"He's tattling. " Vishous stabbed out his hand-rolled in an ashtray. "That's what it sounded like to me--although I'm not willing to bet my big balls on it. "
Now that John had his inner pit recaged and was able to think properly, he was inclined to agree with the Brother. Lash was a self-serving shit, and about as trustworthy as a rattlesnake, but the thing was, when you couldn't rely on morality, you could absolutely bank on narcissism: It made the bastard utterly predictable.
John was sure of this--to the point where he felt like he'd been through it all before.
"Is it possible he's been dethroned," Wrath murmured. "Daddy-o maybe decide that the son was not so amusing after all? Or did the evil's shiny, pretty new toy break--is there some shit in Lash's bizarre biology that's just coming out now? I want us to go in assuming it's an ambush. . . . "
There was broad consensus in the room for the plan, as well as some cheap shots involving Lash's ass and various kinds of large-bore instruments of impact: size- fourteen boots being the most likely to come to pass, but hardly the most creative.
For example, John seriously doubted Rhage could in fact park his GTO in the guy's sun-don't-shine. Or would want to.
Man. . . what a turn of events. And yet it wasn't really surprising--if what they were guessing had actually happened. The Omega was known to go through Fore-lessers like shit through a goose, and blood wasn't necessarily thicker than evil, so to speak. And if Lash had been kicked to the curb, his calling the Brotherhood out to pull a middle finger on his father was brilliant maneuvering--especially as lessers were weakest right after their inductions, and therefore incapable of fighting back.
The Brothers could clean house.
Jesus Christ, John thought. Destiny could make for strange bedfellows.
Xhex was on a low boil as she stood next to John in a study that, but for the desk and throne, could have been mistaken for a French female's parlor.
The sound of Lash's voice coming from that phone made her feel like her stomach had been scrubbed down with ammonia, the burning, churning routine doing a nasty on that poor, well-intended turkey sandwich she'd just had.
And Wrath's assumption that John was going to defend her honor didn't calm things down in there.
"So we infiltrate," the Blind King was saying. "At nightfall, all of you go out 149 and--"
"I'll go now," she said loud and clear. "Give me a pair of guns and a knife and I'll go check it out right now. "
Okaaaaaay. Short of pulling the pin on a hand grenade and chucking it into the center of the room, she couldn't have commanded more attention.
As John's emotional grid went dark with oh-no-you-don't, she started the countdown before the explosion hit.
Three. . . two. . . one. . .
"That's a kind offer," the king said as he slid into full cajole-the- female mode. "But I think it's best--"
"You can't stop me. " She dropped her arms to her sides--and then reminded herself that she wasn't about to physically attack the guy. Really. She wasn't.
The king's smile was about as warm as dry ice. "I'm sovereign here. Which means if I tell you to hang tight, you're going to goddamn well do that. "
"And I'm a symphath. Not one of your subjects. More to the point, you're smart enough not to send your best assets"--she motioned around the room at the Brothers--"into a possible ambush set up by your enemy. I'm disposable--unlike them. Think about it. You going to lose one of them just because you didn't want me to get a little sun today?"
Wrath laughed hard. "Rehv? You want to weigh in on this as king of her kind?"
From across the room, her old boss and dear friend, the fucker, stared at her with amethyst eyes that knew way too much.
You're going to get yourself killed, he thought at her.
Do not hold me back, she returned at him . I'll never forgive you.
You keep acting like this and forgiveness is the last thing I'm worried about. Your funeral pyre's more like it.
I didn't stop you from going up to that colony when you needed to. Hell, you tied my hands so I couldn't. You saying I don't deserve my revenge? Fuck you.
Rehvenge's jaw clenched so hard she was surprised that when he finally opened his mouth, he didn't spit out his teeth in pieces. "She can go do what she wants. You can't save someone if they don't want the fucking lifeboat. "
The male's anger sucked most of the air out of the room, but she was so focused she didn't need her lungs to work properly anyway.
Obsession was as good as oxygen. And anything that had to do with Lash was fuel to her fire.