Page 48 of Star Crossed Delta

‘There’s more. He’s entangled with Nightshade.

They’ve been working with Phantom Codex, who’ve made it their mission to cripple Sauvage Corp.

They view Mak as a threat. They also resent the fact that the Sauvage family controls a significant portion of the fleet’s energy, hydrogen, and synthetic steel production.

Tewa and his rogue Syndicate allies, aligned with Codex, are hell-bent on dismantling everything your husband’s built.

Their tactics are precise: espionage, sabotage, and blackmail.

They want to break your stronghold from the inside.

They approached me first, tried to turn me against you.

When I refused, they unleashed lab-grown sachem to finish the job.

I just discovered this and had to find a way to talk to you, to work this shit out. Thus, the reason for abducting Saba.’

Mak glared at him, mind racing. ‘While that sounds plausible, I’m still unconvinced about your motives, Zolan. We have proof that Shiloh and Saba’s devices are being employed to access sensitive data on Sauvage Corp. Their holo calls were used to transmit a hack from your end to ours.’

Kaal outlined the code breach we found in Sombra’s networks.

Zolan shook his head, forehead furrowed, clueless.

He turned to his 2IC. ‘Ladik, you run all our IT systems, servers, and comms. Know anything about this?’

The man’s eyes flickered and glinted.

‘ Nada , boss,’ he said, flashing a sneer at Kaal and Mak.

In that instant, Mak sensed he was hiding something.

Kaal and he exchanged a raised brow and glance, their thoughts in congruence.

‘I have tech that can detect where the source code is,’ Kaal said. ‘If you give me access to your network and let me in, I’ll limit myself to searching only and show you the origin.’

Zolan’s eyes narrowed, even as he swung his head to Ladik, asking a silent question.

His 2IC bristled, and Zolan cursed.

Mak huffed. ‘Seems we have our answer. Your man Ladik is well aware of the hack.’

Zolan scowled at his man in a heated standoff.

‘ Fokk , you betrayed me?’ Zolan growled.

He swore long and loud.

As he did, Ladik was inching around the room.

His foot caught the edge of a rug and sent a side table crashing to the floor.

‘What are you doing?’ Kaal snarled at him, distracted for a beat.

The man’s eyes widened, then, without warning, he leaped.

Moving fast, he circled a chair and grabbed Shiloh by the throat, at the same time drawing a weapon from his back pocket and shoving it to her temple.

Kaal and Mak reacted lightning-fast, pulling their weapons from their holsters and aiming at him and Zolan.

To her credit, Shiloh remained calm, eyes wild but lips pressed together.

‘Nobody moves,’ Ladik growled, chest heaving. ‘Stay freakin’ still.’

‘What the hell are you doing, man?’ Zolan roared.

‘I’m ensuring my mission is complete,’ Ladik snarled, his eyes glittering with madness, a fervor unfathomable.

‘What mission?’ Kaal grated, lowering his voice and his weapon.

He was a kick-ass interrogator, so Mak let him do his thing.

‘The Sauvage family has had a stranglehold on the fuel and hydrogen trade for too long. You’ve gotten rich from it, while the fokkin ’ rest of us have only become poorer.

The flotilla’s residents suffer and struggle as you thrive.

No more! We will no longer be divided, united as one, under the singular control of our movement.

Together, we will rise into the powerhouse of the faithful.

With the freeing of energy distribution from your hold and the old tenets guiding us at our service, the Solanites will take their place in history.

No more flouting the Code; the doctrines of the Holy See and the old Akkadian Order will be restored. ’

Ladik’s voice has risen with every word in a deranged cadence and fever. His face was scrunched with rage, his eyebrows furrowed, and his lips contorted into a snarl.

‘Free faith, free energy, free life!’

His eyes were manic and frantic as he shouted, sweat glistening on his forehead.

The veins in his neck bulged and pulsed as he made the proclamation, his face twisted in a mix of anger and madness.

He turned his weapon on Zolan and then waved it at me. ‘With you two out of the way, our plans will advance.’

‘Your plans? Do tell,’ Kaal encouraged.

‘Don’t you know?’ Ladik sneered. ‘The Sejazmatch has been planning this for years. He was the one who invited the Nightshade Society to pay off Codex and send the sachem after you. His move was to eliminate you both.’

Kaal and I exchanged glances.

‘Nightshade, Solanites and Tewa?’ I asked.

He jerked his head back. ‘Looks like you’ve no clue? Nightshade IS The Solanite Brotherhood. We intend to lead the flotilla to a righteous path of light, all the way to Pegasi.’

Mak jolted as the entire fokkin’ conspiracy unfolded in his mind.

Ladik went on, undaunted. ‘Having you two in the same room is everything we’ve been working towards.

By killing you, Zolan and Mak, we will gain access to your dynasties through your wives.

They are your legal inheritors and successors.

With the pair of them at the helm of Sauvage Corp and the Sidan Clan, and their Uncle Tewa guiding them, we will be unstoppable. ’

He grimaced for a beat. ‘I think I may have said too much,’ then sniggered. ‘It matters not a whit as you will not leave this room alive.’

‘Not if I’ve anything to do with it,’ a new player stated from somewhere behind Ladik.

Mak’s heart sank and flipped at the husky sweetness of Saba’s voice.

In seconds, she was in the room, holding a sleek weapon to Ladik’s head. ‘Put your gun down.’

In the background, I spotted Shan lurching against a wall, nursing a wound on his head.

Saba must have escaped his watch with violence.

Mak stared at her, torn between fokkin ’ respect for her ballsiness and a rolling fear at what the wild-eyed man she was trying to reason with would do.

‘ ?arratum ,’ Mak whispered because the madness in Ladik’s eyes had only ratcheted.

With a roar, he swung his elbow.

It connected with Saba’s forehead, and she fell back from the blow.

A second later, he turned his gun on Mak and fired.

Kaal rushed at Mak, and an agonizing impact hit his shoulder. Kaal’s lunge had just saved his brother’s life.

Kaal wheeled around as Zolan grabbed Shiloh from Ladik’s grasp.

He roared and tried to get to Zolan.

Kaal pounced and stuck, sinking his fangs into the temple of the lashing, writhing man.

Twas not enough.

Ladik broke away and snarled, fighting hard.

Kaal cursed and discharged his firearm.

The bullet from his weapon launched at lightning speed.

Carved from diamonds and infused with a super-heated fusion power, it calibrated even in mid-air and rained down its destructive might on Ladik.

He had no chance.

Before our eyes, he staggered as the projectile hit.

Ladik’s head swelled, reddening, the combined amalgamation bloom spreading all over the stricken man, who was now roaring at the sheer agony of the blistering potency eviscerating him.

‘Shields,’ Mak snarled, raising his wrist comm to activate the electric barrier.

He stepped between the monstrosity and his woman, who darted with Shan behind Mak.

Kaal and Zolan did the same, with Shiloh safe in her man’s grasp.

Seconds later, Ladik exploded, disintegrating into a cloud of charred embers.

The slug was so efficient that nothing remained of the man that once had stood before them raging, not even a hint of smoke or scorching.

With a silent hiss, the dynamic bullet reformed and retreated into Kaal’s weapon.