Fury of the Six (The Preston Six Book 5) (2 page)

HARRIS PACED NEAR PRESIDENT DENAIL’S desk. The picture of Maya hanging on the wall behind him gave him the grim reminder of how much history they shared. Maya had been Travis’s first love and Harris felt a real responsibility about what happened to her.

Travis tapped the whisky glass with the ring on his middle finger. He shot the glass back and gulped down its contents. More wrinkles creased the edges of his eyes than the last time Harris had seen him, and his clothes carried a few frayed edges.

Harris was patiently waiting for Travis’s reply.

“You didn’t see Samantha get shot down. Even for Marcus, it was cruel,” Travis said.

Harris winced at the terrible reminder of what he missed. Another woman had died because of what he got them involved with. “What then, we give up? We let what’s left of the Preston Six deal with something we all created?”

Travis stood and glared at Harris. “Every time you’ve been involved in my life, people have died. The only reason I tolerate your existence is the agreement I made with Poly.”

Harris placed his hands on the back of the chair facing Travis’s desk. “Forget about us, this is about those kids and Poly’s child. I have a plan set up to hopefully end it all, but I will need your help.”

Travis rubbed the stubble on his chin.

The intercom sounded with Douglas’s voice. “Excuse me, Travis. Senator Johnson is here to see you.”

“Tell her to wait, and it might be a while,” Travis said.

“Whatever,” Douglas said.

“We both have empires to run,” Harris continued, “and I know this isn’t the most convenient time to send resources elsewhere, but it’s the right thing to do.”

“You think I need
convincing
in order to help them?” Travis asked as he walked around his desk.

Harris’s hand moved to the space where his gun usually sat, but he’d left it behind this time. He took inventory of Travis’s body and spotted a bulge near his right hip—probably a blade.

“Tell me, Harris . . . how is MM going? Are you done with the power plant repairs we contracted you to complete?”

“You know very well the answer to that. I have brought back more cities from the black hole than any other person on this planet.”

“And maybe that’s the problem. You kept MM this bloated mass with too much power and too much control over senators like Mrs. Johnson out there.”

“Really? Would you like me to stop making the endless supply drops to the cutoff cities—at MM’s expense, I might add?”

“All so you can put a pretty face on a company that nearly destroyed this planet. Oh and speaking of destroying planets, have you visited Arrack’s planet lately? I hear it’s wonderful this time of year.”

Harris took a step back and held out his hands. “Travis, we can go round and round on every detail, but the fact remains, we are connected. Those kids are counting on us.”

“I don’t plan on letting them down.”

“Good, we agree on something.”

Travis clenched his jaw, and blew out a frustrated breath. “Do you even know where Marcus is, or what planet he’s on?”

“I spoke to Gladius.”

Travis twitched and slapped his hand on his desk, rattling the glass and half empty bottle. “If you get her killed—”

“She is her own woman,” Harris said, stopping him mid-threat. “She made her choices, even if that puts herself and Hank in harm’s way. They all know what’s at risk here. Do you?”

“The child,” Travis said glancing back at his picture of Maya. “I’ve seen the reports. I know what we are protecting, but it doesn’t mean I understand it all. Why do you think Marcus wants this child so badly?”

“About a hundred years ago, when Marcus realized he was going to die, he scoured the planet for anything that could help him. That’s when he discovered the first stone. He kept it to himself, for a while, but when the first Arrack appeared, he confided in his closest few that he found other worlds. But when he found Ryjack, he showed us the location. That’s when he started mass shipping people through these stones.”

“Thanks for Marcus 101, but that doesn’t explain what he wants with the baby,” Travis said, looking impatient.

“After finding Ryjack, Marcus went on a ceaseless mission of jumping to other worlds. He jumped around, nearly dying many times due to various climates. Do you know that was the reason he invented his personal shield?”

“No,” Travis said.

