The Syphon King (Bayou Bishops #16)

Chapter SEVENTEEN

“Move back,” Harlow said as several Kings carried the woman out and hurried with her somewhere. “Quantum will have to use his body to deliver a high-voltage-override pulse.”

They all retreated right as intense blue arcs of electricity crackled and surged around their seized-up bodies. Harlow's heart vibrated in his chest from the power humming around them. Harlow fought with his panic as Quantum’s golden eyes filled with the electricity coursing through them, the volt so strong it made them both stiff as stone.

“Holy fuck,” Vex muttered, as bursts of electrical discharges sparked along their skin, the lights in the corridor flickering then bursting.

The electricity vanished and their bodies fell slack, leaving only heavy breathing from the shocked onlookers to fill the eerie silence while the smell of ozone singed the air.

Harlow bolted into action, hurrying to the lifeless men, skin singed and smoldering. “We need to bring them to the Regenesis Chamber. Quantum’s system will come back online in three minutes, and he’ll revive Zodak. Hurry!” he yelled, his fucking panic taking him as he fought to lift the giant off his brother.

Come on brother, don’t fucking glitch with this one, Harlow begged in his neuro-link as they ran both giants to the medical room. Their dead weight required four men each, two at their head, two at their feet. “How much farther,” Harlow yelled, as they hurried right through crowds of gasping onlookers.

“It’s at the end of this hall,” one of the Kings said behind him. “Hurry and get everything online that he may need.”

“How much time has passed?” Harlow huffed.

“Since when, exactly?” one of them asked.

“Since my brother shocked them to fucking death. Christ, keep up with me!”

“Two minutes,” another King answered.

“Two minutes, Brother,” he swore. “One more minute and you’re waking your ass up and cleaning this fucking mess, you heavy sonofabitch!”

“Put Quantum here,” one of the King’s ordered when they entered the large room.

“We need better fucking restraints than this on our brother,” the Vex King ordered. “Get the bed with the titanium cuffs.”

“On it.”

“Thirty seconds,” Harlow said, glancing at the white giant on the table a few feet away, his lower jaw and chest covered in blood. He turned his attention back to his brother, fighting not to see how fucking dead he was.

“Make sure he’s strapped tight,” Vex ordered as Harlow stared at the seconds on his watch.

He stood exactly next to quantum at the ten second mark. “Nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one...”

Come on, come on.

His dead face remained dead, and he nodded.

“The seconds aren’t exact,” one of the Kings said as Harlow paced next to him, his heart raging with worst-case scenarios.

“What’s plan B if he doesn’t wake?” Nidev asked.

Harlow didn’t take his eyes off Quantum. “He’ll wake.” He planted himself next to his bed, crossing his arms.

“Twenty seconds.”

The announcement cranked up Harlow’s adrenalin. He was flailing within his own head, needing his brothers. The pushing and shoving in every emergency, Augustine keeping them contained, Kult working out the problem, Pain sucking down their fears and agony, Atlas showing him exactly what Kult said to fucking do while Sync made music of all of it.

“Thirty seconds, Dr. Harlow,” a voice said from somewhere in the room.

“You can do this, son.”

Harlow spun to the emphatic voice behind him. The sight of Dr. Ubaldo brought a jolt through his body.

“You need to save your brother now. You know what to do.”

His calm assurance broke the stranglehold on his fucking brain, allowing answers to flood in. “I need an external defibrillator. And someone prep a high-dose epinephrine shot. If the synthetic adrenaline surge doesn't kick in within a minute, we’ll manually jumpstart his system.”

Harlow hurried to the other side of the table. “If you have a neural stimulator, get that too. Hook it up to his temples and set it to pulse mode. I need the bio-monitor fully active on him with real-time updates on his heart rate, brain activity, and blood oxygen levels.”

“What about Zodak,” Vex demanded.

“As soon as I wake this fucker up, he’ll know what to do.”

Quantum suddenly took a huge breath and sat up on the bed.

Shock and relief nearly knocked his legs out from under him. “You’re a fucking minute late!”

Quantum hurried off the bed. “Zodak’s dark energy grew the second before I zapped us. I had to up the kill dose thereby slightly increasing recovery time.”

He stood next to Zodak’s still body, looking around. “Do you have a nanofabrication unit?”

“Yes. The Bio-synth Fabricator. We also have a Medi-bot Quick Deploy storage with a five-minute turnaround.”

