Undone Deeds

by Del Franco, Mark

  “MacGoren did say Maeve was behind the attack at Eagan’s, and I know Gerry Murdock was there,” I said.

  “It would rehabilitate their image with the family after their involvement with their father’s death,” Eorla said.

  “Kevin and Gerry hate the Guild,” I said.

  He glanced at Eorla again with another sending. The pause made me wonder which one of them didn’t like the direction the conversation had taken. “I confirmed their Guild training. I saw it as necessary and neutral,” Rand said. “Regardless of who trained them, I was more concerned about the individuals’ being safely trained than who their trainers were.”

  “Yeah, that didn’t work out so well tonight, did it?” I asked.

  Rand stared down his nose at me. “You are alive. I’ll make no judgment whether that is for good or ill.”

  I had to appreciate a rebuttal wrapped in a subtle insult. “So what went wrong?”

  He considered before responding. “I was more concerned about Kevin Murdock. He appears inordinately powerful. I had full surveillance on him, but only daytime watchers on Gerald. With macGoren dead, it remains to be seen what they do next,” Rand said.

  Keeva didn’t seem like she was going to be broadcasting macGoren’s death anytime soon. The events in the safe house happened less than twelve hours ago. Another reason to be curious about Rand. “How do you know macGoren’s dead?” I asked.

  “My contacts at the Guild are high level, Connor. An extraction for you was in process when Keeva macNeve intervened,” he said.

  “Have you ever been in the research labs at the Guildhouse?” I asked.

  The question threw him, as it was meant to. “Excuse me?” Rand asked.

  “The research labs on the second-level subbasement. Ever been there?” I asked.

  His face became neutral, hiding whatever emotions he was feeling. “May I inquire the point of the question?”

  I smiled to hide the fact that I was going to bait him with a lie. “Oh. Sorry. My mind was leaping around. The Guild was working on body-signature tracking. They’ve been trying to develop a method for tracking someone by body-signature markers. Pretty sophisticated stuff.”

  “I’m not aware of this,” he said.

  “Really? I would have thought you heard about it when you went down there. The guys working on it tell everybody,” I said.

  “I have never been in those labs.”

  Eorla smiled. “The Guild wouldn’t let Rand have clearance. Believe me. I tried.”

  I leaned forward. “Eorla, can you lock down this room? No one in, no one out?”

  With an intrigued look, she muttered under her breath. Essence swirled across the doors and windows. “Well?” she asked.

  I looked up at Rand. “Who are you working for?”

  He didn’t take it as an accusation, although this time I made it sound like one. “Her Majesty,” he said.

  “Were you in the subbasement level of the Guildhouse where the research labs are?” I asked.

  Rand clenched his jaw. “Your Majesty, I take issue with what is apparently an interrogation.”

  Eorla tilted her head. “What is wrong, Connor?”

  “I think Rand is a Guild spy,” I said.

  No one said a word. Eorla looked down at her desktop while Rand looked at her. “Why do you believe he was in that subbasement?” she asked.

  “Because I was there and his essence is there. It was as recent as the day the Guildhouse collapsed,” I said.

  “Did it occur to you that he might have been doing something on my orders?” Eorla asked.

  Rand relaxed when she said that. That was enough for me to know I was right. “Of course, it did. And if he was, his lying to me right now would make perfect sense. What I can’t dismiss, though, is how he used a druid spell tonight to bind Kevin Murdock.”

  “I am adept at many modes of essence ability, Mr. Grey,” Rand said.

  “I buy that. I’m sure most people would. But part of the issue with what’s going on in my head is that I am highly sensitive to essence, more than anyone I know. You killed Gerry with elf-shot, but it was laced with druid essence. The binding spell had more of it.”

  I tensed, ready to react to whatever happened next. If Rand was going to make a break for it, that would be the time. Instead, he remained relaxed but alert. “With all due respect, Mr. Grey, I believe it has been well established that your faculties are impaired. You are mistaken.”

  “And you happened to be in the Tangle tonight for something a midlevel agent could have handled,” I said.

