Highway To Armageddon (46 page)

           
“I mean it, Red. I love you more than anything else on this Earth. I’ve never
loved another girl. You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, ever since I first
laid eyes on you. I want to marry you, raise a family with you, grow old and
die with you.”

           
My eyes glisten. No one has ever told me they loved me, not even Lance.

           
“Arrow, I… I don’t know what to say.”

           
Arrow falters for the briefest of moments, but then he steadies himself, as if
he won’t give me up without a fierce fight. “Okay… I understand completely.
Don’t say anything then. Just think about it. When this is all over, I want to
be with you, for all of eternity. If you say no, I will understand and leave
you alone. But just think about it.”

           
I nod and choke back a sob. He starts to break away, but this time I grip his
arms and pull him close.

           
“Please hold me a little while longer,” I say, resting my head against his
chest.

           
Arrow tightens his embrace. We stand there in the woods in silence, hugging
each other, as the dawn gives way to a vibrant new morning.

*

           
By the time Arrow and I make our way back to the motel, everyone is already
awake. Lance doesn’t look too pleased when Arrow and I walk through the door,
but he doesn’t say anything. He shouldn’t have to. We’ve both moved on. He has
Dorothy, and I… I have Arrow. I didn’t tell him in the woods because I still
want him to suffer a little bit for that crap he pulled in Canada, but my
answer is yes. I will marry him, raise a family with him, and grow old with
him. I’ll never find another man who loves and adores me as much as Arrow does.
Even during the height of our romance, Lance never felt as passionately about
me as Arrow does. I would be a fool not to accept his proposal. Now that I’ve
realized I do love Arrow, I actually hope Dorothy and Lance work out. I want
Lance to be happy, and I think Dorothy is the kind of woman he can grow old
with. After this crazy mission is over we can start to build our own, separate
lives. It’s kind of scary, but also sort of exciting. I shouldn’t get ahead of
myself, though. We still have one major task to accomplish before we can start
thinking about the future.

           
We spend the rest of the day holed up in our room, going over our plans.
Machete, Krystal and Dorothy will drop us off on the Strip like they’ve done
the past couple days and wait until we head out to Rasputin’s lair. Then they
will use their goggles to follow my GPS signal. Once we arrive at the lair,
they will park out of sight and wait until we leave. If the lair is deep in the
Alaskan wilderness like we think it might be, Machete will even get out of the
car and sneak as close to the lair as she possibly can without being seen. That
way if things go bad, she’ll be able to hear the gunfire and rush in to rescue
us. That’s a worst-case scenario, of course. We don’t expect there to be any
shootouts, especially since we’ve decided this won’t be the night we take down
Rasputin. It’s way too risky. Our main goal tonight is convincing Rasputin he
can trust us.

           
 I have the hardest job, of course. I have to convince Rasputin I’m the
sort of woman he wants to spend the night with. I think I can do it, but I may
have to get all touchy-feely with him, something I’m not looking forward to.
Dwarfish, vodka-swilling, hairy old men are not exactly my cup of tea.

           
Around 9:00 the boys and I change into our leather outfits. We don’t bring any
weapons with us except for our electric swords. We then pile into the car and
fly out to the Strip.

           
During the ride everyone is eerily silent. Even Krystal doesn’t crack any
jokes.

Dorothy curls up in Lance’s lap,
twirling his purple hair around her fingers. I lean against Arrow as he wraps
his arm around my shoulder and rubs my arm. This is it. This is what we came to
do. There’s no room for error. It’s do or die time… literally.

           
Machete drops us off at our rendezvous point.

           
“Good luck, kids,” Machete says gruffly.

           
Krystal and Dorothy wave as they take off.

           
“You ready, guys?” I ask nervously.

           
“Not really,” Lance says.

           
“Let’s roll,” Arrow says, taking off toward Igor’s casino. Lance and I follow
suit.

           
We navigate through the crowd of gamblers and eventually reach the casino. This
time Lance remembers to steer well clear of the fire-breathing dragon statue.
We go inside the packed casino and take the elevator to the top floor. It’s the
third time in three days we’ve had to make this trip. Quite frankly it’s
getting a little monotonous. Hopefully we don’t have to keep doing it.

           
The elevator finally dings and the door slides open. We step out into the
jam-packed club and do our best to shield our eyes from the pulsating lasers.
How most of these kids don’t suffer seizures is beyond me. We weave through the
mosh pit of cracked out teens and make our way toward Winston and Bob by the
back staircase. They greet us like we’re old friends and lead us up to the
roof. Just like the last two nights, Igor and his cronies are in the back,
watching security footage. This time, though, they’re not chugging vodka. I
guess Igor wants everyone to be on their best behavior when they meet the
‘Great Leader.’

           
We walk past two fancy Lightning XL convertibles on our way over to Igor. Igor
clasps us all on our shoulders and says, “I’m glad you all could make it. Like
I suspected, we are going to be traveling quite a distance. I’m glad you were
punctual.”

           
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world, darling,” I say in my husky Russian
accent.

           
Igor grins and cups my chin in his hand. “I can’t wait for Rasputin to meet
you. He will surely congratulate me for finding such a beautiful and
intelligent recruit.”

           
I force a smile. “Er, thanks.” Pretending I like Igor is starting to take a
toll on me. If I have to keep the façade up much longer I’ll probably snap and
punch him in his face.

           
I climb into one of the cars with Lance, Igor, and Norma. Arrow goes to the
other car with Fred, Frank, and the others. After everyone is strapped in, we
lift off the ground and zoom toward the wilderness.

