Beluga Fay (Dragon Bone Hill) (19 page)

“What do they want?”

“The membership doesn’t know what they want—they are just afraid and angry. Lander is using this as leverage to get himself a seat on the committee and to put a couple of his people on this as well.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Nothing—there is nothing to be done.”

“Won’t he kill you?”

“Maybe, but I cannot move against Lander, or his people, until they do something to destroy themselves.”

“He sounds too good for that.”

“Lander is a bully and a sadist, sooner or later he will trip himself up, then one of two things will happen...” Stopping, he continued to scan the Wall. “Looks too strong here.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Exploitable structural weaknesses.”

“You won’t find any—the Wall is new and well maintained.”

“There’s always some place that is vulnerable.”

“That would be the guards.”

“What about tunneling?”

“Dig down and you’ll run into water. It is, technically, doable, but it would take a lot of work, and there is no way it would remain secret for long because of the labor force needed—then we’d also need engineers to design and build it.”

Pym nodded and stood, putting the glasses back in his pouch.

“What about the kids?”

“Which kids?”

“The ones working for the Cartel?”

“Lander made certain everyone knew he would take care of that.”

“But doesn’t the committee...”

“Too much fear—Lander took care of that when I was away one day and hung the bodies outside the main warehouse.”

“He just...”

“All seven.”

“What about Simon?”

“I killed him in the market.”

“Titus, he was a child!”

“I know,” turning back as he walked down the rise looking out over the Wall, “but he’d already tried to kill me and was taking aim again. It was a simple choice but not one I’d wanted to make.”

The woman seemed to understand he was not having an easy time with what he’d done—Glenna even appeared relaxed by this. “What now?”

“There may be a referendum on my leadership.”

“But they have to remember what Lander had done to the women and the weak when Bannly was in charge.” Over their time together, Glenna had wheedled much of his life in the Beluga Fay out of him, and Titus had not wanted to hide much of it. However, how he got into the city, beyond escaping from the burning freighter, and why he’d been elliptical about this was another matter. She had pressed Pym on occasion, but he either changed the subject or flatly refused to answer for a variety of reasons—not least of which was that he wasn’t certain how far he should trust the woman. This wasn’t the actual reason—he was not going to share with her what was really going on in his life—but it was a good enough one to keep her from burrowing too deeply into his past.

It wasn’t that there was anything there which Glenna, at this time, could have acted upon, but if she, and her cabal, got him out of the city, this might be traded on somewhere down the road if they ever made it out of the country. That had to be the next step—because it was, as far as he was concerned, only a matter of time before the Sweats jumped the Wall and spilt across the country. This was assumed by the blockade of the country and, especially, the main islands. She might have protested this, but the woman was only looking as far ahead as the other side of the gate. At least, that was all she shared with him. In itself, this made Titus nervous because Glenna wasn’t a stupid woman. Naive, of course, but she would have to have a goal for the other side. The goal would have to include her brother and probably elements of the cabal—more than this, Titus was uncertain of.

“They do remember, don’t they?”

“Come on. Don’t want the guards seeing you hanging about.”

The woman trotted down the rise and after him.

“We’ve grown,” Titus continued, “by several factors since then. Most of the new members have heard the stories but either don’t believe them or believe he has changed.”

“But how do you hide that kind of a character?”

Smiling to himself Titus stood beside the car, but did not turn. “Men can hide all sorts of character flaws until they got you hooked and helpless. Slowly the truth will come out, but what is there to do then? He’ll have the leadership, unless he fucks up or moves too fast.”

“This is beginning to make sense,” she answered, following behind Pym.

“What is that?”

“Do you think Lander has been in contact with the government or Cartel?”

Still standing beside the car, with the door open, Titus stopped.

“That’s an interesting question.”

“There is a rumor.” The woman stopped, having opened the passenger’s door but not getting in. After a moment, Glenna looked back at the rise then to Pym. “We have to get out as soon as possible.”

“I agree, but why do you say so?”

“You’re losing the Fay, and the government and Cartel are offering a bounty on you.”

Titus smiled and climbed into the car. Glenna followed him, but there was fear on her face.

“What are you smiling about?”

“He’s almost certainly been in contact with both.”

“How do you know?”

“Coincidences rarely are that.”

“What will you do?”

“Watch my back for the time being; let Bannly and Synon know—if they don’t already; keep my distance from the patrols; and I won’t go chasing wild stories.”

“What stories?”

Pym thought a moment then decided a little truth wouldn’t go wrong about here. “There was a rumor that someone intended to kill me and Simon knew who they were—claimed to—I guess that was the Cartel attempting to claim the reward.”

“Are you sure?”

He wasn’t. Titus was almost certain this was something else that had followed him into the city. To say this, though, would leave him vulnerable to more questions he’d not answer. “Reasonably.”

“What are we going to do?” Glenna stood before the window opening over the street in the Timog apartment.

“About the bounty?” She’d been very quiet during the trip south. He supposed the woman had been attempting to figure out how to deal with the latest threat to her plan. He was certain that she cared about him; how deep and far that affection would take her—and protect him—Pym had no idea. “I’m going to have to find out who among the Fay are still loyal to me, avoid the patrols, and demonstrate to the Cartel how bad an idea it was to turn on me.”

“That’s it?” There was panic behind the modulated tones of her voice.

