Bad Nerd Falling (16 page)

“
So will I.” Helena rubbed
his thigh. He planned to be there as well, providing security. No
one knew this but him, but he would be in place. His former
commander thought it a good idea, and mentioned casually the team
were on their way. He was thankful for the pending
backup.

“
Why didn’t you try to
rope me into joining this?” DuBois sounded suspicious.

“
Think about it, you’ll
figure it out.”

DuBois sighed, like he knew exactly
what she was talking about, but he didn’t.

“
I can play a few
pieces.”

“
You have a full day of
practice tomorrow, remember?”

“
I know.”

“
So you’re going to be
sore, right?” Her tone wasn’t any less belligerent than
his.

DuBois’s long sigh appeared to be her
only concession. This pair entertained him quite a lot. He could
watch Helena all hours of the day. But he hadn’t suspected this man
would also provide such entertainment.

The musician probably wasn’t eager to
do so. But he had chosen to allow Helena to live in his apartment
building so that was his own fault.

Abruptly, Helena launched off his lap
and stalked into the kitchen. She made herself at home just as
DuBois did upstairs in her place. Opening the freezer, she rummaged
around for a moment before extracting whatever she sought. Then,
slamming the door shut, she opened a drawer where she snapped out a
towel and wrapped it around the freezer item. Marching back into
the living room she thrust the compress at the man who had reseated
himself at the piano.

“
Thanks,” he all but
snarled.

She flicked his nose, then returned to
his side. “We’re leaving. Make certain you ice that for the
prescribed amount of time.”

He winced as he wrapped the pack
around his hand. “Aye, aye captain.”

Helena ruffled his hair, lifted down
her guitar, took his hand and waved before they left. “You love
him,” he said, as that realization finally registered.

“
Yes.” She didn’t refute
or deny it. She might have been kinder to stab him in the heart
with a dull knife.

But then she turned luminous green
eyes on him outside her door. “He’s my big brother. Of course I
love him.” She smiled at him and all was forgiven.
“Goodnight.”

“
Goodnight.” His echo was
a mere whisper.

He bent down and kissed her, and she
responded, then turned away from him to shove her key in the lock.
With a wave, she entered her place, shut the door, and turned the
locks. Once he was satisfied all was well, Vlad turned and headed
for the exit.

The resounding knowledge that Helena didn’t think
of him as a big brother was enough to get him through the next few
lonely hours.

Chapter 13

“
Still no luck with that
USB drive?”

“
Emerson, you’re worse
than a nagging wife,” Maks said.

Emerson snorted. “Like you have one of
those.”

“
Neither do
you.”

“
To answer your question,
no, I haven’t figured out the password,” Aleksi cut in.

“
Why not?”

In lieu of answering, he glanced at
the clock on his desk. “I have a meeting with General Warcowski in
five minutes. Here.”

“
Okay, we get it.” Emerson
wasted no time rising to his feet.

“
Didn’t you have a meeting
scheduled with him earlier this week?”

“
Yes, except we had those
dignitaries come a day early, remember?”

“
That’s right.” Maks
massaged his neck.

“
And they stayed two days
longer than they were supposed to.” Emerson complained, but he
loved that sort of challenge.

“
Because of that visit, we
had to postpone our meeting. Now that they have left, the General
and I rescheduled.”

“
We’ll leave you to this,
then.” That fast Maks and Emerson disappeared. Like magic really.
They all remembered General Warcowski from their own military days.
He was the epitome of a no-nonsense general if there ever was
one.

Right now, Aleksi didn’t have the
luxury of exiting, so instead he tried another password on the USB
drive. It didn’t work, but that didn’t surprise him. At this point,
if it did work would be a lot more surprising.

His assistant announced the general
and he rose in a show of respect. There was no doubting this man’s
former career.

“
Prince Aleksi,” he
greeted in the blustery tones he remembered all too
well.

“
General.” He indicated a
chair at a small table in the corner of his office.

Early on, his father explained that it
was better to interact with certain people at a round table like
this rather than across an heirloom desk. Even though he was the
prince, some people presented themselves better if there was the
illusion that they were in control. This particular general could
hold his own, but he didn’t seem as scary across this round table
as he had when they were new recruits and a decorated general had
put them through their paces.

In moments, they fell to discussing
the progress the general was making. It wasn’t until they were
nearly finished with their discussion that General Warcowski
brought up the subject very much on Aleksi’s mind.

“
I see Vladimir Wellington
is back.”

He paused in making a note and turned
to stare at him. “You know Vlad?”

Warcowski chuckled. It sounded like
the bark of bulldog. “Of course I know Vlad. He’s our secret
weapon.”

“
Secret weapon?”
What?

“
Your father put a lot of
resources into that young man.” Now the general resembled a rosy
cheeked St. Nick. Only of the war variety.

“
My father had something
to do with Vlad?”

Warcowski looked at him like he was
missing a few little soldiers. “Oh yes.”

“
He never said a word to
me.” A niggling popped into his head.

“
Wellington’s training was
kept
very
quiet.”

He frowned. “How quiet?”

“
Let’s just say that no
one knew except your father. He later informed me.”

“
So Vlad is someone I can
trust?”

The general’s eyes crinkled. “With
your life, son. And those of every person in this principality.
Your father needed a weapon. He created a superior one in
Wellington.”

That made absolutely no
sense.

