Tracker and the Spy

by D. Jackson Leigh

  Michael’s unit swept in from one end of the wide street that was filled with armed believers while Raven’s blocked the other, and the warriors began a fiery cleansing of their own.

  Jael circled. A gun at one corner still had five of its eight missiles to launch.

  Diego. Take command. Second, with me. The back right corner. Together.

  Second moved into position and raised her hands in tandem with Jael. Titan and Specter filled their lungs, and together they spewed an inferno that could likely fuse tungsten. The entire corner of the roof exploded with the missiles. Second gave a thumbs-up signal when Jael pointed to the adjacent corner. They hovered on opposite sides of the gun. It swiveled toward Jael, then jerked back to Second as though the remote operator was uncertain. They raised their hands to take out the weapon and its remaining missiles.

  Jael. To your left.

  Her instantaneous relay of Diego’s urgent warning sent Specter into an evasive dive before he swooped back in a tight circle.

  A new weapon had emerged from the center of the building. Tall, black, and sleek, the sight on its single large barrel projected a blinking red beam that scanned the sky. The beam found Second, but Titan dove to the left.

  The weapon began searching again. Much heavier than the smaller guns, this one moved slower. Its red beam traveled over Diego and several other warriors without pausing, but stopped and went from blinking to steady when it found Jael. Specter deftly cut down and to the left. The weapon’s blinking resumed, and it began a new scan.

  Apparently, it’s picky. Nothing but the best or the second best for this bad-boy gun.

  Very funny. You’re anything but second best, Danielle. But I do think it’s scanning for my DNA. I don’t think they figured you in the mix. Since it’s not a danger to anyone else, we should be able to take care of the rest of these guns if we just keep an eye on it.

  The street below was littered with burning corpses. Two dragon horses, wings spread, had a group of believers corralled against one building while their bonded warriors searched the misguided souls for hidden weapons. Michael looked up at Jael.

  Permission to clear the building.

  Jael hesitated. Normally, this would be Second or Furcho’s duty as second and third in command of The Guard. But she needed Second’s greater firepower on the roof, and Furcho wasn’t available. The warrior looking up at her with mismatched eyes and a prancing dragon horse at his side wasn’t the sullen, tentative teen Han had sent her a few years ago. This warrior stood tall, shoulders straight, head high, and clear eyes boldly meeting hers.

  Permission granted. Have Raven also take a unit and enter at the other end. I want Simon, and I want this man called Xavier to question about Uri’s death.

  As you command.

  The blinking light in Jael’s peripheral vision locked on, and she looked down. The red dot targeting the center of her chest had barely registered in her mind before Specter dropped into a spiraling dive. Good thing her brain was connected to his. She frowned. She thought Second had her back…oh.

  Second held a slight female warrior around the chest, legs dangling along Titan’s side as she coasted to a soft landing on the next street. She bent to lower the warrior to the ground, and the woman nodded at whatever Second was telling her as she limped toward a dragon horse that was awkwardly flapping a broken wing.

  Jael smiled to herself. That was Second. Always taking care of everyone. She watched Titan rise to join Specter just below the roofline.

  “Ready?” Second hated mental communication, so in deference to her, Jael always spoke when it was possible. But as soon as the word was out of her mouth, she realized the battlefield had gone quiet except for the sounds of the flames and some muffled shouts inside the warehouse. She signaled Second to circle in the opposite direction, and they flew away from the building, outside the light of the flames to climb higher.

  All the rooftop guns, except the DNA weapon still scanning for them, had withdrawn. Maybe Michael and Raven had taken the warehouse and found the control room. Michael?

  Nothing here but a few warehouse workers. I’m betting there’s a hidden control room somewhere. Raven’s searching. I’m checking circuitry. Maybe I can disable those guns on the roof and trace the wires back to wherever the control room might be.

  Jael and Second circled again, as Diego and the main contingent hovered at the ready.

