Destin's Hold (The Alliance #5)(11)
Destin reluctantly broke the eye contact between them. He turned down the third row, crossed to the end, and sat down. A couple of minutes later, several other members of Hunter and Razor’s extended family sat in the seats beside him. Hunter, Dagger, Razor, and Saber stood near the fountain. A sympathetic smile curved Destin’s lips when he saw the nervous expression on Saber’s face. The Trivator kept glancing back at the house. Dagger pulled at the collar of his shirt while Razor and Hunter quietly talked.
Razor suddenly glanced up when Jesse murmured, and he nodded. He stepped to the front of the group while Hunter and Dagger stood beside Saber. Across from them, Jesse, Jordan, and Kali all stood, waiting for Taylor.
Several minutes later, Destin heard the familiar song played at weddings back on Earth begin, and he turned to watch Scout escort Taylor down the aisle. Destin knew he should be focused on the wedding, but he couldn’t keep his eyes or his mind off the unusual woman sitting a row ahead and across the aisle from him.
“Today we gather to honor the joining of two individuals who are family to me. I am pleased to join my new sister, Taylor, with a man I consider to be a brother, Saber, in both the traditions of her people and ours,” Razor announced, standing in front of everyone. “Let the ceremony begin.”
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* * *
Several dark shadows moved through the thick forest. Their focus was on the house. Another transport flew overhead, and the four men froze. One of the men stepped closer to the heavyset man in the lead.
“The transports are heading in the same direction we’re going. We will be outnumbered,” the man stated with an uneasy glance at the sky when another transport skimmed above the tall trees. “Perhaps we should abort the mission
“I make the decisions,” Kronos growled under his breath and shot the three men a look of warning. He considered their next step now that it was obvious their Intel was missing something as important as half the galaxy coming to visit at the same exact time the assassination was to take place. “We will wait until the gathering has finished. General Achler wants Chancellor Razor’s family eliminated. There will be no aborting of this mission. If we fail, Achler would kill us, no matter what the ‘mitigating circumstances’ were. Once the guests depart, we execute anyone in the dwelling, just like we were ordered to do. I will contact Team One and inform them of the situation, but our orders haven’t changed – there are to be no witnesses and no survivors. Unless you want to end up dead as well, I suggest you remember who ordered this mission.”
The man reluctantly nodded and glanced at the other two men. There had originally been six of them on the mission, but two had already perished when they encountered one of the savage, six-legged beasts that lived in the forest. They had killed the huge creature, but not before it had ripped two of the men apart.
“Understood,” the man finally replied.
Kronos glared up at the sky when another transport flew overhead. He radioed the other team and warned them of the situation they had encountered. According to the report they had been given by General Prymorus Achler, Chancellor Razor and Lord Hunter were supposed to be off planet.
A sense of unease swept through Kronos. Something told him that not all their information was accurate and he wondered if that included the information about the Trivator warriors being off-world. General Achler had been very clear in his orders – take out the family and leave no trace of who did it. The general had stressed that he personally wanted to be the one to notify Chancellor Razor.
Kronos couldn’t understand why Prymorus Achler would want to enrage the Trivator warrior. There were few in the galaxy who hadn’t heard of the Chancellor’s reputation. Razor was just as brutal as Prymorus when it came to his enemies. Kronos had known when he’d been assigned this mission that it would probably be a death sentence… yet, at least there was a small chance of surviving.
The Waxian chosen before him had declined the mission. General Achler had Kronos remove the body parts of the male before he had turned to him and asked him if he had any objections to the operation. Still covered in the blood of the other male, Kronos had shaken his head and accepted the assignment.
He knew it would only be a matter of time before Chancellor Razor hunted down each of them. Death would not come swiftly or cleanly if the Trivator found them. Still, having a head start against a murderous Trivator would be better than what would have happened if he had said no to the Waxian warlord.
“Move out,” Kronos growled to the others.
The men fell into step, moving forward again. It took them almost an hour to reach the tall barrier surrounding the compound. Kronos motioned for the men to spread out. Through the gate, he could see the large number of transports. He murmured to the men to settle in. They would wait until the transports left before attacking. Turning, he slid down along a tree several meters from the wall. He pulled out a small vidcom with the images of those targeted for termination and studied them while they waited for darkness.
4
“Congratulations, Taylor,” Destin murmured before he grinned at Saber and slapped him on the shoulder. “You made it!”
“No thanks to you and the others. I’m lucky I didn’t break my neck last night doing some of the stunts we did. Thank the Goddess for the brace Taylor engineered for my leg or I would have,” Saber grinned with a wave of his hand.