Highway To Armageddon

by Bloemer, Harold

  “Goddamn it, Arrow.” I shove the gun back into my holster and punch his arm. “Quit sneaking up on me!”

  “I’m sorry, Red, I just heard you leave and wanted to keep an eye on you. Vegas isn’t exactly the safest place in the world, even this far away from the Strip. You still have that bounty over your head. I don’t think word of Caesar’s death has spread yet.”

  I shrug and swat at a low-hanging branch. “I don’t care. Let people come after me. I can take them.”

  Arrow chuckles and wraps his arms around my waist. “I know you can, Red.”

  I push Arrow away. “Don’t. Don’t act like everything’s fine between us. I’m still pissed at you for abandoning us. Say what you want about Lance, but he would never leave me like you did.”

  Arrow grimaces. My words have hurt him more than any physical trauma ever could. He looks down and says, “I know, Red. I could apologize a thousand times and I wouldn’t come close to absolving my sin. But I swear on everything I hold dear that I will make it up to you. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but I won’t stop until you’re able to trust me again.”

  Arrow puts his arms back around my waist. I lean back, but this time I don’t resist too much. As much as I hate what he did, I still have feelings for him. I eventually allow him to pull me toward his chest. I sigh deeply. This is what I miss most about dating Lance. The human contact. The feeling that someone loves me.

  Arrow kisses my forehead. In a soft whisper he says, “You are like an intoxicating drug, Red. You ignite all of my deepest and darkest passions and desires. I love you dearly and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  I gasp and back away. Arrow grabs my arms and stares directly into my eyes. I stare back and get absorbed into his deep, chocolaty irises. No matter how hard I try to break away, I can’t. His gravity is too great.

  “I mean it, Red. I love you more than anything else on this Earth. I’ve never loved another girl. You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, ever since I first laid eyes on you. I want to marry you, raise a family with you, grow old and die with you.”

  My eyes glisten. No one has ever told me they loved me, not even Lance.

  “Arrow, I… I don’t know what to say.”

  Arrow falters for the briefest of moments, but then he steadies himself, as if he won’t give me up without a fierce fight. “Okay… I understand completely. Don’t say anything then. Just think about it. When this is all over, I want to be with you, for all of eternity. If you say no, I will understand and leave you alone. But just think about it.”

  I nod and choke back a sob. He starts to break away, but this time I grip his arms and pull him close.

  “Please hold me a little while longer,” I say, resting my head against his chest.

  Arrow tightens his embrace. We stand there in the woods in silence, hugging each other, as the dawn gives way to a vibrant new morning.

  *

  By the time Arrow and I make our way back to the motel, everyone is already awake. Lance doesn’t look too pleased when Arrow and I walk through the door, but he doesn’t say anything. He shouldn’t have to. We’ve both moved on. He has Dorothy, and I… I have Arrow. I didn’t tell him in the woods because I still want him to suffer a little bit for that crap he pulled in Canada, but my answer is yes. I will marry him, raise a family with him, and grow old with him. I’ll never find another man who loves and adores me as much as Arrow does. Even during the height of our romance, Lance never felt as passionately about me as Arrow does. I would be a fool not to accept his proposal. Now that I’ve realized I do love Arrow, I actually hope Dorothy and Lance work out. I want Lance to be happy, and I think Dorothy is the kind of woman he can grow old with. After this crazy mission is over we can start to build our own, separate lives. It’s kind of scary, but also sort of exciting. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, though. We still have one major task to accomplish before we can start thinking about the future.

  We spend the rest of the day holed up in our room, going over our plans. Machete, Krystal and Dorothy will drop us off on the Strip like they’ve done the past couple days and wait until we head out to Rasputin’s lair. Then they will use their goggles to follow my GPS signal. Once we arrive at the lair, they will park out of sight and wait until we leave. If the lair is deep in the Alaskan wilderness like we think it might be, Machete will even get out of the car and sneak as close to the lair as she possibly can without being seen. That way if things go bad, she’ll be able to hear the gunfire and rush in to rescue us. That’s a worst-case scenario, of course. We don’t expect there to be any shootouts, especially since we’ve decided this won’t be the night we take down Rasputin. It’s way too risky. Our main goal tonight is convincing Rasputin he can trust us.

