Primary Valor Jack Mars (miss read books TXT) 📖

“Doesthat answer my question?” Luke said. “You were ROTC at Yale before that. Forall I know, they had you inventorying cans of chow.”

“Knittingsweaters for grieving widows,” Ed said.

“You’reout of it, Newsam,” Bowles said.

Ed shookhis head. “I got my eye on your chute, man. Could be you’ve never done a nightjump before. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if you were a desk jock, or some kindof towel boy.”

Bowleslooked at Luke, seriously this time.

“I’vedone it. I’ve done everything, more than you will ever know. I have nohesitancy about this mission at all.”

He wentto the jump door and pulled it open.

At thatmoment, a buzzer sounded and a green light came on above the closed door to thecockpit.

“Gentlemen,”the pilot said over the intercom. “It’s go time.”

Lukewatched as Bowles stood at the open door. He seemed about to jump, then turnedand looked back. He stared at Ed.

“Hey,Newsam!” he shouted. “Who’s the towel boy tonight?”

Then hedove out and was gone.

Lukeshook his head as he went to the door. He looked at Ed.

“Sorryabout that. The guy’s an idiot. I’ll make it up to you.”

Ed saidnothing. The look in his eyes had changed. There was less anger than a minuteago, and more pain. Luke had hurt the man’s feelings. That was somehow worsethan the anger.

Now Lukewas near the edge. The wind was in his face. Below him, there was nothing butdarkness. Above him, he could see stars and wisps of cloud. He could see a lastsliver of sunlight fading far to the west.

Not for the first time, herealized how amazing this moment was. If only it could last a little bitlonger.

The plane hit a stretch ofturbulence. It bucked and shuddered around him.

Luke dove out into the void.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

8:45 p.m. Central Standard Time (9:45 p.m. EasternStandard Time)

La Sierra de San Simon (St. Simon’s Saw)

Near Honduras

The Caribbean Sea

“You are my beautiful girl.”

Darwin soaked in the sight of her.They had washed her hair, curled it, and woven flowers into it. The effect wasunderstated, these small yellow and white flowers that grew wild here on thegrounds, against her clean blonde hair.

She was wearing makeup, and along, sheer nightgown that came almost down to her bare feet. Her fingernailsand toenails were done in a French manicure. Elaine had outdone herselfpreparing the girl. She was an angel, a vision.

Elaine had been against this. She’dbeen furious with the girl, and didn’t want to send her up. She said the girlwasn’t ready. She said the girl hadn’t bought in, and probably never would. Elainesaid all these things, but Darwin overruled. He didn’t do it often, but when hedid, it stuck.

Darwin was the boss here, andElaine knew that. In the end, she had transformed 21 into a work of art. Amasterpiece.

He could see through the fabric ofthe girl’s nightgown and follow the outline of her young body. It did not makehim want to ravage her. That would come later. Tonight, her beauty made himfeel love for her, a love so pure and unadulterated that he didn’t want to ruinit. She was so innocent and he didn’t want to touch that, he wanted it to beexactly what it was.

The tension of her innocence,poised on a knife’s edge, right before her fall into decadence, was exquisite.

She stood on the stone tiles, eyescast down. She was too shy to look at him. He loved that about her. Some girlscame in here, and they were already bold. They were already experienced. Theywould look him in the eye, almost ready to challenge him. Sometimes girls likethat didn’t last.

But this… this 21… she waseverything he wanted.

All around the room, and in fact,this entire apartment, candles were lit. The lights were all out, and therewere perhaps a hundred white candles, candles on every flat surface, their tinyflames dancing in the warm breezes that came in from the outside.

There was a new bottle of red winein an elegant glass decanter. He had been drinking all afternoon, and he didn’tsee any reason to stop now. He had won, or he was going to. Miles Richmond hadreached out to Bill Ryan, and they thought they were going to take the girlback. Now Miles was dead, and Bill… well, Darwin supposed he’d see how Bill wasdoing at a later time. Hopefully, Bill was beginning to see the error of hisways. He had tried to send a commando team to what? Kill Darwin King? And howfar had that gotten him?

It had put him in the hospital.

It was one thing to do away withMiles Richmond, of course. The man was a cockroach. His death would barely makethe evening news. It was quite another to assassinate the Minority Leader ofthe House of Representatives. You didn’t do that lightly. You sent a messagefirst.

Message received.

The girl was standing there, stillas a statue. She was ethereal, almost like a ghost. That was good. Darwin Kinggave her a physical essence. He granted her substance, reality itself. He couldtake it away if he wanted.

Her grandfather was dead now. Hehad been murdered in the garage below his offices. Terrible shame, but these thingshappened.

And her mother’s boyfriend… Zorn. Notreally a stepfather, Darwin supposed. He was also dead, by his own hand. He wasa weak man, no one had ever supposed anything different about him, and now hewas gone.

Her mother? Under sedation, apparently.Couldn’t cope with the loss of her daughter. Now her boyfriend… my, my, my. Darwincould take care of the mother, too, if he so desired. He could pull the plug onher at any point. Who would blame her for committing suicide at this point? Whowould suspect anything different if she just disappeared, then washed up on abeach somewhere?

Darwin was a god. He could takeeverything away from a person. And this girl knew nothing about how much he hadalready taken.

She thought he had taken herfreedom. In fact he’d made her freer than she had ever been. A person with noattachments had complete freedom. Her attachments were gone. She wasuntethered, adrift, like a spaceman who lost contact with his ship and was nowfloating away into deep space.

“Come here, 21,” he said.

He sat down in the plush whitearmchair