Phoenix headed for the old base to make sure the police weren't touching his stuff. Scott introduced him to a hovercycle, much to his evident pleasure, then went to check out the cave base and found that it, too, had been seriously damaged. A few people were still there, unable to find their way out. He led them the long way around, found a few others lost in the tunnels and guided them to safety before he started assessing the damage.
    The hard drive he and Needle had stolen was gone. And the backup copy had been destroyed.
    I'm going to have to start learning to swear.

    Lucky called Chandler.
    "Hello, how are you?" he asked. "Obviously not well."
    "I've had better days and I've had worse days," she decided.
    "Do you want some good news? The storm has passed," het told her confidently.
    She shrugged to herself, figuring that no matter what, her own situation wouldn't improve much. "This is going to sound like a really stupid question, but have you found anything out about healing Don Vincent?"
    "No."
    "Okay." Bottled up her disappointment.
    "Did you get the guys responsible for this?"
    "Somebody else did. And then they flew away, to God knows where."
    "Take 'em where you can get 'em. They're out of the city, I can tell you that for certain."
    "It's safe to come see you, then?"
    "I think so, yeah."
    "Maybe I'll see you later, then."
    "Okay."
    "Thanks for everything."
    One down. She called Vincent next.
    "You've reached Vincent Guiliani's house," the housekeeper answered pleasantly.
    "This is Kyla McKay."
    "I'll put you right through." Pause. "Hello, Kyla, how are you?" he inquired jovially.
    "Don Vincent. I'm... well, as I just said to a colleague of mine, I've had better days and I've had worse days. Somebody bit off the head of the dragon for you."
    "I have to admit that tonic I've been taking has been most revitalizing. Vengeance usually is."
    She could hear him smiling. "There are other tonics, you know, sir," she said cautiously.
    "This one works best for me. It's a little chilly, but I understand that I have a court date sometime soon. I'm sure that I'll see you and all of your friends there. I do want you to know that I appreciate what's happened over the last few days, Kyla. It doesn't necessarily balance everything between us, but it's a start."
    "I'm not sure I did it for you, sir." In fact, she knew she hadn't. And it seemed that so did he.
    "I know that you didn't do it for me. You did it for yourself, your colleagues, and for your own sense of moral justice. That doesn't change the fact that it benefited me greatly, and I thank you for it."
    "You're welcome. You know, I don't quite know what to do here, because I don't dislike you, but I don' t agree with you anymore," she said carefully.
    "I find that often such disagreements spark the most interesting conversations. It's impossible to have a true conversation with someone if you agree on everything. I trust that you and I will be dueling with words again sometime soon." It was impossible to tell his thoughts from his voice.
    "I'll watch my back."
    "Pleasure talking to you, Kyla."
    "I'm glad you're feeling better, sir, have a nice day."
    Third call. Winters.
    "Yes, Phoenix Talon, have you finished the inventory yet?" she answered.
    "Um—"
    "Oh, Lucky."
    "So I'm guessing you still hate me about as much as Holly Shapiro does." Bracing herself for more of the anger which had blasted her the night of that explosive broadcast.
    Instead Winters sighed. "Holly Shapiro is an idiot. You just report back to your community service tomorrow, and I'm sure you and I can work out our differences over the long term." She sounded like a woman with other things on her mind.
    "That's pretty generous."
    "A lot of things happened in New York, and it was a long time ago."
    "I won't pretend I'm not confused, but I'm relieved," Lucky admitted. Ask her out, part of her brain urged, but she quashed it. Not yet. The fact that Winters didn't hate her was surprising enough, but a good start.
    "As I said, we'll work out our differences in the long term. Besides, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be at this post."
    "Where you going?"
    "I just got some paperwork across my desk, apparently Reilly's coming back from Chicago."
    "You can't—"
    "I gotta get going, I'll talk to you later, okay?"
    Click.
    Dammit!

| Top |