As the day wore on, the heat rose, and the group’s pace slowed. By late morning, Diana could see that Alia’s steps were weaving and Nim was bleary-eyed from exhaustion. She dropped back to talk to Jason.
“We can’t keep on this way. We’re going to have to get a car and risk the roadblocks.”
“Seconded,” said Nim over her shoulder. “Or you’re going to have to leave me by the side of the road.”
“Well—” began Theo. Alia hurled an olive at him.
“We can’t stay away from the roads forever,” said Diana. “They’re just going to keep widening the perimeter of their search. Besides, there’s no way we can make it over the Taygetus Mountains on foot, not before the new moon.”
“Is there another way around?” asked Theo.
Alia shook her head. “Not without backtracking north. Therapne is backed by mountains to the east and west. It’s part of what made Sparta so easy to defend.”
Diana grinned, surprised, and Jason cast Alia a speculative look. “How do you know so much about it?”
“I did a lot of reading on the plane. I wanted to know about Helen. Where she came from.” She wiped the sweat from her brow and glanced at Diana. “You realize you’re suggesting stealing a car?”
“I’m suggesting borrowing a car,” Diana corrected. “Surely there’s a way to compensate the owner.”
Theo reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I have twenty-six bucks and my Better Latte Than Never card. Only one more stamp for a free cappuccino.”
“Wait a minute,” said Jason. “Can any of us even drive?”
“I drove,” said Theo. “Once.”
“That was a golf cart,” said Alia.
“So? It had four wheels and went vroom.”
“You crashed it into a tree.”
“I’ll have you know that tree had been drinking.”
“Everybody, relax,” said Nim. “I can drive.”
“Where did you learn to drive?” Alia asked incredulously.
“With the rest of the peasants on Long Island.”
“We have a driver,” Diana said, new hope surging through her. “Now we just need to find a car.”
“You know this means I get to choose the radio station,” said Nim as they set out across the field.
Theo whimpered. “How about I just let you run me over?”
—
It took far longer to locate a car than they’d hoped. Many of the farms they passed didn’t seem to have much in the way of vehicles beyond donkey carts and bicycles, and in one case, a truck set up on cement blocks, its wheels long vanished.
As they were approaching a promising-looking farmhouse with Jason in the lead, he snapped, “Get down.”
They sank to their bellies in the grass just as two men emerged from the front door of the house.
“Police?” whispered Alia.
“Those guns don’t look like standard police issue.”
The men wore nondescript blue uniforms, but the long, ugly guns they carried looked like those Diana had seen their attackers use.
“That’s some serious firepower,” said Theo.
“Are you surprised?” asked Jason.
“That they’re willing to just walk around the Greek countryside brandishing semiautomatics? Kind of.”
“They weren’t afraid to attack us in a New York City museum,” said Jason. “Why would they hesitate here? They know the stakes.”
“And it’s possible Alia’s power is at work here, too,” said Diana, “eroding the barriers to violent action.”
“Ironic,” said Nim.
“That’s not technically irony,” said Theo.
“Do I need to remind you that I tried to strangle you this morning, loser?”
“Let’s get moving,” Alia said hurriedly.
They made sure the men were leaving, then circled around the back of the farmhouse to a dilapidated stable. A horse nickered from a stall on the intact side of the structure. The roof on the other side had almost completely caved in and was covered by a tarp, but there were two vehicles parked beneath it: a truck with its hood open that seemed to be missing part of its engine, and a funny bubble-shaped car the color of a tangerine.
Theo shook his head. “We’re going over a mountain range in a Fiat?”
Diana eyed the car doubtfully. “It doesn’t seem very…sturdy.” In fact, it looked less like a real vehicle than one of the pretty handbags Nim had shown them.
“We don’t have a lot of other options,” said Alia. “Unless you want to try the horse.”
“I’m not really the noble-steed type,” said Theo.
Diana sighed and glanced over at the horse watching them with dark, steady eyes. She would have preferred riding, but she knew they needed the little car’s speed.
“So…,” said Alia. “Does anyone actually know how to steal a car?”
“We could break into the house,” said Nim. “Take the keys.”
“There are people in there,” said Alia. “What if they catch us?”
Nim tossed her hair back from her eyes. “Well, you guys are the science geniuses. Can’t you just hotwire it or something?”
“We’re biologists,” said Jason. “Not electrical engineers.”
“All I’m hearing are excuses, people.”
But for once Theo wasn’t weighing in. He was silently contemplating the car. “I can do it,” he said slowly. “But I’m going to need to use my phone.”
“Out of the question,” said Jason.
“I told you it’s untraceable,” said Theo.
“Even so—”
“You know, I can actually be helpful if you’ll let me.” Theo’s tone was light, but Diana heard the edge in his voice and felt a surge of sympathy for the skinny boy. She knew what it was to be underestimated. But was he trustworthy? If he’d wanted to harm them or alert their captors to their whereabouts, he’d certainly had plenty of opportunities.
She met Jason’s gaze and gave a short nod. “Let him try.”
Jason blew out a long breath. “Okay.”
