Ultimate Warriors (41 page)

     
"My
husband?" the woman asked, laughing.

     
Silk
held perfectly still, watching her wild eyes roll in her head.

     
"My
husband," Mrs. Nathaniel spat with venom, "is too busy with his
lecture tours and publicity trips to even dream of such a thing."

     
"Oh,
so you’re just a poor little victim?" mocked Silk.

     
"Where
is the formula?!" the woman demanded.

     
"There
is no formula. It doesn’t work," Silk said.

     
"Then
why are you all dressed up in your Halloween costume?" the woman
challenged.

     
"I’m
rich," Silk said, "and eccentric. Don’t you read the papers?"

     
"I
know the formula exists! I’ve seen it," screamed Mrs. Nathaniel. She began
to run her hands into her hair, pulling at the tender strands. Her lips curled
in anger as she huffed, "I’ve felt the power of it inside me. I’ve got to
have it again."

     
"You
lie," Silk said. "If you’d of felt it, you’d still have it and
wouldn’t need the formula."

     
"You
know it doesn’t last!" the woman cried. "Now tell me where it
is."

     
Silk
knew that the woman was insane. Her wild eyes rolled back in her blonde head.

     
"Prove
it," Silk said. "Tell me how."

     
"I’ve
felt it," said the woman. Greed lit in her gaze. "I came to visit
your father to have him build me a biomechanical droid--you know something that
feels more real. That was before I developed a taste for synthetic. Anyway,
your father wouldn’t help me and in my anger I cut my finger on a piece of
glass. His formula spilled on me. And I know he gave it to you. I’ve seen you.
I saw how you leapt over my fence the night you broke into my house. Now, tell
me where it is!"

     
Silk’s
lips tightened, letting the woman hang herself with her own words. Adonis’
hands stayed strong, binding her. She was too angry to move. If this woman saw
her, than she saw Nikandros too. It all started to make sense. This woman knew
Nikandros was in her lab. Maybe the woman paid him to duplicate her father’s
work. It would explain how he knew her document was a fake.

     
"Come
on," Mrs. Nathaniel begged. "Please. I have to have it. I have to
feel the power of it again. You’re father wouldn’t give it to me and I showed
him. But, you’ll give it to me. If you don’t, I’ll kill you too. You’re not
going to stop--"

     
"You
killed my father," Silk said, her tone low. She never would have suspected
this woman.

     
"What
of it?" she growled. "Now you’re going to join him if you don’t give
me what I want!"

     
"Adonis,"
Silk said unexpectedly. "Pleasure your mistress."

     
Instantly
Adonis’ hands let her go and he began to move around to grab his owner. Mrs.
Nathaniel’s lips puckered in surprise before she began screeching in protest.
Silk grabbed Adonis’ head and twisted it to the side, shutting him off. The
droid froze in mid-stride like a statue.

     
Mrs.
Nathaniel screamed in protest as Silk came after her. She tried to run, but
Silk caught the back of her hair. She wanted to kill her, wanted to maim her
for what she had taken away from her. But Silk was above this woman. Justice
would prevail.

     
With a
call to her security, Silk dragged the woman from the laboratory kicking and
screaming behind her.

     
"Take
her prisoner," Silk said to the guard. "Call the police. And get her
damned pleasure droid out of my house!"

* * * *

     
The
police came and arrested Mrs. Nathaniel, taking the security tapes from the
laboratory as evidence against her. They never once spoke directly to the
mistress of the estate, only stopped at the gate where the robotic guard had
Mrs. Nathaniel and her pleasure droid detained. The guard handed them the tape
and sent them on their way.

     
With the
newer, faster judicial system in place, she was convicted of the murder by her
own confession and sentenced to life imprisonment in a maximum-security
complex. Adonis wasn’t allowed to go with her.

* * * *

     
Nikandros
frowned, looking down at his digital watch. Quinlan was late--very late. He
began to pace, looking over at the bench where he’d first saw her. His body
ached to hold her again, just as his soul ached to clear her of any suspicion.

     
He
didn’t know why he continued to wait for her as the clock neared half past
twelve. He only hoped that she’d come to her senses and show. Leaning against
the thick trunk of a tree, he sighed. All of a sudden, his video phone beeped.
Slowly, he drew it out of his pocket. It was time to go. He could wait no
longer.

* * * *

     
Silk
frowned as she wrapped her cape around her body. Pierson Park was quiet this
time of night. The vendors were all locked up. The expansive lawn was empty.
She was late for her meeting with Nikandros. Closing her eyes, she listened.
She couldn’t hear him.

     
Her legs
sprang forward as she jumped off her post into the night. Walking, she strode
over the darkened grass, her senses peeked. For all she knew it could be a
trap.

     
Then,
she heard a soft beep. Silk froze. Her head twitched to the side. Her purple
gaze narrowed as she focused on the sound. There, behind a tree.

     
Darting
forward, she kicked out legs first. Her fingers found the rough bark. Her
spinnerets automatically attached themselves to the trunk as she flew around
the side. She trapped Nikandros to the tree’s base, as she wound her silk
around him like rope.

     
"Silk,"
he whispered in surprise to see her. His phone dropped to the ground before he
could answer it.

