Rise of the Phoenix: The Knights of Ancora Saga (Book 1) (City of Gods) by Sara Richards

Author:Sara Richards [Richards, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

34

Nadia

Two soldiers with guns trained on her marched Nadia down the darkened corridors, the cold barrels pressed against her back. She was soon shoved into a room with a rough push.

"Hey, watch it," Nadia said, glaring at the impassive soldier. The cold, indifferent gaze sent shivers down her sweat-dampened skin.

"Nadia!" Vanessa knelt by the bookshelf, wrists shackled to a pipe, her face pale and brow creased in a silent plea.

Nadia took in the rest of the room—the massive mahogany desk where Henderson sat like a king on his throne, and beside him, Jack, his small frame dwarfed by the colonel. Henderson's arm held him in place with a satisfied smirk.

"Doctor Hakim," Henderson's voice cut through the tense silence. "How nice of you to join us."

"Not much of a surprise, is it? You knew I was coming. What do you want from me?" she asked, tired of Henderson's games. She'd never enjoyed being chased, and she enjoyed feeling like cornered prey even less.

Henderson leaned forward on the desk, his arms crossed and gaze pinning her to the floor like a butterfly. "I need your help, doctor."

She scoffed. "You have a funny way of asking for a favor, Colonel."

"Would you have helped me otherwise?"

She huffed out a laugh, though none of this was funny. "No."

Henderson shrugged, as if she'd proved his point. "Now that you're here—"

A fire alarm blasted from the speakers outside, loud enough to be heard through the heavy doors. Nadia's heart jumped, but Henderson seemed unbothered. If anything, he gave another empty smile. "Ah, your friends are making a ruckus."

When she glanced at Jack, the boy flinched in miserable guilt. "Don't worry," Henderson said. "I prepared a surprise for them."

With Jack's power on his side, their plan was doomed from the start. Was the outcome of this day set in stone, carved by Henderson to get what he wanted?

Jack sniffed, tears escaping from the corner of his red-rimmed eyes. "I'm sorry, Nadia."

"What do you want from me?" Nadia asked again, the loud siren outside drowning out the thundering in her ears.

"Your help, in exchange for your friend's safety," Henderson gestured toward Vanessa. The girl shifted, revealing an ugly bruise forming under a bleeding cut on her forehead.

Nadia's fists clenched at her sides. What she wouldn't give for the chance to take a swing at Henderson's face, to give him a taste of his own medicine.

A sudden thought made bile rise in the back of her throat. Was this how Vanessa ended up dying in her arms? Because Nadia had failed to save her from Henderson?

She focused back on the colonel. "I'll give you what you want if you let them both go."

Henderson slouched back in his chair, fingers steepled. Jack was too valuable to him, but then so was Nadia if he'd gone to these lengths to get her. He frowned, refusal forming on his face.

"I'll cooperate," she blurted out, her palms clammy and hot. "You said you needed my help. That'll go better if I cooperate, don't you think?"

Nadia met Vanessa's glassy, disbelieving gaze.

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