The Blood King Conspiracy

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The Blood King stood alone in his primary stateroom. His gaze lingered around the walls and upon the images hung there: paintings and black-and-white photographs of Russia in its various forms; the revolution and the deposition of the Tsars; depictions of Petrograd in chaos; and Lenin. The Socialist state at the height of its power. The superpower years. Moscow. The new Russian Federation.

Good. Bad. It mattered not to the Blood King. Russia was his country. His home.

So, he thought, the Americans are coming. He had known it would happen since the day he made the conscious decision to end his lifelong quest. He hadn’t planned on it happening so soon — the unearthing of Blackbeard’s device had accelerated his schedule dramatically.

But no matter. Everything was in place, as it had been for years.

The ranch in Hawaii was almost fully populated. Two more to go. Boudreau had failed him yet again in that task. But Boudreau could yet prove useful. And when that maniac was dead or maimed or imprisoned… there was always the next.

In a few weeks we reach for the gates of hell, he thought. The prospect sent a barrage of icy chills through his body that not even the expectation of murder could match.

His eyes settled upon a thick file that lay open on the table. It contained the names, histories and a full information pack about each of the adversaries who had recently come to his attention. And once his attentions were aroused then Blood King did not hold back.

A heavy knife lay on top of the file, keeping it open. The non-smiling face of a soldier stared up from the page. A once soldier. Matt Drake. The other pages held information about every one of his cohorts and their families.

The lists were exhaustive, as required.

These were the people who had hunted him from the USS Port Royal to Key West; the people he had found and lost in that hotel in Miami.

The Blood King did not suffer such foolishness lightly.

The blood vendetta had been issued. On each of them and on every single member of their families. No future existed for them that wasn’t filled with misery and torment.

The Blood King thought about his escape plan and the secure ranch in Hawaii. All was well. In the end, the ship was always going to be sacrificed and sacrificed hard.

He sat down to read the file again.

Justin Harrison and Jonathan Gates had done well.