  A grinding noise heralded a new series of hatches opening in the warehouse’s roof. Five new missiles, each four times the size of the earlier missiles.

  Michael?

  I didn’t do that. Stars, circuits are lighting up all over down here.

  Raven?

  I’ve got nothing.

  “I am Simon, President of The Natural Order.” The disembodied, gravel-like voice seemed as though the building itself were speaking. “You, my magical friends, might have the impression that The Natural Order is about religion. That’s what Cyrus thinks, too, but he’s a little off in the head. The Natural Order is about survival of the fittest.”

  The missile launch pads adjusted to a steeper angle, and Jael signaled for the army to move back. They would need more room to intercept at that angle. Second circled behind the missiles, staying a mere meter ahead of the DNA weapon’s red beam.

  Michael, can we incinerate these?

  I don’t know, Jael. I can’t actually see them from here, but the circuitry down here looks like some kind of programmable guidance system.

  Jael, somebody’s painted words on these babies.

  Titan hovered closer to the roof as Second leaned in to read the inscriptions. The DNA weapon rotated, its pulsing red beam locked on her chest and turned solid.

  “Actually, that’s what my five little friends on the roof are about—survival of the fittest.”

  Second, get out of there.

  Specter swept downward to confuse the gun’s targeting system as Titan peeled away.

  “You see, this Collective you subscribe to is allowing the weak to drag the strong people down. So, my five friends here are going to help some of those weaklings into their next life a little early, where they’ll hopefully be more useful.”

  Jael squinted in the dim moonlight, then held a fireball aloft while the DNA weapon scanned for her. Each missile was labeled with a target—a neighborhood populated primarily by the disabled or elderly who were dependent on subsidized housing and rations, the government complex full of policy-makers and auditors, a hospital for treating the mentally ill, and the train depot where Nicole and Furcho were supervising evacuation of their wounded. The DNA weapon was locking onto her again, and Specter dodged away. She lifted the fireball again as they approached from a different angle.

  The last missile’s label nearly stopped her heart. It was clearly marked with the name of the private airport where Alyssa was triaging their critically wounded to be airlifted back to the base camp. How could he know about that?

  “Do you like my choices, First Warrior?”

  Michael, Raven, get out. Get your warriors out. Second and I are going to blow those missiles before they can launch.

  “Let’s see, which button to push first?”

  If I can just find and cut the right wire.

  Michael, out. That’s an order.

  I found the control room. It’s empty. He’s doing this from somewhere else.

  Raven, out. Drag Michael with you.

  “How does that child’s rhyme go? Ennie, meenie, miney…Oops. I guess my finger slipped.”

  The missile labeled for the poor neighborhood shot from its launch pad, startling Jael with its speed. Specter might be able to overtake it in a free fall, but not ascending. Six dragon-horse warriors closed ranks in its path and joined their flames to detonate it. The explosion was tremendous, vaporizing the closest warriors and sending a dozen tumbling through the air. The night sky churned as damaged wings flailed and comrades dove to catch the warriors they could intercept midair.

  Jael had to do som
ething before she lost her entire army. The red beam played across her face. That infernal weapon was locking on her again. Specter dove below the roofline and curled around the building. Jael had to get in front of those missiles before Simon launched another.

  She saw it as she rose level with the roof.

  Second, get in front of them. You can fuse their fins on the underside to their pads so that when he tries to launch, they’ll just implode on their pads. If Titan can hover near the roofline, I think the missiles will block that DNA weapon from finding you.

  Where are you going?

  I’ll intercept if one gets away before you can fuse the base.

  Jael—

  Do it.

  Specter circled in a wide arc, dipping and weaving as the DNA weapon tracked Jael. Raven and Michael ran from the warehouse to where Potawatomi and Apollo waited, and they took to the air as Diego joined Second. She’d fused the first launch pad and, with Diego’s help, made quick work of the next. They’d just begun heating the third’s fins when the remaining missiles launched.

  Two missiles. Jael didn’t need to recall the label on one, because she was certain of the other’s destination.

