Kirev's Door

by JC Andrijeski

  Or maybe just a close approximation.

  Watching him compare the dummy keys with the real one, Kirev fought puzzlement.

  “Why do you need to do that?” he said, frowning. “I thought we were doing this tonight. He won’t miss the key tonight…I promise you, brother.”

  Wreg only clicked his fingers at him.

  “You got his ID badge?” he said, his voice a grunt.

  Fishing in the inside pocket of his suit coat, Kirev pulled that out, too, placing it in one of the seer’s tattooed hands.

  “We might not need this, but I appreciate the effort,” Wreg said warmly.

  Kirev shrugged. “They have seers working security at the front doors,” he reminded him. “At least four. At all times. Plus the perimeter…”

  “Don’t worry about that, little brother. That part doesn’t worry me. Not unless they have military waiting for us out there when we arrive.”

  Kirev nodded, watching as the seer seemed to make up his mind about which dummy key to use. He continued to stand there, watching, as Wreg pulled the chosen key off the ring a second later, placing the real one carefully into an inside pocket of his coat.

  Kirev still didn’t know for sure what they were looking for.

  He’d already learned that in this operation, all information was need to know. Even the higher-ups like Wreg only seemed to know their piece of whatever puzzle was being dismantled. Kirev supposed that made sense…for a number of reasons. Not the least of which being the possibility of being caught by Seer Containment, or SCARB, the international unit charged with policing seers and “agitator allies” of seers.

  Kirev watched as Wreg used his fingers to press a much thinner putty-like substance to the surface of the dummy key. Whatever that substance was, it covered the metal apparently seamlessly, spreading so thinly along the flat sides and jagged edges of the key that Kirev couldn’t see it once he had finished.

  When Wreg handed it back to him, Kirev could see or feel little difference in the key at all, not even in weight. Apart from slight details in those thin metal spikes in the side, it looked and felt very much like the one he had originally handed to Wreg.

  “Is that an explosive?” Kriev murmured.

  Wreg grinned at him in the dark, his white teeth flashing. “A little thank you to your friend, ‘Dan.’ Do you disapprove?”

  Kriev felt his chest harden. “No.” Thinking, he cleared his throat. “But why use a key for that? He didn’t have it on him before.”

  “Human memories are murky, brother,” Wreg reminded him with a smile. “It needs to be something he recognizes…something that he wouldn’t throw away. This key is precious to him. He won’t realize he didn’t put it in his own pocket until it’s too late.”

  Kirev felt some of his confusion lift. Nodding again, he exhaled, putting the dummy key with the explosive in his pocket.

  “All right.”

  When he glanced up, Wreg appeared to be studying his eyes.

  “As for the main target,” the seer added after a pause. “…He’s in his study. Top floor, where there’s added security. We need you to make first contact. Can you handle that?”

  Kriev barely hesitated. Then he gestured a yes.

  “Good.” Wreg nodded, once. He pulled out a metal tool of some kind. Kriev watched in disbelief as he began unfolding a set of cutters with his thick fingers. “You’ll need your light free…we won’t be able to get close enough to track you any other way.”

  “What about security?”

  Wreg shook his head, once, still focused on the cutters. “Don’t worry about that. We can disguise your aleimi for long enough…as long as you keep a low profile. Get your friend ‘Dan’ to take you. It won’t take much, I suspect…a light nudge, some flattery. He’s a social climber like most of these humans. Once you’re in, ping me…” He finished unfolding the cutters with his fingers, wincing as the hinge stuck. “…We’ll handle it from there.”

  He paused, studying Kirev’s face as the latter stared down at the cutting instrument.

  Kirev felt the seer watching him but remained focused on the cutters for a few seconds more, fighting the panic building in his chest. Removing or tampering with a collar put on him by a human was a crime. A serious crime.

  It could get him thrown back in the camps. Or worse.

  “Are you okay with this, brother?” Wreg said.

