Free The Descent into the Maelstrom (The Phantom of the Earth Book 4) by Raeden Zen

included full immunity for him, though he broke the accord when he disappeared. He resurfaced later on at the Block during Isabelle’s surgical search in Piscator. He had led her to Hans’s clandestine unit where she found Maribel, Hans’s illegal eternal partner, hanging dead from a ceiling fan. After that, interrogations with him had led her to Navita, but Arnao and the Janzers had gathered intel independent of him. The invasion failed, she assumed, because she waited too long, giving the BP a chance to escape.
    Now she wasn’t so sure.
    What she did know was that Zorian could not be allowed to roam freely with the intel he’d accessed working with her. She would take steps to locate him.
    The speech muffled when the Janzer began to lose consciousness. An explosion sent flames over his body, protected by his synsuit.
    Isabelle withdrew. The fire and smoke and shrapnel disappeared and gave way to the white phosphorescent light and chlorine stench of the infirmary. “I’m finished.” The Janzer nodded and sank back onto his bed.
    Isabelle and Lieutenant Arnao exited the infirmary and walked through the Crypt’s tunnels.
    “Did you ID the traitors?” Arnao said.
    “Three out of four of them.”
    “No way did four Polemon wrest Jeremiah Selendia from the Crypt. The Janzer’s mind must’ve fogged or you didn’t connect—”
    Isabelle stopped and turned. “I don’t err in my searches, Lieutenant. I blame you for this as much as these incompetent soldiers. Don’t mistake my mercy for forgiveness. It’s only your long years of servitude to me that have saved you.” Arnao had, in fact, served Isabelle mostly well, first as a Courier of the Chancellor, then in the Department of Communications in various roles. His loyalty to her was undeniable.
    Arnao raised his head. “You told me to secure Hammerton Hall. I secured Hammerton Hall—”
    “Fine job, Arnao, I guess you missed the part when the captain destroyed the chancellor’s evening.”
    “The Phanes Beltway—”
    “You shouldn’t have pulled the Janzers from the hall.”
    “The city would’ve been defenseless, and we didn’t know the breadth or length of the attack.”
    “It is unwise to question one’s superiors, Lieutenant.”
    Arnao’s eyes dropped to the floor. “Yes, my lady.”
    Isabelle spun and entered a capsule in a maglev tube, one which led to Masimovian Tower.

    Beimeni City
    Phanes, Underground Central

    “How goes the investigation?” Atticus said from the terrace that overlooked Masimovian Center, facing North Archway and Artemis Square.
    Lady Isabelle crossed the Grand Salon and approached him, observing the crowd of Phaneans that moved about in the Granville day. “The attack was the work of four Polemon,” she said. “The first I can’t identify, the second, Cornelius Selendia, son of Jeremiah Selendia—”
    He whipped his head around to her. “A Polemon you lost—”
    “Whom you wouldn’t allow me to kill.” She sighed and rubbed her face. “Murray Olyorna, a former RDD scientist on Captain Barão’s team in Palaestra.”
    “Another Polemon you lost, and I didn’t give a shit what you did with Olyorna.” Atticus lifted a golden carafe and poured a glass of wine, which he offered her. She refused. He raised an eyebrow.
    “And Lord Nero Silvana, Captain Barão’s—”
    “ Striker? ”
    Isabelle nodded.
    “What evidence do you have?” Atticus sipped the wine.
    Isabelle moved closer to the balustrade and put her hands upon the railing. She looked out on the city. She’d not allow the BP, or Atticus, to destroy it all. She turned to the chancellor. “I connected to a Janzer survivor. I saw all four of them. And I just connected to a Janzer post in the RDD. Nero scheduled a visit with his eternal partner in the RDD infirmary the evening of the Bicentennial, but never arrived—”
    “Apprehend him, immediately.” Atticus lit a cigar.
    Isabelle adjusted two of her rings and observed her nails, colored