by RJ Plant
To say true, I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Seth. He seemed a genuinely decent guy. Why he would he tether himself to a hell-spawn like Shaina, I’ll never understand.
Kaitlyn walked passed, handing me a bottle of water before taking a seat on the couch.
“It’ll help me identify the virus,” she said, picking up our conversation like there’d been no interruption. “Between your blood, Felix’s blood, and what I sincerely hope is a piece of Dr. Esposito’s spleen—” Kaitlyn put her hands together in mock prayer— “I should be able to get the information I need to … well, to at least begin to see if this is manageable.”
“Sounds promising,” Shaina said, not a little sarcastically.
I gave her a look, but she just glared back before turning to stare out the window. I adjusted myself on Kait’s ridiculously uncomfortable chair for the fourth or fifth time while fingering the warrant cards in my pocket. One of us could go through the front door. It would be risky …
“It would help if we had a layout of the base,” I said.
“Seth can get that,” Shaina said.
“Good. I have an idea, but I’ll need Seth to come along.”
“Why?” Shaina asked in a sharp voice.
I held up the warrant cards. “Because both of these agents were men. If Seth can pass as one, go in through the front door and block for us, we might have a shot.”
Shaina held my gaze for a moment, then nodded.
*****
30 October 2042, Dublin, United Irish Republic
The pub was just as I remembered Felix remembering it. Try to figure that one out. It was comfortably dim, though scratchy upbeat folk music was being piped in from somewhere above us. I stayed close to Kaitlyn as Shaina led us to the bar, where Seth and Rian sat nursing a pretty liquid in actual drinking glasses, the GDI laptop open in front of Seth.
“Howahya, Felix? The usual?” Sully asked.
“Not Felix,” I said, “but I’ll take his usual.”
Sully mumbled something low, the speed of the words made them undecipherable.
“He thinks you’re bullshitting him,” Seth said.
I moved to take the glass from Sully, but he held it, looking intently at me. “Well, who the hell are you then?” he asked.
“His big, bad brother,” I said, pulling the drink from him.
More mumbling.
I ignored him and let Kaitlyn plead her case to Rian, then told him my plan to get in. I set the warrant cards on the bar. Seth started clicking through the agents’ profiles using the stolen laptop. Neither profile claimed the agents to be deceased.
“This one seems the closest fit,” Seth said, showing the image to Shaina and Rian.
“It’s a bit of a stretch,” Shaina said.
“It could work,” Rian said.
Seth pocketed the warrant card for the agent he would impersonate. I grabbed the other and stuck it back in my jacket pocket. This plan was riding pretty heavily on the hopes that GDI stayed ignorant of their agents’ deaths. We weren’t exactly shooting for the moon, but it was a near thing, so.
“We still need blueprints, alternate entry points, unless you want to go it alone,” I said.
Seth got his tablet out.
After a few minutes he handed the tablet to me. I studied the layout of the building, black lines running across the flat-white background of the tablet’s screen. Using the information I scavenged from Felix’s memory, I found exactly what I wanted. I set the tablet on the bar so everyone could see.
“This will get us access directly to the second floor,” I said. “The shortest route to Kaitlyn’s lab.”
Kaitlyn made a noise. I looked over my shoulder at her.
“What?” I said.
“I don’t know that the samples will be in my lab on account of I ran them down to the lab archive while Felix was with Bernard.”
“How many bloody labs are in this place?” I said.
“The archive isn’t a lab,” she said. “It’s storage for lab overflow, samples, data, and such-what.” She opened her mouth to add something but decided against it.
I picked up the tablet and held it in front of her. “Where?”
She pointed at a spot near the rear left corner of the building. “You can get in there, but you’ll have to go down a few floors. It’s on a subbasement.”
“And it’s absolutely sure you are that you need these samples? I could always let Felix out so he could throw up a bit of blood for you.”
“Conor,” Rian warned.
“No. There’s too high a risk for contamination,” Kaitlyn said, answering as if it had been a serious proposal.
I smiled at her. “All right. But you’re coming along.”
“No,” Rian said at the same time as Kaitlyn said, “Okay.”
“Why not?” I asked Rian. “She knows the way, she knows what she needs, and she knows where to find it. Besides, it’s not like I plan on letting her out of my sight.”
“No,” Rian said with more urgency. “I don’t trust that you’ll take care of her.”
“And there it is,” I said. I downed the glass of watery whiskey and slammed the glass on the bar.
“I’m going,” Kaitlyn said.
“Of course you don’t trust me, old man,” I said. “Why would you?”
“How many people have you killed?” Shaina asked.
“How many has Felix?” I countered.
“Innocent, I mean,” she said.
“Oh, and you’re the one to make that judgment, are you?”
Sully cleared his throat. “I believe the lady has some words.” He nodded to Kaitlyn.
“Conor is right,” she said. “I know what I need and where it is, so I’m going.” She looked at Rian. “It’s not your decision. And don’t look so smug, because it’s not yours either,” she said to me.
“Maybe not,” I said. “But it is nice to have a little support now and again.”
