by Lila Dubois
They’d remained there, locked together, kissing, touching, hugging, until Owen returned and said it was time to take their seats for takeoff. Oscar and Selene sat next to each other, while Luca claimed one of the seats facing them. Owen opted for a spot near the back of the plane, a row all to himself, and two seconds after they’d reached their cruising altitude, he’d opened up his laptop and didn’t look up again.
After the initial flurry of relief and kisses, the three of them fell silent. They were headed back to Boston. And from there, Oscar and Selene would return home.
The heaviness of having to part so soon wiped away their relief, their joy at being together again, safe and sound.
A flight attendant had delivered hot tea and offered him and Oscar painkillers. Luca had accepted, suffering a skull-splitting headache, an aftereffect of the drugs, he assumed. He’d closed his eyes to let the drugs work and the next thing he knew they were being instructed to fasten their seat belts for landing.
He, Oscar, and Selene didn’t speak as they waited in the conference room. In fact, they hadn’t said more than fifty words since takeoff, the weight of what the next few hours would bring crushing them into silence.
“Whatever happens,” Oscar started, speaking quietly, as if he suspected the walls had ears. “I don’t regret a second of it. I never will.”
Luca reached over and grasped Oscar’s hand. “Neither will I.”
Selene tipped her chin up. “I swear to God, if you two make me cry…”
Luca clasped hands with her as well, sharing a sad grin with Oscar when she refused to look at either of them. He understood Selene well enough to know she prided herself on her strength, her confidence, her steadiness in stressful situations. The idea that she could walk into a room and face down half a dozen men with guns pointing in her direction and never once lose her composure, but she couldn’t look at them right now without falling apart completely, moved him deeply. He’d never felt such powerful, abiding love.
They fell silent once more, and Luca stared at the bare stone wall across the room from where they were sitting, his mind whirling a million miles a minute.
What was he supposed to do now? He was homeless, jobless, and…family-less. He jerked in his seat as his brain engaged.
“Joli. I need to know what you know about my sister, Selene,” Luca started. He’d let them reassure him on the plane. If it had only been Owen’s word, he would have fought harder to remain in Rome, but Selene had promised she was okay too.
“She’s fine,” Selene said, but before she could say more, the door opened. The Grand Master, her face hidden once more by the hood on her large shawl, entered first, followed by Sebastian, Devon, and Franco. Owen was the last to walk in and he shut the door behind him.
“Joli,” Luca said before the others had properly settled in their seats. “I need to go back to Rome. My sister is still—”
Owen held up his hand. “Your sister is not in any immediate danger.”
“So you keep saying, but how do you know that?” Luca asked.
Owen sighed. “She contacted us. It was your sister who told us how to find you.”
“She did?” Luca asked, though his lack of surprise was obviously noticed by Owen.
Owen narrowed his eyes. “She contacted us at the hotel…through the printer.”
Devon’s eyebrows rose. “Perhaps we should start at the beginning, unpack what happened in Rome for us. What you found at the compound.”
Luca described the way the Bellator Dei had booby-trapped the compound and what he and Langston had to do to defuse the different bombs set there. Owen went into detail about what they’d found—precious little—and then Oscar explained how they’d found Joli’s old school laptop and used it to contact her.
“Where are those laptops now?” Sebastian asked.
Oscar and Luca looked at each other and shrugged. “They weren’t still in the room we were using?”
Owen shook his head. “No. I think we can assume the men who captured you took everything with them. The room was cleaned out by the time we discovered you missing.”
“Apart from the ability to contact Joli, I’m not sure we would have found anything on the machines. The Bellator Dei wouldn’t have left anything behind that might lead to them,” Luca said.
Selene explained how she’d become concerned when Luca and Oscar didn’t return to their hotel suite.
“How did the Serbians find Luca?” the Grand Master asked.
“Informant in the hotel. She had a set of photos, including Luca’s, and had instructions to call it in if anyone on the list showed up,” Owen replied. “We believe they—Serbian Action—have people in every hotel within a wide radius of the Bellator Dei compound.”
“They’ve been watching the Bellator Dei for a while.” Devon tapped his fingers together. “Did we get a copy of that list?”
“Yes,” Owen replied.
“The informant was a Serbian National?” Sebastian asked.
“She was. There’s at least one Serbian or Ukrainian employee at every hotel we checked with.” Owen shook his head. “That’s hardly unusual. Interpol is looking into it. It’s possible Serbian Action is blackmailing or threatening people into working for them.”
“No hotels in Europe, for any of our members,” the Grand Master declared.
“Yes, Grand Master,” Owen replied.
Luca cleared his throat. “When you discovered we were missing…Joli contacted you?”
Owen nodded, opening a file folder and pulling out several sheets of paper. He handed them over to Luca, who read them, so grateful to be holding proof that Joli was still alive, still safe. If she had access to her computer, the Bellator Dei obviously hadn’t realized her loyalties were divided because she loved her brother.
“Those were sent to us, to the very room where we were holding our meeting, through a hotel printer. I was hoping perhaps you could provide us some information about your sister’s particular skill set when it comes to either her own programs or access to tracking programs, databases, and information security.”
