Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1)(82)

“We can’t keep on this way. We’re going to have to get a car and risk the roadblocks.”

“Seconded,” said Nim over her shoulder. “Or you’re going to have to leave me by the side of the road.”

“Well—” began Theo. Alia hurled an olive at him.

“We can’t stay away from the roads forever,” said Diana. “They’re just going to keep widening the perimeter of their search. Besides, there’s no way we can make it over the Taygetus Mountains on foot, not before the new moon.”

“Is there another way around?” asked Theo.

Alia shook her head. “Not without backtracking north. Therapne is backed by mountains to the east and west. It’s part of what made Sparta so easy to defend.”

Diana grinned, surprised, and Jason cast Alia a speculative look. “How do you know so much about it?”

“I did a lot of reading on the plane. I wanted to know about Helen. Where she came from.” She wiped the sweat from her brow and glanced at Diana. “You realize you’re suggesting stealing a car?”

“I’m suggesting borrowing a car,” Diana corrected. “Surely there’s a way to compensate the owner.”

Theo reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I have twenty-six bucks and my Better Latte Than Never card. Only one more stamp for a free cappuccino.”

“Wait a minute,” said Jason. “Can any of us even drive?”

“I drove,” said Theo. “Once.”

“That was a golf cart,” said Alia.

“So? It had four wheels and went vroom.”

“You crashed it into a tree.”

“I’ll have you know that tree had been drinking.”

“Everybody, relax,” said Nim. “I can drive.”

“Where did you learn to drive?” Alia asked incredulously.

“With the rest of the peasants on Long Island.”

“We have a driver,” Diana said, new hope surging through her. “Now we just need to find a car.”

“You know this means I get to choose the radio station,” said Nim as they set out across the field.

Theo whimpered. “How about I just let you run me over?”

—

It took far longer to locate a car than they’d hoped. Many of the farms they passed didn’t seem to have much in the way of vehicles beyond donkey carts and bicycles, and in one case, a truck set up on cement blocks, its wheels long vanished.

As they were approaching a promising-looking farmhouse with Jason in the lead, he snapped, “Get down.”

They sank to their bellies in the grass just as two men emerged from the front door of the house.

“Police?” whispered Alia.

“Those guns don’t look like standard police issue.”

The men wore nondescript blue uniforms, but the long, ugly guns they carried looked like those Diana had seen their attackers use.

“That’s some serious firepower,” said Theo.

“Are you surprised?” asked Jason.

“That they’re willing to just walk around the Greek countryside brandishing semiautomatics? Kind of.”

“They weren’t afraid to attack us in a New York City museum,” said Jason. “Why would they hesitate here? They know the stakes.”

“And it’s possible Alia’s power is at work here, too,” said Diana, “eroding the barriers to violent action.”

“Ironic,” said Nim.

“That’s not technically irony,” said Theo.

“Do I need to remind you that I tried to strangle you this morning, loser?”

“Let’s get moving,” Alia said hurriedly.

They made sure the men were leaving, then circled around the back of the farmhouse to a dilapidated stable. A horse nickered from a stall on the intact side of the structure. The roof on the other side had almost completely caved in and was covered by a tarp, but there were two vehicles parked beneath it: a truck with its hood open that seemed to be missing part of its engine, and a funny bubble-shaped car the color of a tangerine.

Theo shook his head. “We’re going over a mountain range in a Fiat?”

Diana eyed the car doubtfully. “It doesn’t seem very…sturdy.” In fact, it looked less like a real vehicle than one of the pretty handbags Nim had shown them.

“We don’t have a lot of other options,” said Alia. “Unless you want to try the horse.”

“I’m not really the noble-steed type,” said Theo.

Diana sighed and glanced over at the horse watching them with dark, steady eyes. She would have preferred riding, but she knew they needed the little car’s speed.

“So…,” said Alia. “Does anyone actually know how to steal a car?”

“We could break into the house,” said Nim. “Take the keys.”

“There are people in there,” said Alia. “What if they catch us?”

Nim tossed her hair back from her eyes. “Well, you guys are the science geniuses. Can’t you just hotwire it or something?”

“We’re biologists,” said Jason. “Not electrical engineers.”

“All I’m hearing are excuses, people.”