  The tension in the room hummed. I focused my attention on Rand, but I wanted to know what Eorla was thinking. “Connor, I cannot have you undermining Rand, especially after what happened tonight. We need unity.”

  I jerked my head toward her. “None of this bothers you?”

  She licked her lips and glanced up at Rand. “I am aware of Rand’s, shall we say, conflict of interest.”

  Rand reacted predictably. “Your Majesty, I have ever been….”

  Eorla held her hand up and a sending fluttered through the air. “Let’s not dance any longer. There are larger issues involved. Connor has seen through your subterfuge. Now I am concerned that he might not be the only one who has noticed these things.”

  A sending fluttered from Eorla, then a soft knock sounded from the door behind her desk. The door opened, and I jumped to my feet. Standing in the doorway was an elven warrior, the exact image of Rand. Eorla cocked her head toward him. “Gentlemen, allow me to introduce my first officer and confidante. Rand, this is Connor Grey and”—she smiled at the man in front of her desk—“your name, sir?”

  I looked from one man to the other. The one in the red uniform whom I had known as Rand looked exactly like the man in a plain green house uniform standing behind Eorla.

  “How long have you known, ma’am?” the imposter asked.

  “Rand escaped from his cell when the Guildhouse was destroyed, but I have known your deception from the beginning,” Eorla said. “The Elven King himself could not create a glamour to deceive me.

  The imposter glanced at Rand. “I will reveal myself in private.”

  Eorla sat for a long moment. “Please excuse us, Rand.”

  He bowed and closed the door. The imposter bowed his head in thought. Essence shimmered over him, twisting and smearing his image. The tight elven hair loosened into a head of curls as the ears shrank and rounded. His skin lightened, and a subtle shift in height—still tall, but a more slender build. The essence fell away from his face, and I started laughing.

  “Surprised to see me, Con?” he asked.

  “Danu’s blood, Dylan, I can’t believe I blew your cover,” I said.

  32

  Seeing my old partner Dylan macBain dressed as an elven officer was strange. Stranger still was realizing he had been undercover for months, and I had no idea. Dylan and I stood alone on the roof of the hotel. When we reached the open air, he dropped the Rand glamour. The muffled sound of protesters echoed through the financial district.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  True regret showed on his face. “It’s complicated.”

  I leaned on the parapet, staring out over the harbor. The entire inner harbor was now cordoned off by the mist, the essence barrier rising from the sea like a wall of fog. “Uncomplicate it.”

  “I don’t know if I can. There was concern you would expose me,” he said.

  “Whose concern? MacGoren’s?”

  He pressed his lips together, glancing down. “I don’t work for macGoren.”

  I faced him. “Maeve? You’re working for her?”

  He inhaled deeply and rubbed his face. “We’re not going to play a guessing game. I’m not going to tell you.”

  Anger burned in my chest. Dylan and I had been Guild partners. Beyond that, we had been more than friends. “Did you kill those undercover agents?”

  “No,” he said. He wasn’t upset. He knew it was a fair
question under the circumstances.

  “If you don’t work for Maeve, who do you work for?” I said.

  He nodded. “An explanation wouldn’t help. Suffice it to say this was the highest-placed agent we’ve ever accomplished, Connor. You have to appreciate the delicacy of my position.”

  “I would if I understood the purpose,” I said.

  It was his turn to be angry. “That’s just it, Con. You don’t have to understand.”

  “You killed my friend’s brother, Dylan. I think that entitles me to something. You’re not the one who has to face Leo,” I said.

  “What I said before stands true. Gerry made his decision. You would have done the same thing in my position,” he said.

  I would have. If Dylan were being attacked, I would have done the same thing. I did do it. I killed fourteen people when I thought he had been killed. “You don’t seem remorseful,” I said.

  “I’ll deal with it in my own time. I’m not like you,” he said.

  “Damn right you’re not,” I muttered.

