Skybuilders (Sorcery and Science Book 4) (7 page)

Leonidas turned back to check if she were truly serious. Her violet eyes sparkled with skepticism. Yep, dead serious. Elitions might have been the masters of gravity defying acrobatics, but some things just went right over their heads.

He sighed. “Never mind. Let’s go.”

Leonidas patted down his suit and led the way out. He donned the signature threads of the Selpe Intelligence Network, right down to the twin daggers attached to his gold-buckled black belt. Mahogany-brown leather boots peeked out from pants that were shimmery silver with a subtle blue undertone. The matching jacket was buttoned low to reveal the fitted blue-black shirt beneath. The stretchy shirt, which adjusted marvelously to his every movement, was high-collared, but Leonidas had left the top button undone, aiming for a neat but slightly manic appearance.

Alongside the daggers, he’d added his Boar Hunter. At two-hundred-and-fifty millimeters long of sleek silver metal, the pistol was more portable than a rifle but still looked imposing enough to make most people think twice about messing with him. And since Leonidas’s life often depended on shooting fast, he was also particularly fond of the Boar Hunter’s laser sight.

He hoped these extra wardrobe and weaponry touches
—
plus the two Elitions flanking him, dressed in ultra-black hypermodern skintight synthetic bodysuits, high leather boots, and an armory’s worth of blades
—
would convey that he wasn’t afraid to bash a few heads together to get what he wanted.

The door out of the docking bay slid open before them, and Leonidas stumbled back from the flood of light streaming in from the hallway, stomping on Silas’s foot. The Elition giant gave him a cold glare, pushing him back into the hall.

White and blinding, the hallway lights bounced off the bleached walls and snow white marble floors. It was like stepping into a snowstorm
—
a snowstorm blasted with floodlights. He slipped on his dark sunglasses and continued. The sharp click of his boots echoed in the wide corridor, but behind him the Elitions were as silent as ghosts.

At the end of the very long hallway, two guards in formfitting white uniforms stood before the door. Two white guns blended in with the men and the hall. It was all one big white mess. Who even carried white guns? Leonidas almost snorted, but he resisted the urge. The guards’ uniforms hugged every curve of their muscle-bound bodies. They looked like they demolished cars for a living
—
with their bare hands.

Leonidas stole a look back at Silas and was satisfied that his muscle man was even bigger. Ariella looked like she could be snapped in half with two fingers, but Leonidas knew she could probably throw the two human guards across the room without getting a single strand of that pretty silver ponytail out of place. But the Elitions were behind him. And he was nearly nose-to-nose with Snowflake and Icicle. Perhaps, he should have had the Elitions take the lead.

“This section is off limits until further notice,” said Snowflake.

“If you wish to experience the many wonders Oasis has to offer, take the south exit from the hallway. That will take you to an elevator that brings you to the tourism district. Highlights of Oasis include the upper deck parks, the Glass Restaurant, and the Flying Tunnels,” Icicle spouted off with the enthusiasm of a computer.

“I am Agent Darren Hollen with the Selpe Intelligence Network,” Leonidas told them. That’s who the badge he’d swiped off Darren
—
and doctored to display his photo instead
—
said he was.

The guards seemed unimpressed, but Leonidas couldn’t let that deter him. He folded his sunglasses neatly into his breast pocket and turned his eyes on them.

“I’m here to investigate the accident in your lab that resulted in the disappearance of His Imperial Majesty, Hayden Selpe, and the Crown Prince Ian Selpe, his heir and brother,” Leonidas declared, trying to load steel into his voice. “My team and I require access to the scene of the incident.”

Snowflake’s eyes darted back to the two Elitions that made up his ‘team’. Leonidas kept his gaze fixed on the guards, but he hoped Silas had taken the hint to look menacing. Perhaps for dramatic effect he could even turn his eyes white, as he was so fond of doing. Or at least flex the muscles in those tree trunk arms. Something. Anything.

As one, the guards shifted their weight uneasily. Silas must have figured it out, or maybe he’d simply read Leonidas’s mind. Now that was a disturbing thought.

Icicle exchanged glances with Snowflake, then said, “I’ll need to clear this first.”

“You do that. We’ll be right here,” Leonidas told him, indicating himself and the two Elitions.

