by T. M. Catron
When I awoke, I was on the floor of a Condarri vessel. Dark stone met dark walls. No light. Adarria everywhere. Emptiness. I was in the hold of the ship, but I knew better than to try to go anywhere else unless I was summoned.
A great stone being glittered out of the corner of my eye—a Condarri. Sometimes the hybrids called them the Sacred Ones, though there were many. Other times we just called them lord or master. We never referred to their true names—Condarri—in their presence.
I kept my eyes down as I stood to my feet.
The aether swirled about us. Whatever they were going to do—send me back or break me—it was going to happen soon, or the aether would have already departed.
You have disappointed Condar, said the Being before me. Again, I felt like a truck had passed over me. The Condarri’s questioning was not subtle.
I didn’t dare look at it—the act was forbidden. I am sorry, my lord. I have bad news to share, and I wanted to have as much information as possible.
What have you done?
What had I done? I’d given my confidence to a human. But I had not committed treason. Not yet.
My Lords, I believe that the attack on Earth has been compromised. The humans know.
The Sacred One hissed. I had never heard one do so before. My heart grew cold, my knees threatened to give way.
Present your evidence.
I gathered my strength and thoughts, and sent them out to the Condarri, telling them of everything I had done and witnessed. I even included Charan, though nothing about Toral or the firefight I had just survived.
The pressure on my body increased ten-fold like I was being crushed. Maybe I was. Direct contact for too long with a Sacred Being would kill a hybrid. My master lingered over the memories I was sharing with it. I choked, my chest constricting. But I maintained control of myself. As much as the Condarri hated insubordination, they hated weakness more.
Finally, it let me go. I gasped, reeling back. My head shot up, and I glimpsed the magnificent creature before me, not ten meters away. Its giant body was seven meters tall, glistening gold even though the chamber had no light. I threw myself to the ground, terrified it would punish me for looking at it.
Your conclusions are correct. We have already dealt with the careless hybrid who revealed our secret.
My Lord?
Get out of our sight. Someone else will care of the mess. Get back to your mission until we give you further orders.
They already knew.
I stood, averting my eyes. The aether grabbed me, wrapping around me like a snake until the Condarri was no longer visible. As it hurled me back to Earth, I struggled to remain conscious despite the lack of oxygen.
They already knew.
I had jeopardized my mission for something the Condarri were already addressing. And now, I was being sent back to continue my spying.
But I had just fought my way out of the building I was supposed to be spying inside.
Just betrayed the man I was supposed to be protecting.
THEY ALREADY KNEW.
Why hadn’t I reported in days ago?
My only chance was to find out if EW knew I was responsible for the shootout in the stairwell. Why hadn’t I taken the time to kill the second guard outside? He had seen me.
I could fix that.
When I landed back in the woods, I ran to my car. The muscles in my damaged shoulder spasmed, making it useless. Inside the car, I tore off my outer shirt, gritted my teeth, and set my collarbone. Then I made a sling for my arm. It wouldn’t be great, but my shoulder would heal, given a few days. Too bad I was too far away from the nearest hybrid bunker. They had machines there to fix it in a matter of minutes.
As soon as I had cell phone signal, I tried to log into the Tower network the sanctioned way, using my credentials.
It worked. They hadn’t shut me out. My phone dinged with five new voicemails. All of them were from EW. I opened the first one and listened as I drove, playing it through the car.
EW’s voice was overly loud as he yelled obscenities at me. I turned it off and listened to another one, this time turning down the volume. The same. In the next two, the ranting was so incomprehensible I couldn’t tell if he was yelling or having a fit.
The last one was Armelle, from EW’s phone. “Morse, just how stupid are you? Get over here, now.”
I needed to check on Toral first. I was already halfway there.
She’s fine, you idiot. Get over there and do your job.
There was still time to salvage everything. I made a U-turn and headed for the Tower. When I arrived, city police cars blocked off the street in front of the building, their blue lights flashing. A forensics team worked off to the left where the gunfight had taken place. Two body bags lay on the concrete next to an ambulance. So, the other guy had died too. Good.
Tower security milled around. I should have been the one to call in my own security team. I ripped off my sling, then looked at the extensive bruising on my arms no longer covered by my shirt. I also entered a code on my phone, wiping all EW’s recent calls. On my way to the door, I invented a lie for my injuries.
I strode through the doors, through the throng, through people asking me questions, and straight up the front stairs to the elevators. EW was waiting for me on 149. Robert and Juliette stood beside him.
EW let loose another string of profanities when he saw me, but I walked right to him. “Sir, let me explain.”
His red face turned magenta. Armelle sat in a swivel chair behind him, an amused smile on her face. “This better be good, Morse,” he said.
“I was outside walking down the street when I heard the gunshots. I ran to the vehicle that was speeding away, but it tried to run me down.” I showed him my bruised arms. “I almost fell under the wheel when it hit me. By the time I got up, it was gone. Instead of running to the building, I hailed a cab and followed, but the cab driver was an imbecile. We lost the car ten blocks away.”
