by Doug Felton
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Micah said. “While it is in my best interest to see Zeke fail, it’s not in my best interest for him to know I had a hand in it.”
Raisa scoffed. “My word, you are a coward.”
“And right now, I am more afraid of him than I am of you.”
“Are you right-handed or left-handed?” Raisa asked.
“Right. Why?”
Raisa grabbed Micah’s left hand, causing him to drop his glass, which shattered on the floor. She forced his hand on the desk and, with one swift movement, brought the sword down, severing his four fingers. Micah screamed in pain as blood seeped onto the desktop.
Ten seconds later, the door flew open, and a guard entered, gun drawn. He saw Raisa with the bloody sword and Micah’s hand.
“Drop the sword,” he said.
Raisa turned toward the guard with a defiant look. She had no intention of dropping the sword. As he fired, Josh reached out. The bullet struck him in the palm, shattering the bones in his left hand and was deflected away from Raisa. Two more steps and Josh was on the guard. One blow to the head with his right hand and the guard went down as if every muscle in his body had been deactivated at once.
Raisa turned back to Micah, who held his bloody hand, tears streaming down his face. “Make the call.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Raisa and Josh sat atop an office high-rise downtown. It had taken the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon to contact Scott through Micah’s informant and plan the meeting.
Micah provided transportation that they used to get back downtown. He had no choice if he expected to keep the rest of his fingers. It took three times as long heading back downtown because the streets were blocked off or clogged with military transports getting ready for the Ten Thousand. After winding their way through side streets and alleys, they made it to their destination. Now they sat thirty stories up, feet dangling over the edge. Waiting.
Raisa held the sword in her lap, rubbing one hand over the smooth wooden scabbard. She thought of Micah’s four severed fingers lying on the desk. The thought didn’t sicken her; it energized her. A simple act of violence had gotten her what she wanted, and she was okay with that. Micah was complicit in Alexander’s death, so she had no qualms about lopping off his fingers to convince him to help. He was lucky she hadn’t lopped off his head.
Josh hadn’t said a word about it since they left. Raisa knew he didn’t approve, but she figured he was dealing with his own issues and didn’t have any emotional margin left to deal with hers. Killing that man in the apartment had changed him. The latest news feeds featured the grieving widow tearfully wondering how she would raise her son on her own. Raisa did her best to steer them away from any place that might have the news playing. That’s why they decided to meet on a roof instead of a bar or coffee shop. That and the fact that they still needed to stay out of the public eye. Plus, Raisa couldn’t exactly take the sword with her into a bar.
Josh tilted his head and put his hand to his ear. After a few seconds, he said to Raisa, “Penly’s at Raven Rock. She’s got everybody, and she’s heading this way.” Then he spoke to Penly. “What’s your ETA?” His face brightened from his somber demeanor. “Well, God bless him. See you soon.”
“What?” Raisa asked.
“Jimbo Haynes came to the rescue again. Did you know he has access to a helicopter?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard.”
“They were able to contact him directly, no comms. He’s flying them here.”
A voice behind them said, “Good. The more, the merrier. Isn’t that what they say?”
Raisa and Josh jumped to their feet to find Zeke and Elliot standing on the other side of the roof. Three more of his men were coming over the edge.
It was just about the time Scott was to show up for their meeting. He sold us out. Raisa drew her sword and stood ready to use it.
“There’s no need for that,” Zeke said. “I just want to talk.
Raisa didn’t move.
Zeke shook his head as if he were trying to figure out how to explain something to a child. “It’s over. Can’t you see that? I’ve won. Even my pigheaded step-father can admit that.”
“You’ve seen Micah?” Josh asked.
“Oh, yes. Nice job on his hand.”
“That’s how you knew where to find us?”
Zeke nodded. “He’s a coward. It wasn’t hard to get him to give up his informant. By the way, he won’t be meeting you tonight or any night.”
