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

bona fide wasp. No, a scorpion. He could take down any reptilian commando, enemy humanoid, or insectoid trooper in combat without much of a sweat, but sweating was what he loved to do.

The clang of his elastic hybrid titanium boots echoed against the dropship’s interior. He adjusted his helmet noise dial a level lower.

His ship wide and long enough to carry a bus load of people, but people weren’t what his ship was designed for. His ship was for quick extractions. Punch in and punch out.

Reaching the front of the cockpit, he pressed a few buttons on the control panel, pulling up the information that Admiral Gentry Race said he’d provide.

SOLAR SYS LOCATION: E-QUADRANT, EARTH.

LOCATION: ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA.

EXACT LOCATION: FORT GEORGE, ENTRANCE TO AN UNDERGROUND FACILITY.

TARGET: STARFIGHTER PILOT, DEFECTOR LIEUTENANT KADEN JAXX.

GOAL: EXTRACT KADEN JAXX AND BRING HIM TO STAR WARDEN.

FORCE: EXCEPT WITH KADEN JAXX, DEADLY IF NECESSARY.

Cole placed his gloved hand on a flat display on the control panel. It lit up and Cole tightened as a bolt of electricity went through him. A picture of Jaxx, along with his DNA signature, uploaded to his helmet’s Heads up Display. Once Cole landed on Grenada, his helmet would guide him directly to Jaxx, like a pig snuffling out a truffle.

He cracked his knuckles, then his neck as the ramp closed. He brought his craft to a hover, readying to exit through the launch tube.

He grinned. It had been a long time since he’d been on the most beautiful place in the galaxy—Earth. He hoped he could screw it up a little, along with some humans in the process.

Or, maybe he could visit his mom.

He shook his head. His lips downturned. “I’d rather feed her to the dogs.”

23

June 4thPlano, Texas

If it hadn’t been for the air conditioning inside the warehouse, Drew would have roasted to death under all the cardboard. As the afternoon turned into evening, the warehouse employees shifted from stacking piles of cardboard boxes in the cardboard bins, to going home for the night. Finally, he heard Javon tap in the alarm code and exit the premises.

There Drew lay, still covered in cardboard, waiting to see if Javon was the last to leave. If a night crew scoured the premises, then they’d most likely find Drew. Eventually.

He pushed the load of cardboard off him and flipped open the dumpster lid. He crawled out and grabbed a hold of the garage door handle and lifted, nearly pulling his shoulder out of socket. The door was locked.

He paced to the alarm. The combination must have automatically locked all doors in the complex. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Please, please tell me that’s not true.” He tapped his temple. “Think, think.”

He caught a glimpse of the chain attached to the garage. It was linked through a metal loop in the concrete and wrapped around the loop. How could he break that?

He smiled. “No need.”

Either the guards were lazy or they didn’t care because neither the lock nor any other type of security apparatus held the chain and loop together. He bent down and unwrapped the chain and pulled it through the loop, then opened the garage door. How could they be that stupid? Did they really leave space-age shit behind one locked door? Not lock the inner door? Well, no. There was still the elevator and who knew if the guards ever went on break. They probably had round-the-clock coverage of the inner sanctum.

Other than the flickering of a few hanging fluorescent lights, the warehouse was silent. He stepped over the stanchion ropes and walked past pallet jacks lined next to each other, all plugged in and charging.

Drew walked the aisles of metal shelves until he found himself in the middle of the warehouse, the column and elevator in clear view. “No freaky-deaky way. No guards.” He pulled out his phone as he walked toward the elevator and snapped a few pictures before pressing the elevator’s down arrow.

The elevator opened.

Inside the elevator two buttons, one labeled TEC and the other labeled GSA, were on the control panel next to the door. He pressed GSA. The doors closed.

After a few minutes, he checked his phone. It had been more than a few minutes, more like five minutes. The elevator didn’t have an emergency function or an open-door function. So, he pressed GSA again, hoping that would take him down faster.

More minutes swept by and he wondered if maybe the elevator hadn’t descended at all and he imagined the motion. Maybe the two military men somehow shut off the elevator before they left for the evening.

He pressed the GSA button again.

Nothing.

“Am I trapped?”

He pressed it again.

The doors remained closed.

Perhaps he could escape out of the top of the elevator like in the movies.

He looked at the ceiling and his mouth went dry.

A small camera hung in the corner of the elevator.

And were probably littered throughout the warehouse.

Now it was his turn to wear the dunce’s cap. How could he be so stupid and absentminded? There would be cameras everywhere, probably triggered by movement. His heart palpitated. He just made a grade-A rookie mistake, but he was already in this, chest deep. There was no reason to get out now. The only thing he could hope for was that the cameras weren’t activated by motion. If they were, then somewhere a guard would be alarmed and sent to the warehouse. Hopefully rats skirting around the warehouse had cleared that problem up, causing too many false alarms. He decided to press ahead. If they were coming for him, well they were coming for him. But if they weren’t—if the cameras were simply recording—he would need to be as cautious and careful as possible. If he could ever get out of the elevator.

The elevator dinged and the door opened. His heart skipped a beat. He rushed out and halted. He wasn’t in the warehouse. He twisted around, looking at the elevator, wondering if the elevator simply descended too slow or it ran on