  Specter dove, wings tucked, like a bullet to intercept.

  Everything happened at once, in several slow blinks of an eye. Second’s yell. Diego’s curse. Potawatomi’s and Apollo’s furious but futile ascent to help.

  The timing was perfect.

  The tips of Specter’s magnificent wings were millimeters from each missile as he spread them to stop his dive, and Jael’s blue-white purifying flame shot from her hands to engulf each deadly warhead at the same instant the blinking red beam found the ruby dragon-horse insignia on her chest and glowed steady.

  Alyssa, you are my heart. In this life and always.

  It was as it should be.

  Chapter Twenty

  Second strode through the camp, ticking off lists in her mind. It was what she did best, what she’d done for Jael for years. She would keep doing it for Jael. She felt her, like a person still feels a severed limb. After all those years that Jael couldn’t penetrate her thoughts, her clone’s presence now was constantly in her head, adding confidence and surety to her decisions.

  She’d ordered the evacuation of their Sierra Madre camp. It’d served its purpose for the training of new recruits and bonding with the nearby wild herd of dragon horses. But there were too many spies here. Somehow Simon knew when they would attack in Brasília and the location of their evacuation avenues. It was time to relocate the army. Simon and Cyrus were headed north, and so would they.

  “Danielle, Tan’s arrived. The Guard is assembled in the headquarters building.” Furcho’s battleskin showed under his open-collared shirt. None would be without theirs until Jael’s death was avenged and The Collective restored.

  She didn’t answer but lengthened her stride as he followed her into the planning room. She stepped to the head of the table without hesitation, refusing to acknowledge Alyssa’s empty seat, and looked each in the eye.

  “You will continue to address me as Commander or Second. Whether here physically or not, Jael is still First Warrior and I’m her Second until The Council decrees otherwise. Are we clear?” She looked to each for an answering nod before continuing. “We are relocating to a permanent base in the Rocky Mountains.” She didn’t need to add that it was a valley very close to Jael’s mountain. The details already had been transmitted to their ICs. “We’re transferring only personnel and what we can carry. We’ll rebuild with new supplies when we arrive.” She thumped the table, unsure if Tan was following along. “Tan, give us your report.”

  Tan looked up, her face expressionless, eyes dark, dead pools. “Cyrus and his insiders have left Matamoros for Killeen, where The Natural Order has taken control of a regional distribution center. Intel from The Network, however, says his final destination is a stronghold the believers are calling the City of Light.”

  Furcho, taking notes on his IC, looked up. “Do we have a location?”

  “No idea, but they’ll be easy enough to track.”

  “Kyle is still with them?” Furcho glared at Tan. “You know that Simon escaped us in Brasília.”

  Tan’s lip curled into a snarl. “She’s where she wants to be.”

  Furcho’s scowl deepened. “She’s the one who burned Simon’s arm. Even if Kyle has convinced her father that she’s on his side, Simon will kill her on sight.”

  Second slapped her hand on the table, stopping the argument before it escalated further. “We’ll discuss this privately.” She looked around the table. “Have your units ready to leave at dusk. Furcho, Tan, stay.”

  ❖

  The bed was empty and hadn’t been slept in. Second recognized Jael’s signature in the tightly stretched sheet and precisely placed pillows. The room felt empty, too, because the silent figure sitting in the dark was devoid of the vibrant aura Second had come to associate with the First Advocate. She’d been where Alyssa was now, after Saran had died. Only her links to Jael and Titan had brought her back from the black depths before she self-imploded into flame. She had no idea what would happen to an empath if Alyssa weren’t strong enough to survive the loss of her soul’s match. She knelt before the straight-backed chair where Alyssa sat, her eyes vacant. Second laid her hand over Alyssa’s where it rested on the chair’s arm. Alyssa’s fingers were cold, and Second heated her hand to warm them.

  “We leave tonight. I need you with us.” She covered Alyssa’s other hand and warmed it, too.

