Laura Jo Phillips (39 page)

Za-Linq froze for a long moment.  “Are you certain of this?” he demanded.

William shrugged.  “I am certain a male is in the ground-car with two females,” he said.  “As soon as they arrive, I will know more.”

“He stole that
berezi
,” Za-Linq said.  “He took her to the Jasani Princes and stayed there for several days.  I only just discovered that he was not dead as he was supposed to be and tracked him here.  It is good that he is bringing you your
berezi
, but do not trust him.  He is certainly trying to trick you.”

William tilted his head the other way.  “To what end?” he asked. 

“I do not know!” Za-Linq screamed in frustration.  “I only know that Lio is disloyal and traitorous and not to be trusted!  He could be trying to pass off a fake
berezi!
”

“He cannot pass off a fake
berezi
on me,” William said calmly.  “The moment I am within a few feet of her, I will know if she is, or is not, a
berezi
.”

“I want him destroyed William,” Za-Linq yelled as though William had not spoken.  “I want him destroyed at once.”

William shrugged.  “So, destroy him then,” he said.  “But not until after I get my
berezi
.”

“If he really has her with him,” Za-Linq snapped.

“He better have her,” William said softly.  “Your Ruling Female promised her to me two days ago.  I paid her price.  She did not come.  If she is not here now, in that ground-car, I will transmit to all who wish to listen that the Xanti cannot be trusted to deal fairly.”

“I am coming down there,” Za-Linq said.  “I will personally see to it that you get your true
berezi
, and that Lio Perry is destroyed for the traitor that he is.”

“Fine,” William said, now bored with the conversation. 

“You must delay Lio’s arrival,” Za-Linq said, apparently a bit calmer now that he had William’s agreement.  “I cannot get there for another half hour.”

“No,” William replied.  “I will wait no longer than I must.  You may come when you wish.  Good-bye.”  William reached out and disconnected the call.  He shook his head and sighed.  That was one confused Xanti.  

He turned and checked on the ground-car’s progress.  Just a few more minutes.  He stood up and strode over to the mirror hanging on the wall near the door.  He looked into it briefly, gazing at his orange eyes and green scaled skin.  He bared his teeth to check that they were clean, and used one talon to scrap away a bit of meat.  There, he thought.  Perfect.  He smiled at his reflection, then headed out to the inner courtyard to meet his bride.

Summer sensed the security systems as they went down right before the ground-car reached them, then went back up as they passed through.  She quickly disabled them, while altering the main system just enough that it would appear that it was still active.  She had to work quickly, focusing hard on what she was doing to the exclusion of everything around her.  When Darleen made a soft hissing noise in the seat beside her, it took her a moment to realize the other woman was trying to get her attention.

Summer looked straight ahead and realized with a little start that they had arrived at the compound.  She quickly activated Darleen’s Controller, and then her own, just as Darleen drove through a gate between two buildings, and into a large courtyard.  Darleen stopped the car and cut the power, then sat motionless while her Controller awaited further orders. 

Summer silently ordered Lio to speak.

“Summer, Darleen, get out of the car and come around and open my door,” he said, his tone so arrogant that Summer winced inwardly.  Darleen had insisted that was the way the man often sounded, and Summer hoped she was right.  According to Lio, he had never actually met William in person, or even seen him on a vid for security reasons.  They had only spoken a couple of times.  Hopefully that meant William wouldn’t notice if Lio sounded a little off.

Darleen and Summer both moved at once as though in response to his command, though Summer was the one actually controlling all three of them.  She stood next to the door while Darleen opened it and stepped aside.  Lio climbed out of the car slowly, then reached up to straighten his tie and run his hand through his hair as he looked around the courtyard with mild curiosity.  Darleen closed the door, then moved so that Lio was standing between the two of them, and they all had their backs to the ground-car.

Summer heard heavy footsteps approaching long before she saw the creature that owned them.  She was very glad that her Controller was activated as she would never have been able to pretend she was anything other than horrified at the sight of William.  

William was about eight Standard feet tall, and had to weigh at least 300 pounds, all of it muscle, bone, fang and talon.  He had green skin, orange eyes and a broad nose with thin slits that fluttered slightly as he breathed.  His mouth was large, wide, and filled with long, sharp teeth.  There were long rows of fin like growths down the backs of his arms and legs and along the top of his head.  Summer had a difficult time believing that something that looked so much like a mutated dinosaur could actually talk like a human. 

“Hello, Lio,” William said as he approached them.  Lio gazed up at William calmly. 

“Hello, William,” he replied. 

“I see you did bring my
berezi
,” William said.  “Za-Linq did not think that you would.”

Summer thought frantically.  Za-Linq was the name of the Xanti Lio told them he worked for.  Were the Xanti here?  She had to find out more.

“Za-Linq?” Lio asked.  “What has Za-Linq to do with this?”

“I don’t really know,” William said.  “And I don’t really care.  So long as you brought her, whatever problem you have with the Xanti is your own.”

“Is Za-Linq here?” Lio asked.

“No, but he indicated he would be soon.  Now, excuse me a moment.”  William leaned down toward Lio and, much to Summer’s surprise, sniffed him.  He then leaned over and did the same to Summer and Darleen.  When he straightened up again he shook his head. 

“Yes, I thought so,” he murmured softly. 

“You thought what?” Lio asked.

“Well Lio, it seems to me that all three of you have Controllers,” William said in a conversational tone.  “Which begs the question, who is controlling your Controllers?  I am wondering if Za-Linq is playing some sort of game with me.  But I can’t quite figure it.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Lio said testily.

“Be silent, Lio,” William said.  “I can smell the Controller on you, as I can on the women.”

