Perfect Sacrifice (54 page)

CHAPTER 27

Deadly Mistake

Dr. Solaris yawned deeply as he walked down the hallway of his base.  He was heading towards the kitchen to start breakfast, since everyone would probably be up soon.  No one usually stayed in bed past nine, and it was already eight.  Then again, that wake up time was starting to change.  He knew that Leon and Ray spent a lot of their nights awake playing chess.  Then they'd retire to their rooms and wouldn't get up until ten or eleven.

As he walked into the living room, he couldn't help but smile at what he saw.  Asleep in the reclining chair was Ray, and Leon was sprawled out on the couch, both sound asleep.  The chessboard sat between them, a finished game still displayed in black and white.  Again Ray had won.  That was no surprise.  She was very good at the game.

Dr. Solaris walked over to Ray and gently tapped her on the shoulder.  She groaned and turned away, curling up tightly on the chair.

"Ray," he called.

"Five more minutes," she responded drowsily, her eyes still closed.

"Your Geno is ready to be picked up," he told her, and he watched as a smile developed on her face.  She slowly sat up and stretched her arms, a long yawn escaping her mouth.  She turned to look at Dr. Solaris, a very sleepy expression still on her face.

"That's good to hear," she told him as she stood up and stretched her legs a little.  "I'll need a ride though."  She looked over to Leon and smirked.  She waked over to him and bent down near his ear.  "Leon…" she whispered in a taunting voice.  "Oh Leon…"

"It's too early," he mumbled, turning away from her.

"Wake up!" she shouted, kicking him softly in the back.  He turned and glared at her before sitting up and yawning.  What time had they finally fallen asleep last night?  Two?  Or had it been three?

"It's only eight o'clock," he groaned.  "That's not long enough."

"I need a ride into Torran," she told him with a sweet smile.  "Will you take me?"  Leon only sighed as he stood up.

"Fine, let's go," he said as he began heading for the kitchen door.  Ray waved goodbye to Dr. Solaris before following Leon down into the hanger.  Hopefully her Geno was completely fixed now.  She began to wonder what kind of armor they gave it.  That black armor had been custom made.  If they had given her that one again, she didn't even want to think about what the bill would be. 
Oh well.  Gordan can pay for it.  It's no skin off my back.

Dr. Solaris just smiled as he walked into the kitchen and began making breakfast.  Just seconds after he heard Leon's car drive away, Jace found his way into the kitchen.

"Good morning Dr. Solaris," he greeted as he sat down.  He noticed that no one else was up yet.  Ray was usually awake by now.

"Good morning Jace," Dr. Solaris greeted as he began cooking some pancakes.

"Where's Ray?" Jace asked.  Why was David not at all surprised to hear that question?  It was completely obvious that Jace liked Ray.  He was like her stalker, but neither one knew it.  He always wanted to know where she was and what she was doing and why he wasn't there with her.

"She went into Torran to pick up her Geno," he explained.  "She'll be back in a few hours."  Jace just nodded and decided to wait in the kitchen for breakfast.  It's not like he had anything else to do anyway.  He began looking around, and his eyes landed on the chessboard in the living room.  Oh how he despised the game.  He had never been good at it.  Maybe because strategy just wasn't his forte.  He never understood what Ray's fascination with the game was.  He did notice, however, that someone had been playing a game.  The pieces were still sitting there, flaunting the black's victory.

"Who was playing chess?" he asked curiously.  He knew Ray had probably been one of them.

"Leon and Ray," Dr. Solaris responded without even looking to the boy.  He had a breakfast to make after all.

Jace couldn't help but feel just a little agitated.  He could tell that Leon didn't like him very much, and those feelings were returned.  Why was something he didn't know.  He just didn't like the eldest Solaris son.  Maybe it was because of Ray.  She seemed to really care about him for some reason.  When she had thanked Jace the other day, it had been because he had saved Leon.  It was as simple as that.  Why did she care about him so much?  He wasn't even a knight.

