The Age of Zeus

49. MINOTAUR

"M r Landesman! Mr Landesman!" Lillicrap hammered on the door, sounding frantic. "It's broken free. It's smashing up the refectory."

"It? What it?"

"The Minotaur, sir."

Landesman came out of his office. "Well, where the bloody hell's Sam? It's her pet. She should be dealing with this."

"I've no idea where she is. I've no idea where any of the Titans are. The techs are running around like headless chickens. So's the chef. Nobody knows how the Minotaur escaped, but it's complete chaos downstairs. Panic stations."

"The other Titans — they're all missing?"

Lillicrap shrugged so hard his shoulders touched his earlobes. "I've looked all over. I thought if they could suit up, they could contain the monster, maybe kill it. But they're nowhere to be found. That's why I came to you."

"Right. Then I should go down and get my Cronus gear on, shouldn't I? Or…" Landesman paused, pondering.

Lillicrap said, "Don't you think it would be better to abandon the bunker, get to the surface, call Captain Fuller to come and fetch us?" It was clear he favoured this alternative. His beloved boss's personal safety, and his own, were priority one for Jolyon Lillicrap.

"No," said Landesman, with a calm, slow-spreading smile.

"No?"

"Clever girl, Sam." Gritted-teeth admiration. "Very well, let's get this over with."

"Sir?"

Landesman strode off down the corridor. "Follow me, Jolyon."

"Where to?"

"The refectory."

"Sir! The Minotaur — "

"— is no danger to us."

"With all due respect, sir, I beg to differ."

"This is Sam's doing. She let it out. She controls it. She wants a confrontation with me, and this is her rather dramatic way of engineering one."

"Are you positive about that?"

"It's what I would do, were I in her position and had I the tools at my disposal that she has." Landesman sighed elaborately. "Serves me right for hiring smart people, Jolyon."

Lillicrap chose to interpret that as a compliment. "Er, quite, Mr Landesman."

The crashing of crockery resounded along the corridor that led to the refectory. Landesman couldn't suppress another smile as he neared the source of the ruckus, with Lillicrap tagging along reluctantly behind. If the Minotaur laying waste to the flatware was Sam's idea of a joke, it wasn't a bad one. Bull in a china shop.

"All right!" he called out. "All right, I'm coming in. Don't let that thing attack me. I come in peace."

As he entered the refectory he felt a twinge of misgiving. What if he was wrong? What if he'd entirely misread the situation and the Minotaur was on the loose, unrestrained by its mistress?

Debris lay everywhere. Tables had been overturned. Chairs were scattered about, lying on their backs with their legs in the air like dead animals. Shards of glass and crockery littered the floor, forming a crazy mosaic along with pieces of cutlery and condiment containers. And in the thick of it all the Minotaur was stomping to and fro, snorting furiously as it crushed fragments to smaller fragments underfoot.

Landesman couldn't see Sam anywhere, and then the Minotaur rounded on him, fixing him with its crimson gaze, and all at once his misgiving sharpened into dread. What had he done? He'd just blundered straight into danger. The monster started to move towards him, and Landesman did a smart about-turn and made for the exit.

Then a voice came from a corner of the room.

"No. Stop."

Landesman heard the Minotaur halt in its tracks. He turned again, to see Sam emerge from behind a shelving unit, one of the few items of furniture in the room still standing upright. She crossed over to the monster, which preened at her approach, offering her its head much as a cat might do when greeting its owner.

"That's enough," Sam said, scratching the Minotaur between the horns. "We have Mr Landesman's attention now."

Landesman recovered his composure, some of it. "Really, I should deduct this from your wage packet," he said, waving at the mess. "It's what any other employer would do. Luckily for you, I'm not that petty. Now, you're quite certain you have that beast fully under your command? It's not going to take against me all of a sudden and charge?"

"That depends. If you're uncooperative, the Minotaur might sense it and not be happy. Then there's no telling what it'll do."

"I don't believe that," Landesman replied. "You're many things, Sam Akehurst, but reckless isn't one of them. Especially when it comes to the welfare of others."

"I don't know. Perhaps you should try me and see."

Landesman eyed the Minotaur, then her. "No," he said firmly. "I'm perfectly safe." He picked up a chair, righted it, dusted off the seat, and sat with his arms folded and ankle on knee. "So. What shall we talk about? What is it you want? This is about New York, I'm assuming. You're of the opinion that I handled the op poorly. I waltzed us straight into a trap. You even warned me beforehand that you thought Zeus might be setting us up, and I pooh-poohed the notion, and look where it got us. It was a miscalculation on my part. I could have managed things better. There, I've admitted it. Is that good enough for you? I messed up. I shan't again, though. Once bitten, and so on. Happy?"

"No." Sam took the Minotaur by the arm and steered it to the far end of the room, near the hatch through which meals were served. The massive, hulking creature let itself be led, docile as a donkey. She fetched a dish of fruit and vegetables for it, and the monster got to work noisily and indiscriminately, stuffing apples and broccoli florets into its mouth, green beans and whole tangerines with the skins still on, raw potatoes and handfuls of red grapes. Then she returned to face Landesman, who understood that she had just holstered her gun but could still draw it any time and use it on him. Not that she would. It wasn't in her nature — was it?

