Revolution World (31 page)

Clio laughed again and tapped away some more at her handheld. "Well great, because that would be a little too weird for me, quite frankly. But right now we have a problem. Those idiots at DARPA appear to want you so bad that they've sent some actual diesel-burning armored cars after us. Barbarians."

"How far are we from home?" he asked.

"We've got another five hours until we pass the Texas border," she replied. "I don't know how we're going to make it."

"I've made some alterations to this car myself," Seth said as he quickly tapped away on the dashboard. A whirring noise made the dogs whine. The hovercar shot forward at a speed that Clio would have previously assumed impossible. The armored cars faded into the horizon.

"They'll probably send more," she said. "They know where we're going so I would also expect a road block."

"True. Well, we're in a hovercar. We don't have to stay on the road, but off-roading will slow us down," he replied. "It will give us some time to make a plan, though."

"Fine, let's do it. But we have get across the Texas border by eight p.m. tonight or we are totally screwed," Clio said, like this was a totally reasonable thing to say.

"That's going to be tricky. They are jamming my satellite connection. We can't call anybody or access the globenet," he replied.

"I stored detailed maps on my handheld before I left because I figured they would do that." Clio passed him her handheld and his plugged it into the dashboard so the autopilot could access the maps. "Actually, I had hoped that getting you out would be a quiet maneuver and they wouldn't notice so much. But the situation got out of control." This was a huge understatement.

Seth reprogrammed their course in the autopilot and they shot off the road and through a field. Then he looked at her mournfully. "Clio, my love, what's to stop them from taking me again even if we make it home?" he asked.

"Don't you worry. We just need to make it to Texas. And we will." She smiled that fierce smile of hers again and it comforted him.

"I love you," he sighed.

Clio melted like a teenage girl getting her first bunch of flowers. "Really? You love me? Even with the vampire thing and the age difference?"

"Yes. You are the woman for me," he said firmly. He wanted to hold her in his arms and smother her with kisses, but he was pretty filthy right now and the cab of his car was tiny, so he settled for holding her hand.

Her smile could have lit the world. "I love you too."

They smiled like fools for several long minutes.

"So how are we going to keep the government from arresting me the minute we get home?" he asked to distract himself from a lurid daydream he was having in which he pulled over the car and ravished her thoroughly.

"Well, I can let you in on the secret now," she whispered. "We have an army of werewolves ready to overthrow the government."

"What?!" He was stunned.

Clio just looked at him and grinned.

"Vampires are so gullible."

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

H
armony was cursing. She did this fluently, thoroughly and with great imagination. This did not stop her from working with single-minded focus to get Seth and her daughter home. It didn't even slow her down. For the last two days, she had been a whirlwind of activity. She had not slept a minute. Pausing only to recharge with coffee and protein drinks, she had coordinated a massive plan to get them home and keep them safe.

The problem was that there was nothing she could really do now but wait. Harmony had never been good at that and she saw no need to start practicing now.

"You have an impressive command of the English language," Max remarked without looking up. He was tapping away on the wallscreen so quickly his hands were almost a blur. She gave him a sharp look.

Max held up a hand, "Now don't start in on me too. I'm helping you, remember?"

"Then help faster," she grumped, sitting next to him so she could watch. He moved satellites and rummaged through the American military network like it was a yard sale and he was looking for cheap socks.

He had been monitoring Seth and Clio's escape through the sensors in the hovercar and by intercepting military communications, so he knew they had made it out in one piece. But getting Seth out had taken Clio a lot longer than they had planned. He could see that they were now headed to Texas, but they'd be coming in very close to the deadline. From what he was intercepting, the military planned to stop them before they got there. All this worry and frustration was going to give Max an ulcer.

He spared Harmony a small smile, but didn't stop working.
"How could I refuse such a gracious command by so beautiful a woman?"

"I'm not in the mood for your flirting," Harmony snapped. "Save it for women your own age."

