Chains of Freedom (38 page)

The attack was so clean and so well executed that they were back in Alsterase swilling down beer and crowing over their victory before the Reliance was even aware it had been hit.

"What did she get this time?" Jessica asked in a hiss.

"Three WH-11 helicopters, seven antiaircraft lasers, 2000 laser sidearms, 300 gross of power packs, 4000 B-Q-56 land mines, 600 cases of K-rations, forty thousand square feet of urban camo-netting . . ."

"In other words, everything." She tried to calm herself. "In broad daylight, Right!"

"It would appear that way, Senator." Right worked on not flinching.

"How many men did she have with her?"

"Footprint analysis shows five, but . . ."

"Five!" Jessica screamed. "Five men couldn't have driven the trucks necessary . . ."

"If you will allow me to finish, Senator . . . We had five confirmed Elite-type boot prints. All other footprints on site were normal second-class issue. But, if you remember, RJ stole a load of boots . . ."

"Fine, Right." She stood up slowly. "I want the area cordoned off. I want roadblocks. I want big guns to blast her ass away. But I won't have it!" Jessica lost it. "By now, she's sitting around soaking up beer and laughing. And do you know who she's laughing at, Right? ME!" Her eyes grew large and fanatical. "She's laughing at
me
! And do you know
why
she's laughing at me, Right?" She twisted her head around on her neck at an odd angle, resembling a bird of prey eyeing its victim. Not a shred of sanity evident. "I'll tell you why. Because I am
ridiculous
, that's why." She raised a fist and brought it down on her desk, smashing it in two.

Right looked at the broken oak desk in disbelief for a moment, then he shook as realization filtered into his brain. Fear replaced surprise as Jessica's blue eyes bored through him.

"The real problem, Right," she said punctuating her words by hitting her palm with her fist, "is that you can't fight yourself." Then giving him a contemptuous look she added, "You only
think
you know what I am, Right." Jessica spoke slowly, succinctly and quietly, but Right had never been more terrified. "You're only close." Without warning she jumped over the remains of her desk, grabbed him by his collar and lifted him out of his chair with ease. "Don't
ever
pretend to know what I am, Right. Because whatever you guess, you will be wrong." She did that odd thing with her head again, and Right knew just how a rabbit felt. "I am much more than you can ever hope to guess, and not
at all
sanctioned by the Reliance." She visibly struggled to calm down. Then she set Right down in his chair with precision and carefully straightened his collar. "The only thing you need to know," she whispered in his ear as she finished straightening his collar, "is that RJ and I are the same, and that if you tell anyone what I am, I'll kill you first." As she said "kill" she gently wrapped her hand around Right's throat. She held that pose for a moment that seemed like an eternity to Right. The she released him and stood up briskly. "You may go." She waved her hand dismissively towards the door.

Right couldn't get out of the room fast enough. As he practically ran down the hall away from her office he looked at his hands. They were shaking. He had underestimated Jessica Kirk. Not just because of what she was, but because of what she had become. She was obsessed. She didn't give a damn about the Reliance anymore. It was simply a pawn in the game she was playing with RJ. It had gone far beyond wanting retribution for the death of her lover. Jack Bristol was a hundred years ago, and had very little to do with what was driving Jessica now.

She couldn't win. She kept playing the game, doing everything right, and RJ kept winning. That was what was really bothering Jessica, the fact that she was losing. If she didn't get a piece of RJ soon, her brain was going to snap like a twig. If she was what he thought she was, God help them all when it did. Right felt trapped. He couldn't go crawling back to Jago now. He was stuck. Stuck with Jessica Kirk and RJ.

They sat around a table at the Golden Arches, celebrating their latest victory. All around them they could hear stories of the battle being told. Some of the stories were true, some were highly embellished, and some were out-and-out lies. It was the stuff of which legends are made.

David sat on one side of RJ, Whitey on the other.

"Oh! I almost forgot." She pulled a coin from her pocket and wrapped it around a link of the chain.

The inner circle looked on, cheering approvingly. All except Alexi that is. He had watched her do this every time they won a battle. It never seemed to occur to anyone else that she shouldn't be able to do that. Alexi had seen hybrids before. Hell, he had fought beside them. None of them had been as strong as this single feat proved RJ was.

RJ wasn't just a hybrid. There was something else. He had become even more convinced of this since Poley's arrival. The dude just wasn't normal. He didn't talk much, and when he did, he was always deadpan serious. He didn't sweat. He didn't use his hands when standing up from a sitting position. The list of weirdnesses just went on and on. Whatever Poley was, he was not human. Probably didn't even have any human origins. Since he was RJ's brother, there was a good chance that she didn't either.

Alexi took a good, long, hard look at RJ. He found himself doing that more and more these days. He didn't seem to be able to help himself. In spite of his utter contempt for RJ, he found himself almost uncontrollably aroused by her. He would like to have her out of the way. He would also like to hump her till his brains fell out. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop fantasizing about her. He couldn't remember the last time that he'd bedded a woman and didn't pretend that she was RJ.

There was something very sensual in the way that RJ moved. Something in the shape of her mouth that seemed to promise pleasure. Her eyes shone with superior intellect and savage energy, a strange combination, and one Alexi found distractingly alluring. There was something uniquely feminine about RJ. Something that couldn't be hidden with guns or chains or even the fact that she could snap a grown man like a twig.

Sometimes, when he was so close to her that he could smell her, sweet and salty and pressing all the right buttons, he would have to remind himself that she was the enemy. RJ was all that stood between him and his goal of power. With RJ out of the way he had no doubt that the position of warlord of the New Alliance would fall to him.