“I don’t know everything she can do. I know the names of some of the apps they made.”
Everyone had already gone through and deleted most of their game apps, though the Bellator Dei apps weren’t available in English language markets…yet.
“It is not only her. There are others in the organization with dangerous skills.” Luca looked at Oscar. “They have a protocol, a program they made for me and others who have outside jobs. The program works on less-secure information sources. I was able to activate it on a computer here in the library to access Boston traffic cameras.” Luca pointed at the ceiling. “That is how I followed Oscar, when I thought he was Langston. If she helped you,” Luca said, leaning forward, “then why didn’t you save her too? Why did we leave Rome without her?”
Owen rubbed his jaw. “She is still committed to the Bellator Dei cause, Luca. She seems to think you’ve lost your way.”
Luca nodded. He knew that, knew that he would have to work very hard to convince Joli to betray the Campisis and the Bellator Dei. They’d fulfilled her desperate desire for a family, and they’d recognized and supported her academic pursuits even though it went against the “traditional” marriage model they espoused. While he’d seen their evil deeds up close, Joli had been sheltered from the bad stuff.
“We can’t rescue a woman who isn’t in danger, Luca,” Devon said. “Who doesn’t want to be rescued. To do so is kidnapping.”
Luca wanted to argue that point, but he wasn’t sure how.
“I’ll find a way to contact her, Luca,” Oscar said, reaching over to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’ll hack into whatever I have to. I’ll make sure the two of you have a safe way to communicate.”
Luca nodded slowly, grateful for Oscar’s help. His lover knew how much his sister meant to him, how much he longed to see her removed from the grips of the Bellator Dei. “Thank you,” he said softly
.
The Grand Master turned her attention to Selene. “I understand you were quite convincing in your role as a…what did you call it, Owen?”
“Supervillain,” Franco replied before Owen could respond. “Totally fits. Selene Gallio. Did you know she was active in the Hyborian Age?”
“Which age?” Luca asked, more than a little confused.
“He’s talking about a comic book; please ignore him,” Sebastian said with a sigh.
Selene smiled. “I sincerely hope that was my swan song. My parents insist I was named after the Lunar deity, so I’ll probably try to put away my supervillain powers. I’ve intimidated my last mercenary.”
Franco was visibly disappointed. “With great power—”
“If you quote Spider-Man one more time—” Sebastian snapped.
Devon leaned forward, ignoring the byplay. “Norah released the bomb design on the dark web the moment we received word Oscar and Luca were safe.”
“What about Luca?” Oscar asked. “Do the Bellator Dei know he’s turned? Sorry about the phrasing.”
Luca shrugged.
“Did they try to contact you before they abandoned their main facility?” Devon asked.
“I don’t know.”
“That means one of three things. First, they know you are now a member of the Trinity Masters and therefore lost to them. I doubt this is the case, since even if your sister is somehow tracking you—and we have to assume that’s why she knew where you were—knowing your location would not be enough for them to uncover our secrets.”
“We swept him for implants,” Sebastian said.
“I thought about that, how she found me, us…” Luca said. “I think…I think perhaps she was watching the mercenaries. The leadership always knew they were dangerous, and she may have been tracking them, even if she wasn’t asked to. Oscar and I sent her a message from the hotel. Then the mercenaries went to the same location.”
“She grabbed the location of the hotel from my FTP upload information?” Oscar asked.
“Jennika believes so, though there’s no way to know for sure.”
“If she knew they and I were in the same location, she could have assumed I was in danger.”
“The hotel had cameras. It’s possible she found footage of you arriving with us, so she knew you had allies in the hotel.” Owen nodded as if he were putting things together as he spoke. “We can look into the possibility that Joli was tracking the Serbians. That might allow us to try a digital trace for her.”
Devon nodded, then added, “The second option is they tried to contact you before they ran, but couldn’t get ahold of you. They think you’re dead or at least missing.”
“But—”
“If that were the case—”
Devon raised his hand to stop the protests. “I agree. Unlikely, unless we take into consideration the third possibility.”
“Which is?” Luca asked softly.
“Your sister is covering for you.”
Luca closed his eyes. “I think…she shouldn’t risk herself.”
“I think we need to assume Joli knows more than she should, and she’s not telling the Bellator Dei everything she does know.”
“Could your sister access passport records?” Owen asked. “Know you’ve flown back and forth to the U.S. a couple times?”
“I don’t know…I don’t think so. The things she can access are smaller.”
“She’s deeply indoctrinated,” Owen reminded everyone.
“But she loves her brother,” Selene said.
“What do we do next, to find the Bellator Dei? Joli?” Luca asked.
“You?” Owen shook his head. “You do nothing. We’ve debriefed you, and if you think of other things we, the MPF, need to know, you call me. But you’ve done your part. Let us take it from here.”
“But—”
“Trust,” the Grand Master said. “It’s time for you to trust us.”
Luca nodded. The Trinity Masters had stood by him, believed in him, had his back, defended him. The trust she requested was easily granted. “Yes, Grand Master.”
