Someone on the other side shouted something. Tao translated it as “Fuck you.”
So much for that. Roen sat back down against the door and waited. If they were going to be unreasonable, so be it. He could wait them out. Not like he had much choice anyway. Eventually, one of these pricks would have to either talk to him or try to take the room by force. Roen was a patient man; he would be ready.
Twelve hours later, Roen was about ready to throw a fit. He paced the room and muttered obscenities. He thought at the very worst they would wait an hour or so. Now, half a day later with nothing to drink but hard liquor and plum wine, Roen’s patience had run out. He was hungry, thirsty, and completely hammered. And to top things off, it seemed the door locked on the other side! Now they really were trapped.
Faust had recovered and was currently keeping watch. He hadn’t drunk as much as Roen and was relatively sober. Eventually though, they would have to sleep. Both were exhausted already. And if they were both caught asleep, it would be the end of them.
As the thirteenth hour approached, there was a knock on the door. Both Roen and Faust stood up, weapons in hand. “What do you want?” Roen snarled at the door.
“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today,” someone spoke in English.
It cannot be!
It took a second for the statement to register, then a wave of relief swept over Roen and he broke into a grin. “It’s already tomorrow in Australia.”
The door knob turned and a large figure stepped into the room. It was dark, but he could make out the outline of a disfigured face. Roen moved forward, and the two embraced in the only way straight military men were comfortable doing, with rough pats on the back and what Roen referred to as the clamp of doom. Laughing, Dylan picked him off the ground and shook him like a rag doll. He then gave Roen a playful smack on the shoulder that nearly knocked him off his feet.
“What the blazes are you doing here? Did you actually come crawling back to the Prophus? Run out of lunch money or did you finally come to your senses about your wife? And why do you smell like you’ve been on a binger?”
“I never lost my senses about my wife,” Roen grinned back. Only Dylan could talk to him this way and not get a rise out of him. “We got a problem here. There’s an army of triad mobsters trying to kill us. How did you get past them?”
Dylan frowned and beckoned him to follow. Together, they walked through the door to the next room where at least two dozen Dragon members in full battle gear waited. This time, Roen saw guns; lots of them. Sloppy Eater was standing in front with murder on his face. For a split second, Roen thought Dylan had changed sides. An angry rumble erupted from the group. None seemed too happy to see them.
Yen changing sides is laughable. It would never happen.
“How many times have you said that?”
Too often, unfortunately.
Dylan held up his hands trying to calm everyone down. “Da Ge Chang, there seems to be a misunderstanding.”
Chang came forward and jabbed a shotgun into Roen’s chest. “I offer you our support and you attack us!”
“You were moving in on us,” Roen said. “Don’t think we didn’t notice that.”
“We were watching out for Brother Dylan. He warned us the enemy was hunting him,” Chang shot back.
Dylan gave Roen a shut-your-mouth glare. “Da Ge Chang, we will gladly make this situation right.”
“We generously provide you shelter and weapons, and your idiot attacks us!” He emphasized each syllable of idiot with a jab of the shotgun. “One of the injured is my nephew. He is only seventeen.”
“Maybe you should be a better uncle and not steer him toward two-bit thuggery as a career,” Roen muttered under his breath.
The look Dylan gave him could have killed a lesser man. He turned back to Chang and tried to explain the misunderstanding. He shot Roen that same look again when he found out that it was him who had thrown the first punch. Then he finally buried his face in his hands when Chang explained that nine of his men were in the hospital.
Nine in two minutes. Color me impressed.
“Half teenagers though. It was like being the only adult in a kid’s karate class.”
I fear teens more than adults in a fight. If I may remind you of your encounter with Jacob.
“You may not. In fact, we must never speak of it again.”
If anything, it might actually be a good time to go over it. I doubt it will be the last time we encounter him. I believe him to be an Adonis Vessel.
Roen harrumphed at the thought. Of course that punk would be an Adonis Vessel. More and more over the past few years, these young, annoying superhumans had been popping up like weeds among the Genjix ranks. And he hated to admit it, but those kids had been eating their Wheaties, or whatever genetically modified formula the Genjix were feeding them. In the past few years, these Adonis, some barely old enough to drive, had begun to form the backbone of a new generation of Genjix officers. And in every encounter, they had proven to be difficult adversaries.
Finally, it all came down to restitution. Fortunately, Roen hadn’t killed or injured any of them too seriously, or the triad might have been honor-bound to kill him. Instead, because of Dylan’s longstanding relationship with this particular group, Roen was allowed to pay for the damage and dishonor he caused. In the end, it came out to another cool half million Taiwanese dollars. Roen had somehow spent two-thirds of Lin’s money in the first few days. At this rate, they would be broke by lunch. After paying up, the Dragon members ushered the three out and told Roen to never show his face again.
Once they were outside, Dylan cuffed him on the shoulder. “Really? How did you make this big mess in such a short period of time? I’ve been here for weeks and haven’t made a peep. You haven’t unpacked yet and already they almost put a hit out on you.”
“Sorry?” Roen smiled sheepishly. “How did you find us anyway? What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” Dylan looked surprised. “One of Chang’s boys runs to my place saying some guys were looking for me. As far as I know, the only people after me were the Genjix. Then he tells me they locked you in their closet, so I came.”
Roen grimaced. “More like we locked ourselves. So you were working with them all this time?”
Dylan nodded. “Chang and I go way back. I used to help them run guns during our pirating days. So what the bloody hell are you doing here? I didn’t send for you, nor am I dead.”
“Wait, you knew we were here all this time? We’ve been looking for you!” Roen stammered.
Dylan smacked his forehead with his palm. “Wuehler’s team is supposed to stay up north and cause a ruckus.”
“I don’t get it. Why?” Roen said.
I do. We were never supposed to find Dylan. We were decoys.
TWENTY-EIGHT
NOT AS EASY AS IT SEEMS
We call ourselves your gods, and it is true in every sense. We are the parents who raised humanity, and like any gods, we own your future to use as we feel was necessary. The vessels who follow us do so knowing that those who serve live an eternity through their Quasing.
Elevation is not without cost, though, and our will not without consequences. There is a price to pay for our blessing. The humans who serve will be adapted. All others will perish. - Zoras
Enzo’s first priority was to stabilize the situation until reinforcements came. That had proven more difficult than anticipated. The very next day, Vinnick’s two thousand reinforcements arrived. Its commander, a stubborn vessel named Nguyen, had refused to hand command over to Enzo. He had to be put down and Vuru, his Holy One, given to another of Enzo’s hand-picked men. Genjix forces now numbered three thousand, yet Enzo would not feel at ease until the rest of his men came, for a total of five thousand men at his disposal.