The Tenth Legion (Book 6, Progeny of Evolution) (31 page)

“I guess
they’re trying to repair their image after all the heat they took
about the virus.” Lorna suggested.

“I don’t think
so,” Ed replied. “Listen.”

The Gen-El
executive beat the drum again about the cover up of the discoveries
at Oom, accusing CI of plotting to save The Others while abandoning
the rest of humanity.

“He’s not
saying anything different,” Lorna said.

“True, but the
problem is who speaks, not what’s being said. He’s not a conspiracy
whacko. Many will believe him. Moreover, he has the resources to
keep repeating the message across all media streams. Imagine being
exposed to repetitions of the same song no matter where you go. You
may hate it, but hear it enough and you’ll be humming the tune. You
can’t help yourself.”

“I think they
call that brain-washing.”

The same day,
the first demonstration took place in Orlando, a couple of dozen
people carrying handmade signs. They broke up after the police
informed them they lacked the proper permits. The following day
they returned with permits and twice as many protestors.

“It’s begun,”
Ed muttered solemnly.

Cynthia and
Valeria took adjacent rooms at the end of the wing. The rooms were
small, with a shared bath, lacking walk-in closets, but each
commanded a view of the pool area along with the lake beyond. Best
of all, each had a patio and private entrance, ideal for discreet
entertaining.

“We should
look in on the girls,” Lorna said.

Ed glanced up
from the report he read. “I know,” he said. “I feel guilty, too. We
haven’t spoken since they arrived last week.”

Lorna walked
behind him, massaging his shoulders. “Well, it’s not like we
haven’t been busy. I think they understand.”

Ed smiled. “I
doubt they noticed. With all the young people around to keep them
company, they have other things in mind.”

Lorna smirked.
At thirty, Cynthia had passed the first ten years after emergence.
Her hormones began to calm down. Among hybrids, this process didn’t
exist. On the brink of adulthood, Valeria endeavored to make the
most of her youthful years. Her adventurous nature placed little
outside her range of appetite for experimentation.

“I still think
we should see what they’re up to,” Lorna said.

“I’m tied up
with the new agreement for supplying power to the grid. Why don’t
you go ahead? I’ll catch up later.”

Lorna cut down
the main hallway, past the mahogany-and-gold sweep of the double
staircase, under the massive glittering chandelier to the hallway
she sought, remembering how complicated the place’s floorplan had
seemed at first. A lot had changed. After becoming head of
security, she’d learned every square foot. Stateside, she studied
the floorplans. On the island, she verified them by personal
inspection. Venturing beyond the layout of the rooms, she’d
memorized the mansion’s hidden network of ventilation ducts,
utility passageways, void spaces, and obscure entrances.

She used the
trip to visit the girls as an opportunity to continue the project.
Traveling down a utility passageway that paralleled the hallway,
she ended up at a slide panel opening close to Cynthia’s room. An
air current brushed the fine hairs of her exposed skin. Odd how
none of the other passageways she’d explored had a draft. Nearby,
Lorna spied a wood panel not on the plans, just the sort of thing
she searched for.

After notating
the discrepancy, she slid the unrecorded panel back, stepping from
the dim and drafty hallway of plumbing and electrical conduits into
the back of a closet. Cedar tongue and groove covered the walls.
Cynthia’s wardrobe of dresses hung all around. Pushing aside
hangers full of the garments with their cloying flowery scent,
Lorna took a moment to peek into the room.

Seeing the
space empty, she had started to retreat into the darkness to
approach in a more conventional way, when the girls arrived at the
doorway. While Lorna fumbled with the panel, they entered the room.
Abandoning the effort to close the wood rectangle, she peeked
through the brief opening the closet door offered.

Valeria
entered, laughing and spinning her way to a chaise lounge. Tan arms
swept a wide, graceful arc. The yellow, pleated beach skirt flared,
showing all of her legs, along with her white bikini panties. Upon
reaching the lounge chair, she dropped into it, laughing. “Oh my
dear, we’ve had so much fun. I don’t want today to ever end.” The
deep voice, uncommon in one so young, filled the room.

