Blaze of Glory (23 page)

“Sure.” Outrager moved around to sit on one of the stools and stretched out his arms along the nonfiction shelf. “Getting slammed in New York, beaten senseless in Pittsburgh and now…what? What’s your next great plan?”

“Probably throwing you and the kid here out on your asses.” I felt the slightest hint of May’s static at the back of my mind. “If you’ve got a point, make it. I’ve got things to do.”

“Okay.” The older agent leaned forward, pulling his arms back down. “The Agency is not pleased. Not at all.”

“About anything specific?” I held up a hand, counting off the points. “About lying about an alien invasion? About abusing the people under your care? About misleading the public about the existence of supers? Where would you like to start?”

Hunter put a hand over his mouth, hiding the smallest smile as the kid shifted his weight back and forth between the two brand-new shoes on his feet. The squeak might have come from the warped floorboards or from the shoes, I couldn’t tell which.

“Didn’t break those in much, did you?” I turned my attention back to Outrager. “So forgive me if I really don’t give a shit about what the Agency thinks.”

“Can’t blame you.” The older man looked at Hunter, then back to me. “We fucked up and we fucked up big time, of that there’s no doubt. But this isn’t the answer. Staying rogue isn’t good for you or for them.” He gestured to the ceiling. “And if you think you’ve beaten the Agency, well…” A thin smile appeared. “You really think we only had the plug command system in one spot?”

My stomach gave a sudden lurch, threatening to expel the tea and sandwiches.

Hunter spoke first. “What are you talking about?”

“You think that you really disconnected all the plugs.” The grey-haired man held up his wrist, displaying a familiar wristband. “You think that Dillon knew everything about the Agency and how we work?”

A burning sensation started at the back of my neck, just under the scar tissue. My hand flew up to cover the plug, pressing down on the skin. Maybe it was just psychosomatic, but maybe…

“You think we’re just going to let you go?” John’s voice began to rise, turning into a shout as he continued. “I could pop your head, all of those freaks’ heads off in a minute.”

Hunter stepped forward, grabbing the freshly pressed lapels of the black suit. “That’s enough,” he announced in a low but threatening voice. “Don’t you dare move.” This was directed at the punk who had now moved off the door and was busy chewing his lips. “Go for a gun and I swear I’ll make you both regret the day you signed up.”

“Don’t worry, Hunt. I’m not here to kill your precious May. Or even Jo here.” Brushing the Guardian’s hands away, Outrager settled back on the stool. “But we can’t just let them play God with the world’s safety.”

“Why not?” I snapped back. My hands were bare, the gloves still upstairs, but I was already pulling in what I could from around us. The tension rose in my head as the edges of my vision began to blur. “You set us up for this and now you’re pissed off that your schedule got fucked up?”

“Look, we’re not here to fight.” The older agent put up his hands. “And don’t even think about zapping my ass. But you’ve got a prisoner of war here and we want him.”

“Or else?”

“Or else this gets ugly.” John nodded to the kid. “He may be a bit wet behind the ears, but the three in the back aren’t. Or the strike team just a few miles away and above us. You think your team is going to be up to taking them on? Killing for real? Killing humans?” He glanced at Hunter. “We may have trained them to be fighters, but we never taught them to be killers.” His attention went back to me. “You want to roll those dice, Jo?”

“Okay. I’m listening.” I crossed my arms, mostly to hide my shaking hands.

“One—you give us the alien. Two—you come back under Agency command. Three—we’re working on a plan to take out the lead alien craft. Already picked up a few lost supers who’ll be added to your team. You can lead them, be the big woman on campus and a hero. Heroine.” He looked at me with a stern nod. “Questions?”

“Comments.” Again I held up my hand, ticking off points. “One—not going to happen. Two—not going to happen. Three—not going to happen because you don’t know anything about what you’re dealing with. And I’m not sure I’m willing to share that with you since you seem to be so keen on blowing our heads off.” I paused, out of breath. “Questions?”

The crimson stain on Outrager’s face said it all.

“Excuse me.” We all turned to see Kol’tak, standing in one of the aisles, book in hand. “I believe you’re talking about me, and I don’t really appreciate being left out.”

The young agent’s eyes went wide, and he scrabbled for his weapon, pulling the pistol out.

