Aelia answered his smile with her own. “And you. You can reach me through this connection whenever you need to.”
And with that, Aelia left her past behind. She lowered her head, the screen before her now dark. The only people she would keep in her heart from its other side were Stan and his wife, who had taught her that there were people she could trust. Maybe someday she could sit with them someplace, and really explain. One day when it was safe. Safer.
She hoped that day would come.
That same afternoon a moving van stopped at the service dock of an apartment building in a neighborhood that was quite calm, despite the murder that had occurred here only recently. The impassive movers who got out of the van rode the elevator up to a floor high enough to see the park at the back of the building stretch down below, entered the apartment that still had a torn crime scene ribbon on its door, and proceeded to pack all but the furniture.
On its way out of the city, the van stopped at the home of one Stanley Shell, distinguished professor. The movers unloaded some of the boxes, carefully stacking them where the professor asked them to in his study. The books, documents and electronic media inside would be sorted, some he would return to the center he worked in and some he would keep. Other boxes they stacked in the garage, under his wife's watchful eye. These would be donated to charity, along with the furniture that still remained back in the apartment. As for the few items remaining in the van, they were flown to Italy, to the great house of Aeterna, where they would wait, packed, to join the items that would be moved to Serena. These were the only items the First would keep from her life as a human.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The next days were mercifully undisturbed, and the Light and her Protector pushed on with their plans. Once the techs activated the preliminary security layout, the designated security surveyors, comprising the heads of Aeterna’s defense and security response teams and its operational planners, mapped Serena toward the installation and application of more advanced measures. As work began and progressed, a designated team observed at Aeterna and ran failure scenarios. The architect finished checking the cottage and the complex under it and planned the necessary changes, both changes mandated by the fact that neither had been used for some years and by their new designation, and changes that Aelia and Adam asked for after going over the original blueprints and sitting with Aeterna's decorators, and the builders began their work, the decorators working alongside them.
At the airfield, the hangar Adam had ordered built was completed without delay to facilitate the transit of the teams working at Serena, although it would not be fully fitted to house the First's official jet until it was no longer needed for its other interim purposes. Only then would the final security measures be installed and activated and the lockdown procedures applied. The hangar would be attached to a security building that was being built above the previously sealed entrance to the underground passageway that connected the airfield directly to Serena. While this building’s upper level was designed for the convenience of the security detail that would occupy it, a car going through the passageway from Serena would come out inside its lower level, instead of outside. The Protector was leaving nothing to chance.
For Adam the days were busy. He watched from afar as Serena's preparations progressed steadily, flying in once from Aeterna to check the preliminary security layout before allowing the actual renovation of the cottage to go ahead. The rest of his time he spent with Ahir, both as his grandfather, his link to the family he never knew, and as the previous Protector, his link to the Protectors of the past. There was much that he wanted—and needed—to know.
But he did not only learn. He also took time to teach what he knew to these people, his people, whom he was entrusted with protecting. He went so far as to train many of Rolly's people, teaching dozens of men and women what the organization's former killer knew and what the transition from its killer to their protector had already taught him. He watched them train, corrected, added, advised. Their Protector, in everything he said and did. Finally, he had them go up against him, aiming to feel their capabilities on himself. None of them could match him in any way, neither alone or in groups. He was faster and stronger than they were, and his mind constantly calculated, predicting their moves and strategizing with uncanny efficiently. But it wasn't until he turned from them to see Rolly and Ahir watching in astonishment that he realized that it wasn't that those he was testing weren’t good enough. He was simply better. They then put him through a training simulation and tested his abilities, but no matter what scenario they tried, he came out on top. At the end it was he who stopped, and as he walked away it was with the realization of what being the Light's Protector had made him.
As for Aelia, she spent much of this time alongside the Keeper, observing, asking. Learning. She was present in virtual meetings, with the Council but also ones that the Keeper and Ahir held with individual council representatives. Except that other than those present at Aeterna, the participants had no idea she was there—she had tried participating, but her presence was too disruptive. The presence of the Light was too new, and the way she was perceived by her people made it impossible for them to focus on the matters at hand—which was what they needed to do—and not on her. So she took a step back, observing from afar, being there for them only through the presence of the Light within.
Their last days at Aeterna were the busiest, but there was a calmness to them, a confidence that was felt also by the people around them. Those who lived at Aeterna had seen Aelia and Adam arrive as strangers who were clueless as to who they really were and gradually turn into willing protectors of their race, choosing to assume the destinies they were born for. They had immersed themselves in the lives of the Firsts and were an active presence among the people at Aeterna. And so while the Light took care to always be felt by her people worldwide, it was the Firsts at Aeterna who felt her presence most, and they were the ones who knew beyond a doubt—and passed on that conviction—that even when she would no longer reside at the great house, the Light would never leave.
