Ultima Ratio

Chapter 81: Scones and Solutions

Akira slumped against a wall in Victor's house, her aching eyes squeezed shut and her mind churning with jumbles of meaningless words and vibrant pictures.

It had been about three weeks since they confronted Victor, and while they had greatly bolstered their weapons cache by then, they still had no idea where Garza was. Even with the team exchanging their meager findings, hours of staring at Navin and Sam's research only succeeded in giving Akira a headache.

"Scone?" Sam asked, the smell of warm baked goods and blueberries accompanying his words.

"Your stress baking isn't helping us stay in shape," Akira mumbled, too tired to open her eyes.

"Believe me, it would be a lot worse without Danny's infinite metabolism. Just think of it as brain food."

Akira couldn't ignore that, nor the heightened smell of sugar as she felt Sam intentionally wave the treats directly in front of her nose. She glared at him when she finally opened her eyes, but she didn't hesitate to grab two warm scones from the offered baking tray.

"Well?" Sam asked, wide-eyed as Akira chewed on her first bite.

Surprisingly, it was exactly what Akira needed. Not only had it been hours since she had lunch, but the dessert filled her with a warmth in more ways than one. Aside from the gentle heat that combated the Alaskan chill, its flavor reminded her of the White House kitchen and when she would taste test the desserts without needing to be asked.

"It's good," Akira managed to say when she was almost done with the first one. "But—"

"Not as good as your dad's," Sam finished with a smirk.

Akira shrugged as she licked her fingers clean. "Sorry."

"Brat." Sam grinned, ruffling Akira's hair before heading back to the kitchen.

As Akira quietly munched on her second helping, she let her strained eyes travel around the small house.

Danya was sitting on the kitchen counter, her legs swinging back and forth as she swiped another scone from Sam's tray as soon as he was within reach, then raised it to Akira in toast. Jivan was on Sam's other side, and they resumed their conversation with him as they continued to wash dishes, handing the soapy utensils and mixing bowls to Navin for rinsing.

At the tiny kitchen table, Elodie briefed Quyen on their new poisonous gas grenades. Every once in a while, the two would glance at the tablet screen between them in Makana's hands, as if they expected their drones to discover anything new in their expedition every ten seconds.

Izzy and Victor sat at the edge of the worn bed, their rapid speech filled with complex vocabulary lost on Akira's ears. At one second, she would think they were talking about time travel; half a minute later, someone would mention something like "tectonic plates" or "chocolate-covered strawberries."

Compared to when they first burst through the front door, Victor seemed like an entirely different person. Faint scars still stretched across his face, but his beard was now neatly trimmed and his hair was clean and clipped up in a loose bun. While Akira still thought of Danya's memories at the sight of Victor's face or the sound of his voice, she couldn't deny that there was a certain energy to his tone that was full of excitement instead of evil; if anything, he seemed to be a preview of what Izzy would be like in three decades.

"You need a break," Danya whispered into Akira's ear.

First, Akira shuddered as Danya's breath brushed her skin. Then, she scowled at her words.

"The past couple of weeks have been nothing but breaks," Akira said as Danya sat on the floor next to her. "Concordia's still attacking everything and everyone."