Joshua lifted an eyebrow and Dyson grunted. “I’m in. Four rooms are being surveilled. Here are the feeds.” He held the tablet out so the team could see the feeds.
Four live feeds ran simultaneously: two offices and two hospital rooms.
Only one office was occupied. “Son of a bitch,” growled Joshua as he watched a small contingent of military officers enter the room and walk around the body of a blood-stained redheaded girl.
Joshua’s gut twisted and he felt the pain of Bryn’s agony as though her injuries had been inflicted upon him too.
Bryn lay curled up on her side on a bloodstained bed.
“Sound,” Joshua grunted the word.
“Can’t get the sound feed. I suspect they don’t have sound surveillance.”
“Off, if security is this high.”
“Not so odd, considering these types are invested in whatever is going on here,” murmured Erik as they watched the general—from the patches on his shoulders—speak with the doctor, whose white lab coat was splattered with bloodstains.
The doctor appeared to be placating the general who stared back, face hard as granite. “I’m assuming the general is either funding them or heavily invested in the outcome,” said Joshua softly. Then he glanced at Erik. “You know what this is right?”
Erik nodded soberly. “The government is involved in genetic testing and experimentation on valkyries.”
“Not valkyries,” Pia cut in, coughing as she spoke. “On Bryn specifically.”
“They know what she is?” asked Aimee softly.
“Yes. That doctor, Lee or whatever his name is, he was laughing when he said that maybe he would have given a damn about me if I were a mutant.”
“Shit,” Joshua said, swearing a little more until he was a little satisfied.
On the tablet, the general and his contingent were leaving and Erik said, “Dex, you get Pia out of here and alert the team. I want a small black ops team on that general. We want everything, their destination, tap their phones, hack their feeds, whatever you can do to get us more detail on their intentions and their interests in Bryn.”
Dex nodded and held a hand out to Pia, who went reluctantly. As they disappeared down the stairs, Aimee let out a pained sigh. “You know the only reason Pia is going is because she’s in so much pain, right?”
“Yeah,” Joshua replied, already focused on the activity on the tablet. The doctor was talking to Bryn, who remained unmoving on the bed. Then he injected something into her IV and left the room.
“Time to move?”
Erik nodded then tapped the comms in his ear. “Send an urgent message to Asgard. We need backup. Tell Odin it’s Code Red.”
Joshua chuckled. “Tell me Code Red means Bryn.”
Erik smirked then said, “Move out.”
Chapter 23
The team passed the offices, but Joshua wasn’t interested in the lone occupant they’d seen pacing the floor. Focusing on Bryn, Joshua raced down the hallways, following Caris’s directions until they barged into the hospital room, startling the four people inside.
The nurse let out a low shriek, “Dr. Lee!” she yelled out in warning, then grabbed a steel tray and held it out in defense.
Joshua’s body ran cold at the sound of the doctor’s name, as everything fell slowly into place. He wasn’t sure how he held his fury at bay, because all he wanted to do was to rip the man apart.
Aimee slapped the tray from the woman’s hands and even before it clattered to the floor, she’d slammed her fist into the side of the nurse’s head.
“Sorry. Overkill but I wanted to take the bitch out,” muttered Aimee.
Then the woman’s words registered and Aimee turned to stare at the doctor.
Joshua was already headed to Dr. Lee, who was backing away into an interior glassed-in room filled with chemicals. As the man shut and sealed the door, Joshua let out a low roar, a sound that was dampened by a crash behind him as Erik and Dyson dispensed with the two jotunn guards.
Joshua surged forward, slamming his body into the glass door. Millions of shards of glass rained down on him but he paid them no attention, focusing on the doctor who had hurt Bryn.
The doctor who was Aidan’s father.
Joshua closed in on the man, who had the audacity to stare back smirking.
“You’re too late to save her.”
Joshua roared, fury turning his vision red, as he raised his fist. His heart raced as a strange fire filled his body and mind, the deep desire to rip the doctor limb from limb, to shed his blood, to punish him for every single agony he’d put Bryn through.
And to make him pay for taking from Bryn the one thing she’d prized the most.
Her wings.
The sight of Bryn’s back had stilled Joshua’s heart, the shattered bits of bone at the top of her shoulders all that remained of her stunningly beautiful wings.
And this man had taken them from her.
As Joshua lunged for Dr. Lee, a warm hand touched his shoulder, and a comforting low baritone spoke from beside him. “You will not gain much from killing this man. You will sate your fury, but this will not be justice, son.”
Joshua straightened and glanced to his left. Fenrir stood there, the edges of his form shimmering to confirm he remained glamored from Dr. Lee’s eyes.
Taking a breath, Joshua nodded and turned away, leaving Dr. Lee chuckling, ignoring the man’s calls of ‘coward’ and a few other expletives.
Joshua hurried to Bryn’s side and blinked back tears at her broken body. Her face was pale, her body drained of blood, her wings torn from her, her hair soaked with sweat and blood.
She was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
Joshua leaned close to her, wanting so desperately to take her into his arms. He reached out and brushed the hair from her face, his fingers tracing the blood-stained skin of her forehead.