Icicle dashed off, and Snowflake moved in front of the door. Leonidas glanced back to see that Silas had indeed made his eyes go white, and he was staring at the guard with arms crossed against his chest, his fingers lightly tapping the arsenal of knives strapped to his thick arms. They were on the same team, and even Leonidas could barely suppress the shiver in his bones.

Snowflake was making a valiant effort not to look intimidated, but he couldn’t hide the nervous flicker of his eyes. Silas was always scary, but he could really make himself look like a hellfire demon when he wanted to.

The door slid open, and Icicle reappeared, accompanied by a man in a freshly ironed white suit with rows of diamond borders along his lapels. Ok, then. Someone had far too much money.

“I will show you to the lab,” the man said. His voice was as smooth as whipped cream. “You will have fifteen minutes.”

That was better than Leonidas had expected. Technically speaking, the Helleans didn’t have to humor them at all. If anything, the Selpes and Avans had to make sure to stay on
their
good side, lest the shipments of technological wonders suddenly stopped. Were the two empires to go to war again, the Helleans could easily pick the winner. All they’d have to do is send their preferred choice ships and guns. No one could make ships and guns better than the Helleans. But they only shared the ships. The guns they kept entirely to themselves.

Leonidas was so distracted by the thought that he nearly bumped into their diamond host. The Hellean had stopped outside of a room marked ‘Laboratory 26’ on the door.

“I will wait outside,” the man said, stepping aside.

That was even more unexpected. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned that Leonidas’s team would poach their technology. Then again, neither the Selpes nor the Avans had managed to reverse engineer anything of Hellean design. Perhaps—just perhaps—Marin could do it. The Helleans had obviously seen potential in her if they’d offered her a collaborative position there. Had she maybe learned too much? Is that why she’d mysteriously disappeared from the lab? Maybe this wasn’t about the Emperor and his brother at all. Maybe they’d just been caught in the crossfire.

Silas pushed past Leonidas, bumping him on his way into the lab. Ariella paused just long enough to give him a ‘what are you doing just standing there?’ kind of look, then followed Silas inside. But Leonidas had questions. He turned to the man.

“What happened in the lab?”

The man arched a bored blond eyebrow. “You have read the reports.”

“I want to hear it from you.”

“At 15:50 on the 28
th
of August, there was an explosion in the lab. As per our security procedures, the doors into the lab was automatically sealed off to protect the rest of the city. The automatic sprinklers put out the fire, and then the computer commenced with the decontamination procedure. Once the scene was determined safe, the doors were unlocked. A team entered the lab at 16:35 to discover the three people inside were gone.”

The written intelligence report had contained more feeling than this man’s retelling.

“For the record, please state the people who went missing from the lab,” said Leonidas.

“Emperor Hayden Selpe. Prince Ian Selpe. Dr. Aquamarine Graunt.”

“Were there any other people present? Ones who did not go missing?”

In other words, witnesses.

“No, only those three were inside the lab at the time of the accident. The corridor was empty. The adjacent labs in this section were unoccupied.”

Well, that was a bit too neat for comfort.

“Are laboratory accidents common in Oasis?”

The man didn’t even bother to look insulted. Maybe he honestly didn’t care. “No.”

“How many have you had in the last year?”

“One.”

Ok, then. “How many besides that one have you ever had in Oasis?”

“None.”

“Besides Hayden and Ian Selpe, how many visits from the Selpe imperial family have you had in Oasis?”

“None.”

Leonidas couldn’t help himself. The words begged to be spoken. “And you don’t find that at all suspicious?”

The man merely checked his watch. “You have twelve minutes remaining. It would be wise to make the most of them.”

Certain he was not going to get anything else remotely useful out of the man, Leonidas stepped through the door. The lab wasn’t just one room. It was a continuous corridor of three rooms, the first two connected by a typical white door and the second by a clear glass door. The sterile white walls were as spotless as anything Leonidas had come to expect of the Helleans. The wood floor, so pale it was nearly white, reflected the ceiling spotlights.

Ariella and Silas stood at the far wall of the first room, peering down at the floor. Past them, both doors were open, giving Leonidas a good look at the gigantic hole blown out of the back window. No, not blown. The Helleans had taped it shut with thick white bands, but sun shone through the opening, highlighting the clean edges of the hole. The glass had been cut. This was no explosion.

