by Frank Morin
“It’s important to me. Why would you do it?”
“I owed Carl a debt for helping me steal the original machine from Mai Luan. We’ve swapped a couple of times since then. Tonight’s the last time. He’s got a big date.”
Sarah recoiled. “Are you serious?”
“It’s not that big a deal. I’ll have it back tomorrow by noon.”
How could he not see? He had insisted they wait for intimacy, despite the depth of their feelings. She even respected him for that. Now he was giving Carl his body without a second thought?
“What do you think they’re going to do tonight?” she asked softly.
“So that’s what you’re worried about. Relax. I told him he can’t do anything too physical. That would be awkward.”
“Awkward? You think? And what’s too physical?”
“You know.”
“Apparently not,” she snapped.
Quentin mumbled something about being late for a meeting, grabbed Alter by the cuff, and marched for the door. Alter looked like he’d prefer to stay, but Quentin hauled him out anyway.
“So Carl’s physical needs are more important than mine? Than ours?” Sarah demanded when the two of them were alone.
“Now you’re being silly.” He didn’t seem to understand at all.
“Silly?” Sarah cupped his face in her hands. “I need you today, Tomas. You, not Carl.”
“I’m here, just like when we first met.”
“It’s not the same. Now I know someone else is living in your body, doing who knows what with it.”
“It’s not the body that matters,” he said. “It’s the soul.”
“Well the body is part of you. Don’t you think I care what he might do with it tonight?”
“He’ll take good care of it,” Tomas assured her, sounding impatient, as if he felt they’d argued the point enough.
He was going to have to settle in for a while, because she was just getting started.
“You don’t have any clue, do you?” she demanded. “You tout your moral standards and expect me to follow them. Then you hand off your body to someone else and let them do whatever they want. And you want to be with me afterward like nothing happened?”
“That’s not fair. You’ve swapped bodies way more than I have. What do you think those renters were doing with it? They weren’t going to tea parties.”
“This is different,” she snapped. “That was my job.”
“So it’d be okay if Carl was paying me to do ‘who knows what’ with my body instead?”
“Of course not. I’m just saying this is different.”
“No it’s not,” he countered. “I’m doing a favor for a friend. You did it professionally. No difference.”
She took a deep breath, trying to rein in her rising anger. Her runes started to itch on her skin, but she willed them to be still. She didn’t need enhancements. She just needed him to understand.
“Listen,” she said with forced calm. “We’re in a relationship now, Tomas. What we allowed to happen to our bodies before doesn’t matter, but what happens to them now does.”
“The body is a suit,” Tomas said. “You’ve got to get over your fixation with it, Sarah.”
“It’s more than that,” she cried. “It’s who we are.”
“Who you are is inside,” Tomas retorted. “Not the outside.”
“So you don’t feel attracted to the physical part of me at all?”
“Of course I do. Stop twisting things around.”
“The only twisted thing here is your moral code,” she shot back.
After that, the argument escalated into a shouting match. Sarah wanted to stop, to just hold him, but the thought of Carl’s arms holding her just angered her further. She had nearly died today. Wasn’t that enough to make him think a little?
Apparently not.
Finally she shouted, “Your morals are a lie!”
“At least I have morals,” he shouted back, equally angry. “You sold your body for money. What does that make you?”
The words echoed across the long room and they both fell silent, equally shocked by how far they’d gone.
Tomas tried to stammer an apology but Sarah said softly, “If that’s how you really feel, don’t waste any more time with me.”
She stormed from the room, fighting back tears, and Tomas had the good sense to let her go. He called out only one more time before she closed the door.
“I love you, Sarah!”
She returned to her suite and angrily paced her rooms. She wanted to go back to him, but wasn’t sure if she’d kiss him or punch him. She loved him, but in that moment, she hated him for what he’d said.
She had tried not to think about that aspect of what her work at Alterego meant, but always it was there in the back of her mind. The glamor and the insane amounts of money had made it easy to ignore the truth for a time, but it had haunted her in quiet moments. And he had just ripped away the careful justifications, laying the wound bare.
Exhaustion eventually dragged her to bed, but her dreams were troubled, and in them Paul stalked her, carrying shackles that burned with purple fire.
Chapter Forty-Six
The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.
~George Orwell, in a letter to Harald, criticizing proposed changes to the history of World War One
Wailing alarms woke Eirene from a dreamless sleep.
“It would be tonight,” she muttered as she rose and threw on some clothes. Helping run the machines during the previous day’s assault had exhausted her. They’d never tried merging all of their nevron together while powering two machines, and the drain had been significant.
She still wished she’d been able to spare a little more attention for Alter. That boy’s rounon gift was unique. She still couldn’t understand how he thwarted whatever forbidden rune Paul was using to subvert their nevron. She’d felt the power of Alter’s soul linked to hers, almost as tightly as she’d felt her daughters. Most rounon-gifted couldn’t bind their souls so close. It could be the fact that he was related to them by blood, but she’d lacked the focus to probe further.
