Diamond (6 page)

Diamond stood just as the door opened. He glared at the newcomer and yelled, “Get the fuck out! I’ll come and get you when I’m done here.”

“Sure thing, Diamond.”

His gaze zeroed in on her once more, holding her in place. She didn’t know why, but him staring at her made her feel exposed and raw to the bone. More so than standing in front of him without any clothing on. He eyed her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. A sound of disgust rumbled from the back of his throat when he eyed her clothes on the floor before going back to her eyes. He held her immobile with his glare as he spoke.

“You’ll stay here in this room until I come and get you. Don’t open the door, don’t sit on my shit. Matter of fact, you know how to work a shower?”

Nadya nodded.

Of course, she could operate a shower, probably knew a hell of a lot more than he did when it came to the intricacies of plumbing.

“Good, take one. Don’t come out until all that shit is peeled off your body. Use a towel from the closet, and use the robe on the back of the door. Park your ass on the couch and wait for me.”

He turned and walked out, leaving Nadya staring after him; his demeanor a thick cloud of arrogance.

Diamond walked into the hallway, not giving the woman in his apartment another thought. Stupid broad. He had too much on his plate at the moment to be concerned with a slip of a girl, who had no idea what she was getting into. If she wanted to offer up her pussy to the highest bidder, that was on her. He didn’t force people to work for him. If they saw the benefits of what he could offer, who was he to say no? If what she said were true, she’d bring in a lot of Wave and resources. His city needed resources; he would have lost control a long time ago if he hadn’t had anything viable to sell. He needed to keep things moving forward. Progress was key to their survival. He knew he had enemies outside of the wall. They surrounded him on all sides. As it stood, he had a very tenuous alliance with the other Archials.

Diamond made his way to the meeting room. It was already filled with those closest to him. Amethyst had come in from assignment and sat on top of the wooden table Indian-style with her hands folded in her lap. Her black and purple hair was pulled into a ponytail. She still wore her facemask, but had removed her goggles, the vibrant color of her purple eyes luminous through the dirt caked on her face. Her body was completely covered from the neck down. Some type of leather with ducktails, one side longer than the other to conceal her weapons. Skintight pants with buckles that snapped into place molded to her curves. Her thigh-high boots were outfitted with hidden compartments at the ankle. She completed her outfit with gloves she’d fashioned with eagle claws attached to the knuckles. Thys was always prepared.

Emerald, his healer, stood over by the window, smoking. He was the biggest of all Diamond’s men. Most women were scared of the warrior. Phyr, his stealthy assassin, and Onyx, procurer of all things, were the only two seated in chairs, and they looked ready to go to war. They could very well be headed towards one. Diamond needed all of his people revved up and ready to go.
Conflict was something he tried to avoid, but if people were going to start blowing themselves up in hopes of getting a crack at what was his, well then, fuck ‘em. Just as he had the thought, Lip strolled in with Lindy and quietly shut the door.

“All here, Lavarious, floor’s been cleared, and everyone is where you wanted them. You need me to do anything else?” Lip looked to Lindy as if she were a stain on the bottom of his shoe. He didn’t care for her, and in the same respect, Lindy didn’t care for Lip either.

“No, that’s it, but I want you here for this meeting.” Diamond looked to Lindy, who was about to take a seat at the table, but he held her immobile with his stare. “What do you think you’re doing?”

She stood straighter, adjusted the strap on her tank top and grinned. “I thought you’d want me here since I was there when it happened.”

“Exactly why we
don’t
want you here, Lins,” came Emerald’s rough voice. He turned from looking out the window and eyed her from head to toe, his green eyes flashing and the scar across his face pulling with his sneer. “Don’t care if you were Lavarious’s fuck buddy for a couple of months, you’re a suspect, darlin’. Kindly turn your pale ass around and go do some other shit.”

Lindy looked to Diamond for help, and he offered none. Emerald was right. She’d scouted the product, and because she hadn’t done a good job of it, he’d almost lost his life.

