Order of the Omni: A Supernatural Romantic Suspense Novel (The Immortalies Book 1) Penny Knight (100 best novels of all time TXT) 📖

Pressed what button?

The gunman must know what that means because his face loses all colour, his eyes wide.

The door sounds like it’s getting pummelled. Petrified screams come from behind. It brings the gunman out of a haze and he drops the gun.

“THE BOMB!” he cries.

Did he say…?

But my thought stops dead. My brain explodes as the man who was pointing a gun at me convulses. Body contorting, and right before my eyes he transforms into a cheetah. A real life, roaring cheetah. With a large growl the animal turns and leaps down the stairs.

That can’t be real. My minds playing tricks on me. There’s a bomb about to go off after all. I must be in shock.

The bomb.

Shit.

I turn and sprint to the fire exit.

“The attack has not been claimed by any human terrorist or other organisations,” the Secretary of State of the United States says, speaking from the large monitor. “We don’t even know if it was an attack or an accident yet.” His chin cocks up and his shoulders square.

“Agreed.” The president chimes in. “And this incident is not required to be briefed to you, so I’m unsure why we had to schedule a middle of the night meeting. How many deaths were recorded?” This time he asks the Secretary of Defence.

“Two,” he says, looking down at his notes.

“Only two? Really, this early in the morning, you woke me up for this? It’s three-forty-five am. We are in the middle of an election year for Christ’s sake.” The president’s disregard for the lost lives of two innocent civilians tells me all I need to know. If this is his attitude, hopefully the voting humans right their wrongs.

“Is this you?” The Secretary of State blatantly accuses me. What’s his name again?

I turn to Broderick who I know is listening behind the computer and nod to him. He replies by mouthing Richards.

I nod.

“Richards, be careful who you accuse.” My voice is measured.

“No, no, no,” he backtracks. “Of course, I didn’t mean you. I meant more like you.”

I can see the fear from the rest of the men’s faces on the video conference call. They can’t see mine. I’m the only black box in this meeting. And that is for a very important reason.

For Immortalies, we need to avoid cameras and any other photographic evidence as best we can. Hence why I have no video output on all my online communications. There’s no problem with face-to-face meetings, but as technology has advanced. Business and the way this monarch is run is ever evolving. The other leaders might not like it, but we’re more than welcome to hop on a red eye last night and fly their asses to me. So, they really shouldn’t complain about a phone call whenever the fuck I want to make one.

“We have reason to be interested in the institute, and the fact it was involved in an explosion concern us.”

“Why are you interested in the Versiti Institute?” The Secretary of Defence asks.

“At the moment, we just need the report of the inquiry as soon as possible. Friday would be acceptable.” This meeting has grated my nerves long enough.

I understand and support the need for all the sanctions we have in place to separate the political and policing of the two different worlds. Humans have the authority to control their own environment, good or bad. And believe me, throughout the years I have had to sit back and watch some atrocious behaviour, until the Emergency Order was invoked, and we needed to intervene. But why I need information on the institute is above their pay grade. And frankly this reign in presidency has not been a great one, so I would like to not involve them as much as possible.

“Once I read the report, if you need more information or if there is a public safety issue, of course I will inform you. As of now, I need the investigation done as a matter of urgency.”

“We can’t just-” I cut the Secretary of State off.

“We will fund it. Throw as many people you need on it.” I sigh.

It is at that moment my phone rings. My brows furrow and Broderick peps up with intent. We both know I have set my status in a level one meeting. The World Leaders deserve the respect. However, level one means only a handful of calls make it through.

I snatch it up. While they discuss how hard, it’ll be to organise. The kid’s name flashes on my screen.

I stand immediately.

“What’s happened?” I answer.

The car screeches in the underground carpark when it stops, right in front of me. Nadav jumps out of the front seat, with Broderick right in place to jump in.

The team I assembled here is of top calibre. Warrick is one of our human soldiers, so he knows he is needed and opens the back door, hopping in.

“No, the front,” I order.

There is a moment he processes the deviation from our normal positioning. Even so, he doesn’t break stride following my instructions. Like a well-rehearsed dance, our car doors slam in unison just as Broderick takes off.

Being mid-day, the only way to travel is in our UV resistant custom cars. Advanced technology has made transportation so much easier than the thousands of years before it. It hasn’t been as bad as Elita would think. I may not have been able to bathe in the sunlight, but my property portfolio has definitely changed.

My phone rings again.

Again, it’s the kid.

“Where are you now?” I bark into the phone.

“There are people everywhere, all down the street. Cops. I can’t see her,” his panic carves a hole in my heart.

That explosion over the phone sounded bad, but I refuse to think about the amount of loss that outcome could have. I need to find her. I need to see her. I need, her.

“Where are you?” This time I yell.

“Near work, wait.”