“One day he stopped. He retreated to his bunker and for the first time since I knew him, he looked scared and confused. He started training Arracks to jump, and kept sending them to this one place.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. He kept it hidden, even from me, but what I do know is that that was the first time he started talking about finding a perfect human. After that, he holed himself up and worked day and night on his ‘projects.’ I believe this is the time he created Alice. This is also the time I left MM.”

“So you think Marcus thinks this baby is what he’s been looking for?”’

“Yes, and I have to agree with him. With her . . . everything is off the charts.”

Travis went back to his chair and plopped down, looking perplexed. He poured more into his whiskey glass and chugged it down.

“We thinkg Marcus’s accomplice is close to making contact with Hank and Gladius.”

“Why, what have you heard?” Travis said, leaning forward.

“We think Marcus sent his man to Vanar. There was a mayor that suffered an unfortunate accident in a town they just stayed at,” Harris said.

Travis leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. “Phase two is upon us.”

“We’re going to have to use Hank and Gladius as bait.”

“To lure out his accomplice . . .”

“Yes.”

“You find out who it is yet?”

“I have my suspicions, but no.”

Travis took a long breath. “We are really putting them at great risk again. If anything doesn’t go as planned, this whole thing can come down on us. Maybe we should be aiming at the small prize instead of trying to hit the jackpot.”

Harris had thought about this many times. He wished it would be as simple as cutting the head off the snake but Marcus always left something behind, a back up plan. Then it would be only a matter of time until an apprentice of his would pick up the flag and run with it. If they had any chance of ending it once and for all, they had to take everything from him.

“This is the end, Travis. This is where we win or lose everything.”

“OOH, A BABY! CAN I hold her?” The woman’s face contorted with a mixture of excitement and desire. Both emotions Gladius was familiar with, but didn’t have the time to tolerate.

“No, you can’t,” she replied.

Hank gave her one of his looks and Gladius sighed, turning back to the lady. “She’s sleeping, otherwise I’d be glad to.” She delivered the message with a toothy smile.

This seemed to be reason enough for the woman to go on her merry way. Gladius shivered at the thought of letting that hag with filthy clothes touch her child, even if it was fake. She could have lice or who knows what else this backwoods town might have.

Hank raised an orange and inspected it before placing it in a plastic bag. Good, let him pick the fruit in this place. The quicker the better. She fanned herself with her free hand.
How can a supermarket not have air conditioning?
Of all the things to lose . . . the AC had to be the worst.

Traveling only to cities who had limited net and power was the plan, but she couldn’t wait to get back into a clean bed with cold air blowing on her face. Hell, even sex with Hank felt like a sweat shower.

A few other people meandered around the sparsely-filled produce aisle. Some did double takes at her baby, but most kept to themselves.

“I think we have enough for our stay.” Hank lifted a bag filled with miscellaneous fruits. “Let’s go down the packaged food aisle next.”

“Finally.”

After giving up many of the luxuries to which she was accustomed, Snackie Cakes was Gladius’s hard limit, and something she wasn’t willing to give up. Even during her brief stint on Earth, she’d kept a supply of Snackie Cakes. But now, she’d heard vicious rumors on the net about how the family shut down the factory and whatever was out there was the last of it. Goosebumps prickled the hairs on her arm.

Keeping Jen, the fake baby, close to her chest, she made her way to the dry food aisle. The last thing she needed was someone stopping them to gab about how long it’d been since they’d seen a baby. Everyone wanted to touch her, or take a picture with her, or even worse, to have her follow them on the nets to up their social points.

“Your cakes should be down here,” Hank said. “Look, there’s one left.”

An older lady walked toward the last box of Snackie Cakes sitting on the shelves. Gladius and the woman made eye contact. “Claim,” Gladius called out, but the other woman just picked up her pace.

This was not going to happen. Those Snackie Cakes were hers. Opening up into a full sprint, she hurdled toward her destination. The other woman’s eyes went wide as she picked up her speed and reached for the box first, holding it against her chest in the same manner as Gladius held Jen.

“I claimed that.”

“I never heard anything. Besides, whoever touches it first, gets it.”

“Bullshit! Those Snackie Cakes are coming home with me.”