If Alexi hated RJ, he hated Whitey Baldor even more. Hated him, in fact, more than he had ever hated anyone in his life. Not so much because Whitey had beaten him senseless, but because he had RJ. He knew that Whitey did to RJ all the things he only dreamed of doing. He hated Whitey a little more every time he saw him touch her. Sometimes he thought Whitey did it just to taunt him.

As if to give fuel to his thoughts, he looked over and Whitey was running his filthy hands all over her.
Damn him
, Alexi thought.
Why can't he keep his fucking hands to himself? I could handle it if he just wouldn't touch her. If she were my woman . . .
His thoughts trailed off. He hated RJ, didn't he? And even if he didn't, she hated him. But his mind wouldn't let the thought go.
If she were my woman I wouldn't give a damn about power. I would hold her and make love to her, and that would be all the power I would need. To feel her legs wrapped around my waist. To feel her hips thrust longingly towards mine. Pulling me in and spitting me out. To hear her cry out for more and be able to give it to her. For that I would gladly give up any dreams of conquest and follow her blindly. Just like that great giant oaf does.
He had hated RJ long before he realized that he loved her. By then, she hated him so much that it didn't matter. No matter what he did, he could never win her love, so his hatred grew and festered. A strong hate nurtured in the putrid remains of thwarted love and sexual frustration.
You've got a secret, you platinum blonde bitch. I'm going to find out what it is and use it to take your ass down.

RJ had been talking to David, but her head suddenly jerked up, and to his dismay, she was searching him out. She didn't know what he was thinking, but she could feel the hate and defiance in him as sharply as a knife.

"If you have something to say, Alexi, why don't you just say it?" she spat icily at him.

Alexi got quickly to his feet, glaring unblinkingly at RJ. "Stay out of my head." He stomped away from the table. From the corner of his eye, he could see RJ pulling Whitey back into his seat. Alexi sat down at the bar and ordered a drink. "Damned freak," he mumbled. His eyes grew large, and he turned around quickly in his seat. He looked at RJ, and then quickly looked away.
That's it! That's the answer! She's a freak!
He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before. If he could prove this to the masses, no one would follow her into battle—or anywhere else for that matter. But how to expose her . . . ? He could turn right now and fire a laser blast at her head. But then if he was wrong, she would be dead, and seconds later so would he. He would have to be damn sure that his theory was correct before he executed any plan.

"I wish you and Alexi could get along," David said in a pleading tone.

"When are you going to realize that he doesn't
want
to get along with me?" RJ asked in disbelief.

"You're paranoid," David accused.

"And you're naïve," RJ countered. "Alexi hates me, and he has only contempt for you and everyone else."

"Alexi is my friend," David said angrily.

"Alexi has no friends. He cares only for power," RJ said simply.

"Are you saying I'm a lousy judge of character? I think
you're
my friend; am I wrong about that, too?"

"I'm your friend," she said, answering his anger with calm. "I didn't say you were a lousy judge of character. You're wrong about Alexi, but then he is a very clever deceiver."

David couldn't remember the last time he had been this angry with RJ. "Alexi is my friend!"

"Only as long as you're useful to him," RJ said, still refusing to get angry.

"You need me, too, RJ. Am I to believe that you wouldn't be my friend if you didn't need me?" David all but hollered.

"Need you? What the hell are you talking about?" RJ was more than a little confused.

"You need me to be your mouthpiece . . ."

RJ was grinning one of those God-damned smug-assed grins of hers, and David sputtered to a stop. "What?" he demanded.

"I need
someone
, David. It doesn't particularly have to be
you
." She wasn't about to let him get away with this little bout of ego.

"Then get someone else." David got to his feet and stormed out of the bar.

RJ went after him.

"Let him go!"

But she didn't listen to Whitey. She went after David.

"David!"

He ignored her. He didn't even slow down.

"David, I'm sorry!" Although she wasn't quite sure what she was sorry about.

David stopped and turned to face her. His arms were crossed over his chest, his mouth was set in an unforgiving frown.

"Let's not fight over Alexi," she said as she caught up to him.

"This isn't about Alexi anymore. You said that what I do isn't important."

"I never said that!" RJ said in disbelief. "All I said was that someone else could do it. That doesn't mean it's unimportant. We've already discussed the fact that I couldn't do it."

"Thank you very much, RJ." He turned and started off again.

RJ watched him walk away. She didn't want to fight with David. The point to be made wasn't all that important. She swallowed her pride with a sigh.

"You're right, David. I'm sorry. You're very good at what you do. The people listen to you." She carefully left out the fact that the people would listen to anyone who said what they wanted to hear. But who was she to burst his bubble? Let him have a bloated opinion of his own worth. Who could it hurt? "Excuse me for being insensitive. But, as we all know, insensitivity is something I take pride in, and the reason why you are the mouthpiece of the New Alliance instead of me."

"I accept your apology," David said grudgingly.

"Then let's get back to the bar." She put an arm around his shoulders, and they headed back to the Golden Arches.

In the weeks that followed they used their ill-gotten gains to further fortify Alsterase. A minefield was laid in the area surrounding the city. The antiaircraft guns and helicopters were placed on some of the higher roofs in the central part of Alsterase and hidden expertly by suburban camo-netting. Laser sidearms were passed out like candy to the citizens of Alsterase until no man, woman, or child over thirteen was left unarmed. The rest of the haul, including one antiaircraft gun, was taken to the island.

With Alsterase fortified they were ready to begin.

Topaz stood between RJ and Poley and smiled a private sort of smile. He waited with all of Alsterase for David to start his speech. Topaz felt his hands shaking and stuck them in his pockets. He was nervous. He had no idea why, but he was. There was that sickness he felt in his stomach whenever he thought that maybe things weren't going to come off the way he had planned. He swallowed hard and told himself he was being stupid.