Monsters of the Apocalypse (30 page)

The Shadow Army Indians loomed in
the torchlight of the docks, huge and still like ancient statues. The
crowd stopped a good distance back from the Indians, and waited, in a large
silent arch as Nestor, Caleb and the wolf continued forward.

"What are you doing here, Caleb?
Didn't we make it clear what would happen…" the Indian stopped mid-step,
mid-sentence and looked at Nestor. "You're alive."

"Yes, I am. I need to
see Jacob. I need that boat."

"That's the President's
boat. No one uses it without his approval."

"And if I just go ahead and
take it?" Nestor asked.

"You'll have to kill us to
get to it."

"That's not a problem."

"Then you'll have to steer
it through mine filled water, that only we know the path through, without a
drone blowing you out of the water."

"Well then, I guess I'll
just kill all of you for standing in my way and then deal with the boat
later."

The Shadow Army Indians raised
their guns as the wolf growled, raising its hackles. Caleb, holding his
pistol, barrel down, glanced over at Nestor who stood smiling with his hands
empty at his sides.

"Do you have a plan here,
Nestor? Cuz, I don't really feel like dying without a plan."

"And if my plan involves
using you as a human shield?" Nestor said.

"Well at least it's a
plan," Caleb shrugged.

"Lower Your Guns!"

The voice cut through the crowd
like a physical thing, a pathway forming from the back of the crowd to the
docks where the Shadow Army Indians lowered their guns and stood at
attention. Nestor and Caleb both turned and watched as the woman, and her
huge bodyguard, moved through the crowd towards them as her voice continued, no
longer a shout, but still ringing and clear.

"Caleb Nevers, the famous
hacker and exile, a most unexpected pleasure. Nestor Bravo, your presence
brings warmth to my heart. Welcome to Los Angeles. I am Vice
President Miho Walker and it would be my greatest pleasure to have you as a
guest on my boat."

Caleb had cringed at the sound of
his last name and occupation, but when the woman had finished her speech and he
turned, awaiting impact, he found Nestor in a condition that it took him a
moment to realize was shock - absolute and paralyzing shock. Miho
continued her walk, Flores in toe, until she was an arm's length from the
unblinking, open-mouthed figure of Nestor Bravo. She held his gaze,
but her words were for those who stood around them.

"Mr. Nevers, you may wait
here, under my protection. If you should choose to leave, I can guarantee
that you will be unmolested. If you choose to wait, I can't guarantee
that what returns on the boat won't be an order for your death, the choice is
yours. Come, Mr. Bravo, I would guess President Rothschild is most eager
to see you."

"Agent Flores, will you
excuse us?"

The big man moved away, leaving
Nestor and Miho alone, but for the wolf, at the prow of the boat.

"Hello Nestor, it is good to
see you."

"You're alive," he
sighed.

"Yes."

"Thank God. Thank
God," he muttered.

For a while neither one talked,
she kept her eyes on the sea, unable to face Nestor's gaze.

"You look sick,
Nestor. Still strong and… but sick."

"I'm well enough to finish
what I started. You're Jacob's Vice President?"

"Yes."

"How? When? How
did he find you?"

"I found him. I was
young and angry. I wanted to see him, to tell him that I hated him.
It wasn't easy, but I found him. He was in hiding. The Shadow Army
wasn't even an idea yet. I'm not sure why I did it - joined him, believed
him, believed in him. I guess I wanted to. What girl wouldn't want
to believe that the father who disappeared had done it out of love and to
protect her? What daughter doesn't want to believe her father is a great
man?"

"You're so much like your
mother, the way you move, your voice."

"That's what my father says.
He says I got the best of her."

"There was only the
best. She had nothing else to give."

She reached over and touched
Nestor's cheek, her fingers tracing the familiar white scar, he didn't flinch
or respond. She smiled at the warmth of his skin.

"I didn't know he would use
you, use how you felt about me, to do this to you. I'm so sorry,
Nestor."

"Don't be sorry. You
don't need to be sorry for loving your father. He's your father.
You're as beautiful as your mother and I hope… as kind."

She lowered her hand, placed it
on the railing and turned back to the sea.

"No. I'm crueler than
my mother. That's what you taught me, Nestor. You and Jacob taught
me how to be cruel and that's what has kept me alive. Now though… my
father is not the man you once knew, or the one I once followed. I'm not
sure what he has planned or what he is capable of. What are you going to
do when you see him?"

Nestor reached out his hand, but
stopped just short of hers.

"I loved your mother so
much. Both of you - I loved both of you so much."

