Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (40 page)

“It’s the code in every living thing’s
cells that tells it how to grow.” He’d been mildly surprised that gods had DNA
in the first place. “But your venom can rewrite that code and insert its own
changes. If I may ask, my lady, how did you make your venom do that?”

The Nereid’s expression
blanked,
and she swam to the side, picking idly at the rags
floating around her. “I was poisoned by your kind, covered in a filthy sludge
that destroyed my beauty and ate away at my body,” she said tersely. “But now I
can control your own weapon and use it against you and anyone who stands
against me.”

She’d cleverly skirted his question.
My God, does she even know how she’s doing
it?
“But what kind of weapon is it?” he pressed. “Was it a poison, or a
microbe, or some kind of chemical? How did you learn to control it?”

She whirled on him, eyes bugged and
utterly mad.
“I don’t know!”

The mermaids cowered in their cells.
Even Halkyone cringed away from her mistress. With a visible effort, Thetis
regained her calm. “I don’t know,” she said in a more even tone. “That’s what I
want you to tell me. What is it about my venom that changes the lower
creatures?” She drifted closer, and he tried to breathe shallowly against her
stink. “How can I refine it and create more thinking minions like Halkyone?”

Nick tried to ignore the small ember of
hope. If Thetis didn’t know how to control the nanites in her venom, it would
make it more difficult for her to create more creatures like her handmaiden.
Halkyone must have been a happy accident, so to speak.

He glanced back at Claire. She’d given
up on trying to purge the venom from her body and drifted in her cell
now,
twitching occasionally as the black slick crawled
through her cells one by one and rewrote their code. Her body was already
starting to swell, and her jaw had begun to change shape. A scattering of white
teeth at the bottom of the cage indicated that new, triangular teeth were on
their way.

Most disturbing of all, her eyes had
lost all traces of the sclera and were a solid, shark-like black now. He
couldn’t read them, and could only pray that she still remembered what they’d
discussed, along with their agreement.

He turned back to the Nereid. “I’m still
not sure how the venom does its work,” he lied. “I can see it at work, but I
don’t know how it knows what to do when injected into one of your v—minions.”

Her nostrils flared. “Then what use are
you to me? Perhaps I should just take your Rod and feed you to Halkyone now.”

He bowed his head. The last thing he
wanted was for her to pull him out of the hold—that was undoubtedly his death
warrant. “I’ve never done anything like this before, my lady,” he said humbly.
“If you permit me to observe the process until its conclusion, I should be able
to tell you more about how your venom works.”

He could feel the weight of her stare,
and hoped that part of her mind was still sane enough to recognize the logic in
his words. “All right,” she finally said. “But when my new minion is brought
over, I expect to know more about the process.” She paused, curving her lips in
a smile that was as false as it was sweet. “If you find the key to my venom, I
shall spare your life and the lives of your mates. You shall be gods in my new
world and rule in my name. How does that sound to you, Bearer?”

Like a fate
worse than death.
He bowed his head lower. “That would be an unexpected honor, my lady,” he said.

She leered at him. “Ah, I thought that
might take your fancy. Keep that in mind as you work, Bearer.” She whirled, a
grumpy-looking Halkyone in her wake, and swam out of the hold.

Nick let go of the breath he was
holding, gripping the Rod like a baton. Pythia raised her head, resting it on
his finger.
That was close
,
she
whispered.
Too close.

I can’t tell her
about the nanites. If she figures out how to control them—

She would be unstoppable,
Pythia finished
grimly.
At least you know the truth about her venom.

Only part of it.
I still have to find out how she got them in the
first place.
His
headache flared up again, and his stomach rumbled painfully.
God, I would kill or die for a burger right
now.

The snake’s tongue flicked lightly
against his skin.
I know, Bearer. I’m sorry for your discomfort.

No, don’t.
He gazed into
the sea goddess’s cage, at her slowly transforming body.
She’s the one who deserves your pity, Pythia. Not me.

****

Outside the wreck, Aidan and Fergus were
discussing possible lines of attack, when tritons began to filter out of the
blue darkness. A tall triton with a deep grey tail and a silver band around his
neck swam up to the mers.

“I am Captain Lysandros, second in
command of the Bright Water tritons,” he said, nodding at Aidan. “We were
informed your mate is inside the wreck and being held by the Nereid Thetis.”

Aidan glanced at his captain. Fergus
bristled slightly but remained quiet. “Yes, but we haven’t been able to get
close to the wreck to scout where he is,” he said.

“Ilkothelloi?”

“At every
entrance.”

Lysandros grunted at that. “Anything
else we should be aware of?”

“It seems that Thetis has been
experimenting with more than mers. We saw a pair of poisoned orcas patrolling
with the ilkothelloi,” Fergus said. “They’re half again as large as normal
orcas. We have to assume they have shark teeth and venom as well.”

The triton’s expression turned grim.
“Maddened orcas will be extremely dangerous. We’ll have to take them out as
soon as possible.” He flicked a glance at Aidan. “Your other mate is on his way
with my commander and another mer.”

Aidan felt fear wash through him. “Why
is Liam coming here? He needs to get back to the damn grotto!”

“He wasn’t at the grotto,” Lysandros
said. “The commander says we should keep an ear out for surface sounds.
Apparently they’re arriving by human ship.”

“What?”

The triton shook his head. “Kasos said
it was a long story. I’ll send scouts up to signal us when they arrive. That
will be our signal to storm the wreck. We’re going to draw off as many
ilkothelloi as we can, and then I’ll send in a strike team to rescue your
mate.”

Aidan tensed. “I want to go with them.”

