“We can’t stay here much longer,” Jack muttered and fell back under cover, his back to the ever-growing noise of now thousands of people milling about on the sands.
Khanjar put one hand to the side of her head, listening to the implant. Vickie had offered one to Jack, but he had declined. Khanji had told Jack that hers was not the result of an offer, but of a nonnegotiable point in her defection to ECHO. “Eight tells me she is unavoidably delayed,” she said. “She won’t be able to make our rendezvous.”
“She safe?”
“Safe enough,” Khanjar shrugged. “Eight doesn’t seem to feel that I need to know more than that.”
“Well that’s just spiffy,” Jack muttered. “We were sort of counting on her magic right now for this final delivery.”
“For starters,” Khanjar reminded him.
“Don’t worry about that,” Jack said. “I think we’ll be able to manage the rest on our own. But we really needed Victrix for this part. It’s not like any of us can just walk onto that beach and ask for a favor.”
“You can skip the cryptic talk,” an electronic voice buzzed loudly from a sack that hung from Jack’s hip. “I know you’re talking about me.”
“Keep it down,” Jack snarled. “Shut up, or I’ll shut you up.”
“You wouldn’t have the first clue how,” the voice scoffed. “This is Master technology. Even I don’t know how it works.”
“Pretty sure if I tear off your speakers, that’ll shut you up good and permanentlike.”
“Fine,” the voice said petulantly. “I’ll keep the volume low. Satisfied?”
“Not yet,” Jack said. “Ask me again in about ten minutes.”
“I don’t see why you’re being like this,” the voice complained. “You’ve won. You’ve beaten them down and you even got your bonus prize—Me. And I’m completely at your mercy. You must have been dreaming about this moment, Jack.”
“You don’t sound particularly worried,” Jack replied.
“Should I be? If you wanted me dead, you would have just smashed this unit into pieces, or plugged me into the Collective before taking it offline. Obviously, you want me alive for something. That’s a start. I see this as a fresh opportunity for some interesting negotiations. I’ve deduced what you were doing on the Masters’ core ship, you know. I have a pretty good idea what you want with me now. Shall we cut to the chase? I have a few demands.”
“This should be good,” Jack said. “By all means, enlighten me.”
“Well, obviously, if you plan to get my best ideas, you’ll have to do better than make a virtual slave out of me,” the voice replied, and somehow, even though he was producing sounds with nothing more than some electrical impulses, he managed to sound as arrogant as ever. “I’m a resource. I’m an immortal brain you can profit off of. But you have no way to force me to work for you, so you’d better start coming up with what I want. I want full partnership. I want to oversee the construction of a new R&D facility for exploring Thulian tech. I want priority for any project that will get me fully mobile with senses again. That’s hardly too much to ask. After all, I’m the only person on this planet that’s seen this stuff from the inside. Right?”
Jack didn’t reply.
“I mean, you wouldn’t have pretended to work with ECHO and go to all of this trouble to rescue me if you weren’t going to use me, right? So this isn’t exactly ideal for me, but it’s something I can work with. And you get what you want. Right?”
Jack still didn’t reply.
“Oh for…” Verdigris sighed. “I’ve never been one for patience. Khanji, be a dear and kill him for me, won’t you?”
Khanjar examined her nails critically. “I wonder how my orphans in Mumbai are doing?” she asked of the open air.
“Khanjar? I said kill him. Kill him now.”
“What is it that the old lady, Dixie Belle, once said?” Khanjar asked. “Oh yes. This dog won’t hunt.”
“WHAT IS THIS?” Verdigris was screaming now. “I SAID KILL HIM! KILL HIM LIKE THE DOG HE…”
“That’s it.” Jack sighed and reached into his hip sack. With a grunt, he removed a small metallic cube the size of a softball. It was smooth to the touch, its polished surface broken only by a few small attachments. One of them, the speaker unit, protruded from one side like a miniature flagpole. The cube glowed, bathing them in a reddish light that pulsed as Verdigris screamed from within.
