Under His Guard (26 page)

“Do it now!” I yelled.

Leon was cut loose, but Denver maintained a tight grip on his left arm. Val prepared a needle, poked it into an ampoule of the serum, and approached Leon.

“I don' wanna do this.” Leon's low whisper carried to me.

“I don't care. Give him the drug,” I demanded.

Once his vein plumped up, Val punctured his skin, plunged the shaft. Tears fell fast down Leon's face. “It won't take long. It's fast-acting, less than two minutes.”

“Where's Leon's D-P?” I asked.

Cutler held his hand out to one of soldiers. The slim black tablet appeared.

“Take a blood sample and send it to Hatch.” I didn't trust them for an instant. They could've just double-dosed Leon.

“Very thorough.” Cutler nodded at me.

“You bet your fucking ass I am.”

Impatience nagged at the corners of my brain until Cutler answered an incoming bleep on Leon's D-P. “Hatch says he's clean.”

“Show me.”

He held the D-P in front of my face.
Clean, clear, and free of disease.

Relief soared through me. “Oh God, yes.” My head fell back and I smiled.

But Leon's reaction knocked the relief right out of me. His pain burned bright inside of him until it turned so dark in the center it was nearly a black hole.

“Darke, please, no. What good is my life without you?”

His emotions, his words, his stark expression crippled me.

Denver, placid as ever, cut me alone out of the captive circle, ratcheting the others even more closely together. He placed me on a gurney that had been wheeled into the room. Not a blip colored his emotional radar. I detested the man even more.

“This should provide a few moments of entertainment at least.” Cutler looked positively giddy.

Liz swore over and over again at me, her face distorted in pain. Linc's fierce stare never shifted from his father. Cannon's muscles rippled with the immensity of power he put behind trying to get free of the wire. Their emotional output overwhelmed me. I blanked them out. Watching Leon's bright spirit getting dimmer was already more than I could take.

Dr. Valary hovered beside me. “This will hurt.” She swabbed my skin before preparing the hypodermic.

“You bastard!” Leon shouted at me.

The virus couldn't hurt any more than the obliteration of my heart.

“I love you,” I said as I focused on my angel.

“
Cher
, no!”

S
top, Elizabeth,” Denver ordered.

The needle puncture I expected never came. The point hollowed my skin for an instant before it skipped away.

Leon looked at Denver, surprise lighting his features.

“What? What is it?”

Denver glanced at me. “We're not going anywhere, and you're not going to die.”

Leon bounded over and covered me with his body, gripping me fiercely.

Cutler whipped his head to Denver. “They are going to die. All of them!”

“Not this time, Boss.” He discharged his weapon once. It hit at a precise nerve point in Cutler's shoulder, making him drop his Glock as his fingers twitched lifelessly.

“Denver?” Confusion scuttled across the CEO's face. He pulled a red palm away from his wet wound.

“The name's Deyama.”

A vengeful Denver appeared from the cold depths of calm encasing him. This one was furious and fiery. He strode to Cutler and grabbed his hair. His fist primed, he slammed it into the befuddled face. “It's time for a new fate, Cutler-
sama
.”

During the chaos that ensued, troopers shouted orders at one another:

Stand down.

Let's move out!

Stay. We fight to the end.

Denver yelled for Leon, who looked up in time to catch a blade flying end over end at him.

Deftly holding the handle, he cut me free of the gurney before springing across the room. Sliding under the circle of our friends, he came to his feet amid the wiry web holding them together. He sliced them free faster than I could blink.

The sound of glass shattering pushed me into action. I hoped like crazy it wasn't the serum…or the virus…

I swung to my feet and sped to the table of goods, the one getting knocked around by the jostle of bodies. I protected the vials while Nathaniel and Cannon barred Cutler's escape. Denver was immobilizing him with the same systematic motions he'd used on us. The rest of my people kept wary eyes and raised weapons on the soldiers huddling like cattle before a butcher.

Cutler wasn't getting out of this. At least not alive.

“I want that fucking antidote in Darke now!” Denver bellowed.

“I'm good. The needle didn't break skin.”

“Close enough. We're taking no chances. You get the antidote first.” He tossed his head toward Dr. Valary. “Elizabeth?”

She started toward me. At the same time, the troops opened up with a wild spray of fire. Hit somewhere in the middle, she landed on the hard floor. A bloody stain bloomed from her stomach, spreading across the torn blouse she wore.

Leon hurried to me. He lifted a needle to prep it, but I closed a hand over his wrist. “I'll do it. See to the doctor.”

