Mercenary (3 page)

I sucked in a deep breath and reigned in the
indescribable, sudden fury coursing through my veins. Was I angry
with my parents? Or with myself, for failing to protect Tommy from
the nightmares of the real world?

Replacing my weapons where they belonged, I
crossed to Tommy.

He cowered away, against the wall, his eyes
wide.

“Hi, Tommy,” I said and slowed my approach.
I knelt in front of him. “You called me, remember?”

He gave a half-hearted nod. His hands were
shaking.

“Are you hurt?” I asked again, eyeing the
fresh blood on his shirt.

He shook his head.

“Where’s your mother?”

He pointed towards the darkness, and I made
out the mouth of a dark hallway nearby.

“Show me.”

Tommy stood. He was trembling, but he didn’t
move as if he were in pain. After seeing what remained of the
helicopter, I didn’t know how it was possible for him to have
survived.

I stood and followed him. Oblivious to the
danger tracking us, he made more noise walking ten feet than I did
my entire journey to find him. My senses indicated no one else was
present, but I wasn’t about to draw anyone’s attention needlessly,
either. I picked up Tommy and shifted him to one hip while I walked
with disciplined silence towards the hallway.

I didn’t have to ask him where we were
going; another glowing phone lit up a room ahead, its light
spilling into the hallway.

“I told you to stay by your mother, didn’t
I?” I asked him, irritated he had unknowingly placed himself in
danger.

“I was waiting for you.”

I glanced at him in the dark. “Next time, do
what I tell you.”

“But what if you got lost?”

“I’m a lot older than you, an adult, which
means I won’t get lost.”

“But mommy gets lost, and she’s old,
too.”

So she hasn’t
changed.
I snorted. Theodocia was one of
those book smart types who was often on some other intellectual
planet and never fully integrated to the real world.

I walked into the small room, taking in the
bodies stretched out on the floor. Theodocia, a teen girl, a pilot
with his headset in place, and another man, armed and wearing an
earpiece, were all unconscious and neatly lined up beside one
another.

“How did they get here from the crash site?”
I asked Tommy. Setting him down, I crossed to Theodocia first. She
hadn’t aged in seven years, and I checked her pulse. She was alive.
Mild relief trickled through me, and I gently scoured her body for
any injuries. She sustained minor scrapes and bruises but no other
damage.

Tommy wasn’t answering.

Twisting from my position crouching between
Theodocia and the girl, I saw him standing in front of the doorway,
clutching the phone.

“You’re safe, Tommy,” I told him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I can handle anything that comes near
us.”

He didn’t move. Sensing his distress, I
pulled my smallest knife free and rose, crossing to him. I knew
nothing about comforting kids and wasn’t interested in coddling
anyone, even my own son.

“Take this,” I said.

He looked up at me then down at the
knife.

“It’s up to you and me to protect these
people, including your mommy,” I said gruffly. “Your job is to
stand guard over there. This knife is magic. It protects you and
anyone you’re close to, so stay close to your mom. Understand?”

Tommy nodded and studied the knife. “It can
kill people.”

“Yeah. So be careful. Don’t drop it.”

Tommy obediently went to stand close to his
mother.

I checked the pilot next. He, too, was
alive, with no sign of major injury and out cold. How had any of
these people survived?

“How did they get in here?” I asked Tommy,
puzzled by the way the four were lined up. None of them awoke when
I jostled them to check for serious injuries, which led me to
believe they’d been unresponsive for some time.

“It’s complicated.”

“You’re six. What do you
know about
complicated
?” I looked up, amused.

Tommy was gazing at his mother, worried.

“She’s okay, Tommy,” I said.

He was quiet for a moment, watching me, and
then spoke hesitantly. “Are you my daddy?”

Kneeling beside the teen girl, I felt for
her pulse. My kid seemed smarter than I thought a six year old
should be. Then again, his mother was brilliant, and I knew nothing
about kids.

“Yeah,” I answered.

“Thanatos said you would come.”

“Thanatos?” I bristled. “That your mommy’s
boyfriend or something?”

Tommy giggled but didn’t answer.

