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 thefokkin’ 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 thesachemafter 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 betweenfokkin’ respect for her ballsiness and a rolling fear at what the wild-eyed man she was trying to reason with would do.
‘Šarratum,’ 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.
