Apocalyptic Visions Super Boxset (194 page)

The only sound Jason heard deep within the cabin of the ship was the light lap of the waves against the hull. He lay there, soaked with sweat in his bed, the girl from the night before naked next to him, still asleep. He scooted close and ran his finger along her shoulder, moving down her side where it curved over her hip.

Her skin was tanned and soft, and despite the heat and sweat, she still smelled of flowers and salt water. Her face was covered by long strands of thick, wavy black hair that refused to be tamed by hand or brush. Jason remembered the way it moved as she spun around on the dance floor, blocking the smile that curved up her lips and shone in her eyes.

Jason slowly sat up, the heavy bed of straw shifting underneath his weight. He looked back at her, and she stirred but only enough to move to her back, her hair falling from her face. He ran his hand along her cheekbone. Her eyes opened, and she gave him the same smile from the night before. “Good morning.” Her native speech rolled off of her tongue just as warm as her skin pressed up against him.

“Morning.” Jason felt the warmth emanating from her. It wasn’t the hot, uncomfortable heat of the climate around him. It was… different.

Footsteps quickly thudded down the steps to Jason’s room, and Chris smiled at the foot of the stairs as the girl pulled her dress from behind her on the floor to cover herself. “No need for that, darling. I was rather enjoying the view.”

“What is it?”

“Some of Ruiz’s men are here to see you.” Chris’s tone changed from playful to stern. “They wouldn’t tell me what they want.”

Jason stepped through the legs of his pants and tied the lacing. “Armed?” He pulled his shirt over his head. It was still dirty from the night before but held the faintest hint of flowers.

“Yes, but there’s only two of them,” Chris answered. “I suppose if they wanted to kidnap us, they could send an entire unit. Still, it doesn’t mean they don’t have more waiting the moment you’re away from the ship.”

“I was scheduled to meet with Ruiz this afternoon. He could just want to meet with me now.” Jason buckled the belt holding his pistols and grabbed the dagger off the chest next to his bed.

“I can see you’re preparing for diplomacy.” Chris gave the weapons a once-over.

“I’ll be up in a minute.” Chris took the hint and tried to sneak one last peek at the woman before trotting back upstairs. Once he was gone, she slowly rolled off the bed, letting the dress once again fall to the floor, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body close to his, and kissed him.

Jason returned the kindness then found his lips traveling down her neck. He pulled his head back and looked down at her, speaking in her native Portuguese. “I have to go, but you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. I’ll be back by this evening. I’d very much like to see you again.”

The smile faded from her lips, and she reached for her dress, this time tying it on for good. She kissed him on the cheek and headed for the stairs. Jason caught her wrist before she disappeared up to the deck. “Wait, I don’t even know your name.”

The woman descended the steps slowly until she was eye to eye with Jason. She pulled his head to her one last time and kissed him hard, gently tugging at his lower lip with her teeth as she finished. “Goodbye.”

Jason stood there with his eyes closed, dazed and confused, the feeling of her lips still lingering on his own. When the fog of her scent finally drifted away, he opened his eyes and sprinted up the cabin steps, his bare feet sliding across the slick deck of the ship. He looked left then right, searching for the pale-blue dress the woman had worn, but saw only the ship’s crew, Chris, both of Ruiz’s men, and the cluster of fishermen preparing their boats for their day at sea.

“Hey, you all right?” Chris laid his hand on Jason’s shoulder. “If you’re looking for the girl, she disappeared up the walkway. Looked like she was in a hurry to leave. You try sleeping with her again?” He slapped Jason across the back, the playful jest pushing him forward.

Wherever she’d gone, Jason had no way of finding her again. He shook off the loss and gathered his shoes. The two men that Ruiz had sent were the size of four, standing at least seven feet high and as wide as a doorway. They shared similar short-cut hair and scraggly beards. “President Ruiz wishes you to convene with his council. It is of the most urgent importance.”