  Silence.

  “Tan thinks Kyle has betrayed us. She’s a very strong pyro, and if she’s at Cyrus’s side, I’ll need to know her intent.”

  More silence.

  Second sighed. “I’m not going to pretend you aren’t dying inside, that just breathing is a struggle right now.” She paused to swallow the pain she still carried. “But I know I will be with Saran again, and when I do, I want her to be proud that I could be strong until we were together again.”

  Alyssa’s expressionless eyes drifted to Second’s, and she lifted a hand to caress Second’s brow and cheek. “So like my Jael.” Pain and tears finally filled her eyes and she fell forward.

  Second caught and held her in a tight embrace as Alyssa sobbed against her chest. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” Tears streaked her own face even as she offered comfort.

  “I can’t.”

  “You think you can’t, but you start by going through the motions.”

  “I can’t do it.” Alyssa’s sobs were slowing.

  “One foot in front of the other, one minute, one hour, one day at a time. After a while, you’ll realize you’re going to make it through.” Second held her, stroking her back and warming her until Alyssa’s tears transitioned into occasional hitching breaths.

  Finally, Alyssa took a deep, purifying breath. “You look so much like her.” She sighed. “But you’re so different—your eyes, your voice, your mannerisms.” She burrowed into Second’s chest. “You don’t smell like her.”

  Second wanted to smile, but Alyssa’s sadness and her own pain still filled her. “Saran liked the way I smell.”

  Alyssa sat back and wiped at her face. Her voice trembled anew. “I can’t do it.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  She shook her head. “I mean, I can’t go with you.”

  “Alyssa. I need you.”

  “You don’t understand.” She stood and walked to the bed. She stared down at it, then traced a tentative caress along the pillow where Jael had always slept. “Cyrus and his general, Simon, took Jael from me.” Her voice broke. “Those missiles didn’t leave even a trace for a proper pyre.”

  Second bowed her head. The explosion of the two missiles and the laser burst that had fired into Jael’s chest still haunted her dreams. Jael and Specter had been there, and when the blast cleared, they were gone. Anger stabbed at Second, and she looked up into a hard, unforgiving stare.

  “I’m so wounded. I know I’ll h
urt him,” Alyssa said.

  Second stepped toward her, but Alyssa put a hand up and she stopped. “Alyssa, I swear on The Collective, I’ll personally see that these men are sent to their next life to pay proper restitution. No Advocate will need to take up arms as long as The Guard lives.”

  “You misunderstand, Danielle. I don’t need a weapon. I am a weapon.”

  “You’re an empath.”

  “More than a normal empath. It’s one of the reasons the full power of my gift is kept secret to all but a few. Cyrus is already mad. It wouldn’t take much for me to turn his emotions inward so he’d take his own life.”

  Second struggled to even comprehend that Alyssa would be capable of such an act. “It would scar his soul. He might never be trueborn again. Even worse, it would damage your soul for many lifetimes.”

  Alyssa went back to chair and sat. “That’s why you have to take Nicole instead of me.”

  “Nicole is pregnant. Furcho won’t allow it.”

  “Send Toni with her.”

  “Toni?”

  “To be her shield.”

  ❖

  “Are you certain?” Second scanned the former military base, converted into one of The World Council’s regional food and supply distribution centers.

  “No question. For whatever reason, Phyrrhos’ filly seems to be bonded to that traitor. She sprouted her first wings at dusk, and this is where she led us.” Tan’s words were so bitter, Second wondered what would become of all of them if they survived this. Jael had been the anchor that tethered her, Tan, and Alyssa.

  It had been an arduous few days. The dragon-horse army had been traveling by train so they weren’t limited to flying at night because they needed to catch up with Cyrus as quickly as possible. They’d arrived in Killeen only a day behind him. The army’s support staff, except for a small contingent that doubled as medical staff and fire-rock mules, had split off for a destination in the Rocky Mountains where they would establish the new base camp.