"I've always known
that. So did she. So does my father. Are you going to kill
him?"

"Yes."

She turned and moved close to
Nestor, he lifted his arms awkwardly allowing her to move within them and then
he gently hugged Miho, who squeezed him back.

"I'm so sorry, Nestor.
When I left I was so angry at everything. I'm sorry I left like
that. I’m sorry to have brought you here."

Nestor didn't say a word, but
only held onto her as the boat heaved in the growing waves, until she slid out
of his arms and left him alone at the front of the boat.

The doors
opened. The wolf walked through the door first followed by Nestor, then
Miho and Flores.

Jacob was
sitting in the center of Founder's Hall, waiting. He smiled at Nestor.

"You
made it."

"So did
you I guess, rich boy."

"Of
course. You look awful."

"Yeah,
it's been a tough few years."

Jacob smiled
and shrugged.

"Anything
you wanna say before I kill you, Jacob?"

"Sometimes
the best way to prove a point is to die making it."

Nestor
nodded. He slowly pulled out his knife. All of the guards around
them raised their guns, but with a gesture from Jacob they lowered them.
Jacob pulled out a matching knife and moved toward Nestor.

The two men
circled each other. Jacob held the knife in the standard style of the
Apache, the smile never leaving his face, the light in his eyes dancing in tune
with his feet. Nestor let the knife hang in his hand limply at his side
in the reverse grip of the Kali style. He moved only enough to keep Jacob
in front of him.

Jacob
charged forward with blinding speed and brought his knife down and up in a
figure eight of deadly slashing. To the spectator's eye his parry was met
with indifference and stillness from Nestor. But, in the next moment when
Jacob fell, it was clear that the knife had somehow missed Nestor completely
and that, though Nestor's hand still hung limply at his side, it was now
empty.

Nestor's
knife was deeply embedded into Jacob's chest.

Jacob fell
to the ground laughing. He pushed himself up into a cross-legged position
and looked at the knife with amusement.

"Ow.
That hurts."

"It
won't for much longer," Nestor assured him.

Jacob
nodded. He glanced over at Miho who stepped forward and kneeled beside
him. Jacob's last words went into her ear alone and then he died,
smiling. Miho stood up and looked at Nestor. Nestor stared
back with a gentle smile on his face. She stood straight and proud.
To her side her Flores loomed, giant, but Nestor held his gaze on Miho.
When she spoke, her voice was strong and didn't waiver.

"This
man is Nestor Bravo. He is to be pardoned for the murder of President
Jacob Rothschild and welcomed in a fashion befitting a hero of his
stature. This is the decree of me, President Walker and is to be followed
out completely."

"And my
father?"

Nestor
looked to the side where a beautiful young woman sat at a computer screen, her
hair wild and unruly. Miho smiled at her.

"His
exile is void. Caleb Nevers is welcome in Los Angeles."

Miho turned
and leveled her gaze at Nestor. To his side the wolf growled softly.

"Well,
I ought to be going, Ms. President. Me and the wolf, we aren't suited for
city living."

Miho moved
slowly across the room and nodded to Flores who opened the hall's door.

"Your
ride is waiting, Mr. Bravo," Miho said, now standing very close to Nestor.

Nestor
smiled.

"President?"

"Turns
out he had a plan. There's an art to it, "The Art of Ruling,"
he called it. He wanted someone who knew the art to take over, that's
me."

Nestor
nodded and looked down at the body of Jacob. He walked over and pulled
the knife from the Jacob's chest and cleaned it. He faced Miho as he did,
with unblinking eyes.

"He
planned all of this?"

"Perhaps.
He never revealed the entirety of any plan, nor was he above taking credit for
luck and chance, but… He was the last of the controllers, of the
controlling families and he was killed by the hand of a soldier from an
inauspicious background. His Vice President, a lowly mixed race girl with
a family of no consequence, from the ghetto, rises to power, making final the
transition from those who have so long ruled to those who would be free."

Nestor
nodded at the completeness of it all.

"A
family of no consequence? A girl from the ghetto?"

"Winners
write the history books."

It made him
laugh. Nestor looked in her eyes for one moment longer, the
identical eyes of his long dead lover and then she led him to the door.

"You
could stay. I want you to stay, Nestor. You were the one who
protected me, who watched over me when I was a child," she smiled.

"He
asked me to protect you. She made me promise to protect you. I just
did what I was told."

"No,
you did it, because you love me."

"That's
true. I do love you, Ms. Rothschild."

Nestor
kissed her on the cheek and then left the hall beside Flores.

