Revolution World (17 page)

Gloria brought drinks and introduced herself to the people sitting next to him. They turned out to be Joanna and Eric Guerrero. Max had met Joanna at the Junior League Target Practice so they amicably discussed range finders and the many deficits of heat-seeking missiles and rail guns. Seth was interested to meet these people. He had been discussing the Co-op's break-in with Clio on the handheld a few nights ago and Joanna was on the short list of people who may have been passing information to outsiders.

She certainly seemed capable of anything, unlike her husband. At first glance, he would have ruled out Eric as lacking the energy to do anything so sneaky. The man slumped into the bleachers with his eyes roaming the field. His answers to Seth's questions were virtually monosyllabic.

"So what is there to do around here?"

"Not much." Eric shrugged and watched the game.

"I hear there is quite good fishing up at the Pedernales River?" Seth tried again.

"If you like fish," Eric answered his shoes.

Joanna had too much energy for one person. As she chatted to Max, she watched the game and tapped away on her handheld. The first quarter ended and Seth stood up.

"Well I think I'll stretch my legs," he said, thinking he'd go look for Clio.

Gloria quickly stood up too and gave him a flirty smile. "I'll go with you," she said.

Seth frowned at her a minute. She'd been acting so weird lately. Her family moved to Europe when they were both still young. He lost touch with her until they moved back to Omerta's island last year. Gloria had been quite happy to taunt him and hide his toys as a child. He mistrusted how nice she was being to him now.

She followed him out of the stands. Almost immediately, he bumped into Harmony carrying a large bag of popcorn and a drink.

"Seth, how nice of you to make it out tonight. We missed you at the Chamber of Commerce lunch," she said, not missing his glances over her shoulder as if she might be hiding Clio in her back pocket. She gave Gloria a pitying look.

Gloria did not miss the look or its meaning. "Our distance from town and heavy work load make daytime appointments very difficult," she said stiffly. She looked as if she were fighting the urge to toss her hair in contempt. Max had been making fun of her for that unconscious mannerism. Then her face lit up with malicious joy.

"Oh Seth," she cooed in a suspiciously honeyed voice. "You seem to have got a little something on your collar." He looked at her with confusion. She leaned in close to him, managing to snuggle her ample and impressive bosom up against his chest as she snaked an arm around his neck to fiddle with his collar on the opposite side. Harmony raised her eyebrows as Gloria stumbled a bit too perfectly into Seth's arms.

Seth tried to pull away from her. He thought she was trying to slip ice down his shirt. Then he spotted Clio walking towards him with a cold look in her eyes. He grinned at her but she just scowled at him. Then he looked down and realized Gloria was plastered all over his chest. This can't look good.

"Oh my," Gloria said breathily, "I got some lipstick on your neck. Let me fix that." She tickled light fingers under his jaw and wiped away a smudge of her screaming red lipstick. He shoved her away like a man who picked up a puppy and realized it was covered in fleas. He wiped his hands down his shirt trying to get any remaining Gloria off him, keeping his eyes on Clio.

Gloria righted herself and gave a smirking grin to Clio while managing to cling to Seth's shoulder. Clio wore cowboy boots, dark jeans and a long tunic that flowed down her curvy body. As Seth gazed at Clio, he realized there was a distinct flaw in the picture of perfection before him. That flaw was the huge blond man draping his arm around Clio in a possessive manner. Clio looked uncomfortable.

"Ah, my darling daughter. I see you have Jason with you," Harmony said flatly, leaning to kiss her daughter's cheek. Then she turned to Seth. "Is your uncle here?"

Seth nodded, scowling at Jason Schmidt. He pointed in the direction of their seats. Seth had spent quite a bit of time working with Jason when Seth had that consulting project for Revolution World. At the time, Seth got along very well with Jason and enjoyed working with him.

When Clio said she had a previous relationship with Jason at the barbeque, Seth had only found her more attractive for choosing to date someone he liked. He watched Jason treat Clio with easy intimacy. Seth realized now that the hearty blond ex-football player was richer and more handsome than he was. He didn't understand how he had failed to notice these flaws in the man's character before.

