Page 60 of Taurus's Quest
While wide-eyed, she appeared unharmed and even managed a tremulous smile at the sight of him.
With feet planted, Taurus yelled, “I brought what you wanted. Release Circe and I’ll hand it over.”
“Prove it.”
Taurus unbuttoned his coat and extracted the clear plastic sleeve protecting the fragile sheets. He held it up. “Right here.”
“Place them on the ground and take two paces back.”
Doing as told, Taurus laid the plastic sleeve down and retreated before crossing his arms.
The man grabbed Circe by the arm and approached the package. As he got within reaching distance of the plans, Taurus growled, “Not one more step until you release her.”
“You can have the woman.” Demetrius gave her a shove, and Circe wasted no time running to Taurus. While he wanted to hug her, he instead murmured, “Get behind me.” At least then, if anyone shot, his body might provide protection.
“Demetrius has the rock we need,” Circe murmured at his back.
Good to know.
“So when does the ambush begin?” The man smiled, seemingly unperturbed.
“How about now?” Libra released his concealing pocket of shadow and strode forward, gun pointed.
“Hold off shooting him,” Taurus ordered. “Aries said we should try and keep the leader for questioning.”
“That would be a waste of time since nothing I could say will prevent the masters from claiming your planet.”
“What masters?”
Rather than reply, Demetrius bent and grabbed the plastic sleeve, pulling out the sheets and ripping them.
With Circe safe, boldness filled Taurus. “You do realize we made copies.”
“Doesn’t matter. You don’t have what you need to make the machine work.”
“You mean the rock? I have no problem taking it from your dead body.”
Rather than react to the threat, Demetrius smirked. “You want the scout transport? Take it.” The rocky sphere sailed in Taurus’ direction, and he thought nothing of catching it, only belatedly recalling it might be the root cause of whatever infected Demetrius and Andreas. In good news, Taurus didn’t feel any different. In the bad, would he even know?
“How come you don’t seem worried we’ll use it? I told you we still have the schematics for the device.”
“Build as many as you like. None of them will be able to stop the masters. This time, the enemy won’t be able to interfere.”
“If that’s true, then why even demand this exchange?” Because it made no sense to Taurus.
“To see you one last time,” Demetrius’ enigmatic reply.
A gunshot rang out, along with a distant yell.
Demetrius cocked his head. “It appears our task here is done.” With that claim, Demetrius raised his face to the cloud-riddled sky and stretched out his hands. A strange ululation emerged from his mouth, repeated elsewhere. While it seemed impossible, it appeared to agitate the storm. Deep booming thunder rolled, and the ozone in the air intensified, lifting the hairs on his body.
A jagged bolt descended and struck Demetrius. The man didn’t scream or even jiggle. Simply opened his mouth to exhale before falling over.
Before Taurus could react, he got hit next, the electricity coursing through his body but, unlike Demetrius, not enough to kill. Thank the stars for that.
More lightning streaks descended around the Agora, and as his brothers—and sister—jogged from the stormy shadows to join Taurus, they all shared the same story.
All of the people Demetrius brought had been felled by lightning. In good news, they were all dead. In the bad, they would have only suicided themselves for one reason.
