by Gareth Otton
“The law is that we don’t expose ourselves to humans, take too much power upon ourselves, or start thinking ourselves gods. I stay out of the public spotlight and keep just enough belief to stay young and healthy. No world ending wars will break out because I want to live another hundred years.”
Dorothea thought he was breaking the spirit of their agreement if not the letter, but she knew better than to argue.
“Why am I here, Elias?”
This time he looked genuinely upset.
“Really? Thirty years and still you haven’t softened towards me? You are a stubborn woman, Dorothea.”
Stubborn? He didn’t know the half of it. Her refusal to budge drove her daughter away from Hydra to her death, her husband into an early grave, and kept her granddaughter alienated from her family for her entire life. Of all the regrets she harboured because of her stubbornness, hating this man didn’t come close to the top of the list.
“What do you want, Elias?” she asked again.
He sighed and leaned against his desk, running his hands over his face before answering.
“Very well. Straight to business. I want to know about Stella Martin.”
“What about her?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know she’s your granddaughter and I know you visited her. I assume you went to get her in line. However, she is still in the headlines, leading that ridiculous Dream Team, and dating the dreamer.”
“You mean dreamwalker?” she corrected.
This time his momentary lapse in emotional control was more pronounced.
“I don’t humour idiots with delusions of grandeur. His kind were nothing when the Eidolon were gods, and no matter what he calls himself, nothing changes that.”
“The Merging changed that,” she pointed out.
“It changed nothing. True power lies with the Eidolon, it always has. Even reduced as we are, we need not worry about these dreamers.” When Dorothea opened her mouth to argue, he spoke over her. “Enough. I didn’t ask you here to discuss dreamers. Plans are already in place to deal with them. I want to talk about your granddaughter. Will she step in line?”
Dorothea hesitated before answering. She wanted to ask about his plans for the dreamwalkers, but she severed her ties with the council years ago and was no longer privy to their schemes. That they had a scheme was a foregone conclusion. They stepped down as gods for a good reason. This world could not let that level of power walk freely across its surface, the danger was too great. If the Eidolon couldn’t be trusted with that power, then no one else could have it either. The moment Tad Holcroft stepped from thin air on live TV, the Eidolon Council would have planned his downfall.
Recognising that this had nothing to do with her, she turned her thoughts to a topic that did; Stella.
Despite their unpleasant meeting, Dorothea wanted to protect her by telling Elias what he wanted to hear. But Stella had Dorothea’s stubbornness and would never fall in line. So the real question was whether Dorothea would lie about it. Unfortunately, she had no choice. The repercussions for herself and Leon if she were caught in a lie were too great.
“No. She’s like her mother,” she all but whispered, already hating herself. “I can keep trying though. I am sure with time—”
“Enough. We’ve had this talk before and both know how it ends.”
Memories exploded to life, recalling a similar conversation. Dorothea fought hard to protect her daughter, to convince Elias and the council that she would not betray their ways. She didn’t doubt for a second that they were behind her daughter’s death, and as he all but admitted that, she wanted nothing more than to kill him. She was outmatched though, as her husband had found out the hard way years ago when he reached the same conclusion about the death of their daughter. She also had Leon to consider.
“I won’t stand in your way,” she whispered.
Elias offered her a smile, but she turned away, unable to bear such false sympathy.
“What of Leon?” he asked.
She looked back, this time staring him in the eye.
“What of him?”
“Will he also stand aside? He’s in Cardiff, is he not?”
Ice ran through her veins and it was all she could do to keep from trembling.
“Leon is a good boy. You don’t need to worry about him. Please, Elias. Leave him out of this. He has nothing to—”
“Calm down. I just wanted to know that if I got word to him, he’d back off.”
This time Dorothea trembled.
She thought she knew her grandson, but she could never have predicted that meeting Stella would hit him this hard. She wasn’t sure what he would do if the council sent someone after her.
“Please, Elias, leave him out of this.”
“I plan to,” he said. “But maybe if you’re this worried, you should call him back.”
“He doesn’t listen to me,” she admitted. “Please, just give me time to get him home. I can’t lose him as well.”
Elias looked out over the city as he mulled over his answer.
“I’ll give you as long as I can, for old times’ sake. But I can’t hold it off indefinitely. That granddaughter of yours is making waves, and it’s only going to be a matter of time before she outs us all. She needs to be removed along with anyone who stands in our way. Patch things up with your grandson and get him home. One way or another, the council will take care of this. The level of fallout is up to you.”
Fighting terror like she hadn’t felt in decades, Dorothea nodded and promised to do everything she could. However, deep down she was petrified that she’d fail, and that her stubbornness would have caused the death of her entire family.
◆◆◆
Friday, 23rd September 2016
20:36
Ryan couldn’t blame his fellow recruits for being asleep by eight o’clock. Were he as new to this as he pretended, he might also be snoring now after their tough week of training.
Instead, he got dressed, snuck past the bunk beds and out of the building, moving silently thanks to years of hard training. Despite what he’d told the admissions officer, this was not his first time in the military, though his previous service wasn’t in America. The hardest part was hiding his familiarity with military procedure and not standing out too much from the other recruits.
