Initus (Walking Shadows Book 5)

by Talis Jones

  Twenty-Nine

  “What the hell?” Van bursts, standing in shock as I storm into his office with my two guards in tow.

  “The blood isn’t mine,” I wave away as if that’s all that should matter.

  “And whose is it?” he demands, his eyes still wide.

  “Dr. Convici’s and Dr. Xi’s,” I answer swiftly. “Pay attention, Van, because in a moment a question is going to come flying through that door and you’re going to have to answer it.”

  “Tell me what’s going on, Travers,” he commands, adrenaline still coursing through his tone.

  “The day of the explosion, the one I went to prison for,” I tell him. “Dr. Xi was experimenting on people, on kids, to create super soldiers. The bomb was planted by Dr. Convici to ruin her rival and unleash the gaseous drug into the population.”

  “What??” he gasps. Shaking his head, he chooses a more important question. “Why?”

  “Dr. Xi loves pushing the boundaries and he found powerful allies willing to fund his research if it could be put to use to restore the Union. Dr. Convici wanted the same thing, she just wanted to be the one to accomplish it. With an added level of control.”

  “I still…I still don’t understand.”

  From my coat pocket I withdraw the only remaining lavender vial. “Dr. Xi’s uncontrolled drug killed some, turned too many into Aggressives, and left a few with extraordinary gifts. He kept experimenting even after ZoiTech was destroyed without missing a step. If you don’t believe me, ask Bones. Tori Convici set up Sanctuary and Liz saw the potential of super soldiers after all except what happens when you get too many of them together and they start questioning the leadership?”

  I jerk the vial, bringing his attention back to it. “This is Project Janus, a drug designed to strip those extra abilities permanently. This is what Tori Convici forced me to finish and what Dr. Convici forced on Remi before using it on herself. Remi’s healing gift was just that, a gift, but her reaction to Xi’s drug destabilized her and so she needed it reversed. She’s back in full control of herself and she isn’t going to stop.”

  From my other pocket I remove an amber vial, nothing but a dyed, harmless variant of a simple vitamin supplement solution. “Project Poppy,” I introduce. “A drug designed to make its victims acquiescent. Dosed with this, I could cock a gun and press it against your temple and you’d barely start to sweat.”

  The assault of these truths being flung at him one right after another leaves Van reeling. “How could this have been kept secret. Those projects began long before you arrived here.”

  “Because she broke the goal into pieces for different teams to work on, unable to see the assembled whole. And they’re close enough to the truth. Janus came with a sob story and Poppy is all it promised to be: a protectant against turning into an Aggressive.”

  Van remains silent for a moment and I have to force myself to remain still. “And the blood?” he asks, gesturing towards my ruined attire.

  “Liz tried to use Poppy on Xi, Xi bashed her head in, and Tori shot Xi. I got a front row seat to the entire thing. I had a plan to detain them, I wasn’t about to let this opportunity of having them all in the same place at the same time slip, but…plans often change whether we like it or not and this is where we are now.”

  Van’s mouth opens then trembles shut.

  “Vanguard Mehen, I don’t know for certain what Tori Convici has planned now, but she is going to come into this office and demand my head because I swapped the Poppy vials for fakes so Liz’s attack on Xi didn’t pass without retaliation,” I tell him very clearly. “You’re going to have to make a choice and it has to be yours. Either help Tori or help me, but you’re going to have to choose.”

  Van’s fingers brush through his hair as he processes the situation. Again he opens his mouth to say something but is cut off when Tori, high on a dangerous emotional cocktail, marches inside.

  Noticing me, she whirls towards me. “You.”

  BANG!

  “No!” I yell, too late. Far too late.

  My ears ring and my eyes water as Tori’s face, frozen in surprise, collapses with her body.

  Remi holds me back from lunging on Van. “Why did you do that?!”

  “You told me to choose,” he says sternly, returning a pistol back into his top drawer desk. “I chose.”

  Shaking my head, I can’t help but push back. “You didn’t have to kill her.”