  Kirev frowned, looking at him. He nodded, fighting his own fear.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “They have at least two seers on their security team upstairs. We’ll throw a cloak to make them think you’re still collared…but our actual target might be armed, so be fucking careful, ilyo. This davos ridvak has a rep, and not a good one. He might want to touch you, and he’ll likely have other seers up there, too…so keep your light fucking calm, no matter what he does and no matter what you see…all right, brother?”

  He waited for Kirev to nod, to show that he understood.

  “Good,” Wreg said, clicking under his breath. “We’ll deal with the guards before we come in, so they shouldn’t get a Barrier ID on you…but it would be better if we could keep casualties to a minimum when it comes to our own kind. The timing’s going to be fairly critical for this…”

  Kirev nodded again, feeling his resolve harden. “Yes.”

  “Then turn around, brother,” Wreg said, his voice softer.

  It hit Kirev that the older seer had been waiting for him to comply for a few seconds now.

  It occurred to him also that the clock was ticking, that he’d been gone for more than a few minutes already and his absence might be missed by Dan, if not others. When the twin thoughts solidified, he barely hesitated, turning so that his back faced the muscular seer. He felt Wreg’s fingers at the base of his neck, nearly a caress before he lifted the collar, sliding the cold metal of the cutters into the ring.

  “You ready, little brother?”

  Kirev nodded, once.

  Wreg squeezed the cutters in his hand, slicing through the soft metal like flesh.

  Kirev let out an involuntary gasp as he felt the organism in the collar die. Within seconds, the strands that held onto the bones of his spine retracted. Something about killing the collar while he wore it like that always pained him, despite what it was.

  He stood there, fighting to recover, as Wreg did something to the two ends, likely to hold them together to make the collar seem whole.

  “More or less, yes,” Wreg grunted, even as he fit the ends together. “We also have a light field on this, to make it appear alive to the seers watching…”

  Kriev nodded, swallowing. He didn’t move while the larger seer worked.

  “You are all right?” Wreg said, as he stepped away from him.

  Kriev nodded, turning to face him. He had to fight not to touch the collar, or the place on his neck where it had entered his skin and flesh.

  “Yes,” he said only.

  “Good,” Wreg said again. He clapped a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “And yes, we’re doing this tonight, little brother. The labs, too. We will go there directly from here. But we don’t want them rebuilding when we’re done.”

  Kirev looked at him, confused. “But I thought the whole building––”

  “It will,” Wreg cut in. “But we’re not taking chances with the major players, and that includes all of the think tank assholes. The key is insurance. For your human, at least. And easier to smuggle inside than a gun.”

  Understanding reached Kirev, right before he nodded. “I see.”

  “Can you make sure it’s on him before he takes you upstairs?”

  Kirev motioned a decisive yes with one hand.

  Even so, he felt his jaw harden.

  Wreg must have felt it. He sharpened his gaze on Kirev’s face, even as he stuffed the ID Kirev had given him into an inside pocket of his jacket.

  “What?” he said. “What is it?”

  Kirev hesitated, then just said it.

  “T
here is a female here. One of our kind. I do not know if the human with her is on the list, but her situation is not good. I wondered if––”

  Wreg’s gaze abruptly cleared. “Do not worry about her, little brother.”

  Kirev frowned. “Meaning what?”

  “She is one of ours.”

  Kirev started. Then he found himself flushing, even as he fought discomfort. “Who is that she is with? Another who works in the labs?”

  “Do not worry about that, either, brother,” Wreg said, his voice slightly warning.

  Kirev frowned. He fought to control the reaction in his light, but could not.

  “What?” Wreg said again. “What is wrong? She will not be hurt…”

  But Kirev was already shaking his head.

  “I am not doing this again,” he said. Clicking under his breath, he gave the other a harder look. “…Playing the pet. Infiltrating the humans like this. I do not want to be groomed for this…specialization, brother. If that is what you or the Father have in mind for me, then this will be my last job. I will find some other way to fight for my race.”

