The Pyramid Chronicles: Fortuna Guard (#2)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Zodiac

The diagram on the wall stared back at Eric as he studied it, as he tried to piece together what it meant. The star. The symbols. Scorpion's logo. "What's Zodiac?" he asked, shooting the Director a glare, as if that might persuade the man to give him a clearer answer.

"Scorpion's just the tip of the iceberg." The Director continued to type, his computer's screen reflected in his goggles. "Merely a branch of an organization called Zodiac."

"All those other logos..." Eric swallowed.

"Are other branches," the Director finished.

Summer stared at him blankly. "There are eleven more versions of Scorpion?"

"Twelve, technically, if you count Zodiac itself. They do have their own headquarters."

No.

No way.

"You have to be kidding me," Veronica said. "We—we can't do this twelve more times."

All this planning to barely make a dent?

"Why haven't we heard of them?" Sam asked. "Scorpion got a reputation for robbing places, but none of the others?"

The Director shrugged. "Stealing is Scorpion's job. The other branches work behind the scenes. Zodiac's the center of this whole operation, but Scorpion's the front." He paused. "Claudia's in charge of carrying out plans, but she's not behind everything."

Was this what Malcolm meant when he said they would need his help? Did he know about Zodiac? Eric's eyes narrowed as he recalled something else Malcolm had said. "Who's Andrew Hale?"

"Andrew Hale? I'm surprised you know the name." The Director's fingers finished their dance across the keyboard. "Andrew is Zodiac's leader." He reached behind the computer.

"We still have to finish this," Summer said, eyeing the Director as he removed a USB drive. "Destroying Scorpion isn't meaningless. We can worry about the rest later."

"That may have worked for you until now," the Director said, rising to his feet. "But you won't get far taking things one step at a time."

Eric glared at him. "You're not leaving with that USB. We're destroying every piece of information Scorpion has."

"Are you going to stop me?"

Eric's hand burst into flame as he held it out. "Yes."

"Eric..." For some reason, the Director sounded disappointed.

"Hand it over."

"You wouldn't actually burn me, would you?"

"Some guy who kidnapped me, experiments on kids, and is helping run an evil organization? Yeah, I'd be okay with giving you a few burns." The flame grew brighter. What did the Director think, they were just going to let him waltz out of the building with all of Scorpion's data?

With a sigh, the Director tossed the drive to him. Eric caught it with his fiery hand and clenched his fist around it, momentarily relishing the feeling of it melting. As hot metal dripped down his skin, his gaze found something sitting next to the keyboard the Director had been using.

Eric walked over and picked it up. It was a hunk of light-colored metal. "What's this?" he asked. He glanced at the Director, who responded with silence. Eric rolled his eyes and turned to the others. "Someone wanna toss me the flash drive?"

Summer obliged. Eric caught the drive and leaned forward to plug it into the computer.

Summer pressed a hand to her ear. "Taking the server down now. Comms are about to go out."