Her tone
crossed the room with a raspy, subdued passion. She lay back in the
chair on her spine, legs stretched out in front, feet apart, knees
together. The large eyes, alive and expectant in the narrow face,
stared at Cynthia.

“Your day has
only begun,” Cynthia’s voice said from somewhere out of sight,
stepping into Lorna’s line of vision. A white terry cloth beach
blanket, matching the milky flesh underneath, wrapped the six foot
frame. Little more than head and ankles showed. The pitch-black
hair was tied off with a red band in a vertical column. The hair
above the band spilled over, radiating in all directions like a
fountain of crude oil.

“I’m so glad
you thought of showering at the pool,” Valeria said.

“
I am,
too.” Cynthia let the towel fall to the floor, standing naked in
front of Valeria, legs apart, arms akimbo. A patch of raven hair at
the junction of her thighs stood out against the chalky complexion.
Her firm body blended white marble and vanilla ice cream in a
metaphysical combination
of hard and white with melt in the mouth sweetness.
Shoulders held back showed whispers of rippling muscle under the
smooth soft skin. Her buttocks and legs tensed as if preparing to
run down a hapless prey. Lorna wondered if the prey wasn’t the
young hybrid inclined on the lounge chair.

She needn’t
have worried.

Valeria smiled
knowingly, wantonly. “We left many unhappy boys behind at the
pool,” she intoned throatily, lifting an arm for assistance in
rising.

“That’s their
problem,” Cynthia answered. The fingers of the pale hand
interlocked with those of the darker one.

They walked
arm-in-arm to the bed.

Valeria was
hairless from the neck down. A laser procedure, popular in South
America, had permanently removed every follicle. She walked on the
balls of her feet, giving her slender butt an uplifted appearance
from behind, exposing the pink, meaty lips of her sex. The chignon,
rigid as cast gold, rode the back of her head.

At the bed,
they embraced. Cynthia’s black aureoles pressed hard onto Valeria’s
roseate ones. Both women had small, deltoid-shaped breasts that
didn’t need a bra. They entwined in a swirl of white and tan limbs,
coaxing each other onto the mattress. Lorna had seen enough. In
closing the panel, she’d taken care to be quiet, but judging by the
rapidly building frenzy of movement and noise, a gunshot, wouldn’t
have interrupted their passion.

Opening the
panel for the width of an eye, she couldn’t help but take a last
peek.

Having to
crouch down to clear the opening, her perspective came from below
the level of the mattress. Earlier, Cynthia had pushed the green
coverlet to the foot of the bed. Valeria lay on top. At the height
of each pelvic rotation, her round bottom just cleared the covers
like twin cream-colored suns rising over a verdant landscape.
Pressed into the sheets, Cynthia gasped and whimpered, out of sight
except for two expansive arms stretched beyond the width of the
bed. Within seconds, each hand clasped a brass bar of the
headboard. Her gasps of pleasure filled the room. With difficulty,
Lorna pulled clear of the scene.

Back inside
among the conduits, Lorna held the plans up to a naked incandescent
bulb to get her bearings. The erroneous exit marking the end of the
passage sat another fifty feet behind her. After rechecking the
corrections, she began to walk, soon recognizing a familiar
moistness at the apex of her thighs.

A young
vampire servant, adjusting a floral arrangement on a carved wood
table, gasped in surprise at Lorna’s sudden appearance.

Lorna smiled
at her, closing the panel. The entrance blended almost seamlessly
into the rich, linen-textured wallpaper. Lorna knocked the dust
from the shoulders of her blouse, smiled once more, and headed for
Cynthia’s room to begin a proper visit. The housekeeper alerted at
Lorna’s state of arousal, averting eyes as protocol required.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“
W
hat are you
telling me?” Lorna asked the captain of the off going motor launch.
With alarm in his voice, he radioed her before the craft tied
up.

“Ma’am, just
as I said, there’s an East Mexican Navy frigate on station right
outside of the territorial limits.”

“This island
is a protectorate of Costa Rica,” Lorna said aloud to herself. “Why
would East Mexico be interested in us?”

Ed understood
why.