"Excellent. I will just go see him," Harmony said briskly and marched off. Seth was glad to see that Clio's mother was distinctly unenthusiastic about Jason and his huge arms all over the place. Seth thought that Harmony was a very wise woman. You can't trust people named Jason, he felt.

As she walked away, Harmony paused. She leaned in to Gloria. "Well played," she whispered. Gloria allowed a sulky look to cross her face before she went back to simpering at Seth.

"Schmidt, it's been a long time. Aren't you a long way from home?" Seth said, extending a hand to get thoroughly shook by Jason.

Jason laughed with ease, showing his gleaming smile. "Great to see you! Aren't you even farther from home? I heard you'd moved to our neck of the woods. Welcome!" Jason squeezed Clio in a possessive way. "I hate to miss one of these football nights even if it is a heck of a drive for me."

As Seth tried to formulate a response that did not involve snarling and gnashing his teeth at the man, Kalliope wandered up sporting mismatched knee socks, combat boots and a polka dot cocktail dress.

She popped her gum as she studied the group. Then she turned to Seth. "Jason here drives a bio-diesel truck." She managed to put more contempt into that statement than Seth would have thought possible. He wondered what she had against bio-diesel, but decided he would rather help her sneer at Jason than find out.

"Jason, I'd like you to meet Gloria," Clio said loudly. "She lives with Seth in his compound in the woods." She cut her eyes to Seth. Seth could tell Clio was mad at him about something, but how could she expect him to control Gloria?

"Well, with something like this at home, it's hard to see why you ever leave the house," Jason said, amiably leering at Gloria. Gloria smoldered back at him.

Seth laughed nervously and edged away from Gloria. "We both live at the Omerta office site, but not together like a couple. That would be gross. We are cousins." His eyes appealed to Clio. Kalliope rolled her eyes and wandered off as the band started playing.

"Oh, do come sit with us," cried Gloria, grabbing both Clio and Jason by the arm. The game started up again and Seth found himself seated next to Max with Gloria, Clio, and Jason several rows away.

Harmony was sitting on the other side of Max. They ignored Seth as they briefly discussed the game and an article Harmony had just read about using forests as bioelectrical generators. Then Seth leaned across Max to ask Harmony, "So what's the deal with that Jason character?"

Harmony chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "Jason grew up here in Ambrosia Springs so they've known each other since they were children. They dated for many years. When his game really started to take off, he wanted to move to Austin. Clio wanted to stay here. So he moved, she stayed and they broke up."

Seth thought about that. "But I guess she really couldn't move away with her labs here and the Co-op and all?"

Harmony gave him an appraising look. "I offered to set her up with a satellite lab anywhere in the world she wanted to go. She refused."

"Oh," said Seth, feeling better. He turned to look at Clio as their team scored another touchdown. When they all jumped up to cheer, Jason hugged Clio. Then he leaned to hold his lips close to her ear. Seth couldn't tell if Jason just leaned over to whisper something to Clio or if he just kissed her. It was awful.

Seth could only stare at Clio despondently. He was considering whether it would be too terribly pathetic to try sending Clio a handheld message when a woman tapped him on the shoulder to ask if he happen to have any napkins. He turned to find Terpsi sitting behind to him. Terpsi smiled at him and introduced her husband. They looked tired but cheerful.

"How is everything?" he asked, handing them his handkerchief. Once again he marveled at how the girls could be the same genetic model and still look and act so differently. Perhaps he could work the conversation around to Clio and what she thought about Seth and, most importantly, how to get rid of Jason.

"Oh fine," Terpsi said. "Well, not fine but as good as can be expected." Seth looked at her enquiringly.

"You know we've got two little kids? They both caught a stomach virus this week. We were up three days straight with puking children." She sighed and rubbed her husband's back.

"I think everything we own is covered in vomit," her husband said hollowly. "I may burn the rugs."

"We love them. We love our kids with every fiber of our being, but raising kids is hard," Terpsi said with a crooked smile.

"But it's totally worth it," Terpsi's husband added, looking frazzled.

"Although if they ever stop making liquor, we are totally screwed," she laughed as she took a swallow of beer.

"Yeah, we used to drink before we had kids," her husband laughed as he pulled out a flask to 'freshen up' his coffee "Now we drink a whole lot."