  “Well if all you said was true, then I think I did.” Leaning in, he adds, “Welcome to the Southern Coalition, Ms. Travers. We don’t play games here, we just get things done.” Van looks at Win. “Help me with the body.”

  Win and Van carry Tori’s empty form to the emergency room, while Remi pushes me into a chair and crouches down in front of me holding my hands.

  “If anyone should want her dead, all of them dead, it’s you,” Remi tells me gently.

  “What good is dead?” I ask.

  “Not much,” he admits, “but at least it’s out of the way.”

  “Don’t you get it, Remi?” I plead. “We’re not just masses of cells, we’re not just bodies, we’re not just game pieces on the board of life. These bodies have souls, life of all kinds is a product of Creation, and that has to matter to us.”

  Remi frowns thoughtfully. “I don’t understand.”

  “Our world has lost the ability to forgive,” I sigh heavily. “Instead we kill, we cancel, we destroy, and we enjoy it. We think we are doing good. We think it is justice, but justice is not the furthering of chaos and hate. Justice is the restoration of order and peace and it cannot be forced, it is not tyrannical. Justice offers punishment for wrongs with the invitation and space for growth. We need forgiveness and opportunities to change under its mantle. It is freedom. It is choice. Forgiveness, love…it’s so powerful it transforms us from the damned to the saved. And yet we’d rather build ourselves pretty prison cells than allow our enemies the freedom of any choice, even, or perhaps especially, the choice of redemption.

  “In those pretty prison cells, everyone agrees with you, everyone likes you, everything is as you think it should be. But what is it worth? For enemies to choose forgiveness, to choose love, to choose understanding and become allies…that freedom is worth fighting for even if the disappointments sometimes feel too heavy to bear. Tori had good intentions, she loved her sister, and she lost sight of what was right, but she could’ve changed. She could’ve helped us disassemble the monster she helped create. Who else knows everything and everyone connected to Sanctuary? Who knows what plans, fail safes, secret agendas they have?”

  Remi struggles with my desperate ranting. “And why would she do that? For forgiveness? If that’s even something she wants or would want? Doesn’t seem worth the risk, Morgan.”

  I squeeze his hand tightly. “It is always worth the risk because the reward is eternal while the loss is an ending. The reward is a holy ripple, while the loss is a human footnote.”

  He shakes his head.

  “Listen to me. If she’d decided to help us, think of the good that would come from that. Think of how the future generations would benefit. If she decided not to, well, then we’d have a nuisance on our hands but one we could bind in chains or put to work with a guard, and pray she’d one day come around. With her dead, she’s just a mess on the floor, useless and quickly forgotten.”

  “She wouldn’t have come around, Morgan.”

  “But who are we to decide that for her?”

  Remi pauses, looking me over closely. “You really believe, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do. And it’s both a burden and a balm. It means I struggled for years with wanting Dr. Convici and Dr. Xi to suffer and be punished because of the pain they caused me and yet more than that I learned to want my greatest enemies beside me in the ever after because if they’re there, then they’ve changed and aren’t my enemies any more at all, and it proves we can all be forgiven. Even me. We see evils as big or small, but not God. There is only t
he light and the dark in the heart, and without forgiveness we will never rest. I want to rest, Remi.”

  “Surely you’ve done enough to earn that by now.”

  I shake my head. “You don’t earn it, kid. You accept it. It sounds easier, to take something freely offered, but it isn’t. Every day I have to remind myself that I am loved and I am forgiven and to live my life in thanks. Believing that, accepting it, accepting grace…it’s easier to believe myself unworthy and unsavable and then live my life without trying to be anything more.”

  We sit in Van’s office and I don’t bother trying to track the time. Eventually I break our silence.

  “Enough of this,” I decide briskly. “You didn’t ask for a lecture, I’m sorry. I…I’m just overwhelmed. We have to focus on damage control.”

  Accepting my lead on the practical here and now, Remi glances at his wrist tablet. “Arcas managed to lock down communications and bar anyone from leaving the premises after Dr. Xi and his guards arrived. No one but those present know anything about today’s events.”

