Jonathan Bond - The Terminus experiment

If what Flak said was true, Truxa had meant everything to Sinunu, and Rachel could only guess what it might feel like to lose her. She wouldn’t even let herself think about how it would be to lose Warren for good. They’d failed to find him, but Rachel knew they would try again.

She forced herself to stand up and look for Julius. He stood in his combat armor, helmet removed, and she recognized him by his silver hair. Julius was speaking to the red-haired captain, Biggs. At first Rachel was surprised that Julius had the assault himself-after all, he was an executive. But she knew better; the whole D’imato family received combat training, both personal and strategic.

More things about Warren I never knew. It bothered her he’d kept all this from her, as though she were too fragile to handle it. Or perhaps he’d done it to protect her from his family.

Rachel stretched out the kinks in her legs and back. Then touched her neck where the wound had been bandaged, fluffed her hair out of habit before walking across the room toward Julius.

Rachel looked over at de Vries as she went. He sat on the bumper of the Mobmaster, surrounded by soldiers still in combat gear. Several of them held flame-throwers, the nozzeles pointed at de Vries. Next to de Vries sat Short Eyes, looking bored.

Julius had told Rachel he was going to check out their story, if possible, before letting them go. Rachel didn’t think Julius could actually hold de Vries, even with the whole Fratellanza arsenal and all its troops, but de Vries was going along with the game for now.

Rachel walked up to Julius, pushing past two big, cybered orks who seemed to be listening to instructions. “Excuse me, Mr. D’imato” she said.

“Yes, Rachel?” Rachel had never met Warren’s father, and the familiar way he used her name bothered her a little. She didn’t know much about him, but from the way he addressed her, she guessed he knew almost everything about her.

Rachel hooked a thumb back over her shoulder at the runners. “Their mage died on the run trying to get Warren out,” she said. “Her name was Truxa. We were almost out of there, but we’d been going at it for too long. I guess we got sloppy. A vamp got her when we were loading into the truck.”

“I saw. I’ve also been told that the albino woman-”

“Sinunu.”

“-Sinunu held the mage in… shall we say, very high regard.”

Rachel nodded.

“We all know what it’s like to lose someone we love.”

Rachel frowned. “If you know that, then you’ve got to know these people have gone through hell and back to get your son, and I think they deserve a bit more consideration than you’ve shown them.”

Julius flinched. “Of course,” he said. “There’s not much I can do for them here, but I plan to do something about their loses.” He turned to one of the orks. “Biggs, you finish up here for me?”

The big ork nodded his assent.

Julius put his arm around Rachel’s shoulders and led her back toward Flak and Sinunu.

Flak looked up at Rachel and Julius as they approached.

Julius spoke with pain in his voice. “I know that you risked your lives trying to rescue my son.”

Flak stood, and offered his huge hand to Julius, though his face was like something chipped from granite. “I’m just sorry we failed.” His voice was raspy and harsh.

Julius took the troll’s huge paw and shook it. “I also understand that you’ve suffered losses due to something you had no stake in. I cannot apologize enough for that, so I won’t insult you by trying. The best I can say is that none of you will ever want for anything again.” His voice cracked on the last word, and Rachel knew how he felt.

Flak shook his head. “We knew the risks when we took the job, and we’ve been paid. You owe us nothing.” Even though he sounded sincere, his voice was dead, flat.

“Yes, he does.” If Flak’s voice had sounded dead, Sinunu’s voice sounded as if all Hell’s damned were speaking in chorus. There was so much anger and pain in her voice that for a moment Rachel feared the other woman might actually attack Julius.

Julius stood tall and looked at her. “You are the one called Sinunu. Of everyone, I believe you have lost the most tonight. What could I possibly do to make that up to you?”

Sinunu stood. She was nearly as tall as Julius, though leaner. She still had dried blood on her face and neck, but it only made her look all the more deadly. “You can tell us you’re going to do something about the evil out there.”

Julius nodded. “Do you think I would dishonor the losses both you and I have suffered by sitting idle while those things still walk? But, to my mind, the first order of business is to reattempt to rescue my son.”

Sinunu smiled, and Rachel could see the gaps in her mouth where teeth were missing. “And you could say that we’re coming with you. Though you must know that it doesn’t matter what you say; we will avenge our own.”

Julius stood still for a moment, then nodded. “If what I’ve been told is even half true, then I would be honored to have you there”

Rachel said, “I’m going as well.”

Julius looked Rachel over, admiration apparent on his face, “I wouldn’t dream of trying to stop you.”

Rachel nodded.

A small smile tracked across Sinunu’s face, though Rachel noticed it didn’t touch her pink eyes. She turned to Rachel. “If the son is anything like the father,” she said. “I see why you place value in him.” Then she turned and walked back over to the wall, where she sat down heavily.

Julius said, “When we’ve had a chance to recuperate a bit, we’ll try again. Assuming they’ve thrown everything they’ve got at us, I think we learned enough tonight to break them.” He started to walk away.

Rachel stopped him with a hand on his arm. ‘There’s one more thing,” she said. “De Vries. It’s almost dawn.”

Sinunu’s voice drifted over their shoulders. “I think it would be in your best interest to stop treating de Vries like a prisoner. He’s one of the most honorable men I’ve ever met. and he tried harder than any of us to get your son back to you. Besides, if he decides to leave, I really don’t think you could stop him.”

Rachel watched Julius stiffen at Sinunu’s tone, but he simply nodded.

“Come,” Julius said. He put his arm around Rachel’s shoulders and began to walk over toward the Mobmaster, where his men were watching de Vries. “I need to talk to the vampire anyway. He might be able to shed some light on what happened tonight. Even though my experience with vampires is somewhat singular, I was surprised by what I saw.”

Rachel nodded. “I know. Not all vampires are mindless beasts that suck blood. In fact, according to Martin, the vampires we encountered at the compound were acting strange The coordinated attacks, the lack of self-preservation, it isn’t usual.”

Again Julius smiled down at her. “Well, we know some things, and hopefully, de Vries can fill in the rest. All vamp bodies we brought back with us had similar headwear. And all of them had reprogrammable psychotropic chips. They could be under the influence of the chip: some early experiments with war troops tried that with humans. And it works to great effect, but it treats the individuals like game pieces. To be used up and tossed away when they’re no longer needed.”

Rachel shuddered. It wasn’t that she felt any sympathy for those vampires, but she suddenly realized for the first time that they had once been people.

De Vries stood as they approached.

“Are you all right?” Rachel asked.

He nodded. “Yes.” Then he turned his attention to Julius. “Have you confirmed the information about your brother?”