“It’s not a fire,” Gregorios said from across the room as he stomped into a pair of military boots. “That’s the perimeter alarm.”
Eirene paused to buckle on a belt with a pair of forty-fives.
Quentin’s voice spoke through concealed speakers in the walls, and would be repeated in other occupied rooms. “All staff and residents, this is not a drill. We have perimeter breach by unknown forces. Lockdown is underway. Gather in the art gallery.”
They found Quentin there, dressed in suit pants, white shirt, and body armor. He carried an MP5 rifle on a tactical sling, and the pouches of his tactical vest bulged with magazines and assorted gear.
He looked furious.
“Sitrep?” Eirene asked.
“They’re attacking my home,” Quentin snarled. It was five a.m., still dark outside. “Perimeter guard is down, status unknown. They defeated two of the alarm systems and somehow knocked out the central operations room. Tertiary sensors alone remain active.”
“So we’re dealing with professionals,” Gregorios said.
“It appears so.”
Other people were still gathering. Most of the twenty-person staff were already there, as well as two enforcers, and Alter. Tomas and Sarah arrived together, but separated as soon as they entered. They could have picked a better time for a quarrel.
“Where’s everyone else?” Eirene asked.
“This is it,” Quentin said. “The rest of the staff arrives in half an hour.”
“The children are in town,” Gregorios reminded her. “The Yurak team arrives today and they’re overseeing deployment.”
“Whoever these intruders are, they picked their timing with care,” Eirene said.
“Agreed,” Quentin said, leading them to one of the long walls covered with expensive artwo
rk. He knocked on the wall and a concealed panel flipped open to reveal a keypad. He typed in a long code and a ten-foot section of wall slid aside, revealing a bank of dozens of small digital displays and three keyboards. Two staffers moved to the keyboards and began typing.
“This is the heart of the tertiary system,” Quentin explained. “We’ll have visuals in a moment.”
Views of rooms and halls throughout the mansion began cycling across the displays.
“No external view?” Eirene asked.
“Negative. They shorted the external cameras as part of the initial infiltration.”
Distant booming echoed through the mansion and red lights flashed on one of the monitors. The staffers typed faster.
“We have three exterior breaches,” one man reported. “North, east, and west wings.”
Quentin scowled and Eirene patted his shoulder. “You always say you honor a worthy adversary.”
“But I prefer it if I’m the one blowing up his house,” Quentin said. “Not the other way around.”
“Any idea who they are?” Tomas asked. Sarah and Alter trailed behind him, eyes scanning the monitors.
“Got them,” one of the staffers called.
One screen showed a small group of dark-clad men slinking down a hall. Then the display blinked and faded to blue static. All of the other displays followed suit a second later.
“What happened?” Sarah asked.
“The system is down,” Quentin growled.
“How could they take down everything without a full EMP blast?” Tomas asked. “That’s great work.”
Quentin shot him a frustrated look. “Do you mind?”
“I can appreciate professionalism, can’t I?”
“Not when it’s on the other team, and they’re in my house,” Quentin growled. “I’ll be sure to ask them how they managed the job, after I thump their hides.”
The lights in the room flickered a couple of times and finally returned to a steady, if dimmer glow.
“Lights are out,” Quentin said. “This room is on an independent source. The rest of the mansion will be blacked out.”
“They’ll be sweeping the wings and closing on us,” Eirene said. “They know their target.”
“Is there a safe room or something?” Sarah asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Gregorios said. “I spotted heavy weapons on that group.”
“This room is secure,” Quentin said. “It was designed as an emergency headquarters. The walls are reinforced steel, but if we wait for them to converge here, they’ll deploy explosives and slaughter us.”
“What about reinforcements?” Eirene said.
“The alarm triggers an automatic alert to Suntara headquarters,” Quentin said, “But it is possible they blocked it. Either way, help is at least ten minutes out.”
“So we wait them out?” Alter asked.
“No way,” Tomas said. “We take them out.”
“And we make it hurt,” Quentin added. “I consider myself a good host, but these gentlemen require a lesson on guest etiquette.”
“Are you sure that’s the best idea?” Sarah asked, looking nervous.”
“It is,” Eirene assured her. “We need to stop them before they gain the advantage.”
“What if it’s Paul?” she whispered.
Eirene exchanged a grave look with Gregorios, who shrugged and said, “Then we won’t have to waste any more time tracking him down, will we?”
“I don’t think Paul would stoop to leading a night-time assault,” Eirene assured Sarah. “Although it could be his forces.”
“I need a gun,” Tomas said. “Any word on the other enforcers?”
“Status unknown,” Quentin said, then tapped one of the staffers at the keyboards on the shoulder. “Open the armory.”
At a typed command, another section of wall opened and four steel racks slid into the room, filled with weapons and gear.
Sarah stared, and Quentin smiled at her surprise. “Why do you think we always met in here?”
“I thought you liked the art.”
“I do, but it is always wise to have a weapon or fifty close at hand.”
The group moved to the weapons rack, including most of the mansion staffers. Quentin never employed anyone who couldn’t help with defense. Eirene donned a bulletproof vest, then a tactical vest to hold her other gear. She spotted one rifle and picked it up with a fond smile.