“And you didn’t think to answer your phone?” asked Armelle. Her face almost twinkled. She thought I was gone for good.
“My phone didn’t ring.”
“No…” she said mockingly.
I pulled it out, unlocked it, and threw it to Robert. “Check it. I thought it was odd, but I was too busy trying to catch that car. When I returned, I came straight up here to find out what happened.”
Armelle stood, her chair spinning slightly when she moved. “What happened? That CIA dog you had in your apartment shot her way out of the building, that’s what happened. And she had someone helping her. Now how did she know we were onto her? And why didn’t you get her on your way out of the building? I thought you were going to take care of her, Morse.”
“She wasn’t in the apartment after I left here,” I said. “I went to look for her.”
“That’s right,” said Robert. “Security saw her leave this afternoon before we got her partner.”
“Alright,” Emerson-Wright said. “Morse, you’ve caused me nothing but trouble since you arrived.”
“Excuse me, sir. But I haven’t. I’ve been cleaning up the messes Finn left ever since I arrived. Including the mole we found today. That was Finn’s doing, not mine. If you want to fire me, do so, but not on those grounds. If you remember, you hired me because of Finn’s incompetence. Now, more than ever, you need to let me do my job and clean up this mess.”
EW straightened. Robert tensed. I doubted anyone had talked to EW like that in a long time, except maybe Armelle. But I wasn’t going to let him bully me.
Juliette’s phone rang, and she moved away to answer it.
“See that this does get cleaned up, Morse. I want you personally to deal with the police.”
“Yes, sir.”
Juliette rejoined the group. “When you told me about the mole, sir, I contacted an old friend of mine at the US Embassy. He knows the location of the CIA safe house here in Paris.”
I stood perfectly still. EW nodded.
Armelle smile
d. “That’s where she’ll be.”
My stomach dropped into my shoes.
“Morse, take Robert and Juliette there and bring her in.”
I nodded. “I’ll send someone else up to you when I get down there.”
The three of us got on the elevator. I got on the phone and ordered a couple more bodyguards up to the office.
We got in a company car. Juliette drove. I rode in the back, saying I needed some space to stretch out. I pulled out my phone to text Toral to get out of the safe house. She’d have to disappear. I’d never see her again. After all this, I still had a chance to redeem myself. But what was my redemption? To do my duty until I helped kill her in the invasion? Because that’s what would happen if she disappeared.
I can’t live with that.
I waited until we were at a stop light before unsheathing my knife and cutting their throats. I jumped into the front seat while Juliette was still bleeding out and shoved her over onto Robert. Then I headed back to the river.
As the sun came up, I made sure to dispose of their bodies better than Robert had of Charan’s. Charan deserved better. If I’d had time, I would have made Robert die a little slower. My task was hampered by my damaged body. When I finally returned to the safe house, it was midmorning.
The closer I got to Toral, the more I realized exactly what I had done. My hands shook. I gripped the steering wheel as if it would keep me inside the car. Even after all the mistakes, after the second and third and fourth chance, I couldn’t complete my mission. I had committed treason because of her.
When Toral opened the door, she gasped. Her eyes flitted over the blood covering my clothes.
“It's not mine. Let me in.”
She stepped aside for me to enter. “Wait here,” she said after closing and bolting the door behind me. I stood on the rug as requested. She returned with towels.
“No, there’s no time to clean up,” I said. “They know where this house is.”
“Who?”
“EW. Toral, you’re not safe. There’s a mole at the Embassy. You need to leave.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know?”
“Why does it matter! It’s enough that I do know! Get your stuff and let’s get out of here now!”
Unfazed by my outburst, she nodded and passed me the towel. “There’s some clothes in the back bedroom. Get them on—you can’t go anywhere looking like that.”
I stood there, dumbfounded at her reaction.
“Well, hurry, Morse! I’ll have my stuff together by the time you change.”
I found the back bedroom while she went off to another part of the house. In the closet, several changes of men’s clothes hung neatly laundered and pressed. They were all different sizes. I found some close to my size and slipped them on, leaving my blood-soaked t-shirt and jeans on the floor. A lightweight jacket covered my injuries. By the time I left the room, Toral was slinging one bag over her shoulder and grabbing her jacket from a hook at the door.
On alert, I glanced around and down the street as we walked out of the house.
“Can’t take the car,” I said, steering her right. “We’ll grab a taxi later.” She nodded and allowed me to lead. Once they figured out Juliette and Robert wouldn’t be coming back, they’d send out more.
“Did you call anyone last night?” I asked.
“Yes, I called them about Charan. They told me to stay put.”
“It’s a good bet that the mole knows you’re in the country now. You’ll have to leave.”
She nodded. Her face tightened. “What about you?”
What about me? I couldn’t go back to the Tower. Unless I claimed Toral had killed Robert and Juliette, and I barely escaped. Then, I would look like an incompetent fool. And two miraculous escapes in one day was just too good to be true.
No, I was done.