“Hey! Hey!” I put up my hand, grabbing as many waves as I could. If the kid started shooting in such a small area there was no way it could end well.

“Plantet, put that away,” Outrager barked, moving off the stool to stand in front of the alien. “I apologize for my overenthusiastic partner.” A short, sharp nod accented his pseudo-apology. “He is young and rather eager to see battle. I’m sure you understand.” Behind him Plantet flushed an angry red but stayed silent. Maybe there was hope for the punk.

Kol’tak nodded. “Accepted.” He studied the four of us. “May asked me not to come down but I insisted on seeing what was going on.”

“Well, you see Mister…” John fished for a word. “Mister…”

“My name is Kol’tak.” The blond man didn’t offer his hand. “And I’ve heard enough to know that your terms are not acceptable.”

The Agency man’s mouth opened but he said nothing. Kol’tak walked around us, carefully picking his steps between the stacks of books on the floor. His faux dress pants brushed against a large pile of philosophy books, threatening to send them toppling into the middle of the aisle.

“My society is built on honor and honesty. We assumed the same of yours. It seems that we were mistaken.” He stopped in front of the younger agent, studying the panicked face as the kid stood his ground. “I will not go with you. Nor will Jo. And if you attempt to take her, myself or any of the others above by force, then I will consider it a breach of my prisoner conditions and feel free to attack.” His eyes narrowed, locking with the punk’s. “In other words, I’ll smack your asses down like there’s no tomorrow.”

I couldn’t help it, I snickered at the straight-faced delivery. Outrager glared at me as if I’d set off a stink bomb in class.

Kol’tak turned his back on the kid, now focused on John. “Your attempts to conduct this campaign have been less than…successful. I doubt that any attack you attempt on one of our ships would be victorious, considering the damage already done to your people.” He gave a sideways glance at me. “And there have already been too many deaths.”

My stomach rumbled again, matched by an aching in my chest.

“So these are my terms.” Mimicking me, he held up his right hand. “One—you go away. Forever. Two—you release Jo and all those of her kind from captivity. Forever. Three—you do not interfere ever again with the natural progression of your species. Forever.”

Outrager sucked in his breath. “That is unacceptable.”

“Understood.” The alien began to rise off the floor, books and loose sheets spiraling around him in a mad whirlwind of paper. “I shall grieve for your deaths as is our custom.”

“Stop!” I stepped into the middle of the circle, holding up both hands. “This is not the way it’s going to go down.” The harsh, cold wind battered my face, tearing my words up.

Both Kol’tak and Outrager stared at me. After a long minute the warrior slowly descended from his foot-high perch and settled on the ground. He nodded towards me to continue.

“Look, we’re all after the same thing. Saving Earth and getting the aliens to go home, right?” I looked at the assembled faces. “And if we can do this without any more deaths or destruction, that would be a good thing, right?”

More nods.

“Then let me explain how things are going to be.” Sucking in a deep breath, I began. “First, you Agency thugs don’t want the general populace to know that you’ve been collectively jerking us all around for years. That the fights are all arranged and that you knew this invasion was coming at some point.” I jabbed one finger into the air, silencing the pup who looked like he was about to speak. “So what you’re going to do is offer us all of your support, up to and including computer access and all the bells and whistles so that we can get Kol’tak back to his fleet and help him defeat Mal’tor. He yanks his boyos back to their home planet and we present it as a victory for us, the good guys.” I looked at Kol’tak. “No offense.”

He nodded. “It is an acceptable arrangement, given the circumstances and our mutual…confusion.”

“Kol’tak here goes back, explains what happened and makes sure his warriors don’t lose face. What we do is save the world and go our merry ways.” I shook my head. “If you could have blown the plugs, I think you would have done so before now. So I’m willing to roll those dice, given the alternative is to let you jerk me around again, and that’s not an option.”

Outrager’s nostrils flared. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” He pushed forward, way inside my personal space. “You were nothing, a fucked-up bookworm working the counter, and now you think you’re going to dictate terms to us?”

The sparks jumped from my fingers as I held my ground, my vision blurring. A hand landed on my shoulder, pulling me back.

“That’s enough, John.” Hunter’s voice was low and strangely calming. “You aren’t calling the shots here, she is. She’s the only one who’s been able to get any sort of organized resistance together. Unless you’ve got some top-notch team of supers in your back pocket that you haven’t told us about.”