“Okay?” said Theo.
“Yeah,” said Jason more firmly. “Do it.”
Theo’s smile was small and pleased, far shyer than Diana would have expected.
“All right, then.” He pulled the phone from his pocket, his thumbs moving rapidly over the screen, and said, “If this were an older car, we’d be screwed. No Bluetooth. No wireless. But everything’s digital now, right? Cars are basically just tricked-out computers on wheels.”
Jason folded his arms, unconvinced. “And you have a magic phone?”
“This phone can’t be sold in some countries because the computer inside it is powerful enough to operate a missile-guidance system, and I can use it to access my desktop through a spoof IP I set up on the dark net.”
“Okay, okay,” said Jason. “All hail the mighty phone.”
“Thank you,” said Theo. “The phone accepts cash gifts by way of apology. Now, all we have to do is mimic the signals the key sends to tell the car to unlock the door. It’s not like the car cares if the key is there.”
“Same with the human brain,” said Alia. “We see something, we react based on the stimulus, real or artificial. It’s all just a collection of electrical impulses.”
“Divine lightning,” said Diana.
Alia frowned. “Huh?”
“I second that huh,” Theo said, not looking up from the little screen, thumbs moving so fast they blurred.
Diana shrugged. “It’s just what you were saying reminded me of Zeus. He’s the god of thunder and lightning, but what you’re describing in our minds, those electrical impulses…It’s another way of thinking about that power.”
“Divine lightning,” repeated Alia. “You know, it’s kind of fundamental to the way we think about thinking. Like a big idea at the right time is catching lightning in a bottle.”
“Or when you’re dumbfounded, you say you’re thunderstruck,” said Nim.
The corner of Jason’s lips tugged upward in a small smile. “And when you connect with someone, you call it a spark.”
Despite the morning’s long silences and her lingering anger, Diana was glad to see that smile again. She couldn’t help returning it. “Exactly.”
Theo held up his phone. “Who’s ready for a little divine lightning?”
“Just do the thing,” said Nim impatiently.
He jabbed his finger down on the screen. “Shapow!”
Nothing happened.
“Oh, wait a second.” His thumbs flew over the screen again. He cleared his throat. “What I meant to say was, shablammy!” He gave the screen a firm poke. The car doors released a satisfying clunk. “I’ll ask you to hold your applause. And now the engine—”
“Wait,” said Jason. “Let’s roll it out to the road before we start it.”
Diana raised a brow. He was so dedicated to this falsehood. “Do we really need to roll it? Wouldn’t it be faster and quieter just to…”
A moment later, they had hefted the car above their heads, Diana gripping the front bumper, Jason at the rear.
“Maybe Nim doesn’t need to drive,” Theo said, panting as the others hurried to keep up. “Jason and Diana can just carry us.”
“Don’t make me strap you to the roof,” grunted Jason.
They jogged the car across the field and down the road from the farmhouse, then deposited it on the dirt road.
They waited beside the little vehicle as Nim slid behind the wheel. She wedged the seat up as far as it could go to accommodate her short legs. “Okay, let’s do this.”
“When was the last time you actually drove?” asked Alia.
Nim flexed her fingers. “It’s not the kind of thing you forget.”
“Ready?” said Theo.
“Wait,” said Diana. She placed her hand on his shoulder. She didn’t know what he could accomplish with that little computer, but just in case he was feeling hostile toward Nim, she wanted him as calm as possible. From the sheepish look he cast her, the gesture was warranted.
His thumbs sped over the screen, and a moment later the car roared to life.
Theo broke out in a dance that looked like it might cause lasting damage to his spine and did a victory lap around the car. “Who’s the king?”
Nim cast Alia a meaningful glance and whispered, “You have terrible taste.”
“Whatever,” said Alia. “Shotgun!”
Diana seized Alia and slammed her to the ground, shoving her body beneath the car for cover. She rose with bracelets raised, ready for the onslaught, but the others were just standing there staring.
“Um, Diana,” said Alia, peeking out from beneath the Fiat. “It’s just a saying.”
Diana felt her face heat.
“Of course,” she said, helping Alia up and dusting her off. Jason’s expression was bemused, and Theo’s whole body was shaking with laughter. “Naturally. And it means?”
“When you call shotgun, you get the seat next to the driver.”
“Why?”
“It’s just a rule,” said Alia.
“It’s from the Old West,” said Nim. “On a stagecoach, there was the driver, and the guy who rode next to him carried a shotgun in case they were attacked.”
“Or in case someone started spouting useless trivia and had to be murdered,” said Theo.
“Go stand in front of the car.”
It did take some time to negotiate where everyone would sit. Eventually, Jason took the passenger seat, and Diana squashed in between Alia and Theo in the back, her knees nearly up to her chin—that way she was ready to protect Alia if need be, and Nim and Theo were separated as much as possible.
To preserve the battery life of Theo’s phone for controlling the car, they used the old-fashioned map folded up in the glove compartment and picked out a route that took them south via side roads and narrow byways. It also occasionally trapped them behind a slow-moving cart drawn by mules, or required that they stop to let a herd of bandy-legged goats cross the road.
