"For you?" She smiled, giving my cheek an affectionate pat. "You know me better than that, Mick. This is for me. Moe was losing his grip, and he had to go for the family to be strong. And I'll be the one to lead us back to power like he did in the old days."
"You won't have a city left if I can't stop Kilgore. It's time I hit the streets, sweetheart."
Wrapping her fingers around the back of my neck, she pulled my head down for an aggressive kiss. I was just relaxing under the pressure when her teeth sank into my bottom lip, drawing blood. I yanked back, hand drifting to my mouth. "What was that for?"
She grinned, tongue sliding across her mouth. "Blood for blood, Mick. I shed some for you; now I take some. It's crazy — you're the only lover that I didn't eventually want to kill. Guess I wouldn't mind if I saw you again after this is all over."
We both knew it was goodbye, but neither of us had the guts to call it. After what I just witnessed, I should have been grateful. I gave her my most charming smile. "Hey, if I live through the night, then maybe that'll happen. No promises, though."
"No expectations. You ready?"
I nodded. "Let's do it."
She yanked the door open and yelled for the guards.
Minutes later, I stood with Ben the Bear in Flacco's garage. The grounds buzzed with frantic guards, and the manor itself was on lockdown with most of New Haven's criminal honchos sweating it out under the heat of Electra's fury. I was pretty sure I heard a few muffled gunshots earlier — someone with a backbone that she had to make an example of, if my hunch was correct. While everything around us was in a state of controlled chaos, Benny and I got a rare moment of quiet in a cavernous parking deck with gleaming, streamlined rollers and floaters that testified for the late Flacco's extravagant taste.
Benny handed me the Mean Ol' Broad. "Your beanshooter. Got it back from the safe."
"Much appreciated, Ace."
He looked terrible — beefy face crestfallen, shoulders slumped. He heaved a heavy sigh. "I can't believe it. First Sophia, now Zio — gone."
I laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, feeling only a slight stab of guilt. "I'm sorry, Benny."
He glanced down with a look like a wounded bear. "Were they gunning for him, or you?"
I shook my head. "Don't know."
"When I started working for you in the Gaiden, everyone told me it was better to stay in the family. They said you were bad news, too dangerous to be around. I didn't believe them. You kept me around when everyone wrote me off. I learned about being tough, being brave from you. You're the guy I thought I wanted to be like."
I pulled a flask from my pocket and downed a swallow, trying not to wince when the burn ate at my insides. I offered it to Benny. "And now?"
He took a swallow, eyes staring into the distance, where the city lights flickered like a million multicolored candles. "Now, I'm not so sure. No one around you is safe, Mick. We're all just … collateral damage."
I felt the truth of his words settle on my shoulders like a sack of stones. Taking the flask back, I slipped it into my pocket. "You're right, Benny. That's why you gotta stay behind on this one."
"No way, Mick. If someone's after you, then I gotta be there to watch your back."
"Not this time. Hey — listen to me. I got a reckoning coming, understand? My life has been an ugly chain of events, every link bringing me to this moment. The endgame, Benny. When I go to war this time, I'm holding nothing back. No lifelines, no retreat. The last thing I need is another body on my conscience. You can't take this ride with me, Benny. You got too much to live for."
"What are you saying, Mick — you're not coming back? If that's the case, I definitely gotta go. Who's got your back if it ain't me?"
"Not this time. This Haven and everything in it are gonna change, Benny. There won't be any choice but to join the rest of the world. No matter what happens, I won't be around for the aftermath. If I live through this, I got plans that don't include staying here."
"What plans?"
"There's … someone I gotta find. Someone I owe a lot to and gotta settle up with. It doesn’t matter, Benny. I can't stay, and you got Electra to think about. She's in a precarious situation — no matter how she pretends otherwise. She needs soldiers right now, Benny. People she can trust. You gotta watch her back. That's what your uncle would want, after all."
I watched him wrestle with conflicting loyalties for a moment before finally nodding like I knew he would. "Okay, Mick. You win. I'll stick around and look out for Electra. Just promise to take care of yourself. Maybe I'll see you after this is over."
"Yeah, maybe." I extended a hand that Benny immediately tried to break with his oversized grabbers. But being the macho man I was, I barely whimpered.
Seconds later, I hovered over the city in the last thing I wanted to be in: a floater, courtesy of Flacco's expensive garage. It didn't matter that it was a sleek dream of a vehicle, retro-fashioned after the Auburn Boattail Speedster of the Art Deco age if memory served me right — which it always did. I had nothing but bad experiences in flying vehicles, but with the city streets flooding, there was no other rational option. So I had to suffer the leather-cushioned interior, state-of-the-art flight system, and sexy long body style with hooded fenders. Usually, the design would have taken my breath away, but all I saw was the pouring rain.
I knew the reason why New Haven was doomed to drown unless the Council made the ultimate decision: to give up the Haven. I figured they were frantically working to stem the ruptured water lines, but what they didn't know was that the damage was done. The lowest parts of the city were already swamped, the buildings invaded by a cold, unfeeling enemy that couldn't be threatened or bargained with.
Just like Kilgore.
The sky was nearly empty of other floaters, most grounded to free the airlanes for emergency fliers and enforcement units on the manhunt. My vehicle still had a police unit tag via my holoband, so I was automatically cleared as I flew into one of the city canyons, where dark buildings towered on either side like metallic mountains. Rain sloshed against the windshield, reducing the outer world to glimmering specks and murky silhouettes. The autonav system took care of the flying, leaving me alone with my increasingly gloomy thoughts. To the darkest moment of my life…
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Kilgore smirked at me from the door of Maxine's apartment. "That's no way to greet a fellow agent."
Heat flushed through my veins, scalding my face, breaking my pores out in sweat. "Agent? You know what our plans are, Ethan."
He leaned against the doorframe so casually that someone else might have mistaken it for boredom. But Kilgore was never bored. Even relaxed, he was dangerous — capable of instantaneous violence at a moment's notice. "Yeah, those plans have changed."
"By who?"
"By Natalie."
My heart nearly exploded from my chest at the mention of her name. Kilgore grinned at my discomfort, but I barely noticed. If Natalie was there, then she knew. She knew that me and Natalie were planning to leave the HSSC and join the rebels, fighting against our fellow agents. And if she knew that, we were as good as dead.
I glanced around, noting the shadowed alleys where agents were no doubt stationed, infrared and nightvision goggles activated. Up above, several darkened windows — perfect locations for snipers. Kilgore could stand there without concern because I'd be gunned down before I could carry out any form of attack.
He nodded as if reading my thoughts. "Time to face the music, Mikey."