  I didn’t know what to make of him. We had been so close, and now this wall was between us. Maybe it was inevitable. Dylan had remained the good Guildsman. I had gone my own way. Maybe two people can’t always be what they once were to each other. I grunted in amusement. Maybe that wasn’t always such a bad thing.

  “What’s so funny?” Dylan asked.

  “Meryl and I used to hate each other. It’s funny how things change,” I said.

  “The Wheel of the World turns as It will. Sometimes that’s good,” he said.

  Sometimes it wasn’t. Sometimes life put you in a corner and dared you to come out. Briallen taught me that I had to change to meet new challenges and accept it when I couldn’t. Nigel taught me that I didn’t have to accept anything I didn’t want to and that I could push life in the direction I wanted. Somehow, they were both right and both wrong.

  From the top of the hotel, I could see destroyed buildings. I could imagine the destroyed lives. I had helped stop some of that, keeping it from being worse than it was. I couldn’t shake the feeling, though, that a lot of it happened because of me.

  “What’s Eorla going to do?” I asked.

  “She said it didn’t matter if I stayed or left. She’s going to handle things the same either way,” he said.

  “So your lying was pointless,” I said.

  “I don’t think so. I learned a lot,” he said.

  “Like not lying?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “No. If I hadn’t done this, Con, if I hadn’t fooled everyone, I wouldn’t have met Eorla. Regardless of everything else, I learned from her that sometimes doing the wrong thing can be in the service of doing the right thing.”

  “Is she in danger?” I asked.

  He leaned both hands against the parapet. “Of course she is. She’s the Unseelie Queen.”

  “Have you compromised her, Dyl? I want to know if something you said or did is going to hurt her,” I said.

  He didn’t answer, so I glanced at him. He was pensive, a bit bemused. Then he smiled. “I’ll tell you this, Con. I stopped reporting on Eorla weeks ago. I’ve seen what she wants, and it’s not terrible. I’ve been helping her.”

  “Sounds like you have a need to lie to someone all the time,” I said.

  He flicked his eyebrows. “That’s the business, I guess.”

  “That sounds cold.”

  He shook his head. “I saved your life. I didn’t have to.”

  And I had saved his. He had had a knife in his heart. I had saved his life because he was dying for trying to help people. More than that, I saved his life because I couldn’t imagine a world without Dylan macBain, the guy that made me laugh, the guy that made me feel like I could do no wrong. He was in love with me then, maybe still was, but I was the one who didn’t want to change what we had. “You know what, Dyl? I think I figured out why I left New York. You said you saved my life but didn’t have to. You know what? When the situation was reversed, I saved your life because I did have to.”

  His face went tight. “Ouch.”

  I nodded, staring at the mist wall. The level of essence in it was higher than that of any druid fog I had ever encountered. No good would come of it. When it did whatever it was going to do, I wanted to be someplace good. “Yeah. I think I’m going to go home now.”

  “You’re going back to your apartment?”

  I shook my head. “No. I said home. I’m going to Meryl. She’s home now. Thanks for saving my life.”

  I left him alone on the roof.

  33

  I waited for Meryl in the lobby. Eorla didn’t want me to go out the front, but I was tired of feeling like a fugitive or like I had done something wrong. All I wanted was to sleep in a warm bed and not worry about getting shot at or kidnapped. It wasn’t much to ask. People went to bed every night with that expectation.

  Meryl’s MINI Cooper zipped up on the sidewalk and under the grand arch of the hotel. An escort of brownies followed me outside. Across the street, people shouted about death and murder. My name was mixed in there. A flurry of bottles and cans flew through the air, but they bounced uselessly against the barrier shield.

  Meryl shifted into gear, then rubbed my thigh. “How’re you doing?”

  I dropped my head back against the seat. “Tired—no—exhausted. My brain has turned to mush. How’s Leo?”

  “I think he’s in shock. He can barely speak. What the hell happened?” she asked.

  I gave her the brief version of Gerry’s attack. “I was on the ground at that point. If he had fired again, I would have been dead if Dylan hadn’t shown up.”

