Crisis (The New Age Series Book 4)

Book summary

In "Crisis," life inside the peaceful sanctuary of Meridiana is disrupted as Cassandra seeks answers about her mysterious origins. Newcomer Tobias, an ambassador with hidden motives, becomes obsessed with a resident of the walled city. As time runs out, Professor Dorian and the peacekeepers embark on a perilous journey to rescue her, raising the question: How far would you go to save a loved one?

Excerpt from Crisis (The New Age Series Book 4)

The watchmen guarding the gates to Meridiana looked up to see a dust cloud heading their way. "Looks like we have visitors," one of them stated, readying his weapon. "Contact the governor and tell him to assemble the greeting party. If they're visitors, we'll escort them in and straight up to the compound, make sure you're armed, and don't let your guard down."

The other watchman nodded and did as he said as the other stepped up to greet the people coming in from the wastelands. The large cargo van stopped in front of the gate as a man appeared at the driver's side window with a large smile.

"State your business!" the guard instructed, holding the weapon to him.

"Whoa there!" The driver smiled; he offered his hand. "My name is Tobias. I've actually come as an ambassador from the east from another walled city similar to this one. We've been on the road for months now, checking out different safe zone facilities and getting ideas on how we can better our own. We've also been offering ideas and suggestions to others." His blond hair waved in front of his green eyes.

"Who do you have with you?" The guard shifted, looking to the passenger seat and behind Tobias.

"Well, an ambassador can't travel alone. I've got my two comrades here with me, Jake and Silas." The other two men came into view and nodded.

"If there's going to be a problem, we can, by all means, carry on." Tobias raised his eyebrows.

The second watch guard got off the radio. "The governor will be at the loading docks to intercept if we go any further."

"My!" Tobias was taken back. "You sure have a crack team assembled here dealing with outsiders."

"It’s merely protocol here. We’ve had issues in the past with who we’ve allowed into sanctuary. Now, if you’re willing and want to meet with the governor and his people, we will need you to hand over all your weapons and do a quick search of your vehicle,” the first guard said, his weapon still not faltering.

Tobias shrugged. “You heard the man, boys, orders here like good guests.” He exited the vehicle and stepped away from it with his hands out. His two companions brought the weapons out, laid them on the ground, and then stood beside Tobias as the second guard searched the vehicle.

“Troubles in paradise, I take it?” Tobias raised an eyebrow giving a slightly cocky grin.

“Not lately,” the first guard sneered. “It was seven years ago now that we had intel from an invadingarmy come into our walls, and a war ended up starting.”

“How dreadful!” Tobias gasped dramatically. “But obviously, all ended well if you’re still standing.”

“They’ve been cleared, nothing suspicious here,” the second guard said.

“We will be confiscating your weapons. When you leave the sanctuary walls, they will be returned to you,” the first guard said, lowering his gun slightly. “We will take you to the compound. You will follow us straight to the site and not veer off course. If there’s any funny business, we will incapacitate you.”

“Naturally.” Tobias gleamed.

He followed the first guard in his jeep as the second followed closely behind. “Look at this place!” Tobias said in awe as he took in the city. “This is by far one of the most superior safe zones that we’ve come across!”

“They seem a little too uptight with guests,” Silas stated, crossing his arms, his black hair disheveled by the wind which was blowing through the van’s open window as his gray eyes took in the beauty of the city.

“Obviously, as stated, they have reason to be so,” Jake answered with a shrug.

“We will be on our best behavior meeting these people,” Tobias commanded. “You two are to stay quiet unless directly asked a direct question, no snarkiness from either of you.” He eyed Jake.

The man gave a small smirk as he brushed his hand through his short red hair. “You knew that I had a sarcastic mouth when you brought me into this.”

Something caught Tobias’s attention as he stared at the civilians. There seemed to be a large age range of people living here. He noted there were some younger children but also that there were a few people who looked to be well above their forties and into their fifties. “Interesting,” he mused as he continued his drive behind the guard. He was brought up to the compound’s loading dock. He was astonished by the size of the building. It had taken up several city blocks. “This must be their base of operation,” he whispered.

The guard parked in front of him as the other stopped behind Tobias’s vehicle. They still had their weapons on them but were no longer pointing them at their guests.

Tobias let out a sigh. “Let’s make this good.”

The three exited their van as four people came up to the loading dock. Tobias stared at them. They all looked relatively young from around twenty-five to their early thirties he noted as the man wearing the gray suit seemed to take charge. Beside him was another man with dark black hair who didn’t look as officially dressed. Tobias figured he was the muscle of the group. On the other side of the man in charge was a taller man with hair so dark brown it seemed black and blue eyes that held no emotion. He had been dressed in all black and a white lab coat. Beside him… Tobias’s eyes widened at the female. She stood out of place from all of them. She was wearing tight black leggings and a sleeveless top, yet the air she held seemed like she controlled all three that she hadn’t been standing next to them, more like they had flanked her.

