Theta (32 page)

“
It’s more of a
concentrated attack, disguised by two diversions,” I replied. “The
main objective is to chop the head off the snake by crippling the
leadership at the compound. Her Majesty’s objective isn’t
necessarily to destroy the military but take it over. The first
distraction will draw the Supreme Magistrate’s forces one way, and
the attack on the wall a second way, freeing up the area we need to
move around in. Our main forces will arrive into DC via the Metro
system, on trains scheduled to bring food from the Maryland farms
and weapons from their NOVA ammo depot. They’ll converge at Metro
Center, then move through the tunnels to the compound where the
Supreme Magistrate is holed up. When the diversions erupt, the
forces beneath the ground will take the compound.”

“
A modern day Trojan Horse,
using the subway system,” Herakles said.

“
Yes,” I said.

“
How do you know we can
take the metro cars? The military has the stop they use heavily
guarded. Even if we took it by force, they’d alert the others,”
Herakles stated.

“
And the other stops are
sealed,” one of the commanders added.

“
We unseal one stop per
line in advance and overtake the extra cars not in use. Theodocia’s
forces in the city can access the control points for each line. Her
people will divert the cars coming in. After the cars leave the
loading points, we divert them to maintenance tracks and replace
them with cars filled with our forces,” I explained.

Silence fell. Herakles was studying the
layout of the metro system with interest.

The others in the room glanced at me
frequently and then at the Queen. No one trusted me, and I didn’t
expect anyone to. With full numbers on the SISA and military
personal located within the walls, in addition to detailed
information on their standard protocol, strongholds and likely
reactions, I was too useful for them to write off completely.

These numbers are much
higher than we thought,
she said.
We’ll be facing the Supreme Magistrate at
half-strength even with these distractions.

“
Half strength compared to
a tenth is evening the odds,” I pointed out. “And we won’t be
looking solely at using manpower to fight this battle. There are
some with otherworldly abilities who are willing to help
us.”

She lifted her eyes and
pinned me with a look.
I hope you mean
Alessandra, because I will not partner with the gods to fight
Cleon.

“
If you want to win this
war, you’ll partner with whomever you must,” I replied.

Not like that.

The others were silent. I sensed they didn’t
need to hear our full discussion to understand what it was about.
The Silent Queen’s war on gods was a solid principle in recruiting
those who fought for her. I had never met a body of people more
similar in opinion than she and her commanders were when it came to
the gods.

We cannot rely on the
Oracle, either,
she added.
This will be a battle among humans.

And beasts?
I countered telepathically.
You and I are not humans.

She didn’t respond, though I sensed her
entrenchment. My thoughts went to the figure seated along the wall,
among the lower level leaders of her organization. The
god-possessed Kyros was listening to our words, frowning. I hadn’t
been able to assess what he had said or did to be counted among her
allies, rather than her enemies, but it had to have been great, for
the army as a whole loved him.

You are confident once we
take the compound, we won’t have to worry about the military
attacking?
She asked.

“
I am. This is the best way
to achieve your goal of amassing the largest military possible for
the purpose of facing the gods.”

Phoibe tapped the paper in
front of her.
I like this.

Good. Maybe now you’ll tell
me what is it you’re hiding about Alessandra?
I asked.

Phoibe looked away. She said nothing of the
Oracle unless I asked and even then, her responses were
monosyllabic. Something was wrong. I’d spent five days here,
helping her learn to hunt, fly and fight in her grotesque form. It
was five days more than I planned on spending, but I was also
having a difficult time justifying my departure, when I saw how far
she had to go in order to prepare her army for a war in four
months. The better prepared she was, the higher the chances of
success.

And … she was family. The only real family I
had, aside from Menelaus. Both of them were descendants. I didn’t
exactly know how to balance loyalty to blood and the burning desire
I had to find Alessandra and ensure she was safe. Herakles seemed
convinced she was, and Lantos possessed abilities no other god or
man did. In theory, Alessandra was safer on the DC compound than
anyone else in the world.

Yet this knowledge didn’t help the
restlessness at my core, and Phoibe’s intense focus on suppressing
her thoughts and reactions whenever I brought the Oracle up was an
indication something was wrong.

“
Excuse me, Your Majesty,”
a soldier opened the door and bowed clumsily. “We have a situation
at the front gate.”

Herakles started to stand,
but I beat him to it. “With your permission, I’ll go,” I said to
her.
Your people aren’t comfortable
expressing their opinions while I’m here.
I
added telepathically.

She nodded.

The tense silence of the boardroom was soon
behind me. The soldier at the door scrambled out of my path and
then darted ahead of me, as nervous as everyone was when they
caught sight of me. I was allegedly under a sort of house arrest,
but Herakles was the only person in camp who would dare step in my
path. Accustomed to the general aversion others had of me after my
time at SISA, I welcomed the solitude resulting from my reputation.
It allowed me space to evaluate and think without distraction.

I strode through the former department store
acting as their headquarters and out into the afternoon heat. It
was balmy and bright, and her camp was a beehive of activity. The
soldier led me to the motor pool, and we climbed into an armored
vehicle to drive the two kilometers separating the front gate from
the center of the sprawling encampment.

As we approached, the front gate positioned
behind a trench and razor wire opened to reveal a single figure
standing outside the fence line. I recognized the man before we
were close enough for me to see his features. When he spotted me,
he smiled. My instincts went on high alert, and I skimmed the
surrounding forest for signs he had brought his army with him.