  “Good,” I nod. “Maddy?”

  “Her and Castor are handling all personnel. They’ll be rounded up and briefed on whatever we decide to brief them on,” he reports. “Nyx is locking down the armory and patrolling the facility with a few trusted guards and agents for anyone trying to evade round up.” He smiles. “And somewhere Yosef is coordinating his resources while dancing a jig.”

  “So they got the message,” I sigh relieved.

  “They got the message,” he grins. “Where to next, comrade?”

  Forcing myself to stand, I head out into the emptied hall. “The medical bay. There’s still one more person to deal with.” I don’t know what to do with Liz Convici, but it isn’t something that needs to be decided right away. First things first. Let’s see how she’s faring with that head trauma.

  Remi grabs my arm and turns so that I’m facing him. “I won’t let her hurt you again,” he vows.

  “Me? I believe you were the one she attacked.”

  He doesn’t smile. “I won’t let her hurt you,” he repeats. And I know he’s thinking of all of the people she’s hurt, in turn hurting me, the years of prison and isolation and loneliness and abuse and manipulation I have endured because of her.

  I look into his warm eyes and feel the strength of his loyalty. Giving him an unexpected hug, I squeeze him tightly and tell him, “Thank you.”

  Thirty

  As we approach the emergency room, Yosef slips out dressed in scrubs and I catch him giving Remi a subtle nod. I don’t understand until we enter and see three bodies covered in white sheets and Remi’s vow from earlier rushes back to me. They killed Liz and he didn’t want to burden me by knowing or having to face the choice. I’d be angry, but even if he’d been against it Yosef would have his revenge and truth be told, a dark frightened piece of my heart sighs in shameful relief.

  Inside Win and Van wait, watching me closely as I take in the bodies waiting for the flame.

  “They’ll be cremated as soon as we’re done here,” Van steps up. “We can arrange for a funeral service too if you think it would help smooth any ruffled feathers. There’s no knowing how loyal or aware anyone linked to these three may be.”

  I nod, remaining silent. Truthfully, I’m not sure what there is for me to say.

  “Python is locked down and we’ll be coordinating with Yosef’s team to establish and enact a plan for this place, Dr. Xi’s lab, and furthermore for disassembling Sanctuary. It’ll never die, ideas never do, but we can at least take the wind from its sails,” he continues.

  “What do you plan to do with the people?” I ask. “Sanctuary isn’t all guns and conspiracies. It’s mostly a safe haven for innocent families.”

  “You’re right,” Van nods, “and we will be taking that seriously into account when we decide what to do. Right now I’d suggest something along the lines of returning Sanctuary outposts to independent communities. Remove the big ammunition and rebel agendas, but leave the homes and innocent lives intact. Another option is converting trusted Sanctuary Agents into local police forces for those communities or any other towns that may need the help. Bones could help with that.”

  I’m suddenly overwhelmed with the burden of all that needs to be done, even more than I can possibly think of.

  “Don’t worry, Morgan,” Win grins. “We’ll keep an eye on this one,” he teases, jerking his thumb towards Van who rolls his eyes in response.

  “What I would give to sit on a front porch and do nothing but sip lemonade and watch a butterfly dance by,” I sigh achingly. “I guess there’s no retirement plan for usurpers, eh?”

  “We just need you around for the start,” Win promises. “Then you can die of boredom with the Cai.”

  I blow out a breath, my hands smoothing my hair. “There’s going to be so much to do,” I tell them. “And a lot of it can’t wait. We have to control this right out of the gate.”

  “That’s why Arcas put us on lockdown,” Remi agrees.

  “Yosef’s team will handle spinning the media,” Van adds. “Starting with the disposal of the bodies.”

  “Oh, about that,” Win cuts in looking up from his wrist tablet. “Yosef said not to burn the bodies yet. They want them to be found?”

  “Won’t that cause chaos?” Van frowns.