They spoke for a few more minutes, but
he wasn’t upset to see the general leave. They shook and he showed
him out before he returned to his desk. He stared at the USB stick
for long moments.

Vlad had given him this drive. His
father obviously wanted him to know what was on the device. But he
hadn’t left a password with it. Or any instructions. The thought
that his father had personally overseen Vlad’s training and then
trusted him with this password protected drive spoke
volumes.

With a shrug he
typed
TrustVlad
in the password area.

The drive unlocked.

***

After making his rounds mid-evening
and determining everything was okay with the world, especially
since he finally had backup, Vlad stopped to stare at the portrait
of a long dead ancestor. This man could have been his twin. From
his earliest memories of the palace and Prince Aleksandr, this
portrait had been a part of his life. It was this man, Vladimir
Wolfgang de Leos who had set his own course in life. This man who
had been born with the same character traits as him.

“
Every few generations a
great warrior is born within the de Leos line, Vlad. This man, like
you, was born to be a protector of the Rurikstani
people
.”

He still heard those words in his
dreams. He had for most of his life. Now he gazed at this portrait
through the eyes of a man, rather than the child he had been. He
hadn’t seen old Vladimir Wolfgang for years. Yet now, as a man
himself, he recognized many of the characteristics in his ancestor
that he saw in himself. Aleksandr had identified them early and
directed Vlad’s life from that moment on.

Was he sorry he hadn’t had a say in
his education and the skills he was supposed to learn? No, now that
he really thought on it, he had understood as a child that what
Prince Aleksandr said was true. He recognized himself in this man
even then. Had resonated with the lessons he was to learn, and
perfected the skills of a warrior with relish.

“
Ah, Vlad, just the man I
was looking for,” Emerson said behind him.

He had heard him and eased his stance,
just in case. Now he turned to face Emerson.

“
I always forget how tall
you are.”

“
Can I help you?” Vlad
offered a faint smile. This had been going on since he hit
puberty.

“
Yes, Prince Aleksi
requests your presence.”

Reading Emerson’s unease and because
he couldn’t help it, he sniggered.

“
Your brother and Aleksi
do that enough.” But Emerson did relax.

“
I’ve known him all my
life and he’s my cousin. It seems stuffy to call him Prince Aleksi
or His Royal Highness.”

“
That’s what he
says.”

That’s because Aleksi was not stuffy
in the least. “Right.”

He kept easy pace with Emerson as they
strode down the hallway that led to Aleksi’s office.

“
Hello Aleksi,” his cousin
greeted and didn’t wait for an invitation to sit down as Emerson
hurried off. Instead Vlad dropped into the chair across from the
desk. “Is it weird to use this office?”

The small stab of pain wasn’t
unexpected. “Yes. It’s always been my father’s office. I never
expected to use it this soon.”

Vlad nodded as though he understood.
“It’s hard to believe he’s gone.” He swallowed, hard.

His own sorrow was etched on his
cousin’s face. “I agree. It’s been a rough year.”

“
You got into the USB
drive.”

“
Yes.” He shifted in his
chair before he tapped some keys on his computer. “I figured out
the password after General Warcowski left.”

Vlad wrinkled his nose.

He laughed. “Yeah, I agree with
that.”

“
At least you’re the
prince. You don’t have to salute the old metal chewer every time
you pass him.”

“
I’d rather eat
bullets.”

“
Me too.”

He nodded. “I had no idea my father
mapped out your entire career.”

“
Didn’t he mention
anything about me?”

“
No. I don’t recall ever
discussing you with him.” Aleksi stared at Vlad from a fresh
perspective. Vlad was a totally different person than he, Maks and
Emerson had always believed. It was an unsettling shift.

“
Perhaps you better fill
me in.” Aleksi stared at this man who shared his genes but not much
else.

Vlad looked like he’d rather salute
old Warcowski a few times. But, being the brave man he was, did as
requested. “The first memory I have of your father speaking to me
was when he told me that I was a de Leos warrior.”

He hadn’t been expecting to hear that.
“How old were you?”

For a long moment Vlad didn’t answer.
“About five.”

After nearly choking on a
sip of coffee, he repeated on a gasp, “
Five?
”

“
Five.”

“
Children aren’t
warriors.”

“
Apparently de Leos
warriors are born, not made.” Vlad shrugged.

“
You were
five
?” Knowing he
sounded incredulous, he stared at Vlad. A man he knew even less now
than two minutes ago. Despite the vast file he had just read on
Vladimir Wolfgang Wellington.

“
Yes. Your father started
my education on how to be a warrior the next week.”

“
You had additional
training to what all Rurikstani men receive?”

“
Substantially more. My
training started at age five and ended a few weeks ago.”

Taking a moment to digest that, he
stared at Vlad. No wonder his cousin had been so angry all those
years. “You were never allowed a childhood.”

“
No. I am a warrior now,
but according to your father I’ve always been one.” Vlad didn’t
sound concerned in the least.

“
No wonder you were so
good with all those toy weapons.”

“
By age ten I had studied
every weapon known to man. By sixteen I could handle all of
them.”

He stared at him in mounting horror.
“There is something wrong with teaching a child how to make
war.”

“
Not when you’re gifted
with the de Leos warrior gene.” Vlad sent him a small smile. It was
amazing how much like a superhero the man suddenly
looked.