“And with that, I believe your part in this mystery is concluded,” the Grand Master said, looking at Oscar and Selene. “You’re free to return to your homes, to your lives. And, Luca, we will help set you up here in the States.”
The Grand Master stood, so everyone else at the table did as well. Sebastian opened the door as Selene, Oscar, and Luca gathered their things and left. “Your luggage as well as a car are waiting for you outside. It will drive you wherever you wish to go.”
Franco appeared next to Sebastian. “The suite at Boston Park Plaza is available if you need a day or two to…”
Luca forced a smile, then followed Selene and Oscar to the waiting car.
“Hotel?” Oscar asked.
“Hotel,” Selene agreed.
Luca nodded, not sure how he felt about walking away from the hunt for the Bellator Dei. But then Oscar put his arm around Luca’s shoulder, Selene took his hand, and Luca thought that maybe, just maybe, it would be okay for him to find some happiness for himself.
For however long it lasted.
As they took the elevator up to the penthouse, Oscar felt like he was coming out of his skin. The silence that had lingered between him, Luca, and Selene had gone on for too long. He’d fucked up in Rome, telling them they needed to walk away.
He’d been wrong to tell them this needed to end. If he left right now, returned to Charleston without them, or without a plan to see them, it would feel like he was ripping off his own arm. He couldn’t do it.
Once they’d entered the room, he shut the door with more force than he’d intended. Luca and Selene both looked his way, Luca confused, Selene concerned.
“Oscar—” she started.
“No.” He raised his hand to cut her off. “Just hear me out. Forget everything I said in Rome.”
“Everything?” Luca asked, and Oscar shook his head, aware, that as always, he was letting his temper, his anxiety, keep him from saying shit right.
“Not everything,” Oscar said, trying to calm down. “Jesus. I still love you, okay? That’s solid, that’s not changing or going away. It’s all the other bullshit I said.”
Selene sank down on one of the chairs in the living room. “It wasn’t bullshit, Oscar. You were right to suggest we protect ourselves, our hearts.”
“Fuck that. I’m already in too deep. Shit, I don’t think I can fall much deeper in love with you.”
Luca smiled at Selene. “I believe we are in love with a very romantic man.”
Oscar rolled his eyes, but Luca’s joke helped break the tension that had been building up inside him. Oscar’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “Smart-ass. Come here.”
Luca chuckled as he moved closer to Oscar. They kissed deeply, passionately. And when they parted, Selene was there, kissing Oscar, then Luca.
“Maybe we could just run away. Do you think the Trinity Masters could trace us to Bora Bora?” she asked.
Oscar knew it was ridiculous to feel this happy considering everything was still so fucking wrong. There were a shit-ton of really bad people with the designs to a nuclear bomb—and while it didn’t work, that didn’t mean there wasn’t some soulless asshole who wouldn’t try to find a way. The Bellator Dei was still MIA—with Luca’s sister. While Luca was putting on a good face, Oscar knew he wouldn’t rest easy until she was away from the cult completely.
And…while they were here now, together, Oscar knew the day would come when one of them would be called to the altar, and after that…
Jesus. He couldn’t even begin to think about that.
“I say we fucking lean into it,” he announced.
Luca gave him a curious glance. “I do not understand ‘lean into it’ in this context.”
Selene reached out and cupped Luca’s face, kissing him softly. “He means we’re going to stay together until we can’t anymore.”
Luca grinned. “I like this idea. Bec
ause the truth is…I’m homeless.”
“Come live with me,” Oscar said quickly. “In Charleston. Langston’s place is next door and he’s got a whole bomb-building lab set up there. I bet he wouldn’t mind if you worked on your experiments there.”
“That sounds ideal,” Selene said softly.
Oscar looked at her and realized that, while moving Luca in would be easy, Selene had her work, a life she loved, in upstate New York. “Selene—” he started.
“You know,” she said, cutting him off. “I have a standing offer from SECNAV for grant funding to review the nuclear protocol manuals and emergency plans for the submarines. Perhaps now would be a good time to request a sabbatical from Cornell. I could read and rewrite nuclear manuals from anywhere. Even…Charleston.”
Oscar picked her up and spun her around. “Are you serious? Are you sure?”
Selene laughed as she struggled to get down. Oscar wasn’t letting her go until she promised she was going to ask for that sabbatical.
“I’m serious. Now let me down, you lunatic, and get in the bedroom. I might have lied about hanging up my supervillain hat. Selene Gallio has plans for you two.”
Luca’s eyes widened. “Fem Dom?”
She tapped her fingers together and gave them a wicked smile. “Take off your clothes. Now.”
Epilogue
Walt stretched his arms overhead, working the muscles in his shoulders. He’d been reviewing slides of bloodwork, something most doctors didn’t do again after college biology, or maybe a virology class in med school.
In his type of medicine, he often had to do it all. Normally, there’d be some shiny new doctors around to help—working in an understaffed clinic was a great way to get tons of experience—but he was between rotations right now.
The Zoom call with his siblings the other day had made him slightly homesick. Langston was in love and married. Oscar was in love—which was great because this time it wasn’t with Faith, but not great because he was in love with two people he couldn’t marry, since he had joined the Trinity Masters.