Jude (sci-fi romance - The Ember Quest Book 5) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Jude

  The Ember Quest, Volume 5

  Arcadia Shield

  Published by Arcadia Shield, 2018.

  While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

  JUDE

  First edition. February 6, 2018.

  Copyright © 2018 Arcadia Shield.

  Written by Arcadia Shield.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Jude (The Ember Quest, #5)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21 | Tobias

  Other books in this series:

  Heath

  Kade

  Lincoln

  Arlo

  EXPLORE OTHER SERIES by Arcadia Shield:

  The Vortex Alien Warriors

  Chapter 1

  The high-pitched squeal in Jude Ember’s ear had him wincing. He yanked the earbud out. “Dragon damned piece of junk.”

  It wasn’t the technology’s fault. The State were getting better at masking their comms signals. They were quicker at picking up when he was listening to them. It was making it harder to keep everybody safe.

  “Is there a problem?” The voice of his brother Tobias sounded through the speakers. He was a hundred miles away in Alpha zone seven, scouting a potential new underground bunker for them to expand into.

  Where Jude lived—a secure underground facility in Old London—was crowded. With over four thousand people in the long-abandoned Cold War bunker, they needed more space. Not that he minded. Jude was glad they had so many people joining them in the fight against the State—the ruthless leader who’d swooped in one day, killed the ruling monarchy, slaughtered the dragons, and taken their place.

  “An equipment malfunction,” said Jude. “Change to channel fifteen. We should get a few minutes of peace before the State track us.”

  “Copy that.”

  Jude smiled ruefully. His brother was always the professional. He used to be an outgoing guy, always cracking jokes and laughing with anybody. Then he’d been buried alive for three days when the State blew up the building he was in. After that, he was different. Who wouldn’t be?

  “How’s the site looking?”

  “Empty.”

  “Has it got potential?”

  “I think so. We’ll need to drill lines for cabling so we can get power. This stuff is from the fifties. It needs a complete refit.”

  “Are you thinking of setting up home there?”

  “Not unless it comes with a rooftop apartment.”

  That was another thing about Tobias; he hated being underground. It was the reason he’d chosen the dangerous job of finding new locations for them to set up secure bases.

  “You should put in that request to Danni,” said Jude. “She’ll tell you what you can do with your rooftop apartment idea.” Danni Hannigan was in charge of all the bases. She kept everyone in line with her no-nonsense, practical attitude. As a former member of the armed services, she could drop you with one punch. Not that she ever needed to. People around here respected Danni.

  “I’ll ask if I can have a private swimming pool as well,” said Tobias. “She could even join me if she liked.”

  “I didn’t know you were into older women.”

  “Any woman would be good right about now,” said Tobias. “It’s been an age since I’ve had anything soft and sweet in my bed.”

  “You’ve only got yourself to blame,” said Jude. “If you ever stayed in the same place for more than five minutes, you’d find somebody.”

  “Like Octavia, you mean?”

  Jude pressed his lips together. His brothers teased him about his infatuation with the mysterious Octavia Cantrell. He didn’t care. Octavia ran the pirate radio station Flame. She’d been his constant companion in the bunker, pumping out rock tunes and passing on valuable pieces of information about the movements of the State. That information had saved him and his brothers on numerous occasions. He considered Octavia a friend. Actually, he considered her much more than that.

  Tobias chuckled. “I think it’s cute you’re into her. She plays decent music.”

  “And she saves our butts.”

  “That’s definitely a bonus. Do you think you’ll ever meet?”

  “I’m working on it,” said Jude. He’d asked Octavia to meet him three times. On each occasion, she’d turned him down, saying it was too dangerous. He hated to admit it, but it stung that she’d rejected him.

  “You need to work harder,” said Tobias. “A sexy-sounding woman like that will not stay on her own forever.”

  Jude nodded. That was the problem. As far as he could work out, Octavia was all alone. He’d never been able to get an exact fix on her location. He figured she must move around the country to stay under the radar of the State. It was a smart thing to do. If they ever found her, they’d kill her. She’d helped their enemies too many times.

  “I’m at the next secure door,” said Tobias. “What are the schematics showing you?”

  “You’re entering the living quarters.” Jude scanned the blueprints in front of him. Thanks to Kade, his genius systems-hacking brother, they had access to information on the site Tobias was scouting. “There should be room in there for at least five hundred people.”

  Tobias cursed. “The door is jammed. The locking mechanism has been broken from the other side.”

  “No one’s been down there for years,” said Jude. “It could be stuck.”

  “I’ll break through and check out the other side.”

  “Go careful down there,” said Jude. “The walls are so thick I can’t get a live signal feed back here.”

  “The only things I need to worry about are spiders and rats.”

