Dedication (The Medicean Stars Saga Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

help expel another word, deepens, allowing him to draw in a full lungful of air. Gavitte turns to the man addressing him from midway up the tiered seats and lets his rage and turmoil issue forth; it nearly knocks the assembly off their padded thrones.
    “I will not stand down, you will!” Gavitte’s voice rises over the confused assembly. “I will not let these people be led blindly towards their own destruction with your assurances of safety. Your dynasties will end, I’ll see to it myself if it’s the last thing I do!”
    “GUARDS! Arrest this man for treason!”
    “This is not the end, people will hear my voice, this country will be free once more.” His last comment is cut off by the re-sealing of the chamber and the closing of the large oak doors that once stood for integrity. Unfortunately for the ruling bodies, the doors could not stop the state communication network, which broadcasts live all speeches given in this hall, from beaming this particularly indecorous moment to the few who had been watching, and waiting. If the communications network had only been more glamorous or required a bigger budget, it might have attracted enough graft and corruption to have ground to halt long ago. Unfortunately for the decorum of the Senate, this arm of the bureaucracy has been running remarkably smoothly while serving its intended purpose: providing the people a level of transparency into their government, if they only care to look.
    “Well, now that that little nuisance is gone, I recommend we all adjourn for the day as it is almost one-thirty; everyone has a written copy of the report?” says the senator who had ejected Gavitte, while stretching back in his chair.
    The assembled shuffle their papers, and magazines, together in a show of self-importance and head for the nearest exit, as if the fire alarm is ringing in their ears, instead of a condemnation of their perfect little world. Some wear expressions of worry, but most seem simply relieved that the outburst shortened their workday significantly. As they bunch at the exits, talk of possible earlier tee times and drinks at their private clubs fills the hall of power. Soon all the worried expressions have vanished to be replaced looks of gleeful anticipation and excitement reminiscent of a school yard on a snow day.
    Outside, Gavitte is thrown into a waiting police van and shackled to the wall. The light is cut off as the doors slam, and the van speeds off, weaving its way through the idling traffic. Gavitte is still too stunned by his own outburst to really process what is going on around him.
    His eyes are just beginning to get accustomed to the darkness, allowing the three fully armored marines to take shape before him. As their forms come into focus, it is obvious that the three assault rifles pointed directly at his chest all have their safeties off. Before Gavitte can worry too much that the bouncing of the van might make one of their fingers twitch on a trigger, the van is thrown to a halt, and the sound of automatic gunfire from outside assaults his senses.
    The doors burst open, and the guards are turned into bloody pulp by concentrated fire from classic foreign assault rifles. Two bursts come from the glare and break the chains holding Gavitte to the wall. Stunned by the loud noise and light concentrated by the reflective walls of what remains of the police van, Gavitte lets his arms drop to his sides and stares stupidly into the opening, past the guards’ slumped bodies. Two forms step forward from the light. Gavitte can make out nothing more than silhouettes, even shading his eyes with his hand as his pupils are still struggling to adjust. It isn’t until the two forms drag him out onto the strangely empty street and down an old manhole that his thoughts begin to coalesce.
    “Wha… who… why…?” Gavitte murmurs.
    “Sir, this is no time for questions, we must keep moving,” one of the figures dressed in a dark outfit says. Gavitte’s tortured