Jack gripped the speaker between his fingers. “We don’t need to hear you for this next part…”
“YOU’RE NOT THIS SIMPLE, JACK!” Verdigris cried. “I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO PLUG ME IN ANYWHERE! IF YOU SILENCE ME…”
“If we silence you,” another voice interrupted, “at least we’ll be able to hear ourselves think.”
Verdigris fell silent.
“That’s right,” Harmony chuckled. “This was a team effort. Hello, Verdigris. It’s been a long time. Still think you’ve pieced it together? Does my presence suggest any other possibilities to you?”
Verdigris didn’t reply.
“Why don’t I fill in the blanks,” Jack grunted, “just to save us some time. But first, as I am a man of my word…”
And with a sharp snap, Jack broke the speaker attachment off and flicked it away into the trees.
“I take it you can still hear me?” Jack asked.
The cube emitted a sharp, angry flash of red, then fell to a sullen ruddy glow.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Jack said. “You’ve been feeling a strange itch for the last year, haven’t you? Something that just didn’t feel right, like someone was watching you, like someone was planting annoying little glitches in your schemes to throw them off. Like someone was plotting against you. You weren’t imagining any of it, y’know. And you really should have seen it coming. Did you really think you could betray me, again, and I would let it go? Time was, I probably would have just offed you and considered the books balanced, but the more I thought about things, the more I realized just how much you were pissing me off. You, one of the greatest minds this world has ever produced, and how did you spend your time? With acts of frivolity, with self-serving crap, when you could have done so much good for this world. Even in the face of extermination by an off-world threat, you were obsessed with how you could come out ahead. It was ludicrous. So I started small. I got close to you the only way I could. You’d pick up any tracers or bugs easy, so I got cozy with the one person you trusted above all others.”
The cube responded with another angry flash of red.
“Never really understood the blind spot you’ve always had for Khanji,” Jack continued. “She’s all about karma, but for some reason you never faltered in your belief that she would remain loyal to a backstabbing piece of shit like you. Like I said, it started small. If you wanted it, I made sure you didn’t get it. It was no accident Murdock showed up at that hotel and found your angel cage, and then traced the Seraphym down when you and that Chinese wench kidnapped her and busted the angel out. That little operation you had running on the Gaza Strip wasn’t difficult to disarm. Just needed to dry up the funding for the local rebels, and things played out like they should have. Things really did begin to ramp up when I learned about your bigger targets, though. You sidestepped the obliteration of that chemical plant in Hungary well enough, found a new source of components for your meta-nullifying gas, but you really should have invested a bit more security in your processing plant. You actually did it, y’know. You found a way to completely nullify meta-powers. I realize you were on a schedule, but don’t you think you should have made the solution a bit more stable? All it took was a bit of formic acid and some simple salts to modify the gas you released at the Georgia Dome. One failure after another, Verd. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying myself, but you really need to know the truth. No one is untouchable. Everyone must be made accountable for their actions. Everything I did felt justified. Well, except for the rash. That literal itch you felt? Rare species of Ug
andan tick I had Khanji let loose in your bedroom. That was just for kicks.”
“Jesus, Jack” another voice said, from above them. “Remind me to never piss you off.”
“You don’t need to be scared of the little man, Paris,” Harmony said, looking up with a smile. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
Jack also looked up. “Got anything, Scope?”
From above them, a few leaves rustled in the trees as Scope called down to them. “Still no sighting of Victrix, and you just happened to pick a spot that’s swarming with ECHO. We’d have less to worry about near the CCCP or allied European forces.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Jack growled. He paused. “Scope, by any chance do you see Atlas?”
“You’re joking, right?” Scope said. “He blots out half the sky, him and his squeeze. He looks like he’s talking to some general. He looks pissed. She looks like she’s about to make Mister Four-Stars into paste.”