28
Traitor
“You’re sure they have a mole at the Embassy? Who?” Toral asked a half hour later. We still walked through neighborhoods, checking over our shoulders for a tail. The buildings slowly changed to businesses as we approached a different part of the city.
“I didn’t have time to find out.”
A taxi sat waiting at the curb. We hurried to it and got in.
“L'aéroport,” Toral told the driver.
“Give me your phone,” I said.
Toral handed it to me. I used mine to gain access to it and wiped its data. Then I dropped both out the window, making sure they tumbled into a storm drain as we passed.
What was I doing?
Making a conscious decision to abandon my mission, that’s what I was doing. Hadn’t I just met with Condar last night and renewed my pledge to my goal? Less than two hours later, I had ruined it. The old urge to punish myself grew stronger. I gripped my leg, digging my nails into the stiff denim.
Nothing will save you now whether you turn yourself in to Condar or run away with Toral.
I released the grip on my leg. I had a choice. My conditioning, instilled in me since birth, was to turn myself in for execution.
Condar doesn’t care whether you live or die. You are only valuable to them until you are not.
How long could I evade them? I suppressed the urge to vomit as the question ran through my head. Evading Condar hadn’t been done. No hybrid had ever tried, so I didn’t know if it were possible.
TURN YOURSELF IN, MORSE.
“No,” I said aloud.
Toral looked at me in confusion.
“They’ll be watching the airport,” I said to cover myself.
“Of course they will, but they don’t know anything yet, right?”
“Can’t be too careful.” And I wanted to travel with my weapons. No way was I abandoning them to get on a plane. I leaned forward to the driver. “Gare de Lyon.”
At the change in direction, the driver cursed under his breath and made a left.
“The train is slower,” Toral argued.
“Slower to where? We don’t even know where we’re going. And I want to be able to see someone if they come for me. A train offers more maneuverability.”
“We?”
I half-smiled. “You didn’t think I was just going to abandon you?”
“I wouldn’t call it abandoning.”
A few minutes more, and we got out at the train station, Gare de Lyon. Tourists and commuters moved in and out of the station. The large clock tower loomed over all of them, reminding them of their schedules. I glanced up at the tan building. Too many windows. Any one of them could hold a sniper. Toral seemed to be thinking the same thing and led the way under the awning and through the doors.
Inside, the crowds were thicker. The glass ceiling, an icon of Paris, stretched up like some kind of odd greenhouse. We pushed our way through to the ticket windows. Toral scanned the large terminal while I studied the man at the ticket counter. He looked bored. So did the guards standing around.
The ground rumbled as a train approached. A woman announced its arrival in French, her smooth voice echoing throughout the building. The train’s brakes hissed and screeched.
The queue wasn’t long, but long enough that I had time to think of a thousand scenarios for being detained. A phone call to the train station, security finding us on camera. And then we’d have to run.
I put my arm around Toral as we stepped to the window. “Our turn, love,” I said in my best London accent.
“Destination?” asked the man in English. He was fat and balding. His face was red. Tiny reading glasses slid down his nose.
“London,” Toral said.
“When?”
“Today.”
He typed something into his computer, then, “Nothing for today. I have two seats on Friday.”
“No, sir, I have a reservation,” I said. “I apologize for the confusion. Please check for two seats to Geneva. The name is Stallings.”
More clicking of wheels on rails as another train departed. A distant whistle announced another arrival.
>
Toral leaned into me and smiled. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a reservation?”
I grinned. “It was a surprise, baby.”
Toral kissed my cheek, her surprise so genuine I beamed despite myself.
“Here it is, sir. It says three seats.”
“Three? That’s a mistake. Just me and my love.” I squeezed Toral and nuzzled her temple with my nose. The man at the counter rolled his eyes at the nauseating display of affection.
I paid in cash.
“Alright, sir, you’re all set,” he said, handing us our tickets. “Begin boarding in an hour.”
We found our platform. All the benches were taken, so we stood together, watching over each other’s shoulders for anything suspicious. Someone bumped my arm, and I grunted as my broken collarbone shifted.
“When we get to Geneva, you’re getting that checked,” she said.
“No, I’ll be alright.”
“I still can’t imagine how you did what you did.” She didn’t voice specifics, even here surrounded by random travelers.
“I told you, adrenaline rush, probably. It was stupid. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Your stupidity probably saved my life.”
I grinned. “Probably?”
“Why do you have reservations for Geneva? And for today?”
“I also had reservations for tomorrow for Berlin, Thursday for Copenhagen, and Friday for Rome. All under different names, of course. I always have a way out.”
Toral studied me with a question on her lips. But she didn’t ask it with all the people around.
The smell of pastries and coffee wafted through the station. Neither one of us had eaten. I resisted the urge to leave our spot. The less we moved around, the better.
We didn’t speak again until we boarded the train. Our seats were toward the back, cramped but not terrible. I sat on the inside so only Toral would touch my bruised and broken body. While we waited to depart, the human part of me argued with the alien part.
Still not too late to turn yourself in, Morse.