"Then what are you after?" he said. "Need I remind you that New York, although it cost us two of our own, also cost the Olympians dearly. And, furthermore, it appears to have garnered us considerable public support and acclaim. It's even fired up some politicians. Only this morning the new prime minister of Japan announced he's sending a fleet of warships on exercises in the Mediterranean. I say fleet. They're only got about five in total left. But the Mediterranean! A place of about as much strategic important to Japan as the moon. What possible motive can Mr Akiyama have for sending ships there other than to rattle a sabre at the Pantheon? You mark my words, those warships will sail into the Aegean and as far up the north-east coastline of Greece as they can, 'til they're within shelling distance of Mount Olympus — and then Poseidon will sink them. But still. The world will see. The message will have been sent, loud and clear. Japan isn't afraid. Japan is prepared to forfeit its last few naval vessels to show the Olympians how unafraid it is. And where one nation leads, others will surely follow. The New York op has effected a sea change, Sam, a seismic shift in the global mood. Yes, we had to lose Anders and Kerstin in order for that to happen, and it's something I deeply and sincerely regret, but for God's sake, just look at the benefits!"

Sam said nothing.

"I see. Not New York," said Landesman. "The Myrmidon Protocol. Is that what's got you so hot under the collar? OK, perhaps I should have come clean. Perhaps I should have shared that little nugget of information with you right from the start. But honestly, would it have helped? You might have refused point-blank to put the battlesuits on, knowing what the nanotech could do, knowing that it wasn't solely there for your protection. I made a judgement call, and on balance I think I got it right. After all, it was possible that the protocol would never have had to be implemented, and then you'd have been none the wiser."

"Ignorance is bliss, eh?"

"It's not always such a bad principle. Doesn't it tell you something, though, that I am quite happy to put a TITAN suit on, Myrmidon notwithstanding? If I'm not bothered by it, then neither should any of you be. It's only ever to be used in a worst-case scenario, when the suit wearer is long past caring, and there's a failsafe in place to stop it going off accidentally. The suits have built-in cardiac monitors. Myrmidon will not work if the CPU is measuring heart rate activity in the wearer."

"You know, maybe it says something about me, about how I've changed since becoming a Titan, but I don't actually find the Myrmidon thing that difficult to come to terms with," Sam said. "A few months ago I'd have been disgusted. Now, I'm able to see the need, even if the whole idea of it doesn't exactly give me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside."

"You're a more pragmatic person than you used to be."

"In some respects, yes. I'm more able to see that means are justified by ends. Scruples have to be discarded in order to get the results you crave. You, I imagine, were born knowing that, but it's something I've had to learn."

"You think all I am is a businessman without scruples? How shallow of you, Sam. If that's really the case, why the Titan project? Why am I here haemorrhaging money over this thing, and now putting my life on the line as well, if I am, as you seem to be implying, an ethics-free zone? What is this campaign I've embarked on if not a selfless, public-spirited act, intended not for my own good but for everyone's?"

"Well, there you have it, Mr Landesman. There we get to the nub of it."

"I remain in the dark. What has been my sin, Sam? I'm as committed to the cause as you are, isn't that obvious? More committed, I'd say."

"Some might debate that," Sam said. "Some might say that if you were truly committed, you'd have gone to Kerstin's aid in New York instead of just carrying on running up the West Side Highway."

"I told you at the time," said Landesman, face reddening, "I didn't know Hermes had got her."

"And I told you he had."

"And I didn't hear!" he barked.

The Minotaur looked up from its meal and grunted a query at Sam. She patted the air, telling it everything was all right.

"It's protective of you," Landesman murmured. "Amazing. You have that creature wrapped around your finger."

"I said I could tame it, and I did," Sam replied.

"And I never truly doubted you. But as for Kerstin — I swear, if I'd realised, I'd have done something. It's an oversight that will haunt me to my grave. Although, one could argue, could one not, that a leader is entitled to focus on his own safety, to the exclusion of all else, in order to be able to continue to lead."

"No. One could not argue that. That's not leadership as I understand it."

"Well, anyway," Landesman said, "if my shortcomings in the field are evidence that I'm not worthy of being a Titan, I'd humbly submit that you are in error, and I shall prove it on our next op. So, are we done now?" He made to stand up. "Only, I have plenty of other matters to attend to."

"Nearly done." Sam motioned Landesman to retake his seat, which, somewhat to his own surprise, he did. "We just have one last thing to discuss, and it's what I brought you down here for."

"Fair enough. Out with it then."

"Selfless, you said a moment ago. Public-spirited. For everyone's good."

"I did say that."

"Well, forgive me, Mr Landesman," Sam said, "but I've never heard such a crock of shit."

Landesman's circumflex eyebrows shot up. "I beg your pardon?"

"The truth is, you've lied to us. You've been lying from the start. We're not fighting the Pantheon for some high-minded notion of freeing the world from the yoke of oppression."

"No," Landesman said, nodding, "not solely. Revenge is a factor as well. We all know that. It's why I chose you. You have a personal stake in seeing the Olympians brought down. All of you do. So what?"

"What you haven't told us is that you have a personal stake too."

"I do?"

He almost — almost — managed to get the words out smoothly, deadpan, with nothing other than a mildly startled note in them. Almost. But a split second of hesitation betrayed him. Sam caught it, and the look in her eyes told Landesman his bluff had been seen through and could not sensibly be sustained.

He heaved a great sigh, slumping a little in his chair.

"Somehow," he said, eventually, "I knew it would be you, Sam. You'd be the one to figure it out, if any of you were going to. In hindsight, perhaps I revealed too much. Gave away too many clues. But that's not to denigrate your achievement. Detective Sergeant Akehurst strikes again."

"Zeus is your son, isn't he, Mr Landesman?" Sam said. "He's Xander. The son who walked out on you. The son you haven't spoken to in years. All this, the Titan project, Titanomachy II, everything — all it really is is a spat between an estranged father and child. Am I right?"

"I can see how you might draw that conclusion," Landesman said. "However, you couldn't be more wrong."

"Then what is the truth, Mr Landesman? Why don't you explain it to me so I can understand?"

"Very well. As you insist. I shall."