“She was,” Jak said simply. “Because the appointment was in Anon Tower, it was kept off-record for security reasons.” He took Kailynn’s arm as he glared at the others in the room. “Remember your place.”
He pulled Kailynn from the room. Even though he had lied for her, Kailynn could not help but be worried. She thought that no one would pay too much attention to the information that she had been in the Golden Elite’s home when the assassination attempt occurred if she said she was there for Tarah, but it only raised more suspicion.
Jak pulled her through the halls of Companion to his office, closing the door and locking it behind them.
“Jak—”
“Quiet,” he snapped. “You have put everyone in danger.”
“I didn’t mean to!”
“What were you doing there?” Jak growled, walking around his desk and grabbing a pack of cigarettes. “Are you insane? It was dangerous enough to have you over there when Venus and the Silver Elite were on board. Now you’re going over there whenever you fucking please?!”
“No!” Kailynn protested. “Jak, it’s not like that.”
“You did not check in night before last, so you were out all night. The next time I hear from you, you are being brought back by the head of Syndicate Intelligence after an assassination attempt on the Golden Elite. What the hell were you doing there?”
“Look,” Kailynn said, raising her hands peacefully, though she kept her eyes averted, letting her exhaustion show in an attempt to disguise her lie, “I went and saw my brother,” she said. “He was doing better, but it’s still difficult to see him like this. So I went to get some air. I was walking around when I got a call from Tarah, the caretaker.”
“You shouldn’t be walking around,” Jak said, rolling his eyes. “It raises suspicion.”
“The point is, I went to spend some time with Tarah. She was so good to me when I was staying there that I felt like it would be nice to spend some time with her. We were having dinner when Elite Isa was attacked. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Jak looked her over, unconvinced.
“For your sake, I hope you’re telling the truth.”
He lit his cigarette and shook his head.
“Somehow, running this company has become more difficult since I acquired you,” he murmured. He grabbed a box on his desk and extended it to her. “Here.”
“What is it?”
“A package addressed to you,” he said, shrugging. “There is no name on it other than yours.”
Kailynn carefully took the light, small package.
“It might be best if you stay clear of the others for a while,” Jak advised. “I’m going to clear your schedule until this blows over.”
Kailynn merely nodded.
“You may go.”
Kailynn returned to her room, her hunger forgotten. She opened the package and was surprised to see a phone. She stared at it for several long moments, sure that the phone without a message could only mean something ominous. She picked it up carefully, trying to tell herself that there was no reason to be afraid of something as trivial as a phone, but she was in such a high state of anxiety, she could not help but worry.
She pressed the button on the phone’s screen she knew to be the power button and then tried to think of all the times she had seen nobles and Isa use their phones to see if she could figure out how to make it work.
Pressing a mechanism on the side released the tiny disk that acted as the ear piece. With the disk in her hand, the screen lit up with a message.
Call?
Below the question was a name. She kicked herself again for being unable to read. She could not even make out the name on the screen.
Hesitantly, she hit the green button and placed the disk in her ear. A monotone beeping sounded as she struggled to put the earpiece in correctly. A voice came through the phone before she could figure it out and she had to contend with holding the disk as close to her ear as possible.
“Rayal Teleta.”
“Rayal?” Kailynn repeated. “It’s, uh, it’s Kailynn.”
“I see you received the phone I sent.”
“You?”
“Yes,” Rayal responded. “I figured it best that we have a way to reach you directly.”
“I don’t know how this works,” Kailynn admitted, pressing the disk into her ear. Rayal chuckled lightly.
“You get used to the discomfort after a while.” He sighed heavily. “Kailynn, you and I need to discuss some things.”
“I was worried you were going to say that.”
“It’s far too late now, and it has been a very trying day,” he continued. “Tomorrow morning at ten, I will come by Companion and pick you up.”
“…and go where?”
“My office,” Rayal said. “You are not in immediate danger. There is no need to be suspicious.”
“So you say,” Kailynn muttered. “It feels like this is getting out of control.”
“No, not yet,” Rayal assured. “Everyone who knows is working very hard to keep this a secret. We’re doing damage control on what happened last night. I understand that everyone has been warning you about the dangers, and they are right. But we are going to do our best to protect both of you. That is why it is imperative we speak tomorrow.”
Kailynn was silent for several long moments.
“Okay,” she finally whispered.
She slept in sporadic periods that night, waking up with night terrors of Officials banging down her door, there to kill her. The night terrors took their toll on her sleep, but she was too exhausted from the previous night that she managed to fall immediately back to sleep every time her dreams woke her.
When she did wake and dress for the day, she could only sit on her bed, fiddling with the phone and watching the time pass on her clock. She did not want to go downstairs, worried that she would be confronted with glares and whispers of other Significants.
As the time drew close, she ventured downstairs, trying to keep her head high. She did not see anyone until she was in the greeting salon, where those who were open for walk-ins were sitting, dressed in their finest attire. Kailynn felt as though she had walked into a brothel, particularly with the glares of superiority she felt from the Significants waiting for clients.
