Theta (20 page)

I said nothing. I thought nothing.

Several kilometers from the massive
structure, the driver slowed and navigated the vehicle across the
crumbling median wide lanes where traffic used to flow in the
opposite direction. He guided the truck through a ditch. I clutched
the handle bar above my head as the vehicle lurched beneath me.

Crawling out of the muddy ditch, the truck
continued down a short slope to an access road, around sound walls
built to block the noise of traffic, and then proceeded into an
abandoned neighborhood. Our journey smoothed out once again as we
reached a road winding through a sprawling subdivision. The driver
and Herakles both leaned out of their respective windows to see the
numbers on the houses as we passed. No sign of anyone else present
on the road was visible, and it was quiet, except for the sound of
our vehicles.

The truck rolled to a stop finally, and I
glanced towards the driver then the abandoned house.

“
Stay here,” Herakles said
and opened his door. “I’ll check it out first.” He strode towards
the front door, weapon drawn.

“
Paeon says something is
wrong,” Kyros whispered.

Since when does a medicine
god know anything about secret meetings?
I
returned.

“
He says he thinks because
he
is
a god, he can
sense what humans cannot.”

My eyes remained pinned to the open doorway
through which Herakles had passed.

Was there truth to Paeon’s divine instinct?
Possibly. Would I trust his gut over mine or Herakles’ assurances?
Never.

Clenching my fists, I willed Herakles to
return safely. Minutes later, he poked his head out of the front
door and waved.

I released a sigh of relief and gave Kyros a
pointed look.

“
He says to be
careful.”

He cares nothing for my
well-being,
I replied and got out of the
car. I didn’t know what game Paeon was playing, but I refused to go
along with it.

One of the soldiers from the second vehicle
trotted behind me as I went to the front door to meet Herakles. I
stepped into the dark interior of the house. The soldier remained
outside, and Herakles closed the door behind me.

He turned on a flashlight with a red lens
and walked through the bottom floor of the two-story house and into
a kitchen. One person was present in the vacant kitchen.

I didn’t need to see Theodocia’s smile; I
felt it. With all disregard for formality and propriety, I hugged
her. She wrapped me in her arms and squeezed. Her familiar scent –
jasmine combined her natural smell – comforted me in a way nothing
had since we parted. It wasn’t until she was hugging me that I
realized how much I’d missed her.

“
I’m so glad to see you!”
she exclaimed in a soft whisper. “You’re skin and bones. Why are
you not eating enough?”

“
I told her so, too,”
Herakles seconded from the doorway of the kitchen. He set down the
flashlight on a counter, partially illuminating Theodocia and
me.

I have too much to
do,
I replied, unconcerned with my physical
condition, so long as I could perform my duty.

“
You need to stay
healthy.”

I smiled and relaxed in her arms. I barely
remembered my own mother. Theodocia had filled more than one void
when she appeared in my life, and I was grateful to her for
becoming a consistent, trustworthy source of guidance and
comfort.

“
We can’t stay long,”
Theodocia said, reluctance in her voice. “Are you well? Truly
well?” She pulled away and peered into my face. Her brown eyes were
concerned.

I am well,
I assured her.
Are you?
Tommy?

She smiled. “We’re both good. Niko won’t let
anyone near our son, and I’m raising hell for the Supreme
Magistrate.” Her eyes twinkled with cunning. “They’ve been slow to
react to our insurgency, but I don’t know how much longer we can
rely on surprise.”

The Oracle?
I asked.
Has Cleon
deployed her again?

Theodocia sneaked a glance at Herakles
before she looped her arm through mine and led us to the side of
the kitchen opposite him so he couldn’t hear her speak.

“
Not on a scale like he did
initially. Her power is growing quickly,” Theodocia said, voice
tight. “Thanatos speaks to me on occasion and I have limited
communication with Alessandra’s servant, Leandra. Cleon can access
the Oracle’s magic and we fear, will soon be able to use it on his
own.”

My eyebrows shot up.
How is this possible?

“
It would take an act of a
god. Something was done to her, but I don’t know what or by whom.
Leandra passes information carefully. I don’t know the full story
of what’s going on in the walls of her villa.”

As if I needed another reason to hate the
gods. Dread had been hanging heavily on my shoulders, but it was
the sense of doom weighing down my stomach that left me scared for
the future for the first time in my life.

What of Artemis?

“
I have heard nothing from
her recently.”

The gods are being elusive. I cannot find
Zeus or Ares or any trace of them.

“
Something is very wrong in
all of this,” Theodocia said, a frown in her tone. “But I can’t
identify what. I have heard something that really scares
me.”

I waited, uncertain what someone with two
divine patrons – Artemis and Thanatos – could possibly fear.

“
It is said that Alessandra
is likely to become corrupted,” Theodocia continued even more
quietly. “If Cleon could turn her against us …”

…
we would have no
chance.

“
It’s not her will. Of this
much, I am certain. She is a prisoner, but the longer she’s with
him, the harder it will be for her to break away.”

The answer seems obvious.
We need to get her away from him,
I said
quickly, not liking this news one bit.

“
I’ve yet to be able to
strike on the compound,” she admitted. “My DC forces are effective
in small groups. We would draw too much attention and give SISA and
the military the chance to stop us, if we amassed the amount of
soldiers needed to hit the compound.”

Who told you this
information?
I asked.

“
I won’t say.” Theodocia
looked away.

I trust your instincts. Do you feel it to be
true?

“
I do. Based on what I’ve
seen, it’s credible.”

