“You must have good practice with all of the women you parade in and out of your bed,” I drawled, getting up and stretching. “They wouldn't come back if there was danger of… no, I refuse to be sucked into that kind of talk. I’m going to shut up while I’m ahead.”
“Good, but please do tell me more. I want to know about these women I’ve been bedding. In particular, where to find them,” he said, sitting up. “What are you talking about and who have you been talking to?”
I rolled my eyes, not about to play into his jibe, but then some light seemed to dawn on him. He started laughing with gusto. “Don’t tell me you bought the tabloid crap that the upper ups feed the masses! I told you I don't own the penthouse they list as my official address. They periodically send people to stay there to cut down on hotel costs. They make me escort them to political events, particularly the women, and then they stay in the penthouse with me, but in separate rooms.“
He continued to howl laughing as I sat unmoved. “Oh, no wonder you hate me. You think-” he let out a wheeze in between laughs. “And with all of the women they picture with me - no, no, sweetheart. If I were kept that busy, do you really think I’d be out here tromping after a nuke?”
“And I suppose you expect me to believe the blonde on your desk was merely thrilled with your hospitality,” I said disparagingly, thoroughly unconvinced.
He grinned. “I’m sure she would have been… if it had been me. My brother must have been using the spare key I gave him. Good to know he’s not gay like we thought, though I might want to disinfect the desk next time I’m home.”
“It was you!”
“We look surprisingly alike,” he said with a wink. “That’s why I was rather upset when you said you had him marked. How did you get in, anyway?”
“I didn’t. I used a sniper periscope. I read lips,” I said with a shrug, deciding I had no reason to care whether he was a man whore or not. “I was only scoping the place out for another target and saw on the plans it was your building. And as for your eye appointment, I hacked your communicator’s message box.”
“Who was your target?” Michael asked curiously.
“Rogee,” I answered without preamble. He coughed and thumped his chest. Cain chuckled darkly. “But then I realized killing him wouldn’t do. The deputy minister is worse.”
“Not to mention the general public would have replaced him with yet another sound supporter of slavery,” Cain replied. “Disgusting as it is, they support slavery. They want it.”
“The top one percent wants it,” I hissed. “Slaves and blue collar workers aren't allowed to vote, remember?”
“Not that their votes would count anyway,” Michael added. “It’s all rigged. I overhear my father and the others plotting about it every time there’s an election.”
“I don't believe it,” Cain said, crossing his arms.
“Believe it,” he said firmly. “All candidates are pre-chosen and pre-approved. They’re puppets to the upper classes. Did you ever know your father tried to run for prime minister?”
“Of course,” he sniffed like he was offended. “They said he was a shoo-in he was so well liked.”
“Which is why they killed him,” Michael said harshly. Cain turned even paler, but he continued on matter of factly. “They were so afraid his anti-slavery policies would be popular that when he wasn't declared the winner, people would suspect the elections were rigged. He was outside of their control and they knew it. So they murdered him.”
He shook his head. “You’ve been serving the very system that killed your father.”
I bowed mine. This explained so much. I had never heard this version of the story, but it seemed to ring true. Cain, however, was not prepared for it at all. He sat wide eyed and didn’t move for some time. I felt sorry for him. Michael had just slammed him with a little too much truth without preparing him. He had been completely blindsided.
“Michael, pack your things,” I murmured. “We’re leaving shortly.”
“I don't have anything to pack.” I fixed him with an incredulous stare and he got the message. “Oh. Yes, let me go do that.”
He scuffled off and I turned back to the bed. Cain still hadn't moved. His eyes were frozen in gaze. He just stared blankly, clearly reliving things I could not see. I recognized the symptoms of a relapse into a traumatic memory. I did not try to disturb his quiet. I knew better. Comforting the man would not be a good idea, nor would it probably be welcomed. So I waited for him to speak instead. It wasn’t long.
“Did you know about this?”
I felt relief when he spoke. We were leaving shortly, so dealing with him in a stupor wouldn’t do. “No. I had known he stepped on some political toes but I didn’t know whose, nor did I ever ask.”
I sighed again, seeing his face contort into a hard mask of anger. “I do, however, know it was rumored that he was keeping evidence against a great number of people somewhere secret. Supposedly, they never found where. But a key piece of evidence was missing from the crime scene: a locket that he was known to wear. There was a great deal of upset amongst certain circles that it was never found.”
His brow creased as his eyebrows knit together. He surprised me by pulling out a worn-looking gold locket with an engraved cross on the front from under his shirt. “This?”
I nodded. “That sounds like it.”
“I took it,” he said, looking down at it and running his thumb over it. “He pulled it off and put in my hands before he died. He told me to keep it safe. I never knew why. Are you saying that there’s something in it that they wanted?”
“There are only pictures inside it, I presume?”
“I don’t know,” he said, so quiet that I could barely hear. “It’s been jammed ever since…”
“May I?” I asked, coming over and extending my hand. “I won’t damage it, but I have some experience with this stuff.”
“So do I,” he said, face contorting with a mix of rage and sorrow.
