Into the Lion's Den

By Monique Singleton

An immortal assassin. A terrorist threat. Only she can save humanity.

Life in the Australian Outback is hard and brutal—exactly as Anadi likes it. Here she’s anonymous. Just another fool trying her luck in the Opal mines. Life is peaceful.

It couldn’t last.
There are too many people who want her head. Old and new enemies unite to pull her into a bloody conflict that threatens to drive her insane.

Her bloodlust returns with a vengeance after a violent brawl with her creator. To make things worse, a vicious eco-terrorist group blackmails her to kill innocents and her life is once again drenched in blood.

With her sanity hanging by a silken thread, it’s anyone’s guess who will come out alive.

Into the Lion's Den is the fourth book in the Primal saga, a series of dark urban fantasy novels suitable for ages 18 and older. If you like powerful heroines, mythical forces, and no-holds-barred action, then you'll love Monique Singleton's compelling novel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Monique Singleton
• Release date: Nov 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463651827

Monique Singleton

Being an “army brat” meant moving around a lot. It was a good way to live, to see the world and continuously broaden my horizons: to start cultivating my creativity and fantasy.And grow it did.From an very early age I have always drawn and painted a lot, making my own version of what was around me. Starting off copying reality, I expanded into a personal kind of augmented reality. Adding fantasy to the mix didn’t however relieve me of natural boundaries: the physiology needed to be right. 4 arms means four shoulders, for me even fantasy needs to be anatomically correct. This craving to combine reality with fantasy formed the basis of a career in art. Blending realistic full portraits with fantasy or animals became my trademark, and I did quite well for myself.However, living off art is not an easy task, so practical as I am, I continued my never ending education, now in the area of Information technology. Yes I went into IT. Hey, a gal’s gotta live.Ideas and creativity will not be denied their due and the stories, previously visualized in paintings, bubbled up and wouldn’t go away.In the few quiet moments my busy life offered about 6 years ago, actual scenes started to unravel in my imagination. Random scenes, or so it seemed. It turned out they were all scenes from one story, one idea that my subconscious had already formed into a coherent story line: Primal Nature.I decided to write them down. But where to begin? I wrote the first 20 pages and the last 2 in one go. In the resulting years I have been filling in the gaps. One story led to a book, one book led to two, to three. To new and fascinating storylines that propelled me to write and write and write.I have found my passion. I want to tell stories.Not just any story. Stories that will entertain, but will hopefully also give room for thought. Will encourage the reader to join me on my journey to explore the boundaries of who we are, what we are, what we could be.If only we dream. If only we accept that the impossible is only improbable until someone proves that it exists.The world is a big place. Who is to say that what I dream, what I write, isn’t out there somewhere.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Joseph turned to observe the rag tag group that came through the door. Rafael supported Rashidi, and Sarah brought up the rear of the small procession. Rashidi’s face was ashen, silent tears streamed down her cheeks. She stared at the ground, occasionally making soft noises. Sarah was mad—her face transformed from its usually pretty self to a contorted mask of anger.

‘Well?’ Joseph finally asked as they stood in front of him.

‘Azazal is dead.’ Rafael answered, eliciting a whimper from Rashidi.

‘Sarah, bring Rashidi to her quarters.’ Joseph ordered. The two women left the room together in the direction of the barracks.

Joseph turned and walked to the enormous desk that was littered with the documents and parchments of what he was studying at the moment. Rafael followed.

‘She killed him?’ It wasn’t really a question. The only one capable of killing Azazel was Anadi. Only a Force could kill another Force. For all intents and purposes, they were immortal—except from each other.

‘Yes.’

‘Where is she now?’

‘We don’t know. We lost her in the jungle.’

‘How?’

Azazel’s death shot a massive hole in Joseph’s plans. He’d been extremely difficult to control, but he had been an essential cog in a complicated set of parts that was Joseph’s ultimate plan. Now Azazel was gone. And to make things worse, the bitch who’d killed him was also out of his reach. Control over the Forces was tantamount to what he had in mind for the Watchers and for himself.

‘After she killed Aze, we left in the helicopter to secure the Omeyocan, and to bring Rashidi to safety. When I went back a day later I couldn’t find the compound anymore.’

