In real life, there were still many tough questions to be asked, traitors to be wheedled out worldwide, and crossed paths to be smoothed over anew, but for one night at least, the hard trials of reality vanished and celebration reigned.
With the festivities slated to begin at five, Drake took a few hours to reflect in his hotel room. With utmost luxury at his fingertips, he walked barefoot across a floor so thickly carpeted it almost felt like walking on feathers. The drapes opened by remote, the air-con operated by voice control. He went to the slightly cracked-open window and watched the waves, the sparkling blue sea and the golden beach for a while, trying to banish all thoughts from his mind.
It didn’t work. His life was at a crossroads. Where did he go from here? He certainly couldn’t stay living with a lodger and following a career in photography. If Kennedy had survived, then he might’ve built something with her. If Ben hadn’t found Hayden, then maybe they could have worked something out. If Wells hadn’t ordered his wife’s death, then maybe he could have gotten some fucking peace. . .
His immediate thought was to run, to get as far away from the army and all things associated with it as soon as he could. But he’d tried that already—it didn’t work. The army, the SAS—the regiment—was in his blood, as much a part of him as his wife and his unborn baby—Emily Drake.
A light knock sounded at the door. He knew who it would be and walked over to let her in. “Still here?” he asked, intending the double-meaning.
“For now. For tonight.”
“And then what? You’re gone forever? Back to Japan and undercover work? Can you do that after all this? Will you always be the soldier?”
Mai shrugged. “What choice do I have? To smooth it over with my superiors, I’ll probably have to volunteer for the toughest assignment going. But you? Can you let go now?”
“If I have something to fight for. . .I think so.”
“And what would you fight for?” Her eyes locked on to his like heat-seeking missiles.
“We just saved the world,” Drake told her. “More than once.”
“Ach, that was yesterday.” Mai kicked off her shoes and ran across the carpet, following unconsciously in Drake’s earlier footsteps. “Today—we’re ancient history, like Odin.”
Drake caught up and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You can’t just leave,” he told her. “Or we’ll never know. Can’t you give it a little time?”
“My government demanded I return by tomorrow,” Mai said with sadness in her voice. “I’m still their agent. Unless you give me good enough reason to deny them, or—” She spun quickly. “They mentioned something about Gates—his ‘pitch.’ Know anything about it?”
Drake blinked in confusion. “Nope.”
*****
When Ben Blake let himself into Hayden’s room, he heard the noise of the shower running at full-force. His thoughts drifted from the horrors and terrors of warfare and the disappointment of being sacked by the band he had created—the Wall of Sleep—and being replaced by an inferior front-man on the day they performed their biggest gig, as back-up to American rock band Halestorm at the O2 Apollo in Manchester.
He’d missed out on everything. This Odin thing had destroyed all his dreams and now even made him seek out his girlfriend by way of her boss to try to make things up to her. But there was still hope. The shower presented a nice place for him to do that.
The bed squealed as he bounced off it into the bathroom. Steam and droplets of water covered every surface. Hayden had been in here for a long time. When his eyes adjusted, he saw that Hayden knelt in the shower room, naked, facing the far corner. Ben stopped in the doorway, at first admiring the curved, tanned body glistening all over with droplets of water and the fall of her hair down the middle of her back. A smile stretched the corners of his mouth, but then another noise came to his ears, loud even above the rushing water of the shower.
Hayden was sobbing terribly, uncontrollably. Her entire body shook with the force of it. Ben ran to her and received an elbow to the ear for his efforts. Hayden swung around, standing over him, fists poised to strike.
“Oh, it’s you. Ben. . .there’s things we should talk about.”
But they didn’t need to. Ben could see it all in her face. It would mean facing up to her, facing up to failure, and required more growing up than he was prepared to do right now. He saw their future. He saw their life as it was. They weren’t even on the same wavelength. Hayden lifted him to his feet.