I couldn’t begin to fathom what Niko was
doing here. The breeze brought no one else’s scents to me, and no
dangerous shadows lurked in the forest. Niko was alone and armed,
though he was no match for the multiple weapons currently trained
on him. The vehicle stopped at the gate, and I got out.

“
Close the gate behind me,”
I instructed the soldier I passed as I crossed through the
protective barrier.

He obeyed. I waited until I heard the sounds
of the locks sliding into place before I approached Niko. The brash
head of the military was my polar opposite, and just as dangerous.
I had a great deal of respect for him and understood never to trust
him with anything of value.

“
I didn’t expect to see you
here,” he said.

“
Likewise,” I
replied.

“
Guess who has your old
job?” His gaze glinted. “What was it you told me once? Someone like
me would never be the head of SISA?”

“
Gaining a position by
default and winning it by merit are two separate situations,” I
said coolly. “I’m well aware SISA is under the control of the
military.”

Normally, he was the first to anger when we
traded barbs, but this time, he continued to smile.

“
I made a deal to bring you
all this.” He held out a piece of paper. “A certain Oracle paid me
in gold to ensure it made it. It took me some time to slip
away.”

I despised a man who could
be
bought.
No one
was lower in my mind. I accepted the paper and opened
it.

The apocalypse is coming. It occurs the day
the Silent Queen gives birth to twins. Adonis is dead.

The hastily scribbled words relayed the
panic of the person who wrote it. My beast senses picked up on the
faint scent of Alessandra, and I ran my thumb across the sentence
about me.

“
I’ll admit, I’m a little
disappointed to see you alive. I assume she means you will be dead
soon,” Niko said in satisfaction.

“
Her visions have
started.”

“
Yeah. The episodes are
sporadic and take them both out. Makes my job
interesting.”

“
Both?” I repeated. I
re-folded the letter and placed it in my pocket.

“
She and Cleon.”

I tilted my head, not understanding what
Alessandra’s visions had to do with the Supreme Magistrate.

Niko studied me. His smile became broader.
“You don’t know,” he said softly.

“
Assume I don’t. I’ve been
away for a few weeks.”

“
Thank the gods for today.”
Niko glanced at the sky. “Destroying your world might be the best
day of my life.”

I waited for his explanation.

Eager to twist a knife in my gullet, Niko
spared no details. By the time he finished the tale of what had
happened to Alessandra in my absence, and dwelt on the many ways
Lantos had turned on everyone, I was tense. Niko was too thrilled
by the brutal truth – none of my instincts flagged his words as
lies.

He finished, grinning. I remained silent,
unable to recall a time when I had experienced anger this deep.

Niko sensed it. His eyes sparkled as he
studied me. “Best day of my life,” he repeated.

“
The Silent Queen knows,” I
guessed.

“
I assume. Theodocia did,
and they communicated on occasion.”

Phoibe’s secret was worse than I thought.
Herakles didn’t know, or he wouldn’t be here. I didn’t care for
him, but he would never let anyone harm Alessandra. Every instinct
in my body wanted me to leave now, to go to Alessandra and … I
didn’t know. I wasn’t able to think clearly after all I’d
heard.

“
Where is she?” I asked
after a long silence, in which I grappled for control of
myself.

“
The House. She and Lantos
are confined to quarters,” Niko said. “That means nothing to
Lantos. He leaves as he chooses.”

“
You’re being helpful.
Why?”

“
Maybe I want to make it
easier for you to get yourself killed.”

“
Or you figured out who
might be left standing.”

“
What can I say?” He
shrugged. “I have a price. Alessandra can make gold out of thin
air, enough for a hundred lifetimes. And I wouldn’t mind seeing you
dead, if you charge into the House and try to free her.”

“
Have you destroyed the
insurgency’s abilities?”

“
Why not come inside the
walls and see for yourself?” Niko asked.

“
I intend to.
Soon.”

“
I’ll be ready.”

“
No, you won’t,” I
countered. “If you have any desire to stick around once Cleon is
gone, you’ll step aside when you see me coming.”

Niko and I sized each other up. He was an
incredible warrior. We had fought enough for me to know this. But
the weakness of his I’d choose to exploit would never be inside the
ring, and he knew this as well.

“
There’s another way,” he
said.

For the second time today, he surprised me.
“Meaning …” I prodded.

“
Cleon wants you for some
reason. He won’t tell me why, but I’m sure it has something to do
with Alessandra,” Niko said. “I’ll sneak you in.”

“
What’s the
catch?”

He shrugged. “Maybe I like the idea of an
asshole winding up in the dungeon under the House. With their minds
connected, Cleon will know you’re there when she does.”

“
That’s not material enough
to motivate you.”

Niko chuckled. He shifted, and I sensed he
was uneasy. I understood him well enough to know he didn’t care
about the half dozen weapons trained on him. He was here because
Alessandra paid him, but I suspected even that wasn’t enough for
him to risk his life for anyone. I mentally reviewed the details
from the portfolio I’d created on him during my time at SISA. I had
assessed long ago, when I first profiled him, that there were two
real weaknesses with Niko, and they had nothing to do with his
physical prowess and bank account.

“
Tommy or Theodocia?” I
ventured.

He shifted, and some of the amusement left
his features. “I heard something about you. Something really
interesting about how you’re a monster or a god.”

“
Monster is most accurate,”
I replied.

“
Who can fly.”

“
Yes.”

“
I might need a favor down
the road,” Niko said.

“
In exchange for taking me
to Alessandra.”

“
In exchange for taking you
inside the walls. If you want access to the House, there’s a second
price. When you do see her, tell her to un-do whatever she did to
Theodocia.”