Cheers erupted, a wall of sound flooding toward and swallowed whole by the all-encompassing rainforest. Ramses basked in its wash, a happy man.
“Make no mistake,” he said, his voice amplified by unseen speakers. “This mission of ours will not see an end in our lifetime. It will take time. But we are already the aggressors, not the pacifists, and they will lose. We are stronger together. Stronger by far. These deals we make in places like this, they will have far, far reaching successes. Look to New York for some solace—” he smiled malevolently “—next week. But do stay away.”
Drake turned wide eyes toward Kinimaka and Dahl and then did his best to hide them. What could this Prince of Terrorists mean?
“Coalition airstrikes?” Ramses laughed. “They will soon learn the futility of their actions. We have no timetable, no clear path to resolution or retribution. We will never die. We will never stop. And our gods will make an eternity of shining days for us all!”
In closing, Ramses held both hands aloft, face turned toward the skies, and waited once more for the overwhelming wave of applause and approval to pass. Drake watched Dahl’s face, and reached out a steadying hand to stop the man exploding right there and then.
“For New York!” Ramses called out.
Another swell of applause.
Drake was watching Tyler Webb, and saw the terrible smile as the man turned knowingly to gauge the crowd’s reaction. A female hand on his arm made him glance to the right.
“I’ll be back soon.” Alicia, her blond hair caught by the sun, gave him a grave smile.
“What?”
“I have to go see Beau. This is about to go down and it’s gonna be the hardest thing we’ve ever tried to do. He has to know.”
“But… Beau?”
“Don’t worry. Been there, done that. Won’t try it again.”
Drake grimaced. “Oh, thanks for sharing. And, in any case, that’s not what I…”
“Sure it isn’t. Bye lover.”
Kenzie’s face suddenly blocked his eye line. “Hey, hey. You crying?”
CHAPTER THRTY ONE
As Ramses rambled on a little more, Alicia threaded her way through the crowd. Though this mission necessarily entailed a constant level of watchfulness, a level that soon became stressful to a point where she couldn’t even wisecrack properly, the blonde was actually reveling in it. Different, yes, but then so am I.
For the first time she could remember she was totally focused, able to push all other considerations to the back of her mind and work on a new future. With Drake? The thought came fast and unbidden, and with surprise. She’d been trying to suppress that profound nugget until she could figure out a way to understand her own feelings.
The two of them had been burned enough in this lifetime. Neither of them needed a new heartache.
Alicia stopped close to Beau, but the bodyguard was focused entirely on his charge and the areas around him. Also the jungle, where Alicia fancied she saw a flash of something or someone on their way to the bazaar. It was gone before her mind could form an opinion, fleet and fast like smoke and rain, but maybe Beau had noticed the same thing. Alicia found her mind wandering, and for a moment old fears started to fight their way back to the surface, claws flashing above the still waters, but then she thought back to Arizona and their quest for the ghost ships, and remembered her own storm amidst the mega-storm. Decisions had been made that day, a willingness to try, and try she bloody well would.
Beau was staring at her, face betraying his surprise.
Alicia inclined her head. Beau would understand. He immediately nodded at Webb though, indicating that he would only draw attention by leaving the madman’s side. Alicia wondered what expression Webb’s face would snap into if he saw Kinimaka approaching and desperately wanted to see that darkly comedic scene, but understood it couldn’t happen.
Not yet.
Just then, Ramses finished his ridiculous tirade and several people rose quickly and moved toward him, needing perhaps some clarification or just trying to bask in his wicked magnificence. Webb was one of them. Alicia followed Beau, grabbing his shoulder and moving him a few feet away from Webb as the Pythian king stared up at Ramses, his lips working quickly as he tried to grab some attention.
“What do you know?” she asked. “Webb. The Pythians. New York. All of it.”
Beau glared. “And nice to see you too. Do you know how many nights we have been here? I have been,” he rolled his hips suggestively, “saving it all for you.”
Alicia coughed. “Well, that’s very nice of you, Beau, but you’re gonna have to tie it off around your waist for now because we’re in the middle of a crisis. Too many targets and no time. We’re struggling. Your input and help is required.”
The Frenchman checked his ward, who had sidled right up to Ramses by now, and turned back. “It is very bad.” His manner changed on a dime. “For New York, it is very bad. The last Pythian, Julian Marsh, is smuggling a suitcase nuke into the country, into the city, with an intention to prove its authenticity and then extract many dollars from the American government. What he doesn’t know is that Ramses’ men intend to hijack the bomb once it’s in the city and set it off.”
Alicia took a moment to digest that. “What? And you haven’t communicated that to anyone sane yet? Fuck!”
Both looked to the ground as heads turned their way. Then Beau said, “I didn’t know where you were sleeping. There are many men’s tents.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. But you obviously did not know where I was sleeping, since you have not come to visit.”
Alicia breathed deeply, annoyed and confused that Beau was making this about their relationship. It was pure jadedness, she knew, from a man who had seen it all and lived it all almost every day. Familiarity bred contempt, yes, and also complacency. Cynicism. She resisted the urge to shake the Frenchman.
“Marsh doesn’t know Ramses’ intent,” Beau clarified.
Alicia thought about their very immediate future. “Tell me where your tent is.”
Beauregard began to smile and then realized her mind was working in an entirely different way to his. Quickly, he explained, then sighed loudly.
“I also think you should know Webb’s true intent for being here. It wasn’t the nuke. Nothing like that. He’s bought some kind of scroll that was part of a journal compiled by Leopold — a German who spent his whole life researching Saint Germain.”
“Fuck, that wanker again. What is it with old bell ends and their bloody secret lives? I’m pretty sure that in fifty or a hundred years, someone will be studying the secrets of people we see as famous now.”
Beau blinked. “Really? Who?”
“Dunno. Terry Wogan? Jay Leno? Jennifer Lawrence?”
Beau grimaced. “Now who is kidding around?”
Alicia tended to agree. “All right, but New York has just taken priority.”
“Of course. That was always Webb’s plan. Distraction so he can focus entirely on the journal, working out its secrets.”
“That man is a devil with a demon’s heart and mind,” Alicia said. “I’m really gonna quarter the bastard and bury the parts at separate ends of the earth.”
“I will help you.”
“We’ll see. Now, is there—”
Alicia stopped abruptly as she saw Beau check on the whereabouts of Tyler Webb — now physically talking to Ramses — and then lean in, put an arm on her shoulder and his lips to her own. Alicia immediately felt a rush of heat and an urge to drag her own personal python off into the jungle, but then stood stock still and forced it all down. Gently, she pushed Beauregard away.