“Ben, I’m sorry.” She wasn’t talking about the elbow and he knew it. His clothes were soaked but he didn’t care. He pulled his girlfriend close for the last time. He moved his lips close to her ear.
“I’m sorry too, Hayden. Good luck.”
And Ben turned and, even though he stayed on his feet, felt like he crawled out of the shower room, trying hard to block out the sounds of her distress. He put the blame on the shower itself for the water that dripped uncontrollably from his eyes as well as his clothes.
*****
Alicia listened as Dahl called his family, switching instantly from soldier to daddy to loving husband. It reminded her of something she’d seen on the internet, a picture of a rough biker overwritten with the maxim—doesn’t matter how big or bad-ass you are, when a toddler passes you a toy phone, you answer it.
Dahl was that kind of guy. A loving family man without equal on the field of battle. She admired him, though she’d never say so out loud. For her, feeling respect was a rare and alien occurrence. She could count the number of people she admired in this world on the fingers of one hand.
And, including Dahl, three of them resided in this very hotel. The third, Mai Kitano, had won her over despite a great internal struggle. Alicia still tried to fight it, but had conceded this was one battle she was going to lose.
To her other side, Jonathan Gates was caught in a series of endless phone calls. His smooth talking seemed to win the day more often than not. When he caught her looking curiously at him, he smiled and leaned over conspiratorially. “I have to make the most of this while I can,” he said. “As of now, this minute, I have more power than the president. My team saved everyone. Not only that—we unearthed the Shadow Elite and put an end to their machinations. No one will deny me anything for the next few weeks, believe me.”
Alicia nodded. “Got it. So what’s this ‘pitch’ I keep hearing you mention? Sounds mysterious.”
“Oh, it is.” Gates gave her a wide, boyish smile. “I got that passed without any trouble at all after everything that has happened recently. The rest is up to you. All of you.”
*****
Karin and Komodo surfaced with barely minutes to go before the party started, literally throwing on a few items of clothing and rushing for the elevators. Karin was breathing heavily, still flushed as she smoothed her skirt down.
“To be continued?” She arched an eyebrow saucily.
“Just try and stop me.” Komodo grinned.
Karin draped a Hawaiian lei around her neck. “Look okay?”
“Any hotter and they’d have to put out the fire.”
Karin swatted him. “Dickhead.”
The lift arrived and whooshed open. Karin entered first and waited for the doors to close, ensuring that they were alone.
She turned to Komodo. His eyes went wide, but she shook her head. “No. Not here. Well.. maybe later. But—”
“I know what you’re gonna say.” The Delta team-leader hung his head. “What happens to us next? I know that look.”
“So what does happen next, Trevor?”
“We find a way. Worst case? You could live near the barracks. It’s a garrison town.”
“That’s not what I want.”
“I got that. Got it loud and clear. I don’t have the answer yet, baby. I just don’t.”
Karin frowned. “Baby?”
“It’s American for sweetheart. Or love. Is that how they say it where you come from? I dun’t ‘ave th’ answer yet, luv.”
; Karin punched him on the shoulder. “You’re a right tit, you know that? Look, we’re here now. Better scrub up, soldier boy.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
*****
Little by little the team drifted out into the night. Hawaiian music backed hula dancers as they swayed on stage. Flickering, smoking torches lined the walls that circled their private courtyard. Everyone either took a seat or stood grazing around the buffet, content in each other’s company, bonded by shared experiences of action and blood. A girl wearing a grass skirt threaded flowers through each guest’s hair or placed them behind ears as each person stepped out. A long table bore the best of a “mainstream” Hawaiian buffet: fresh pineapple, coconut, seafood, pork and spam. Tropical cocktails were placed into every eager hand except Drake’s. Pineapple cake, fresh fruit slices and a sweet dipping sauce made dessert.
Hula girls swayed their hips. A fire-knife dance took even Mai’s breath away, the men gaining appreciative whistles from Alicia. It was the longest any of them had relaxed with no operation looming that they could remember.