Despite the need for haste, Diana almost welcomed the pauses from Nim’s reckless pace.
“She has a much different style than Dez,” she murmured to Alia, thinking longingly of the smooth way the black town car had passed through traffic.
Theo moaned as they jolted against a divot, the Fiat’s tires momentarily losing touch with the road.
“Maybe she’s just trying to kill me slowly,” he speculated, looking a bit green.
They turned on the radio, flipping through the channels, until they found something that sounded like the news. Jason and Alia’s Greek wasn’t good enough to follow the rapid-fire conversation, but Diana understood it all. There were reports of more conflicts across the globe, another bloody coup attempt, world leaders issuing angry threats, but eventually the speaker mentioned the crash.
“The wreckage of the plane hasn’t been identified yet,” she translated. “There are reports of several casualties, but the bodies haven’t been identified, either.” Bodies. Again she thought of Ben. She remembered what Jason had said about living on in memory. At least she could do that for the pilot who had stood by her so bravely.
“It’s just a matter of time before they identify the aircraft,” said Jason, his eyes trained on the passing scenery.
“Everyone’s going to think we’re dead,” said Theo.
“Oh God,” said Nim. “My parents must be worried sick. They knew I was at that party with you guys.”
For the first time, Diana wondered what her mother would think when she found her daughter missing from the island. Grief? Anger? Diana might never have a chance to explain what she’d done.
She reached forward and gave Nim’s shoulder a squeeze. “You’ll be back with them soon.”
“Yeah,” said Nim, her voice a little shaky.
“My dad’s going to be so disappointed to find out I’m alive,” said Theo.
“That isn’t true,” Jason said.
“And it’s a crap thing to say,” added Alia, the echo of old grief in her words.
Theo ran a thumb over the shiny knee of his pants. “You’re right.”
“Did anyone even know we were on that jet?” asked Nim, taking another corner so fast she veered into the opposing lane and had to jerk the wheel back.
“I’m not sure,” said Jason, only gradually releasing his death grip on the door handle. “We didn’t exactly file the appropriate papers when we left New York.”
“But they’ll know it’s a Keralis jet,” Alia said.
“So be it,” said Jason.
“But the board—”
“The board will do what it’s going to do,” said Jason, shoulders stiff. “The company will survive. Our parents built Keralis Labs on innovation. If they lock us out, we’ll just keep innovating.” Diana wasn’t sure if Jason believed his own words, but she did. She could hear the iron in his voice.
They saw no police and there were no indications that they were being followed, but Diana remained watchful as they steadily tacked southward. They stopped once to fill the Fiat’s tank with gasoline, the rest of them watching through the window as Jason approached the attendant, whose gestures and angry exclamations made it clear he wouldn’t accept American money. Jason turned away from the attendant, scrunching his fist, frustration radiating in every line of his body, and for a moment Diana thought he might strike the man. Instead, he unslung his watch from his wrist and handed it over.
“That belonged to our dad,” Alia said quietly.
The attendant’s demeanor changed instantly. He disappeared into the little store while Jason filled the tank, then emerged with his arms full of potato chips and bottled soda, and a big plastic jug of water that he shoved through the open window at them. Diana wasn’t sure if the water was for them or the little car’s radiator as they crossed the mountains. A few minutes later they were back on the road.
Jason stared straight ahead, and Diana saw him touch his fin
gers briefly to his now-bare wrist.
“Jason,” Alia said tentatively.
He gave a short, sharp shake of his head. “Don’t.”
They drove on in silence, but after only a few miles had sped by Nim pulled to a halt by the side of the road where several cars were parked, their drivers somewhere down on the beaches below.
“Why are we stopping?” asked Diana. They still had until sunset the next day to get to the spring, but the farther they could get from their pursuers, the happier she’d be.
“We should switch the plates,” said Nim. “The license plates. That guy at the gas station is going to remember us. We don’t want this car matching up with a missing Fiat.”
“Or we could borrow another car,” Theo suggested.
“No,” said Nim. “We steal a car, it gets reported, we’re back on the grid, and they know which way we’re headed. But no one pays attention to license plates. They won’t notice the change until we’re long gone, if they notice at all.”
Alia leaned forward and gave Nim a tight hug over the back of the seat. “You’re brilliant.”
Nim beamed. “How much do you love me?”
“So much.”
“How much?” hissed Nim.
Diana saw her fingers dig deeply into the flesh of Alia’s arms. They were black talons, her arms corded with muscle. A stench filled the car, the dusty smell of decay. “If you loved me, you would let me kill him. You would let me kill them all.”
“Nim!” Alia cried out, trying to pull away.
“Let go of her!” Jason grabbed Nim’s wrist, then recoiled, his hand seared an angry red.
“I see you, Daughter of Earth,” said Eris. Hollow black eyes deep as wells met Diana’s in the rearview mirror. “You and your sisters have evaded our grasp far too long.”
Diana shifted to launch herself forward, but Theo grabbed her arm.
Wonder Woman: Warbringer Page 25
