“How did you do that?” Bruce asked, looking at the EOA thugs lined up on the deck. Most were on their knees, although two were on their backs looking decidedly unwell.
“We had an amicable chat,” Jason said, “and they decided the most prudent course was to come quietly.”
“Amicable,” Bruce said, looking at the black stain on the deck. He knew the smell of death and the black residue stank like the Devil’s armpit.
Bruce had been anxious about what they would be dropping into after the powerful rockets had come their way. He’d been able to shoot them down before they struck the semi-conscious iron-rankers, but it left him with trepidation about what awaited them below.
Once he dropped back into range of Jason’s voice chat, he was told to land directly on the top deck. His wind gliding power let him do so without trouble and the strange, self-guiding parachutes did so almost as easily.
Both sides had people in recovery. The Network’s iron-rankers were given another round of potions, except for Ketevan, who remained the most badly injured but was not yet ready for another. On the EOA side, their leader was clearly exhausted, while two of his men couldn’t even stand, their auras flickering unstably.
“I told you at the start what surrender means,” Jason said to Three. “I take the boat and you talk. If I think you’re holding back, we go back to the other thing.”
“I’ll talk,” Three said. “Just leave my people alone.”
“Your people?” Bruce snarled. “You think we care about your people after you killed ours? My team. My friends. I should execute the lot of you.”
“Don’t vent your rage on the snake’s body,” Jason said. “Save it for when you take the head. Which Number Three here is going to tell us all about.”
“Number Three?” Bruce and Number Three asked simultaneously.
“Sorry, I was just calling you that in my head,” Jason said. “What’s your name?”
“Reynaldo Agostinelli.”
“Alright, Reynaldo,” Jason said. “I have a lot of questions. Bruce, use the sat phone on the table there to check in with your people so we can figure out our next move.”
Bruce picked up the phone, only for it to start ringing.
“Expecting a call?” Jason asked Reynaldo.
“It will be the man who sent us,” Reynaldo said. “The Network man, Adrien Barbou. We should have checked in by now.”
Barbou was the Operations Director of the Lyon branch, Anna’s direct counterpart. Shade had not managed to spot him in the time he had been watching the Lyon branch.
“The Network set this up?” Bruce asked, disbelievingly. “Why would he work with the EOA?”
“I don’t know,” Reynaldo said. “They tell us what to do, not why.”
Jason took the phone from Bruce and answered it.
49
THE TIME FOR BOLD, DECISIVE MEN
“Twelve hundred kilometres is the best you can do?” Miranda complained. “And you have to wait an hour between portals? That’s pathetic.”
“Pathetic?” Remy asked incredulously. “Let’s see your portal power, bitch.”
“Remy, calm down,” Sebastian said, then turned on Miranda. “And you keep your damn mouth shut. You don’t like it, go catch a plane.”
“I thought we’d be portalling straight to France,” she said. “Where even are we?”
“Kakadu National Park,” Remy said. “We’re in one of the most beautiful places on Earth and you complain. One of the most iconic locations in your own damn country and you don’t even recognise it. How self-absorbed are you?”
They were atop a high rock formation, overlooking a river forest gorge. In the far north of Australia, it was still scorching hot despite the season. The winds blowing across their high vantage offered pleasant relief.
“There isn’t an essence user in the world that can portal sixteen thousand kilometres,” Sebastian told Miranda. “There’s only a handful of people that can do a tenth of that.”
“I’ve heard the Chinese have someone they’re trying to get to category four who can do a few thousand at a time,” Remy said, “but that might be just a rumour. Maybe a category four could do sixteen thousand, so feel free to leave and go find one.”
“So much for the great portal master Barbou promised,” Miranda said. “Nothing but excuses.”
“Ellis,” Sebastian warned. “One of us is going to keep your mouth shut. I recommend it’s you.”
“I got you out of that place and this is how you treat me?” Miranda asked.
“You got me into that place,” Sebastian said. “When you told us about the outworlder, you failed to mention that he was a goddamn monster.”
“It’s not my fault a category three can’t take out one category two. You even had the jump on him and you messed it up. I’m starting to think I’ve joined a ship of fools.”
Sebastian and Remy shared a glance. Remy nodded. Sebastian shrugged before raising his arm in Miranda’s direction. Tiny metal hummingbirds were conjured all around him, buzzing forward to plunge their needle beaks into Miranda’s flesh. Sebastian followed up by dashing forward and kicking her square in the chest, sending her sailing over the side of the rock formation, bouncing off it time and again as she tumbled.
“She was right,” Sebastian said. “It is easy to take out a category two.”
“It’s for the best,” Remy said. “No way we’re hopping all the way across Asia and Europe without killing her. A personality like that is practically a suicide note.”
“Adrien won’t be happy about losing her contacts still in the Australian branch if the outworlder survives.”
“You think he will? The EOA sent a dozen guys, armed up with drones and those silver-rank tracker rockets. And that’s for after his plane gets blown out of the sky.”
“That little prick is a survivor,” Sebastian said. “A hundred says he lives.”
“I’ll take that action.”
“We should let Adrien know about Ellis.”
“I don’t think he’ll be worried,” Remy said, pulling out his phone. “The only thing he really wanted out of her was getting you free.”
Remy held up his phone, peering at it.
“No signal,” he said. “Can you give me the sat phone?”
Sebastian looked at the spot Miranda, who had the satellite phone, had gone over the edge.
“Uh…”
When Jason answered the satellite phone, he didn’t have a chance to speak before the person on the other end began in French.
“Why haven’t you checked in?” the voice on the phone end demanded.
“I’ll tell you all about it when we meet in person,” Jason said.
There was silence on the other end for a long time until the same voice spoke again.
“Am I speaking to Mr Asano?”
“You are,” Jason said. “Am I speaking to Mr Barbou?”
“So, you got them to talk. I would have much preferred you just slaughter them all.”
“We don’t have to take such drastic action, Mr Barbou.”
“Is that so?”