“I’m at the president’s disposal.” Jason turned back to Chris and whispered in his ear once the two behemoths had started their walk down the docks. “Have the crew ready the boat and load the cannons. We may have to shoot our way out of here if things turn south. And I want you and Robert to follow me. I might need the backup.”

Chris nodded then disappeared while Jason caught up with the giants. They provided a horse and started the trot up to the president’s palace. Along the way, Jason caught himself looking through the side alleys of streets, searching for the flash of a blue dress and the wild black hair that accompanied it.

Once they arrived at the palace gates, the two men escorted Jason through the halls and into a smaller room than the one he’d seen a few days ago when he first arrived. The behemoth with the matted beard stopped him before entering. “Your weapons.”

Jason took a step backward and bumped into the wall that was the second giant, who slapped his massive palms over his shoulders, immobilizing him. “Touch my guns, and I’ll make sure the only thing you’re good for is staining the president’s floor after I cut you open.”

The giant took an aggressive step forward, grunting as he reached for Jason’s belt, but then abruptly stopped at President Ruiz’s request. “Enough! That is no way to treat our guest.” He stepped out of the room, immaculately dressed and flashing that poisonous political smile.

The monstrous beasts stepped away, and Ruiz put his arm around Jason, leading him inside, where he saw Chinese Ambassador Fung sitting at the table, sipping a drink from a porcelain cup. The doors closed behind him once inside, and Ruiz gestured for him to sit.

“I apologize for my men,” Ruiz said, slightly chuckling to himself. “I’m afraid they’re more brawn than brain. And not very subtle.”

“I’ve found that subtlety isn’t your country’s specialty, Mr. President. In your guards or your women.”

Ruiz slapped the table, laughing, rattling the plates and silverware. “Sounds as though you’ve been vexed, Governor. I’d be careful if I were you. The women around here are known to be dangerous, especially the ones who’ve found themselves in love.” He gave a coy smile and reached for his drink.

“Have your nightly affairs aided in your negotiations, Governor?” Fung kept a cool face over the mocking comment, his body and hand steady as a stone as he took another sip from his drink.

“Practice makes perfect, Ambassador.” Jason turned to Ruiz. He was tired of the fact that he’d been in Rio for three days and had accomplished nothing of the finalization of their trade agreement. “The sooner we can discuss our next steps, the sooner both of us can return to our normal lives. I’m not sure what the ambassador has planned, but back home I have matters that require my attention.”

“Oh, I’m very aware of your lack of insight into what my people have been doing, Governor.” Fung’s words were sharp, his accent flicking into the syllables like the point of a knife into meat. “I’m afraid your trade agreement with President Ruiz has been nullified.”

The height of the table blocked both Jason’s hands and his guns from view as he slowly moved his right palm to the hilt of his pistol. He kept his eyes on Fung even though his words were addressed to Ruiz. “I don’t remember the Chinese being a part of our negotiations, Ruiz.” He wrapped his fingers around the cold steel. His eyes flitted to the window behind Fung, where he saw the quick flash of two men dash to either side.

Fung laughed, shaking his head. “You have no idea what’s coming, Governor. While you’ve been busy settling your skirmishes on your own land, my people have developed a very strong relationship with the South Americans.”

Ruiz snapped his fingers, and the doors opened, sending in a flood of guards that circled the room, all armed with rifles and swords. “The trade agreements you’ve proposed will help you more than my people.” Ruiz shook his head, the loose skin along his neck wiggling back and forth. “You just have nothing to offer me.

“And what did Fung offer you?” Jason kept his hand on his pistol’s handle as the guards moved in closer, the barrels of their rifles aimed at his head.

Ruiz leaned in close, his eyes greedy with lust and power. “An empire.” The words came out of him like a wheezing growl then grew into a hearty laugh that filled the hall.

Jason watched Chris’s face appear out of the corner of the window in a small sliver of space between the guards behind Fung, then gave a wink. “You should have stuck with me, Ruiz. The last time the Chinese tried to fight a war, they lost.”

“This won’t be a war, Governor,” Fung said. “It’s an annihilation.”