That was an unexpected turn. ‘What do you mean, you couldn’t find the compound?’

‘The canopy had closed, it didn’t show up on the sensors anymore, nothing, like it had never been there.’

‘You had the right coordinates?’

‘Yes, we double checked. Nothing.’

‘And on foot?’

‘We landed five miles from where the compound had been—closer was impossible—and made our way through the jungle. The closer we got to where it should be, the denser the jungle became. After three miles we had to camp for the night. We cleared a path before we slept and in the morning; it had grown over and become impenetrable again. The more we hacked at the vines, the quicker they grew. There was no way we could go any farther. We tracked around the dense jungle, but wherever we tried to get through we encountered the same. The jungle wouldn’t let us get any nearer.’

‘So it’s lost.’ A statement. ‘What about the Omeyocan? Did you manage to find any?’

’No, we only have what was on the helicopter and the two tons in storage.’

Joseph was shocked. He needed the Omeyocan. What was left would stand him for a hundred years or so, but he needed to find an alternative. Another complication in the plan, all thanks to Anadi.

‘Store the Omeyocan safely and make sure no one gets any of it. It is strictly off-limits to everyone. For my personal use only.’

Rafael nodded, he had expected this. Omeyocan was the source of Joseph’s longevity. He would need every bit of it for his plan. Every bit, except for the secret stash that Rafael had for himself, that is.

‘So, what are we going to do now?’ He asked.

‘The plan stands, we will need to adapt to the new circumstances. Anadi is not the only Force, so we can start with the others. In the meantime, put out feelers for her. I want the whole Watchers community searching for her. No one is to engage—just find her. We need to find some kind of pressure that we can exert to get her in the fold.’

‘What about Panat?’ Rafe suggested. ‘They have a thing going, maybe we can get to her through him, or his family.’

‘Get them under surveillance. Bug every phone and computer. If they contact Panat’s family, I want to know.’

Rafael turned to leave.

‘One more thing.’ Joseph stopped him in his tracks. ‘There will be a new Conquest; a new Azazel. Nature will not allow there to be less than five Forces, so someone will be chosen. He will be confused and in need of guidance. This could be a great opportunity to really control the new Force. If we can find him quickly, we can bring him in to the fold and make sure that he’s not corrupted. This just might be a blessing in disguise—if we can find him.’

Joseph returned to his musings. Gone were the years of selflessness in service to the Forces. History had shown that Nature’s idea of keeping the balance was not working. Man was too stubborn and too prolific to contain with just a natural disaster here and there. More pressure and more control were needed. If not by choice, then by duress. Humankind would not learn without. They had shown that in the past thousands of years. Nothing Nature had done, nothing the Forces had organised, had convinced humans to change their ways. Even now, after the scientific proof of the devastation they were inflicting on the planet, even now they ignored what was obvious. This planet would not survive if the current powers stayed in place. It was time for change. Time for a new order. Nature was too much of a pussy to do it herself, so that left him to take up the challenge.

It was a long process. Would take decades—even centuries. But Joseph had the time, especially now he had Omeyocan. It would make him almost immortal. Not like the Forces. They could not be killed by mankind—he could. But his longevity would rival theirs. And then—when Nature finally saw what he had accomplished—maybe he would be granted the ultimate prize.

It had all been planned, every step. And now Anadi had pushed him back to square one. She should have been wounded, both of them should have been. Not too much, just enough to make them weak and pliable again. Get then back in the fold. Under his control. That was the problem with immortals. They think they can do whatever they like. They see themselves as untouchable. All they are is a tool. A tool made by Nature to perform a specific task. To bring back balance by curbing humanity. One thing. Thousands of years to do it in, and one by one, they all make a mess out of it. How difficult can it be?

The issue was that there was no control. Nature was not steering the Forces in the direction they needed to go—with the possible exception of War. He was the closest to fulfilling his destiny of all of them. The rest… … well, they did what they wanted. And the Watchers watched.

It was time to come out of the shadows and take the reins. Who better to do that than the organisation that was already so closely connected to Nature. The one group who was in the know. Who was aware of the grand plan, and Nature as its foundation; the Watchers.