His informant? Micah had lied to Zeke about their meeting with Scott. Raisa had to give him credit for that, but why would he give them up?
“How’d you know we were at his house today?” she asked.
“He’s not the only one who can buy information,” Zeke said. “But that’s just business. I want to talk about the future and your part in it.”
“You’re surrendering, then.” Raisa’s sarcasm masked the intensity of her fury.
Zeke smiled. “No. I am here to make you an offer. Join me. The people love you, and they love me. Imagine two immortals ruling as King and Queen.”
Elliot shot a look at Zeke, which he ignored. It appeared that he had not run this part of the plan by her first. Her face flushed red, and her body tensed, but she said nothing. Given their history, Raisa knew how painful those words would be for Elliot to hear.
“You’re proposing to me? Gosh, this is so sudden.”
“Stop being a child and consider the possibilities,” Zeke snapped. “With the Ten Thousand, we can rule this continent, maybe this hemisphere. Why would you not want that?”
“Why would you not want to let them make their own choices?” Raisa asked.
“They are making their own choices.”
“Oh, that’s why you drugged them using nanobots?” Raisa gathered from Zeke’s expression that he hadn’t expected her to know that. “Looks like Micah’s informant paid close attention,” she said smugly.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “They will be here soon, and they will take control of Pittsburgh, and I will swoop in to save the day, and we will be well on our way to meeting the goals of the first one hundred years.”
Josh said, “You’ve planned out a hundred years into the future?”
“For starters. Why wouldn’t I? The only question left unanswered is who will be by my side.”
This time Elliot looked down.
“You’re gonna need to keep looking,” Raisa said, wondering how they would get out of this now that the conversation appeared to be winding down.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Zeke said.
He moved toward Raisa, and the others approached with him. Raisa tightened her stand. Their options were limited. She didn’t think she could survive a forty-story fall, and the building next to them was too tall to be helpful. She could try to jump to it and climb her way to the top, but so could Zeke and his crew, and being stuck on the side of the building would further limit her options. She’d have to face them, but it was five against two, and she didn’t like those odds.
She looked at Josh, who was ready to fight, but who looked no more hopeful than she did. Raisa raised her sword, ready to swing if any one of them leaped into the air. They drew closer and looked as if they were about to attack when the head of one of Zeke’s men snapped back in a spray of red. He went down. The same thing happened to the man next to him. Everyone stopped, looking at the buildings that surrounded them.
A sniper.
For the first time, Zeke looked worried. His gaze drifted from surveilling the buildings to Raisa. She tilted her head as if taking credit for her mysterious helper. She didn’t know who it was or why they were shooting, or if she was next, but she would use it to her advantage while she could.
“I think it’s time for you to go.”
Zeke nodded at his third man. The man hesitated, but then advanced on Raisa. His head snapped back as he fell to the ground. Zeke began backing away and put his han
d on Elliot’s shoulder, taking her with him. She jerked her arm away but followed him to the edge of the roof, where they disappeared over the side.
“What was that?” Josh asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Maybe it was your guardian angel,” a voice came from the shadow of the rooftop door structure.
Raisa raised her sword as the owner of the voice stepped out of the shadow.
“Scott. You were there the whole time?”
“I was, Your Majesty. I was just about to announce myself when Zeke showed up. They couldn’t see me, so I figured the best thing I could do was keep my mouth shut and wait it out.”
“Why don’t we get off the roof,” Josh said, looking at the surrounding buildings. “We don’t know who’s shooting or why.”
“I’m open to suggestions,” Raisa said.
“There,” Josh pointed to the rooftop of a smaller building on the south side. “It’s a hotel, but it’s probably not completely booked. All the rooms have balconies, so it shouldn’t be hard to make our way down the side to find an empty room.”
“Uh, guys, how are we going to get down there?” Scott asked. “And by ‘we,’ I really mean me.”
“Good point,” Josh said.
