Free Soul Meaning (A Seventeen Series Novel: An Action Adventure Thriller Book 1) by AD Starrling

was the thickest of the group and was filled with copies of research papers published in the last fifteen years by a number of universities in Europe. The recurring subject matter appeared to be cell cycle control and DNA transposition. One name in particular, a Professor H.E. Strauss, appeared as a common contributor in most of the publications and had been highlighted in red ink.
    I turned to the computer and typed ‘Strauss’ in the search box. A single jpeg file and an email reference came up under the results. I directed the arrow over the jpeg file and clicked the mouse.
    An image slowly filled the screen. It was a black and white photograph of a man and a woman, taken at night. They were sitting next to a large bay window inside a restaurant. The man was caught with his back slightly turned and in profile. He was leaning across the table toward the woman, whose face was fully illuminated by the chandelier above their heads.
    Her hair was dark and tumbled in soft curls past her shoulders, framing a pair of almond-shaped, smoky eyes. The light glistened off her full lips and glinted on the thick, intricate sun cross pendant at the base of her throat. She was smiling at the man.
    ‘This the person they’re after?’ said Reid.
    I stared at the woman in the picture, an unfamiliar emotion stirring deep within me. I had to force my gaze away from her face before looking up the email.
    It was from Burnstein and had been addressed to an encrypted account on a remote server somewhere in Europe. Dated several weeks ago, the message was brief: “Arrange Council meeting. Strauss is the key. Must secure at any cost.”
    A soft tinkle sounded somewhere downstairs. Reid and I looked at each other. I rose to my feet just as one of the windows shattered, raining glass shards inside the room. A second later, a smoke grenade sailed through the broken pane and clattered onto the floorboards.

 
    Chapter Six
    T he Crovir Hunters came silently, guns fitted with suppressors. We were almost at the first landing when a volley of bullets whined past us and struck the wall. Shadows shifted at the bottom of the stairs. Muzzles flashed in the gloom.
    I reached for the swords at my waist.
    Bodies fell before me as we were forced up the steps. The blades shuddered in my hands, blocking round after round. Reid fired the Glock repeatedly at the Hunters streaming down a first floor corridor toward us. We stepped over the men he had shot and headed for the master bedroom at the front of the property. I slammed the door shut, locked it, and helped Reid push a dresser across the threshold.
    I walked to the window and stared at the empty yard below. ‘You go first,’ I said briskly. ‘I’ll hold them off.’
    Reid glared at me. Unspoken words filled the silence between us. I didn’t have to state the obvious fact; in a battle with the immortals, he stood at a serious disadvantage.
    There was a thud outside the room. The dresser shifted slightly.
    ‘You owe me for this,’ he said between gritted teeth. He lifted the sash window, climbed over the sill, and turned to catch the keys of the Cruiser. A second later, he disappeared in the night.
    The door crashed open, the dresser scraping across the floorboards with a shriek of tearing wood. I turned to face the men who crowded inside the room. Some held swords. The ones who didn’t had guns.
    ‘Be careful,’ one of the Hunters warned. ‘This is the half-breed.’
    The other immortals glanced at each other uneasily.
    I had hoped Olsson would be among them; there were some burning questions I needed to ask my old friend. Still, I had no doubt our paths would cross again if I survived this night.
    My breaths slowed as I silently repeated the mantra taught to me by my Edo master, my feet moving to the basic starting stance of kendo.
    Eyes narrowed on the other side of the floor.
    ‘Gentlemen,’ I said quietly.
    The next sixty seconds were a blur of light and shadows. A bullet missed my head by an