“Get it online and configure it for high-speed synthesis of AI-integrated nanobots. I'll upload the specs from my database—we need to hurry and get his darkness quarantined before it kills more than his body.”

Everybody scattered in various directions while Harlow realized the Marsh Kings were helping too.

“I need a visual on Zodak immediately,” Quantum ordered.

“The screen on the ceiling above to your left,” one called out.

“Harlow, get ready to patch in. Another team must prep for the cardio revival sequence. Prepare twenty-five thousand units for immediate deployment. Programmed for ATP and calcium ion release for myocardial activation.”

“Nanofabrication is online,” a King called from the front of the room.

Harlow raced over as a King moved a second chair in place for him.

“Set the fabricator for graphene-coated nanobots with electromagnetic shielding,” Quantum called. “Once I confirm the frequency to disrupt the dark energy, you’ll load it into the nanobots with dual commands: disrupt the dark energy and repair ischemic damage, especially in the brain and heart.”

“Why disrupt and not neutralize?” a King demanded.

“Because there’s a whole lot more than darkness in what he’s siphoned. And if she’s going to live, she’ll need it back. I’m quarantining all of it so it can be carefully extracted and returned to her.”

“Fuck,” the Vex King whispered as murmurs of dread swept through the room.

“What about neural revival and support systems?” a King wondered.

“Another 25,000 units focused on cortical stimulation. Set them to emit mild electrical pulses—start at 0.5 Hz.

“What are we carrying the bots with?”

“Prepare a fast-absorbing, highly permeable carrier fluid for immediate bloodstream action.”

“Lore, that’s you,” a King called.

“Got it.”

“What are we loading this with?” another King yelled.

“High-efficiency syringes,” Quantum said. “Use the surgical unit’s electromagnetic injectors to avoid energy interference.”

Harlow’s fingers shook over the keyboard, waiting for the specifics.

You see this?” Quantum muttered to somebody behind him.

“Yes. The wavelength corresponds to 15.3 kHz.”

“Call it.”

“Already heard,” Harlow yelled. “Setting nanobot frequency to 15.3 kHz.”

“We’ll need multiple injection sites targeting major vascular junctions near the core of dark energy. I’ll need two men on that side and two on my side.”

Four men hurried forward, one of them the genius dark haired Marsh brother.

“Vex, you, handle the injections at the neck, Skul, you handle the hip. Harlow, you’re across from Skul, Lesion, here. Lore, monitor the vitals and feedback from the nanobots. We need to know the second they engage the dark energy.

“Let’s begin.”

Four syringes moved in.

“Slowly,” Quantum directed.

“Live feedback on screen two above your heads,” a tech called. “Nanobots are now engaging.”

“I see them,” Quantum informed. “The dark energy is adapting, increase output on resonance frequencies by twenty percent—stay ahead of it.”

“Increasing twenty percent,” the tech called.

“Prepare another batch of nanobots with alternative configurations,” Quantum ordered. “We might need to hit it with a different tactic if it adapts again.”

“It’s seven-minutes, Boss,” Harlow said.

“Aware.”

“The bots are working,” a tech announced eagerly.

Thank fuck.

“Initiate energy transfer protocol at full capacity,” Quantum instructed. “Direct all nanobots towards the left hand using the predetermined safest route.”

“We have dispersion,” Harlow called out, pissed.

“Adjust the field strength by fifteen percent.”

Fucking dark energy bullshit reminded him of Handy all over again.

“Engage the nanobots to harden the containment field and sync all security measures to my console,” Quantum directed.

“Done,” a King called. “Monitoring on all frequencies.”

“Ready the revival bots for post-revival stabilization. I want a smooth transition once we bring him back.”

“Syncing all revival equipment to the main bio-monitor now.”

“This bastard energy is showing signs of flux,” Harlow warned.

“Adjust the containment field strength by fifteen percent.”

“The standard protocol advises only ten percent increments,” a King said.

“Override,” Quantum ordered.

“Overriding,” the same King affirmed.

Harlow eyed the screen, his pulse still jacked as the bots around the blob of dark energy solidified into a dense wall. He stared at the luminescent light imprisoned within it, realizing he was staring at the woman the Syphon King loved. And basically, all but killed.

He didn’t look forward to what was coming when they revived him.

“Dark energy containment is complete,” Harlow announced, letting out a breath.

