by T. M. Catron
“Get your stuff,” I said. “You’re not working directly with me anymore.”
She froze, cringing over the desk like an abused puppy.
“Now!” I shouted.
Micheline jumped and began digging through her drawers. She didn’t have many personal items, and when she finished, I escorted her to the elevator and pressed the button.
When she got onto it, she braved a look into my eyes. “Why?” she whispered.
“I told you how I feel about loyalty.”
“But you—”
The elevator dinged.
“Report to Marcia tomorrow for your new assignment,” I said. The doors closed. She was gone.
I breathed deeply, looking over through the glass of my office where Robert was dragging out the body by the shirt. Anger surged through me. I shouldn’t have had to kill Charan. He should have been in that restaurant with Toral.
But Toral had made a mistake with Micheline. Or maybe I had made a mistake, goaded her into betraying Charan. I turned for the stairs and took them down to my apartment. I checked my clothes for blood—they were clean. Then I sat down to wait for Toral. Her part in this was over.
While I waited, I pulled everything I could from EW’s personal computer. Files, settings, anything to help me figure out what was going on. If something happened and I had to run, I wasn’t going empty-handed.
Toral came in a little later with a deep frown on her face. She sank into the couch across from me and sighed. I glanced up, waiting for her to say something.
“You heard from Charan?” she asked.
“No. Weren’t you just with him?”
“He didn’t show.”
“Has that ever happened before?”
“No.”
I closed my laptop and gave her my full attention. “What about his phone?”
“I didn’t try. If he’s somewhere checking on something, I didn’t want to compromise him.”
“Maybe he got sidetracked.”
“Maybe, but I can track it to find out.” She got up and retrieved a laptop from the control room. She typed on it a minute and then frowned.
“What is it?”
“His phone. It’s showing up at the Seine.”
“So, he lost it.”
She looked up. “Do you think that’s likely?”
Robert had worked quickly.
Deep breath. “No. No, I don’t.”
Toral got up and went into her bedroom. She emerged five minutes later in dark jeans and jacket, her hair pulled up into a bun at the nape of her neck.
Time slowed on the drive to the river. Once again, I found myself memorizing her face, the scar, the way she breathed when she was worried, her scent. And I tucked it away, deep in my brain, vowing never to let another see my feelings for her.
Because this had to be the end.
Take care of her too, Emerson-Wright had said.
Take care of her too, Condar would say.
No loose ends.
We arrived at the place where Charan’s phone had registered, a part of the Seine where the muddy banks were home to reeds and grasses and soft earth. Mud sucked at our feet as we systematically searched the bank, using flashlights from the car. I didn’t really need one, but Toral didn’t know that.
If this had been any other night, I might have welcomed the time spent with Toral. The atmosphere was quiet—the gentle flow of the water nearby, the moon shining down, casting everything in a soft white glow, the breeze through the grass.
The dead body floating three feet from the bank.
Robert hadn’t done a decent job, after all.
25
Summons
A snake slithered away as I put my foot down at the edge of the water. There, just above the flowing current, Charan’s body floated in the shallows, tangled in the small tree. I shone the light on it.
“Toral,” I called. “Over here.”
“Oh, Charan,” she murmured. She turned to me, turning off her flashlight. I followed suit. “They found him.”
“Looks that way. You can’t go back to my apartment.”
“You’re head of security.”
“And?”
“Why didn’t you know about this?”
“Maybe it wasn’t EW.”
She wouldn’t buy that theory—Toral was too smart for me to steer her off course. Now would be a good time. I could drown her and then hide both bodies properly. But the thought ran through my head in a detached sort of way, like the alien part of me was trying to remind my human side that I wasn’t created to show mercy.
I wasn’t tempted to do anything but show mercy.
Toral stared at me, the moon allowing enough light for us to see each other. “Then who?”
“You know what Charan was doing. Who else would want him out of the way?”
“This. This is what he was working on. Answer my question, Morse: why didn’t you know about this?”
“Only one reason fits—they’re on to me too.”
“You didn’t know.”
“No. I didn’t know.” I found her eyes and locked in with them. “I didn’t know, Toral.”
She remained on edge, keeping her body angled toward me always. I could overpower her, and she knew it. What she didn’t know was I’d already decided not to.
Morse.
The force of the Condarri’s summons hit me like a speeding vehicle. Caught off-guard with my mind on my companion, I doubled over, my hands going to my knees. I resisted the urge to groan.
“Morse? What’s wrong?”
I waved her away. “Just feeling a bit sick.”
Yes, my Lord. I answered back. The Condarri weren’t at the river. They could summon me from anywhere on their secret spacecraft above Earth.
“You better sit down,” Toral said.
“Just give me a minute.”
You are late. Report to Condar immediately.
Yes, my Lord.
I took a deep breath and stood. I didn’t have a choice now.
“Listen, Toral, whatever we’re going to do, we have to do it now. How does this work if you weren’t on official assignment?”