  I have the hardest job, of course. I have to convince Rasputin I’m the sort of woman he wants to spend the night with. I think I can do it, but I may have to get all touchy-feely with him, something I’m not looking forward to. Dwarfish, vodka-swilling, hairy old men are not exactly my cup of tea.

  Around 9:00 the boys and I change into our leather outfits. We don’t bring any weapons with us except for our electric swords. We then pile into the car and fly out to the Strip.

  During the ride everyone is eerily silent. Even Krystal doesn’t crack any jokes.

  Dorothy curls up in Lance’s lap, twirling his purple hair around her fingers. I lean against Arrow as he wraps his arm around my shoulder and rubs my arm. This is it. This is what we came to do. There’s no room for error. It’s do or die time… literally.

  Machete drops us off at our rendezvous point.

  “Good luck, kids,” Machete says gruffly.

  Krystal and Dorothy wave as they take off.

  “You ready, guys?” I ask nervously.

  “Not really,” Lance says.

  “Let’s roll,” Arrow says, taking off toward Igor’s casino. Lance and I follow suit.

  We navigate through the crowd of gamblers and eventually reach the casino. This time Lance remembers to steer well clear of the fire-breathing dragon statue. We go inside the packed casino and take the elevator to the top floor. It’s the third time in three days we’ve had to make this trip. Quite frankly it’s getting a little monotonous. Hopefully we don’t have to keep doing it.

  The elevator finally dings and the door slides open. We step out into the jam-packed club and do our best to shield our eyes from the pulsating lasers. How most of these kids don’t suffer seizures is beyond me. We weave through the mosh pit of cracked out teens and make our way toward Winston and Bob by the back staircase. They greet us like we’re old friends and lead us up to the roof. Just like the last two nights, Igor and his cronies are in the back, watching security footage. This time, though, they’re not chugging vodka. I guess Igor wants everyone to be on their best behavior when they meet the ‘Great Leader.’

  We walk past two fancy Lightning XL convertibles on our way over to Igor. Igor clasps us all on our shoulders and says, “I’m glad you all could make it. Like I suspected, we are going to be traveling quite a distance. I’m glad you were punctual.”

  “We wouldn’t miss this for the world, darling,” I say in my husky Russian accent.

  Igor grins and cups my chin in his hand. “I can’t wait for Rasputin to meet you. He will surely congratulate me for finding such a beautiful and intelligent recruit.”

  I force a smile. “Er, thanks.” Pretending I like Igor is starting to take a toll on me. If I have to keep the façade up much longer I’ll probably snap and punch him in his face.

  I climb into one of the cars with Lance, Igor, and Norma. Arrow goes to the other car with Fred, Frank, and the others. After everyone is strapped in, we lift off the ground and zoom toward the wilderness.

  We’re in the air for half an hour before we finally descend. The car lands bumpily, jostling me into Lance. I glance around and realize we’re in a field surrounded by forest. There’s a small cabin in the center of the clearing. It looks so
mewhat similar to Vinnie’s cabin. I guess all fugitive criminals hide out in cabins in the woods.

  Lance and I climb out of the car. The other car lands next to us. We wait for Arrow, then we follow Igor and the rest of the gang inside.

  The interior of the cabin is fairly dark. The windows are tinted so no one can peer inside. There’s a couch and a fireplace in the living room, but that’s about it.

  Igor walks over to a bookcase on the back wall. He presses his palm against a sensor and the bookcase pops open.

  “Cool, it’s one of those hidden passageways,” Lance says.

  Igor slips through the doorway and the rest of us follow suit.

  The passageway is a bit more illuminated than the cabin, but not by much. We have to duck to avoid bumping into the low-hanging lights. The walls are made of cobbled stones, and at times it feels like they’re closing in on me. I take a deep breath and forge on. Lance notices I’m on the verge of freaking out and puts his arm around my waist. I appreciate the gesture. It does calm me down… a bit.

