by Marcus Sakey
It took him an hour and a half to get clean.
If done directly, the walk from the office building at 900 7th Street NW to the bench overlooking the Lincoln Memorial would take only about twenty minutes. Thirty if you strolled, enjoyed the route, which was one of the most famous in the world. Past the East Wing of the White House, the lights burning inside the windows at all hours. The Washington Monument, a spear in the heart of the night, the airplane warning light blinking slowly. The rippling reflections of the pond in Constitution Garden. The shiny black scar of the Vietnam Memorial bisecting the hillside. And finally the epic neoclassical bulk of the Lincoln Memorial itself. The broad marble steps leading up to the fluted columns, the colonnade glowing from spotlights within, somber old Honest Abe staring out in contemplation, as if weighing the country he had led.
But Cooper hadn’t gone directly. His first priority had been getting out of the building. The stairwell had given him access to the street. From there, he’d headed north and then east, hearing the telltale sounds of converging force. Quinn hadn’t been kidding about a small army; Peters must have summoned all nearby law enforcement. This being Washington, DC, the most heavily policed city in the nation, that meant not only DAR teams, but also metropolitan police, Capitol police, transit police, park police, the Secret Service uniformed division, and God knew how many others.
And as none of them seemed to know what was going on or for whom they were looking, the best description of it was “train wreck.”
Cooper assumed that might have been part of the point, that Peters was focusing on getting maximum manpower in place and then quarterbacking from the air. The confusion would give him plenty of latitude to write the story however he liked—probably, that rogue agent–turned–abnorm terrorist Nick Cooper had kidnapped his family before being cornered in this building by Equitable Services. All the extra force would look good, a blow for interagency cooperation that still assured the real credit went to the DAR.
Sorry about that, Drew. I guess falling a dozen stories onto concrete is going to mess up your plan.
The good news was that without a quarterback, all those forces spent most of their time tripping over one another. Sirens and lights, SWAT teams and the faceless, barricades and badges. Cooper used the confusion to get a little distance, and after that, the rest was routine. He tracked in and out of buildings, rode the Metro one stop north and then two south, circled the same block twice in each direction, and then finally set off across the Mall.
An hour and a half later, he was sitting on the park bench, staring back at Abraham Lincoln. Still twenty minutes before he could rendezvous with Quinn and Shannon.
Twenty minutes before he could see his children.
Twenty minutes to decide the fate of the world.
Cooper had his datapad out, the stamp drive slotted. He’d logged on and prepped the video file for distribution. He’d learned from John Smith’s mistake; instead of sending it to a handful of journalists who could be silenced, he’d prepped it for upload to a public video-sharing-system. All he had to do was press send and it would spread like wildfire. In an hour it would have propagated to thousands of people; by morning it would be everywhere, on every news channel, every website. The whole world would know the ugly truth.
All he had to do was press send.
What had Peters said? “This is bigger than you and me. If you do this, the world will burn.”
It would certainly mean the end of this administration. A president caught on tape authorizing the murder of innocent citizens? He’d be crucified, face jail time, maybe worse.
All of which was fine with Cooper. But the problem with striking sparks was that fire wasn’t easy to control. How far would this one go?
Faith in the government, already at an all-time low, would plummet. In their hearts, Americans already didn’t believe that their leaders cared about them. People thought of politicians in the most jaded and cynical terms, and with some good reason. But it was a big step to discover the government was ordering their murder.
And Equitable Services. To have even a chance at survival, it would have to disavow Peters, claim he was a fanatic operating outside of bounds. But even then, the agency might be destroyed.
Which wasn’t entirely a good thing. Yes, Peters had misused the agency. But the threat from violent abnorms was real. Maybe not every person Cooper had terminated was dirty. But plenty were. Without Equitable Services, there would be no one to contain them.
Not only that, but the video cleared John Smith of the Monocle. It turned him from a terrorist back into a freedom fighter, maybe even a hero. There were plenty of people who would look up to him. See him as a brave new voice. Maybe even a potential leader.
A scary thought. Smith had the intellect and acumen to lead. But Cooper didn’t trust the man’s heart. He’d admitted to planting bombs, to seeding viruses, to assassinating civilians. Smith was innocent of the Monocle, but he was plenty guilty.
Peters might well be right. Sharing this might well set the world on fire.
Of course, there’s another option.
Cooper could put the video to work for him. By threatening to leak it, he could blackmail President Walker. Take over Equitable Services himself, run the agency the way it was supposed to be run. He could sit in Drew Peters’s chair and make decisions the right way. Fight to prevent a war, instead of to prolong one.
It was a tempting thought. All his adult life, Cooper had fought to protect his country. First from external threats, in the army, and then from a much greater danger—its future. If straights and brilliants came to open conflict, it would be an unthinkably bloody affair, one that would turn fathers against sons and husbands against wives.
That would turn brothers against sisters. Would Kate and Todd someday have to take up arms against one another?
He couldn’t let that happen. That was why he had done everything he had done. The good and the bad, the righteous and the misdirected. It had all been for that one belief—that somehow, some way, the children of this brave new world had to find a way to live together.