Agitated by the whole situation, I checked
the remaining unconscious man and then stood back. I had two
options: searching the dark halls for a way out and risking someone
finding Tommy before I could return for him, or staying here until
daylight, when finding a route to escape would be easier. I didn’t
care about anyone else here, except for Tommy’s mom, who I didn’t
want to leave behind but would if the choice was between saving
Tommy’s life and putting him in danger.

One of the four unconscious survivors
groaned, and Tommy darted to the side of the teen girl. “Phoibe!”
he exclaimed. He scrambled on hands and knees towards a wall and
then grabbed the handles of a gym bag. Dragging it back, he reached
the blonde girl just as she sat up. “Look, Phoibe!” Tommy pulled
something from the bag.

I stared at the golden crown laden with
jewels.

“I saved it!” Tommy said.

The girl didn’t respond. Her eyes were
glazed, and she appeared disoriented.

Tommy placed the crown beside her and then
wrapped his arms around her. Phoibe grunted but instinctively
tugged him into her lap.

My eyes remained on the treasure worth
enough to support me for ten lifetimes.

The creak of leather boots yanked my focus
outside the room.

“Tommy! Turn off your flashlight!” I ordered
him quietly. I snatched the phone left beside Theodocia and tapped
the light app alerting others to our presence.

Tommy obeyed, and I crept into the dark
hallway, senses trained on the noise coming from the main chamber.
I stopped where the corridor met the large room.

Five men, possibly six. Drawing my weapons,
I went still, listening. Whoever it was, they were well trained,
their movements nothing louder than whispers almost too soft for me
to locate who was where.

The sound of Tommy’s sneakers slapping
cement as he ran after me was jarring compared to the relative
quiet of those sneaking up on us. Whirling, I grabbed him and
hurried back to the room where his mother was, depositing him on
the ground.

“Stay here!” I snapped.

“But –”

“Shut up, kid. Don’t move from this
spot!”

Before he could argue, I returned to the
hallway.

My attackers were waiting, tipped off by
Tommy. Before I reached the end of the corridor, I was ducking a
punch. I launched into action. Close quarter fighting was my forte.
Before I had been forced to sell my services as a mercenary, I had
been accepted into the Gladiator Guild, an elite organization for
skilled single combat fighters where violence was cheered on by
millions of viewers watching on television.

With a knife in one hand and handgun in
another, I tore through four of the men, leaving none of them alive
to threaten Tommy, before I crept into the main chamber. Another
four or five were waiting for me. I snatched the first, preparing
to drive a knife through his eye into his brain, when someone
spoke.

“Niko!”

I paused.

“Gods, man, are you trying to finish off the
rest of my detail?” Cleon snapped in indignation.

I slowly released my grip on the man I’d
pinned between my body and the wall. Easing away, I checked with my
senses to ensure no one else was ready to attack or headed towards
the corridor where Tommy was.

“You couldn’t announce yourself?” I snapped
in return.

“I texted you.”

I rolled my eyes and sheathed my
weapons.

“We don’t have much time. Do you know how to
get out of here?” Cleon asked, approaching me.

“Not a clue.”

He barked orders for two of the remaining
members of his security team to find an exit before addressing me
again. “I find it interesting you knew to come here, the
destination I was trying to reach.”

“And?” I challenged.

“Did you find any survivors?” By the note in
his voice, Cleon didn’t expect anyone to have lived through the
crash.

“Why do you care about a helicopter
crashing?” I asked warily.

“When the gods made you, they replaced your
brain with muscle,” he said in rare anger. “I was tracking the
Queen of Greece’s escape from New York when I heard through secure
channels that the military shot her down. The only reason I am here
is to determine if she survived.”

The pieces fell into place. Theodocia was
the High Priestess of Artemis entrusted with the duty of raising
and guiding the Queen of Greece. I had only been thinking of Tommy
from the first time I heard his voice.

“She’s alive,” I said.

Cleon’s silence was one of surprise.

“C’mon.” I led him back towards the small
room with the survivors. Turning on the flashlight of the cell
phone, I shone it towards the five. Tommy was back in the lap of
the girl I assumed to be the Queen of Greece.