  There was a silence.

  In it, both of them just looked at one another in the dark, their seer night vision penetrating the relative dimness with the help of the outside lights shining through the window from the Cliff House and that rising three-quarters moon. Even so, even without the collar, Kirev was blind with a seer as sight-trained as Wreg, at least in the ways that mattered.

  He knew he would be an open book to Wreg, however.

  Even as he thought it, Wreg smiled faintly, clapping him on the shoulder with a muscular hand. “We go where we’re needed most, little brother,” he said. “We all are faced with this from time to time. You have to keep the end goal in mind…”

  “Well someone else can think of the good of the race with some rancid fucker’s cock in their mouth,” Kirev growled. “I’m telling you…you assign me like this again, and I’m castrating whoever you put me with…even if it jeopardizes the mission.” Biting his lip, he shook his head, once. “I’m not doing it again, Wreg. I mean it.”

  Wreg’s dark eyes stilled, aiming a colder scrutiny as they took in Kirev’s face. Kirev had no doubt the older seer was scanning him for real that time. Whatever he’d seen, it caused Wreg to soften, not the reverse.

  The irritation on Wreg’s high-cheekboned face faded.

  “I see,” he said, noncommittal. “We’ll talk about it when we get back, brother.” His voice grew warning. “For now, do your fucking job. And in the future, don’t bring up the next op until you’re sure you’ve survived the one you’re in…”

  Kirev didn’t answer. Even so, he felt the muscles in his shoulders relax.

  He heard the empathy in the other’s voice, even through the collar. Truthfully, it was enough to calm him down. For now, at least.

  “Understood,” he said. “Apologies, brother.”

  Wreg stepped closer, rubbing his shoulder reassuringly with a muscular hand.

  “Relax, little brother,” he told him, his voice as lulling as his hand. “You have done good work here…especially for a new recruit…especially for one so young. The boss is most pleased…your sacrifices won’t be forgotten, believe me.” Still massaging his arm and shoulder, using his light enough that Kirev felt his body respond, Wreg leaned closer, giving Kirev an affectionate kiss on the cheek. “You’ll get your revenge, brother…don’t worry. I’ll make sure of it. And I’ll make sure you have a good seat when it happens.”

  Kirev forced a smile. “Not too good, I hope,” he joked stiffly.

  Wreg grunted, his teeth flashing white again in the dim light.

  “Not too good,” he agreed, chuckling. “But good enough to flip that raping fuck off on his way to meet his Ancestors, if the urge strikes you…”

  Kirev nodded, feeling himself relax still more.

  He knew he was being handled to a degree, but that didn’t bother him, either. Handling him was Wreg’s job. Using his light to do it was just a seer’s way.

  For the same reason, he just nodded when Wreg gave him the final instructions, including telling him to wait a few minutes before leaving the room behind him.

  Standing by the window and the view to the lit up baths and hotel, Kirev watched silently as the suit-wearing seer gave him a last smile before he turned, moving with that odd grace of his for the door out of the room.

  Then Kirev just stood there, counting out time until he could rejoin the rest of the party.

  All he wanted now was to finish this thing.

  4

  THE HOST

  BY THE TIME Kirev found an opportunity to push Dan, he noticed guests leaving here and there. Dinner had finished over an hour earlier, but Kirev still felt surprised at the sudden-seeming departures; he wondered why more didn’t stay to drink. When he glanced at the bar however, he realized that a core group of humans had stayed. All of them appeared to be male and most roughly the same age, wearing suits of a similar cut.

  Only one looked significantly younger than the rest, the same male human Kirev had witnessed before, holding his sister’s leash.

  Watching the female seer lean against the bar with one arm, forced up against the body of the blonde human when he gripped that leash tighter, Kirev fought with a low flicker of nausea as he saw the human casually rubbing her behind, and in full view of the room. It occurred to him again that most of the human females had left by then.