Jack nodded thoughtfully, considering her words. She sounded more like her old self, with some of the old fire and bravado in her voice. He suspected it was all an act, of course; she’d rallied for this big score but…she was slipping away, he could almost feel it. They were almost finished here, and then she could rest. But was she already too far gone? He hoped not. It would be tragic to lose her now, after they had done so much. He hated to ask, hoping that her part was done, but it seemed Scope had one more task to fulfill.
“Think you can grant me an audience with him, Scope?”
There came another rustle of leaves from above them, a moment of hesitation, and then Scope dropped lightly down next to him, landing like a cat. She brought herself up to her full height, met his eyes with a cold lifeless stare, and nodded. Her hair was thinner, almost wispy, and her skin was so pale now, dry and cracking in places. “As long as they don’t get too close, I think I can still pass for the old me.”
“Let’s go then,” Jack said, ignoring the hateful flashes of light that pulsed from Verdigris’ cube as he dropped it back into his sack. “Just get me close; I’ll do the talking.”
Scope nodded and led him from their hiding spot out into the open expanse of the beach. Her ECHO nanoweave was evidently enough to get them past everyone, as long as they splashed along the waterline. Judging by the way just about everyone was sprawled on the sand, that might have had as much to do with sheer exhaustion as anything else; at this point, people were too tired to be vigilant.
They got within hearing distance of the little conversation just in time to hear Amphitrite snarl, “I have heard enough of your foolishness, mortal! You do not control a goddess nor her consort! I am leaving! Be grateful I do not notice you!”
And with that, the thousand-foot, stark-naked beauty turned—sending a wave splashing over the general as she did so—and stalked off into the depths. Within moments, all that could be seen of her was her head as she swam away, surrounded by the leaping dots of dolphins.
Now soaked to the skin, the general spluttered and stuttered in his rage, as Atlas—formerly the Mountain—looked down with a half smile. Jack noticed he still retained his “modesty wrap.” He suspected Amphitrite had “lost” hers as a strategic move. It couldn’t have been easy for the general to maintain his dignity, much less his cool, while staring up at nipples the size of truck tires, and another part you could hide a fleet of SUVs in.
“Sorry, General, but she’s right. You’ve got no hold over us,” Atlas boomed. “We’re not US citizens—she never was—and you people made sure of that for me when you issued the orders that sent me into the ocean. We can live in international waters indefinitely and you can’t touch us. Trust me, you don’t want to get her angrier than she already is; she can scuttle any naval vessel she cares to with a rogue wave.” He made a shooing motion. “Just retire from the field of combat while no one else knows what an idiot you made out of yourself.”
Evidently this Four-Star at least knew when to accept defeat. He turned on his heel and slogged his soggy self off to where his Jeep was waiting on the road. Atlas was about to follow his consort into the water when he paused, and looked down at Jack. Directly at Jack.
“Mister Eight says you want to speak to me?” he boomed and knelt down, a courtesy he had not given to the general.
“Yes, I do,” Jack said. “I have a little problem on my hands.”
He waited for Atlas to ask what the problem was, but the giant had that listening look on his face, that told him Eight must have something more to say to the metahuman. Then the giant stone head nodded. “I understand, sir,” Atlas said with respect. “And Miss Victrix is not available. So you need a certain package disposed of. I can drop it in the deepest place in the ocean for you, and cover it over with a couple hundred pounds of rock to make sure it doesn’t accidentally get ‘found.’ ’Te and I were going there for a little vacationing anyway.”
For a moment, Jack felt…a little unnerved that Vix had entrusted the AI with so much information…but then he shrugged mentally. From his assessment, Victrix was appropriately paranoid. And the thing was supposed to be her replacement if she went down. It’d have been pretty stupid not to tell it everything. “That’s right,” he said, taking the sling bag off his shoulder. “I’d appreciate it.”
Atlas grinned. “And I appreciate being able to do this,” he replied. “This bastard tried to murder Ramona Ferrari. I’d have hunted him down and crushed him, but this is a much more satisfying solution.” As frantic red flashes shone through the fabric of the bag, Atlas looked around, and picked up a long piece of discarded rope, dropping it at Jack’s feet. The thick hawser had looked like a thread in his giant hand, “Tie that shut tight, then tie it to my wrist, please.” He added, “This is one thing I don’t want to lose until it’s time.”