Leon handed me my gun and the syringe before dropping down to tend to Val. I quickly administered the serum with one eye on the action across the room, the other on Leon.

The others surrounded the trigger-happy troopers.

Denver held his weapon in Cutler's face as the CEO kneeled on the floor.

Farrow's dark pants stained with blood leaking from her thigh down.

Leon lifted Val to the gurney and bandaged her wound with strips from his shirt. He glanced at me, and my heart stumbled a few beats before returning to its normal rhythm.

Liz wiped her eyes when she looked back at us before she faced forward to say, “Fuck the Reformed Corps. They're not invited.”

With her decision, bullets rang out. Soldiers in midnight blue dropped like floppy puppets to the floor but not before another of ours was hit in the crossfire. Denver spun off his feet and then went down flat on his back. Sebastian ran to him, searching his body, slapping his face and calling him every curse word in the book.

A husky voice broke through tight lips on the cadaver-still body. “Vest.”

“What?” Sebastian moved his ear to Denver's mouth.

“I'm wearing a vest.” Denver groaned.

“Holy fuck.” Linc pulled a trembling hand over his face. “He pulled a Liz move.”

“Not as dramatic as me, though.” Liz marched over, prodding the man with her boot.

“Did you leave it close enough to the wire,
tomodachi
?” Inspecting Denver's bared and wound-free chest, Linc rocked back on his heels.

“No other choice. Cutler can smell a rat from ten klicks. I had to make sure the serum was on the premises and get it into Leon in time.” Lifting his head from the floor, Denver peered at me. “Nice work, by the way, offering yourself up. I wasn't sure how this was going to play out.”

“Reassuring, as always,” I muttered. “There's still one rat on the loose.”

We watched Cutler crawling across the floor. Cannon kicked him over to his back, stomped his boot on the CEO's sternum, and then pulled the gasping man to his feet.

InterNations CEO Lysander Cutler pitted his glare at us. “I still own this regime.”

“But you set me up as your second. I am fully capable of installing a new, more humane government, Father,” Linc delivered in an even voice.

“And I'll be right beside him. Wasn't that the Cutler vision?” Nathaniel placed himself shoulder to shoulder with his brother.

“You're really going to murder your own father?” Actual real terror was trapped in his voice for the first time as he watched his Freelander son.

“No. I am,” Linc said.

“No way.” Liz marched forward. “No one should kill their own father, no matter how heinous his crimes.”

“Roger that. I won't let you do this, live with this, Nathaniel. It's bad enough you'll see it.” Cannon joined Liz.

Nathaniel whispered into Cannon's short hair, his arms looping around his body.

I heard Cannon whisper back, “I will do everything to keep you whole, my love.”

As Nathaniel and Linc retreated, I strode into place beside the commander and the lieutenant. Liz, Cannon, and I filled in the space the brothers vacated.

“We'll do it,” Cannon announced.

Denver approached the CEO—the political genius, the genesis of this entire Revolution, the Plague, the virus, and all the hate against free love. Ripping through the wires at his wrists, Denver allowed him some semblance of an honorable death I didn't think he deserved. A shot in the back was too good for this coldhearted cunt.

“I'll be happy to.” My voice sounded hoarse, and I was shaky with relief, but I was certain I could hold my Smith steady enough to shoot this bastard dead once and for all.

We took aim.

The only last words were ours.

“Head.” I called out my target.

“Heart.” Cannon tilted his barrel down.

“Spleen.” Liz spat the word out.

Fear flitted across Cutler's eyes one final time. I took enjoyment from his last moment on earth. We fired as one, plugging him with three neat holes. He dropped instantly, a lifeless bag of bones who would never fucking hurt us again.

I
clasped Leon to my side, crushing him against me.

Linc walked to his father and kneeled down. “You will never take anything from me again.”

He removed the fat silver ring with the Rice family crest from Cutler's finger. When he stood, Liz was there. Kissing the palm of his hand, she finally rested the Freelander signet home on her husband's finger where it belonged.

“He wanted to be embalmed to lie in state.” Denver shifted his long black braid over his shoulder as he joined Sebastian, piling the dead.

“No one needs to mourn him or make pilgrimages to him.” Nathaniel closed his father's eyelids. “You reap what you sow.”

A fresh wave of troops burst into the room. Far smarter than their predecessors, they took one look and dropped their weapons with metallic clatters to the floor. They held their hands high while their unblinking eyes took in the scene: Thirteen Revolutionaries standing over crumpled bodies of soldiers and one man laid out alone—the way he'd lived his life was how he'd go into the afterlife.