  So this was the human male’s domain, he found himself thinking. Different rules.

  He hoped like hell that bastard wouldn’t survive this, either.

  “Do you really wish to meet our host, Kirev?” Dan asked. “Why?”

  That time when Kirev turned, he saw that Dan had noticed the direction of his stare. Kirev couldn’t extend his light, not without risking being seen, but he saw the faint frown that touched the human’s lips. Standing so close, he also felt the plume of jealous irritation.

  Kirev immediately softened his expression.

  “Yes, sir,” he said. “I was hoping I might.”

  Dan’s eyes grew slightly less hard. “Were you, now?” he said, his voice still holding a faint note of that irritation. “But you won’t tell me why?”

  “But of course I will,” Kirev said, surprised. “I would have thought the reasons were obvious. You told me he is a powerful man,” Kirev reminded him. “Is he not your employer, sir? Should I not know him, if he is so important to your life?”

  That time, Dan didn’t implore him to “call him Dan.”

  “Yes,” Dan said, only partly mollified still.

  His eyes followed the high-heeled steps of the female seer as she walked with her smug, blonde-haired human towards the balcony where several of them had once more gathered to smoke.

  “Are you not curious about this man as well, Kirev?” Dan said, his voice drier as he motioned towards the blonde man with his glass. “His name is Marcous. Despite his young age, you are looking at the Senior Vice President of Experimental Technologies at Black Arrow,” he said. His eyes flickered over the revealing clothes on the female seer. “And yes, I work for him. So do most of the people here…but definitely all of the lab rats, like me. He is one of the few direct reports to the old man.”

  Kirev fought not to follow his gaze, or his train of thought.

  Not with his light, at least.

  He found himself thinking that the arrogant blonde man might be more important than he’d realized, however. He hoped the female seer was safe with him, whatever Wreg had said. If this Marcous was that high in the Black Arrow hierarchy, then he likely had his own private security team here, as well.

  Dan turned towards him once more as Kirev thought it, taking a sip from his rocks glass as he frowned into Kirev’s face.

  “If you must know…Bilford is the one who gifted you to me.”

  Kirev nodded. Bilford was the owner of the house.

  Also referred to as the “old man.”

  “He
chose me himself?” Kirev said, inserting a faint note of awe in his voice.

  Dan smiled for real at that, almost in spite of himself.

  Reaching up, he tugged at Kirev’s tie, straightening his coat once he’d arranged the knot more securely directly below his throat. Again, Kirev could tell it was more an excuse to touch him than anything. He felt the human’s desire that time, a flicker of his intent when he got him back to the penthouse apartment on Nob Hill.

  That time, Kirev almost pitied him.

  “No,” Dan said, quirking an eyebrow at him humorously. “That was me, I’m afraid. But he gave me an option to choose…from a particular number, that is.”

  Kirev smiled at him, hoping he looked significantly more flattered than he felt.

  “I did not know that, sir,” he murmured.

  “Well, now you do.” Dan frowned again, glancing briefly at the female seer by the balcony as he tugged again on Kirev’s coat. “Be careful about your curiosity, Kirev,” he said then, his voice softer. “It is understandable…but it could be taken the wrong way.”

  Kirev made his face blank, borderline puzzled, but only nodded. “Of course, sir.”

  “I understand you might miss interacting with your own kind,” Dan added, his voice a bit sharper. “But Marcous is possessive of his seers. He’s also not someone I can afford to make an enemy of.” Hesitating, Dan met his gaze, his expression strangely devoid of guile. “I got you for the work I did on the old man’s pet project,” Dan admitted. “I’m not as senior as most of the people here…and Marcous is more senior than any of them. Well, any but Bilford himself. He and Bilford…they founded Black Arrow together. They met in Korea.”

  Kirev nodded. “I see.”

  “He’s also intended to be successor when Bilford retires,” Dan said, his voice still low. “He could also destroy my career if he wanted, Kirev…and he’s got a mean streak a mile wide.”