“I know you love the Tommy,” Quentin said, noting her choice.
“My favorite,” she agreed. The Thompson was old, heavy, and dependable. It fired the same rounds as her pistols and its solid weight felt like an old friend settling into her hand.
Sarah looked from the machine gun to Tomas. “Any relation?”
“I wish,” he said. “That gun’s a classic.”
“Hmm,” she said, her gaze turning icy. “Nice to know when one can be counted on.”
Tomas looked frustrated, but was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. He chose an MP5 like Quentin, although a double-barreled revolver rested at his hip. Even in Carl’s body, he could defeat all but the most enhanced opponents.
Gregorios, who had been surveying the long racks of weapons with a thoughtful eye, laughed and picked up a pair of sleek, steel tomahawks. “Ah, Quentin, you’ve been holding out on me.”
“You’ve got to be joking,” Quentin said, looking insulted. “I offer you a selection of some of the best firearms in the world, and you gush over a hatchet?”
“Don’t get your knickers in a knot,” Gregorios chuckled. “I plan to take a gun or five too, but I’m keeping these. After a gladius, these are my preferred close-in weapons.”
As Gregorios finished his selections, softly humming the Tenth’s battle song, Tomas said, “So we could be dealing with a squad of enhanced heka.”
“That’s our best bet,” Eirene agreed. “We’ve been hunting them, so it makes sense they’re hunting us too.”
“Or he’s making good on his final threat.” Sarah rubbed her arms as if chilled.
Gregorios squeezed her shoulder, his expression grim, his eyes glinting with pre-battle energy. “Threats are easy to make. He’d better hope he has more men because I don’t feel like taking prisoners.” He’d also donned a pair of his favorite double-barreled revolvers, and the hilt of a huge knife, almost the size of a gladius, poked over his shoulder beside the handle of a tactical shotgun.
“We can’t ignore the possibility that Paul will participate,” Tomas added. “Even though I agree he’s probably hiding in the shadows, letting others take the risks.”
“We’ll work together, just in case.” Gregorios added a couple more pieces of gear to the pockets of his vest.
“He doesn’t have dispossessed souls healing him in real life,” Tomas growled.
“They might have a rune web protecting them,” Eirene corrected. “We know he’s got well-trained enchanters on his team.”
“This isn’t the light brigade,” Tomas said, and Eirene thought back to that crazy battlefield. Some memories didn’t get better with time.
“The what?” Sarah asked.
“Long story,” Gregorios said. “We need to be careful, just in case.”
Quentin nodded. To the two enforcers flanking Tomas he said, “You two set up defensive positions with the staff in case any of those groups get through. You’ll be the fire base we work from.”
“And the rest of us?” Alter asked. His normal enthusiasm seemed muted, replaced by barely concealed nerves. That wasn’t like him, but Eirene didn’t have time to ask him about it.
“Greg and I will take the group to the north,” Eirene said. That was the group they had seen briefly in the monitors.
“Alter and I will head west,” Tomas said. “They’ll be the closest.”
Quentin turned to Sarah. “Will you do me the great honor of joining me, my dear?”
Sarah gripped a stubby KSG shotgun, her hands white against the black stock. “Okay.”
“Don’t worry,” Quentin assured her. “Our mission is a little different. We’re heading for the east wing, but we’ll scout their force as they move into the main halls. We’ll wait until the other assault teams are nullified before moving in. With Tomas and the others joining us, we’ll overwhelm them.”
That eased her fears, and Eirene gave her an encouraging smile. The girl had shown tremendous spirit to have survived the encounter with Paul, but sometimes Eirene forgot how new she was to their world of covert battles, enhancements, and arcane soul powers. She was glad Quentin would be there to take care of the girl.
“You could stay here,” Tomas offered.
As much as Eirene wanted to agree with him, and as skilled as Quentin was, she had seen too many lone scouts never return. Besides, Sarah needed to know she could still function, despite the near brush with death. If they let her withdraw, the damage to her confidence might take months to repair.
“No, we move in two-man teams.” She squeezed Sarah’s shoulder. “There is some danger, but Quentin’s plan is a good one. Will you help?”
To her credit, Sarah straightened and said, “I’ll do it.”
“Good. Let’s move out.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Remus, the coat should be mine. Mother wanted me to have it, and I tended her to her uttermost breath. Give it to me, for it is worth more than the roots of our new-found city.
~Romulus
Tomas crouched beside Alter just inside the door of a salon decorated like an Elizabethan sitting room. He monitored a small, dimly illuminated LCD display connected to a thin cable snaked around the door. It held a tiny video camera capable of low-light imaging. The slightly distorted picture showed four men approaching up the hallway in standard cover formation.
“They’re almost in position,” Tomas said, handing the display to Alter and extracting a flash-bang grenade from a pouch of his tac vest. “As soon as they’re distracted, we take them down.”
Alter nodded, still looking as distracted as he had since the emergency started. He was always so eager to fight heka.