He stepped into the early night, which was still too warm for his tastes. He’d been around the world and endured hotter temperatures, but he was born in the UK and too much heat was never comfortable. The other side effect of the heat was a clear sky, which meant there weren’t many shadows to hide him, not that it would stop him.
He moved across the base like a wild animal, his movements fluid and his senses alert for danger. He kept his pace quick enough to cover a lot of ground, but not so fast that he drew attention. There was a fine balance to moving without being seen. Not too fast, not too slow, and always with confidence. It was amazing what the human brain would ignore if you didn’t give it a reason to be curious.
Unfortunately, while his fellow recruits might be exhausted, the base was far from quiet. On-duty soldiers moved about their tasks, and some off-duty soldiers were still on base. Luckily, his destination wasn’t far as he was headed for the large hangar-style building where the base’s vehicles were stored. Upon reaching it, he hit his first real obstacle; the door was locked.
He’d expected as much, but hoped he might get lucky. This was when he’d be most exposed.
Glancing around, he ducked into a crouch, removed his lock pick set and went to work. There might be specialists out there who could pick this lock in thirty seconds, but Ryan wasn’t one of them. He would just have to do his best because the last thing he needed was someone catching him in this position.
His tools clicked and scratched at the lock, and by the time three minutes passed, sweat was building on his brow. The longer he was at this, the higher his chance of getting caught and he couldn’t allow that.
He thought he was getting close when he heard boote
d feet on concrete. He paused, trying to judge how far off they were while also seeking a hiding spot. However, he was close to getting the lock picked. Could he open it before they arrived?
The nearest spot of shadow to hide in was twenty feet away. If he wanted to hide, he’d have to make a run for it.
Decide Ryan, no time to waste, he told himself.
He turned back to the lock. It was the riskier choice, but he had released most of the pins and needed just two more.
He diverted his attention to the lock, no longer concentrating on his surroundings and only caring about the work at hand. Keeping tension on the wrench with his left hand, he felt for the pins with the pick in his right. Now it had his full attention he found the next pin quickly and with a twist of his wrist he disengaged it. One more pin to go… but he couldn’t find it.
The footsteps were getting louder and were harder to ignore. Any second a pair of boots would step around the edge of the building and he was going to be caught. This was a mistake, he should have hid and come back when he had more time.
Focus, Ryan.
He ignored that part of his brain that wanted to panic and searched harder for that last pin. It had to be…
There it is.
He attacked it, no longer caring how much noise he made as the sound of the soldier’s footsteps drowned him out. How those boots hadn’t appeared at the edge of his vision he’d never know, but as the soldier’s shadow came into view, there was a satisfying click.
In one movement Ryan removed his tools, stood and stepped inside, closing the door as quietly as he could behind him. However, just as he stepped into the building, he caught the shape of the soldier in his periphery.
There was no time to lock the door as that would make a noise. That meant that if the soldier tried the door Ryan would be busted and he would have to fall back on Plan B. However, he didn’t fancy his odds of fighting his way off a base this large.
Those footsteps, muffled by the door, grew louder until he was sure the man was just outside. Then, the sound peaked and faded as the soldier continued on by without so much as pausing. Ryan waited another ten seconds, then sighed in relief and looked around to see if he was in the clear.
The room was cavernous and dark. Huge angular shapes littered the large space, the bulky armoured vehicles that could carry troops, supplies and munitions. Other than that, the shadowy space was empty and Ryan relaxed.
I should have stolen a key, he thought to himself, before shaking off the self doubt and fishing out his phone.
He navigated to his camera app, took a second to go through the menu to make sure his geo tagging was enabled, and then snapped a quick picture before firing it off via a secure messaging service. Then the waiting began.
Ryan hated waiting. His mother said he was like a shark, that if he ever stopped swimming, he’d die. Just like with sharks, that wasn’t always true, and he had learned the value of patience when it was necessary, but it was a last resort. The next five minutes were painful, and when he heard the signature popping sound that told him his wait was over, he was more tense than when he had been picking the lock.
“Did I catch you taking a nap?” he asked.
The man was six foot six and loomed over Ryan in the darkness, though he was hardly intimidating for all his height. He was slim to the point of being too skinny, and the way he held himself removed any sense of threat. However, Ryan had seen footage of when he lost his temper, and knew that to judge this man harmless would be a grave mistake.
“It takes time to familiarise myself with a new location before I can dreamwalk there,” Tad Holcroft said.
Ryan was about to reply with a sarcastic remark, but there was another pop and a new shape appeared in the darkness. This one stood on four legs instead of two and as soon as he appeared he sauntered over to Ryan and nudged a cold nose against his leg.
“Really, Holcroft? You brought your dog?” Ryan asked, even as he scratched the puppy behind the ear.
“If you figure out away to leave a dreamwalking dog behind, then I’m all ears.”
“What the hell are you feeding him? He’s huge,” Ryan said, only half joking. The puppy had trebled in size since the last time he’d seen the little guy, and that had been less than a month ago. He knew dogs grew fast, but this one was already the size of an adult Labrador. Judging by the look of him, most of that growth had been muscle.