They were in
his office when she told him. With a distracted expression, he
heaved up off his chair. “Our island has strategic value. With a
few aircraft, one could control seaborne traffic within a thousand
miles.” He paced on the carpet in front of the desk. Lorna rotated
in her seat to keep him in sight. “They may be planning an
operation.”

“An operation?
What do you mean?”

“An operation
against us. The message traffic suggests one is in progress, but
nothing more specific. General Electronics has a lot of influence
in the country. They may have encouraged the East Mexican
government.”

“Wait a
minute,” Lorna said. “Are you saying East Mexico would simply take
this island from Costa Rica?”

Ed
thought a moment. “Well yes, I guess I am. Costa Rica has no navy
to speak of.
What can
they do?”

“And who’s the
greatest military power in the Caribbean?”

“That’s a
no-brainer, Brazil.”

Lorna eased
next to him. “Don’t you think their best interests would be served
by preventing an East Mexican invasion of our island?”

“Of course.
You’re brilliant!”

Thomas spoke
up. “Even if the corporation had no influence within the Brazilian
government, the idea of intervention makes sense. They’d be foolish
to pass up a chance to do something to benefit the strategic
position of their country. The problem—Brazil does nothing with
dispatch.”

While the
corporation contacted sympathizers in Brazil, long-range radar on
the island reported a flotilla of ships on the way. When Ed leaned
over to peer at the formation of blips, his face reflected green
light from the circular radar screen.

“You say
they’re from East Mexico?” he asked the officer-in-charge. “Are you
sure?”

“Without a
doubt, sir.”

“When will
they arrive?”

“In about
thirty-six hours, give or take.”

Lorna clutched
Ed’s arm. “There must be several thousand of them. We can’t stand
up to this kind of force.”

“I know. With
the radar equipment and airstrip, we’re a readymade military base.
Brazil must realize the potential. They won’t stand by and allow
another country to invade.”

“You assume
they can be prompted to act,” Thomas said. “Brazil spent weeks
arguing over the seating protocol at the beginning of the last
congressional session. I don’t see any prospects for a quick
decision on behalf of our issue.”

“But why are
the Mexicans doing it now?” Lorna wondered aloud.

“Intelligence
pretty much confirmed General Electronics is involved,” Thomas
said. “And…”

Ed turned
toward his brother. “Go ahead, finish the thought. They think
Bobby’s helping them.”

“I will! You
must face the possibility.”

Ed seemed to
shrink in on himself. “I know. I know.” He sighed.

Lorna
consulted the notebook she carried and summarized the island’s
assets. “We can put a force of two hundred and sixty-six together.
We have no heavy weapons, only hand grenades, and dynamite. They
outnumber us ten to one, at least, with artillery, armor, and
aircraft.”

Ed flipped
Lorna a quick wink. “The situation doesn’t look good,” he said.

“No, it
doesn’t.” She agreed.

He has a plan
.

“This is what
we do. All of The Others will come with me into the jungle. There’s
a network of caves in the mountains. Those’ll be our base. Humans
remain here with all hybrids. Offer no resistance. We’ll harass
them as long as we can, or until Brazil sends help.” His eyes
filled with green light, whether from inside or from the radar
screen, Lorna couldn’t tell. Rising to full height, he morphed.
Ed’s third persona, the vampire - rarest of the three emerged. Both
products of self-discipline, Shadow Ed and the Chairman gave way to
a creature of raw passion. The vampire voice roared. “We fight
using the old ways—with fang and claw.”

After everyone
cleared out to begin setting up what they needed for a jungle-based
resistance, Ed told Lorna she must stay behind.

“You think I
won’t keep up?” Lorna turned away. “I’m fine. I don’t get sick.
Also, I’m fit as ever. I won’t hold you back.”

Ed drew her
close. “Don’t you think I want you beside me? I don’t doubt what
you say, but I need you here more.”

“Why? You have
Thomas, and Karla. They were your brain trust in the past.”

“Both are
competent, even brilliant, but neither possesses your instinct for
finding solutions. And I think that quality will be needed here
soon enough. You serve best by remaining behind.”

After
thinking Ed’s reasoning through, reluctantly, she had to
agree.
At least Wendy and Jamie were safe back in Florida.
In tough situations, they could be drama queens. Keeping Karla
calmed down would be challenge enough.