Flores moved
across the deck and joined Nestor at the prow, the sea spray wetting both of
their faces.

"You
shot me back at Camp David?"

"Yes I
did, Mr. Bravo."

"No
man's ever shot me and lived to tell the tale."

"No
man's ever been shot by me and lived to tell the tale."

"You're
a Shadow Army Indian. You're supposed to be a nameless soldier in an
unseen army, but, they call you Alberto Flores, right?"

"Yes."

"What
name is it she goes by?"

"Miho
Walker."

"When I
started doing black ops, they changed my name to Nestor Bravo and erased any
records from my past. It was to protect my family and friends. I
was assassinating dangerous people and if it went wrong I didn't want anyone to
be able take revenge on my family. They did that for all of us, or at
least any of us who wanted it. Jacob and October were the only ones I
ever heard of who declined, for them the family name was more important than
their family's well-being. In any case, she's the only person who knew my
real name. Or my parent's names, Alberto and Miho."

"I
believe she considers it a tribute."

"No one
questions an Indian with a Mexican name? A Korean named Miho?"

"People
don't question her."

"You
watch over her?"

"I work
for her. She doesn't need watching over. Or, she hasn't needed it
before. She's always seen clearly, until now."

"Until
now?"

"You
know who she is, Nestor. The people need to believe that she's a nobody,
that she's of the people, that the ruling class is extinct, but, they also need
a great leader who knows how to rule the people. The future hinges on the
lie of her name, you know her lie. She cares about you. You make
her weak, your existence threatens hers and that threatens all of
mankind."

"You
intend to kill me, Flores? You think you can?"

"You've
grown old and sick, Nestor. You know it as well as me."

"I
do."

Nestor
looked deep into the Indian's eyes. Flores stared back. Eventually
Flores smiled and nodded his head.

"Maybe,
maybe not. You need to leave is all. There's no place for you
here. You know that and I know that… and she knows it, even if she can't
see it yet."

The boat
came to its final stop and Nestor got off. He turned and looked at
Flores.

"You
keep her safe, Flores."

"You
too, Nestor."

Nestor
watched the boat pull out and didn't look away until the lights of the boat had
disappeared. Then, when all the ocean was just blackness and reflected
moonlight, Nestor turned to Caleb who was sitting nearby, nervously waiting.

"Your
daughter is quite striking, Mr. Nevers."

"Yes
she is. She runs the entire mainframe now. She's very important to
mankind. They say she's likely to be named Vice President if Vice
President Walker ever…"

"The
hacker who hacked my feed was named "Nevers". She took your
name."

"Yeah."

"But,
you hacked the feed first?"

"Did I
not mention that? I thought I mentioned that."

"I
should have let you die out there in the nothingness," Nestor smiled.

"Well,
I could say the same for you," Caleb laughed. "Where you
headed?"

"Sprawl
I guess. Walk me out."

"There
aren't any mines in the city, Nestor."

"All
the same."

They walked
through the city as people kept a respectful distance.

"You
get the treatment, Caleb? For potency?"

"No,
they say one of the side-effects is it shrinks your dick."

"What
about kids? Procreating and all? Don't you want that?"

"Shrinks
your dick."

"Allows
mankind to continue on."

"With
small dicks."

Nestor
turned to Caleb and looked the man up and down. They were standing under
the torches of the city gate now, the sprawl stretched out endless before them.

"Well…
I guess this is goodbye."

"What
are you going to do out there, Nestor?"

"Just
walk and see what's there. There should still be a few vicious monsters
wandering around, so I should feel right at home. I'm glad I got to see
you again, Caleb."

"Actually,
I think I might go with you."

"You're
not exiled, anymore. You can stay."

"No, I
can't."

"Why
not?"

"Nestor,
I'm a danger to my daughter. I can be used against her. I have to think
of her first… you wouldn't understand."

"Yeah,
I guess not," Nestor smiled.

"I
guess, sometimes, being a good parent means wandering out into the wastes of
civilization to fight the last monsters of the Apocalypse."

"What
if that's us?"

"We
aren't monsters, Nestor, or at least, not really."

"What
would you say we are then?"

"We're
people. We're people who kill people who eat people."

"Whatever
you say, Caleb," Nestor said lighting up a cigarette, "let's take a
walk into the nothingness and see what's waiting."

Caleb smiled
and walked out the gate with Nestor and the wolf. The keepers of the
city, the descendants of Bragg, watched them until they disappeared under the
night sky. High above them, in the darkness, manmade stars flew over the
earth with their little blinking lights announcing to the world that they were
still there.