In the past century the Watchers had started working together more closely. Historically they had been aware of each other’s existence. They all knew the origins of the Forces. But they had shied away from any form of collaboration. Up until Azazel started acting up the first time. That was what had brought them together.

It had been blatantly obvious that there were no leaders within the Watchers. No real ones. The function of the Watchers did not encourage leadership. They were by nature reactive, not proactive. This was where Joseph came in. He was not the quintessential Watcher. Far from it. Especially after he met Azazel. That meeting had been pivotal in his growth. Aze had educated him; that there was no such thing as pre-ordained. You were master of your own destiny.

He had planted the first seeds of doubt within Joseph. They found a fertile base in the big man’s mind. He wanted more. Saw the need for more. The cracks in his belief in tradition and all the Watchers stood for, grew and slowly a plan started to form. Maybe it was the proximity of Azazel that had fostered the resistance. The man had been a fountain of anarchy. He had accepted no hierarchy over himself. He was top-dog and saw humanity as his play things. That was taking it too far in Joseph’s opinion, but it did open his eyes to the almost-prehistoric character of the Watcher organisation on the one side, and the potential for power on the other.

It was time to get out in the spotlights.

Time for the master plan.

CHAPTER TWO

After our visit to Jack, and my very amusing reunion with Barkley, we had to disappear.

We needed to lay low for a while and determine our next steps. We also had to make some money. With all ties to the Watchers suspended, we were without finances. Panat was used to tapping into the endless Watcher’s cash flow. But now that we didn’t know who we could trust, that avenue was closed.

Not that I minded. I prefer to make my own money and didn’t have any scruples when it came to the kind of job I took on—as long as it paid well. I gave up the assassin trade after Easy, but there were more jobs that paid well. Especially in Australia. Most of them were dirty or dangerous, but that wasn’t a problem.

Panat and I moved from Perth down to the outback. It was a fantastic place to disappear. I didn’t expect Barkley to try anything. He was too scared for that. But there were still people looking for us that we didn’t want to see. At least not yet.

The opal mines gave us the best of both worlds: anonymity and good earnings—if you found any stones. The mines were out in the middle of nowhere and most of the inhabitants of the towns here had a reason not to be found. It was a motley crew. Lots of old-timers, a few families and many young people, all looking for a miracle. For that one stone that would set them up for life.

We had to find a middle road between quiet and the actual chance of finding anything. The obvious place to start was Coober Pedy. The self-proclaimed centre of opal mining in Australia. It’s a subterranean town. Nothing could live up on the surface for long, so the miners dug out a town under the heat ridden desert where it had all the amenities that any outback town would have, maybe even more. Under the surface was quite a nice place to live—given the circumstances.

But the perceived luxury and fame of Coober Pedy brought another source of income—tourism. And that was something we were not looking for. So we continued farther into the outback into New South Wales. We ended up about eighty-five kilometres outside of White Cliffs in a minuscule community appropriately called Rockface. We found an abandoned house cut out of the hillsides, and soon understood why it wasn’t occupied when the sun burned down on the entrance twelve hours of every single day. The place was stifling. But if you went deeper into the hillside it became bearable—though only just. It was especially hard on Panat. He was used to colder temperatures in his homeland of Tibet. I had experienced more variances in climates and temperatures in my many years and got used to the heat quickly.

We arrived in March, the end of the summer for this part of the world. The daily temperature still hovered around 44º C by day, and only went down to an average of 17º by night. But at least it would get better. Panat didn’t find that helpful. He hated the heat. Thankfully the mines were underground as well. The mine we found was as deserted as the house and we were free to mine it. The land was owned by the Aboriginal Elders who leased it to anyone stupid enough to want to try their hand at mining. There were no officially recorded leases here. It was all done on the basis of who knows who and whether the elders felt good about you. These people have centuries of experience in reading people. They recognised something in me—The Primal. One of the Elders—Daku—even gave me the honorary aboriginal name Burnu, for great warrior. I tried to ask him what he knew about the Forces, but he just smiled at me, not divulging anything more.

We actually enjoyed living in the mountain. There was a strange kind of peace along with the physical challenges of mining opal. We didn’t have major technical equipment, so it was basically brute strength and that is something I excel at. Physical work allows me to have the peace to think. I just do the work on autopilot and it frees my mind to wander.

