Enemies: The Girl in the Box, Book Seven

by Crane, Robert J.

  “We’ve got someone on their way up there right now,” Reed said. “We’re hurrying. It could be tight. Century’s in full motion now, scrambling to get everyone they can on the playing field to kill every meta possible and we’re thin on resources.” He ran a hand through the hair on top of his head. “As much as I hate Omega, they’re nothing compared to this threat. At least with them, these metas stand a chance of survival.”

  “And what about with you?” I asked quietly.

  He smiled, faintly. “We’re not played out yet.” He gave me a last squeeze of reassurance and headed back through the door.

  After he shut it, I waited in the quiet and pondered Reed’s words. He could try and reassure me all he wanted, play the big brother card with all its authority, but it didn’t matter. I’d seen what Century had done to a room full of metas already, wiping them out without a fight, without hope, without remorse—and I wondered if they’d be able to do just the same to all of us who remained.

  Chapter 25

  I stood up a few minutes later, testing my strength. The faint smell of Reed lingered in the room, and I cracked my neck to see if it was all better. It was. I couldn’t remember if I’d had a broken neck before, but it wouldn’t have surprised me. The benefit to healing quickly and being in as many fights as I’d been in was that it was incredibly hard to remember all the injuries I’d accumulated in my year of battle. And it had been only a year, unbelievably.

  I was still wearing the same clothes I’d had on when I confronted Weissman, minus my purloined tactical vest. I didn’t see any dressers or any sign that there was any other clothing available for me to change into, which wouldn’t have been so bad if not for the fact that I was feeling grimy. I wondered if anyone had bothered to collect my travel bag from the van in Century’s warehouse, and I ultimately decided I’d just retrieve it myself later, if necessary. I had reached the point in my life where I needed to decisively handle things myself. I’d relied on my mother for all the years I’d lived at home, then on the Directorate when I was in their employ. I didn’t want to rely on anyone like that ever again. It made me feel too weak and vulnerable when they decided to pull up stakes and leave me on my own.

  I was doing a full, slow stretch and cracking my back into place when the door opened softly. I turned to see Breandan walk in, a smile on his face. “Good to see you,” he said, closing the door softly behind him. “At least it’s good to see you up and about. I think you’ve been unconscious more since I’ve met you than you’ve been awake, actually.”

  “That seems to be a fairly common state of affairs nowadays,” I said, rising off the bed to greet him. “How are the cards treating you?”

  He grinned. “These Alpha fellows seem to think it’s my lucky day.”

  “I can’t imagine why.”

  He shrugged lightly. “Who am I to disabuse them of the notion that their fortunes are merely off for the time I’m at the table? It’ll probably be another game or twelve before they tumble to the notion that I might be cheating. At that point, they’ll ask me what my power is. Probably better if I quit while I’m ahead, eh?”

  “For some reason, I thought you didn’t like to gamble,” I said.

  “Oh, I like gambling,” he said amiably, “I just don’t think it’s good for me. But that’s something else entirely.” He looked me over. “You look well. Especially considering how unwell you looked when we carried you out of that office where Weissman beat the holy hell out of us.”

  “I heal fast,” I said, running a hand over my dirty blouse. It wasn’t exactly top quality to begin with, just a little above casual, but it was what I had.

  “You’re not even joking,” Breandan said. “It was well over a day before I could safely take the cotton out of my nose after our scrape on the tube. But you—you’re a right mess less than a day ago and now you’re fit as a fiddle.”

  “I’m a powerful meta,” I said absently.

  “What’s that have to do with it?” he asked, wrinkling his nose.

  “Something about the power scale,” I said with a shrug. “Some meta types are more powerful than others, and with that comes faster healing, more strength, dexterity, all that. It rises correspondingly.”

  “Very fancy,” he said with a smirk. “Those of us with only the ability to idly fiddle with luck, I suppose we’re on the low end of your power scale?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never really seen a chart comparing and detailing the different types, to be honest.”

  The door opened again and I leveled a semi-serious glare at it as Reed entered. “No one around here seems to understand the polite art of knocking, apparently.”

  “Sorry,” Reed said, “I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet.”

  “Oh, good,” I said, looking down at my ragged clothing, “I’m well dressed to meet your boss right now.”

  He smiled faintly. “I maybe should have been more clear about this. When I said ‘My boss,’ I didn’t just mean my immediate supervisor.”

  “Geez,” I said with a certain feeling of dread discomfort. “You’re introducing me to someone way up the chain, aren’t you?”

  “Right at the top, I’d estimate,” Breandan said softly.

  “Yeah,” Reed said, looking sidelong at the Irishman. “The founder of Alpha.”

  “By all means,” I said with a feeling of surrender. “Bring him in.”

  Reed scrunched his face up at me then slapped the door once as though to signal someone outside. “She.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Bring she in.” I smirked. “Or did you mean ‘her’?”