She looked at me as if I were going to faint. “It’s bad, Morse. I’ve got to make some phone calls, but I need that equipment in your apartment.”
“I’ll bring it to you. Where do you want to meet?”
“If they know what you’ve been doing, your apartment isn’t safe for you, either.”
“I can handle myself.”
“And I can’t?”
“I didn’t say that.”
She shook her head. “Let’s go.”
Taking Toral back to the Tower would raise red flags. I was supposed to kill her. The need to keep her safe grew stronger with each second as we walked back to the car. I had to make sure she was out of the apartment before I went to Condar.
“No, I’m driving,” she said when we reached the car. “Give me the keys.”
I didn’t argue, tossing her the keys and getting in the passenger side.
“You sure you’re alright?” she asked.
“I’m fine. Drive.”
Toral drove us through the streets of Paris. She didn’t seem nervous, but her partner and friend had just been murdered.
“What?” she asked.
“What?”
“You’re staring.”
“I was just wondering if you were okay.”
She nodded, a curt jerk of the head that said not to ask her anything else. I turned my attention back to the street. When we arrived at the building, Toral parked on the street outside.
“So, we use the private entrance?” she asked.
“We’re better off using the main entrance. Any guard close enough to EW to be in the private entrance will be more likely to know what’s going on.”
“Okay,” she took a deep breath. “Main entrance it is.”
“Hang on.” I pulled out my phone and logged into the company network. Until I brought To
ral inside the building, they had every reason to assume I was still loyal. Until Toral entered the building, alive and well, I still had my cover story.
Why was I doing this?
I turned off the cameras in the main lobby, the main elevators, and the private elevator on floor 100, replacing their feeds with a loop from a month ago. It was from the same time of day. A few people walking about, nodding. Anyone watching might not notice for a few minutes. Unless they realized the guards in the cameras were not the guards on duty.
“I just bought us ten minutes or so,” I said. “Don’t grab anything that isn’t absolutely essential.”
“You think this is my first rodeo?”
We got out of the car and crossed the street. The grotesque statue of Atlas greeted us as we walked through the only unlocked doors. I nodded to the guard on duty, and he let us pass without going through the metal detectors.
Up the main stairs to the large bank of elevators. Press the button. Wait. A door opened on the far-right lift. We walked to it. Toral remained calm, a credit to her frame of mind.
Six minutes left.
My floor was empty. We hurried down the hall, and I pulled out my keycard. One swipe. I opened the door but kept the lights off.
“Hang on,” I said, drawing my gun. She drew hers and followed me in. We cleared the apartment one room at a time, then Toral went to work gathering essentials.
Four minutes.
I grabbed my laptop as proof to Condar of what I had found. The rest I left in the apartment. My knife, extra gun, and phone were still on me. I didn’t need anything else. With any luck, I could return here once I was sure no one had seen Toral back in the building.
Toral was ready in five minutes. She carried a duffel bag and a messenger bag.
We were over time by one minute.
“I’m wiping everything I can’t carry,” she said.
We exited the apartment, this time turning right to the stairwell. I didn’t trust the elevators. Security could shut them down at any time. They could lock the stairwell too, despite fire codes, but it was a better option than getting stuck in a moving box in a four-hundred-fifty-meter-high elevator shaft.
Five flights down, I heard the click of the locks in the heavy fire doors. For the first time in my life, a sick feeling of dread lodged itself in my stomach. I glanced at Toral, whose face had gone white with fear.
The stairwell was now secure—we’d have to bust out of it. I drew my gun. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and checked it. Building security was calling me to let me know what was going on. So, they didn’t know it was me. Not yet.
“They know something’s not right,” I said.
Toral drew her gun from inside the folds of her sari. We jogged down the stairs. I grabbed one of Toral’s bags to share the load.
Ten flights down. One hundred forty-eight to go.
Three minutes over. I pushed faster. Toral followed.
At floor 50, Toral was breathing heavily. I wanted to go faster, to keep my cover. My mission was still within reach if they didn’t see me with her.
Leave her. She can take care of herself.
No.
Five floors up, someone opened the stairwell door. The only people who could unlock it at this point had security clearance and radio contact with the control room. The person began descending.
Thoughts of abandoning Toral vanished. Still, I ran faster. She kept up. The footsteps dropped behind.
Twenty flights to go. A shout rang down the stairwell. More footsteps echoing down to us. We kept to the wall, out of sight.
Ten more. Toral gasped for breath.
Five more. She stumbled into me but didn’t fall. I helped right her, then led us down the remaining stairs. At the bottom, the door to the outside was locked, as expected.
Toral gasped against the wall, her hands on her knees. I looked at the emergency door handle. As soon as I pushed it, the alarm would sound, and they’d know exactly where we planned to exit. But it was locked, anyway. Breaking out was going to require a feat of strength I’d never tried before.
The footsteps grew closer. Why hadn’t they sent someone up from the bottom? Probably they had. A man or two would be waiting on the other side of this door. Another door to the left led out into the lobby. Likely they had more security out that door than the one we were standing by. The outside door was the one I needed to open.