  We walk for several minutes. After a while I realize we’re walking in circles, and the tunnel has a slight downward angle. Apparently we’re heading to some secret underground lair. It reminds me of the spy movies we used to watch with Dagger.

  We finally reach the end of the tunnel and enter a massive, well-lit room. There’s a giant table in the center of the room, with dozens of wooden chairs. A cube-shaped, holographic TV screen hovers over the table. Right now the TV is showing news footage about another devastating terror attack in China. I don’t pay much attention to it, though, because Mikhail Rasputin is sitting at the table, surrounded by armed guards.

  I tug on Lance’s arm. He looks over at the table and gasps.

  “My God… it’s really him.”

  I’m somewhat shocked to discover Rasputin is even shorter in person than he appears on TV. His face is covered in long, stringy, gray-streaked hair. His short, stout body is covered in an armored exoskeleton. I see the edges of his wings protruding out of his back. He’s also wearing his computerized gloves, the ones that fire electricity.

  Rasputin looks over at me and smiles. My ‘sex appeal’ is already working.

  Igor waltzes up to Rasputin with the box carrying Caesar’s head. He places the box on the table and bellows, “It is good to see you again, Comrade. We bring you a gift, courtesy of our new recruits.”

  Rasputin opens the box and peers inside. He then laughs and plucks the head out of the box, holding it up for all to see. “Tremendous! I’ve been waiting for Caesar’s head to cross my desk for years! Excellent job! How ever did you find him?”

  Lance is about to say something, but I grip his wrist and say, “We don’t give away our tactics for free, you know.”

  Rasputin stares at me lustfully. “You’re right, Igor, this one is special.”

  Rasputin pulls out the chair next to him. “Please, come sit.”

  I saunter over to Rasputin, shaking my hips along the way. Rasputin’s eyes widen and he licks his lips. I plop down on his lap and do my best to ignore his unpleasant odor.

  Rasputin rubs my back. “I appreciate a woman who doesn’t play games. You seem like the sort of person who knows what she wants and takes it.”

  I twirl the tip of Rasputin’s beard around my finger. “You have no idea.”

  Rasputin leans his face close to mine. It takes all my strength not to lean back. “Igor has told me so much about you, Ruby. You are more beautiful… and far more fiery… than he described. I could use a gorgeous assistant like you.”

  I rub my fingers through his greasy hair. “It would be the honor of my life, Comrade. I would do anything for the liberation of Mother Russia.”

  Lance and Arrow sit on the opposite side of the table and engage in small talk with Norma and the gang. Meanwhile Rasputin and I continue chatting. I tell him how my ‘Russian mother’ smuggled me to America to escape the evil Chinese, and how after she died I met up with Arkady and Vladimir. I then tell him about how we took down Caesar (although I leave out anything that would implicate us as spies). I even tell him I was the one who hacked off Caesar’s head, something that delights Rasputin to no end.

  I’m in the process of heavily hinting that I would like to spend a night alone with him (something Rasputin agrees would be a ‘tremendous’ idea) when a guard busts into the room and proclaims, “The Wolf has arrived!”

  Everyone abruptly stops talking.

  “Mikhail, darling, who is the Wolf?” I ask.

  “The Wolf is the one who has been organizing and financing our war against China,” Rasputin explains. “You will love her, trust me.”

  The door to the dungeon swings open. I try to get a glimpse of the Wolf but it’s too dark. All I see is a silhouette.

  Lance gasps. “Dear God…”

  I glance at Lance in confusion. I mouth, ‘What’s wrong?’ but he’s not paying attention. I turn to Arrow and he appears just as shocked as Lance.

  I turn back to the door just as the Wolf steps out into the light.

  It’s President Klaxton.

  Chapter Seventeen: Lance

  Igor spits out his vodka. “The Wolf is the President of the United States?! Holy crap!”

  President Klaxton glares at Igor for several tense seconds. She looks even more intimidating in person than she does on TV (and trust me, she looks pretty scary on TV). Her dirty blonde hair creates a curtain around her hardened, slightly wrinkly face. She’s wearing heavy makeup, I guess so she looks good on television. Her stripped pantsuit is clean and crisp, like she just picked it up from the drycleaners. She also looks a bit bulkier than usual. She must be wearing some sort of Kevlar vest under her clothes. The machine gun she has slung over her shoulder only adds to her badass appearance. I’m starting to see how she’s been able to cling to power for over two decades; through sheer fear and intimidation.