Kailynn sat on an empty couch and waited for Rayal.
After several long moments, one male Significant spoke to the others in the room, raising his voice.
“Who do you think attacked Elite Isa?” he asked, his eyes briefly glancing at Kailynn with a small smile on his face. “I doubt security would be so lax around the leader of our planet.”
“It does seem suspicious that there were more people in the home than customary,” one woman agreed.
“And what a horrible time for the caretaker,” another chimed in. “Could you imagine? Being blamed for not seeing there was a danger to the Golden Elite?”
Kailynn bit her tongue until she could taste blood.
“That caretaker is going to be put under investigation,” another man said. “She’ll probably get kicked out to Trid for such a failure.” The door opened to the greeting salon. “If they don’t kill her, I suppose.”
“You clearly know nothing about the system of caretakers.”
Everyone turned to the door, so immersed in the gossip that they had not seen the man walk into the greeting salon. Kailynn was relieved to see Rayal.
“Forgive us, sir, we did not see you come in,” one woman said, walking to him, accenting the swing of her hips. She sidled up to him. “What can we do for you today?”
“You can get your hands off me,” Rayal said, pushing her away and turning his eyes around the room. “Perhaps you do not realize that your trivial gossip is being heavily monitored by Syndicate Intelligence. I would be very mindful of what you say.”
He looked at Kailynn and nodded once to her, turning to leave. She walked out with him, her eyes low but her head high.
Those left in the
greeting salon let out chuckles of disbelief.
“Did she just get hauled away by Syndicate Intelligence?” one woman gasped, her eyes wide but filled with amusement.
“We won’t be seeing her again,” the man who had started the bullying said with a smile.
Rayal stood by the passenger’s door to the car and waited for Kailynn. She climbed into the car and watched Rayal walk to the other side and get in with her, hitting several buttons on the screen before selecting a destination.
Kailynn watched silently, but when the car started the move, she looked at Rayal.
“How is she?”
Rayal gave her a small smile.
“She’ll be alright,” he answered. “She’s tired and weak now, but that is to be expected. She woke up early this morning and was coherent. They’re expecting a full recovery in the next few weeks.”
Kailynn let out a relieved sigh, turning her eyes to her lap, where she continued to fiddle with the phone. She turned to Rayal.
“I can’t figure out how to put the earpiece in,” she said suddenly. Rayal laughed.
“I’ll show you.”
He showed her the way the disk was supposed to fit in the ear and how to take it out and put it in. She tried to put it in her ear, but it was extremely uncomfortable and she quickly removed it.
“Is there any way to use this without the earpiece?”
“Afraid not,” Rayal said. “That’s why most have the earpiece implanted.”
“That’s disturbing,” Kailynn groaned. “But Isa doesn’t have an implanted one. I’ve seen her take it out.”
“She used to have an implant,” Rayal corrected.
“Used to?”
“They had to take it out after the accident, when they were reconstructing half of her face.”
“Half of her face?”
“What did you expect when she falls through glass?” Rayal said with a broken laugh. “The entire left side of her face was destroyed. She can’t have another implant now, because it has caused infections in the reconstructed part of her face three times.”
Kailynn’s eyes were wide.
“Did I shock you?”
“Yeah,” Kailynn murmured. “I’m starting to understand why everyone is so afraid to talk about five years ago.”
Rayal’s eyes fell to the floor of the car. He did not care to tell Kailynn that it was far worse than anyone could wanted to admit.
“How is Tarah?” Kailynn asked.
“Scared,” Rayal said truthfully. “That was the first time she’s seen an assassination attempt. She’s understandably shaken.”
“At least someone is,” Kailynn grumbled. “I know everyone rushed to the hospital, but no one seemed really scared that someone had tried to kill the Golden Elite.”
“Sadly, everyone is desensitized to it now,” Rayal agreed. “There have now been eighteen plots on Isa’s life, that we know of.”
“Eighteen?” Kailynn gasped.
“She’s had to deal with assassination attempts since she was seventeen. Even she is desensitized to it,” Rayal elaborated. “So, while everyone knows that Isa can survive just about everything, there is an underlying concern that her luck will run out.”
“Seventeen years old and someone tried to kill her?”
Rayal looked at Kailynn seriously. “When there’s a brand new leader, and one that wishes to change the framework of the entire planet, people get nervous.” Rayal leaned back in his seat and his eyes went distant. “The youngest Golden Elite to come into power in the history of the planet…”
Kailynn looked over Rayal’s face.
“You love her, don’t you?” she whispered.
Rayal nodded.
“I do,” he said. “But do not worry,” he chuckled turning to Kailynn, “it’s not the same kind of love. I admire her greatly, and I would do anything to keep her safe.”
Kailynn could not respond. She stared at the floor of the car as it slowed and pulled in front of the underground door for the Syndicate Intelligence Agency. Rayal got out of the car and Kailynn opened her door, looking over the plain door as she climbed out.
