That Nietzsche Thing

  Chapter 19

  They didn’t take my gun, either. Vivian introduced the colossus as Tebor. They threw me into the backseat of a Cadillac they found parked a few blocks away from Fourth and University.

  Tebor smashed the glass with his bare fist to open the doors. He tore the casing off the steering column once he’d pulled his massive bulk in behind the wheel. A few seconds of fooling with wires and the engine turned over.

  The back of his large, black overcoat was a punched out pattern of bullet holes. But there was no blood. Not a drop.

  Yeah, they let me keep my gun. There was no reason to take it away. I put it away in its holster under my bomber.

  “Where are we going?” Vivian asked, sliding into the front seat.

  I was prostrate in the back. Terrified hardly began to describe my condition. “The Hearthstone. On Green Lake.”

  “You know it?” she asked Tebor.

  He nodded, put the Cadillac in gear, and pulled away from the curb.

  I remained silent as the car drove pass the burned-out storefronts of downtown. I ventured to rise to a sitting position, but doing so evoked a growl from the driver.

  “He doesn’t like you,” Vivian said from the front, tilting her head slightly to speak back at me. Even the side of her face was breathtaking. Her lips ruby-red. Her eyelashes long and fluttering.

  “Does he speak?” I asked, defensively.

  “Some. But he understands plenty.”

  “Why doesn’t he like me?”

  “You killed some of his friends,” Vivian answered with a detached air. “Back at the flop. Those Genies were Tebor’s followers.”

  “I decoded Dark’s novel for him,” I said, as watching the riot raging outside the windows of the Cadillac. Somehow, the Caddy was gliding effortlessly through the chaos. Until the police van. “Isn’t that worth something?”

  Tebor growled.

  “He still doesn’t like you.”

  “I’m sorry.” I tried.

  “He thinks we should just eat you and get it over with.”

  “Eat me?” I said with guarded concern. It sounded like dark humor, but it also sounded terrifyingly possible.

  “Don’t worry,” Vivian laughed. “I told him he can eat you later.”

  “Later?”

  “Once we’ve found Q.”

  Very reassuring.

  “The FBI know,” I volunteered. “About Michael Elton.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Vivian dismissed. “Tebor’s people can keep them bottled up downtown for a little longer.”

  “Tebor’s people? Then the riot?”

  “You’d be shocked how many Gene Genies are able to hold down day jobs,” she said. “With the government.”

  “You’re Rosicrucians? In City Hall?”

  “The Mayor,” Vivian turned to give me a sly smile. “And three Council Members.”

  “Fuck,” I couldn’t believe it. “Then all of this...”

  “Mmm,” Vivian agreed, predicting my observation. “Welcome to beginning of a Rosicrucian Civil War.”

  “The Progs?”

  Vivian nodded.

  “The orthodox?”

  “At key, senior positions.”

  “And the NeoCons?”

  “Yes, the NeoCons...” Vivian spat.

  “You used to be one of them.”

  “My father is one of them,” she said, angrily. “We never saw eye-to-eye.”

  “But you were attempting to decode Dark’s novel when you were killed. I thought the iconoclasts were trying to do that.”

  “Everyone has been trying to decode Dark’s novel, Detective. For a hundred years, it’s been a race. What separates the Rosicrucian factions is not decoding the novel, but how to deal with Q once we find him.”

  “Constantine says he’s looking for a cure. For Geneing.”

  Vivian laughed. “They’re looking for a cure, alright. By destroying Cain. They believe that will cure the Genies.”

  “But you don’t want that,” I said. “You want to be more like him. That’s why you gave that copy of Q to the Rosicrucians. So they’d bring you to Tebor, here.” I could remember Vivian’s injuries clearly. Her twisted, murdered body. At the time, I’d said it would have taken a group of guys to do that to her. A group of guys or one giant. “He’s the one who killed you, wasn’t he? Smashed in your skull?”

  “And gave me life again. Eternal life.”

  “But why?”

  “To find Q.”

  “Cain?”

  “He will bring about a new beginning. A new world. Every Genie will welcome him; he is the salve to their fevered nightmare. Only he can deliver their salvation. All those who bear the Mark of Cain are his children, of him and because of him. They will live and follow Q. Now and forever.”

  All his children? Every Genie? That would mean an army of millions.

  “Once Cain is resurrected,” Vivian continued with reverence. “This country will be resurrected, too.”