  “He meant her,” came the voice as she opened the door. She was fairly tall as women go and ridiculously elegant, even clad as she was in a pantsuit. “I am definitely a her.” She surveyed me with cool eyes, grey as a stormy sky, her hair a faded platinum that she clearly wasn’t bothering to conceal. Age looked good on her, better than on most women, but it was still obvious in the lines that had crept in on her face. As a young woman, she would have been considered stately, but probably not beautiful. As an older one, she looked commanding, severe, and not like someone whom my first instinct would be to cross. “It’s quite an event to meet you after all this time,” she said in a dry tone, sharp and crisp. “I must admit with everyone in the meta world scrambling to get hold of you over these last few months, I rather expected you’d be taller.” She let a smile show the irony, and it took me only a moment to realize she was joking.

  “Thanks,” I said, not quite sure how to take that. “I tend to find that my stature makes people underestimate me.”

  “No doubt,” she said. “But, before we begin,” she turned to Reed, “perhaps you’d like to make a more formal introduction.

  Reed gave a subtle nod, and I saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed almost comically. “This is my sister, Sienna Nealon,” he said to the woman, giving me a cool look as he did so. “Sienna, this is my boss—the head of Alpha.” She turned to face me as he spoke, keeping her arms folded across her chest, her suit not even creasing as she did so, maintaining the elegant lines. “You’ve probably heard of her before.

  “Her name is Hera.”

  Chapter 26

  “I’m standing in the presence of a famous one,” I said dryly as I cast a look sideways at Breandan, who smiled weakly back. “Hard not to have heard of the wife of Zeus.”

  She didn’t flinch, but I saw a flicker of amusement, tempered by annoyance. “Yes, I get that all the time,” she said, with an air of exaggerated patience. “Some of our mistakes are forgotten as quickly as they’re made. Unfortunately, that one appears set to haunt me until the end of the world.”

  Breandan looked at her with his eyebrows raised about halfway up his forehead. “Sorry. Marrying Zeus was a mistake? Is that what you’re suggesting?”

  “Did I suggest that?” she asked wryly. “Let me make it more clear—it was a disastrous mistake, and one I wish I could take back a thousandfold. Not only was it ridiculousl
y short-lived by the standards of our race, but every myth surrounding it at this point makes me seem like quite the shrew.” She rolled her eyes. “Now I’m the mythical equivalent of Kim Kardashian.”

  I held my tongue, tempted though I was to make some witticism about myth being rooted in fact. I assumed I had matured in the last year because there was a time when I’d never have been able to keep from saying something as juicy as that. I knew there was still an insufferable smile perched on my lips, though, and Hera noticed it too. “I wouldn’t worry about it; you’re nowhere near as well known as Kim Kardashian, at least not to the current generation.” Well, it wasn’t as bad as what I could have said. I gave it a five on the harshness scale. If we were grading on a curve. “Bad reputations notwithstanding,” I said, changing the subject, “perhaps we oughta get to business.”

  “Sure,” Hera said with a subtle nod. “Have a seat.” With a wave, she indicated my bed, which was the only thing other than the chair beside it that could be sat on in the room.

  “No, thanks. I’d really rather stand after the last day or so’s action.” I didn’t intend to patronize her, but I’m sure it came off like that. I really just didn’t want to sit. Or feel like I was in her charge at all.

  “Right.” I noticed she remained standing, too. “So, you know what’s going on out there.”

  “I’ve heard,” I said. “I told Reed what I know about Century’s plans. Any chance you’re going to be able to save those people in Ireland and Scotland?”

  “We’ll try,” she said, her face grey with what looked like the weight of that thought. “It’s a pretty big burden to carry. I don’t know if Reed’s told you much about us, but we’re hardly as well funded or connected as Omega. We’re stretching the limits of our resources at this point.” She lowered her head slightly. “At the rate metas are being killed, though, it’s not looking too pretty for us as a race.”

  “Do you know what’s carrying out the killings?” I asked and caught a trace of curiosity from her. “I was at a village, a site of one of the massacres a few days ago, and it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” I paused. “And I’ve seen Wolfe at work, so it’s not like I’ve never witnessed a massacre.”

  “True enough,” she said. “We’re not exactly sure. As you probably know, Century has a hundred members. A very tight-knit cabal, and those members were chosen very carefully for their skills and abilities. They’re powerful. They don’t have any weak links.” She edged a glance toward Breandan, who flushed under her gaze. “Anyone you run into from Century is either a mercenary or a member of their inner council. They’ve certainly not been hesitant to use bloodthirsty men with guns, but most of the damage is being done by metas.”

  “What types do they have at their disposal?” I asked, curious. “And how did they recruit them?”

  She gave a light smile, and it was like a beacon in the dark of her wearied expression. “Near as we can tell, they were approached one by one over the last few years, chosen by Weissman and Sovereign. If someone decided they didn’t like the sound of it, decided they didn’t want to come along for the ride … well, let’s just say they weren’t seen again.” Her smile faded. “Now that’s speculation, since no one’s told us about any such meeting. But some very high-profile metas have disappeared in the last few years, unexpected and unexplained. For those types, that’s just not usual. Some of them were very well known within the community—people like …” she hesitated, “Persephone, for instance. Loki. Set.” She shrugged. “Quite a few others. All gone, all disappeared. I’d have to guess most are dead.”

