Free Sword of Inquest (La Patron's Sword Book 1) by Sydney Addae

information.” That made sense even though it would make things difficult.
    “Why destroy? Some of it may be useful. You can send the files to La Patron so he can look at them. What kind of research took place in the lab?”
    “ Why do you refuse to speak to me through this link? You speak to others through a link but refuse me, why?”
    Asia stared at the moon and counted to ten. How could she explain her fear? According to Jasmine it would happen sooner or later. The very idea of bonding with him through their link sent chills skittering through her body. “I’m not ready to bond with you. I share a link with one other person, my Mistress.”
    “ You aren’t ready to link with me? But it would be safer for us to communicate in silence .” Hawke didn’t bother masking his surprise.
    Asia didn’t bother masking her annoyance. “I’m working on it.”
     

Chapter 12
     
    Greggor moved slightly and held his jaw. Pain radiated through his face as he sat. The haunting silence in the building screamed his failure. Hawke had left. How had this happened? For the first time in his recollection someone penetrated his uncle’s fortress and from the looks of things, shut down the labs.
    He stood little by little and looked at all the damage. Burn marks from the laser decorated every wall. He winced in remembrance. Jerry had scared him before, but nothing like earlier today. The man moved as if possessed, he’d never seen anything like it, not human at least. The glass wall and door to the communication room were gone. Greggor stared at the empty space for a moment and then stepped across the debris into the area.
    Gathering courage, he typed in his password with a silent prayer. When the screen normalized he smiled and clapped. Hopeful, he brushed the glass from the chair and sat. After entering more commands, he grinned as dot after dot appeared on the screen giving him the locations of the test animals and Hawke. Excited, he would take the three remaining Hybrids in the harvesting truck and retrieve his inventory. The animals could starve in their cages for all he cared, or he’d have the hybrids feed them. As long as he reported success after his failure, his uncle may forgive him. He rubbed his hands with determination, and clicked the button to download the information to the truck’s locator device.
    Nothing happened.
    Confused, he frowned, looked at the dots on the screen again, and clicked the download button. Next he refreshed the screen and instead of the download button appearing, one by one the dots disappeared. Mouth agape he stared horrified at the blank screen.
    “Where’d they go? Where the hell did they go?” He slapped his keyboard and hit the refresh button over and over. The screen blanked. The next second a picture of the castle filled the screen.
    “What the…?” He re-logged and the same picture appeared. He couldn’t access anything in the data base. Not the security cameras, the automatic doors, or lifts. Again, he’d fucked up. Stomach tied in knots he laid his head on the keyboard. Desperate, he searched every nook and cranny of his mind for a solution and came up blank.
    “Wait.” He pushed away from the monitor and stood. Hawke’s system wasn’t connected to the main system.
    The lifts didn’t work. Instead, he headed down the stairs to the lower level and entered Hawke’s lab. Everything looked the same. No sign of a struggle, no blood on the floor. He searched the room for clues and came up empty. Pulling a chair in front of the key board he entered his code, the welcome screen appeared.
    “Good.” He still had access. Rather than search for the test wolves he searched for Hawke and found him. Next, he widened the map, wrote the co-ordinates and then printed a copy. Pressure eased off his chest as he locked down the castle, regained control of security and rebooted the cameras.
    He needed to think in steps, secure his uncle’s property and main investment. Hawke left.