“Cover me.”
Toral inhaled deeply and stood, pointing her gun at the approaching footsteps. She took a step out from the wall.
The door would swing outward. I jumped up and kicked the handle with all my strength. The alarm sounded, a wailing siren signaling everyone to come find us. The door groaned but didn’t budge. I jumped up and kicked it again with both feet, pushing off the door as hard as I could and landing on my feet two meters away. I rushed the door, jamming my shoulder into it.
The lock groaned. I felt it bend on the inside of the door. I backed up and rushed it again, this time pain ran through my shoulder as I broke my left collarbone.
More shouts from above.
Toral glanced at me as I backed up again to rush the door. “They’re almost here,” she said calmly.
I nodded and rushed the door again, this time hitting it with my right shoulder. The pain almost sent me to the floor, but the door creaked. Almost there.
Again, and again. The siren still wailed. The footsteps pounded the level above us.
Again. I pulled out my gun and kicked the door.
It flew open.
Toral fired at someone above us. The sound reverberated through the stairwell like a sonic boom. Shots fired from outside, bullets ricocheting through the open door.
I grabbed the back of Toral’s sari and pulled her to the side. She continued firing at the stairs. Someone groaned, and I heard a dull thud as a bullet hit its mark and a body fell to the floor on the landing.
“Follow me!” I said over the gunfire.
I ran out of the hotel screaming. The two men standing there hadn’t expected a madman to charge them. I took one down as he reloaded, then ran left and shot the other as he took aim. He was still alive, but I left him, my eyes going to Toral as she ran from the building.
Since the stairwell was no longer protected, more people ran down the last flight. We ran across the street to the car.
“Drive or shoot?” I asked.
She glanced at my shoulder, then said, “Shoot.”
I threw the bags into the back seat and crawled into the driver’s side. Stabbing pains shot through my arms and chest. Toral took the brief opportunity to reload.
As I drove off, a bullet hit the back fender. Another hit the wheel well. I mashed down the gas pedal and sped off.
26
Locked
Five blocks over, I slowed down. We didn’t need the police chasing us, too. My entire body spasmed as it sought to heal all my injuries at once. I clenched the wheel.
“Where to?” I asked.
“We have a safe house.” Toral gave me instructions to an older section of town. Twenty minutes later, brick homes slid by on a quiet street.
“Anyone I should know about where we’re going?”
“No. Stop here.”
I pulled over to the curb and parked. Toral grabbed the bags and led me up the street, turning down two more side streets before leading me up concrete steps to the door of a brick townhouse. She unlocked it with a key she pulled from somewhere inside her clothing.
Inside, the house was dark, the smell one of disuse, but not unpleasant. A narrow foyer opened into a dining room and kitchen. A hallway led to the back of the house. Toral locked the deadbolts. We didn’t turn on any lights until we reached the kitchen.
“You injured?” I asked.
“No. But you need to see a doctor. How did you get that steel door open?”
“Must have been the adrenaline rush.”
“Right. Listen, Morse, I doubted you earlier. I’m sorry.” Sh
e faced me. Her hair was falling out of the bun, her face smudged with tears. I didn’t know she’d been crying. She saw me looking. “Do you think I’m weak?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head for emphasis. “I’m in awe of you.”
She pulled out her phone. “Let’s get you some help. I think I can get you into a hospital without alerting anyone.”
I pushed her phone down. “No, I’ll get it taken care of. Do what you need to do about Charan. I’ll come back later.”
“You’re leaving?”
“It’ll be easier for me to get this treated without you trailing along.”
Toral opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. I was right, and she knew it. I leaned down and kissed her, gently. I didn’t want anything else from her, except one last memory to take with me to Condar. Toral kissed me back, putting a hand on my face. When I pulled away, she smiled.
“Okay?” she asked.
“Okay.”
I left. I didn’t tell her to be safe. Didn’t tell her I cared for her. She knew those things. If I had any luck, I’d be back to make sure she was safe. So far, though, this night had not been a lucky one.
27
Condar
I waited beneath the trees until almost morning. My entire body was in pain, but by the time the aether transported me into the Condarri ship, the stiffness had worn off.
The Condarri control the aether. Simply put, the aether is moving darkness. Swift, powerful, and deadly. It is controlled by the adarria, the ancient circular writings that adorn the Condarri and harness energy. They keep the aether in check. Keep it from destroying at will.
Because the aether does have a will of its own. And only the Condarri have learned how to wield it. The dark trees became darker as the aether descended. I relaxed, allowing it to invade my body, question me, seek out my allegiance.
This was the test. If I could hide my memories of Toral from the aether, I could also hide them from the Condarri. If I failed, I would never see her again.
I passed. The aether lifted me through the night, into the sky, sucking me up into the vacuum of space. I blacked out during the transport, the loss of oxygen, the stress of leaving Earth’s gravity, and my injuries taking their toll.