The Neo-Spartans: Altered World (29 page)

              “You’ve fallen in love with one of them.”

“No, maybe… whatever.” This was Kilbert; she couldn’t lie to him, but she couldn’t fully admit to this.

              “Just like your mother,” he lamented.

              Quinn studied him, trying to put together what that meant. She tried to push it away but the truth came at her like runaway freight train. She fixed him with a look, waiting for more.

              “It started innocently enough,” Kilbert continued. “John Grisner was a Eugenic high school boy who wanted to improve himself. He befriended Declan and Rose independently. Declan helped him train. Rose showed him the value of nutrition.”

              Quinn watched him intently, surprised.

              “She was… extremely independent,” Kilbert said, and he eyed her keenly. “Had big ideas of her own. Over time both boys fell in love with her and she was presented with the terrible choice of whose heart to break, because she loved both of them.”

              “She turned down Grisner… that’s why he killed Dad…” She grappled with the realization.

              “Yes, but do you think your father would have done the same if the roles had been reversed? No, a bad seed is a bad seed. But it wasn’t as simple as one boy’s broken heart.”

              Kilbert got up and paced as he recalled the events. “One girl breaking ranks and going across to our sworn enemy sounds like nothing. But when that girl is strong, and smart, and a leader, it creates confusion among all the strong, smart girls. Rose’s weakness created chaos back then. Yours would create a catastrophe.”

              “Then why did you send me to do this? Was this a test? To see if I’d make the same mistake?” challenged Quinn.

              “Your mother was a reasonable girl. In the end, she understood.”

              He calmly observed her and Quinn noticed that eternal patience in his look that said she’d eventually see his point, that she’d wise up, and just like that, some long hibernating spot in her consciousness was filled with an answer of undeniable clarity.

              “It was you who advised my mother,” she said.

              “Rose made her own decision. She loved Declan with everything she had.”

              “But she also had feelings for Grisner. And you advised her,” Quinn added.

              “She came for advice, just as you have,” said Kilbert.

              Quinn shot to her feet. “I didn’t come for advice, I came for reinforcements.”

              “Quinn, it’s a generation later and we’re still recovering. I’m sorry, my answer is no. I don’t trust these people. This is our mission. These are our boys. I don’t want other interests interfering in this.”

              “Helping, not interfering,” she shouted.

“I will not risk the position of our already fragile community. It’s one thing for the Neo-Spartans to free Neo-Spartans, it’s a completely different story when Neo-Spartans join forces with Eugenics against Eugenics. We’d be seen as instigators. The authorities would destroy us. No. We’ll send the extraction team as originally planned.”

              “Kilbert, it’s suicide. It won’t work,” cried Quinn.

              “It won’t be the first time we sacrificed to save our own people,” said Kilbert flatly.

              She let the words sink in, feeling something crumble inside of her, and she knew that in these few moments she’d aged. Her adolescent idealism had been trampled by the man she’d idolized. It all rested on her shoulders now.

              “Well, if there’s any chance my brother is among those sacrificed, you can count me out,” and she started for the door.

              “Quinn!”

              But Quinn didn’t look back. She refused to let Kilbert see the tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn’t notice Amos, the Neo-Spartan boy the Elders wanted to marry her off to, tucked in an alcove. Kilbert emerged, watched Quinn go, and turned his attention to Amos.

* * *

              Quinn’s tall figure moved across the arena and Nico couldn’t help but notice she looked smaller somehow. The amazon air that set her apart from everybody was gone, and she looked more like a tired general who had just seen the slaughter of his army than like the rebellious girl with the bottomless reservoir of hope and resilience. Nico knew what that meant—her people had turned down her request.

              He wasn’t surprised. He wanted her out-of-the-box thinking to be as infectious as she’d hoped it would be, but he was also a realist. Her people had been the bull’s eye of collective hatred for many, many decades, and he didn’t suppose they’d turn trusting just because this girl saw things differently. It was a dream she had, a beautiful dream, but people’s souls had long ago stopped being the fertile ground where anything beautiful grew. He hated that. He hated seeing her spirit crushed. She had faced incredible odds coming here and fitting right in with the Vaqueros, but she had done it. That spirit of hers had done it. And it had changed him and his guys. He watched her weave her way toward him, a defeated gladiator in this huge arena, and anger lit up his insides. He was not going to let this indomitable spirit get trampled.

              She came close to him and hung her head on her chest. He put an arm around her and led her away from the immediate Vaquero area.

              “Look at me.” Nico lifted her head and looked at her, eyes ablaze with resolution.” We don’t need anybody’s help. We are going to do it.”

              “But, you said it was suicide,” protested Quinn.

              “So? We’re Vaqueros. Since when do we do things the cautious way? Everything we do is suicide. We fly over ravines, we jump off twenty-story structures. How is storming a well-guarded building different? What, our odds are worse?! No way. We’re doing it.” He said it with such fervor and conviction that Quinn was choked for words.

              He was sacrificing his guys and himself. She felt blessed and cursed at the same time—another man she loved was throwing caution to the wind and was determined to walk into the hands of sure death. At least this time she could be right next to him, and they would face whatever fate had in store for them together. She pulled him into a desperate embrace.

