She stared at me as if I had gone completely nuts. “You think you’d have him as an insider? Are you on some of Dr. Nikas’s happy juice?”
“I don’t mean calling us with daily updates or anything.” I shrugged. “But in a perfect world that would fucking rock.”
“Yeah, it would.” She sighed. “But he’s such a . . .” She trailed off, searching for the right word.
“Weenie? Prick? Jerk? Asshole?”
She let out a quick laugh. “All of the above, and throw in Corporate Cog. Though I guess with him being all zombified, it’s more than we had before.” She blew out a breath. “God, he better not get caught.”
“It’s up to him anyway,” I pointed out. “Who knows, maybe this whole experience will change his outlook. I mean, I don’t think he’s really as much of a fucking nasty prick as he seems.” I considered the various facets of Andrew I’d seen when he was most certainly under high stress conditions. “It’s as if a bunch of his crap is simply because everyone expects him to be a big tough Saber.”
“Maybe so.” Her mouth twisted. “But when he’s on, he can run with the worst of them.”
I snorted. “I’ve noticed.”
She echoed my snort, then peered into my face. “You need to get some rest. Dr. Nikas cooked up some new shit for Kyle, Marcus, and Philip. Also, Kyle wanted to see you, but I don’t think it’s urgent. He’s in the front bedroom upstairs.”
“I still have a couple of functioning brain cells,” I told her. “I’ll see him and then crash.” I pulled her into a hug. “Thanks, chick.”
She held me close, and a tremble went through her. “I know I joke and bitch, but thank you for watching out for Andrew. He drives me bugnuts, but he’s still my brother.”
I squeezed her then let her go. “I totally get it. It’s like the stuff with my dad.”
A flicker of hope lit her eyes. She knew how horrible my relationship with my dad had once been, and she also knew how much we’d repaired it. “Yeah. I guess it is.” I thought she was going to hug me again, but instead she hobbled off toward the kitchen on her crutches, humming under her breath.
Returning upstairs, I headed to the front bedroom. The door was open a crack, so I eased it open and peered in. Kyle was in the bed, eyes closed and a blanket drawn up to his chin. His face still didn’t seem as if it had pulled together quite right yet, and I realized that Naomi’s high spirits when she’d confronted me had been a big ol’ smokescreen for her own worry and anger.
He opened his eyes as the light from the hall spilled into the room. “Angel.” His voice was wet, raspy, and thin.
I closed the door behind me, then needed a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust in the gloom before I pulled a chair up by the bed and sat. A whisper of daylight snuck around heavy curtains, barely enough light for me to see, but I had a feeling any more would be uncomfortable for Kyle. “Hey,” I said. “Naomi told me you wanted to see me?”
“Yes. Thank you. For coming in and getting me out of there.”
My hands clenched. “No way was I gonna leave you there. I’d burn the whole building down before abandoning you to those fuckers.”
“I’ve been through a lot before,” he said, slowly and with focused effort. “Nothing . . . nothing like that.”
“Jesus fuck, I’d hope not!” I shivered. “That was a horror show.”
His gaze met mine. “You know how I am about leaving this world,” he said.
The air in the room seemed to thicken around me. “I do.”
He must have seen the sudden Oh, god, please don’t ask me to do what I think you’re going to ask me to do, I’ll do it because, yeah, but please don’t! in my eyes. “No,” he said quickly. “No, not that.”
I blew out a relieved breath. “Okay.”
“I want you to know that I don’t want to go anywhere until every one of those motherfuckers is put out of commission.” He spoke with a frightening vehemence made even scarier by the quality of his voice. “Every one of them who can spend their day dreaming up a paste to innervate rot, every one of them who can smear it on and laugh. They fucked with the wrong zombie.”
I leaned close. “And I’m here to tell you, if you do happen to go before you’re done, I’ll finish the job for you.”
He gave the barest hint of a nod. “Then we understand each other.”
“We do.”
With that the dark tension seemed to leave both the room and him. “You should sleep if you can,” I said. “Do you need Dr. Nikas?”
“Yes. I refused to take the sedative until I saw you.”
“I’ll go get him.” I stood and moved to the door then looked back at him. “Thanks for having that kind of faith in me.”
An uneven smile flickered. “Get the fuck out of here.”
With a low chuckle, I did so, then found Dr. Nikas and told him Kyle was ready for a sedative. With that mission accomplished, I found the couch and once again introduced my face to its welcoming cushiness.
Chapter 35
After a few hours of sleep, two mugs of coffee, and another nice long shower, I once again found myself summoned to Pierce’s room.
Brian was there as well, and I barely had time for a quick nod to him before Pierce asked, “How would you like to be the voice of the Tribe?” without any sort of intro like, Hello, Angel, I hope you’re doing well or Are you ready for me to lay some more weird shit on you?
I gave him a blank look. “Voice of the Tribe? What, like a radio show?”
Amusement flashed across his face, but to his credit he didn’t laugh out loud. “No,” he said, allowing himself a slight smile. “As in speaking with authority, for us to Andrew.”
My mouth dropped open. “Me?” I spluttered. Dream. Had to be. Obviously I was still drooling on the couch. Best to play along, though, just in case. “Why not Brian?”
Pierce glanced over at the implacable head of security. “Despite all of his qualities above and beyond his official role, Saber will only see him as muscle, with no real authority. Same for Philip but with even less respect.”
“And how do you expect him to see me?” I retorted. “I’m a high school dropout, and a former felon and drug addict.”
“You have street savvy, Angel, and you’re clever under pressure. It has nothing to do with what you were, it’s about who you are.” Pierce lifted his chin toward Brian. “You already established yourself during the info gathering session, and we’ll help with general effect. Brian will be at your shoulder just as he would be with me—if I was still who I was.” A faint grimace crossed his face. “Angel, I need you to do this.”
The voice of the Tribe. I sucked in a soft breath. All those years of being forced to watch The Godfather because, according to my dad, it was the Best Movie Ever, were about to pay off. “You want me to be your consigliere!”
Pierce looked down, and this time I knew he was holding back a laugh. After a moment, he cleared his throat and lifted his head again. “In a manner of speaking, yes. At least for this.”
“Okay, I’ll do it.” I gave a cheeky grin. “Hell, I’m his zombie mama now, so that should hold some weight.”
Now he did laugh, but it was with and not at me. “Very well, let’s review what needs to be said.”
Once again, thanks to Naomi, I looked nothing at all like me. Black tailored jacket with matching slim skirt, white silk blouse, shoes with red soles which were apparently some sort of Big Deal, makeup that made me look mature and professional instead of the “slutty” I’d’ve managed on my own, and hair pinned up in an impossibly sleek style. I looked totally badass in an entirely different way.