Panat and I spoke a lot about what had happened in the Amazon. It was so pivotal, not just to our relationship, but definitely to who I am and where I came from. It gave me some answers but also more questions. The major one being—do I believe any of this shit?

It seemed both reasonable and far-fetched at the same time. It felt like an answer, but still had hints of my main allergy—manipulation. I wanted to believe. If only to have an answer. Something that I could hold on to. It could give me meaning in life, a reason to carry on. That made it quite enticing. But my practical nature—or maybe just my paranoia—questioned everything. The main question remained. Why me?

The small community at Rockface quickly accepted us. We worked hard, partied even harder and that made us fit in. The next-cave neighbours were a young family: Lucas, his wife Mia, and their baby daughter Lilly of seven months. We hit it off quickly when they welcomed us to our new home with a freshly baked apple pie and a six pack of beer. Our quart of JD and some steaks for the BBQ completed the ingredients for a great introduction. Soon we were visiting at least two or three nights a week.

Most of the other people in our small community were a lot older. They usually didn’t do much after a long gruelling day in the mines. Though the whole gang did come together on Sunday—our only day off. The day was characterised by lazy brunches and long afternoon- and evening BBQ’s. Lots of booze, good stories and great company. I hadn’t expected to be accepted so easily there, or anywhere for that matter. But they just accepted us without question. There was no prying into our past or our reasons for being there. That was private, and it stayed exactly that. No one asked, and no one told.

There was a core group in Rockface. Old-timers, who’d settled here more than twenty years ago. And a group of younger people who generally didn’t stay more than five or six years. It was a step up for them. A place to start a career as an opal miner. It was easy to find a place to live and a place to mine as the turnover was quite steep with the younger people. There wasn’t much more to do here than work and the weekly BBQ get-together. I guess the more charismatic—if you could call it that—places like Coober Pedy called to them. We were interested in the anonymity of the place. Here we didn’t have to worry about running into any of the Watchers.

Or so we thought.

CHAPTER THREE

‘Nat’ Lucas called out from the door of the cave. ‘You in?’

‘Yeah, coming.’ The answer came for deep in the cave dwelling. Panat made his way to the front of the house, where Lucas had already walked into the welcoming shade.

Lucas held up the six-pack as his friend came into view. ‘You feel like a Fosters?’ Stupid question, even at this time of the day. One o’clock Sunday afternoon was beer time. Anything after ten in the morning was beer time on a Sunday. Though not initially an alcohol lover, this was one area that Panat had adapted to quickly—party time. It was hard living here, and partying was necessary to balance the whole.

They each popped a bottle and moved back further into the cave where it was cooler. The temperature outside was an unnatural forty-six degrees, which was more than ten degrees higher than the average for this time of the year. The old-timers were convinced that the earth was warming again, like back in the twenty-first century. The damage done then still had its repercussions, though this fall was out of proportion even for global warming. The end-of-days was mentioned. That was a more general state of mind, not just reserved for the Australian outback. The world was paying attention to Nature again. This had spurned a whole new ecological movement in the more environmentally aware countries, including Australia. Panat and Anadi followed the news. They surfed the Internet just like anyone else and encountered the new Terran movement in multiple streams. It didn’t mean much to them—it wasn’t what they were looking for.

Panat could always see when Lucas had something on his mind. He tried to make small talk, while it was obvious that he was bursting to talk about something else. It was quite endearing in its own way.

‘What about this heat huh?’ Lucas asked as Anadi—or Anni as he knew her—joined the guys on the sofa.

‘Pretty intense’ Panat answered. Anadi opened her own beer and took a long and welcome haul.

‘Not normal.’ Both Panat and Anadi could almost see the need to talk that radiated from their neighbour and friend. They waited patiently. Lucas would get around to it sooner or later.

‘We should all do something about it’ the small man continued. ‘As people who care.’ Panat nodded to encourage him to continue with what he wanted to say. Anadi stayed silent, wondering where this was going. As miners, they were not actually environmentally correct. The work they did literally dug into the bowels of the land. Many of the miners—especially the larger companies—used explosives to open up the ground for mining. It was by definition invasive. It damaged the ecology. That made the mining community the last place that they expected anyone to be ecologically minded.