“Bryn,” he whispered, his heart lurching as her eyelids flickered for a moment. But she didn’t wake. Joshua blinked hard to keep the hot tears from falling as he leaned close and kissed Bryn’s cheek. “We got them, Bryn. We got them.”
Chapter 24
Joshua tried hard not to limp as he entered the room a few steps behind Aimee. Thor and Fen had come as soon as they’d received word, arriving in time to hear the truth of what Dr. Lee had been up to.
Bryn’s blood had been the source of the black substance, a reality that Joshua knew would be hard for her to accept, being indirectly the reason for all those deaths.
Loki’s involvements had come to light as well, the god having aided Dr. Lee to obtain a sample of Bryn’s blood, and also provided the Black Ice of Jotunnheim to render the final product.
Aidan’s culpability had been somewhat overturned considering Dr. Lee had threatened to harm Aidan’s mother and sister, the pair being held captive by Loki.
And probably one of the worst revelations was that Aidan was a descendent of Loki, Dr. Lee being the spawn of the god of mischief himself.
Joshua’s mind buzzed with the events of the past few hours, but he focused on Bryn, his only concern being for her recovery, both body and mind.
Joshua followed Aimee inside, and beyond her shoulder, he caught sight of Bryn’s tearstained face as she beckoned them inside.
“Please don’t kill him just yet, okay?” said Aimee as they walked toward Bryn.
Joshua refrained from answering her, his gaze focused on a very bruised and battered Bryn. Someone had helped her clean up a little so she was no longer bathed in her own blood, but she still looked far more the worse for wear than Joshua did, that was for sure.
If he avoided thinking about her destroyed wings, he’d be able to hold it together.
“What happened to you guys?” Bryn said, a strain not lingering in her voice.
Joshua saw anger and disappointment flicker in her eyes, but he tried not to let it hurt him. Bryn had been abandoned, mutilated; she had every right to be angry.
“Are you okay?�
�� she asked, her eyes going to his damaged foot.
Fury flashed through Joshua but he forced himself to smile widely, “Yes, yes I’m fine. Our friend Karl turned out to be on the wrong side after all. After you and Pia left us, he tried to clobber me. Only problem was, he hadn’t been trained by Fenrir. No idea how the creep was even a warrior to begin with. I managed to fight him off and punched his lights out, but he had backup.”
“More guards?” Bryn asked, her eyes hard.
“Yeah, we were right. The whole thing was just a huge setup. Just to lure you inside. You were the target the entire time.”
Bryn stiffened at that, just as Aimee shifted her attention to the fourth person in the room who stood beyond Bryn. “Aidan, I think Joshua might need some help with the computer and the files. I can get Bryn sorted.”
“But—” Aidan replied, but Joshua wasn’t able to see his face with Aimee in the way.
“I’m fine, Aidan. You go and do whatever techie stuff it is that you do. I’ll try to manage without you,” Bryn said over her shoulder.
Aimee and Bryn turned to watch Aiden leave the room, but Joshua didn’t move. Aidan still infuriated Joshua. More than he knew was even possible.
“You’re so lucky, you know that? He cares so much for you,” Aimee said, her eyes focused on Joshua, her meaning something else entirely than what Bryn understood.
After receiving Aimee’s hug, Bryn said, “Yeah. Nothing’s been easy, though. We’ve spent the better part of our relationship just trying to find each other,” she sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s all worth the effort.”
“Well, what is it they say? Love conquers all, right? You guys will be fine. All this will blow over soon enough.”
Joshua really didn’t want to hear this conversation. Thankfully, Sigrun’s voice cut in, “Bryn, I always knew you would be fun to have around. Nothing is ever boring when you are involved.” The valkyrie brought clothing and weapons which she set on the table beside Bryn.
“Are you trying to imply I’m a troublemaker?”
“I was not implying anything.”
Joshua felt like the third wheel, but he didn’t move. Couldn’t move as he stared at her broken body.
And then he left the room.
Coward. That’s what he was. Unable to face Bryn, because he wasn’t there to keep her safe.
Coward.
TO BE CONTINUED
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About the Author
I have been a writer from the time I was old enough to recognize that reading was a doorway into my imagination. Poetry was my first foray into the art of the written word. Books were my best friends, my escape, my haven. I am essentially a recluse but this part of my personality is impossible to practice given I have two teenage daughters, who are actually my friends, my tea-makers, my confidantes… I am blessed with a husband who has left me for golf. It’s a fair trade as I have left him for writing. We are both passionate supporters of each other's loves – it works wonderfully…
My heart is currently broken in two. One half resides in South Africa where my old roots still remain, and my heart still longs for the endless beaches and the smell of moist soil after a summer downpour. My love for Ma Afrika will never fade. The other half of me has been transplanted to the Land of the Long White Cloud. The land of the Taniwha,
beautiful Maraes, and volcanoes. The land of green, pure beauty that truly inspires. And because I am so torn between these two lands – I shall forever remain cross-eyed.
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JOSHUA III (EINHERJAR - A DEAD CHAOS COMPANION NOVEL)
A VALKYRIE NOVEL BOOK 8
Copyright 2018 by T.G. Ayer
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Eduardo Priego
Cover art © T.G. Ayer. All rights reserved.
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