           
We’re in the air for half an hour before we finally descend. The car lands
bumpily, jostling me into Lance. I glance around and realize we’re in a field
surrounded by forest. There’s a small cabin in the center of the clearing. It
looks somewhat similar to Vinnie’s cabin. I guess all fugitive criminals hide
out in cabins in the woods.

           
Lance and I climb out of the car. The other car lands next to us. We wait for
Arrow, then we follow Igor and the rest of the gang inside.

           
The interior of the cabin is fairly dark. The windows are tinted so no one can
peer inside. There’s a couch and a fireplace in the living room, but that’s
about it.

           
Igor walks over to a bookcase on the back wall. He presses his palm against a
sensor and the bookcase pops open.

           
“Cool, it’s one of those hidden passageways,” Lance says.

           
Igor slips through the doorway and the rest of us follow suit.

           
The passageway is a bit more illuminated than the cabin, but not by much. We
have to duck to avoid bumping into the low-hanging lights. The walls are made
of cobbled stones, and at times it feels like they’re closing in on me. I take
a deep breath and forge on. Lance notices I’m on the verge of freaking out and
puts his arm around my waist. I appreciate the gesture. It does calm me down… a
bit.  

           
We walk for several minutes. After a while I realize we’re walking in circles,
and the tunnel has a slight downward angle. Apparently we’re heading to some
secret underground lair. It reminds me of the spy movies we used to watch with
Dagger.

           
We finally reach the end of the tunnel and enter a massive, well-lit room.
There’s a giant table in the center of the room, with dozens of wooden chairs.
A cube-shaped, holographic TV screen hovers over the table. Right now the TV is
showing news footage about another devastating terror attack in China. I don’t
pay much attention to it, though, because Mikhail Rasputin is sitting at the
table, surrounded by armed guards.

           
I tug on Lance’s arm. He looks over at the table and gasps.

           
“My God… it’s really him.”

           
I’m somewhat shocked to discover Rasputin is even shorter in person than he
appears on TV. His face is covered in long, stringy, gray-streaked hair. His
short, stout body is covered in an armored exoskeleton. I see the edges of his
wings protruding out of his back. He’s also wearing his computerized gloves,
the ones that fire electricity.

           
Rasputin looks over at me and smiles. My ‘sex appeal’ is already working.
 

           
Igor waltzes up to Rasputin with the box carrying Caesar’s head. He places the
box on the table and bellows, “It is good to see you again, Comrade. We bring
you a gift, courtesy of our new recruits.”

           
Rasputin opens the box and peers inside. He then laughs and plucks the head out
of the box, holding it up for all to see. “Tremendous! I’ve been waiting for
Caesar’s head to cross my desk for years! Excellent job! How ever did you find
him?”

           
Lance is about to say something, but I grip his wrist and say, “We don’t give
away our tactics for free, you know.”

           
Rasputin stares at me lustfully. “You’re right, Igor, this one is special.”

           
Rasputin pulls out the chair next to him. “Please, come sit.”

           
I saunter over to Rasputin, shaking my hips along the way. Rasputin’s eyes
widen and he licks his lips. I plop down on his lap and do my best to ignore
his unpleasant odor.

           
Rasputin
rubs my back. “I appreciate a woman who doesn’t play games. You seem like the
sort of person who knows what she wants and takes it.”

           
I twirl the tip of Rasputin’s beard around my finger. “You have no idea.”

           
Rasputin leans his face close to mine. It takes all my strength not to lean
back. “Igor has told me so much about you, Ruby. You are more beautiful… and
far more fiery… than he described. I could use a gorgeous assistant like you.”

           
I rub my fingers through his greasy hair. “It would be the honor of my life,
Comrade. I would do anything for the liberation of Mother Russia.”

           
Lance and Arrow sit on the opposite side of the table and engage in small talk
with Norma and the gang. Meanwhile Rasputin and I continue chatting. I tell him
how my ‘Russian mother’ smuggled me to America to escape the evil Chinese, and
how after she died I met up with Arkady and Vladimir. I then tell him about how
we took down Caesar (although I leave out anything that would implicate us as
spies). I even tell him I was the one who hacked off Caesar’s head, something
that delights Rasputin to no end.

           
I’m in the process of heavily hinting that I would like to spend a night alone
with him (something Rasputin agrees would be a ‘tremendous’ idea) when a guard
busts into the room and proclaims, “The Wolf has arrived!”

           
Everyone abruptly stops talking.

           
“Mikhail, darling, who is the Wolf?” I ask.

           
“The Wolf is the one who has been organizing and financing our war against
China,” Rasputin explains. “You will love her, trust me.”

           
The door to the dungeon swings open. I try to get a glimpse of the Wolf but
it’s too dark. All I see is a silhouette.

           
Lance gasps. “Dear God…”

           
I glance at Lance in confusion. I mouth,
‘What’s wrong?’
but he’s not
paying attention. I turn to Arrow and he appears just as shocked as Lance.

           
I turn back to the door just as the Wolf steps out into the light.

           
It’s President Klaxton.

Chapter
Seventeen: Lance

           
Igor spits out his vodka. “The Wolf is the President of the United States?!
Holy crap!”

           
President Klaxton glares at Igor for several tense seconds. She looks even more
intimidating in person than she does on TV (and trust me, she looks pretty
scary on TV). Her dirty blonde hair creates a curtain around her hardened,
slightly wrinkly face. She’s wearing heavy makeup, I guess so she looks good on
television. Her stripped pantsuit is clean and crisp, like she just picked it
up from the drycleaners. She also looks a bit bulkier than usual. She must be
wearing some sort of Kevlar vest under her clothes. The machine gun she has
slung over her shoulder only adds to her badass appearance. I’m starting to see
how she’s been able to cling to power for over two decades; through sheer fear
and intimidation.