  She turned onto the Oh No bridge. Normal-sized cars had to creep over the twisted surface, but Meryl bounced the MINI across without any fear. “Dylan macBain? As in, dead Dylan macBain whose funeral I went to?”

  “Yeah. It was all a setup for him to go undercover. He’s been impersonating Rand for months,” I said.

  It said something about the world I lived in that Meryl wasn’t shocked Dylan was alive and wasn’t furious I didn’t tell her. “Huh. Now I know where all that intel was coming from,” she said with an understanding look.

  “You knew Eorla had a spy?” I asked.

  She flicked me her trademark of-course look. “Come on, Connor. Everyone spies on everyone. Stop acting surprised.”

  “You could have told me,” I said. Suddenly, I felt like I was having the same conversation as with Dylan.

  “And what? Eorla would have increased security? Double-checked her advisors? She was doing that anyway. That’s how things operate normally. Saying it out loud doesn’t change it.”

  “Still….” I said.

  “Oh, please. You’re looking for an argument. How’s this: The Guild has spies in the Consortium, the police department, the statehouse, and, yeah, Eorla’s hotel. By the way, Eorla and Bastian both have spies at the Guild. I don’t know the names of every single mole, but, yes, occasionally I do see reports. Now, what are you going to do about it, and how will it change anything except that I told you what you already know?”

  I crossed my arms. “It would be nice to decide on my own whether I would try.”

  She slammed the clutch into a downshift. “Really? Tell me more about your little magic bowl, Mr. Transparency. I don’t seem to remember that coming up in conversation. Or how about using it on Manny? I heard about that from Gillen Yor, for Danu’s sake. You want to go down this road, you better be damned ready to answer some questions, too.”

  The car rocked as she swerved around a pothole. “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, me, too,” she said.

  “No, really, I am sorry. I’ve been bombarded the last few days, and I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. Let’s start over. Does Leo hate me?”

  “I don’t think he hates you, Grey. Does he associate major hurt with you? Yeah, I think so,” she said.

  “How do I fix this?” I asked.

  She pulled into a dark alley nea
r the Tangle and parked, not something that would be most people’s first choice. “I don’t think this is something that gets fixed. It’s something that you have to get past. His brother was killed. It doesn’t matter what Gerry was doing when it happened, and it doesn’t matter that it was you it was being done to. Let him grieve.”

  We got out of the car. “What are we doing here?”

  “We walk the last few blocks. I washed my car, and I don’t want it getting shot at. Ceridwen has the harborfront guarded,” she said. She dropped the strap of her giant bag over her head and wore it across her chest.

  I wrapped my arm around her, and we walked amid the burned wreckage of the neighborhood. “Maybe it’s time I left Boston.”

  “Yeah, I was thinking I’d dye my hair,” she said.

  “Okay, I’ll bite. Meaning?”

  We sidestepped a crater in the ground. “Meaning it will reflect my mood, but it won’t change who I am.”

  “People don’t die when you’re around,” I said.

  “Exactly. People can die as easily somewhere else,” she said.

  “You’re not helping my mood,” I said.

  We turned the corner into the Tangle. Dead essence rose around us, a haze of blue that lined the streets. Shadows moved among the shadows, and furtive figures appeared in windows and doors. Ceridwen’s people were out in force.

  Meryl looked toward the harbor, then up at me. “You see that mist wall out there? That’s Maeve’s doing. Why? Because of something Donor did. Why? Because of something Maeve did. Why? Because of something Donor did. It’s the Wheel of the World, Grey. They play the music, and we dance. I think wherever we are, we’ll hear that music. It might as well be here as anywhere else.”

  “You forget. I don’t dance,” I said.

  She stopped in front of an old building, its once-beautiful front door scratched and pitted with time, a carved garland of oak leaves chipped and worn. “This is it.”

  I could feel the Dead around us, scent the vitniri man-wolves and a variety of solitary body signatures. Ceridwen was taking no chances for me. “Things can’t go on like this, Meryl. I can’t run and hide for the rest of my life. Something’s got to give. I have to find the answers to why this is all happening to me.”