  “Some,” I realize, “but it will also stop any conspiracies or rumors from forming and cut off anyone from turning her into a legend or martyr of some kind.” I look at Win. “I assume they’re going to be staging the body, its discovery, the entire story from start to finish, yes?”

  Win smiles mischievously. “Does Yosef ever do anything half-assed?”

  I glance at Van. “By the way, you’ve managed to squeeze your way onto the team awfully fast.”

  “Corpse-side chats tend to do that,” he replies dryly. “Can I have a moment alone with Morgan?” he requests, looking at Win and Remi.

  “Yeah, sure,” Win answers before shuffling out into the hall with his cousin.

  “We’ll be guarding the door,” Remi promises.

  In an attempt to continue ignoring the dead bodies in the room, I don’t allow silence to settle. “What is it?”

  Van gives me a piercing look. “You realize we’re destroying any chance of reuniting this land to the former glory it once was? The States will be dead and gone for good.”

  I give him a serious look in return. “Everything has a season.”

  “And what a glorious season it was,” he laughs ruefully.

  “Were you even born then?” I ask dubiously. I shake my head warily. “Now we bide our time until a new empire rises.”

  “That could have been us,” he muses.

  “Let it go, Van,” I shove his arm. “It’s too late for us.”

  “Unless it isn’t.”

  We both whip around at the intruder and my mouth drops open.

  “How did you get in here?” Van demands, his fingers twitching with regret for leaving his gun in his desk.

  Unphased, the woman saunters over with impressive nonchalance. “You should be more careful who you allow on your renovation team. Who knows when a mouse might rig the maze?”

  Van’s face darkens with consternation and a hint of indignation. “Who the hell are you?”

  “A ghost, I pretend,” she answers with an unsettling smile. “And I’ve got a present for you. Courtesy of Fitz.”

  Her eyes watch my face closely and I let her see my shock, my relief, my joy blooming from the hope that this means he’s okay. A part of my brain demands to know, if he is okay, why he left me to rot in prison, but I shove it aside choosing to let him explain to my face what happened.

  “He’ll help?” I breathe.

  “He says ‘hello.’”

  Pulling the strap across her chest, she swings off a tube-shaped container from across her back handing it to me. I tear my disbelieving eyes from her face to grab hold of the tube and pop off the lid. Carefully I reach insi
de and gently tug out a roll of very old paper sealed in a preservation sleeve. My curiosity skyrockets as I start to unroll it and then a laugh puffs out as I read the title.

  “This is the Declaration of Independence,” I cry astonished. “But surely it isn’t–”

  “It’s real,” she assures me, “and it’s the original.” Gesturing with her chin, she says, “There are some good ideas in there. Might be of use someday.”

  Narrowing my eyes skeptically, I can’t help but ask, “Why are you giving this to us?”

  She shrugs. “Because maybe it’s time to end this civil war and resurrect the first empire built on liberty and dreams and a demand for nothing less.”

  I shake my head still in disbelief that this woman is standing here before me again after so many years. “You’re supposed to be dead.” My tone turns the statement into a question.

  She stares deep into me but I don’t quail under her intensity as she decides whether or not to answer. “Bones and one of his gifted friends interfered with my grand finale. I almost killed them for it.”

  My eyebrows lift, but I let that confession slide. “Glad you didn’t?”

  Ares shrugs. “Glad they did. Now what do you say?”

  “It would be like trying to perform CPR on a dragon that’s flatlining,” I warn her.

  “Afraid of the challenge?” she cajoles me.

  “Afraid of the headache,” I tell her honestly. “Van?”

  “I’m on your team, Morgan,” he answers, holding back his questions about who this brazen woman is and how I know her.

  I glance behind me at the door behind which I know Remi and Win wait for me then turn to take in Van and Ares waiting before me. I think of Yosef, Maddy, Bones, Arcas, Castor, Nyx, and a thousand other people and I know my answer. The sidelines will have to wait just a little bit longer.

  Meeting Ares’ expectant stare, I nod. “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all until the angry sun above dies and the ever after engulfs the earth.”

  Ares grins. “Amen.”