“And stable,” the other King monitoring added.

“Don’t exhale yet, Brothers,” Quantum said. “It’s time to bring him back.”

Fuck. “Should we consider starting with a higher ATP dosage given the severity?” Harlow asked.

“We need to monitor his initial response. Overstimulation could lead to arrhythmias.”

“Containment field stability is remaining within parameters,” a King informed.

“Medi-bot Quick Deploys are ready,” another King announced.

“Another fluctuation in containment,” Harlow called out, his muscles burning.

“Give us another fifteen percent security field,” Quantum ordered.

“Medi-bot injections ready.”

“Bring them,” Quantum hurried.

Same four men returned, armed with syringes.

“Commence injection. Same as before.”

Harlow focused on stilling the shake in his hands as he slowly administered the dosage.

“Medi-bots injected,” Quantum called, watching the screen above them.

“All eyes on cardiac response,” a King said.

Harlow’s gaze moved quickly between the containment to their patient’s revival readings.

“Rhythms still irregular.”

“Should we hit him with the defibrillator now?” a King asked.

“Wait on that. Increase the ATP by five percent. Let’s stabilize the rhythm gradually.”

“ATP increased,” the King said.

“We're seeing improvements,” another King announced, hope edging.

“We got us a stable heart rhythm!” Harlow yelled out. “Fuck yeah!”

The cheering brought a mix of hope and dread as he eyed the containment.

“Harlow, keep a close eye for fluctuation in the dark energy.”

“Eyes fucking glued to it. We should reinforce just in case.”

“Boost it another fifteen percent.”

“Containment enhanced,” a King said. “It’s holding.”

“Once he’s fully stable, we’ll begin the extraction of Zen’s essence from the dark energy. While I restore them to her, Dr. Harlow will start procedures to permanently enable Zodak to transmute and control all future dark energies that he siphons.”

“He’s stabilizing. Heart rate steady and strong,” a King called.

More relieved breaths filled the room.

“Time to wake his brain,” Quantum announced. “Bring the prepared neural activation injections loaded with 25,000 units. This will cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver targeted electrical pulses. Start at 0.5 Hz.”

Again, they stood next to Zodak at injection sites.

“Commence injections,” Quantum said as the same four carefully emptied their syringes while hope and dread spiked through Harlow.

“Neural injections complete,” Quantum said, eyes on the screen above.

“What the fuck is happening here?” Harlow demanded, pointing at the containment screen. “Is it trying to tear her apart?”

All eyes flew to the various monitors.

“What is it doing?” Nidev demanded.

“Can it kill this part of her?” another King asked.

“I need to extract immediately,” Quantum hurried. “But we need to continue with neural revival procedures.”

“Go, we got it,” Harlow hurried. “You need to do it fucking quick.”

“My God, it’s shredding her,” a King muttered.

“I need Zen’s biosignature from a recent medical scan, do we have that?”

“Here,” Lore called.

“Pull up the bio sync fabricator program and encode her data into the nanobots then load a syringe with 5 ml and 60,000 nanobots. Harlow, I need stats.”

“I’m at 5 Hz. Thakx, prep the TMS unit. We’ll try magnetic stimulation directly on the cortical regions. It’s more invasive but we need to break through this neural silence.”

“His heart rate is dropping,” a King yelled. “He’s going into cardiac arrest!”

“Check the rhythm!” Harlow ordered. “I need a crash cart here, now! Prepare for defibrillation. Charge to 200 joules.”

Skul quickly wheeled in the defibrillator as Harlow applied gel pads to Zodak’s chest.

“Charging’s complete,” Skul informed.

Harlow placed the paddles on location. “Everybody clear.” He pressed the button, the shock jolting through his body.

“Assessing rhythm,” Skul said, his ragged breaths shaking. “No change.”

“Increase to 300 joules,” Harlow ordered. “Come on King!”

“Increased to 300 joules,” Skul said as another King added more gel to the paddles.

Harlow placed them precisely and called out, “Clear!” The jolt raised his massive chest off the bed then dropped it.

“Assessing rhythm,” Skul called out again as Quantum arrived with the extraction syringe. “Nothing,” Skul said.

“Wait!”

They turned, seeing one of the Marsh men pointing at the screen. “The darkness isn’t trying to tear her apart. She’s breaking free.”

The same man hurried over to Zodak and Quantum stepped aside as he placed a hand on his head.