The man in the gray suit studied Tobias as he stepped forward and offered his hand. “Welcome, I’m the governor here of the city of Meridiana. You may call me Gavin.”

“It’s a pleasure, Governor.” Tobias nodded, shaking his hand. “I am Tobias.” He turned. “Along with me, here are Jake and Silas. We’re ambassadors of a sort from the northeast.”

“Before you get into who you are and why you’re here, I have one statement that I want to make clear right away,” Gavin interrupted. His eyes hardened. “If you’re here to harm any of my people, the repercussion is death. There are no trials here. Outsiders who are here to harm are dealt with swiftly.”

Tobias was taken back slightly. “You have my word, sir. We’re not here for any such reason. In fact, I’m hoping we can help one another out.”

“Very well.” Gavin nodded. “I would like to bring you and your men to our boardroom so we can talk. Once we hear you out, we will decide whether or not you will be allowed to stay.”

“Sound like an interrogation.” Tobias raised an eyebrow; he was met with a stern glance from Gavin. “Not that I mind, though!” he added quickly. “We have no ulterior motives, nothing to hide!”

Gavin’s stern look finally lightened. “This way then.” He turned to motion the three men to follow them. As he did, he glanced over at the female, at how she stood close to the man in the lab coat. There seemed to be an unspoken air about the two of them. He had a hard time focusing on anything else as they walked. He had never seen someone like her before. To call her beautiful simply wasn’t enough. He wondered if she had been what he was looking for, no. He wouldn’t get his hopes up yet. He needed time. He needed to be absolutely certain. They needed to bide their time with this.

Once they were seated in the boardroom, he noticed how the female had taken her place between the governor and the man in the lab coat. Her expression wasn’t overly readable, but it seemed kinder than the three men.

“I’d like to introduce you to my right hands,” Gavin said, standing. “This is Hokura, Professor Dorian, and Adam. Alongside them, I have a governing cabinet of officials, but it will be us four who vote and decide whether or not you three will go any further.”

Tobias smiled charmingly as he brushed his golden hair to the side. “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you. I must admit that my group has never been intercepted in such a way before, but we will provide you with any information that you might find helpful.”

“You said you were an ambassador. Why are you here in Meridiana?” Gavin asked.

Tobias licked his lips. “I’ve actually traveled quite a way; my men and I have been going from safe zone to safe zone to see which ones are thriving and which have crumbled over the decades.”

Dorian raised his eyebrows. “There weren’t many safe zones that were created to withstand the tests of time.”

Right away, Tobias knew the kind of man that Dorian was. “No, Professor, there weren’t. We’ve found that many safe zones that were military output bases have long failed to survive. However, there have been a few along the way that have seemingly evolved and adapted to the way of life now. Mind you, they haven’t been comparable to your fair Meridiana.”

Gavin leaned forward curiously. “Are you from a surviving safe zone?”

“Our people are partially from the Michigan National Guard base; we have a compound in Monroe. We were far enough from all the blast zones that we could survive but far enough from the coast that we didn’t have to deal with hurricanes or any of mother nature’s antics. We’re also fortunate enough to be close enough to Lake Erie that we have a continuous water source.” He gave a small smirk. “Those bases from the north across the border, I’m sure, had a hellish time operating under snow for half the year. It seems ever since the war, our climate has shifted, and we’ve seen less of it.”

“You still have yet to tell us exactly why you’re here,” Dorian interrupted, leaning forward as he gave a stern look to all three of them.

Tobias shrank back. This man had a temper on him. He noted as Hokura placed a hand on his arm, and as if silently commanded, he sat back and regained his composure. Tobias cleared his throat. “We’re here simply to get ideas of how to better our own sanctuary. I didn’t exactly want to pry into this right away, but upon driving here, I noted that you have a multi-age society here, which makes me want to question the stem cell project and if you were ever able to crack it.”

Dorian smirked at the man as he laced his fingers and brought them under his chin as he leaned in. “It’s been nearly a century. The civilians whom you observed were merely those who came to the sanctuary when they had already aged past the project's age of majority. They slowly stopped aging once they came to the city. The project cannot bring back one’s youth, but it can stop the body from further deteriorating.”

“Remarkable!” Tobias cried. “We had perfected it about six decades ago… apparently, we were a little slower. Then again, our death rates weren’t as high as we found in other parts of the world. We were able to stop the aging process, but there were other genetic processes that we still lacked on.” He waved his hand. “I’m not so much here for that, though, more so ideas of cultivation, how you keep your society running, how on earth a place of this size runs so successfully. We want our sanctuary to thrive. We were hoping we could possibly help one another out with ideas, but it seems that this place is far more advanced in the science department.”