He took a step forward, shivering from the nip of a chilly ocean breeze against his skin. The hair on his hands stood on end. It was more than just the breeze. The lab felt like a tomb. A tomb without bodies or blood. A hand gripped his shoulder, and he nearly jumped out of his shoes.

“Leonidas, we found something,” Ariella said. “Over here.”

He followed her over to the door. As they stopped, Silas extended his hand, which held a clump of purple-black hair fifty centimeters in length. From one end dangled a bloody wad of scalp.

CHAPTER SEVEN

~
Clues ~

526AX August 20, Oasis

“NEITHER HAYDEN NOR Ian nor Marin has black hair,” Silas pointed out, tossing the hair clump onto the nearest table.

If for nothing else, Ariella could at least be thankful for that. Of course, the absence of their detached body parts was hardly proof in and of itself that Marin and the Selpe brothers were unhurt.

“What do you figure?” she asked him.

Silas’s blue-white eyes scanned the three rooms. “There are no signs of an explosion.”

Ariella followed his gaze and nodded. She’d noticed that too. No scorch marks, no broken furniture, no blood. Perhaps, the Helleans had simply lived up to their meticulous reputation and repaired the damage, but then why was there still a hole in the window? Ariella could hardly imagine they would scrub down a few internal walls before patching up a gaping hole in their city’s facade.

Leonidas had already wandered over to the window and was walking slowly back to them, his thoughtful gaze pausing to focus on things several times along the way. By the time he was standing before them, his face was both relieved and perplexed.

“There was no explosion. It was an attack,” he declared. “My guess would be the Crescent Order.”

“They were seen entering the city after Marin, Hayden, and Ian disappeared—not before,” Ariella reminded him.

He shrugged. “Then there were two waves of them. The second assassin group could have been reinforcements for the first…” His eyes drifted up in thoughtful silence. “Yes, that makes sense. They would need more bodies after what happened to their comrades.”

“Which was?”

Leonidas leaned over and extracted something from the floor border. “Their prey fought back.”

“How do you know?”

Silas’s hard eyes shifted from Ariella to Leonidas. “Explain.”

“Much as you would like to discount my skills, they are quite useful,” he began, puffing out his chest defensively. “In this case, my keen detective skills.”

The confusion must have shown plain and simple on her face because Leonidas let out a heavy sigh. “I can decipher the clues of the scene.”

“Like a Cipher?” Ariella wondered aloud. Elition Ciphers were particularly adept at solving puzzles and codes.

“In this case, very much like a Prior,” Silas told her.

“Ah.”

Elition Priors could peer into the past. A select few could even see events unfold in their entirety. One of those Priors would have been useful to have along on this trip. They could have followed the Memory breadcrumbs to Hayden, Ian, and Marin.

Leonidas glared at Silas. “Why do you always do that?”

“What?”

“Box whatever I say into some Elition ability compartment.”

Ariella stepped between the men, who both looked about half a second away from exchanging blows. “Please tell us what you believe happened here, Leonidas.”

He continued to glare at Silas for a few seconds, then flashed a charming grin at Ariella. “Gladly.” He tapped a finger on the desk. “We’ll start at the beginning. The assassins rushed into the lab from the hall, catching Marin and the Selpe brothers by surprise. While Marin mixed up a smoke bomb inside a bowl, Hayden and Ian threw objects at the six assassins to buy her some time to finish. Marin set the bowl on the table, ignited it, and they used the smoke cover to retreat into the next room back.”

“How did you figure that out?” she asked.

His grin widened. “Ah, simple deduction. The room has been for the most part sanitized and repaired, but there are nearly always some signs left behind.”

He tapped the table again, this time nodding toward it. Ariella saw a noticeable chip in the otherwise smooth corner.

“Something hit this desk. Something heavy. I’m guessing a chair, as that was likely the heaviest liftable object the boys would have had at their disposal to throw at their incoming attackers. Which means we can also deduce that Marin and the boys were taken by surprise. Had they been prepared for an attack, they’d have foregone throwing of accessible objects in favor of just setting off the smoke before the assassins even entered the lab. That would have masked their retreat far better. As it was, Marin is thankfully a quick thinker, and they managed to make it into the next room while the assassins fumbled around in the smoke.”