Highway To Armageddon (45 page)

           
“So we’re actually going to get to meet Rasputin tomorrow?” I blurt out. At
first I feel stupid for acting so excited, but it turns out my sincere outburst
works to our advantage (even though I’m not excited for the reasons Igor and
his cronies might think).

           
“See how eager they are to meet the Fearless Leader?” Norma gushes. “If only
more Russian teens shared your enthusiasm!”

           
“Yeah, if only,” I grumble, massaging my throbbing back.

           
“Yes, yes, you will get to meet the Great Leader,” Igor says, apparently moved
at my convincing display of Russian patriotism. “The meeting is taking place at
an undisclosed safe-house sometime tomorrow after midnight. Even I won’t know
where it’s at until hours before the meeting. It could be quite far from Vegas.
I suggest you get here tomorrow by 10:00 in case we must travel.”

           
“S… sounds good,” Lance stammers. He’s as shocked as I am that our plot to
infiltrate the Purple Dragons has actually worked. We had to commit a murder to
prove our loyalty, but that’s irrelevant at the moment. The important thing is
we did the impossible… we penetrated the Dragon’s inner circle. And in roughly
24 hours we’re going to come face-to-face with the world’s most wanted man. I
would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a tinge of excitement. Sure Rasputin is
a mass-murdering terrorist, but he’s also one of the most famous people in
history. As an amateur historian I find it exhilarating I will get to meet
someone of significant historical stature.

           
Igor pours us all a glass of vodka. He then raises his glass into the air.

           
“To Ruby! To Arkady! To Vladimir! To the death of Caesar! And most importantly
of all, to Mother Russia!”

           
The rest of us raise our glasses and shout, “To Mother Russia!”

           
I do my best to choke down some of the foul vodka so I don’t blow our cover.
But I don’t think it would matter if I did spit it out. Igor and his cronies
are treating us like royalty for taking out one of their most hated foes. If
things continue to go our way, we’ll be cashing in our $25 million in no time.
It’s almost like we’ve been in a dark, dank tunnel for a long, long time, and
all of a sudden we see a light. I just hope what we see is daylight and not the
headlights of an oncoming train.

           
We chill out with Igor and the gang for about an hour. Lance finally yawns and
tells our new ‘friends’ we want to get some rest before our big meeting with
Rasputin.

           
  “Of course, of course, you’ve all had an exhausting day,” Igor
says. “Go! Go! We’ll see you tomorrow!”

           
I’m relieved when we finally get out of the casino. I was getting extremely
sick seeing them toss around Caesar’s head like it was a hot potato. I almost
screamed when Norma tossed the damn thing into my lap.

           
We make our way back to the rendezvous point on the Strip, far from Igor’s
prying eyes. Lance and Arrow can barely contain their excitement.

           
“Can you believe this?” Lance says giddily. “We’re actually going to meet
Rasputin! I can’t believe this crazy plan worked!”

           
“What should we do tonight?” Arrow asks, side-stepping some drunk gambler
stumbling along the sidewalk. “Should we try to capture Mikhail the instant we
see him, or should we play it cool and earn his trust like we did with Igor?”

           
“Let’s take down the bastard tonight,” Lance exclaims.

           
“Oh yeah, that’s real smart,” I say. “Mikhail will probably be surrounded by
tons of security, and they’re not going to let us go to the meeting armed. We’d
be slaughtered within seconds.”

           
“But Machete and Krystal will be nearby, they can back us up,” Lance says.

           
“Is that supposed to make me feel better about our chances?” I ask.

           
“Quit being so stubborn, Firecracker. We have gone through hell and back to get
to this point. The world is on the brink of war, and we’re going to be in the
same room as the most wanted man on Planet Earth. We may never see him again
after tonight. We need to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity.”

           
Lance makes a lot of sense, but that doesn’t change the fact that an attempt to
take down Rasputin in a roomful of Russians is suicide.

           
Lance and I begin having one of our trademark verbal sparring matches.
Profanities and personal insults fly freely between us. People on the Strip
start to stare.

           
Arrow grips both of our arms. “Knock it off. You’re drawing attention to us. We
can talk about this back at the motel.”

           
Before Lance and I can respond, Krystal, Machete, and Dorothy lower out of the
sky in our banged up, stolen Chariot XX. The boys and I hop in the back and we
fly off.

           
Machete, Krystal, and Dorothy stare at us eagerly.

           
“Well?” Krystal blurts out from the front passenger seat. “Did it work? Are you
members of the Purple Lizards?”

           
“It’s the Purple Dragons,” I say. “And yep, we’re in!”

           
“You should have seen their faces when we showed them Caesar’s head,” Arrow
says, chuckling. “They couldn’t believe we caught him.”

           
“Even better, they want us to come back tomorrow so we can meet Rasputin,”
Lance proclaims proudly.

           
Machete and the girls hoot and holler, like we just won the lottery or
something. And I guess in a way we have.

           
“I knew you guys would do it!” Krystal leans over her seat and swallows me up
in a hug. Machete grumbles as Krystal bumps into her.

           
“Congratulations!” Dorothy gushes, turning around on Lance’s lap and planting a
kiss on his lips. I do my best not to scowl, but I’m pretty sure I fail
miserably.

           
“So Rasputin is coming to Igor’s casino?” Machete asks, sounding a bit
confused.

           
“No, we’re meeting up with Igor and his cronies at the casino, then they’re
taking us to some undisclosed location,” I explain.

           
I see Machete frowning in the rearview mirror. “I don’t like that. You guys are
going to be cut off from us. You won’t be able to wear your goggles, and we
certainly can’t follow you. Criminals like Igor are experts at spotting trails.
It’ll be especially obvious if they take you somewhere secluded and we’re the
only car behind them.”