I slid my glass over to Sully and held up two fingers. He poured the whiskey and slid it back.
“It’s none of my business, but why do you need in this place so bad?” Sully asked.
“Because our friend here is a biological weapon,” Seth answered before anyone else could speak up.
Rian glared at Seth, who seemed to have no shame. “You’re right, Sully. It’s none of your business.”
“That’s right. One drink together and it’s thick as thieves we are. Is that how it works?” I asked Seth.
“Well, what the hell did you bring him in here for?” Sully asked, backing away a bit.
“Relax, Sully,” I said. “I’m not contagious. It’s Felix you have to worry about.”
“What the fuck—” Sully started, but Shaina cut him off.
“It’s a long story,” she said. She sounded tired. I couldn’t help feeling a little victorious.
“You two get ready for tomorrow night,” Rian said to Seth and Shaina. “Work out the details and get whatever equipment you’ll need. We’ll meet back here at sundown.”
“When did my bar become a meeting place for your criminal plotting?” Sully groused.
Rian shut him up with a ferociously mild expression. It was a fair question though. If we were all staying in the same building, there was no reason to put Sully in GDI’s crosshairs. But Rian had never hesitated to fuck someone over.
Rian stood and looked at me. I think he wanted to say something, but he just shook his head and followed Seth and Shaina.
A few silent minutes passed.
“It’s neutral ground,” I finally said to Sully. Because a fair question deserved an honest answer.
Kaitlyn sat with one barstool separating us. She ordered a Guinness, and because some companies are like cockroaches and can never die, Sully had it on draft.
“What is it, Sully?” I asked, a bit unnerved after he’d been glaring at me for a while.
“I’d asked Felix for help,” Sully said, leaning his forearms on the counter and eyei
ng me like I was contagious.
“I know,” I said.
“Well, you going to help or what?”
“I’m not Felix.”
“What do you need help with?” Kaitlyn asked.
“My daughter,” Sully grumbled.
Kaitlyn looked at me. I told her what Sully had told Felix.
“I’m so sorry,” she said to Sully. She sounded very sincere, which made her seem a bit sociopathic when she turned to me and said, “Even after we get Felix’s blood, we have to find a functioning BSL-4 facility.”
“Could have mentioned that last bit earlier,” I said.
“Baby steps.”
Sully gave a slight shrug. “They got one of those at Boston University,” he said. “Or used to, at least.”
16
“You were so angry,” Felix said to Rian, barely a whisper. He was shaking. “I went in and …”
Felix was sitting on his bed, telling Rian what happened, but he didn’t know—not all of it. So I took over to fill in the missing pieces.
“Roy hit him, hit us,” I said. I fought to control my voice. “He laid us out long enough to run to the kitchen for a knife. So I stopped him and I told him ‘You can’t fuckin’ do that.’”
I was cold. My chest hurt. I couldn’t stop.
“I would ask another question. ‘What were you thinking?’ And hit him again. ‘You think you can just do whatever you want?’ And hit him. ‘That’s not how we do things around here.’ And hit him.”
My voice got louder; I couldn’t control it. I balled my fists.
“‘You disrespectful fuck!’ And hit him. And he just fell to the floor. So, I … I just jumped on him and kept … I kept on hitting and hitting and yelling and I just—”
“Conor,” Rian said.
“No! I didn’t— I don’t know!”
I was up now, holding one of the pillows from the bed, because if I didn’t, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. Maybe I’d drown. I took a deep breath and nearly choked.
I threw the pillow away from me and paced the room.
“I kept on hitting him,” I said, calmer now, just giving facts. “And hitting and yelling and I just … It had to be done, didn’t it?”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Rian said.
“I don’t guess it was. I hope you’re glad, old man,” I said, almost spitting the last words. “I hope you’re glad Felix ‘forgot’ to take his meds.”
I raised my shirt to show Rian the dark spots blossoming on my torso where Roy had gotten in more than a few good hits. I let the shirt fall and turned away. I knocked the bedside table over, then cried out at the sight of my bandaged hands. I hadn’t even noticed them before, but now that the adrenaline was fading …
Rian watched me, silent.
And I let go.
Felix was back in control and my emotions, the pain, everything eased as I saw through his eyes. Rian pulled Felix under his arm and Felix sat still. So very still.
“It’s all right, boyo,” Rian said.
He rocked with Felix, one arm around his shoulder still and one hand pulling Felix’s head to his.
“It’ll be all right, boyo,” Rian said, again.
Felix didn’t answer, didn’t move apart from rocking back and forth. Eventually he buried his face in Rian’s shoulder.
Where was my comfort, where were my words of peace?
*****
31 October 2042, Dublin, United Irish Republic
I shot up from the couch, angry and a little uncertain. Sleep fell away to leave a fog over my brain. My mouth felt too dry. I ran my hands over my face a few times, tried to clear away the memories the dream had brought back. I stood and saw Kaitlyn in the kitchen.
“Does that happen to everyone?” I demanded.
“I don’t know what ‘that’ is,” she said.
“Dreams.”
Dreaming wasn’t something I’d done while Felix was running the show. I was beginning to hate it.