‘What do you propose?’ Panat asked.

That flustered Lucas. He was uncomfortable with any direct approach. He was actually a quiet and introverted man. Friendly and unassuming. More of a follower and easily led.

‘Not me, I just thought we should think about it’ he stammered. They waited for him to continue. ‘Maybe find out more about what’s happening and what we could do.’ Anadi encouraged him onwards with a smile. ‘Have you seen the ads on the streams for Terran?’ He finally blurted out.

Anadi and Panat exchanged glances. Yes, they had seen the ads. Or some of them anyway. Panat nodded.

‘I spoke to Gerry’ Lucas continued. ‘He just came back from a visit to his family in Sydney. He told me his dad had dragged him to a Terran meeting at the Sydney Opera House. He went just to please the old man but ended up joining the movement. He’s going to stop mining. Start spreading the word. Here, of all places. Don’t think he’ll be able to convert many people in this line of work.’ He said the last bit quite sheepishly and blushed slightly.

‘You’re listening.’ Panat said with a smile.

‘Yeah.’ He answered. ‘Well, he does have a point.’ Then he added quickly ‘not that I’m joining or anything. It’s just given me food for thought.’

’What are you going to do?’ Anadi asked innocently.

‘Don’t know.’ He hesitated. ‘Maybe go to one of the rallies, when they come here.’

When—not if. So, there were already rallies planned here in the neighbourhood of Rockface. Wouldn’t hurt to investigate it a bit more.

‘Would you, maybe, like to go too?’ The cat was out of the bag. That was the reason why he had come to visit.

‘When is the rally?’

‘Don’t know yet, but soon.’

‘Maybe.’ Panat said. ‘Depends on how busy we are.’

‘Fair ‘nough.’ Lucas was relieved that he had actually voiced his invitation out loud. He was just glad that it was over. Time would tell if they would all go together or if it was just him and Mia. Now he could relax and get down to some serious Sunday binging.

‘What’s for dinner?’ he asked enthusiastically, to the laughter of Panat and Anadi. They had agreed on a neighbourhood BBQ again tonight. Panat and Anadi would take care of most of the catering this time.

CHAPTER FOUR

The world was radicalising again.

They called themselves Earth’s Avengers. The rest of the world called them terrorists. The fact that they professed to work in service to Nature made no difference to that. They killed and murdered; all in her name. It wasn’t the first time I’d encountered zealots like them. It happens all the time all through history. Usually the terrorists are driven by so-called religious dogma that results in holy wars. Most religions have done the same at some point in time. Fanatics for the cause. Or just psychos with an excuse. Same difference in my books. The end result was always the same—terror and death. Usually for the innocent bystander.

And now the excuse was Nature. Earth’s Avengers—or EA as they had become known—initially targeted people who in some way hurt Nature. Their definition of what constitutes an enemy of Nature was vague at most. Though more likely flexible to be able to refer to whomever EA wanted to get rid of.

EA surfaced about a year ago. Their first attacks were small and isolated. No one had died then. Building sites in national parks were wrecked; the equipment sabotaged. Animals that were destined for slaughter were set free. All in the name of Nature. Young people flocked to EA. Finally, someone was doing something about the desecration of Mother Nature. At last it was more than just words.

It hadn’t taken long before the first person died.

It had been an accident—or so it seemed. An over-protective guard got in the way. That was the beginning. The violence escalated quickly. More died.

The CEO of a major palm-oil company was kidnapped and sentenced to death in a mock trial that was aired on the Internet. He was shot dead point blank. The new policy was set. This was the real face of EA. What was behind it all remained a mystery. To me it looked like another gang of murderers with a new excuse. They struck a chord with eco-aware people, though their actions were too extreme for most. The majority of what they attracted were borderline psychos, or displaced teenagers and young adults. People who had been disappointed with general society to the extreme. They wanted to rebel against something. Preferably something big and debatable at the least.

Mining fit the bill. Ok, I won’t argue that mining isn’t invasive to Nature, it is, depending on the scale. Mining like Panat and I did was small scale. Nothing major. One small holding, with one, or maybe two shafts per miner. The work was done by hand, electrical equipment and muscle, with little or no explosives. The big companies on the other hand were much more brutal. They mined with heavy material, regularly blowing out whole rock faces to get at the ore below.

