Page 79 of Circle of Death
I make another dive, heading straight for the water. The drone is as nimble as I am. Maybe even better. As I pull out of my dive, I bank hard to the right and gain altitude again until we’re a hundred feet up. Me and the damned machine. I can see the lights from the mansion off to my left. I turn in a tight circle. The drone follows. For a second, its underside is tipped toward me.
Its belly.
I adjust my angle and head straight for it. I hit the underside hard with both talons. Hard enough to break an animal’s spine. I feel a panel shake loose. The rotor blades tip toward me, barely missing my neck. The drone goes into a wobbly circle, trying to right itself. I attack again, heading straight for the loose panel. This time, my right talon hooks a small wire bundle. I rip downward and feel something give. The drone starts spiraling down. But I’m losing lift! I’m heading down, too.
I can see the water coming up fast. I tuck in right, almost into a ball. At the last second, I flare my wings to catch as much air as possible. I soar up again. The drone plunges in right below me, rotors churning the surface into froth. Then it flips and sinks.
Like a great dying bird.
CHAPTER 96
I LAND IN a tall pine tree near the back of the house, gripping a thick branch for dear life. My heart rate must be north of three hundred. I give myself a few seconds to settle. Then I glide to the ground and rematerialize.
Tapper, Hawkeye, and Jericho look over when they see me sneaking out of the trees. They’ve been so focused on the target, I doubt they even saw the fight. But I can tell that they’re glad to see me human again.
Jericho points toward the great room above us. It projects out toward the lawn in a large semicircle, with floor-to-ceiling windows. But the curtains inside are drawn shut.
All we can pick up are vague silhouettes, and the low murmur of voices.Dammit!This is where Burbank’s listening devices would have helped. Too late. No time to go back for him now.
I motion for the others to stay put. For a second, I feel like I’m about to pass out. I realize that it’s too soon after my shape-shift to engage another power. My body needs time to adjust. But there is no time. I shake it off, take a deep breath—and turn invisible.
I’m still shaky as I climb up the steps to the side of the porch. I hold on to the railing to steady myself. I see a guard standing in front of the side door. A stair creaks under my weight. The guard turns and looks in my direction. I bend down and pick up a pebble. I throw it hard against the wall at the far end of the porch. Oldest trick in the book. I’ve been using it for ten thousand years. The guard whips around and starts moving toward the sound. I slip through the door he’s supposed to be guarding.
The interior of the house is high-end, with custom moldings and expensive hardwood floors. I pass the entrance to the kitchen—marble counters and fancy appliances. Ahead of me, I can see the arched entry to the great room. The glow reflects out into the hallway. There’s only one person talking now. A woman.
A shiver shoots through me. I know that voice.
It’s her.
The Destroyer of Worlds.
“You’re weak. Incompetent!” she’s saying. “You don’t deserve to lead!”
I come around a thick column at the entryway, and there she is—hair pulled back from her face, wearing a gold-embroidered floor-length robe. Like some kind of ancient royalty. She has her back to a giant video monitor. Under the light from ceiling fixtures, she actually glows.
I expected a roomful of people for a weapons auction this important—a whole conclave of miscreants. But I only see an audience of two, sitting in high-backed chairs facing the screen. I work my way around to the side of the room, treading softly. As soon as the profiles of the two visitors come into view, I freeze.
Toor Bayani, I expected.
But not the man sitting next to him.
It’s Lucian Diaz, the president of the Americas.
CHAPTER 97
THE DESTROYER IS talking to the two most powerful men in the world like they were schoolchildren. And they’re both just sitting there and taking it.
“You ineffectualposers! I played you against each other and you both lost. Your emissaries bid top price for my technology, but neither of you will get it.”
“Wait,” says Diaz. “There must be some other deal we can make!” He sounds like he’s trying to preserve some scrap of authority and dignity. But it’s not working.
“The deal is done,” says the Destroyer. “And the deal is this: now you both work for me.”
Bayani takes a stab at English, heavily accented, but clear. “You cannot threaten me! I control an army of millions!”
“So you do, Minister Bayani,” says the Destroyer. “Shall we take a look?”
She turns to the screen behind her. It lights up with a drone’s-eye view of a huge Chinasian parade field. Soldiers are lined up in formation for some kind of ceremony or exercise. They’re arranged in a dozen battalions of what looks like about a thousand soldiers each. An invasion-sized force.