           
“You can still follow us, just from a distance,” Arrow says. “Red still has
that GPS chip in her shoe, remember?”

           
“I know, I tried to dig it out but I can’t find it,” I grumble. I don’t like
the fact Arrow is able to follow my every move. I’m definitely getting new
shoes when we get back to Sanctuary 7.
If
we get back.

           
Krystal greedily rubs her hands. “Alright, so all we gotta do is follow you
guys to Rasputin’s secret lair, and then we burst in and shoot up the place.
Should be a blast!”

           
“See Boom Boom, I’m not the only one who thinks that’s a great idea,” Lance
says smugly.

           
I massage my throbbing temple. My headache has returned with a vengeance.

           
“You can’t seriously think that’s a good idea, Krystal,” I say.

           
“Boom Boom’s right, you both are mentally retarded for thinking such an idiotic
plan would work,” Machete says.

           
I’m stunned. I figured Machete would be all gung-ho for a suicidal charge into
a building full of bad guys.

           
“But why should we wait?” Lance says. “We worked so hard to get this one
opportunity to come face to face with Rasputin. What if this is our only
chance? What if after tomorrow we don’t ever see him again?”

           
“You have to convince him it
is
worth seeing you again.” Machete looks
directly at me. “You know what I’m talking about, Boom Boom. I see the way
Arrow and Lance look at you. I see how
every
perverted man looks at you.
You are very pretty, with a fiery personality to match. Use your sex appeal to
convince Rasputin you’re worth seeing again…
alone
.”

           
I nod. While I’m not particularly thrilled at the idea of ‘whoring’ myself out
to Rasputin, it is a brilliant plan. If I can get him alone, we should easily
be able to take him down. Then we just have to drag him up to D.C. and voila,
we’re all multi- millionaires.

           
“I don’t know,” Arrow says. I can tell he doesn’t like me ‘whoring’ myself out,
either.

           
I gently touch his arm. “Don’t worry, nothing will happen. You know this is our
best shot at getting him. We’re not doing this just for us, you know. America
and China are on the verge of a nuclear war. We’re doing this for the entire
planet.”

           
Arrow rolls his eyes. “Fine. But if he so much as touches you inappropriately,
I’m breaking his nose when we take him down.”

           
Why do I always gravitate toward such violent guys?

           
We arrive back at the motel and try to get some sleep,
try
being the key
word. I spend most of the night staring at the ceiling. I have so many emotions
boiling up inside of me. Excitement, fear, trepidation, sadness, happiness…. I
have no idea how tomorrow night will go down. We could be one step closer to
apprehending Rasputin, or we could all be dead. The Ruskies don’t play around.

           
Before I know it, the sky outside our window turns a soft gray, the first signs
of the approaching dawn. I feel smothered in our small, cramped room, and
roaches keep crawling over my legs. I slide out of bed, grab my leather jacket,
and reach for the door handle. I hesitate when I realize I’m unarmed. I grab my
utility belt off the table and buckle it around my waist. I instantly feel
safer. I open the door and softly close it behind me.

           
The cool, morning breeze refreshes me instantly. Leaves flutter around me,
swirling in the wind. The trees are getting more and more barren with each
passing day. I walk toward the wooded area in the back of the motel and enter a
small trail. I walk for about a mile, until I come across a bubbling brook. I
haven’t felt this relaxed in a long time. Something about being alone in the
wilderness always puts me at peace.

           
A sharp, stabbing pain suddenly shoots up my spine and slams into my brain. I
crouch down and clutch my skull. My pangs of withdrawal are slowly getting
easier to tolerate, but every now and then I have a relapse and it feels like
my entire world is coming to an end. Slowly yet surely the pain dissipates back
to the dull, constant pain that is always there in the background. I can deal
with that. The excruciating pain is what makes me long for a bottle of pills.

           
A branch snaps off in the distance. I whip out my gun, twirl around, and come
face to face with Arrow.

           
Arrow holds up his hands and backs away. He cracks a grin and says, “When will
I ever learn?”

           
“Goddamn it, Arrow.” I shove the gun back into my holster and punch his arm.
“Quit sneaking up on me!”

           
“I’m sorry, Red, I just heard you leave and wanted to keep an eye on you. Vegas
isn’t exactly the safest place in the world, even this far away from the Strip.
You still have that bounty over your head. I don’t think word of Caesar’s death
has spread yet.”

           
I shrug and swat at a low-hanging branch. “I don’t care. Let people come after
me. I can take them.”

           
Arrow chuckles and wraps his arms around my waist. “I know you can, Red.”

           
I push Arrow away. “Don’t. Don’t act like everything’s fine between us. I’m
still pissed at you for abandoning us. Say what you want about Lance, but he
would never leave me like you did.”

           
Arrow grimaces. My words have hurt him more than any physical trauma ever
could. He looks down and says, “I know, Red. I could apologize a thousand times
and I wouldn’t come close to absolving my sin. But I swear on everything I hold
dear that I
will
make it up to you. I don’t know how, and I don’t know
when, but I won’t stop until you’re able to trust me again.”

           
Arrow puts his arms back around my waist. I lean back, but this time I don’t
resist too much. As much as I hate what he did, I still have feelings for him.
I eventually allow him to pull me toward his chest. I sigh deeply. This is what
I miss most about dating Lance. The human contact. The feeling that someone
loves me.

           
Arrow kisses my forehead. In a soft whisper he says, “You are like an
intoxicating drug, Red. You ignite all of my deepest and darkest passions and
desires. I love you dearly and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

           
I gasp and back away. Arrow grabs my arms and stares directly into my eyes. I
stare back and get absorbed into his deep, chocolaty irises. No matter how hard
I try to break away, I can’t. His gravity is too great.