Australia was the last country to continue to hunt for uranium. It could be found deep under the desert at the edge of the mountain ranges. The chosen mining technique to expose the ore was explosives. No one lived anywhere near. And in the typical mining manner; that meant that any method was acceptable.

EA hit the Australian Uranium Company’s main mine at first light before the day shift began. Exactly the moment when the night crew was tired and not as watchful as they would otherwise be, mortars and shoulder-fired rockets blew up the big rigs. Fire and shrapnel rained down on the flabbergasted miners. The next mortar hit the guard house, followed by a flood of four-wheelers that screamed onto the terrain through the wrecked and twisted remains of the gate.

At least thirty heavily armed men and women in dark green camouflage jumped from the cars, shooting everyone in sight. What seemed like a well-prepared attack soon got completely out of hand. One of the terrorists killed one of his own by accident. They were shooting without aiming. Killing for the fun of it. No one seemed to be in charge, until a burly guy in black camouflage took control. One of the terrorists complained and was shot point blank by the leader.

Panat and I watched the streams. Everything had been filmed, by both the security cameras at the mining site and the EA terrorists. The latter made much more bloody and close-up footage. As was customary for EA, they sent the footage to the news stations. As well as the media, the streams were released to Internet and broadcasted on all the television channels that EA regularly hacked and used as their own personal propaganda machines.

The stream went further than the news. It ended with the cold-blooded murder of the whole local management of the mine. Everyone who seemed remotely managerial was lined up outside the buildings and mowed down with a machine gun. No exceptions. Not even the women or young people. If you were there and wore a suit, you were responsible in EA’s definition. And in line of that, accountable for the damage the mining did to Nature.

The end result of the attack was sixty-one dead, hundreds wounded, and the mine closed down. EA called it a success. I called it a massacre.

‘You think they’ll come here?’ Lucas asked. He was terrified. The violence portrayed in the streams was new to him. I’ve seen too much in my lifetime to really be surprised. Not that I was immune to it. I could see the suffering that it brought and sympathised with the victims, I’d just seen too much.

‘No, we’re too small. No impact if anything happened here. Nothing newsworthy.’ Panat nodded. He had the same opinion. EA wanted their fifteen minutes of fame. Rockface would not get them that. Sometimes obscurity was a benefit.

Here, life would go on.

CHAPTER FIVE

We picked up where we had left off at Rockface. Slowly the terrorist attack blended into the background noise of all the daily hassles. Other news took its place. Some good, most bad. The relative peace that had descended on the world after Bharat was dismantled was just a memory. Countries were posturing again about borders and natural resources. Crops failed, people starved. Nothing new there, no matter how bad it was.

Only difference now was that Panat and Anadi wondered whether any of the other Forces were involved, though that was the extent of their interest. They were at Rockface to make some money, and to disappear for a while. Both goals were being met nicely.

They enjoyed their time in the small community. Anadi loved the demanding physical work. Both immersed themselves with vigour in the hard partying. Days turned to weeks and weeks to months, and their small stash of opals grew. Anadi was reluctant to make any plans. She didn’t want to leave just yet. The Primal urges were absent. They had been dormant ever since she’d killed Azazel. She almost dared to hope that they were gone for good. But that would be too much to hope for, so she just enjoyed the relative peace.

After a long hot day of work in the mines, Panat and Anadi were relaxing in the cool night air next to the BBQ. Lucas and Mia had joined them, with tiny Lilly fast asleep on Panat’s lap. She’d taken quite a fancy to him in the past weeks.

‘There’s a Terran meeting in Whitecliff next Saturday’ Lucas declared. When no one reacted, he added: ‘I was thinking of going, just to see what they have to say.’

‘You’re not joining nothing.’ Mia stated resolutely.

‘Hell no, I just want to see what they’re about, nothing more. And anyway, then you could go into town while I attend the meeting. Get some of the supplies you need.’ He hoped to placate his wife with the prospect of shopping. ‘You said you wanted to get some stuff for Lilly.’

Mia was no fool, she knew he was trying to entice her to let him go.