Hank stood next to her. Good, his size could be intimidating. Gladius shoved their fake baby into his chest. She felt lighter, quicker with both hands accessible. She kept a few knives on her at all times for moments just like these. If she had to cut those damned cakes from the stupid woman’s imitation wool sports jacket, then so be it.

“You—you have problems,” the woman said clutching the box. “I need these for my son. He’s taken the net outages real bad, and the only thing that brings him out of his hole are these Snackie Cakes.”

Gladius’s mouth hung open and she gave the slightest shake of her head. She really couldn’t believe the woman tried to pull on her heart strings. “I don’t care if your son is a freaking diabetic and these are the last bits of sugar on Vanar, those cakes are going home with me.”

This is where she lost Hank. She heard his heavy sighing. She didn’t want to act this way around him—he had made her such a better woman—but this Snackie Cake battle required her old self.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t let you have these cakes if you were Alice herself, here to turn the world back on. In fact, I’m going to go home and feed one to my dog . . . thinking of you the entire time.”

The bitch had some nerve, but Gladius closed her eyes and knew she had to take it to the next level—plan B. She lifted off her wig and dropped it on Hank, then she took off her stupidly large glasses and handed them to Hank as well. Hank didn’t grab them from her hand and they dropped to the floor. “If I have to take one more thing off, it’s going to get real ugly up in here. This is my last warning. Give me those Snackie Cakes, right
now
!”

The woman took a step back, looking around. Her fingers gripped the edges of the box. Then she stopped and squinted, leaning forward. “Wait. Aren’t you the president’s daughter?”

“Gladius Denail.” She bowed.

The lady smiled and wagged a finger. “Oh yes,
Gladius
. Don’t you hold the all-time social score for banging celebrities?”

Gladius pinched her lips together and touched the knife stuffed near her back pocket.

The woman looked back at Hank. “You look familiar as well. How many points does she get for banging an oaf like you?” She laughed. “What are you even doing in this shit hole? Is there a socialite whore competition in town?”

Gladius skipped plan C and D and jumped right to killing her. She pulled the knife and picked her wrinkled neck to strike. She reached back and felt a large grip on her hand.

“Get out of here,” Hank yelled at the woman as he held Gladius’s hand back.

The lady glanced from Hank, to the knife in Gladius’s hand, and made a run for it.

“Bitch!” Gladius yelled, keeping her eyes on her as she rounded the corner and headed toward the front door.

“Just let her go.”

Gladius yanked her arm free and paced in the aisle. She wanted to chase the woman all the way to her simple shack and make her vomit up each Snackie Cake.

“Put away the knife,” Hank said.

Rage filled her and she spent a good minute trying to keep her hand from shaking long enough to stick the knife back into its sheath. “You should have let me kill her.”

“I don’t think that would be a good representation of the president’s daughter.” Hank smiled.

“We haven’t seen a Snackie Cake in two cities now and we just let that cow up and take off with them. I mean, I claimed it.”

“I know, I know, baby. Just calm down. We won’t be here long and I bet the next town will have some.”

“If they don’t, I am going to hold you personally responsible. And yes, that means no sex until I get my hands on a Snackie Cake.”

Hank looked around for the woman and sighed. “Come on, let’s go buy those fruit things.” He snatched the bag up in one hand and handed Jen back to Gladius. She took it and wrapped the blanket around its plastic head, covering it all up.

After Hank paid the cashier, she joined him at the front door and left the supermarket. The air outside blew against her damp skin and she sighed in relief until the smell of sewer hit her nose.

“You know, we could try printing those cakes out again.”

“Are you joking? Those tasted like crap, Hank. Just like you can’t stand printed fruit.”

“I’m going to hunt down that woman and her little dog too,” Hank said in a raspy, strange voice.

“I don’t get you sometimes. You know, you can’t joke about my Snackie Cakes. Some shit is for real.” Hank laughed at this and Gladius couldn’t help but join in. He had the most infectious laugh of any person she’d ever met and instantly she felt better. Let the old hag and her dog stuff their faces. She hoped they died choking on them. “You think we left enough of a footprint on this town?” she asked.

