"It was like old times, Aset," Nzinga sighed. "The young Queen was awesome."
"Like the best of the Amazon battles, only better," Penthesileia said. "I wondered if I might even bump into Achilles while there, but no."
"They will feel our wrath and be quite disorganized for a while," Eve said, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. "Nary a sentry twitched. They were too con
sumed in their frenzied mating to even guard their own corridors - and to think this is what they'd sent to our sis ter's home."
"Speaking of which, ladies," Damali said with a bright smile. "Can I get a shower and a quick Light blast... then, uh some clean clothes and a lift home? I gotta break this to my husband real easy."
* * *
He wasn't worried about where Damali was. Marlene had said the Queens had called her, and left a violet tracer so there'd be no concerns. It stood to reason that they might have cracked the code on the problem that had been contained in the black-box he'd left in the great hall, and he was curious to find out what Damali had learned. Plus, after Dan and Heather's good fortune of parental acceptance, albeit along with a little overeating indigestion, he was in a really good place. Peace had claimed him for once in a blue moon.
Carlos chuckled, listening to the crazy banter in the main suite. But he was just glad that, at the moment, everything was cool... man. Rabbi Zeitloff was at one of the Covenant's synagogue safe houses awaiting Father Pat, Imam Asula, and Monk Lin's flights that were coming in soon. Dan's rendition of everyone's reaction as that brother held court in the living room and told the story with so much yeast that it rose, was hilarious. When Dan started doing different voices, Carlos almost rolled out of his chair onto the floor. Finally, Jose was the one who just got everybody going. He started in with teasing them about being secret agents, and then J.L. got into the mix.
"Check it out," J.L. said, turning his laptop around on the coffee table. "You need to let me and Jose pimp this ride out for D, and I got one for you, too, C."
"Aw, man, get out of here," Carlos said, laughing. "What is it?"
"See, every secret agent in the flicks has to have a cool ride, and since you scammed Dan's parents, I was saving this for you," J.L. said with a wink. "Check it out, the Bugatti Veyron, pretty bitch pushes two-hundred-and-fifty miles per hour, rockets from zero to sixty in two-point-five seconds, and accelerates so fast you can drive her upside down -
feel me?"
"Daaaayum," Jose said, nodding with approval. "We mighta just been playing around, but... hey."
"I was thinking the same thing, dude," Rider said, coming to look at the car. "What's the price tag on that lovely, sexy, make-you-wanna-holla female, J.L.?" Every woman in the room groaned.
"Oh, no, please don't get them on a tech bender," Marlene said, flopping into a chair in defeat. "I thought we were gonna go look at real estate before the sun went down."
"A cool one-point-three," J.L. said, answering Rider's question and ignoring Marlene.
'That ain't bad, for all-a that," Shabazz said, pounding Carlos's fist. Marjorie just leaned her head back on the sofa and closed her eyes.
"Are you all crazy!" Juanita fussed.
"A million dollars for a car that you know Carlos is gonna crash up or run something over with?" Inez said, sucking her teeth.
"That's crazy," Krissy said, plopping down on the edge of J.L.'s chair, leaning in to see better. "But it's gorgeous."
He looked up at her and smiled. "Wait 'til you see this one. The Bugatti is for D, she needs the extra speed to get out of a jam... and when I weapons-kit it..."
"Yeah, when homeboy pimps her ride," Jose said, leaning in for a fist pound, "it's gonna be - "
" Da bomb," Carlos, J.L., and Jose said together.
"You see why I don't argue about some things?" Marlene said in a resigned tone, glimpsing Heather and Jasmine's wide grins. "It's not because I'm psychic. It's just because I already know how this is gonna go. We found the property this afternoon, so now all the technology and toys to go in it - and filling up the garage goes with that territory - is their thing."
"Aw, now, Mar, don't get all salty. We gonna get you some snazzy-jazzy stuff, too," Mike said, laughing. "Maybe put some GPS locators in your - "
"The old-fashioned way works for me," she fussed with a smile, but had to also stand and go look when those assembled around the table released a collective groan.
"Aw, look at her," Bobby said, tracing the screen with his finger. J.L. swatted his hand away. "Uh, uh, look but don't touch and don't drool on my laptop."
"I hear you, son," Berkfield said in a near whisper. "Damn, ... she's a beaut."
"The Saleen S7 is all you, Rivera," J.L. said with a smile. "Damn, I wanna funk that lovely lady out with some machine-gun turrets, RPG launcher, side lasers along the running boards to burn out and blow tires, you know?"
Carlos stared at the flawless, metallic red finish on the car that had shark gill doors that opened in a vertical hatch. "Aw, man... only point three seconds behind the Bugatti."