  Klaxton’s fierce, icy blue eyes are focused on Igor, staring a hole through his skull. Igor gulps and sets down his glass of vodka.

  Klaxton finally turns to Rasputin. In her trademark raspy, cold voice she says, “I thought your subordinates were intelligent, highly trained assassins. What I see instead is a roomful of unkempt, incompetent jackasses.”

  I can’t help but smirk. That was actually pretty funny.

  Mikhail shrugs. “So I fudged a bit on my descriptions. Good help is hard to find these days, as you know.”

  “Yes, I am quite aware,” Klaxton growls.

  She looks around the room and furrows her brow when she lays eyes on me, Boom Boom, and Arrow. Sweat pours from my armpits. Klaxton is so intense and scary she’s making me a nervous wreck.

  “Who the devil are these kids?” Klaxton barks. She says it with such venom that I nearly topple out of my seat.

  Rasputin waves Klaxton off as though she’s annoying him. He’s probably the only person on the planet who could get away with that.

  “Relax, Angela. You’re freaking everyone out with all your barking. Poor Vladimir looks like he’s about to have a stroke.”

  Rasputin gestures toward me. Klaxton gives me the ‘evil eye’. If I wasn’t about to have a stroke before, I sure am now.

  “I told you we might have some new recruits at our meeting. You told me to bring people capable of carrying out a devastating terrorist attack in the heart of China, so that’s what I did.”

  “Wait, we were brought here to launch a terror attack?” I blurt out.

  “You never told us that, Igor!” Boom Boom shouts.

  Igor holds up his hands. “Relax, Ruby. Consider it a great honor that I brought you and your friends along. Mikhail called me up last week and said to bring along my most talented men and women for a top-secret mission. After your flawless initiation I realized you, Vladimir, and Arkady were the best soldiers I had.”

  “You could have told us beforehand,” Boom Boom snaps.

  “Why would I do that?” Igor says with a sneer. “You might have declined to come.”<
br />
  Klaxton turns her attention to Boom Boom. “You do realize it’s not lady-like to act like a whore in front of the President of the United States, don’t you? Get off of Rasputin’s lap and show some self-respect.”

  Boom Boom’s cheeks turn bright red. She silently slips off of Rasputin’s lap and sits in the empty chair to his right.

  Klaxton shakes her head. “Seriously dear, you can do so much better than Rasputin.”

  “Anyway,” Rasputin says, sounding annoyed that Klaxton keeps insulting him, “I trust Igor’s judgment. If he thinks we can trust these kids, then that’s good enough for me. As you know, we Purple Dragons have a thorough initiation process to weed out weaklings and spies. These kids took out one of your most wanted fugitives, Caesar Dominguez. Does that not earn them your trust and respect?”

  Klaxton’s hardened face softens a bit at that revelation. “Oh really? Do you have proof that Caesar is actually dead?”

  Rasputin lifts Caesar’s head out of the box. “Is this proof enough for you?”

  Klaxton gags and steps back. “How foul! Put that away!”

  Rasputin snickers and puts the head back in the box.

  Klaxton goes back to staring intensely at me. Beads of sweat roll down my neck.

  “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” she finally asks.

  “Um, I don’t think so,” I stammer.

  Klaxton frowns. “Your face looks very familiar. So does yours.”

  Klaxton points at Boom Boom. Boom Boom glances at me and cocks an eyebrow. That’s our discreet signal for ‘get ready for trouble’. Klaxton must recognize us from Caesar’s bounty posters. Or she could just recognize us as the ‘teenage bounty hunters’. We are sort of famous. Our disguises fooled Rasputin and Igor, but apparently Klaxton is a lot harder to trick than they are.

  I start to reach for my electric sword when Klaxton says, “Nevermind. I’m probably imagining things.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief, as does Boom Boom. That was close.

  Klaxton snaps her fingers at the secret service agents who walked in behind her. “Kill them.”