“How old is he?” Ryan asked.
“About four months.”
“Jesus, he’s going to be a monster.”
Said monster was pushing harder against Ryan’s hand as his fingers found a sweet spot, groaning in pleasure, which made Ryan smile.
“I take it you didn’t have any troubles this week?” Tad asked, ignoring the small talk and getting straight to business. His tone pulled the smile from Ryan’s face and though he said nothing, it triggered a worry that had been building recently. The Tad he met six months ago wouldn’t have been so straight to the point. Ryan might not have noticed it if he wasn’t looking, but his tall friend was changing. It didn’t take a genius to guess why.
“No troubles,” Ryan agreed, adopting the fake American accent he’d been using all week. “I just completed my first week of training and as far as anyone is concerned I am just another recruit… though maybe a talented one. It was an effort, but I aced this week without making it look easy.”
“Still so modest,” Tad deadpanned, giving Ryan some hope that his friend wasn’t lost just yet. “Is there anything you want me to tell him?”
Ryan nodded, knowing Tad meant the Prime Minister, who would be waiting on Tad’s return for the latest news.
“Yeah, tell him this wasn’t a normal week of training. They came at us harder than I expected and if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because they’re working on a reduced timeline.”
Tad winced. “Increased recruitment and quick training. They’re gearing up for action.”
“That would be my guess. Though, I don’t know what they’re thinking. I’ve been feeling out the trainees this week and I don’t think the public is going to back any kind of military action. People are concerned about what’s going on in the UK, but invasion isn’t on anyone’s mind. I don’t know how they’re going to swing this.”
“They may not have to,” Tad said, his tone making Ryan look up and cease petting Growler.
“Bad news?” he asked.
“Not great. Reports have been coming in through other channels that America’s not the only one moving up their time scale. We think other countries are playing off each other at the moment, racing to be ready for when things start.”
Ryan grunted and shook his head. He’d expected as much for a while, but he didn’t enjoy hearing it, especially when he was stuck out here. Half of him wanted to be out there, working on more important missions, but at the same time he knew this mission was important enough. He had been tasked with getting himself inside the US army to get a glimpse of what America was sending their way before war broke out. Some of what was coming they could guess at, but Kuruk Campbell disappearing after the FBI took him into custody had many people worried.
“You need anything?” Tad asked. “They tell me this is the last time we can meet like this.”
“Yeah, tonight was a risk I can’t take repeatedly. It doesn’t matter how good I am, eventually I’ll get caught. I need to go dark. I’ll contact you when I know more.”
“You need anything?” Tad repeated.
Ryan shook his head.
“No, I’ll be fine. This isn’t my first outing, you know?”
“I know… just… Be careful, alright?”
Ryan snorted a laugh. “You big girl. You worried about me, Holcroft?”
Tad smiled.
“I don’t know about worried more than weirded out. After this, the next time I see you will be when war is coming. That’s a hard thing to wrap my head around.”
“Yeah, I suppose it is. You just keep the Borderlands in one p
iece while I’m away. I don’t need to come fixing your messes while I should be doing this.”
Again, Tad cracked a smile and for a second he looked like his old self, but the smile didn’t last.
“I better be going,” he said. “Norman will be waiting to hear from me.”
He hesitated, then stepped forward, offering Ryan his good hand to shake. “Be careful, mate.”
Ryan thought of making another joke, but instead accepted the offered hand.
“I will. You too. Don’t do anything too crazy while I’m gone.”
“No promises,” Tad said with one last attempt at a smile, and then he was gone.
Air rushed to fill the sudden void, and no matter how many times Ryan saw it, he couldn’t help but stare at the spot where Tad had been standing. What he wouldn’t give for that ability.
A nudge against his leg reminded him he wasn’t alone. The look the puppy was giving him was almost as serious as his master’s had been. If Ryan didn’t know better, he’d swear Growler looked worried as well.
I’m going crazy, he thought to himself. However, it didn’t stop him saying, “I’ll be fine,” as he bent down to pet the puppy one last time.
Of all things, it looked like the dog cocked an eyebrow as though it didn’t believe him, and Ryan laughed again.
“Don’t worry about me, just keep your eye on Tad. He needs someone watching his back right now.”
The dog sniffed in a way that was almost like he was admonishing Ryan for saying something stupid, and despite himself Ryan laughed, raising his hands in surrender.
“Alright, stupid statement, I know. Of course you’ll watch his back,” he said, all the while feeling stupid for talking to a dog.
However, Growler looked at him gravely and then nodded his head almost as though in agreement before he too vanished and there was a rushing sound as air filled another void.
For a full five seconds Ryan stared at the spot, questioning his sanity. If there was one thing he could say about Tad Holcroft, it was never dull around him.
Turning his attention away from the conversation, he decided it was time to head back. He was on his own now, and he had a job to do. Pushing thoughts of Tad Holcroft, the Borderlands and dreamwalking puppies from his mind, he focused on the moment, and stepped out into the night.