Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Brandon Ellis (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

She dipped her head. “Go find Bogle. I’m raring to lead a charge.” She looked over her shoulder. “Warriors, today we continue this fight!”

On cue, warriors in the hundreds ran out of the palace.

Liberty flicked her feet against the tiger’s sides. It leapt forward, running in the direction from where Rivkah had just come. The soldiers ran around Rivkah, roaring and bellowing like beasts.

The ground vibrated and a hum reverberated off the palace walls. Rivkah turned and faced a dozen or more battle hover-vehicles that were shaped like jet fighters without wings. A large booster was at the stern. Cannons were mounted at the bow and where wings would attach. They flew by her and took the lead in front of Liberty and her troop.

“What just happened?” asked Fox, coming up to Rivkah.

“We have to find Bogle.”

“What?” said Fox.

“Follow me. I know of a craft we can use.”

“When we find her, we kill her.”

She swallowed hard. If they killed Bogle, it meant no matter what, the prophecy couldn’t be fulfilled and Jaxx could stay alive longer. “Kill her? Maybe.”

3 E-Quadrant, Earth - Lookout Mountain, Tennessee

Two Chinese guards stood next to Anderle. An entourage crowded the corridor behind him.

In the time it had taken the entire US Government and Administration to vacate the planet to Callisto, a Jupiter moon, Anderle had morphed from one of the world’s leading cyber-geeks into something resembling a president…or leader…or…

Drew wasn’t sure what, but the guy was definitely in charge. In the old days when Drew was a crack journalist, hunting for the truth, Michael Anderle’s rise to power would have been the perfect exposè.

Economic collapse, rioting, food shortages, and global panic made Anderle’s story a blip on the radar. Drew was a day late and a dollar short. No one cared what Anderle was doing or how he’d risen to power; they cared about where their next meal was coming from.

“Get your hands off of me,” growled Drew, his face flush red.

He batted the Chinese guard’s hand away, unraveling his shirt where the guard’s hand had twisted it. The guard pushed him into a room, Mya right behind him.

Mya hid behind Drew’s legs, grabbing on tightly.

She trembled.

So did Drew.

He had been guided to this underground facility and he was treated like this?

“Where’s Anderle,” Drew asked one of the guards standing in the doorway.

“Right here, buddy.” The guards parted and Anderle walked in, a king among kings. “Relax, my friend. It’s just protocol. You’re safe. These Chinese military men are a little suspicious. Once they sniff that you’re good and all, you’ll be treated like a prince.” He paused and clapped his hands together. “Meet my friend, General Lin Yu.” Anderle looked like the proverbial cat with the proverbial cream. Was he totally nuts? This was an underground prison. Drew could see no windows, no side doors, no way of escape except through the meat, muscle, and machetes of the standing guard.

General Lin Yu pushed his way through his men and stood, bow legged but no less daunting. He pointed to the girl. “Ràng wǒ xiànzài yǒngyǒu tā.”

Anderle snorted. “Now? Bad idea. But…let me think on it. Uh…no.”

“What did he say?” Drew pulled Mya closer.

Anderle dismissed Drew’s question with a swat of his hand. “Don’t worry. He—”

Yu jumped forward, pushing Drew aside. A guard followed the general’s example, and took it a step too far. He shoved Drew and Drew lost balance and fell on his hip.

Mya screamed and hurried toward Drew. He held her at bay with one hand and as the guard bent down to grab him, Drew threw a haymaker. Knuckles against the guard’s nose, a crack of broken bones popped in the room. The soldier fell on his side. A boot from another soldier sunk hard into Drew’s gut.

Drew curled forward with a grunt, both hands on his stomach. Winded, he gasped for air as a hundred questions swirled inside his brain, making less and less sense of everything. What was Anderle up to? Why were the Chinese soldiers being aggressive toward him? Why were Chinese soldiers in America?

But Mya. Why was the General interested in her? Other than her being an innocent child, something deep inside told him that he couldn’t let them take her. No. Matter. What.

A guard went for Mya and Drew shifted and in spite of the pain, lifted his knee, tripping the trooper. The grunt collapsed, his head whipping into a bed frame post. He rolled on the floor, hands over his eye.

A clack of rifles, and soldiers aimed their weapons. General Yu loomed, arms crossed.

“Stop that at once,” yelled Anderle. He stepped over Drew; a foot on each side of him. Straddling his friend sent an unequivocal message: this specimen is mine. Lesser of two evils? Maybe. Drew fought the urge to vomit on Anderle’s Converse.

“General Lin Yu. You need to be patient with the girl. She—”

“Zhàn qǐlái bóhuí!” Yu said.

The guards put down their rifles and marched out of the room. Yu’s eyes on Mya, he grabbed at a guard holding his nose. Blood streamed down his lips and chin.

“Bǎochí jǐngtì,” Yu said.

The guard nodded and sat on a stool that was against a wall near the entrance.

“You want that guy?” Anderle’s eyes were wide, perplexed. “He’s got a broken nose, man.”

Yu nodded and walked out of the room.

Drew sat on the bed, rubbing his chest. “What the hell, Anderle?” Mya was crouched in a corner, eyes closed, shaking.

Anderle held out his arms as if to hug her. Like that was going to happen.

“Get your hands off of her,” Drew hurried to her and picked her up and sat her on the mattress next to him. In his arms, she sobbed and called for her mommy.

Drew rocked her. Mommy wasn’t here. And never would be again. On the travel from the North Carolina to Tennessee, her mother didn’t make it.

He couldn’t find the words. Mommy died, mowed down by gun fire,