Part 10 (1/2)

Oliver stared back at her. His finger nervously danced over the trigger of his gun. The men shook their heads, as if telling him, Get rid of her. Then he sighed.

”Look, I don't have time to argue,” he breathed. ”Just stay behind us, do you understand? I'm not going to let him hurt you.”

Gaia nodded.

Oliver took a deep breath and then turned to his people. ”All right,” he whispered, opening the hallway door slowly. ”When I give the signal, we go in.”

TOM'S MIND WAS CLEAR AS A NEWLY sharpened blade. He was barely aware of screeching up behind George and leaping from his car in front of Loki's newest residence. George shouted something at him-some kind of warning, no doubt-but Tom tuned him out. His thoughts had been reduced to a single image: that of his twin's face. The face of a man who would soon be dead.

Warning Adrenaline kicked in as Tom flung open the door to the main stairwell and bounded up the creaky wooden stairs, taking them in threes and fours. In less than fifteen seconds, he'd reached the fifth floor. His eyes homed in on apartment #53. He didn't slow down. Instead, he took all his momentum from his mad sprint and channeled it into a vicious side kick into the door.

”Hai!”

But the door gave absolutely no resistance.

It slammed against the inner wall of the apartment with a thunderous crack, and then creaked slowly back towards him.

There had been no need to break it down. It was already open.

Tom hesitated.

”Gaia?” he called. Gaia?”

There was no response. He fought to catch his breath as he took a cursory look around Loki's living room. But there was nothing to find. The place was empty. All the windows were open. A light breeze rustled his hair. There were hardly any furnis.h.i.+ngs, even-just two chairs and a gla.s.s coffee table. And that made Tom extremely uneasy. Something was unquestionably wrong.

He closed the door behind him and hurried toward a side entrance. Footsteps floated to him from the hallway just on the other side of the door... then ceased.

That's got to be him.

Ducking down, Tom reached into his vest holster and pulled out his gun, aiming it defensively at the side door. If Loki- The door crashed open. Tom c.o.c.ked his pistol, searching for a target-but his joints suddenly seized in panic. Gaia? She was right behind Loki and two other men... no, this was impossible. He stood, and found three pistols in his face. Loki's muzzle was the closest, barely inches from his nose. Before Tom could even exhale, the front door flew open behind him, striking the wall again. A young man with black hair and chiseled features stepped inside, wielding a machine gun-which he promptly aimed... at Loki?

This is crazy.

Tom's eyes flashed in bewilderment between the machine gun and his brother. This young man didn't work for the agency. Maybe there was some kind of betrayal afoot, but he never- ”Drop the gun, Loki!” Oliver shouted.

Tom blinked. Bewilderment turned to horror. ”What?”

”You heard me, Loki!” Oliver spat. ”I said drop it.”

Gaia stepped forward, thrusting herself between Oliver and one of the men. ”Where is Sam?” she demanded. ”Tell me where he is, or I swear to G.o.d, I'll kill you.”

Blood pounded in Tom's temples. He couldn't make sense of any of this. He'd fallen into some nightmarish alternate universe where no certainties applied-apparently, not even those of life and death. ”Gaia, what-what are you talking about?” he gasped.

Oliver turned his gun toward the young man standing behind Tom-the man Tom didn't even know. ”You,” he said, staring intensely. ”Drop it.”

The young man obeyed, dropping his machine gun to the floor and raising his hands. Oliver turned back to Tom. ”Now you, Loki. Drop it.”

Just as Tom began lowering his gun, Gaia burst forward and grabbed him by his jacket lapels, shaking him violently. ”Tell me where he is!” she screamed again. ”Tell me where Sam is now!”

”Gaia, don't!” Oliver warned her. ”Step away from him. He's too dangerous. Drop that gun, Loki. I'm not going to warn you again.”

Tom gaped at his daughter's distraught face. He was beginning to make sense of the situation. Loki had set a trap. And Tom had fallen right it-as had Gaia. Rage boiled in the center of Tom's chest, but the pain in Gaia's eyes commanded all his attention. All that hysteria and anger... all of it directed at him. Tom dropped his gun to the floor and grabbed Gaia's shoulders, fighting to keep her still.

”Gaia,” he said sharply. ”Gaia, it's me. I don't know what kind of sick setup he's created here, but that's what this is, a setup. I'm not Loki, I'm your father.”

”Shut your mouth,” she howled, shoving him in the chest. ”No more lies! Just tell me where Sam is. Tell me where he is.”

