Not in our bus.
Cassandra sat hugging her knees, her luxuriant braids hiding her face.
Cole slumped beside me, warming up a new piece of Dubble Bubble, looking away from the TV every few seconds to check on the rest of us.
I couldn’t read Vayl, but if I had to guess, I’d say he looked the way you’d expect a Roman warrior to appear right before being impaled by an enemy lance.
And there was Bergman, immersed in the technology, calling out the names of the guests as the software matched their pictures.
“General Sang Lee and wife.”
“General Ton Sun and wife.”
“General Wing Don.”
Clearly Lung had designs on the People’s Liberation Army. No doubt he’d convinced the surviving generals to ally with him. And if he could figure out how to replicate the armor, his military, already the largest in the world, would be unstoppable.
It felt like someone had sucked all the hope from the room along with most of the air.
“This whole deal pisses me off,” I said. Rising from the couch took effort, made me realize the battle had already begun. Our foe had made the first sortie. And dragon fear was no myth. But now that I’d hit my feet, I felt better.
Cassandra swept her hair back from her face. Nodding at her I went on. “This guy is nothing but a duded-up version of Tammy Shobeson.”
Cole straightened and turned to listen.
“Who is Tammy Shobeson?” Vayl asked.
“My childhood nemesis. If God is just, she is now a fat, pimply divorcee with a chronic yeast infection.” I even had Bergman’s attention now. This had been our first point of commonality as college students. His bully had been a redheaded jerk named Clell Danburton, and I thought sometimes he still had nightmares about their showdowns.
“So what’s your point?” he asked, sounding less like a robot and more like my old jogging partner.
I looked him in the eye. “Bottom line, Lung is just a spoiled brat who gets his way by scaring people. He may have found an effective way to do that, but it is not assassin-proof. We”—my gesture took in everybody in the room—“are being paid to kick this bully’s ass. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
Almost dawn in the Body of Christ. As gross as that sounds, Corpus Christi glowed like a promise from our vantage point on Bay Trail. The breeze felt great, invigorating. Or maybe it was the renewed hope that our plans could work, that we might all make it to the other side of this mission without being roasted alive by Iron Chef Lung.
The five of us watched the lights of the
“Gotta get some sleep if I’m going to come up with anything workable in the morning,” he said. By “anything workable” he meant a new invention. One that, after several hours of brainstorming, we agreed could actually destroy Lung if we could get him to ingest it.
“Okay, that puts me at the monitors,” said Cole. He’d stay up while the rest of us slept. And if I dreamed again, my safety would be his responsibility. Maybe Cole could tell how much the whole deal bothered me, because he patted me on the shoulder and grinned. “Don’t worry, Jaz. If you try anything funny I’ll wrestle you to the ground and tickle you until you pee yourself.”
“Oh great, that gives me something to look forward to,” I drawled. “Killer nightmares
He spread his arms and gave me a disarming grin. “I am here but to serve.” With a parting chuckle he followed Bergman back into the RV.
Cassandra remained with us, arms crossed over her chest, staring into the dark water.
“You are troubled,” Vayl said.
She didn’t roll her eyes at him, but it struck me as a close thing. “Naturally.”
“A vision?” he asked hopefully.
She shook her head. “Nothing that specific. Just a feeling.” She stood a little straighter, and you could almost see her slamming all the doors and windows. “Never mind,” she said.
“But—”
“Believe me, Vayl, if I knew anything that would help, I’d tell you.” She stared at him. I got the feeling she was talking about two things at once. She left at a regal, controlled pace although I suspected she would’ve enjoyed it more if she could’ve stomped on his foot and run off, cackling madly as she receded into the Texas dawn.
Vayl and I stood quietly for a couple of seconds while I tried to decide how much I was about to upset him. In the end, it didn’t matter. We were on the job, which meant the team came before everything. Even our personal feelings.
I decided to be blunt. “What did you do to piss her off?”
“Nothing I know of.” I felt a surge in his power and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees.
“Don’t you pull that vamp crap on me,” I told him. “If you don’t feel like talking about something, just say so.”