William turned his back on the three of them and paced away, his reptilian nose lifted into the air.  As he walked slowly around the courtyard, keeping Summer, Darleen and Lio in the center of his circle, Summer thought rapidly, trying to decide what to do.

It wasn’t easy.  Her mind kept going back to the realization that this...this
thing
was what, or who, had bought her and if not for Lio’s moment of carelessness in leaving her alone in his office that day, this is where she would have ended up.  She almost felt a touch of gratitude toward Lio for a moment. 

The other thing she couldn’t get past was that William had somehow scented the Controllers.  How was that possible? she wondered.  Ah, she thought, the Controllers must somehow alter brain chemistry, maybe by triggering an immune response.  Or maybe the nano-bots have waste products.  Whatever the case, he must scent them somehow.

When William had turned his back on them and walked away, Summer had come very close to pulling out her katana and attacking him.  But, she had decided against it.  Darleen and Lio were both standing very close to her, and they were both helpless to defend themselves.  And there was also the issue of the Xanti, Za-Linq.  William had said he was on his way, which meant she could easily find herself fighting two opponents.

What would Father do?  Something tactically smart.  If she could hold out a little longer, reinforcements in the form of Maxim, Loni and Ran would arrive.  They would certainly stand a better chance of defeating William than she would.  Yes, she decided.  That’s what she had to do.  Wait for the guys to show up and save the day.

That decided, she relaxed a little bit.  After all, if William knew they all had Controllers, there wasn’t any reason she could think of for him to harm them.  They should be perfectly safe until the guys showed up.  So, when William finished his circle and walked back to them, she was completely shocked when he folded his thick arms across his chest and said, “Well, looks like I’ll have to kill one or two of you in order to flush out whoever’s Controlling you.”

William tapped one fang with a sharp, curved claw, looking back and forth between Lio and the spare female.  From the looks of her, Lio’d had her for awhile.  He’d heard Lio was hard on his
toys
.  It was obviously true.  Well, of the three of them, she was certainly the most expendable.  He wouldn’t mind killing Lio, but he thought it might be worth the effort to try and get information from him first.  Information was always valuable.  Of course, there was no way in the nine hells he was going to harm his
berezi.
 

“Very well,” he said, his decision made.  “Whoever is Controlling these three, you might as well show yourself.  Otherwise, I am going to have to dismember this skinny little female first, then I suppose I’ll have to do Lio.”  William sighed heavily as though he were being much put upon and slowly turned around again, just in case someone was out there beyond the wall about to show themselves.  As he turned back to face the three humans, he reached out for the skinny blonde, and froze in shock.

Ah hell, Summer thought as she quickly sent a command to Darleen’s nano-bots, then another to Lio’s before ordering her own to deactivate.  Since she was almost certain that William scented the Controllers only when they were active, it was risky to deactivate hers, but it was a risk she had to take.  She forced herself to remain motionless, not allowing her eyes to move or her breathing to change, waiting for the right moment.  As soon as William started to turn, she sent a silent command to Darleen to grab Lio and run.  She’d already sent a timer command to Darleen’s Controller which would release her in about thirty more seconds, and Lio had orders to follow Darleen. 

As she reached for the katana hidden in the folds of her skirt, she saw Darleen out of the corner of her eye as she reached out and grabbed Lio’s arm, then turned and ran.  A scant second or two later, William finished his turn with his arm out, reaching for Darleen.  Perfect, Summer thought, as she unsheathed the katana in a long, upward arc that sliced right through William’s thick arm at the elbow.

As William stumbled backward in shock, Summer took the opportunity to get away from the ground-car.  With it at her back, she was at a distinct disadvantage.  She wanted to look for Darleen and Lio, to make sure they were safe, but she didn’t dare take her attention from William for a moment. 

“Controller, cease movement,” William snapped, ignoring the greenish yellow blood pouring from the stump of his arm.  Summer glanced quickly at the wound, wondering if it would bleed enough to weaken him.

William’s eyes narrowed as he caught her glance and he lifted his nose in the air and sniffed.  Then he smiled.  With all of those long sharp teeth, it was not a particularly joyful expression.

“Ah, I am glad that you are now aware,” he said calmly, as though she hadn’t just sliced his arm off.  “I am William Wade Winicke, your new husband, and you are my bride.”

Summer’s eyes widened in surprise as she glanced quickly at his face, and then back to his still bleeding arm.  “Don’t worry, my little
berezi
,” William said.  “The limb will grow back in a few days, and our children will self heal even faster than that.”

Summer fought to keep her face blank, but the thought of having children with this thing made her sick to her stomach.  William must have seen something of her feelings in her face because he started growling angrily.

“Controller, activate!” he ordered, clearly thinking that as her Controller was now deactivated, he should be able to activate it.  Only it didn’t work. 

“
Fils de putain
,“ Summer spat with contempt, deliberately goading him.  “What makes you think I would wish to mate with such
chierie
as you?”

I don’t know who is Controlling you, but I will have their head for this,” William roared as he lunged toward Summer. 

It was just such an unguarded move that Summer had been hoping for.  She stepped forward and to the side, bringing the katana up high, then swinging it downward with all of her might just as William’s left leg stretched out toward her as he lunged.  The katana cut through his thick, reptilian hide with only the slightest resistance.

Summer stepped back out of William’s reach as he went down on his other knee, roaring so loudly her ears hurt.  She turned sideways again and brought the katana around in a swinging arc aimed right for William’s thick neck.  This time there was no resistance whatsoever as the whistling blade cut cleanly all the way through, sending William’s ugly big head flying several feet before it fell to the ground with a solid thunk.

“Grow that back, lizard boy,” Summer said archly.