“Blah, blah, blah. Find time,” she snapped, pointing at him through the monitor.
“Okay,” he agreed, smiling.
“Mercy has something for you...come here, honey.” Lena beckoned to her right and a little girl, some nine years old with a ponytail and big brown eyes appeared next to her.
“Uncle Scythe! I made you a picture!” she grinned at the camera and held up a glossy painting of their house, complete with a little garden, fruit trees and several blobs with giant heads.
“That’s a beautiful painting, Mercy. Is that your daddy there with the big head?”
“No, that one is Auntie Lena,” she said, oblivious to her father’s loud snort and Lena’s subsequent swipe at his head, “because of the blue hair, and this one is mommy and that’s you, see?”
“The gray one? It looks just like me, except my eyes are green.”
“No, they aren’t, they’re see-through. Look, this one here is my daddy.”
“Ah, now I see. Where is your brother, Will?”
“He’s in the house, probably crying like always.”
“Mercy, your brother doesn’t cry all the time...” her father reprimanded lightly.
“Well, almost all the time when I want something. That’s why I put him in the house. See, that’s him in the window.” She pointed at a tiny circle in the corner of one of the windows.
Scythe nodded, “I see him now. Have you been helping your mommy take care of him?”
“Yeah, like all the time. I feed him, sing him songs at night, hold him so mom can have a stinking break for once...”
A shriek was heard from somewhere in the room, and both Lena and Ian smiled and looked at someone outside of the camera’s range. “Mercy!”
“What, mommy? That’s what you said...”
“Aaagghhh! Ian...”
“Yes, darling?”
“Speak to your daughter.”
“Yes, dear.” He pulled Mercy up into his lap, pretending to be stern. “Come here, young lady.”
Mercy was not fooled one bit. She giggled and put her hands on her father’s face, rubbing the stubble of a week’s growth.
“Now, it is very important that you don’t tell people the horrible things that your mommy says. It’s very embarrassing for her...”
“Ian!”
“...and might endanger her feelings of superiority...”
Lena’s eyes bulged and she said, shaking her head, “You are so dead, brother.”
“What?” Ian winked at Scythe and added, “I’m just giving her some practical advice.”
Scythe turned and waved a greeting to Smoke as he walked into the room. The man leaned on the back of his seat and looked into the video screen. He smiled at the reaction he got from the image.
“Smoke!” Lena greeted warmly, “I was hoping you’d show up.”
“Mommy! It’s Auntie Lena’s boyfriend, come see!”
Lena, whose cheeks were turning a light rose, said to Faith as she passed her to stop behind Ian and wave, “Isn’t it bedtime or something? Doesn’t this child have anyone taking charge of her, or does she just run rampant?”
“Yes, it’s about that time. Let’s go, sugarplum.” Ian stood, guiding Mercy gently toward his wife. “Good night, guys.”
Faith turned her daughter back to her husband without a thought and then leaned in to whisper in Lena’s ear with a voice not quite low enough to be missed by the microphone. “That there is a fine looking man.” Then, louder, she said, “See you next week, Scythe! Good night, Smoke!” She followed her husband, asking, “I want some of that, honey. Can I have some of that?”
“Some of what?”
Their voices became dimmer as they left the room, “The arms, the abs, all of that; I’ll make it worth your while...”
“Faith, you’re undermining my self esteem; how will I ever be able to please you now?”
Smoke said slowly, “Your family is very special, Lena.”
Lena smiled, pleased at his use of Human speech, “Very smooth, Smoke. They are crazy and you know it.” Then she added, in Kin, “I am happy, so happy to see you today.”
“It’s tonight, Lena,” Scythe corrected.
“Ah, I mean, tonight.”
“You look beautiful,” Smoke said.
“Thank you,” she replied, grinning and unconsciously touching her hair. “I wish...” She stopped, shaking her head and giving him a wistful look.
“Me, too. We will find a way.”
Scythe asked, “Do you guys want me to take off for a bit?”
“No, that’s okay, Scythe,” Lena said, giving him a smile. “Listen, I want to tell you something before your time runs out.”
“Yeah, what?”
“I’ve found something, about the hospital and the kidnappings. It might be a new direction for us, thank heaven, because we were out of ideas. That’s why I was late. I was checking it out.”
“Ian said you guys were running out of leads. What is it?”
“I can’t say much on this line, you know that. Everything is monitored here and we know that the ones we are looking for are well connected, but I can say this: I’m almost positive that the ones we’re after aren’t located here in the city. It’s just like the hospital: we have been looking in the wrong place. All the people that we’ve uncovered here were just low level pawns, mostly...people who didn’t really know what was going on...”
“Okay, and...?”
“Well, the ones we’re looking for can’t very well be bordertown folk, so that leaves people in one of the other cities, and, well...” She hesitated, unsure of how to proceed.
“The Kin,” Scythe finished.
“Yeah, Kin. I know it sounds insane, but I’ve found a couple of things here that only make sense if the Kin are somehow involved.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Lena,” Scythe said.