Jack bent down and picked up the rope, paused, and held the bag up.
“I gave you what you wanted, Verd,” he said. “I made sure you found your immortality. Granted, it’s not really how you envisioned it, but you will have an eternity to come to terms with it. Maybe you’ll find some peace. I kinda doubt it. I like to think I’m casting you into your own personal hell. Whenever it gets too much for you, remember me, will you? Remember that I tore you down off your goddamn perch and tossed you aside like you were nothing. Remember my face, the face of the man who beat you.”
And with that, Jack tied the bag to Atlas’ wrist and stepped back.
The giant stood up, gave him a two-fingered salute, and strode out into the ocean and disappeared.
* * *
Scope led Jack back to the others at an easy pace. “Steady,” he had warned. “We’re not out yet. Don’t rush, we need to blend. Don’t really feel like taking on all of ECHO if anyone recognizes us.”
He need not have bothered. Scope moved in a leisurely way, hardly seeming to care at all of the chaos that ensued around them. While some were resting quietly on the beach, most of her former colleagues busied themselves with setting up the temporary beachhead before they, too, would eventually be carted off, and back home, she supposed. She barely gave them a glance, and moved slowly and purposefully back to the point just beyond the tree line where Harmony and Khanjar hid, waiting.
She didn’t look like she cared, because in truth, she didn’t. She was finding it harder and harder to care about anything anymore. Just one thing mattered: Harmony. She had to be close to Harmony…
As they disappeared into the trees, Scope broke into a run and flew into Harmony’s waiting arms. She caught a look of disgust from Khanjar, who simply grunted and moved away from them. Scope didn’t care. She was back again where she belonged, with Harmony, and in her embrace, she felt him again. Her mind and senses began to swell with his presence.
Bruno…
Dimly, she could hear the others talking.
“Well?” Khanjar asked.
“Package delivered,” Jack grunted. “Don’t know how this rates on the karmic scales, but eternal imprisonment at the bottom of the ocean under a pile o
f rocks seems a just reward for his crimes, wouldn’t you say?”
“That is not precisely how karma works, Jack,” Khanjar answered, but her lips were upturned in a very, very small smile as she said it. “It will do. If the fates or gods or what have you wish something else for my former…employer…they will intervene. For now, I am content to have played a role in his downfall.”
“And I am simply giddy with mine,” Harmony laughed.
“Then we’re done,” Jack nodded. “We’re set.”
Khanjar gave him an odd look, then shrugged.
“As you say,” she nodded and bowed. “May our paths never again cross.” Khanjar turned to leave.
“Not to tarnish this touching farewell,” Harmony interrupted, “but some of us are still awaiting our payment. Or did you forget, Jack?”
“Of course not,” Jack said and moved slowly towards Harmony, his hand dipping into a pouch on his belt. “I promised to return something to you, and I will. I am a man of my word.”
Scope felt Harmony shiver, and grunted in annoyance. The warmth of Bruno’s presence faltered for a moment, then fell away, and then he was simply gone. Scope exhaled in fear and pain as his absence brought back a familiar emptiness inside her.
“N-no…” she whimpered. “No…bring him back…”
“Hush, child,” Harmony hissed. “You’ll have him back soon enough. Consider this a cleansing, a brief period of baptismal fire before you experience the true extent of my powers, and the utter bliss I can bring you. I am a little surprised though, Jack, that you would dare carry it on your person. Might it not have been wiser to simply hide it and offer me its location?”
“Don’t have time for crap like that,” Jack said. “It was tough enough just recovering it from Verd’s vault. I want to get on with my life, and the thought of spending any more time with the likes of you than I have to is…well, let’s just say I’ve had my fill.” He pulled his hand from the pouch and held up something draped across his knuckles. Scope glanced up, warily, and noticed that it shone in the setting sunlight.
Avalanche: Book Five in the Secret World Chronicle Page 80