Page 77 of Arresting the Warlord

“Truce, or do I leave you behind?”I hit her again with my freeze ray.

“Truce. That bastard is using my, ah, brother as a test subject.”

Damn. That explained a lot. I released her. “What does he look like?”The image of a tall, athletic teenager with way too many tattoos formed in my mind. His thick black hair stood up in spikes. The sneer on his mouth made me want to smack him.“Do you know where he’s being held?”

“In Giovanni’s lab. It’s down this corridor, through a burial chamber and the second door on the left.”

Had Jia gotten her intel from raiding Giovanni’s mind or from her brother?“What’s your brother’s name?”

“Adam Stanka. He’s a singer in a heavy metal band.”

That explained the attitude.“Do you have any idea how many test subjects Giovanni has here?”

“Adam, his band mates and twenty of their fans were taken from a bar in Verona.”

Whoa! Giovanni had to have a few cops on his payroll to pull off a stunt like that. “Did you go to the police?”

Jia gave me a look.“No, but I hacked into their servers. They’ve done this before. Almost a hundred people are missing from Verona alone.”

“Do you know if Earth First is involved?”

“I don’t have any hard evidence, but a lot of the test subjects are missing psychics.”

On my private link with Jake, I asked,“You get all of that?”

“Yes. Your father, Zarek and Trayon are here. We’re taking down Giovanni’s security systems and breeching in thirty seconds. We’ll meet you at the lab.”

“Copy.” Boom!The floor bucked beneath my feet.

Jia’s mouth tightened.“Your team?”

“Yes. What has Adam been able to tell you?”

“Not much. Giovanni keeps him sedated, but I keep getting flashes of an older Rodan injecting a blue liquid into him and the other captives.”

My lips drew back in a feral snarl. The Rodan considered psychic brains a delicacy and human meat was a big seller at their version of a supermarket.“Are you sure that bastard’s working with the Rodan?”

“I am.”

Lightning bolts crackled around me as my rage grew. The Rodan had taken every living soul in White Rock, Arizona aboard their slaughter ships. Including the animals. Any human that willingly worked with them needed to put down like a rabid dog. I wanted to kill Giovanni myself, but Zarek would have a hissy fit and I didn’t want Jake or Father caught in the crossfire.“We need to take him alive.”

“No! That monster dies today,”Jia snapped.

“Sorry, but Zarek wants him alive so he can interrogate him.”

Jia gasped in alarm,“You work for Zarek?”

“I’m his new investigator.”

A soul-haunting howl echoed through the catacombs.

Jia shuddered.“That poor creature.”

“Probably one of Giovanni’s lab creations. Speaking of creations, eight of Giovanni’s super soldiers are running loose in the catacombs,”I said and flashed her a picture of them.

“Dio mio.” Jia crossed herself.

“Shrek and my uncle are the two best healers in the galaxy. They should be able to help your brother and the others.”

---