There was no time to stop him as he brought his hand down hard on the locket face, crushing the face of it and causing it to crumple. I didn't watch as the cheap plated metal cracked in his hand. I was too busy watching the look of anger shift into misery as the last possession he had of his father shattered.
I felt his pain as I squatted and gathered the remnants. There was nothing to be seen in the wreckage. I sincerely hoped he didn't blame me for this. I may have been wrong, but I wasn't the one who had found this information. It had come from a police report. I looked at the pieces and ran my fingers over them. “It’s fixable. If you find a good gold worker-”
“I don't want it,” he said, still half miserable, half irate. “I’ve been carryin’ that thing around my neck for years. It’s like a lead weight dragging me down. You can have it. Melt it down, throw it away. I don’t care.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. Reflecting on it for a second, I decided to do the nice thing and try to cheer him up. I pulled out the small, velvet cloth I kept my herbs in and emptied them out into my palm. I extended it to him. “Then keep it in here. If that pendant was too much of a weight, then put it in with your ammunition. Your dad can bless all of the bullets for you when you go out to fight. Or you can put it away and never look at it again. But don't throw it away.
“Even if you hate something, you should still keep it. I keep a picture of my family tucked away in my bunker at home. It’s pretty much the only thing I have left of myself from before. I nearly burned it once but snatched it off the fire before it was too late. I can’t destroy it. Don’t want to keep it either, but I know I’ll regret it if I don’t.”
He didn't look at the pouch. He stared directly at my face like he had earlier in the day. “You confuse me.”
“Join the club,” I muttered. I waved the pouch at him, starting to regret my moment’s weakness. ”You want it or not?”
He took it from me as I gathered up a few of the scattered pieces. “Thanks. I probably won't put the piece
s in, but I’ll keep it anyway. It’s not every day I get a gift from the esteemed Sierrenna. I know better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“Rain,” I said without feeling. “I don’t hate it as much as I used to. It’s the someone I want to be as opposed to the someone I am and have to be, if that makes sense.”
“No,” he said, eyes sparkling warmly. “It’s the someone you are.”
I looked down at the floor, unsure of what to say. But what caught my eye lying on the floor was about to send my heart into overdrive. I swept the dust ruffle aside from the bed and stared down at the small object that had mocked Cain for most of his life, always hiding in plain view.
In front of me lay the hidden data disk of the late General Bill McRattin.
Chapter Seventeen 03:06:53:24 to potential nuclear explosion
“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you,” Cain said, failing to distract my intense study of the object in front of me. “You get it. We’re both stuck with the personas forced on us, sent into a battle we never asked for. I thought I'd never say this, but I like you and I would very much like to be your ally if that’s what you want. We’re already ‘friends,’ and I’m your ‘shaitan,’ so-”
I picked the small disk and held it up to the light. “Cain...”
“If that’s repugnant to you, I understand,” he said sulkily. “But I think we should consider-”
“Cain,” I said with some urgency, holding up the object so he could see. He stopped dead with whatever he was about to say. He stared at it with the same shock that must have crossed my face. “I think this belongs to you.”
He cocked his head to look at it and then promptly shoved it back at me. “Nope. I know better. You read it. If I do, I’ll wind up hunting down the people one by one and I don't want to wind up like-”
The horrified look he sent me told me exactly what he had been about to say. The word ‘you’ was clear even though they never had passed his lips. I tucked the disk into my boot pocket along with the rest of the pieces, and patted it, swallowing back anger with a smile. His statement had pissed me off beyond belief and even I wasn’t sure why. “Of course.”
He gulped. “That was the anger talking. Forget it.”
“Michael,” I roared into the door beyond ours as I stood. “Get your ass out here. We’re leaving.”
I heard movement behind me. “Look, I didn’t mean it.”
“Sure you did,” I said quietly. “I’m not offended. Maybe later we can haggle out a price or something.”
He grabbed my arm and forced me to look at him. He shifted his hand away from my wrist deliberately as he glared down at me. “I do not think of you that way anymore.”
“Tell it to someone who believes it. I’ll tell you, you really are good. Every time I just about get goaded in, I realize how absolutely false this all is,” I spat. “You know what? Let Michael read the disk. We three really are peas in a pod. Why don't we just screw him up more? He’s already on his way to being me after all-”
“Whoa,” Michael said, coming into the room. “What’s going on? And how come I’m being dragged into it?”
I tossed my head and barged past him. “I’m going to make sure our transport is ready. Meet me there.”
“Rain,” Cain called after me, sounding upset.
“Don't call me that!” I screeched as I threw open the back door and then slammed it shut behind me. I was so angry that I was shaking. Not at him, no. I was angry with myself. I had opened up and let the enemy in and it had just come around to bite me from the rear. I had believed him once again. I should have kept on running when I had had the chance earlier.
I thought he had come to understand, but apparently not. To him I was still just a cold-blooded killer. And that stung beyond belief, even though it shouldn’t have.
This was what I hated most about myself. Dantenn was right. My heart had never died like it should have. I kept shooting myself in the foot over and over. Was I a masochist or something? I was hurt and the only reason was because I had come to care about that man, the one who was apparently following behind me.