A smile quirked at his lips. "Let's just say I prefer women of a certain age and that is whatever age you are."

"I'm sure all the other women you used that line on thought it was charming," Harmony replied, getting up to pace around the room.

She did not see Max's shoulders slump. He stopped what he was doing and watched her pace. "I have, in fact, said charming things to hundreds of women. That is true. But I moved hundreds of miles from my very comfortable home just to hear your witty banter. Believe me, I've never done that for anyone." He sighed and rubbed his forehead.

Harmony stopped pacing and looked at him incredulously. He returned her look with a level gaze. "When are you going to take me seriously?" asked Max.

Harmony frowned and looked at him for a minute, then shook her head and went back to pacing. "Don't be ridiculous."

Max let out a shout of pure frustration and shot to his feet. Harmony was startled. Max stalked across the room, pulled her into his arms and kissed her roughly. Once she realized what was going on, Harmony couldn't help but kiss him back. Enthusiastically.

"I am quite willing to demonstrate the seriousness of my attraction for you," Max growled into her ear without releasing her from his embrace. "In a variety of ways. Over the course of several hours. I have spent quite a bit of time alone at night thinking about how best to do that." His sprinkled kisses down her neck as Harmony tried to collect her wits.

"Yes," she said finally, struggling to put some distance between herself and Max. "That, ah, sounds quite nice actually. Obviously, we have some sexual tension that should be, ah, diffused. After Seth and Clio are safe at home, I will be happy to, ah, do that."

Harmony pulled her clothing back into place and buttoned her shirt. It was like her clothing was trying to leap off her the minute the man looked at her with lust in his eyes. She tried to smooth her hair as Max caught her in his arms again.

He scowled at her. "Woman, you aren't going to get rid of me by screwing my brains out." A lecherous smile crossed his lips. "Although I'd love for you to try."

Harmony pushed him away. "Please Max. I'm a mature woman. You don't have to pretend to want some sort of serious relationship when we both know you'll be out tomorrow with a girl your own age. I don't have time for a serious commitment and I doubt you are capable of such a thing."

Max threw up his hands and collapsed on the floor. "Harmony, you are going to be the death of me. I haven't touched another woman since the day I met you. And would you please stop harping on my age? I'm thirty years older than you, for pity's sake!"

Harmony was moved, but still wary of him. "What are you talking about?"

Max sighed. "I am every bit of eighty-five years old."

Why not? Why not just tell her everything? From what he could read in Seth's private files, his nephew had already revealed the full extent of their little problem to Clio. So it was only a matter of time until Harmony found out anyway. And the world was ending out there anyway. If the US was crazy enough to retaliate with nukes, they could be vaporized at any minute and this woman would still be dismissing him as a lightweight. What the hell.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously," he said. "And madly in love with you."

She narrowed her eyes, but sat down on the floor next to him. She turned and started to speak, but then stopped with a frown.

"I'm a vampire," he said miserably.

Harmony started laughing.

"It's all true," he continued. "Horribly, depressingly true."

"That makes sense," Harmony said, still chuckling.

"What? No it doesn't," he protested. "I've been a vampire for my whole life and it still doesn't make sense to me." He ran a miserable hand through his hair. She must be teasing him.

"Oh, no, I knew about the vampirism. Very interesting genetic anomaly you have there," she chuckled. "No, I meant your age. It hadn't occurred to me that the retarded growth rate I saw in my tests meant a slower aging process and longer lifespan. I'm such an idiot sometimes."

"Tests?" he choked.

"What did you think I would do with the samples you gave us?" she asked.

"I thought you would give them to Clio to make synth blood. You said you didn't do medical splices. I didn't think you personally did much splicing at all," he said, fumbling for understanding.

She explained, "From what I saw at Omerta and the way you were acting, I felt it was better for me to handle those samples personally. I was curious." Harmony paused for a minute and looked embarrassed. "And I ran black market medical splices for years. How do you think I came up with the capital to start Floracopia? I don't any more. But I don't want anyone connecting Floracopia to my shady past." She took his hand and a ray of hope lit up his face.

