Page 2 of The Last Strike

Asher looked to James, wondering when he’d last slept. They’d been up all night the previous night—when the palace had been under attack—and then they’d spent the day in negotiations with the kingdom leaders. Yet he appeared wide awake and alert as he commanded Reed. When did the guy sleep?

“Copy. Moving into position one.”

Asher followed James’s gaze to the two screens directly in front of him. Two different windows of footage were displayed on one—Reed’s front and back cameras.

The other monitor displayed a map of the Adani palace grounds. King Khalil loved to invite the media into his palace, and his ego would now be his downfall. Samuel had been able to take the media photos published online and combine them with images not previously published—Asher didn’t ask where those photographs came from—to create what they thought was an almost perfect map of the grounds. It had been very helpful in formulating their plan.

As Reed ran along the east boundary of the palace wall, Asher’s worries began to bubble like a pot of water on the verge of boiling.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to send him in without a team?” Asher asked.

He already had the blood of his soldiers on his soul. He didn’t need it to be smeared with Reed’s blood as well.

“A team will attract too much attention. Reed is there because he can move like a ghost. He can do this alone. A team would be destined to fail.” James looked to him. “You need to trust me on this.”

Asher nodded. He did trust James, but it seemed almost insane to send one guy in to take down an entire palace. Needless to say, this was an unusual plan. Initially, they’d planned to attack the palace in the same manner King Khalil had attacked—by sending inteamsof men to destroy the palace and kill Asher. But Khalil had only partly succeeded, and Asher was determined to fully succeed.

“King Khalil used brute force, manpower,” James continued. “If Reed does this right, he’ll be in and out of the palace before they’ve even realized they had a visitor, and then we let nature take its course. You won’t win this war with brute strength, Asher—you don’t have the resources available, even with the other kingdoms’ aid. Strategy is your only option.”

James was right, and Asher knew it.

Still, the responsibility weighed on his shoulders like a kingdom of bricks. He thought of his father, wondering if he was looking down over Santina. Would he think this was a brilliant idea or a disastrous one? Because it could only go one way.

But his father wasn’t there. King Khalil had made sure of that—and he’d taken Noah before almost killing his mother.

Without declaring it, King Khalil had started a war. And now Asher would finish it.

“In position.”

“Copy. Detonate,” James commanded.

Asher held his breath as a round of roaring, crashing thunderclaps echoed through the speaker system.

“Go!” James said as Reed launched up, scaling the brick wall. Then, “Steady,” as Reed neared the top.

Another screen of footage flashed up, and Asher knew it was the small camera Reed was using to look above him.

As they’d hoped, everyone on the grounds was running toward the explosion.

“Detonate!” James said.

Another explosion boomed, and then another.

Chaos followed. Men yelled and ran in all directions.

“Go!” James said and Reed seemed to pounce up on top of the wall and run toward the adjoining palace. He was conveniently dressed in an Adani soldier’s uniform—one unlucky soldier had been sacrificed upon Reed’s arrival. The soldier had been deemed a necessary sacrifice, and Asher would have to live with that. Better one Adani soldier than all of Santina, Asher had justified.

Asher’s eyes dropped to the numbers counting down in the bottom of the screen.

“One minute, twenty seconds,” James said, his mind clearly all too aware of the time as well.

Asher looked at the dot tracking on the screen, indicating Reed’s position. He was almost to the palace. Asher refused the urge to pace and instead homed in his focus.

“Detonate,” James said again and another explosion followed.

The camera footage bounced wildly as Reed ran, and Asher couldn’t get a clear picture of the grounds. But that was the fourth explosion and Asher prayed it would be enough of a distraction.

Reed needed three minutes inside the palace.

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