Terpsi pushed him playfully. Her husband took her hand and they looked at each other. Seth watched their genuine affection for each other with fascination.

"I want what they have," he thought.

"Me too," said a voice in his ear that had to be Clio. Seth jumped. He didn't mean to say that out loud. Especially where Clio could hear. He turned to find her standing beside him with a gentle smile on her face.

"Care to take a walk?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

Seth looked over to see Jason sitting next to Gloria. Jason was caught up in the game, but Gloria was watching them. She gave Seth a withering look and pointedly turned away from him.

"Won't you need to get back to Jason?" he asked somewhat sheepishly.

Clio hesitated and looked over her shoulder. "Not for a while," she said.

Seth stiffened. So she had plans with Jason for later tonight. Well. She was free to do what she liked. So was he. He wished he knew someone he could flirt with right in front of her so that she'd know he had options too. He turned towards the field.

"I am watching the game right now," he said, concocting elaborate scenarios in which whole groups of attractive women sang his praises in front of her. She'd be sorry then. He saw Gloria waving at him, but ignored her.

Clio looked at him for a minute then elbowed a seat for herself between Terpsi and Seth. "Budge over, Terpsi." Seth edged away from her. His breath caught when her hand brushed his shoulder. That made him angry with himself and the whole world. He jerked away from her.

"That reminds me. I want to have a look at that shoulder and see how it's healing," Terpsi said, misinterpreting his movement as protecting an injury. She leaned over and drew up the sleeve of his shirt before he could stop her. Then she stared open-mouthed at the smooth red scar.

"Honey, look at this," she said, tapping her husband on the arm. "This was a deep cut that needed stitches not a week ago. This scar looks you were wounded months ago. No way it could heal that fast." Clio and Terpsi's husband both leaned over to look at the scar.

"Jesus, I had no idea medicine was that advanced in Canada. How did you treat it?" Terpsi asked in wonder, tracing the scar with her finger. "Please tell me."

Seth pulled away and yanked his sleeve down. "Wasn't that bad after all," he muttered. Both women insisted that it was, in fact, a very bad cut. Seth didn't want to talk about it. He stood up abruptly and walked away.

"Seth, wait," Clio called, following him out of the stands. "Don't go."

Seth sighed and stopped when he got to the dark of the parking lot. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at her. "Clio, my life is very complex right now and you only make things more complicated."

She stood facing him with the stadium lights casting a halo around her and the low breeze ruffling her curls. "I could say the same about you. I have a lot going on right now and you don't exactly make things easy." Her voice sounded forlorn.

"I can't help liking you, but I can't seem to do much about that right now," he replied.

"Well, no one is asking you to," she bristled.

But words were irrelevant, it seemed. They moved towards each other as though compelled by forces larger than themselves. The crowd in the stadium roared for a touchdown. In the parking lot, Seth reached for Clio.

"My, my. Isn't this so romantic?" a low voice said out of the dark. Seth and Clio took a reflexive step back as they watched two figures in dark suits step out of the night. One was a very tall, very thin woman with her hair back in a severe bun. The other was a shorter Hindi man with an inclination towards pudginess.

The tall woman extended a hand. "Medea of Malsanto. And this is Shiva." She gestured towards her companion.

"Shiva? What on earth are you doing here?" Clio asked, totally shocked.

Shiva gave a smirking smile as his eyes wandered over her with insulting thoroughness. "Oh, we were just in the neighborhood, working on some local business." Clio bristled at the idea that there was any agribusiness in the area that would choose Malsanto over the Co-op. Shiva caught her look of disgust and smiled nastily. "We thought we might stop by and see whether Floracopia has come to their senses and reconsidered our offer."

Clio clenched her fist and realized that Seth was standing behind her in silent support.

"If they have, you'll have to discuss that with the Board," she replied smoothly letting her breath out.

"Oh we will tomorrow. We really are quite anxious to acquire some of your splicing techniques for the war effort," replied Medea. Then she turned to Seth. "I hear DARPA paid your company a little visit. How unfortunate. That sort of thing happens to those that do not enjoy the kind of trust and understanding that we at Malsanto have from the government."