Page 65 of Venomous Heart
Arlen helped her to her feet, then together they walked to the control panel. It was another biological reading panel, but this time there was no sign of a poisonous trap.
Without hesitation, Ava flattened her palm on it.
All around them, a liquid yet metallic noise filled the room. The walls began to dissolve like magic, the metal melting into crevices along the floor, revealing a vast space that made Ava dizzy.
“This is it.” She turned around within Arlen’s protective hold. “This is Knut’s vault.”
She moved, Arlen close behind her, to a cylindrical pedestal tucked against a square indentation in the wall. There, floating in a glass enclosure filled with a liquid oxygen solution, was an organ made of bio-synthetic cells. The Exo-Heart; a marvel of medical science, grown specifically from Uril’s genetic material, perfectly tailored to him.
“The Exo-Heart.” Ava splayed her hands over the glass container. She knew exactly what this was. It was a transportation device, designed to keep the heart in optimal condition right up to its transplant into the live host. “Uril is saved.”
She turned to Arlen, giddy with a relief that bordered on euphoria. Then her happiness dissipated when she saw the blue giant turning around, his eyes scanning the vast array of weapons displayed around the room. He approached a foreboding, black cylinder tucked into a similar indentation in the wall.
“This is Allurium and Carbonite Alloy.” Arlen frowned so deeply his brows almost touched, inspecting the smooth cylinder carefully, then took a step back, his face filled with horror. “This is it. This what Prime Councilor Aav warned me about. A negative particle bomb.”
Ava sobered up. A negative particle bomb was the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. A single bomb was enough to wipe out several planets in a star system. It wasn’t just illegal, it was the deadliest weapon ever to have been vomited up in the face of the Ring. One that had been used only once, during the Great War, before the Ring had elected a Prime Councilor to lead, when the alliance of nations was torn asunder by a civil war that had threatened to wipe out trillions of people. It had taken the Mantrilla using only one negative particle bomb, wiping out half the planets in the Cattelans’ home star system, to end the war.
All the rebels had surrendered and peace was restored.
But the threat of the negative particle bomb was never forgotten.
“How did Knut get to possess one of these?” Ava spoke with horror, eyeing the deceptively harmless black surface of the cylinder, taking a useless step back. That bomb was death itself. A step wouldn’t be enough to save her—to save anyone on Aveyn if it went off.
Arlen suddenly twisted, his lips lifting in a hiss, his arms rippling with tension.
“Someone is here,” he growled, the sound feral and full of fury.
Then, Ava understood.
“He’s always a step ahead of us.” Her voice became breathless. “This is why he gave me access to the Vault. This is why he hid the coordinates in a painting I hated. He knew I would find it. He knew I would risk everything to save Uril.”
As Ava cradled the glass container containing the Exo-Heart, the sudden sound of voices told her everything she needed to know.
“This was a trap.”
19
Ava
“Don’t even think about it,” a male voice told Arlen and Ava as a group of human men stepped out of the elevator, all carrying ionic guns. “You’re Eok, but you’re not faster than an ionic gun.”
Just in front of her, Arlen’s back rippled with anticipation. His entire body seemed to be filled with the need for violence.
“Let’s try and see.” Arlen’s voice was filled with confidence and his hands spread at his sides, long talons shooting from his fingertips, sharp and deadly. “Only, know this: if you miss, I won’t.”
The men advanced, and Ava’s eyes settled in the one in the middle of the group, clearly the leader from the way he stood, unfazed by the presence of an Eok warrior. He was tall and broad, with dark hair and a thick beard, his eyes blue and cold as his gaze went from Arlen to Ava. There was no mercy in those eyes. No pity, either. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill both of them.
Cold slithered through her very bones as Ava understood. Those were the people from Facility Twenty-One.
But why are they attacking us? Don’t they understand that Knut has gone?
“You might be right about that, Eok.” The man spoke slowly, his ionic gun never wavering. “But what about your friend? She doesn’t look the type to be able to dodge ionic detonations.”
Arlen seemed to be surprised at the words, and he shot Ava a glance over his shoulder before returning his attention to the humans. The tension was still visible in his broad back, but his talons retracted inside his fingertips.
“What do you want from us?” Arlen didn’t move from his protective position in front of her. “We mean you no harm. You must know the Eok nation is sworn to protect humans.”
“Yeah, we know all about you and your little deal with Prime Councilor Aav.” The man’s voice was brimming with hatred, as were the blue steel orbs of his eyes. “And we’ll die before we become your little playthings. Now, come forward slowly, or the lady dies.”