“I know, and I’m probably wrong; being wrong is usually the only thing I can get right,” she laughed.
“Why would any Kin be involved in the experiment to eliminate Kin?”
“Here’s the thing, Scythe, and, I admit, it’s way out there, okay? But, the plan never got off the ground, right? I mean, the experiments happened, but the virus was never released...”
“True...” It was something he had wondered about often just after his escape as well, but had let go as the months passed without further incident. Everyone had accepted that the Kin threat of war had been the reason for the failure of the virus to appear, but a small doubt had never been completely wiped from his mind. The head nurse had been so sure about the imminent release of the virus, but then...nothing had happened. He could still see her face, full of idealistic fervor. It seemed hard to believe that every member of such a large conspiracy would have been cowed...that there wouldn’t have been at least one fanatic with the determination to go ahead anyway.
“Stay with me on this. So maybe the whole thing, the raid, the experiments, the virus, was a setup for the Humans involved. Maybe the virus was never distributed, but the people at the hospital were...I don’t know...manipulated into thinking it would be. They were very isolated. Could it have been a big...well...set up from the beginning? I’ve been asking myself, what would be the motivation for that? Can you think of an outcome that some Kin would benefit from?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Scythe translated for Smoke, whose brows were drawn together with concern by the time he had finished.
“War. The destruction of the Human cities, the destruction of Humanity,” Smoke said, his heart, like Scythe’s pounding. “There are many Kin, at least twice as many since the abductions and the virus, that are in favor of it.”
Lena nodded, picking up on most of what he was saying. She had been studying the Kin language for hours each week over the last few months. “War. Not for our destruction, because I think that might be a little extreme, right? But, maybe for power. Anyway, that’s what I came up with, too.”
Scythe thought about how the m
ajority of Kin viewed the Humans and thought that maybe it wasn’t that extreme at all. They each stared at one another for a moment, considering, before she leaned forward, “Look, it’s just an idea, and probably a stupid one. I don’t know. You guys know the Kin, not me. What do you think?”
Unsure, Scythe looked at Smoke, who said in Human, “I think, Lena, it is possible.” He reverted to Kin, and spoke quickly to Scythe, “The Kin can be just as monstrous as Humans are. Who knows? It may not be about hatred. The motivation may center on something more material, like greed.” He shrugged, “I have no idea who it could be. As you said before, they would have to be very well connected, very powerful. They might not even be in or from Poinsea; we are a very insignificant settlement in the Kin dominion.”
After Scythe translated, she said, “Well, starting tomorrow, I’m going over everything we’ve found and reevaluating based on this assumption. Maybe that will get us somewhere...”
“Lena,” Smoke interrupted. Scythe could feel his friend’s hand gripping the back of his chair tightly. “This makes me very...Scythe can you tell her? It makes me very nervous for her. I think she should consider leaving it alone.”
Scythe translated, adding, “I think we should meet before we continue talking about this any more, don’t you?”
Lena said thoughtfully, “Well, okay. Look, like I said, it’s probably nothing...”
“Your nothing looks like something stupid,” Scythe joked.
“Ha! Good one, zooboy. But I was right the last time, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah, you were, but I hope you’re wrong about this one.”
“Me, too.”
“Lena,” Smoke said, and his voice was unusually firm. “I want you to...I don’t want you to risk yourself in this.”
Lena reddened, and then nodded, “Don’t worry, Smoke. We’re being extra careful because these people are serious about keeping their secrets. I am committed to my brother’s safety, believe it or not; his family needs him.”
“Your safety is important too, Lena,” Scythe interjected, “to your family and to us. I think Smoke is right. Something about this is freaking me out. Maybe it’s how Smoke is reacting. He’s usually Mr. No Problem. If he’s nervous, then I’m down right scared.”
“Let’s see if we can set up a meeting, and we’ll go from there.” Trying to lighten the mood, she leaned back, joking, “I know, maybe we can meet in that ditch outside of the border patrol outpost? We could have a barbecue and toast the good ol’ days when all we had to worry about was whether or not you would kill us?”
Scythe laughed and translated for Smoke, who said, “Ah, the camp where you were shot by that young idiot?”
“Yeah, that’s the place.” He grinned at his friend, “You know, if he hadn’t shot me, I wouldn’t have ended up in the hospital, so I should probably invite him to the barbecue and thank him.”
Smoke’s face froze and he turned slowly to stare at Scythe.
Lena said, “What?”
Smoke whispered, incredibly quiet, “Tell Lena what you told me, that the redhead was the reason you were sent out of the camp that day. I think, maybe, he might be another lead for us to follow.”
“You think I was shot on purpose?” Scythe murmured incredulously.
“If you hadn’t been shot, would they have been able to take you out of the camp easily?”
“Um...probably not.”
“Scythe, tell me what’s going on,” Lena prompted, and he could see she was losing her patience.
“I was just saying, Lena, that we should invite that guy who shot me and thank him. After all, if it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have been kidnapped. Wasn’t that lucky?”
