Page 5 of Thawed Gladiator: Victor

“I…” His pause tells me all I need to know. “Yeah, that’s what I figure. Keller had these weird translation devices—I grabbed them when I ran. They’re small, about the size of a hearing aid—high-tech.”

“How did you get him out of the pod by yourself?”

“I was worried about that, too. Once I wheeled him into the house, I started pushing all the buttons I could find on the pod, and one of them caused the lid to retract and the side walls to roll down. Then it was easy to just log-roll him onto the bed.”

This is sounding more sci-fi, and unbelievable, by the minute. “So, you tried the devices and you can talk to him?”

“Coolest thing ever. It translates what he says into English right in my ear and turns what I say into Latin in his ear. It really freaked him out when it happened the first time. He’s gotten used to it now.”

“So, what does the… guy say about when… where he’s from?”

“I-I didn’t ask. But I assume he’s one of the gladiators. Looks big, muscular. I was gonna ditch the van at an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city but after I parked I realized the lid on the pod was popped open and I could hear him moanin’. I couldn’t just abandon him.” He says it like he’s the most compassionate person in the world.

“I was shocked he was alive when he finished thawing. I figured he’d need a team of special doctors and fluids and such. But… he just woke up and asked for water, well, aqua.”

I release a long, slow breath. My father has exasperated me a thousand times in my life, but this isn’t some little irritation. This is monumental. And big trouble. Like FBI, CIA, and Interpol level trouble.

A memory surfaces unbidden. I was twelve, found him crying at the kitchen table over betting slips and past-due notices. Promising things would be different this time. They never were.

“You need to turn yourself in,” I say, knowing he won’t. “No one has announced that one of the gladiators is missing, Dad, but when they do… the whole world will be looking for him. And you.”

“They’ll arrest me! And not just for the gladiator or Keller, although his death wasn’t my fault. There’s other stuff, things you don’t know about. Roth’s people are still out there. Now that they know Keller is dead, they’re probably looking for this guy.”

My mind is reeling as I try to calm myself with deep breaths.

“Please, baby. You’re the only one who can help. You know how to handle fighters, how to keep them calm. You have a good head on your shoulders. Just… just help me figure out what to do with him.”

My hand clenches around the phone. “Like you figured out what to do with Mom’s life insurance money that was supposed to go to me?”

The low blow lands. His breath catches. “Maya…”

I should hang up. Should call the police. Should finally, finally stop enabling his endless spiral of bad decisions. Instead, I hear myself say, resignation coloring my tone, “Tell me how to get to the cabin.”

He gives exact directions, including a back way in. “Take the old service road off the main highway. Maya, thanks. I swear this time—”

“Don’t!” The word comes out sharp enough to cut. “Don’t promise anything. Don’t tell me how different it will be this time. Just… just try not to get anyone else killed before I get there.”

I end the call before he can respond, before the weight of what I’m agreeing to fully settles in. A dead body. A gladiator who will be part of the biggest manhunt the world has ever seen. My father caught in the middle of something way over his head. Just another Tuesday in the life of Franky Andrews’ daughter.

Grabbing my go bag—because of course I still keep one packed—I head for my truck. My MMA training gym can survive a day without me. Right now, I need to prevent my father from adding whatever the hell this is to what I’m sure is already an impressive list of felonies.

Despite his countless schemes and disappointments, I can’t just leave him to face this alone. These aren’t ordinary people he’s messed with this time. If what he’s saying is true, and he stole something that valuable, I have no doubt they’ll kill him without hesitation. Whatever he’s done, he doesn’t deserve to die for it.

The drive will take seven hours at top speed with no stops. Seven hours to figure out how to handle my dad’s biggest fuck up yet. Seven hours to come up with a plan that keeps everyone alive and out of prison. Seven hours to figure out why I keep answering these calls, keep cleaning up these messes, keep trying to save a man who’s never tried to save himself.

Maybe this time really will be different.

Yeah. And maybe this time Lucy won’t pull Charlie Brown’s football away.

Chapter Five

Maya

The remote cabin looks exactly like the kind of place where someone would hide a dead body—or an ancient gladiator. So different from the clean, orderly training gym I own back in Vegas.

Peeling paint, sagging porch, darkness pressing in from the surrounding pines. My headlights catch movement at a window before Dad appears in the doorway, hands fluttering like trapped birds.

“Thank god you’re here.” He pulls me into a hug that smells of cheap cologne, a hint of whiskey, and desperation. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

---