Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

out. You’re
being paranoid.
    He continued through to
the center of the park, briefcase in hand. Just past the bushes to his right,
he thought he saw movement. Stopping in his tracks, he stared into the dark.
    “Hello?” he spoke
warily, “Is that you, Jason?”
    Silence.
    Shaking it off, he
continued with a brisker step toward the fountain. The visions of the previous
night were coming back to haunt him. Every night this past week he had felt
trapped as he struggled to escape from similar nightmares.
    He made it to the
fountain without incident, and circled around the grand structure. The center
spring shot high into the air and sprayed upon the cascading turrets. Light
fell on the carved statues of fish and jumping seahorses that stood out from
the water. Not too far ahead of him, he could identify the silhouette of a man
sitting on a bench closer to the lake.
    Allan approached
cautiously, “Jason?”
    The man stood, “I’m afraid
Jason won’t be joining us today.”
    Allan immediately
recognized the cane and slight limp in the man’s step.
    “Mister Demyan?” Allan
stammered in confusion, “I thought we were meeting in a few hours?”
    “I’m afraid we’ll have
to postpone that.” Timur spoke as he cocked his handgun.
    Allan threw up his
hands in shock and staggered backwards, “Wha...”
    “What else did Jason
tell you?”
    “He didn’t... didn’t
tell me... didn’t tell me anything.” Allan stammered.
    “I don’t like people
who lie to me.”
    “All he said... he said
that one of my clients...” the realization dawned on him, “You?”
    “That’s what I was
afraid of.” Timur sighed heavily as he aimed his handgun, “It’s a shame I have
to kill you now.”
    “Wait!”
    But it was too late.
Allan heard the hiss from the silencer and his body was thrown backward with
the piercing bullet. Allan sucked in a rasping, painful breath as his hands
instinctively covered the gaping hole in his chest. As he lay there on the
pavement, he became aware of a silver aura of light surrounding him.
    Still conscious, Allan
looked up in horror at the sickly green light emanating from Timur’s horrendous
eyes. The pain was excruciating, and his breathing slowed with each raspy gasp.
From the tip of the pistol Allan saw a spark as another bullet fired from the
weapon. He closed his eyes in terror. He heard several more bullets pop off,
and yet Allan didn’t feel them pierce his body.
    “Impossible!” Timur
shrieked as he shot off the remaining rounds until he heard the audible click
of unsuccessful attempts.
    Allan knew he must be
dead when he opened his eyes. Multiple spinning bullets hovered in the air just
inches away from his face. When Allan registered the look of confusion on Timur’s
face, the bullets clacked to the ground as the silver aura of light surrounding
him dissipated and the pain in his chest began to recede.
    Timur tossed the gun
aside in frustration. He raised one arm in the sky toward the rising sun and
aimed the other at Allan. The green glow of his eyes burned brighter, and with
a flash, a beam of white light burst from his extended fist. Allan shrieked in
pain with the searing of his flesh.
    As the smoldering heat
washed over him, Allan felt a different kind of warmth emanating from his core.
An aura of silver light ballooned around him, shielding him from the inferno
blasting from Timur’s fist. The excruciating pain subsided and he stopped
screaming. Timur however began to shriek in rage.
    The blinding light stopped
flowing from Timur’s fist, and he instead raised both hands high in the air.
Shadows all around them began to stretch and grow ominously. Several tentacles
reached out from a shadow behind the bushes to Allan’s left. The shadows had
taken tangible form, and the dark tentacles grabbed Allan by his ankles.
    Allan screamed in
terror as he kicked uselessly against his attacker and the tentacles dragged
him into the heart of the shadow. His stomached dropped as he