Jace sighed and rested his head on the table.  He was thinking too much.  Leon had only known Ray for a few months.  He had spent years with the ace knight.  There was no competition.

* * * *

When they reached Torran, Ray got out of the car and said her goodbye to Leon.  He was going to head back to the base.  There was no point in him staying there.  A Geno was much faster than a car, so if he didn't leave now, she'd just beat him home.  Besides, he was hungry, and his dad probably had breakfast ready by now.

Ray walked down the streets of Torran, deciding to just wander before actually going to get her Geno.  Maybe she'd hunt down Aaron.  He was out of the hospital, but he hadn't told her where he'd be staying or what he'd be doing.  Maybe she could convince him to work for the GRC.  Then again, he wouldn't be able to battle.  At least not until Ramirez was dead, and she had no idea when that would be.  If he didn't have a job right now, maybe she could get Sam to hire him.  She knew he needed the help.

"R.C!" shouted a familiar voice.  There was only one person who called her that.  She turned around to be greeted with the welcoming sight of Abby running down the street.  She had a large smile on her face.

"Hey Abby," Ray greeted.  "What are you doing here?"

"I was told by Gordan to investigate the abandoned warehouse," she explained.  "He heard about your little raid yesterday."

"From who?" asked Ray, sounding both angered and shocked.  How could he have figured that out?  There weren't any news cameras or anything.

"Jace told him," Abby responded, and she took a step back from Ray.  The ace knight only sighed deeply.  Jace was always doing that.  He'd report almost everything to Gordan.  Of course, she was supposed to do that as well.  There weren't supposed to be any secrets between them.  However, she often rushed into things and probably lost them information a few times.  Those were the kind of things she kept to herself, like her exploration of the excavation site.

"It figures," she said.  "I guess it's for the best.  Gordan is the general after all."

"So what are you doing here?" asked Abby.

"Picking up my Geno and looking for Aaron," she answered while stretching her arms over her head.  She was still a little tired.  She hadn't fallen asleep until about three.

"Oh," began Abby with a smile, "I just saw him."

"Really?  Where?" asked Ray, sounding more awake and rather anxious.

"He was in the park," she answered.  "He's doing really well, but he doesn't have a job or a place to stay.  So…I invited him to come and stay at the base."

"Abby," scolded Ray, but she quickly brought her voice down to a whisper.  "Have you forgotten that he was a commander for Ramirez?  Staying at the base will be dangerous.  What if someone figures it out?  Gordan would never forgive him, you know that."

"Relax," she began, a smile still on her face.  "We worked it all out.  We came up with a cover story and everything.  We're going to say he's an ex-commander for Ramirez, and now he's in hiding because Ramirez is out to kill him.  We won't mention anything about the spider Geno or about how he killed the knights."

"Well…I guess that'll work," said Ray, seeming to think this all over.  It was a pretty good idea.  This way he'd have a place to stay, and he'd be protected.  They'd just have to make sure that Ramirez never found out about him.  After all, Aaron was supposed to be dead.

"Anyway," said Abby as she turned around.  "I need to get going.  I'll see you later, alright?"

"Yeah, okay," said Ray as she also turned around.  "Bye."  She walked off as Abby went the other direction, on her way to investigate the warehouse.  Ray herself was curious as to why they had been there.  What was so important about a warehouse?  It was old, rickety, and abandoned.  Who would want that?

She turned a few corners, deciding to just head for the repair shop.  If Aaron was doing alright, then there was no need for her to go bother him.  She would just get her Geno and head back to the base.  Dr. Solaris would have breakfast ready by the time she got there anyway.

Ray walked to the back of the repair shop where her Geno sat, fully restored to the way it had been.  The custom made black armor had been put on, and the broken glass eye had been replaced.  It looked better than ever.

"Hello Ms. Cayden," greeted the man from before.  He had a smile on his face as he watched her admire her fixed Geno.

