The Girl Who Would Be King(147)

“You freaking moron,” I say, sighing.

“Huh?” he asks his voice cracking a bit.

“I told you she was like me. There’s no way Gordo killed her with bullets in the back,” I say.

“But…she went down…” he tries again

“Lou. Do you think Gordo could kill me with a thousand bullets in my back?”

“’Course not, boss,” he says, a little too quickly, as if he’s considered and discussed it, which I’m sure he has.

“Then she’s not dead!” I scream so loud that they all cover their ears with their meaty hands, even the boy-shaped present in front of me. None of them look up when I stand, instead choosing the dark, glass-littered carpet. I shift my stone from hand to hand and circle the stranger kneeling before me, “You say this one belongs to her?” I ask gently. Lou clears his throat, no longer excited to be the spokesman.

“It’s her boyfriend. His name’s Clark, he’s some kind of law student or something,” Lou says, never raising his eyes. I put my index finger under Clark’s chin and force him to rise from his knees. He’s taller than me once he’s standing, taller than all of us except Gordo actually. He’s handsome, chiseled in the face like he’s the superhero. Black hair like crows’ wings and warm chocolaty eyes that remind me of Liz. He’s on the slim side with broad shoulders. Nice.

“Clark,” I say, tasting the name on my tongue.

“Lola,” he says calmly and I hear my henchmen suck in a collective breath. They’ve never heard anyone other than Liz say my name.

“You know me?” I ask, surprised but going for polite, demure, maybe even flattered.

“No more than you know me,” he says stoically.

“Oooh. Mysterious,” I say turning to my team. “Nice work, henchmen. As you can see,” I say, gesturing to Liz’s ear. “A lot has happened while you’ve been gone, and Liz having…left us, I’m in dire need of a new friend, so this will do nicely.” They don’t know what to do with the praise and so just continue staring at their shoes. A silver glint in Lou’s shirt catches my eye and I motion for him to step forward. “Your necklace,” I say, and he takes it off and hands it to me. It has a large silver cross on it and so I unclasp the lock and take the cross off. I throw the cross over my shoulder and it imbeds itself in the wall above my throne like a Chinese star. I thread the chain through the stone and put it back on my neck where it belongs. “Ah, that’s better,” I say, smiling. I turn back to the group. “All right, Lou, you should hook up with Jeeves. You’re back in charge once he brings you up to speed, but he’s been doing well, so make him your second in command, or whatever. The rest of you, do whatever Lou says.” I look at them and they stand there, looking like they’re waiting for a cookie. “Go!” I bellow, and they nearly run out of the room. I turn my attention to Clark. “Well, let’s find out if your girlfriend is coming to get you – shall we?” I say, sitting on my throne and crossing my legs primly. Clark looks at me.

“You know that guy’s name is Matthew, right?” he asks. I look up distracted.

“Who?”

“That guy you call Lou. His name is Matthew,” he says.

“Oh him,” I laugh. “I gave them all new names – henchmen-appropriate names – long ago.” I pause waiting for him to respond. He waits a long time and I stand up and walk over to him. “I wonder what we should name you,” I say whispering into his ear. He raises an eyebrow at me.

“You’re totally nuts, aren’t you?”

“Probably,” I say casually, and then smack him with the back of my hand and send him flying across the room. I stare at his now less impressive frame crumpled a bit against the exposed brick wall. “Let’s see if B’s on her way to rescue you, eh?” I say, sitting back on my throne and focusing all I’ve got into my stone. It pulls the energy out of me like last time, but without too much fuss the internal radar pops up and I’m able to search out her beat-beat-beating heartbeat, somewhere over Ohio and advancing surprisingly fast. “Looks like a showdown,” I giggle out loud to the ear and the boyfriend.

Nobody answers me.



°

I’m shooting across the country at record speed, even for me. Clark’s face and the possible thousands of unknown faces of Lola’s hostages and victims driving me. I don’t slow down until I’m above Los Angeles. From the sky it’s easy to see her location and the damage she’s caused. I hover well outside her borders and consider my options. First priority is to get Clark out of harm’s way so she can’t use him against me, then find and release the hostages, if there are any. But for either of those things to happen Lola has to be out of the picture, at least temporarily.