              “You are one crazy
hombre
, you know that? How are you going to talk the guys into it?”

              “Hey, crazy is the language my guys speak best. You gave them eight to ten, they owe you.”

Nico tried to play it light, but Quinn could tell he was worried about his guys’ co-operation.

              “Listen, we can’t just march to certain death. There’s one more thing I can teach them before we do this.” Quinn’s excitement was rising. “Toxin points, it will give them a fighting chance.”

              “What’s that?” asked Nico.

              “It’s the Neo-Spartan’s secret weapon. When you hit toxin points, the body dumps poisons from various organs into your system. When you apply them to Eugenic bodies, instant disablement is guaranteed. How do you think I took down Thor so fast?”

              Nico was suddenly on his feet, exploring the possibilities.

              “They are going to love this! It’s clearly a Neo-Spartan technique… so I come clean, I tell them the truth, but that secret knowledge that will turn them into the ultimate fighter will make them forgive you being a Neo-Spartan and cut me slack for not being up front. There’s no crazy mission that they’ll say no to. Come on, we’ve got some news to break to the Vaqueros.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

              Nico and Quinn headed toward the mess hall where the guys were gathered. But as they crossed the compound, an ancient rebuilt Humvee roared up the steps and clattered to a halt before Nico. Julius’s armoire bodyguard forced his massive frame from the vehicle. He strode slowly but determinedly toward Nico.

              “The big man got a job for you,” said Armoire man in dulcet tones. “There’s a Neo-Spartan kid headed tonight to get medicine from a guy. Here’s his name and address. “

              “Sure. Right away,” said Nico with a look to the mess hall and his guys.

              “I sense a lack of sincerity in your ‘right away.’ How ’bout I wait and watch you work.”

              It wasn’t a suggestion, it was a threat.

              “The doc gonna be calling you when the kid shows,” said the Armoire.

              Nico and Quinn headed for the mess hall and spoke in whispers. Quinn studied the name and address.

              “This is Dr. Perkins. He supplies us with medicines for things even we can’t fight. The scumbag sold out to Julius?”

              “You know where this address is?” asked Nico.

              “Of course. I get the sense you have something in mind.”

              “You sense good.” He went about explaining to Quinn how they could interfere with the grabbing of the kid but make it appear that they hadn’t.

              Nico’s phone rang. The game was on.

              Minutes later Nico, the Vaqueros and Armoire man passed around Nico’s phone, displaying photos of the area to which they were headed.

              “We can’t take him down right at the doctor’s office. Too many prying eyes. We’ll persuade him onto a bike then head five blocks south where we’ll ask the Humvee to wait,” Nico indicated. Armoire man nodded his understanding.

              “Piece of cake,” said Tyra as she drifted toward Phoenix.

              “Not your gig tonight, Tyra,” said Nico.

              “Are you nuts? I’m what makes this happen,” spit Tyra.

              “Not tonight you’re not. Quinn’s taking your place.”

              “She got you that wrapped up? What are you tryin’ to tell me?” she hissed.

              “Nothing. I already told you. You’re sitting this out. Quinn, take the bike.”

              Quinn commandeered Phoenix as Tyra stared her down with a level of hatred Quinn had never experienced. “You put one scratch…” hissed Tyra.

              “I damage anything, it’ll be you,” Quinn snarled back.

              A ripple went through the other Vaqueros. They were accustomed to issues between Nico and Tyra, but they weren’t usually so out in the open. Tyra started away, everyone so quiet the squeak of her leathers could be heard.

              “What are you are staring at?” shouted Tyra, suddenly whirling on them. “You never seen a guy make the mistake of his life before? Take a good look. The great Nico Renaldo is headed for a fall.”

              “That’s enough, Tyra,” Nico said calmly, too savvy to be drawn into a fight he might lose, given the trickery he was about to initiate. Tyra stalked off into the night but kept an eye on the proceedings, the wicked glint of a plan in her eye.

              Quinn watched as Nico went about firing off orders to his crew. A couple guys were assigned to gas up the bikes. Others were designated to design an alternate escape route if the grab went awry. Once everyone was tasked, Nico ran down for Quinn what he had in mind as he went about trying to Tyra-ize her, that is, make her racier—fiddling with her collar, opening her jacket.

“Do you mind?” said Quinn, and went about exercising a quick succession of flips and flaps as she quizzed him. “So, how’s this going to work?”

              “When we get to the trap location I’ll tell the guys that if you aren’t there in five minutes, some of us will ride up and see what happened.”

              “And my part?”

              “You ride down there. You go find the kid, fill him in… and get him to hit you,” said Nico.

              “Hit me?” repeated Quinn.

              “It’s gotta look real. I want blood and black and blue,” he said.

              “Who’s going to believe this? People have seen me fight.”

              “But they haven’t seen this kid. Everybody knows he’s a Neo-Spartan. Maybe he’s a really big Neo-Spartan. He hits you, you tell him to scram.”

              “That’s your plan? I’m bloody and aching?”

              “We’ll show up, I’ll read you the riot act,” said Nico.

              “Yeah, you’re good at that,” said Quinn.

              He paused a moment, a playful smile brewing. “Is it the pain you’re gonna take, or the loss of pride that’s bugging you?”