On a gray day that left nothing to be hoped for, the organization's Italy office was raided by Jon Melake and his people. Hours later anyone who had been loyal to Jennison and not to the organization, and the director who had not seen what was happening and who had allowed the bombing of the cathedral in Rome to come out of his office, had been removed and replaced.
In the first underground level of the organization’s main training facility, in southwestern Arizona in the United States, a disheveled Jennison sat behind his desk, his head in his hands, the realization that the consequences of his catastrophic failures had actually caught up with him mercilessly dawning on him. Failure, total and absolute failure, was the only thought that kept repeating in his mind this day when he knew it was finally all over. He didn’t even react when the door to his office opened savagely and the men strode in. He knew who it would be. Rozner. Rozner had been waiting for this day, for the moment he could take over and do things his way. For the day Jennison's star would come crashing into a thousand pieces, so that not even he, the master manipulator, could put it back together.
In the silence that ensued, a silence that reverberated through all corridors, all floors, every person in the facility who was witnessing his fate, Jennison slowly raised his head and stood up. He fixed his tie, took his jacket off the back of his chair and put it on carefully, closing every button, and straightened his cufflinks with slow deliberateness. He then faced the newcomers.
Rozner didn’t even try to hide his glee. He signaled to the two men he brought with him, and they positioned themselves on both sides of Jennison and escorted him out, into the short corridor, across the floor and to the waiting elevator. Outside in the parking lot, just before they placed him in the waiting car, Jennison stopped and turned around, taking one last look at his life's work. He closed his eyes tightly, one thought in his mind.
How could this have happened?
; In what used to be Howard Jennison's office, Charles Rozner looked around him in distaste. Everything that signified Jennison's presence in this room, in this facility, had to go.
Everything.
Time to start over. And he, he would not fail.
Adam, Ahir, and Rolly were sitting in a room off Aeterna's control center, engaged in a conference call with the head of defense and security of yet another community of the Firsts, when the call came in. Rolly tilted his head, listening on his ear comm. He indicated to Adam and uttered a command in a low voice, switching between the calls, then explained that Denole was calling from the cathedral center. The face of the center's head of defense and security appeared before them. He came straight to the point.
“A message came in just now, same as last time. Except it didn't come from Jennison, it came from Richards.”
Adam's eyes narrowed.
“What does it say?” Rolly asked.
“I've forwarded it to you. But in a nutshell, the organization claims that it is standing down. It says that the recent actions against the Firsts are the acts of a rogue director, and here Richards actually names Jennison. He claims that the organization stands behind the truce it has with us and that Jennison has been removed and detained.”
As Denole spoke, Adam operated a screen embedded in the table and viewed the message. Yes, that sounded like Richards. Short, factual, unapologetic. By a man who expected to be believed. And obeyed.
Rolly instructed Denole to maintain the lockdown at the center, and ended the call. He turned to Adam. “What do you think?”
Adam's only answer was raised eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Rolly said somberly.
Ahir looked from one to the other. “I'm sorry, what?”
Rolly turned to him. “Right, yes. Sir, when Adam left here the first time, to go see Jennison, he took a listening device.”
Now it was Ahir who raised a brow and looked at Adam.
Adam nodded. “I initiated a bit of an altercation with him. Put the recorder in a safe place.” He shrugged. “They won’t find it easily. They sweep for bugs electronically, what I took was organic.” He indicated Rolly. “His idea.”
Ahir nodded appreciatively. “That's impressive, Rolly.”
Rolly chuckled. “You think that's impressive? The man breaks into their most secure facility, faces its director, and plants a bug in his office in the process and gets out again unseen, then just days later he walks right into the midst of their board with one of their own operatives captive, hands him over to them and walks out again like he's got all the time in the world. Now that one I'd like to have seen. Takes nerves of steel to do that, and—”
“Point is, we've been listening in on Jennison's office,” Adam interjected. “Not much, but with the sensitivity on that thing it's not a little either. We already knew they removed Jennison and who his replacement is. Charles Rozner.”
“You know him?” Ahir asked.
Adam's eyes narrowed again, and when he answered, his tone was troubled. “Yes. He's a big gun. Calculated, ruthless. He'd opposed Jennison's moves every chance he got, they're sworn enemies. And he's the same rank as Jennison in the organization. It's no surprise he got the facility, he's been after it for a long time. Good thing is, he's going to need some time to clean it up of Jennison's loyals, and he's the type to err on the side that would be in his favor, so he's likely to get rid of more people than he needs to. Which means he'll need to move in his own loyals from other offices, assimilate them, and train new operatives. That’ll take time.” He paused. “Bad thing is, when he's done, we're going to have quite a bit to contend with, and he doesn't have Jennison's weaknesses.”
“You think he'll come after us like Jennison?”
“Oh, he's far worse than Jennison,” Adam said.