The news about Alessandra was the last thing
I expected to hear. We had understood her to be in trouble, but I
never thought any priority would trump my desire to rid the earth
of the gods and political elite. Alessandra was a weapon unlike any
other. The ultimate weapon, too powerful for me to hope for the
best and continue with my plans, if the chance existed she could be
turned against us. If what Theodocia discovered were true, we were
already in danger.

If we remove Alessandra
from his influence, we cripple Cleon,
I
reasoned.
We can use her power against him.
We need to do whatever it takes to pull the Oracle to our side and
throw Cleon off balance.

“
I’ll need an influx of
your best soldiers to make an attempt.”

They’re yours. Whatever you need. We must
have her on our side, outside the wall. Or we have to remove her
completely from the board. We can’t risk her reaching her full
potential and turning against us.

Theodocia glanced towards Herakles.

My forces outside the wall
will be ready for a sustained attack later this year, but I hope to
start some hazing operations in a month,
I
went on.
Even if we only succeed in
removing Alessandra from the board, we will need to strike before
winter. The longer we wait, the more powerful and entrenched Cleon
becomes.

“
You’ll give me a month to
grab Alessandra?”

I nodded.
Take her alive, if possible. But Theodocia, there
is much more at stake here than one life. She possesses the ability
to destroy everything we’ve worked for, and the entire world, if we
can’t neutralize her in some way. I would rather have her dead than
give Cleon absolute power.

“
You’re right. As
always.”

We stood in brief quiet. I didn’t want our
time together to end, as necessary as it was for us to return to
where we were needed most.

“
We need to tell Herakles,”
she voiced at last.

I debated with myself silently with a
sidelong look at Theodocia. By the creases around her eyes, she was
speaking as a mother, not as an impartial observer.

Herakles deserved to know. A good person
would tell him. But I was playing for something much greater than
the life of one person and the man who raised her.

When the time is right,
I’ll tell him,
I replied.

She nodded. “I’ll do everything I can to
ensure Alessandra makes it out of the city alive.”

I hesitated then asked the
question at the back of my mind.
What of
Lantos? Have you seen him?

“
Once, weeks ago. There’s a
lot of activity in the city but few details coming through our
network about what’s happening at the top. Cleon is working on
consolidating his military arm with SISA.”

This answer didn’t contain
the information I sought, but it was probably better that I didn’t
learn any real details about Lantos. He was a survivor, and he was
a man of secrets. I should never concern myself with him. I had
already personally experienced how far he would go –
betraying
me
– to
further his goals.

Theodocia had to know I wasn’t interested in
Lantos’ public appearances. Was she protecting me the same way we
were hiding the truth from Herakles? Because the time and place had
to be right before the information was revealed?

Whenever I thought of Lantos, my lover for
over a year, I braced myself for bad news. Rolling my shoulders
back, I decided I didn’t want to know any more than what she had
revealed. Lantos was involved in his maneuvering, and mine occupied
me. Except, every once in a while, I began to think he and I were
playing the same game, and I didn’t know it yet. Lantos had an
uncanny knack of being a step ahead of everyone. I spent my life
training for political maneuvering, but the bastard son of a Titan
had the gift of secrets enabling him to pull ahead.

Before he burned me, I had admired him and
his mind. Being away from him gave me the ability to see how I’d
played into his hands, and how I’d allowed my infatuation with him
to blind me to the truth of how he was manipulating me. I wanted to
hate him but was angrier with myself for displaying vulnerability
that could be exploited. I was the last person who should have been
the weak link in my rebellion.

The front door of the house creaked
opened.

Herakles left his post to greet the guard
entering.

“
I think we have to go,”
Theodocia said, hearing the urgent whispers. “Be careful, Phoibe.
You and Tommy are the reasons I do everything I do.”

My anger and disappointment
with Lantos melted.
I’m happy we had this
evening to talk,
I replied and wrapped my
arms around her for a quick hug.

“
Your Majesty!” Herakles
called. “Time to go!”

“
Be safe.” Theodocia said
and released me. She ducked out the back door.

I hurried to Herakles, and we rushed out the
front.

“
I’m going with the decoy
car,” he said and pushed me towards the vehicle that had followed
my command truck. My assigned vehicle was marked. If SISA or the
military had found us, they would know to pursue it.

The command vehicle was peeling away from
the curb by the time I managed to climb into the backseat of the
second truck. We jolted forward. I snatched my seatbelt and hauled
it on before twisting to see who was pursuing.

To my surprise, Kyros-Paeon was in the third
row of the vehicle. Paeon was in charge. His blue eyes glowed in
the light of the dashboard. Pursing my lips again, I leaned to see
past him.

Two dark vans rounded the corner, half a
block behind us. They were new, uniform in appearance, and too well
cared for to belong to random bandits.

The command vehicle stayed on this street,
while we turned left and headed back towards the highway. With a
combination of relief and concern, I saw the vans chase after
Herakles instead of my car.

I faced forward again. The driver ran over a
sidewalk and drove between two houses and through several backyards
before we reached an access road to the highway. Jarred by the
trip, I hung onto my seatbelt and bounced as the truck drove into a
gutter and out onto the highway.

Only when our path was smooth again did I
release the breath I was holding. No one pursued us. The farther we
went, the more concerned I became, when Herakles’ vehicle didn’t
reappear.

Wary of being exposed on the highway or
followed, the driver exited off into the forest a few kilometers
before the exit that would take us to the compound. Herakles had
insisted on creating several back routes to reach the compound, in
case one became compromised. Unfortunately, all the secondary
routes consisted of dirt roads or no roads. The headlights went on,
and we began another journey through mud, over fallen trees, and
through uneven terrain in the general direction of the
compound.