Linc marched up to the group. “Tell your comrades the CEO is dead. The antivirus serum is viable. It will be distributed immediately. There's a New Order. It's called democracy.”

“Commander Linc Cutler?” One brave soul strutted through the throng of dark blue Corps uniforms. She saluted with crisp movements.

“Lieutenant…” He inspected her badge. “Alexia.” Returning her salute, he regarded her curiously.

When she removed her cap, she revealed a bright stripe of white hair that would possibly be styled into a Mohawk. “My sister, Moxie, has spoken highly of you. It's an honor to meet you, sir.”

Linc nodded. “Moxie is one in a million. Welcome to the Reformed Corps, people.”

Turning, he addressed us. “All right. Let's get the word out! We need to distribute the serum, round up the last of Father's cronies, and start to work on our new InterNations government.”

Cannon gave a grumble. “Thought we'd have a little downtime first.”

“I'm a little hungry, myself.” Liz winked at her former commander and then beamed a grin at her husband, who squinted in response.

“Not to mention tired.” Nathaniel yawned wide.

“And bleedin' out over here,” Farrow shouted through clenched teeth. She was being attended to by Darwin. Val had been stabilized. Both women were lucky. All major organs and arteries missed by the smallest fractions.

Denver stepped forward. “How do you stand such insubordination?”

“It's not insubordination when we're all brothers and sisters in arms and at heart, my friend.”

Sebastian linked his fingers through Denver's with a wide smile.

“This will take some getting used to.” Denver touched Sebastian's cheek.

Beside me, Leon hummed as he always did when he was happy.

“
Je t'aime
, Leon Cheramie.” I drew him into my arms, turning my back on the room. Wrapped around him, my body shook as relief gusted through me.

After the all-too-brief interlude, it was down to business. Each of our crew was inoculated first. With Farrow and Val's wounds dressed, the doctor gave directions to Darwin, Sebastian, and Linc to the stores of serum within the med building. She asked them to break into her office to retrieve the formula. It would be handed to Denver so he could broadcast the solution over the D-P as the Voice.

Denver wasted no time sending out a victory call.

“The war is over. CEO Cutler is dead. Triumph is ours! Democracy is taking root as I speak, and the antidote to the virus is in hand. We will be distributing it to the early infectees first. Instructions for replicating the serum will follow shortly and all citizens will be inoculated, the strain destroyed. Know this, citizens of the InterNations: The Revolution is won! We will love freely! We will not die!”

I'd never seen the man so impassioned. His lively speech raised cheers from our squad and a thrill to my heart.

As we hobbled from the medical building, the dazzling scene outside was like nothing I'd ever witnessed. Our shoulders straightened and our strides lengthened as the thousands-strong throng parted for us.

They chanted as one voice:

“Live in Freedom! Love at Will!”

InterNations flags were being replaced by Freelander colors already. Soon there would be one standard for all of mankind.

And that was just within the walls of the Delta Quadrangle.

I shook from the tidal wave of triumph hitting me from all quarters. This time I let the vibrant emotion wash over me, cleanse me, carry me along.

Out on the streets, the celebration amplified. News had spread at the speed of light during the dawn hours.

I wiped tears from my eyes, locking my arm around Leon's waist. The building-wide D-Ps glowed with updated images from the last Territories to topple the CO government.
VICTORY! LIFE! CURE! EQUALITY! FREEDOM!
The words unfurled across the screens and resounded from the massive crowd lining the streets of S-1, S-2, and all the Territories and all the communes from continent to continent.

Music began beneath the swell of the chants. It started with a single, shockingly clear female voice. The song of victory gathered volume, leaping from person to person. Instruments joined the mix—trumpets and tambourines, flutes and finger cymbals.

The scene on the D-P cut into six equal squares where the same musical outpouring flooded back at us from InterNations Territories far and wide. The sounds we heard weren't those of Old History heralding a change of arms but a boisterous chorus of people using any noisemaker on hand to signal the dawn of a new era.

My steps faltered from the sheer majesty of it.

“Let's go home.” Leon tugged my hand.

“There's just one thing I've got to do first.” I cupped his face. “I love you, you foolish, sweet, beautiful man.”

“I know.” His chin rose. His eyes sparkled. Defiant. Stubborn. Sexy. All mine.

I dipped my head to meet his lips, pulling him to my deep kiss. His arms wound around my shoulders. He moaned as cheers exploded from the rooftops to the roadside. And I knew the image of us kissing was being broadcast all over the world.

Two men in love, at the end of a war.

With no fear of reprisal.

For the first time in our New History.