Ahir was about to ask, but Rolly spoke. “The day he took over he told his second-in-command that there's only one way to the top, and one way to get what he wants. And it starts with eliminating the Firsts from the equation.”
Ahir looked at Adam, appalled.
“His words,” Adam said quietly.
Twenty-four hours later the center under the cathedral in Rome was deserted and sealed, as were the secondary site and the tunnel between the two. The space had been stripped clean and then filled using Firsts technology, to ensure that the center could not be accessed and to avoid it even accidentally registering as empty space under the cathedral, although human technology was unable to do that yet, not with the way the center was built. The system that Richards used to transmit his message to the Firsts was moved to the center's new site, a dormant property that was now quietly activated.
This was the Protector's order. He wanted to get the Firsts in this place the organization had become too daring in approaching out of its reach and moved to a more secure location, one the organization knew nothing about. One, in fact, that had been set up long after the organization had made the Firsts its enemies decades before. Whether the organization would know that the cathedral center was abandoned—or rather when they would discover this—that Adam didn't care about. For now, he was all about protecting.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Finally, Serena was ready. Adam flew in, taking the opportunity to test the First's aircraft and to get to know its aircrew better. He had chosen to use one of the Keeper's two aircrews, the one that had been on the jet that had taken Aelia back to Aeterna after Stan Shell’s release. He'd been impressed by how professional they had been. That and their experience, their training that was specifically designated for their service of the Keeper, had led him to agree when they asked to be assigned to this new addition to the Firsts' fleet. They proved him right already on the jet's first flight to Serena, and as it touched down lightly and taxied to its new hangar, Adam contacted Ahir to ensure that their accommodations in the village, and that of the family of the pilot, the only one among them who was married, would be finalized to their satisfaction.
He was also pleased with the ground crew that met the aircraft as it rolled into its secure hangar. It was local, carefully selected from among this airfield’s staff. There was no sense in keeping a permanent ground crew here for this one aircraft in an airfield that otherwise had sparse air traffic, and the local ground crew needed very little training to deal with this jet. The security detail, however, had been moved here from Aeterna. All its members had expressed enthusiasm about moving to this beautiful place in the First's service, and had been carefully retrained by Adam for this prolonged mission. They would live a good life of their choosing here, but at the same time were expected to be at the First’s disposal, if so ordered by Adam, either at Serena or in her travels.
This time Adam would spend several days at Serena, alone, to thoroughly test the security layout. He wanted Aelia and him to move here and settle in as soon as possible. The sooner they did, the sooner they would be ready to react to whatever might happen. The changes made in the organization worried him. The fact that Richards had taken the trouble to contact the cathedral center meant that he was playing a game here, wanting them to believe his peaceful intentions while in reality his giving Rozner the facility—and too much power for Adam’s taste—spoke to a stark contrary. This was not looking good.
The cottage, where he would be staying for the first time, was now live in ready except for their personal items that had yet to have been brought here from Aeterna. It was perfect, its exterior strengthened and cleaned, its interior entirely renewed and refurnished, a state of the art affair masked by the coziness of a home. As he walked around it, before going in for the first time, he stopped at the one feature he had asked be built that Aelia knew nothing about—a roofed porch that was added in the back of the house where it opened to the lake, with a sofa on it, couches and a low table. Small and cozy, much like her balcony at Aeterna. Her sanctuary within a sanctuary.
Yes, this is it, he thought.
He continued around the cottage and stood looking up at the second
feature he’d requested be added. Their separate wings were now connected by a corridor, an external addition on the side of the cottage away from the lake, where the two wings pulled back toward the trees. The corridor was elevated a distance up from the ground and extended all the way up to the roof, and the architect cleverly added above it and around the rooftop a stone balustrade. Inside, Adam knew, the corridor stretched between what would be their bedrooms, its two ends fitted with doors that would open automatically only for Aelia and him.
Adam walked inside the cottage, and through rooms he had so far only seen in images. Both wings were done as Aelia and he had chosen, while also showing the luxurious touch of Aeterna's decorators and their deference to whom it was they were meant for. Each bedroom opened to a comfortable niche that led to a flight of stairs that went half a level down, to the common area of the cottage. The niche in his wing was a workspace from which he would be able to follow Serena's security and connect to Aeterna and through it to the other Firsts sites, and the wall screen dominating it was already running images and data for Serena. The niche in Aelia's wing was designed as a natural extension of her bedroom, a place she could sit comfortably in, although he suspected she would prefer the cottage's porch for that.
As for the common area, the decorators had blended in it the needs and tastes of both the woman and the man who would live here, and quite remarkably so. He was impressed. Both Aelia and he preferred warmer colors, the feel of a cozy room, both were used to this being the only way to quiet the turmoil in their hearts and minds in the days when they had lived lives that were not theirs. And the decorators had managed to attain just that, he thought as he leaned on the living room fireplace, looking around him.
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