Cleon stepped into the room, his eyes
widening. “How is this possible?” he asked.

I shifted weight between my feet, uncertain
why I tensed when he entered. My gaze was on Tommy. I didn’t care
at all about the girl, and I shouldn’t have cared about Tommy.

“Daddy, who is that?” Tommy asked.

Gods dammit, kid,
I thought.

“Daddy?” Cleon’s focus shifted to me then
back to the unconscious men and woman. “Of course. You knew to come
because your ex called you. You never mentioned she was in the
service of the Queen.”

Cleon had been using Tommy and Theodocia
against me for several years. Whenever I was reluctant to take a
job he sent me, he threatened to cut off my ex and son financially.
Tommy’s trust was maintained by Cleon’s financial management team,
and he dumped all my earnings from the contracts he hired me for
into it. Cleon had always known about the existence of Theodocia
and Tommy, but something about the three of them being in the same
room together rubbed me the wrong way.

The teen girl looked up at us. Her eyes were
sky blue, her slender frame borderline frail. She nudged Tommy from
her lap and climbed to her feet, wobbled, and then straightened
fully.

“Phoibe would like to thank you for finding
us,” Tommy said.

My brow furrowed.

Cleon bowed his head and offered a warm
smile. “It is my pleasure, Your Majesty,” he purred. “May I ask
what happened?”

Tommy looked up at the Queen, waiting. After
a moment, he spoke. “We were shot down by the military. Thanatos
saved us.”

“Who is Thanatos?” I asked, eyeing the
unconscious man who appeared to be part of their security
detail.

Tommy giggled again.

“The God of Death, Niko,” Cleon said with a
look of disapproval.

“Phoibe asked him to spare us, and he did,”
Tommy added.

I knew the name of a handful of gods but not
this one. “Why would a god help you, if they’re fire balling the
rest of the world?” I asked the Queen.

Her gaze slid to me, but it was Tommy who
answered.

“We don’t know.”

“You are very fortunate to be alive,” Cleon
said, impressed. “But we aren’t out of the danger zone yet. We face
a difficult time escaping, I fear. The city has descended into
chaos, and I believe everyone in a position of influence is
searching for you, Your Majesty.”

“Phoibe says if you can help us, she will be
in your debt,” Tommy said.

I almost laughed. The girl had walked
straight into Cleon’s trap. The politician was feigning warmth and
gratitude as he responded, but I didn’t have to guess what was
going through his mind. He had secured the favor of the most
powerful woman on the planet, the only surviving member of the
Sacred Triumvirate. His foolish trek into the war zone that was DC
was going to pay off, assuming he survived.

I took up a position at the door, close
enough to Cleon to stop him if he made any sudden moves towards my
son.

“My most trusted man is on the job,” Cleon
said with a look at me. “You must be Tommy,” he said to my son. He
started forward, and I snatched his arm.

“Don’t,” I warned.

Unfazed, Cleon stayed where he was.

“Phoibe is worried about Theodocia,” Tommy
said. “Is my mommy okay?”

Both Queen and boy were huddled next to the
High Priestess.

“She’s alive and breathing fine. Whatever
happened knocked you all out,” I replied.

The two exchanged a worried look, and I
sensed I had somehow missed the meaning behind the question.

“She will be well, Tommy, I promise,” Cleon
said. “My men are looking for an escape route. Once they find it,
we’ll be headed to safety.”

“Which is where?” I asked quietly.

“The central compound in DC housing the
Supreme Triumvirate. Her majesty has a palace there, and no doubt,
security.”

I didn’t understand the extent of Cleon’s
game – but I could definitely understand taking the vulnerable
Queen to the one place in DC where she might escape the riots and
chaos. With any luck, I’d have the opportunity to extricate Tommy
from Cleon’s clutches before then.

“Sir,” one of Cleon’s men called, moving
down the hallway towards us. He smelled of blood and sweat and was
panting. “We found an exit. Our enemies figured out we’re down
here. We need to move now!”

Before he was finished, I was at Theodocia’s
side. I lifted her and shifted her over my shoulder. Phoibe
appeared scared, and Tommy slid his hand into hers as they
stood.