“I think you left a lasting impression on that woman. But yes, the whole town will soon know that Gladius Denail, daughter of the president, and top sex scorer, is in town.”

She stared at Hank and blinked. She’d had every intention of telling Hank about her previous lifestyle, but he was so innocent, it was hard to find the right time. “Don’t listen to that woman,” Gladius said. “She’s just some hateful, crazy person.” Today was not the day for that conversation.

Hank frowned. “You shouldn’t set your fuse so short. We have a baby to think about.” He patted the back of the baby’s head and made baby noises to it.

A scraggly man paced behind Hank and Gladius leaned to the left to get a better look at him. Ragged clothes and just from looking at him, she bet he smelled horrible. Then she spotted the knife in his hand. He stopped pacing and made eye contact with her. Gladius gave him a scowl that should have stopped most men, but he walked closer to Hank.

“Watch your back,” Gladius said with a nod to the approaching man.

Hank turned around.

“Give me those fruits, man,” he said pointing his knife at the bag.

Hank held his hand out and the bag crinkled as the fruit repositioned. “You want these?”

“Yeah, hand ‘em over.”

Gladius stepped forward with her free hand at her face and played her best damsel-in-distress look she could manage. “No please, sir, this is all we have to feed our baby.”

The man moved his attention back and forth from Hank and Gladius. “Stay back,” he said as the knife shook in his hands. “I mean it, or I’ll cut you both, and that baby too. I just want those fruits, man.”

“Oh no, you are going to hurt my baby? Hank, please, don’t let him hurt me and my baby.”

“Dude, you better run,” Hank said.

“Just toss them over.”

“Please,
no
,” Gladius said with her hand near her neck, fake fear filling her face. “Don’t hurt us. We are just simple people, traveling with a new child.” She deserved an award.

“You’re stupid if you don’t run right now,” Hank said.

The knife in his hand shook and his fingers moved over the duct tape wrapping around the makeshift handle. His eye twitched and he licked his lips, staring at the bag of fruit and not taking a single step in any direction. Gladius was glad he didn’t leave. She still felt the interaction with the woman from the supermarket eating away at her; the bitch was probably sucking down Snackie Cakes at that very moment.

Gladius tossed the baby to the man. He jerked to catch it and didn’t see the large smile on her face. She gave her best kick straight to his manhood and thought she felt him lift off the ground with it. The man fell to his knees, reaching for his crotch. Gladius kneed him in the face, crushing his nose and eye socket.

He fell back onto the street, knocked out.

“Oh no, my baby,” Gladius covered her face and stood on the man’s balls while she picked up Jen. A few onlookers slowed down to take in the spectacle. She wrapped the baby back up in its blanket and clutched it to her chest. “She’s okay, don’t worry,” she said and got closer to Hank. “You think we’ll be noticed now?”

“I think we have done more than enough to have a lasting memory on this town. Maybe this fruit should be to-go.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Fine, I didn’t like this town anyway.” Gladius walked with Hank back to the car parked far enough away from the supermarket as to not arouse suspicion. A person with a car like that, drew in a crowd, thinking the rich people from Capital came to their town.

She felt good after assaulting that man and skipped down the concrete sidewalk next to Hank, watching his big grin. She liked to make him smile and his eyes fixated on her bouncing chest. She glanced down at her low top and saw her boobs doing their thing. Good, let him get all excited, because she was dead serious about the no sex deal. She’d bet he’d find a way to get her Snackie Cakes in the next town.

A few people loitered around their black car. Hank approached, pushing his chest out and looking much larger. The people around the car scattered as they approached. Gladius giggled, if only those people knew how much more dangerous she was.

Hank rushed to the car first and opened the passenger door.

“Why thank you, good sir.”

The black leather interior had lost its new smell over the past six months, but it felt soft enough to want to strip down naked and let it touch you. Hank hopped in the driver’s side and closed the door.

“Where to?” he asked.