She nodded. “Usually.”
I paced, trying to shake the memory. I glanced at Kaitlyn. She still didn’t know about her old man. Didn’t know about my part in his death. I checked the window. It looked to be about midday. I used my foot to move around the books on the floor in front of Kaitlyn’s bookcase. I read a couple of titles, then lost interest and wandered over to see what she was doing in the kitchen. I tried to ignore the heaviness in my chest.
“I don’t like it,” I said, my voice a little more plaintive than I’d intended.
“Here,” she said, handing me a bowl of …
“What the fuck is that?”
“It’s oatmeal,” she said, then when her back was to me, added, “Sort of.”
It didn’t taste too bad, so I ate it.
Kaitlyn watched me the whole time. Once I was finished eating, she leaned across the table.
“About this nightmare,” she said.
“Nightmare … Yeah, that sounds about right,” I said. “Call it whatever, it’s shite either way.”
“What was it about?”
“Something that happened a long time ago.”
It was all I could think to say. I shifted under her gaze.
“And the one in Stockholm? That one seemed worse.”
I dropped my spoon into the bowl, letting the clanking noise fill the space between us, then leaned back in the chair. Kaitlyn was still staring at me. I let out a sigh, ran a hand over my face, and tried to decide if I wanted to tell her. It was personal.
It was … painful.
“It was a memory from when I was eight, not long after Rian started giving Felix the meds.”
“What happened?”
I rubbed my chin, my hand rasping against rough stubble. I stood up and walked away.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said over my shoulder.
“I don’t care,” she said.
“I’m not talking about it, Kaitlyn. There’s no point.”
“Well, you killed a man because of it, so, you know, you can’t blame me for being a little nervous.”
“I don’t want to discuss it,” I said. I went to her, putting one hand on the table in front of her and the other hand on the back of her chair so I could lean in until I was inches from her face. “I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to dwell on it. I sure as hell don’t want to relive it, so. Just drop it.”
She’d retreated as far as the chair would allow but relaxed as soon as I got out of her face. I walked to the window.
“Running from it won’t do you any favors,” she said.
I didn’t look at her, didn’t answer. After a while, I heard her stand up. I snuck a look over my shoulder and saw her taking my dishes into the kitchen.
“We’ve got some time before we have to be back at O’Cairn’s,” I said. “Anything you need to do first?”
“Nothing you’re interested in,” she said.
The words came out so low, I don’t think I was meant to hear them. I sighed and reluctantly walked over to the kitchen.
“If I tell you, are you going to stop being like this?” I asked, gesturing in her direction to indicate her whole attitude.
“Maybe,” she said.
So I told her. I told her about how I’d begged Felix not to let Rian lock me away, about Rian spewing his lies, about hiding in the bathroom, terrified.
“Did you really stab Shaina’s dad?” Kaitlyn asked after I was finished.
“Well, I was eight, so. It was more like a prick than a stab. Enough to put him in the hospital, but not enough to kill him.”
“Jesus, no wonder Shaina hates you.”
It was sort of an accident. He deserved it at the time. A barrage of rationalizations circled my brain. But what would they matter? So I just turned and headed for the shower.
*****
31 October 2042, Dublin, United Irish Republic
We were early to the pub, but it gave us time to discuss a few details with Sully before the others arrived
. Especially details about this university lab.
“There was some big hoo-hah about it when I was last there,” Sully said. “Half the people wanted it and half of them didn’t. They were building it over at the Medical Center last I knew.”
“Is it still operational?” Kaitlyn asked.
Sully shrugged, then waved in the direction of the GDI building. “It’s got to be of more use to you than this little fuck-up over here.”
He had a point.
“What do you think?” Kaitlyn asked me.
“Two birds, one stone,” I said. “We can go after we fetch Felix’s blood samples.”
“Without the others?” she asked.
“Rian has his own agenda. He can go his own way and we can go ours.”
I didn’t tell her what Rian’s plan was. My best option was to get Felix’s blood samples and run—no notice, no forwarding address, nothing. Just leave. Once we were a nice and safe several thousand miles away, I could figure something out. As long as I had Kaitlyn, I had a chance at a cure. No matter how much of a long shot it might be.
Kaitlyn didn’t have time to question this on account of the others walking in. Seth had chosen his outfit well—a soft gray suit with a dark red tie and matching dress shirt. He looked like a prick, so I just knew he’d fit right in.
He set his duffel on the bar and when he opened it, I realized it was the same one from Stockholm. He started passing tech around first: a small black inner-ear audio piece connected to a soft plastic shell that curved around behind the ear and ended between the mandible and the base of the ear, where the earlobe hid the microphone. Dated tech, to be sure, but it worked and that’s all we really needed.
After everyone had their comm-tech pieces in place and synced, Seth offered up the fun stuff. I saw my stolen rifle. The strap was a new addition.
“Been playing with the toys?” I asked Seth.
“Just making sure they accommodate the more mobile type of target practice,” he said. “The guns are an absolute last resort. We’re trying to get in and out without being noticed. Of course, that being said—”