“As I assumed.”
Lysandros waved
up another triton. “Brief the ranger on strike team tactics and signals, and
make sure he’s armed.”

****

Liam felt the ship slow, then come to a
stop. He opened his eyes. Overhead, the sky was still thick with stars, but
there was a faint ridge of rose gold along the eastern horizon. Dawn was no
more than an hour away.

He heard a thump and turned to see Col
just climbing off the ladder to the pilot house. “Kasos said that we’re within
swimming range of the wreck,” the mer said. “We’re supposed to head down and
link up with his platoon.”

Liam nodded and tried to stand, sucking
in a pained breath. His leg bones still ached abominably from the damage he’d
inflicted on them in the cabin.

Col gave him a worried look. “Are you
all right?”

“Just a little stiff,” Liam lied,
leaning down and rubbing a calf muscle. “I’ll be fine once I get into the
water.”

Col didn’t seem convinced but nodded as
Kasos slid down the pilot house ladder. “I’ve released the sea anchor so this
tub should stay in place long enough,” he said, tightening the straps of his
knife sheathes. “We’ve got a platoon of tritons and at least two squads of
rangers down there, including your mate, councilor.”

“Is he all right?”

“He’s fine according to my second, but
your human mate is still being held by Thetis. We’re going to launch on attack
on her monsters while your other mate and one of my tactical teams infiltrate
the wreck and rescue him.”

Liam knew there was no way Aidan would
allow himself to be kept off that team. He also hated the fact that there was
nothing practical he could do to help. “Can I be of assistance, commander? I’ll
do anything.”

Kasos studied him.
“As
a matter of fact, councilor, there is.”

****

Lysandros handed Aidan a speaker neckband.
“These are all connected to each other and to an operator back at base,” he
said, tapping his own. “Try to keep the chatter to a minimum—important
intel
only.”

Aidan fastened the thick band around his
throat,
then
touched the central black stone. It
tingled slightly under his touch.

“It looks good on you.”

He whirled. Liam floated there, giving
him a tired grin. “You bastard,” Aidan growled, throwing
himself
into the taller mer’s arms and kissing him. “Dammit, you shouldn’t be here.”

“But I am,” Liam said quietly, staring
into his eyes. “There is no way in Tartarus I’m going to sit back at the grotto
while you and Nick are in danger.”

Something about his expression was very
off. “Are you all right? What happened?”

Liam shook his head. “We’ll talk about
it when we get Nick back. Right now, focus on him.”

Aidan didn’t like the sound of that, but
nodded. Lysandros waved him over to the strike team, and he gave Liam a last,
lingering kiss before joining the squad of eight tritons.

“All right, listen up. We’re running a
poke and grab op,” Lysandros explained. “Commander Kasos and Captain Fergus are
going to engage Thetis’s forces and draw their attention. Once that’s underway,
we infiltrate the ship, find this mer’s mate, a human named Nick Gardiner, and
get him out. Our
goal is minimum interaction with the enemy,
but take
out any ilkothelloi or attackers as necessary.”

“Lieutenant,” one of the tritons said,
“did you say a human? Are you sure he’s still alive down here?”

Aidan scowled at that, but Lysandros
said, “He has Poseidon’s Kiss, so he can breathe in water. Aidan, what does
your mate look like?”

“Short dark hair, blue eyes, a little
shorter than me, pale and muscled,” Aidan said. “He’ll probably be holding a
rod with a snake wrapped around it.” At the incredulous look from the tritons,
he explained about Asclepius’s Rod. “So he has the blessing of two gods. And I
know he’s still alive.” He tapped his chest. “He’s my
agapetos
. I’d feel it here if he was dead.”

The tritons looked more solemn at that.
“All right,” Lysandros said, hefting his black trident, “get into position and
wait for the signal.”

****

Liam, with Col at his back, swam away
from the massed tritons and mers back up to the yacht. In addition to speaker neckbands,
the tritons had brought spare tridents for them. “Didn’t expect to be doing
this when I woke up this morning,” Col said.

Liam felt a flush of guilt. “I’m sorry I
dragged you into this.”

“No, don’t be sorry. I’m glad to help.” Col
grinned at him. “Beside, it beats Tartarus out of recording yet another Elder
council meeting.”

They hit the surface and swam to the
yacht, changing forms. Col tossed his trident aboard and climbed easily into
the stern, giving Liam a hand over the edge. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

Liam nodded grimly. “Compared to what
Aidan and the rest of them are doing, this is the easy part.” He studied the
ladder leading to the pilot house and steeled himself to climb it.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him. “I
heard Kasos explain how to drive this thing,” Col said. “And I know you don’t
want to admit it, but I can tell you’re hurting. Stay down here and keep an eye
out for ilkothelloi.”

His friend’s concerned look grated on
him, but he had to accept the logic.
“All right.
Just
try not to hit anything.”

Col theatrically peered around the empty
waves surrounding them. “Yes, I’m really worried about that. You just watch
your ass, friend.”

Liam gave him an ironic salute. Butting
the end of the trident against the deck, he settled down to wait for their
signal.

****

The ilkothella at the hold entrance
lifted her head, as if hearing a silent command. She whirled and shot out.

Nick stared after the creature, clutching
the Rod more tightly.
Think it’s a trick?

Possibly.
But I doubt
Thetis is in a game-playing mood at the moment.
Pythia unwound a
bit from the Rod, tasting the water with her flickering tongue.
Oho.
I can taste mers. And tritons, a large number of them.

The cavalry.
Relief threatened
to rush through him, but he pushed it back.
So what do we do?