  “They’re bad enough if they’ve been mutated by the State.” It was a sick little thing the State liked to do, mutate creatures into giant, freaky versions that they’d send out to attack people.

  “I’ve got my pulse laser if I need it,” said Tobias. “And the crew aren’t far away.”

  Tobias had a devoted team of three in his recon squad: Abbie Reynolds, Cliff Marston, and Solomon Hill. They had specialist skills in caving and navigation, which were perfect for creeping about underground and avoiding State militia.

  Jude sat back in his seat as he waited for Tobias to break through the lock. He inched the volume up on Flame radio, listening to the throbbing pound of a bass guitar. Jude ha
d always been into indie music, until he’d listened to Octavia. Now he loved nothing more than hearing someone shredding a guitar or a rousing riff that made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

  He was on his own in the comms room. It was a small space with only four seats and four desks. He ran a rota so there’d always be somebody on duty, listening to State chatter and ensuring everyone was safe. Well, as safe as they could be. The State still had most of the population under their hypnotic control. It was how they’d convinced the population they were the rightful rulers, and not enslaving and killing people. It made Jude sick to think about it.

  But they were finding ways to mess with the State and disrupt their dominance, making them realize they weren’t indestructible.

  Not so long ago, they’d come close to capturing the elusive leader of the State, Emperor Endrir. He’d escaped, but they’d gained something better—the return of their missing sister, Izzie.

  He grinned to himself. She’d been back in the bunker for over three months and was recovering well. She didn’t talk much about what she’d seen or experienced at the hands of Emperor Endrir. Part of Jude didn’t want to know. If that sick fuck had hurt his sister, he wouldn’t rest until he’d killed him with his bare hands.

  “How’s the door coming along?”

  “It’s still stuck,” muttered Tobias. “I will have to blast it.”

  “Hey, boss.” It was Abbie over the open comms line they were linked into. “We’ve found some weird shit at this end of the bunker.”

  “Define weird shit?”

  “They look like jelly pods.” This was Solomon. “They’re an oval shape and stuck to the ground.”

  Jude sat up straight in his seat. “Take some images and send them to me.”

  “I’m sending them now,” said Solomon. “They stink, as well. They smell like gone-off cheese.”

  “They smell like you after you haven’t showered for a week,” said Cliff.

  “You stink worse than me after we’ve been on one of these missions,” said Solomon.

  Jude only half-listened to their conversation as he saw the images Solomon had taken appear on his screen. He slid his tongue across his teeth. This was not the first time he’d seen something like this, but he’d never seen them in a bunker before.

  “Are you seeing the images?” asked Solomon. “What are they?”

  “They’re Dinnorm pods.”

  “Holy shit,” said Tobias. “Are you sure?”

  “They can’t be,” said Cliff. “These are too big. We’ve seen Dinnorm pods before, although we had no clue what they were back then. They were half the size of these things.”

  “I’m telling you, that’s what they are,” said Jude. “As for the size, maybe they’re breeding mutants. It’s something of a State speciality.”

  Dinnorms hated being underground. Their parenting skills comprised of laying gelatinous lumps with embryos inside, in a quiet, safe space, and then leaving. Once the infants hatched, they had to find their own way above ground and get their first meal.

  “Are the pods empty?” asked Jude.

  “Whatever was in them, it’s hatched,” said Abbie. “Do you want me to bring back a sample?”

  “You’re carrying the sample,” said Cliff.

  “You’re not man enough to handle a Dinnorm pod?” asked Abbie.

  “It’s got nothing to do with being man enough,” said Cliff. “I just don’t want to stink for the next week.”

  “Too late for that,” said Solomon.

  “Collect a sample,” said Tobias. “Sophia will want to look at it.”

  Sophia was the bunker’s vet turned medic and something of a genius when it came to patching up the injured.

  “We’re on it,” said Abbie. “I’ll deal with the pod so my colleagues don’t break a nail.”

  “Then get over here,” said Tobias. “If those things have hatched and are still trying to find their way out of here, they might chew on us as their next meal.”

  “I’m not picking up movement around you,” said Jude. “But the feed is delayed because the walls down there are hella thick. If this place works out, there’s no way the State will detect us there.”

  “So long as we don’t get eaten by any baby Dinnorms first,” muttered Solomon darkly.

  “You won’t mind losing an arm while I collect a sample of this sticky shit,” said Abbie.

  “I’ll let one of those little monsters bite on my arm if it keeps your sexy ass safe,” said Solomon.

  “You’re such a charmer,” said Abbie.

  “Jude, can you hear me?” It was Octavia. “If you can, switch to secure channel sixty-four. We’ll only have a moment.”