It struck him then, with the force of a bullet: She didn't know. She didn't know that Sam was dead. In all the chaos, Tom hadn't really heard the question she'd kept asking of him. But now he was beginning to understand just how far Loki had gone to deceive her. He truly had no limits. Nothing was too cruel. So Tom had to tell her the truth. In spite of the madness swirling through the room, in spite of the fact that he probably only had seconds to live, he had to tell her.

”Gaia, Sam is dead,” he whispered. ”I'm so sorry-”

”You sick son of a b.i.t.c.h,” Oliver barked. ”You already killed him, didn't you?”

Gaia went still. Very suddenly. Every ounce of life seemed to drop from her face. Tom found himself wis.h.i.+ng, like a nave child, that his brother had never existed-that there had never been an Oliver to torture people so unmercifully, to inflict so much pain. He was a true sociopath. People's feelings were all part of the game to him, even the feelings of those he claimed to love. He wasn't even human. So there was no way for any human to compete. Except to keep telling the truth.

”Gaia, listen to me,” Tom said firmly. ”Oliver is lying. He is Loki, and he, or one of his people, shot Sam last night in the alley behind the Bubble Lounge.”

Oliver stepped forward and thrust the silencer against Tom's cheek. The metal was cold and hard; it sc.r.a.ped against his bone. ”This man is a liar,” Oliver hissed through clenched teeth.

Tom had to ignore him. He had to ignore the gun. The need for truth took precedent over the need for resistance, or even the need for life. He looked deep into Gaia's shattered blue eyes, holding her gaze as best he could. ”I wish you could have found out any other way. I'm telling you the truth, Gaia-”

”Step away from him, sweetheart,” Oliver commanded.

Gaia obeyed.

One simple motion. That was all. But it was a move that terrified Tom far more than the gun buried in his flesh. Because he knew then that he had lost. He had lost his daughter forever.

GAIA REALIZED SOMETHING IN THAT instant: she'd been wrong about her father's eyes. They were not softer than her uncle's. They were just as hard. In fact, she couldn't even tell the two men apart. They were both dressed in the exact same suit. Their hair, their faces, even their voices... all of it, exactly the same. As were their endless lies and accusations. Every word they uttered was aimed at winning her trust, and every word yielded the opposite result. Loving gestures were s.a.d.i.s.tic, and vice versa.

Endless Lies So. The conclusion she drew was obvious. She couldn't trust either one of them to tell her the truth about Sam. Not for a moment. If she were going to get the truth about him, then she would have to get it from someone else. And there was only one other person in the room: conveniently, the one person she'd been waiting to see since this morning. Her eyes flashed across the room to Josh.

And then she frowned.

His face was as immaculate as ever. Totally unblemished. Not the slightest bruise or the slightest bit of swelling. Not even a scratch. It was impossible. She'd smashed it to a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp only hours ago.

Only then did she notice he was staring back at her.

That heinous smirk spread across his lips-the same one he'd worn even as she'd pummeled him and demanded to know Sam's fate. Gaia's muscles tensed. That reminded her: she'd made a promise to herself. She'd vowed to finish what she had started earlier today. Josh knew if Sam was dead or alive. She could see it in every repugnant feature. He'd always known. He'd known the answer every time she'd asked the question, even when she'd tried to beat it out of him. And now he was going to tell her. Because she simply didn't care anymore. For Josh, she was throwing out all the rules of conduct-every honorable aspect of battle she'd learned from the Go Rin No Sho. He deserved no less. He was going to answer her, and then he was going to die.

”You tell me,” Gaia spat. She strode across the room and planted herself in front of Josh so that they were practically nose-to-nose. ”I know you know the truth, Josh. Is Sam dead or not?”

Her father or her uncle said something behind her, but she didn't hear it. They ceased to exist. Nothing existed except Gaia and Josh.

”You're not going to tell me?” she asked calmly.

Josh's smile widened.

Gaia's hand darted to his face-so quickly that it made a whir as it sliced through the air. Josh didn't have a prayer of reacting. He was still smiling, in fact, when she clamped her fingers around the back of his skull and slammed it into Loki's gla.s.s breakfast table. The room exploded with the sound of shattering gla.s.s. Gaia didn't even flinch. Blood splattered everywhere: the floor, the walls, Gaia's tank top, her fatigues. n.o.body moved. n.o.body made a sound.

The smile was finally gone.