“Easy,” Raisa said. “You jump, and I will toss Scott to you, and then I’ll jump.”
“You’ll toss me? You realize I don’t have the same healing power you do.”
“It’s practically a straight drop,” she said.
With no more discussion, Josh stepped on the edge of the roof and jumped onto the roof of the hotel.
“I don’t know about this,” Scott said.
“Trust me.” Raisa picked him up, like a groom carrying his bride, and walked to the edge. “You need to let go of my neck.”
He did as he closed his eyes, and she let him drop to Josh, waiting below. He caught him and put Scott on his feet. Raisa followed, landing next to the wobbly tech guy.
“With all due respect, ma’am, I don’t know if I am ready for a world filled with you guys.”
“Then help us put a lid on this.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Raisa closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep, but failing. How could she sleep with everything that had happened and everything about to happen? She knew Josh carried a burden as heavy as hers, but somehow he had fallen asleep. He was snoring lightly in the next bed. Must be a guy thing, she thought; Alexander could sleep no matter what was going on as well. They were in the empty hotel room Josh had found earlier, and when no one showed up to claim it by 11:00, they figured they might as well stay the night and get some rest.
Only Raisa couldn’t sleep. Her mind kept replaying their conversation with Scott. She analyzed everything he’d said and every decision they’d made.
“Zeke is a psychopath,” Scott said once they had settled on the balcony of an empty room. “He wasn’t always like that, or at least I didn’t know it. At first, it was fun to work for him. He had a ton of money so we could do all kinds of really cool stuff at his concerts with AI and holographic images. He told us what he wanted and let us lose to create it. One concert was open only to people with implanted VR chips. It was a smaller venue, but, wow, they got a show of a lifetime.”
“But it changed,” Raisa said, trying to keep the conversation on track.
“Yeah, yeah. He was always eccentric, but a couple of years ago, he started getting obsessed.”
“With what?”
“With you and your condition. It was like all he could talk about. The guy is a genius, so at first, I thought it was just another one of his inspirations. But then he hired a team of scientists. That was weird. And he started asking me to work on things that had nothing to do with his shows or product lines.”
“Like what?” Raisa asked.
“Like developing facial reconstruction software.”
“I don’t understand,” Josh said.
“He wanted to know if it was possible to develop a therapy with pre-programmed nanobots that could alter a person’s appearance.”
“Is it?”
“In theory, yes, but it would take a long time to develop, and he didn’t want to wait.”
“What did he want it for?” Raisa asked.
Scott hesitated before he answered. “He wanted to look like Prince Alexander.”
Raisa put her hand to her mouth. She could think of only one reason he would want to look like Alexander. To replace him. But to what end? Not to replace him in her life; she knew Alexander too well for him to fool her, even wearing his face. Then what? She knew he wanted to be King, perhaps he planned to kill them both and replace Alexander as the ruling monarch. With Barrymore’s help, he could have pulled that off. The thought of people looking to Zeke as if he were Alexander repulsed Raisa.
Josh put a reassuring hand on Raisa’s shoulder. “But he didn’t do it.”
“Nope,” Scott said, “Instead, he asked me to develop a digital avatar for him. After we shot the first video, I started to get concerned. He told me it was not what it seemed, that it was more like an elaborate joke. But when I saw you in Pittsburgh, I knew it was more than that. I confronted him about it, and he got all weird on me. Like he was a different person. He told me he was trying to bring about important social change, and I needed to be onboard. Then he said that it would be good for my family for me to cooperate.”
Scott stopped talking, and Josh and Raisa sat back in their chairs, processing what they’d heard. Zeke was hell-bent on taking control of the Ten Thousand and the New World. How does a person become so misguided, Raisa thought? No, not misguided. Evil. Was it genetic, or did something shape him this way? It really didn’t matter, she decided. The only way to deal with evil was to destroy it, and that’s what she would do.
“So tell me what happens tonight when the Ten Thousand get here.”