That’s their Seer, Quantum said, reminding him they were still neuro-linked. One of their highly gifted.

Harlow locked his gaze on the screen above as the room filled up, all eyes on the action. “Holy shit, he’s right,” Harlow said, watching the luminescent light vibrating above the darkness now.

“She knows,” the Seer whispered as he turned bright blue eyes to Zodak. “She knows her King needs her.” His eyes glowed with tears as he placed his forehead on the Syphon King’s. “Hold the line with me, brother. Your angel is coming with backup.”

ZODAK’S FURY WAS DYING with him. Over and over, the light flickered within his grasp. But he was engulfed in dark flames. Limbs chewed off by malevolent shadows.

Reason.

What was it?

Purpose.

Where was it?

He dug through his own blood and bones for answers to this pain of a thousand nightmares. Every attempt got swallowed up by a cold, dead maw. No more beckoning light. No more battling furiously against the chains that ensnared him. No more hateful sea dreams. No more monstrous leviathan suffocating hope. No more being crushed. No more anything.

The nightmare loop returned and woke Zodak with a blast of pain in his chest. Back to destroy him. Again and again. Forcing him to see her dancing light. Bright and beautiful. A thousand suns. And her laughter. Cutting his chest open and crushing all his bones.

Zodak’s head filled with a fire wind, spinning like a tempest down into his lungs. A growling in his ear wiped away the noisy death, leaving a sparkling silence.

“Hold the line with me brother. Your angel is coming.”

The voice plunged straight into the pores of Zodak’s skin. Warm, yellow, silky. Beautiful. It filled his lungs and chest, his muscles and bones. It wrapped every cell in his body with a tight hug and danced in his blood and sang in his soul.

“I have a fucking heartbeat!” a voice yelled near him.

“We have a lot of neural action,” another voice hurried.

Air flooded his lungs and he gasped, fighting to get up. Terror seized him at realizing he still wasn’t free, something held him. “SEER!” he roared.

“Release him!” a familiar voice ordered.

“Nidev,” Zodak rasped as his legs and arms were freed.

Strong hands lifted him up and wrapped him tightly. “Brother,” Seer blasted in his ear.

“Samuel,” he gushed, grabbing hold of him. “I heard you. I heard you.” He pressed his head into his neck, his heart bursting. “Zeen!” he remembered, panic rushing in. “She was here, I felt her, it was her!” He fought to turn, looking around then pushed through Seer and hit the floor, hurrying to his feet. “Zeen! Where is Zeen!”

Seer was before him, strong hands locked on his shoulders. The look in his gaze stole Zodak’s breath and strength. “Brother... where is she?” he pled, shaking his head. “No... please no. I killed her, I fucking killed her,” he forced from his foul mouth.

Seer’s arms went around him tightly. “She’s not dead brother. She’s still alive. You were right, she was here. She is here. She’s resting while the doctors fix everything.”

Zodak embraced him back. The nightmare was real. She’d given him everything and he’d taken it. “I need her, brother,” he wept. “I love her. I won't live without her. I will not.”

Hard, hot pain streaked up Zodak’s arm and dropped him to his knees.

“We’ve got action in that containment, Boss!”.

A roar tore from Zodak’s chest as he clutched the agony in his limb.

“It’s trying to break out,” somebody yelled.

“We need to secure him and extract it immediately,” a deep voice ordered.

Excruciating pressure spun Zodak in wild circles, the torture making him desperate.

“We need him back on this table, gentlemen!”

“Zodak!” Seer yelled.

He searched for his voice, his salvation, finally locking on to Seers face.

“They need to remove what you siphoned from Zeen!”

“Fuck, it’s going to break out!”

Zodak realized what they were saying. The darkness he’d taken from Zeen was in his hand. They’d trapped it.

“We’re fucking out of time!”

The power pounding in Zodak’s hand turned debilitating. His muscles locked up and he could only stare at the panic in Seer’s gaze as he grabbed Zodak’s arm and dragged him to the operating bed. Zodak looked at his hand, pinned to the bed by Seer, right as a silver blade flashed down and passed right through his arm. He stared at his severed hand on the bed, then at Seer. Terror filled his blue eyes now bright with tears. The room spun and the ceiling danced, moving in and out of the darkness swimming in his vision. Voices splintered into a million chaotic sounds that dragged across his skull. A reverb of terror, and rage. And finally darkness.