“He’s right, Lindy. I’ll get word to you if I need you,” Diamond said.

“Are you shitting me?”

“No, baby doll, no one’s trying to throw shit at you. We’re simply trying to cover all our bases.” This was said by Phyr. He stood from his chair, approached Lindy, and gently gripped her shoulder in a show of affection. “As soon as we get this sorted, we’ll call you back in. You think you could grab me a bottle of DC-6?”

Diamond had no idea how Phyr drank the stuff. Who would want to drink alcohol tainted Dark Water? Even if the liquor killed the germs and gave you a buzz. Shit was nasty.

Lindy snatched her shoulder away from Phyr’s grip and sneered, “Get your own damn drink,” before turning and storming out.

“That bitch has guilty written all over her face,” Lip tossed out as he sat down in one of the vacant chairs.

“I doubt it was her, but we need to cover all avenues of possibility.” Diamond took the seat at the head of the table. “Phyr, were you able to get anything from the vid screens?”

Phyr shook his head, agitated by his results. “Nope, but I’ll keep searching. Whoever she was, she knew about the camera placements, and if she knew about the cameras, it’s because someone told her.”

“So, this came from inside my camp?”
Diamond’s hands were balled into fists, and he punched the wood table, breaking skin. No one reacted to his outburst. They knew him. He kept a strict house, but he didn’t keep people prisoner. If someone from inside was willing to betray him, things were not good.

“You think it was Martinez or Maddox?” Emerald asked, the stark black tribal markings on his face twitching with each clench of his jaw.

“It’s hard to know, I was over by the Genysis tower. Everything was quiet. I got in and out in record time. None of my girls had any problems at the checkpoints either,” Amethyst tossed out.

Martinez and Maddox Ibanez were now Gryphon’s seconds, they were also in charge of imports and exports. If it was out in the Atlantic—what was now half desert half ocean—they’d find it. Whether what they found was a viable product was another matter entirely. Both men were verbal in their dislike of Diamond and the way he ran the city. They wanted the city for their own, but it was something Diamond would never let happen. He controlled the Grid, and whoever controlled the power, held the cards.

The Ibanez brothers, along with Marius, had been the first to break off from Diamond’s group. All over a dispute of what they deemed local territory. Afterwards, the brothers had somehow gotten in with Gryphon, twisting his friend’s mind into thinking they could overtake Diamond and the city. They had to be the ones who tipped off the female Splice, the bitch who’d tried to blow herself up, taking him with her. That made sense. They’d been a part of his security team in the beginning. It had been a constant struggle since. Diamond gave everyone ample space to make their own way, but the Ibanez brothers grew greedy, and in an attempt at a hostile takeover, things had gone from bad to worse in a matter of hours.

After the coup, the brothers were cast out of the Quarry and into the streets of the city to fend for themselves.

And then there was Gryphon. He wanted Diamond’s ass six-feet under.
The greedy bastard.
If someone had said any of his team members would have tried to kill him, Diamond would have laughed in their face and called them a liar.

Gryphon was the only one who knew how to purify Dark Water and make it somewhat drinkable. Diamond knew one day the male would hold it over his head and demand to be Sovereign of the city. Everyone who’d been with him in the beginning had either died or gone their separate ways to take over one of the Towers. The team members who’d stayed under his command were loyal and worked hard to ensure the survival of the city. He and the Archials of the Towers still had a council of sorts. There had to be some kind of alliance to keep things running smoothly. They all depended on each other for one thing or another so they needed to keep communication open. Those outside the wall were always plotting to take control, and if it wasn’t them, then it was the inner-city gangs.

With the bomb threat, Diamond had to be more careful. Tactful. The possibility of one of his own betraying him was too far-fetched. He had to have faith that his people were all in allegiance with him. But someone was testing their boundaries, his defenses. Trying to see how close they could come to ending his life without actually doing it. They were sending a message. Whoever had attacked wanted to know if there were any weaknesses in his defenses. There was.
And so, back to the matter at hand.