     
Silk
flew full circle around the tree before landing in front of him. Nikandros took
in her mask, able to recognize her alluring body easily.

     
"You
came," he began. Relief overwhelmed him until he realized she had trapped
him.

     
"Of
course I came," she said under her breath. "What do you want?"

     
"I
need to speak to you about the Bombyx project your father was working on,"
he said. "I need you to give me the formula."

     
"Why
should I give it to you?" she snarled. "I’ve been offered a lot of
money for it. Do you think you can offer me something better?"

     
"Quinlan, please."
His eyes dipped over her face
and body, taking her in. She could feel the hidden plea coming from his dark
eyes. His look stung and she snarled.

     
Bitterly,
she
lied
, "Sorry, lover boy. I’ve had that
already and don’t have any desire to taste it again. You’ll have to come up
with a better offer."

     
"You
want money?" he asked, dejected by her heated words and the hard glint to
her eyes.

     
"I
have money--more than I will ever spend," she returned. "What else
you got?"

     
"What
about doing what is right?" he inquired.

     
"And
you’re what’s right?" she asked, laughing callously.

     
"Quinl--,"
he began, her unsympathetic words hitting him like a brick.

     
Silk
took her fingers and ran them over his mouth, trapping his lips shut beneath a
veil of silken threads. His words were muffled as he tried to speak.

     
"Quiet,"
she commanded. Her purple gaze deepened in her anger. She felt betrayed by him.
She knew she shouldn’t. He had warned her not to trust him, but like a fool she
had. "I know who you are. I know what you’re up to."

     
Again he
mumbled.

     
"Listen
to me very carefully. The formula is gone." She spoke slowly, so there
could be no misunderstanding her words. "I am all that is left of the
Bombyx project and I will kill myself before I let you, or anyone else, have
the formula. All my father’s notes are destroyed--all of them. I will not let
another be turned like me."

     
Nikandros’
jaw broke free of her gag. His eyes lit with fire at her admission. He had been
right. She was innocent. "Quinlan, listen to me ... mmupf."

     
Silk
swiped both her hands over his mouth this time, making the gag thicker as she
pulled her fingers back to the tree trunk to secure his head into place.
Slowly, she crossed her hands over his chest to make her trap stronger--just in
case.

     
"Haven’t
you been paying attention?" she hissed into his face.

     
Nikandros
searched her eyes for a sign of affection and found nothing. Oh, how he wished
she’d take off her mask and let him kiss her.

     
"Quinlan
St. James is dead. Her father killed her. He injected her ... me with the serum
to keep it away from men like you. I became a human silkworm."

     
He
groaned a word that sounded suspiciously like, no.

     
"I
will only tell you this one more time. The serum is gone. The formula for it is
destroyed," she said. His eyes brightened and she thought he was thinking
about Mrs. Nathaniel. "Sorry, lover. Your cohort has failed. Mrs.
Nathaniel is being transported to maximum security for the murder of my father.
It’s over. Do you understand me? It ... is ... over. If you ever come around me
again, I will kill you."

     
Before
he knew what was happening, Silk took off running. Nikandros’ eyes flickered
red as his body dissolved into a soft mist. He came out of her silken ropes,
turning to give chase. But, as he came around the tree, she was gone.

     
"Nick!"
came
a call.

     
Nikandros
blinked, looking around.

     
"Nick!
Where are you?"

     
Nikandros
looked at his feet. His video phone had fallen open and a miniature display of
Korbin’s face stared at him. Picking up the phone, he carried it as he walked,
searching the distance for Quinlan.

     
"Nick?"
Korbin asked.

     
"She’s
innocent," he said, his heart feeling like it was ripped out of his chest.

     
"I
know. I heard everything," Korbin admitted. "You were right."

     
"What
do we do now?" he
asked,
his eyes desperate.

     
"I
need you to come back here," Korbin said. "We’ve got to tell the
other Protectors what we know."

     
Nikandros
nodded. Quinlan was gone. His voice hoarse, he asked, "What about Quinlan?
What will happen to her?"

     
"It
is not for us to decide," Korbin said sadly. "She’s no longer
human."

* * * *

     
Quinlan
didn’t care if she never left her room again. It had been weeks since she last
left Nikandros in the park. Her heart still ached as if it was yesterday. She
knew he had used her and betrayed her, but
try
telling
that to an organ that only beat for the memory of his name.

     
She knew
that Nikandros was in on the plot to steal her father’s formula. It all fell
together perfectly. Mrs. Nathaniel let him use her husband’s lab while her
husband was gone on various business trips--even going so far as to cover it up
when attention was drawn to his presence.

     
Then,
Nikandros had been sent to seduce the reclusive billionaire, gaining her trust.
After that, he was to have lured her away to the park while Mrs. Nathaniel had
free reign of her father’s laboratory to look for the notes. Oh, it had been a
good plan too--so simple. And she had fallen for it. If not for her sudden wave
of longing for the council of her father, she’d never have suspected his connection
to the woman.

     
She knew
the facts, fitted them together so nicely. But then, why did her heart continue
to scream at her like she was the one guilty of betrayal? Why did her body ache
and sweat until she could hardly move? Why did her eyes leak damnable tears
until she couldn’t see for the redness of them? The loneliness was worse than
before.