  Jude almost jumped out of his seat. It was the first time Octavia had ever spoken to him directly over the radio. She must be in trouble to be so direct. He scrambled for the channel changer and flipped over to the new channel. “I’m here. Are you okay?” His heart hammered in his chest. Maybe she’d been hurt and was all alone.

  “I’m fine. You need to hear this. I recorded it a few hours ago. I’ve been trying to make sense of it. Something’s wrong.”

  Jude held his breath as a strange-sounding babble filled the channel. He’d heard nothing like it before. It was a combination of clicks and whistles and garbled speech that didn’t sound human.

  “Are you getting this?” asked Octavia.

  “Yes. What the hell is it?”

  “I’ve no clue. I’ve been finding it harder to track State communications over the last month. It’s got me worried. I think they’re planning something big and they don’t want us to know.”

  “Is this Dinnorm language?”

  “Dinnorm?”

  Shit! She didn’t know who the State really were, or how dangerous they truly were. “Octavia, you need to know—”

  “Get down! They’re in here,” yelled Tobias. The sound of laser fire blasted through the speakers.

  “What’s going on?” Octavia’s voice rang with alarm.

  “Fuck!” Jude had been so distracted by Octavia that he’d lost focus. “What’s happening?”

  “Dinnorms are in here,” yelled Tobias. The sound of laser fire blocked out his next words.

  Jude linked to Tobias’s head cam. The feed was patchy and jumpy. He saw flashes of laser fire and could see Tobias was running. The connection died.

  “Jude, can I help?” asked Octavia.

  “The squad is under attack.”

  “Where are they?”

  He hesitated. Heath had warned him so many times not to trust Octavia. They didn’t know her. She could be anyone. But he did trust her.

  “Alpha zone seven,” said Jude. “There’s a new bunker we’re investigating in the north quadrant.”

  “Patch me into your visuals.”

  Jude’s fingers hovered over the keys. Once he did this, she’d have access to his systems.

  “Trust me. I won’t let you down.” Her warm-honeyed tone reassured him.

  He punched in the access commands and hit the send button. “I know. You’ve always had our backs.”

  “Give me a moment; I’m not too far from that zone. My signal will be strong.”

  What could she do? She wasn’t close enough to go in laser guns blazing and take out the Dinnorms.

  “I’ve got them.”

  Jude sucked in a breath. “How can you see them?”

  “I know a few things about wireless mesh nets and mobile site links.”

  Jude’s eyebrows flashed up. This woman was incredible. “What can you see?”

  “There’s a squad of four.”

  “That’s right.”

  “There are six creatures pursuing them.”

  “I’m using a mobile multi-channel microwave signal radio relay to communicate with them,” said Jude. “If I give you the frequency, can you get through and tell them the location of the Dinnorms? I can’t get a live feed from this far away.”

  “That won’t be a problem.
”

  Damn, she was good. “I’ll send it to your usual message box?”

  Jude and Octavia had shared messages via a secure messaging port for months. It began with a few simple comments on the music they liked, but had grown. Before long, he was sharing his deepest secrets and wishes with this woman. She’d been the same. It had made him fall for her hard.

  “Do it.” Octavia’s voice rose in pitch. “The creatures are almost on your squad.”

  Jude keyed in the information and sent it through. He gritted his teeth, frustrated he could do so little to help Tobias and the others.

  “It’s here.” She was silent for a moment. “I think we’re connected.”

  “It’s Tobias in there,” said Jude. He’d told Octavia all about his five brothers and sister. She’d know how important this was to him.

  There was a yell over the comms link. “What the fuck’s going on?” said Tobias.

  “I’ve got you an extra pair of eyes,” said Jude. “Tobias, I’d like you to meet Octavia.”

  SWEAT SLID DOWN THE side of Octavia’s face. She’d never done this before, being so blatant in reaching out to Jude. Now she was in the middle of a fight, trying to keep one of Jude’s brothers alive.

  She hunched over her keyboard. It nestled in between her single cot and the bowl she used to wash in. Her communications equipment might be advanced, but everything else in her converted van was as basic as hell.

  “Tobias, this is Octavia.” She thought her voice sounded hoarse. She cleared her throat. “Can you hear me?”

  “Holy dragons.” Tobias sounded out of breath. “How the fricking fuck are you on our secure comms channel?”

  “That’s a story for another time. You’ve got two creatures ten yards from you on your right.”

  “How the hell...” Tobias was quiet. “I think you’re right. I can hear scuffling sounds.”

  “There are another two approaching from your left. There are six in total.” She let out a quiet breath, not wanting to panic Tobias by sounding anxious.

  “We’re on our way.” Abbie sounded breathless.

  “Damned Dinnorms,” said Solomon.