Drake sat alone for a time, drinking in the ambience and watching each and every one of his colleagues in turn. Ben Blake, the rock-singing computer geek, who had started this journey with nothing, gained so much along the way and then ended it with even less than he started. Karin, his sister, who had somehow acquired a purpose and no longer wished to waste her life away. Komodo, the rough-looking Delta team leader who talked to Karin in such a respectful, loving way it made Drake double-take every time he heard the man’s voice. Mano Kinimaka, sitting comfortably astride a makeshift bed, so happy that everyone had joined him for his Hawaiian party, now surrounded by Hula dancers, but still making sure Hayden noticed he wasn’t interested in even the prettiest of them. And Hayden herself, so worn and wounded, so weary. She had fought the greatest battles of her life and had lived to fight another day. Her eyes might be red-rimmed, but her face was a determined mix of expectation and hope. He passed over Jonathan Gates, not knowing how the politician worked his clever magic, but finding his faith a little restored in the elective system. If someone like Gates could emerge as a future potential presidential candidate, then the world was not lost.
And then to Mai and Alicia—two of the most complex, crazy and ultimately capable people he had ever known. Mai was still a mystery to him, and he had known her the longest. There was no doubt she might hold the key to his future, but he could not hope to commit in one night. No way could he make that decision now. Too many variables were still juggling in the air.
Then he glimpsed Alicia, the girl who wore her heart on her sleeve, never at a loss for words, her harsh tongue her defense mechanism, but still a loyal, if misled, friend.
Finally, he glanced at Torsten Dahl and saw the Swede staring right back at him. Dahl was solid gold in every way. No more needed to be said.
Dahl wandered over. “When I first met you, Drake, back in that cavern where the World Tree grows, I thought at best you were a major prick.”
“Likewise.”
“I may have been a little off the mark.”
Drake smiled, sweeping aside the few unresolved issues and old memories that threatened to spoil the rest of his night. “Likewise.”
Dahl held a hand out. “Thanks for the help.”
Drake shook it firmly. “Anytime, mate.”
The evening wore on. Beyond the low torch-lit walls, the surf pounded against the beach where revelers walked, dipping their toes in the warm, foamy surf. The luau ended and the sound-system began to crank out a few old, mellow tunes as Gates clinked a spoon against a glass and asked for everyone’s attention.
“Your countries thank you,” he said once everyone acknowledged him. “Though they might never show it. That’s my official spiel, and the only time you will ever hear it.” He paused. “We’re all friends here, right? So fuck that.”
Drake’s eyebrows arched. Gates was becoming more popular by the minute.
“I’m here to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. If it wasn’t for you—all of you—I’d be dead right now. Never mind the state of the rest of the world. So here’s to you. For all our sins—we still won.” He raised a glass. Everyone drank.
Then he turned to Ben Blake. “Do you remember where all this started?”
Ben nodded. “For you? Yeah, back at the Library of Congress.”
“You got it. And it was there, right then, that I first saw the potential for a great team. I watched you all work together and smoothed the road to see how far you could take it.”
“You paved the way to keep us in the operational loop.” Drake nodded. “We could never have trailed the Blood King without your help.”
“I did what was required,” Gates said with steel in his voice. “And, thank God, it all paid off. My decisions back then have helped my career now.” He paused. “And now the time has come to try something different.”
“Never a problem for me,” Alicia assured him, sounding more than a little inebriated.
“I want to pitch an idea to you. But of course it’s not something you aren’t already doing.”
“Pitch away,” Mai said quietly. “Anything’s better than my tomorrow.”
Gates spread his arms. “Just this—I’ve been given the go ahead to assemble a team of specialists—that is military and IT specialists, and foreign, local agency and governmental liaisons, all of which we have assembled here tonight. I’m planning to head up an unmatched new covert agency, a first-class, extreme-team, and I’m offering you all a job.”