  I narrowed my eyes as I thought about it. “So if they were recruited they wouldn’t have resumed their place in meta society? You assume none of them said yes and … I dunno, went back to Century’s secret undersea volcanic lair?”

  She smiled again, this time carefully. “There might be some lingering out there, but I would think that the temptation would be to have them exert their influence in the name of the conspiracy that they were now part of. After all, if some of their members are highly placed in the meta community, they could use that influence to press for calm while this storm started blowing their way. And they might have done just that. It’s not like we didn’t see signs of this years ago. We just didn’t know what we were looking at. The puzzle was missing almost all its pieces. Now that more of them are on the table, the picture is starting to appear, and I don’t care for the shape of it at all. We’re down by two-thirds of the meta population already.” She said this with a little bit of a drawl, and I realized that she really didn’t have much of an accent. “I suspect they mean to finish the task at hand in the next few months, and then … whatever their plans are for humanity, it’ll be showtime.”

  I thought about what she’d said, and something didn’t add up. “I knew someone who worked for them, a meta.”

  “Oh?” She eyed me. “You’re talking about that doctor that worked at the Directorate?”

  “Zollers,” I said. “I don’t think he was part of the inner council, not by the way he talked about it. I mean, maybe he was, but he was supposedly going to have to go on the run from them.”

  “Sounds like he’d be a veritable wealth of information about them if we could get our hands on him,” she said. “I doubt he’s within easy reach, though.”

  I frowned. “Maybe not.” I looked around the room for a moment as I pondered whether I should mention that I thought he was out there, trying to influence me in some way. I decided to pass on it for now. “You know, Omega’s trying to do something similar to what you’re doing. Trying to limit the damage. Help metas.” I shrugged. “Or so they say.”

  Hera pursed her lips, deepening the already-present wrinkle lines around her mouth. “And they probably are, too. I despise most of those bastards with every damned fiber of my being, but this is the sort of crisis that puts even us on something approaching the same side.. These aren’t the times when we’re making a mad dash to grab metas up to solidify our own power, or to draw our own lines, increase our little fiefdoms. It’s all or nothing days now, life or death. Tends to put things in perspective.”

  I smiled. “If that’s the case, why don’t you put aside your petty differences and work with Omega on this?”

  She gave me a smile right back, but it was thin and patronizing. “I don’t know. Why don’t you do the same with Erich Winter?” She gave it a second to sink in and stayed cool. “Because of bad blood. After enough of it passes between you, it becomes a river you have a hard time crossing. I don’t want to go back to them, hat in hand, and I doubt they much want to face up to me. So for the next little while, we’ll each just ignore the other and keep scrambling to do everything we can to keep Century from destroying our world.”

  I sniffed, trying to ignore the faint smell of her perfume. It was fit for an old lady and not much else. “Have it your way, I suppose.”

  “Besides,” she went on as if I hadn’t spoken at all, “I still haven’t forgiven those bastards for some of the things they did in the olden days. I bet they could say much the same about me.”

  “When you say the olden days,” Breandan interjected, “do you mean like … um …”

  “Xerxes’s invasion of Greece,” Hera said, almost indifferently. “That one caused some major ripples in the hierarchy at the time. A lot of us were in different countries around the world, only getting together for special occasions and content to rule our own little lands, managing the humans from a distance, exercising our power judiciously. Everybody did their own thing. We were fragmented in our own states, but it was working.”

  Her expression hardened. “Then some meta-jackass named Xerxes gets his loincloth in a twist and decides to declare himself a living god and starts invading the lands of others. He was hardly the first to try it, but … you know what an Athena-type is?” She looked rather pointedly at me.

  “Sure,” I said. “I met one just the other day.”

  “That boy could rile an army,
” she said with a smile. “I never did get the whole story, but I suspect one of his parents was an Ares. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t taught them how to fight us. Made a mess out of our defense at Thermopylae.” She let her smile fade. “That was the beginning of the end for us, and a great many of us weren’t happy about it. Omega, though, they took it the worst. The Primus at the time was—well, guess.”

  “Your hubby,” I said, and she let her amusement show.

  “We were about done by then, but yes,” she said. “The power of the gods, our ability to control man by annunciation and revelation, was fading. I said we should step into the shadows. We, who lived longer than most, who knew human whim and desire better than the shorter-lived humans did themselves, we could exert control without being blatantly obvious about it.” She smiled again. “Leave it to a man to think that he needs to use a hammer when the touch of a hand will do. He never did quite get that lesson. Fortunately, when his brother took over after Zeus’s death, he understood it.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her. “Poseidon?”

  “Hell, yes,” Hera said. “You didn’t think I meant Hades, did you? No offense, but he would have made a worse Primus than Zeus, bastard that he was. Besides, he was dead by then, thank the stars.”

  There were a few parts of what she said that flagged my attention, and I started to ask some questions, but she went on and I found myself listening along.

  “Poseidon took over Omega, backed by the four ministers,” she said, “and he, with considerably less ego than his brother, recognized that there were other ways to rule the world. So he took us into the shadows, behind the scenes, made us legends and whispers. It took a while to make the transition, but he made money the tool by which we got what we wanted from mankind, and it worked pretty well for a couple thousand years, if I may say.”