Hellbender - Dana Cameron Page 0,69

and I didn’t think of him as being into electronica.

He was clearly confused, and as he tried to frame a question—probably about the approaching deadline and our seeming frivolity—Toshi spoke up.

“War dance, bro.” He returned my earbud, we air-kissed twice, and he pretend-flipped long, flowing hair as he marched past Gerry.

“Ten minutes, Zoe,” was all Gerry said, still not quite sure what he’d seen. “I’ll see you at the truck downstairs.”

Whatever break I might have taken from worrying about what I was about to do, it was worth it. A good lesson, one I hoped I’d be alive to use again, I thought. It was a short drive, and then a flight to a military base somewhere off the East Coast and to the south.

I didn’t get nervous until I began to walk from the Jeep to the runway on the island. That’s when the shakes and chills started, despite the warm, humid air. I was able to keep two things in mind, and those kept my head up and my nerves mostly hidden. One was that I knew I could do what I had to do next. And one was the sheer enthusiasm with which I wanted to answer these attacks on my Family, Fangborn and human. I remembered, how long ago it seemed, what the idea of Senator Knight’s involvement in Sean’s death did to me, the anger it brought, and how Dmitri Parshin’s abuse of Danny was still so close to the surface. What had spurred me on in those cases was now a thousand, ten thousand times greater, because my concerns had spread that much further, thanks to the Makers, thanks to Carolina, and thanks to I-Day. Oddly, however, since meeting Dr. Osborne, I felt like I had a problem suitable to my skills and a mastery of those skills sufficient to deal with this specific problem.

As reassuring as that all was, it didn’t completely banish the nerves I had thinking about what I was about to do. It was cataclysmically dangerous and literally could blow up in our faces.

Still, it was better than nothing, and I hadn’t felt like the odds were this good in some time.

I passed a Cousin in an airman’s uniform; she spoke into a mouthpiece. “Two minutes to Lightning Rod.”

So that’s what they’d decided on, I thought. It bordered hideously on the “too apt,” and I looked around for something to focus on so I wouldn’t remember that it was me drawing all that firepower. Ahead of me, several hundred yards out on the water, was the target, a truncated pyramid bobbing on the waves. No comfort there . . .

There. Amid about two hundred VIPs in the hastily assembled stadium seating. I recognized a number of faces from the news. There were uniforms from all the armed services, sporting more fruit salad than a hotel brunch buffet. I thought I recognized the vice president but wasn’t sure. There were too many guys in dark suits, wearing dark glasses and speaking to no one.

There was Senator Knight. Odd that we were on the same side now. I needed his authority and influence. He needed my power.

He caught my eye and I gestured.

“Zoe,” he said when I met him at the fence.

“Call me ‘stray,’ ” I said. “It sounds more familiar on your lips. More honest, too. Plus, it makes me angry.”

“Would that help?”

“I’m thinking it will.”

The aquiline nose had never seemed so daunting; the hardness of his eyes was ancient. “Well, then, little stray, you’d better put on a show good enough not only to impress everyone here, from the lowliest of the enlisted to the Joint Chiefs, but me, as well. I am your toughest critic. I won’t be undercut because some uncultured, unschooled orphan can’t keep her promises or spins grandiose tales for some spectacularly sad reason. There are oracles who died with your name the last thing in their ears, and I’m sure we’ll find more. Go ahead, I dare you to let them, the Family, and me down.”

If he’d shown me the faintest amount of compassion, it wouldn’t have worked. But as I met his gaze, I saw disappointment and disgust, the regret that it wasn’t his power, that I’d beaten him to opening Pandora’s Box, that I, a stray, had outwitted him. Had more power than he.

Perfect. I wanted to slap him stupid.

“Get going,” he snapped.

“Jawohl, Senator, sir.” I turned on my heel and muttered “asshole,” knowing full well his sharp vampire ears would hear me.

I walked