The twitch of Outrager’s mouth said it all.

“Right.” I released the charge, letting it sprinkle out of my fingertips like snowflakes. “This is the plan. And either you’re along for the ride or get the fuck out of the way.” I turned and grinned at Kol’tak. “Time to get you a promotion.”

John glared at me, the alien, Hunter and the kid, in that order. He paused, then did the same again. Then in reverse as we watched and waited. Finally he lifted his right hand, pointing at me.

“All of this is on your head, Tanis. All of it.” Spinning on his heel, he strode out the door, the youngster scampering after him like a trained dog.

“Don’t I know it,” I whispered to the emptiness.

Hunter’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “What’s the plan?”

“I’m still working on it.” I led the two men up the stairs. “However, it does involve me taking a long hot shower before anything else.”

Peter stood at the window, glancing at us as we came into view. “Everyone’s left. Not happy, but they’ve left. And yes, there were others nearby and a huge honking van of armed men just waiting and sweating up a storm.”

“Good.” I rubbed my chin. “David, can you make more food? We’re going to need plenty of energy for the planning session and for the attack.” My stomach rumbled again. “Or at least I will.”

“Attack?” Limox looked up from the couch where he had been thumbing through yet another pseudo-porn magazine. “We’re going to attack?”

“Go on the offensive.” I spun around. “But first I’m getting cleaned up. Get fed, watered, nap now ’cause it’s not going to happen once we get going.” My fingers went up to rub my temples. “Me. Shower. Take. Behave yourselves or I’ll take away the toys.” I marched into the bedroom and pulled out a clean shirt and jeans from the duffle bag so thoughtfully tucked under the bed. David had taken it upon himself to start a clothing drive for all of us, making sure we all had at least one change of clothing. I had no idea where he went or how he paid for it, but it wasn’t from the local thrift store and he had an uncanny knack for picking out the right size and a decent style, even for myself and May. Talk about your hidden talents.

“Brave words.” Hunter stood just inside the room, leaning against the bookcase that doubled as a wall as I dug deeper for a pair of underwear and bra. “You handled those guys pretty well.”

“Who? The Agency punks or the supers?” I sniffed the clothing before tucking it under my arm. Not that I didn’t trust May, but…

“Both.” He smiled. “You’ve got quite a lot of spunk in you, Jo Tanis.”

“And a whole lot of stink right now.” I laughed. “If you don’t mind, I need a little bit of alone time with a bar of soap.”

Hunter’s right eyebrow rose, accompanied by a snicker.

“Don’t. Go. There.” I pointed a finger towards the other room. “Go watch the kids and behave yourself.”

He dutifully turned on his heel and left, allowing me access to the bathroom.

It took only a few minutes to strip out of my filthy clothes, turn on the hot water, climb into the small shower and curl up into a ball in the corner, weeping like a baby. It had been an amazing and terrifying few days, and it didn’t seem like there was much of an end in sight.

The bathroom door pulled open with a noisy and unwelcome warning creak, startling me enough that I automatically began to spark from my fingers.

“Who’s there?” I tried to put as much authority into my voice as I could, gulping past the tears. “Limox, if that’s you…”

“It’s Hunter.” The low voice drifted through the cheap plastic curtains with the wispy steam. “Sorry to bother you, but I’ve got to use the facilities, to put it bluntly. I’d rather not have to go outside and use the alleyway.”

“Go ahead. Promise I won’t peek.” I watched as Hunter positioned himself in front of the toilet. This wasn’t anything new to me. It’d happened enough times with Mike. One condo, one washroom.

“Thanks. Going to take a few minutes to do a fast washup, if you don’t mind. Don’t need the shower but just want to feel a bit cleaner. I’ll try not to tweak the hot water.”

Hunter stripped off his turtleneck, placing it to one side as I gave in and decided to peek. The world may be coming to an end, but I still could appreciate a nice piece of beefcake. Clutching the edge of the curtain, I pulled it back an inch, just enough to give me an unrestricted view of Hunter’s bare back.

He picked up the washcloth, wetting it under the faucet and running it over his light skin. Dang, the man had a sweet set of shoulders, the muscles tight and lean.