Rayal gently tapped the button on the front of the car and it pulled away to park in the garage below the building.
Rayal motioned to the door and walked Kailynn into the building.
The building was surprisingly noisy. Security footage and conversations picked up by Venus’ microphones around the planet filled the air. There were several large rooms where monitors were being watched by various people as robots wheeled around and moved cases, taking them out of the room and bringing in new ones.
“Is it normally this busy?” Kailynn asked.
“No,” Rayal said. “But there is great cause for concern currently.” He led Kailynn through the halls until he reached an elevator. They both walked in and, when the doors closed, the noise abated, leaving them with only the humming of the elevator as it ascended.
Once they reached the desired floor, they both walked a short distance on the very quiet floor to Rayal’s office.
Kailynn glanced around the large, mostly-bare office. Rayal had an NCB chair as well and then a separate desk with several monitors on it streaming different cameras in a very familiar home.
Rayal grabbed a chair and put it in front of his desk chair, motioning for Kailynn to sit. She sat slowly, looking over the main room and kitchen of Isa’s home on the screen in front of her, imagining seeing herself running across the screen when the alarm sounded through the house two days previous.
Rayal took his seat and typed something, causing the computer monitors to go black.
He then turned to face Kailynn.
“There are a lot of things we need to discuss.”
“Are you going to tell me to stay away from her?” Kailynn whispered.
“No, I’m not.”
The answer surprised Kailynn.
Rayal rubbed his hands together, trying to think of how to begin.
“Dr. Busen and Dr. Arre have agreed that it would probably be best if you were to continue to see Isa,” Rayal started. “I don’t know what arrangement you two have, or the reason you went to see her again when you did, but her doctors agree that you two should continue with that arrangement.”
“There is no arrangement,” Kailynn said. “I have an open invitation.”
“I see,” Rayal murmured. “Then it is even more imperative that you listen very carefully to what I’m about to tell you.” He reached behind him and grabbed a small box on the table. He held it in both hands, tapping his finger against the side. “This is an emitter PIM chip,” he explained. “This is a very special class of PIM chip, developed to protect the people closest to Isa. If you consent, I would like you to have one implanted.”
“I can’t,” she whispered. “I’m not a citizen, you know that.”
“We’re going to grant you citizenship, if you desire to continue this relationship with Isa,” Rayal said. “However, if you are using her just to become a citizen and plan to leave her after getting this, then I will be sure to hunt you down and make you suffer.”
“You clearly don’t know Trids,” Kailynn groaned, sarcastic. “None of us want citizenship.”
“I need you to understand that this is not given lightly,” Rayal said sharply. “However, this will help everyone if you consent to having it.”
“How?”
“First, it will give you citizenship, so that will no longer be an issue.”
“Even though I was born a Trid?”
“It has happened before,” Rayal said. “As long as you have legal citizenship, it will not be a problem. This will contain your identification, or rather, your identification as Jacyleen Lynden, the Significant, since that is the name on your forged papers. Your medical history, allergies, any other physical things that we need to know about for treatment, and it will also allow us to track you, should it ever be needed.”
“I thought all PIM chips did that. Why do I need a specia
l one?”
Rayal looked down at the box.
“Venus has mandated that everyone close to Isa have an emitter chip.”
“But Venus doesn’t know that I’m still around her.”
“No, which is why we need your consent. You are not mandated to have it,” Rayal said. “What this chip does is keep a detailed record of your body’s rhythm. It monitors when you are healthy, when you have a cold, the flu, or any infections that you may get. And when there is a drastic and sudden change, it immediately lets emergency personnel know your location and what is happening with your health. This chip was the reason the EMU got to Isa so quickly. The chip noticed something was wrong before the NCB chair noticed.”
“And these are mandated for everyone in close contact with Isa?”
“Yes,” Rayal affirmed. “I have one, every Elite in the Syndicate has one, Tarah has one as well.”
“Why should I have one?”
Rayal leaned forward.
“For your well-being, as well as Isa’s.” Rayal shook his head slowly. “If we had had these five years ago, Isa would not have been in the hospital for eight months.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Remus and I were used in a plot against Isa’s life. Rather than abduct us and show the immediate threat to our lives, the ambassador from Gihron tried slowly killing us and using us to control Isa’s actions. Had we had these chips, it would have been clear to others what was going on, and we could have avoided that hell entirely.”
Kailyn blinked at Rayal, confused.
“No one is going to give me a straight answer about what happened five years ago, are they?” she asked sharply.
“We will tell you what you need to know, when you need to know it. Isa doesn’t like to talk about it, so we do our best not to bring it up,” Rayal explained. He extended the box to her. “That is what this is. If you want it, we will got to Dr. Busen today and get it implanted.”
Kailynn stared at the box worriedly.
“If I agree, that means that I am permitted to be close to her?”
“By those who know of your relationship, but not by Venus. Therefore, you still have to be discreet.”
The Significant Page 22