The glass behind Fung shattered as Chris and Robert burst through, both wielding pistols, firing into anything that wasn’t Jason. The guards were too slow to react when Jason aimed his pistol at Fung, but the man darted before he could pull the trigger.

Chris aimed both his pistols on either side of Jason’s head and brought down the guards behind him. Once the weapons discharged, swords were drawn, and the clang of steel rang through the room. Jason watched both Fung and Ruiz disappear while he ran the edge of his blade across a guard’s stomach. He took chase after Fung but was greeted at the door by three more guards, each with their rifles aimed at him. He slashed the blade against the rifle barrels, knocking them to the floor, and managed to kill one of the sentries before the others drew their own swords.

Jason parried, the two guards pushing him back with each swing of their blades, until he made it to Chris and Robert, the three of them with their back to one another, fending off Ruiz’s men.

Steel tore into flesh, blood stained the marbled floors, and the body count piled up until Jason, Chris, and Robert were the only ones left. Robert yanked Jason by the back of the collar and almost tossed him out the window before checking to make sure the coast was clear.

“We need to move,” Chris said, wiping the blood from his blade on the sleeve of one of the dead guards. “Ruiz will have more men here soon.”

Whistles and shouts had already filled the palace from beyond the conference room, and the longer they waited, the harder it was going to be to return to the ship. Jason sheathed his sword and snatched one of the rifles from the guard’s hands. “The ship’s ready for departure?”

“Just waiting on us,” Chris answered.

“Let’s go.” Jason remained sandwiched in the middle as the three of them hugged the walls, doing their best to maneuver through the compound unseen. Jason kept his eyes wandering across the palace grounds, trying to determine where Ruiz and Fung had escaped to, but by now they were most likely locked in a room, surrounded by a hundred sentries to ensure they remained safe.

“They’ll have the gates sealed off by now,” Chris said as they ducked behind some of the foliage in a small garden they passed through. “We can try and get out the way Robert and I followed you in, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to make it. It’s on the other side of the compound.”

Jason dripped of sweat, and he got his first good look at his bloodstained hands and shirt. His fingers felt sticky and warm, and he smeared the wet blood onto his pant leg.

“Over here!” One of the guards shouted, and a unit of men dashed into the garden. “The blood trail leads here.”

Before the guards followed the blood splatter to the bushes, Jason, Chris, and Robert leapt from the shrubs, blasting the guards backward. Jason dropped the rifle then reached for his pistol, continuing the assault on Ruiz’s men until there was nothing left but bodies.

The skirmish attracted more guards, and the three of them sprinted toward the perimeter, Jason scanning the horizon as fast as he could, looking for any way out. Echoes of gunfire and shouts reverberated off the palace walls.

              “There!” Chris pointed to a tree next to the wall with enough branches to try and make the climb. The patter of hooves grew, and Jason watched six mounted soldiers turn the corner of the courtyard. They fired from their steeds, one of the bullets catching Robert in the calf.

The large man stumbled forward, nearly losing his balance, but caught himself in stride and barreled into a tree with enough force that it nearly toppled. The plant was close to the perimeter wall, and the top branches extended to the barrier’s edge.

Robert grabbed Jason’s arm and lifted him into the lower branches then did the same for Chris. Both men extended their hands down to help lift the large man up, but he knocked them away with his massive palm. “Go!” He picked up his rifle and fired into the gathering cluster of guards.

“Robert, no!” Jason tried descending the branches, but Chris yanked him from under his arms, pinning him in the tree. “Let me go!” He wouldn’t leave Robert to die. Not here. Not with these people.

“We have to go,” Chris said, struggling to keep Jason still. Finally, he spun Jason around and grabbed hold of his chin. “Listen to me! Robert is doing his job, keeping you safe. If you don’t make it out of here alive, then you’ll spit on his sacrifice!”

The thick leaves and branches of the tree blocked most of Robert’s body, but he watched the large man fend off at least five others, neither sword nor bullet able to bring the giant down. He roared and fought and raged like the warrior he was.