For a moment there was utter silence, then the questions started firing off.
Drake was first. “A job doing what exactly?”
“Did you not hear the words extreme team?” Alicia slurred.
“We write our own charter,” Gates told him. “That’s just one of the beauties of it. We will choose our own assignments.”
“All of us?” Komodo was asking with unrestrained excitement. “Me too? And Karin?”
“Count me in.” Hayden was already nodding at her boss. “If Mano will join me?”
Kinimaka’s head nodded so vigorously it threatened to roll off. “Sure.”
Drake paused only to study Mai’s reaction. He could tell immediately that she liked this idea more than the thought of returning to Japan and being put through the wringer once again by her superiors. For him it was a no brainer, with or without her. The difference between action and inaction for him was much more than two letters; it was a good life or a slow death.
That left just a few stragglers. Gates spoke up when he noticed Dahl’s deep hesitation. “For you, Dahl, and for anyone else in the future, I propose a working package far better than the one you currently enjoy, which in English means that you’ll get to see your family more often.”
“How?” The Swede was no pushover.
“Look around you.” Gates grinned. “At the caliber of these people and others you could recommend. Everyone will get time off to recuperate or be with their families because we will take fewer jobs than other agencies. We won’t overstretch ourselves. I want my people at the top of their game. And one way to ensure that is to extend their happy time.”
Dahl visibly wavered.
“But think on it,” Gates said forcibly. “I’ll take only those who wish to play a major role in this new initiative. I want only the best, for I will have to fight tooth and nail with some of your bosses to retain you. But know this—the funding is already in place.”
“Fast mover,” Alicia said. “I like it. Oh, and I’m in.”
Drake saw Gates’s statement a different way. To him it meant the sharks and the snakes would already be gathering at the door—the sharks to feed off the group’s successes, the snakes to infiltrate its ranks.
Then Ben was at his side, a human Bassett Hound with his eyes drooping and his face all sad. “What do you think?” Almost as if he was asking permission.
Drake clapped him on the back. “I think it’s a damn s
ight better than singing in a band and shagging groupies, mate.”
“Working for the government?”
“Saving lives. Taking down evil. Hey, maybe you could ask Taylor to come and join us. Or that new group you’re in to. Halestorm, is it?”
“Nah. Not any more. Lizzy won’t respond to me on Twitter.”
“No?” Drake tried to sound shocked. “So misguided.”
“I like the sound of working with this team,” Ben said. “And Karin’s in.”
“Don’t join for Karin, mate. And certainly not for Hayden.” Drake had taken off the kid gloves with Ben the moment Kennedy died. He wasn’t about to put them back on now. “It won’t all be a bed of roses, you know. We could get our arses kicked. If you do join, make sure it’s for the team.”
“What’s our first assignment?” Ben asked eagerly.
Gates eyed him. “You think I’d move that fast?”
Hayden laughed. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”
“Well. . .there is something.”
“Let’s see what kind of major shit we can get ourselves into.” Alicia joined them. “And hey, what’s the HQ like? More importantly, what’s the armory like? Do we have our own jet? Oh, and that surveillance system that can see through walls? Now, that would be cool. . .”
Gates was laughing. “Well, I’m not too sure about the jet, but within reason, we should be rather well-equipped.”
Alicia grinned back. “That’s my kind of talk. Let’s drink to it.”
Drake grinned and nodded without paying too much attention. He’d already made up his mind and zoned out for a few moments. Memories of Belmonte and Emma spun out of the fog of memory to remind him of their sacrifices. One thing Drake promised himself was that he would seek out Emma’s father and explain what had really happened to his daughter. No parent should ever be in the dark about the fate of their child—no worse a torment existed.
And one vile name remained seared into his brain like a loathsome brand, like a wide-open, festering wound. The name Coyote—man or woman, near or far, assassin or official. . .
The Tomb of the Gods (Matt Drake 4) Page 21