“You even get what Lavarious wanted?” Onyx asked Amethyst, his dark shades focused on the petite woman at the table. The question broke Diamond out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, bitch. I got it,” Amethyst joked. “What? It was easy. Hell, it was too easy. But my girls get in and out of the darkest of places. Even places like Gryphon’s.”

Gryphon’s tower was where all the water came from. Dark Water turned into drinkable water once it was filtered and reheated several times. Whatever Biel brought to the atmosphere had contaminated almost everything.

Genysis had gone dark about six months ago. No lights, no nothing. It was as if the entire tower was in some sort of deep sleep. But Lavarious had Amethyst’s girls watching from high up on the wall. Water was still pumping into the city, and as long as it arrived on time, he had no reason to believe things were bad. He still kept watch. His gut warned him that something was happening over there, and he had a feeling about what it was. Diamond wasn’t blind to it. They’d found a group of outsiders seeking entrance inside the gates. When they’d been turned away, they’d scaled the wall. Cleared it in one leap. He didn’t know if they were Splices, or some other kind of mutation. He just chose to ignore the issue until he saw actual results. Gryphon had shown at the last council meeting and informed everyone that he was still on track. He’d said that once he had groundbreaking results, he’d report back fully.

Diamond pinched the bridge of his nose. What happened to smooth and easy?

“You didn’t see anything while you were there?” Diamond sat back in his chair, completely perplexed. If Amethyst had what he wanted, how come she didn’t reach out sooner?

“Not a damn thing. There was some movement, but very little. But I’ll put all your minds at rest…not a Rager in sight. If there was an outbreak, we would have known about it by now.”

“Why didn’t you come to me sooner? You said you got what I wanted. Where is it?”

Amethyst leaned forward, reached into her back pocket, and pulled out a cloth. She unwrapped it. Inside was a vial of blood. She rolled it towards him before standing on top of the table and hopping down.

“My job here is done. Gonna go and check in with Zira. She gets angry if we’re apart for too long.”

“In a moment. We’re not done yet,” Onyx said, flashing Amethyst a grin. His sunglasses in place, he nodded in the direction of Diamond. The male never removed the glasses. There was a long-standing joke that they were permanently glued to his face.

Emerald looked over at Diamond as he stared down at the vial. It wasn’t the answer to their prayers, but it was hopefully something they could use to their advantage. As long as there wasn’t another outbreak. Amethyst was right. If there had been true cause for concern, they’d all know about it.

“They were testing our defenses,” Diamond stated plainly.

“Who?” Onyx questioned. Everyone at the table looked in Diamond’s direction, wanting answers. Guidance.

“It could be the Ibanez brothers or rebels from the inner-city gangs. Who the hell knows? The female was a Splice.”

There were nods from those around the room. Splices were genetically altered humans. Some were enhanced, others, like the female sent to blow him up, were mindless drones, controlled by their handler. Depending on how they were programmed, trigger words would set them off. Whatever he’d said had set her off. Bottom line, he needed to up the security around the Quarry and find out who was after his head. They would need to outfit the guards with C-Tech. It added an extra punch to their ammo, and did the most damage.

Onyx worked on C-Tech, energy harvested from sites where pieces of the comet’s tail had fallen. It was new technology, and they were still learning what all it could do. But the metal was tangible and could extend enough power to light whole continents—or what was left of them, at least. They’d dug up plenty of ore from the comet. It was the one thing placing the Quarry in a position of power to get pure Wave. The water Gryphon made wasn’t the best, but it was something. C-Tech was also the one thing most people wanted to take from Diamond. He and Onyx were the only two who knew about the source of the technology, and lucky for them, the debris had settled in a territory belonging exclusively to him. Another reason he was sure the Ibanez brothers wanted him out of the picture. He’d have to use the C-Tech as a way to shore up his defenses. There was enough energy in a few pounds of ore to keep him plugged in and wired for a long-ass time.