"Everything's done?" she asked him.  "All of it was repaired?"

"Of course," he responded smugly.  "We'd never call you down if something was wrong.  We're sorry it took so long.  It would have been done much sooner, but the four point cannon needed some repairing."

"It's okay," she said as she walked over to it.  She began climbing up towards the cockpit.  "I didn't really need it during that time, so no harm done."  She got up to the top and jumped into the cockpit, quickly bringing the large feline to life.

"What about the payment?" he yelled up to her.

"Just send it to Gordan!" she called as she began walking away from the shop.  She just smiled.  It was nice working for the GRC.  Gordan paid for everything.  If her Geno needed to be completely repaired, core and all, he would pay for it.  It was so nice.

Ray just sat back and had her Geno keep walking.  She would pick up her pace soon.  She wanted to get home within the hour.  She was starting to get hungry, and Dr. Solaris always made a big breakfast.  Hopefully they would save her some.

After a while of strolling leisurely, she decided to speed up.  She didn't only speed up though.  She broke through the sound barrier, watching as the desert flew by her at incredible speeds.  She could probably take this for at least ten minutes.  Then her body would need a break.  Her Geno was fully capable of going at this speed for at least an hour, but she would definitely lose consciousness way before then.  After all, even though she was the ace knight, she was only human.

* * * *

Later on in the day, everything was returning to the way it usually was.  Jace and Ray would spend their time together, and Leon and Chris would be left out of whatever they were doing.  Currently they were sparing with their short swords.  It was easy to tell that Ray was going to win.  The difference in skill was so obvious.

Ray and Jace swiped at each other, using the dull sides of the swords.  They didn't need to risk accidentally hurting the other.  After all, they were just sparring.  Ray never got much of a chance to practice, but by the looks of it, she didn't need any.  She was easily beating Jace.  Pretty soon he'd be down on the ground with her sword pointed towards his neck.  That's exactly what happened too.

"Man," said Jace as he just sat there, staring at Ray.  Her sword was just centimeters from his throat.  "How do you keep beating me?"  Ray just smirked and sheathed the short sword.  She then offered him a hand in getting up, which he willing took.  He stole a glance at Leon, who wore a slight scowl on his face.  Jace rather enjoyed that look.  He was going to make it clear that Ray liked him more.  This had turned into a competition, and he was determined to win, no matter what.

"Let's head upstairs," suggested Ray.  "I need to go put this away."  Jace nodded and followed her up the stairs, passing by Leon and Chris.  The two Solaris boys followed after them, having nothing better to do.  Chris couldn't help but notice the way his brother glared at Jace.  He found it rather amusing, since he knew why.  Chris had to admit that Jace was pretty fun to hang around, but he could get annoying.  He spent all of his time with Ray, trying to be around her as much as possible.  Didn't he understand that she needed time alone or time to spend with Leon?

They eventually made their way into the kitchen.  Chris decided to go visit his dad in the study, leaving the three of them alone.

"I'm gonna go change, okay?" she told Jace as she went to her room, leaving Jace and Leon alone in the living room.  Leon looked to the chessboard, which had yet to be put away.  He might as well reset it.  Maybe he'd get the chance to play another game later on.

Jace watched Leon out of the corner of his eye.  He decided to try something.  He had a plan to get Leon in trouble with the ace knight.  After a week or so of living with the other man, he knew more or less how he responded to things.  It was time to play around with him a bit.  Besides, he knew that Leon liked Ray.  The way he looked at her gave it all away.  They had only known each other for about two months or so.  That wasn't nearly enough time for him to get to know her well.  There could only be one reason that Leon actually liked her, or so that's what Jace thought.

"Hey Leon," began Jace, drawing perhaps half of Leon's full attention.  He really didn't care about what Jace had to say.  He was busy.  "How'd you like the sparring match?"

"It was alright," he answered, wondering just why Jace was asking.  What did he care anyway?