“First,” voice deep and calm, attempting to reach the woman before she slipped into hysteria, “I will shore up support with my core followers. The truth is, I’ve been spending too much time with you and yours for my own good.” Glenna’s face fell at this. “Don’t panic—I simply need to redistribute my energies for the time being. This doesn’t mean I won’t be working for you and negotiating with the Wall.” The woman’s face relaxed, but he could see it would not take much to restore the panic. “The Fay will require more attention.” Titus had several ideas about that. To begin with, he would turn the planning of their strategy over to Lander and his crew. That was a risk, but it was unlikely they’d come up with anything that would cause more problems than they solved.

If he’d any intention of staying with the Fay, Pym would never have done this. There was, in his estimation, a very good chance Lander could take the Fay down with his choices. If he didn’t take them down, Lander would damage them. The more Titus considered Lander, the more it seemed he was getting help. Setting his coffee down on the end table, Pym joined Glenna at the window. “Do you have any contacts inside Salazar’s Cabinet?”

“There are...why?” Turning she looked up at him, and Pym placed a hand on both the woman’s shoulders.

“I’m not certain, but Lander is not particularly smart. Cunning, vicious, and lucky, but not smart—not in the smallest way. The only thing I can think is that he is getting help from somewhere.”

“You think Salazar would help him?”

“It is unlikely Salazar would be directly involved in this—though they would have to be aware of it. No, it is more likely, if Lander is getting any help, it would be from the Cabinet or Security Forces.”

“Security, however, has a lot of Cabinet oversight. Therefore, if they are involved, the Cabinet is. There have been no rumors of this, however.”

“Would be—wouldn’t there?”

“My father’s in the Cabinet—my brother would know if this were happening.”

“If your father were involved, you might know, but if this were occurring, they’d have to keep it dark—what would happen if the city learned of this? What would happen it Makati learned of this?”

Not answering, Glenna leaned into his chest.

“Doesn’t have to be the government, though.” She tilted her head up, raising her eyebrows. “Could be the Cartel. In some ways, it makes more sense if it were them.”

“Why?”

“The Fay has been eating into their resources and power base. We’ve been taking territory from the Cartel for a while now.”

“But...” She never got to finish the thought.

“We need to get going. I’ll take you back to Makati.”

Without answering, Glenna turned to get her bag. Out front, Titus stopped to admire the neighborhood. He’d be returning to the squalor of the warehouse and the tension created by Lander and the Council. Perhaps that wasn’t fair. Hadn’t he allowed Lander to live; hadn’t he been blowing them all off in favor of Glenna and her exit strategy? As always, he tried not to think about this; tried instead to focus on the problems in front of him and hope the future would take care of itself. This would not work, and Pym knew it, but right now the lawns, the clean streets, the birds in the trees, and the lack of the occasional round popping off in the distance filled him with a nostalgia—but the heat ate at the memory.

Trying not to think on what had been left behind, there was a chink of noise, as though something hard and sharp had hit the brickwork behind them. Titus turned at the noise and there was the pop and tinkle of glass as a small round hole, with a spider web of cracks radiating out appeared in the main door of the apartment building. He grabbed Glenna and spun around landing in the spiky bushes lining either side of the front walkway. Keeping hold of the woman, they rolled into the stone garden. “Stay.” Pym hissed pushing her into the bushes hoping there’d be enough cover. Bolting up, he ran for the relative protection of the car. Two rounds, no sound accompanying these, bit into the garden on either side of him. Making the car, he squatted down behind it as three more rounds took the car door. The shooter had to be just across the street.

Pym was planning to circle around the opposite building and coming up behind when Glenna screamed. “Look out!” Turning, she was pointing across the street. A man was walking across firing from what looked like a military style assault rifle. The rounds were flying all over the place—some struck the ground, the sidewalk, the building, the car. As the man ejected the clip and pushed a new one in, Pym stood and pulled the trigger of the automatic once. The round took the man in his upper left thigh and he went down. The weapon skittered from his grip when he fell, and before he could retrieve it, Titus kicked it away then hoofed the man in the face. With a feminine screech, his hands went to this and the youngster hedgehogged. Surprised by how quickly the man folded, Pym called Glenna over.

“Who are you?” he said as the woman approached. Nothing.

“Who is he?” Pym asked.

As Glenna looked closer, she gasped and a hand went to her mouth.

“What?” Titus asked.

“Solomon?” The ball tightened, supposing if it contracted tight enough it may vanish. Never underestimate the value and power of magical thinking.

“Of course you know him.” Pym smiled knowingly at the pair. “He one of yours?”

 She shook her head, putting a finger to her lips in an attempt to silence Titus.

“Doesn’t,” pulling a knife, “matter now.” Kneeling down, he smashed the haft into the young man’s exposed crown. Yelping, he attempted to ball into a tighter hedgehog, but Pym repeated the assault—harder.

“You’re going to speak to us kid.” Standing up, Pym kicked him hard in the hands covering his face. Nothing, excepting another whelp of pain.

Glenna waved Titus back and knelt down beside the young man. “We’re not going to hurt you.” A hand stroking his back while another gently touched the hands covering his face. Solomon flinched away at first and then relaxed as no blows followed. Eventually he unwound a little, looking at Pym, who was standing with his back to him. On seeing this, Solomon turned to the woman.

“Why did you try to kill us?” Glenna repeated.

“Not both of you,” glancing toward Pym.

Understanding Titus turned to the dyad. “Me?”

The kid nodded, attempting to pull closer into the safety of Glenna’s arms.

“But why?”

Solomon didn’t answer, looking down at the tarmac.

“Why?” Glenna attempted to coax the answer from him. It did not seem to be working, until he rolled toward her and half looked up. Pym smiled as the kid took on the look and behavior of a whipped cur.