"Oh." That was all he could think of for a minute. But then he had another thought. "Perhaps you handled those samples personally because you care for me?"

Harmony leaned over and gave him a smoldering kiss. When she broke away, Max had to work to keep himself from tearing her clothes off right then and there. They were in one of Omerta's conference rooms. It lacked the proper ambiance.

"Interesting," she said. "I can't feel the retractable fang teeth with my tongue."

"Are you sure?" panted Max. "Want to try again?"

Harmony did.

After a few more minutes of that, she had to take a break. "So, I believe you said that occasionally this disease is transferable by fluid contact?"

"What? Yes. Very rarely," said Max, taking deep breaths. He got up and straightened his shirt. "We've only seen a few cases. Those have occurred with repeated exposure."

She gave him an inquiring look, so he said, "Transfusions are obviously the best way to handle the blood requirements, but it was not too long ago that we had to use the fangs and bite. Most of us made some kind of arrangement for blood donors. A servant or a lover. Like that. Some of them turned after several years."

She coughed. "I assume that a long-term sexual partner would be at the most risk from a fluid-born vector." Max moved towards her again with a devilish gleam in his eye. Harmony did not object.

"I can't believe you people have managed to conceal this condition for so long. And I assume a large portion of Omerta has this disease?" she asked.

"Yes. Actually, that's why we started creating the privacy software," he replied, tenderly tucking an escaped lock of hair behind her ear. "We needed to hide our longevity and blood requirements when all the records started going digital. Then we decided to start selling our privacy system to everyone else. That was the best decision we ever made. It enabled us to create the settlement on Queen Charlotte Island. We don't do well in cities. We're very sensitive to carbon monoxide levels."

"Then life here in Ambrosia Springs should suit you," she said.

"Quite a bit," he replied.

They were too busy for talking for several minutes after that. Then alarms began going off on the wallscreen and Max's handheld.

"What's going on?" cried Harmony, instantly on the alert.

"It's Seth and Clio," Max replied. "They are on their way, but they will be cutting it very close to the deadline."

"My daughter," she whispered, covering her mouth with one hand.

He gave her a grim look. "And they have half the armed forces trailing behind them."

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

"H
ow close are we?" asked Clio. "Fifteen minutes closer than the last time you asked," Seth replied, his eyes glued to the road.

"No need to get testy," she snapped.

"Other than the roadblock ahead and the six helicopters behind us?" he snapped back. "Look at that. They have tanks out there. Real live tanks. I should be at home playing D&D or something. How on earth did we get here?"

"Fate. Karma. Maybe we offended the gods and they are punishing us. Who knows? Let's just focus on getting home," she said, tapping away at her handheld.

"Look, maybe we shouldn't try to blaze through this like action-movie commandos. Maybe the way to win this is to pull over and let them take us," Seth said, groping for the reasonable solution.

One of the helicopters fired a missile. It shot over the hovercar and exploded in the road in front of them. The autopilot swerved to avoid the crater. They managed to miss most of the damage, but the car fishtailed as they were struck by fallout. It set off a chorus of yips from Team Pom.

"Yeah, I don't think turning ourselves in is the best option right now, honey," replied Clio. "They seem pretty pissed off."

"Fair enough," replied Seth. "So, let's think about this. How will we get past the roadblock and away from the helicopters?"

"The EMP pulse?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't have enough power. They'd have to be really close and we would have to stop. We wouldn't hit enough of them."

A spray of bullets erupted from the closest helicopter. They lurched to the side as the autopilot threw the car in a tailspin.

"How bulletproof is this thing?" asked Clio in a strangled voice.

"Not that bulletproof."

"Got any other tricks up your sleeve?" she asked.

"Just one. I've got a missile launcher."

"Hot damn!"

"It only has four missiles."

"Oh."