“Will you please wait up?” I heard him call. Heavy footsteps hit the ground, crunching on the dirt. I kept on going and tried to ignore him but he wasn't having that. He caught up and stepped in my path. “I am not letting us leave things like this.”
“We can talk later.”
He didn't buy it. “But we won't, will we? You’re going to shut yourself away again.”
“It doesn't matter,” I said, calm like the polar ice caps that hid the raging waters beneath.
“It does to me!” he thundered, drawing looks from the villagers passing at the end of the alley. “Maybe you don’t buy it yet, but I care-”
“I don’t,” I said sweetly.
He growled under his breath. “Yes, you do. That’s half your problem. Dantenn was right.”
“You know, you really are one of a kind. I have never debated about offing someone so frequently-”
He stepped up nose to nose with me. “Stop it. It’s too late now. You’ve let me see the real you.”
Somehow I really doubted that he had seen even if I had shown him. But it didn’t matter. Time to get him off of my tail. “Yes, but it occurs to me now that I haven’t seen much of the real you. Fine then, Cain. Tell me why you care and I’ll forget all this. Tell me why.”
He clammed up in front of my eyes. He stuttered a few times over something in his mind and ran his hand through his hair. “I kind of told you already… I like you.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. I enjoyed the fact his voice shrank down into a tiny little voice. “Wow. That’s really the best you can do? You like me?”
“Well… Yes,” he said, with a shrug, still looking very uncomfortable. “I’m still not entirely sure why, but… we might make a good team. But I tend to think you don't believe me right now, so we should table this discussion ‘till a different time.”
“You think?” I snapped. “You think I don't believe you?”
He grimaced. “Now I know you don't believe me.”
I looked to the heavens for guidance as to what to do with the buffoon before me and tried to step around him. He blocked my path again. I glared. “The one thing I can't figure out is what you want from me. Officially, you want a guide, but other than that I don’t get it. Is it your mission to undermine me or something? Ruin my life?”
“No!” he exclaimed. “I’m just trying to-”
“Get over yourself, Cain. You’re not worth my time,” I sneered, poking him in the chest. “I should be dealing with the upper echelon, not the number one marionette of the army. You get orders and you jump. You don’t give them. There could be another you in a minute, another yuppie to kiss the establishment’s collective asses and do a better job at it, too!”
He stopped, truly surprised as I continued. “And if you think I am looking to play chess with you, your ego truly is overinflated. I’m looking to play with the king, not his pawn!”
He stayed rooted in place, just staring for a minute before saying in a weary voice, “Wow. I really did hurt you, didn’t I?”
“Screw you,” I yelled at him.
“Maybe when you’re in a better mood,” he said with a grimace of humor. I went to smack him and he grabbed my hand before it struck. “Easy now. You’ll regret this later. Hate me or not, I know you now, and this is not you.”
I collapsed a little on the inside as he stared deep into my eyes in a way that made me want to slump against him and just cry. It was like he was looking inside me and seeing all of the mess and didn’t care. But considering what he had previously said, I knew that wasn’t true and that made me even angrier. I jerked away from him. “Let go of me!”
“Children,” I heard Michael calling as Cain continued to stare. “Let’s not fight. We have bigger problems to deal with.”
I looked away. Knowing Michael, he’d announce it for all to hear. I didn’t have to wait long. I did, howeve
r, jump when he shot a gun off. Now looking at him, I saw it was the gun I had given him. And worse, it ran off of an electric cartridge.
Cain came to the abrupt realization that I had with a curse. “We’re out of the fifty mile E.M.P. range now. That means the nuke is probably headed further toward Nacin-“
We took off for the long end of the alley at a breakneck pace. Xorratti didn’t have the nuke here and with Tiranshyck gone, that left us with an unknown third party we had to track down. Something wasn't adding up and I knew it. We were missing some piece of the puzzle. But the question was what.
* * *
I had found Tiranshyck’s men waiting for us at the entrance to the village. Argon slipped a message down to us from up at the temple before we had gone, alerting us that Xorratti had been talking to Rogee all afternoon, saying that he had ‘lost’ the item everybody was looking for. After that, we slipped out of town and made for the desert, new servants in tow.
Dusk was falling fast as we were rocketed across the dunes, pushing the motorbikes as fast as they could go. I was riding with Michael who couldn't have been more pleased about my falling out with Cain. He liked it that way. He didn’t have to fight for my attention now. But while he was happy about that, he was still quiet. He was worried as we all were. Things weren't going well and we all knew it. We knew what was at stake.
When we stopped to rest for a few minutes, I sat back trying to piece together the tattered puzzle that was this whole mess. Something was not right about it. I sent a prayer to the heavens that we would be blessed enough to find the nuke in time and stop the evil in its tracks. Somewhere in the time I was worrying over all this, I dozed off. But once asleep, I was under assault once again.
In my dreams I was cornered with a reanimated Tiranshyck standing over me, holding his severed head. I shook in terror as it spoke, its milky eyes fixed on me as black blood dribbled to the floor, pooling in a sickening puddle at my feet. I tried to escape him, but he kept appearing in my path until I sank to my knees and gave in.
War Machine: Book One in the Destiny In the Shadows Series Page 21
