The Fourth Zaldizko

Conversations were pa.s.sed around the room with ideas and plans being argued or agreed amongst the knights. If talks became heated, Deacon or Leinard stepped in to calm conversations and bring matters back to hand.

Death, War and myself sat silently watching the exchanges from the fourth row, lost in our own thoughts about our baby brother"s demise. It pained my heart that he wasn"t in a group who cared for him like the knights cared for us.

"Ugh." I cursed at the nip I felt to my ear and frowned at Marilyn when I rubbed it better.

"Like, you"re such killjoy right now, cool your head." She squawked into my ear.

I sighed and closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing and visuals to limit my emotions to myself and shrink them down until they were as small as a pea.

It was a method that Bulldog had taught me for when my emotions were out of control. I smiled at the memory of his saggy cheeks flapping with his hearty laughter to my failed attempts and scowl. I was such a brat back then. My heart felt a lot calmer when I opened my eyes.

"We need to retrieve their brother before the Illuminate Group gains complete control over the Baleful Rider and its power since it"s obvious he is strongly linked to it." Deacon advised.

"How"d we do dat?" Gavin piped up. "Yah mentioned it yahself dat he be in a triuta house."

"A what house?" I innocently blurted my question.

All the knights faced me.

"It"s a place where people are sold to be s.e.x workers. They are managed by a diabolical tyc.o.o.n called Marlo Delconis-Araki. He earns most of his fortune being head of the Triuta Mafia, which has strong connections to the Illuminate Group through his younger brother Commander Hale Araki." Deacon matter-of-factually answered. "To make matters worse, these men are first cousins to the High King."

This stirred a heated response for the knights, which Deacon calmed with a show of his hand.

The calmness of my heart was on the verge of being shaken again. "And Pesti is there?"

Deacon sighed and paused before carefully answering. "Strong possibility based on the conversation we witnessed."

"Then what must be done to save him?" Death coolly asked his question.

Deacon walked to the metal box that had shown Marla"s last moment, pulled out an iron die from his pocket and dropped it into the chute.

A map of a complex mansion was shown on the screen. The layout spanned the entire gla.s.s wall screen with all its 12 levels laid out.

"This is Marlo"s new mansion hidden within Dolls Lane. Marla was also able to capture the blueprints to her tracelink before she was claimed. She obviously risked her life and soul to capture these from her informant within the City Council"s Planning Department."

He pointed out the servant entry and exit points, which showed signs of magical protection.

"Likely with malignant spells." Leinard mused aloud with his eyes fixed on a servant"s entrance near the kitchen hall. "This layout is quite similar to a house Trix and I were in years ago."

Deacon snapped his fingers with his agreement. "You hit the point. It is, since this is Marlo"s proven ultimate mansion fortress. The only way in is to be invited or hauled inside."

"What happens if you try to sneak in?" One of the captains asked.

"According to the notes on the blueprint, intruders become shrill glitter." Deacon pointed out to some symbols and text printed around the entrances on the map.

"All the security checkpoints use aura pattern a.n.a.lysis judging by the symbols. As you know, everyone has their own signature base aura. If the reader doesn"t recognize the base pattern, it"ll force a shrill down a persons throat and turn them into dust."

I stiffened with fright at the thought of it. So, how were they going to get in if you needed an invitation? Or, surely they weren"t thinking of sending in knights to be s.e.x slaves again.

"You"re not thinking of sending in knights to be s.e.x slaves again?" Trix shuddered. "Cause you know how that went last time."

Deacon faced Trix with a sigh. "Not this time. Marlo won"t allow that mistake to happen again, and he has been very selective with his range this time around. Especially when it has taken him almost seven years to reclaim his losses from that time we were able to shut down his business in Dan Forest."

"Pft. There"s a way. Otherwise, you wouldn"t call us in." Teagan got to the point.

Deacon"s black beard twitched with his devious smile. "There is. Captain Hunter if you please."

The Leinard copycat rose from his seat and dropped his iron die into the box"s chute to change the scene on the screen. He took center stage before the seated knights, next to Deacon.

"This is the blueprint of the security mechanism the mansion has installed." Sewell pompously informed his peers.

It did look like he had copied Leinard"s style. His brown hair was slicked back with the short side flick at the top like the colonel"s. The light shade of brown eyes seemed to have something done to them, so they glistened with a similar greyish tone. His regimented black boots carried the same star formation stamped on the vamps and backs. His stoic expression reminded me of Leinard the most, which seemed to be forced and practised; even to the point of balancing his hips slightly to one side upon standing like Leinard would do from time to time.

I glanced to Leinard who didn"t seem to think anything of it by his nonchalant expression.

"Aah, dats an optical resonator device dat uses clear quartz beads lined with silver to refract light to go through a gla.s.s disc. This disc"s underside is cut like a prism and angled to channel an intense beam in a specific direction." War mused enthusiastically aloud that made the knights turn their heads his way with impressed expressions.

It left Sewell"s square jaw dropping with a frown. Obviously, he wasn"t impressed about War usurping his moment.

"Well done. Yes, this is the latest version Aura Scanner. The beam is moved across the body to detect the fine wavelengths that form the unique aura signature. If the signature returns a valid reading as noted in a Readout Book, the person pa.s.ses through."

War whistled, impressed and feeling a hopeless cause at the same time.

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"That does make pa.s.sing such a screen test impossible." Death added.

"Not to mention, they have four per check point to ensure one hundred percent accuracy." Deacon confirmed on the possibility of tricking the scans.

A few knights voiced their ideas, suggestions and opinions on other possible ways to enter but were shut down with the same answer. All possible access points eventually led to an Aura Scanner. Marlo had spent a lot of time and investment to ensure the place was water tight.

The knights relaxed in their chairs, scratching their heads and carrying the same expression of a lost cause.

"Now knights. Can you honestly call yourselves upholders of balance and order if you can"t solve this one tricky problem." Deacon reprimanded his knights.

"So, what"s the possibility you have found and willing to test?" Leinard asked.

Deacon flashed his leaders a devious grin. "Indeed."