“Not tonight. Tomorrow. He’ll meet with Mayor Reeves tonight and tell him he’s been in contact with the Ten Thousand, and they are angry and that they plan to take Pittsburgh. Zeke will suggest that to keep a bad situation from getting worse, Mayor Reeves should evacuate downtown Pittsburgh and allow the Ten Thousand to occupy it. Tomorrow they’ll hold a joint news conference in which they will announce that downtown Pittsburgh will be evacuated.”
“And if Mayor Reeves doesn’t agree to that plan?”
“Then there will be a battle between ten thousand armed superhumans and whatever forces Reeves can put together. But that won’t happen.”
“No,” Josh said, “because Barrymore won’t commit any New World troops to defend Pittsburgh, so Reeves is on his own.”
“And once they are here, they will never leave. Pittsburgh will become a colony of immortals.”
“That’s the plan,” Scott said.
“And there’s no way to stop him,” Josh said.
Scott shook his head, “That’s not necessarily true.”
A stirring in the room roused Raisa from her thoughts. At first, she thought it was Josh, but then a hand clamped down over her mouth. She pushed against it, but whoever it was was as strong as she was. One of the augments. A sharp sting in her neck told her she’d been injected with something. A few seconds later, everything went black.
Raisa awoke on the roof of a building. Are we never going to do anything on ground level again, she thought. Pushing herself up to a sitting position, she looked around the roof. Sitting on her knees, hands on her thighs, watching her, was Lieutenant Elliot. Her face was a mask of stone.
“Why am I not surprised?” Raisa said.
“I’ll give you a few minutes to get over the effects of the drug,” Elliot said.
“And then what?”
“And then we settle this.”
“Settle what?” Raisa asked.
“You and me. It’s never been enough for you to be the queen; you had to make it your mission in life to beat me at everything. But you can’t have Zeke.”
“I don’t want Zeke.”
“But he wants you. Why is that?” Tears formed in Elliot’s eyes. “I’m right here, and still, he’s pining for you. So I guess the only way to show him I am worthy is to kill you.”
Raisa wondered if Zeke had given Elliot his mind-altering drug, or if this was all her. It was impossible to know, but it didn’t matter. She had to face her. Running away would only delay the inevitable. Raisa stood to her feet, and Elliot did the same.
“We don’t need to do this,” Raisa said, but she knew it wasn’t true.
For a long moment, they stood facing each other, twenty paces apart. Then Elliot charged Raisa full speed, fire blazing in her eyes. Raisa ran at Elliot and lowered her shoulder as they collided. She caught Elliot in the chest, driving her back, but Raisa wasn’t prepared for Elliot to absorb the hit. She allowed herself to fall back, pulling Raisa with her and sending Raisa sailing over her in a flip. Raisa landed on her back with a hard thud. Normally, that would have stunned her, leaving her vulnerable, but Raisa popped off the ground into a standing position. She wasn’t sure how she did it, but she was up, ready to go again.
Taking advantage of her enhanced reflexes, she swung a roundhouse kick at Elliot’s head, making solid contact. Unlike the man she’d fought earlier, Elliot did not go down with the kick, but it caused her to step back. Raisa took two quick steps to follow up with a right jab to the face. Elliot caught Raisa’s fist and twisted her arm. Raisa adjusted her body to keep her arm from snapping, but that changed her orientation, turning her away from Elliot. A punch to her kidney took Raisa’s breath away, but she knew whatever damage was done would rapidly heal.
How in the world are we going to end this? she thought. It would be nearly impossible for either of them to stop the other without someone dying. Elliot was right; there was only one way to finish this. Raisa had considered Elliot a friend, but rage consumed whatever bond they might have had. Two weeks ago, she couldn’t have imagined trying to kill Elliot. At that moment, she couldn’t imagine anything else. Apparently, her guardian angel sniper was off duty that evening, and Raisa was okay with that. This was personal.