And if he used this instead of sharing it, he could help make that happen. Change the system from within.
Cooper looked up and out, at the velvety darkness of the Washington night. Low-bellied clouds shaded purple with light reflected off marble and monuments, off the machinery of government. Off a city that was supposed to stand for something.
From between massive columns, Abraham Lincoln stared out with a troubled expression. The bloodiest war in American history had happened on his watch, under his command. Could the country survive a second civil war?
He glanced at the clock on his d-pad. Time to go.
Truth or power?
Cooper thought of his children.
Then he pressed send, set the datapad on the bench, and left it there.
Maybe the world would burn. But if truth was all it took to start the fire, maybe it needed to.
Regardless, his part in this war was over.
Five minutes later, a cab dropped him in Shaw, on a quiet block of small row houses. Founded as freed-slave encampments, the neighborhood had once been the Harlem of DC—both the good Harlem and the bad Harlem—but in the last decades, gentrification had mixed things up, white professionals edging out blue-collar blacks. For good or bad, everything changed.
Cooper paid the driver and got out in front of a tidy Victorian. The ground-floor windows were bright, and he could see shapes moving inside. Quinn was leaning against his car, spinning an unlit cigarette. “You made it.”
“Yeah. Took the scenic route.”
“And Peters?”
“His route was scenic, too. But a whole lot faster.”
“Been waiting to say that?”
“Little bit. My family?”
“Inside. I’ve been out here the last hour, haven’t seen any signs of trouble.”
“Shannon? You said she was hurt.”
“Yeah, a nasty hit to th
e side of the head. Her ear’s all bloody, but she’s okay.” Quinn smiled. “She’s pretty pissed off about it, actually. I think the girl really believed she was invisible.”
“She’s damn close.”
“That she is. Speaking of which.” Quinn reached into his pocket, pulled out a stamp drive similar to the other one. “The security footage from 900. All cameras from half an hour before we arrived through departure. I wiped the local drives before I left. We’re invisible, too.”
“You’re a goddamn wonder, Bobby.”
“Don’t you forget it.” His partner put the cigarette between his lips, then took it out again. “So what do you think? Will the agency cop to what happened?”
“I doubt it. I’m sure some public-relations bright boy is working on the cover story now.”
“‘Director Drew Peters, infuriated by modern aesthetics, in protest shot up a graphic design company before hurling himself off the roof.’”
“Something like that.” Motion caught his eye. The front door opening, and two figures stepping out. “We’re safe here?”
“The house belongs to a friend of a friend, no connection.” Quinn followed his gaze, saw Shannon and Natalie on the porch. The two women were talking, but even from here Cooper could read the stiffness in their postures, the awkwardness between them. Ex-wife and new…whatever she is.
Quinn seemed to see the same. “Yikes. That looks awkward. Better go before the knives come out.”
“Yeah.” He started up the walk, turned back. “Bobby? Thanks. I owe you one.”
“Nah,” Quinn said, and smiled. “You owe me a lot more than one.”
Cooper laughed.
On the porch, Natalie tensed to see him. He could read her thoughts, same as ever. Could see the happiness in her, the relief that he was safe, and the anger over what she’d been put through in the last six months. Shannon had gauze on her ear and blood on her shirt. Her usually fluid posture was rigid.
“Hey,” he said, looking from one of them to the other.
“Are we safe?” Natalie asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s over?”
“Yes.”
“You’re coming back to us?”
“Yes,” he said, and saw Shannon stiffen further. “I guess I don’t have to introduce you two?”
“No,” Natalie said. “Shannon took care of that. She’s amazing.”
“I know.” He let his eyes linger on the fine bones of her face. “You both are. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
He didn’t really know what to say after that, and apparently neither of them did either. Natalie crossed her arms. Shannon shifted her weight from one foot to the other. After a moment, she said, “Well. I’ll get out of here, let you be with your family.” She held out a hand to Natalie. “It was nice to meet you.”
Natalie looked at her, and at her outstretched hand. Then she stepped past it and wrapped her arms around the other woman. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
Shannon nodded, returned the embrace a little awkwardly. “Yeah. Your children are beautiful.”
“And alive, thanks to you.” Natalie held the hug a moment longer, then stepped back and said, “If you ever need anything, anything, don’t hesitate. Okay?”
“Okay.” She looked at Cooper. “See you around, I guess.” Then she slid off the porch and started down the walk.
Cooper watched her and then turned back to his ex-wife. To most people, her pose wouldn’t have given anything away, but he could read it all, a book he knew thoroughly. The honest gratitude coupled with the discomfort. It made sense; for the last six months, she had been living a nightmare, too, doing it for their children, the same as he had, and in some way, she must have been thinking of him as her partner in it. As a husband again, despite everything. It must have cut her to see the hints of his relationship with Shannon. And hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do. He’d explain, make it clear…
“The kids are all right?”
“They’re…they will be. Want to see them?”
