to being touched by Marcello had vanished.

Kayla remembered waking up screaming.
She’d never known what for; the moment consciousness took hold the
images of the dream vanished, but her feelings of terror lingered.
Usually, her mother was the one to chase those nightmares away.
She’d been surprised when the door to her room opened, and Marcello
was there. His arms folded protectively around her, and Kayla
remembered that her reaction shocked her. She didn’t like it when
men touched her, not even her gentle, half-brother Demetrius. The
man with the funny smell that had been her initial teacher had
taken care of that. But when Marcello stroked her hair and hugged
her tightly, she did not feel her skin crawling or that flair of
panic that told her to get away from the touch as soon as she
possibly could. Instead, she’d burrowed into his chest and
pretended that she was his daughter, he was her father, and that
she was safe. The only thing in life that she had learned to look
forward to after her mother died, was a hug from
Marcello.

Kayla sighed into the empty space and
ran her fingers over his desk. His daughter. That’s what he’d
called her. Except she was not his. She was not made in the act of
love. She had been made in a violent act of cruelty and cunning.
She was a product of rape; her mother drugged and taken by a man
Marcello had tracked down and killed. Yet, knowing that—knowing
that she had been part of Project Mannequin, sent there to keep
Marcello in check and to possibly kill him, they loved her. Both of
them. Her mother had been an incredibly strong, gentle woman.
Marcello was a quietly imposing man, quick with affection,
especially in the privacy of his house. It was because of them that
Kayla knew the definition of love; that it was real and existed as
palpable as the breeze carried off the ocean. Kayla could recall in
great detail how her parents looked at each other, how a man who
ran an empire would find time for family, specifically for his
wife. Kayla vividly remembered mornings when she’d woken to the
sound of their laughter and crept downstairs to watch them engaged
in some mundane act of early morning domesticity, teasing each
other, touching, or simply quietly existing in the same
space.

It was those memories that made her
want to do as Marcello had asked her.

Maybe the NWO’s programming was
breaking down. Except Kayla knew that was not the case either. She
felt compelled, even while visiting the past in her mind, to
destroy the Terenzios. That was, after all, what she was made for.
She could not deny that something inside of her thrilled at the
game she played against them.