Lena looked thoughtful for a moment before replying, “You know, it really was. You have to really be holding a first class ticket on the wacky express to be thanking someone for shooting you, Scythe. Do the Kin have psychologists, or a counselor you could see? No? Well, I’ll just have to take care of you myself, then...as usual.”
“You’re always looking out for me, Lena.”
“You take a lot of looking after, zooboy. It’s a full time job. Okay, I’ve got some work to do, so I’m gonna cut out for now. Let’s plan to meet early next week. See what days you can get and I’ll do the same; I’ll request a vid conference in a couple of days to confirm.”
After Scythe translated, Smoke said, “So, I will see you next week?”
Lena smiled, blushing again, “If all goes well, beefcake.”
“Good, I want to have some words with you, Lena.”
“Yeah? Like what?” she asked, grinning and raising an eyebrow.
“You want me to ask you now, on this machine?”
She drew in a breath, startled, and then pursed her lips before replying, “No, I don’t think I do.” She gave him a brilliant smile, saying in Kin, “Maybe I’ll have a few words for you, Smoke, son of Rebellion, Blade of the Kin, bearer of my favor.” She laughed at their dumbfounded expressions, “I’ve been doing my homework, can you tell?”
Smoke looked at Scythe, asking in Kin, “Does she know what she just said?”
“Probably not. Do you want me to tell her?”
“No, I think I’ll tell her myself.” He smiled with deep satisfaction, “Until next week, my Heart.”
“Bye, boys!” she waved, before reaching over and breaking the connection.
Chapter 20
After three days, Scythe requested his own vid conference, to find no response at Ian’s house. Upon further investigation, he learned that both Lena and Ian had not checked in with the border patrol that week at all, but, since they had been working independently for months, they weren’t missed. At his request, messengers were sent to the Young home to find it empty and in disarray. After another day of searching, neither the police nor the members of Lena’s unit could locate any member of the Young family.
In a panic, Scythe arranged, with the help of a few of Lena and Ian’s contacts in the border patrol, an informal visit to the city with clearance for himself and four attendants. He, Smoke, Leandra, Pride and Ungol met Grant Wells just inside the city walls. Rend elected to stay behind to covertly research the possibility of Kin involvement in the Poinsea raid.
Grant bowed to them, “Mediator, we are honored by your visit.”
“Thank you for your help, Mr. Wells. We are extremely concerned for our friends. I hope you will be able to assist us in our search.”
“So do I. Lena and Ian have been working closely with my office for months, but we have been friends for years; I am worried about them, too. Their disappearance does indicate, however, that they might have been on to something important, so I’m motivated to discover what that was, as well. Do you have any idea what they might have been on to?”
“I have some idea, but we won’t discuss it here. I’d like to see Ian’s home before we do anything else.”
“Of course, we can go there immediately.”
Ian’s home was a small house in an older area of the city; the houses surrounding it shared its low profile and dated exterior. It had a modest, but well kept yard and garden, a place where Scythe had made important memories of warm afternoons with the Youngs before his return to Poinsea. Visiting it on that day, Scythe was disturbed by its dark windows and obvious lack of occupants, a state he had never seen it in.
He glanced over at Smoke, whose typical calm exterior was belied by his accelerated heartbeat; only someone close to him would have been able to detect the other evidence of the tension that he and Scythe had shared for the past few days: his complete lack of humor.
Scythe explained, “Lena’s home is a small apartment across town, closer to border patrol headquarters.” Addressing Grant, he continued, “Can we check that out next?”
“Sure, but there is even less there to see than here, and that is already very little. Here, take a look,” he motioned for them to go inside after passing his hand over the security panel. The device, detecting the chip embedded
in his wristband, chimed pleasantly. He reached out and pulled aside the unlocked screen, holding it open for them. The Blades strode quickly into the house, spreading out and going into each room.
Scythe, taking in the familiar hum of listening and video monitoring devices, sighed, saying, “I take it these are yours?” He stepped up to the closest, pulling a picture from the wall, reaching behind it and picking the mini camera off and holding it up for Grant.
“Naturally, we are hoping someone will slip up and show himself.” At Scythe’s stare, he added defensively, “Well, it has happened...”
“Are you sure all of these are yours?”
“Why would anyone plant new ones? If they were good enough, they’d just hack into ours and get whatever we get. That is virtually impossible to prevent if they have the resources.” He gripped his hand into a fist, “That’s been our problem all along. These people are always way ahead of us; they’ve long covered their tracks before we even pick up the hint of a trail.”
“Well, we won’t be able to talk here with these in place...”
“We can debrief at headquarters...” He looked over as Leandra and the other Blades returned to the living room, each carrying a few possessions with them. They divided them up into four different bags, which Leandra took possession of. “What are you taking?”
“Some items to help us track them. I don’t want to go to headquarters. I want to get started now, here. So we need to disable these.” He held up one of the mini cameras.
Halfblood Heritage Page 27