“Oh, God yes.” He started for the door, then froze. “One second, okay?” Cooper didn’t wait for an answer, just hurried down the steps, caught Shannon’s arm. “Wait.”
She turned to him. Her face unreadable. “What?”
He opened his mouth, closed it. Then said, “We survived.”
“I noticed.”
“And we saved the world.”
“Hooray for us.”
“So…”
She looked at him, quirked that half smile. “Yes?”
“Well, you said if we survived, you’d go out with me.”
“No. I said if we survived, you could ask.”
“Right. Well.” He shrugged. “What do you say? Want to go on a date that doesn’t involve gunfire?”
“I don’t know.” She struck a pose, paused. “What would we do without it?”
“We’ll think of something.” He smiled, and she smiled back.
“All right, Nick. But it better not be boring.”
“Deal.”
“Deal. Now go.”
He nodded, started back for the house. Thought of something, turned. “Hey, wait, I still don’t have your…”
Shannon was gone.
How does she do that?
He shook his head, grinned to himself, started for the house. The door was open, and he heard Natalie’s voice, and then the three of them stepped out into the light.
Todd and Kate were both pale, and both had been crying. In that instant, he saw what had happened to them, all that had happened. The months he’d missed, and the pressure on them. The horrors the world had wrought. And, worst of all, the things that had happened since yesterday, things they didn’t understand, couldn’t understand, but things that would mark them. They were wounded, he suddenly understood. Not physically, but not all wounds were visible.
The moment tore the heart out of him. A frozen instant that he would never shake.
Then they saw him. For a moment, they didn’t know what they were looking at. It was dark, and it had been six months, an eternity at their ages, and for a second they didn’t recognize him.
Kate was first, her eyes going wide. She looked up at Natalie, and then back at him, and then Todd said, “Dad?”
And then they were hurtling down the steps and across the walk and into his arms, and he was hoisting them up, all of them laughing and crying and saying each other’s names and the warmth of them, the smell, the primal comfort, an emotional rush like he’d never known and always known, the thing that made everything worthwhile, and in that instant he realized he’d been wrong.
His part in this war wasn’t over. Not even close.
His children needed a world to grow up in, a future worthy of them, and until that day his fight would never be over. As long as there was a war, he’d be in it.
But for a moment, as he hugged them so hard their bones pressed his, as Todd clutched his chest and Kate buried her face in his neck, as Natalie came down the steps and wrapped her arms around them all, as he smelled his son’s hair and tasted his daughter’s tears, the rest fell away.
The future could wait. For a little while, at least.
END OF BOOK ONE
EXCERPT: PROLOGUE FROM BOOK TWO
Enjoy an exclusive sneak peek at Book Two in the Brilliance Saga, coming 2014
On the monitor, Cleveland was burning.
Cooper watched the president watch it. Lionel Clay’s face was drawn, his shoulders tight beneath his dress shirt. He stood like a man caught in a spotlight.
“The situation’s getting worse.” Owen Leahy pressed a button and the image shifted, an overhead view of a government building. Cold stone and columns, it was a gray island encircled by a sea of people, thousands of them, a mass of rough currents that formed no pattern. The secretary of defense continued, “City hall is surrounded. The National Guardsmen that were already on scene have secured the building, but they’re having t
rouble getting reinforcements in. Cleveland PD has a riot team en route, but the mob is making it slow going.”
“Where did the fire start?” The president spoke without looking from the screen.
“The east side, 55th and Scoville. A tenement building, but it’s spreading fast. There are twelve square blocks burning, another twenty at risk in the next hour.”
“Fire crews?”
“They’re spread thin, sir, and they’re tired. They’ve had multiple fires every day for the last two weeks. This is the first to get out of control. They’re focusing on containment, with every station sending men, but the mob is—”
“Making it slow going.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Get the mayor on the phone.”
“We’ve been trying.” Leahy left the rest unsaid.
“The Children of Darwyn are behind this?”
“The COD are certainly involved. But there are too many people for it to be just them, and as you can see, the crowd is fighting itself.” Leahy pressed another button, and the angle shifted, zooming in.
A camera drone, Cooper figured, unmanned and circling a mile above the scene. The video showed the front line of a pitched battle, men and women screaming at each other, whirling, spinning. A man in a leather jacket swung a baseball bat. A teenage girl, her face a bloody mess, leaned between two people pushing to get out of the fray. A white guy stood over a black man, kicking him savagely. A group rocked a car, bouncing and shoving and bouncing until it tilted up on one side, held for a moment, and toppled.
“The whole city is rioting?”
“A lot of people are out protecting their property, others are just watching. But everything within half a mile of Public Square is a mess. Intelligence estimates say as many as ten thousand rioters in the downtown area. And the power is still out. It will get worse when night falls.”
“Why didn’t the mayor call in more police right away?”
“We don’t know, sir. But at this point, even if riot squads make it to city hall, they won’t be able to do much more than secure the building. The mob is just too big.”
“The democrats are going to have a field day with this,” Marla Keevers said. The chief of staff had a way of turning the word ‘democrats’ into an obscenity. “You’re going to take a huge—”