Exile

by Nathan M. Farrugia

  ‘OK. So who do you think is responsible?’

  ‘I don’t know, but I don’t think—’ Gleb paused and cleared his throat again.

  ‘You don’t think it was the Fifth Column?’

  ‘I’m not in a position to give an opinion on that.’

  ‘Then what’s your position?’ she asked.

  ‘I’ve been tasked with monitoring new operatives as they enter Eastern Europe.’

  ‘Have you heard the name Sophia before?’ Olesya asked. ‘She’s a Fifth Column operative.’

  Gleb looked at the map. ‘Is she one of the children in those photos?’

  Olesya shook her head. ‘I just heard the name. It’s probably nothing.’

  ‘Nothing is nothing,’ Gleb said. ‘You should tell Illarion.’

  ‘He has enough on his plate. You’re new in this directorate, aren’t you?’

  ‘I was assigned this week from Analysis. It seems very stressful—’

  ‘I think you’re doing an excellent job so far,’ Olesya said.

  ‘Thank you, but we still need to go over—’

  ‘Already read it.’ Olesya opened her notebook to reveal his brief neatly folded inside.

  Gleb stepped forward to inspect her notes further, but she closed them quickly.

  ‘We all fly out in the morning,’ she said. ‘Ark and I deploy the very next day with a new batch of hunters. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he pulls together. You can trust us both.’

  ‘Yes, I know that I can, but the operation is in—’

  ‘Poland.’ She picked up the white card with the logo and flicked it across the map. It landed near his tablet. ‘So Illarion has assigned you to look into Intron, I’m guessing.’

  Gleb blinked. ‘No, I have other responsibilities, but I’m sure—’

  ‘He doesn’t think it’s Intron, does he?’ she asked.

  Gleb’s gaze fell to the map. ‘We’re focusing on the Fifth Column.’

  ‘Sorry if that’s out of your’—Olesya let the word linger—‘range.’

  Gleb inspected the card. As he did so, she carefully placed her notebook over Xiu’s photo.

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t dedicate any time to this without authorization. You’ll need to speak to Illarion.’ Gleb paused. ‘Do you think Intron abducted Val?’

  ‘That’s something I’d like to find out.’ She collected her notebook and held it against her chest. ‘I want her back.’

  ‘So do I.’ Gleb cleared his throat. ‘I mean, we all want her back.’

  Olesya thought for a moment. ‘Illarion won’t give you authorization.’

  ‘Perhaps not.’ Gleb pocketed the card. ‘If I come across something, I’ll let you know. And Ark too.’

  Chapter Five

  Taganga, Colombia

  Jay woke to the distant sound of gridlocked taxis and a barking dog. He was lying in a hammock, wearing his hospital pants and a t-shirt he didn’t recognize. He tried to move but a sudden stabbing pain in his chest made him grasp for a phantom blade. It took him a moment to catch his breath and figure out where the hell he was.

  The hammock was tied between two posts on a wooden balcony. Through the gaps in the railing he could see a bay of aquamarine water peppered with thin fishing boats, and a gritty beachfront strewn with plastic, garbage and people sprawled across beach towels. Some sort of sleepy fishing town. The water was calm and the distant voices were Spanish.

  There was a strange noise beneath him. He peered over the hammock to see a very dirty duck who cast a disapproving look in his direction before waddling past. It took a wide circle around a short-haired dog chewing on a plastic cup.

  ‘Where the fuck am I?’ Jay said under his breath.

  ‘Somewhere no one can find you,’ Nasira said.

  He looked in her direction but his chest flared with pain again. The hammock rocked slightly in the breeze. ‘How’s tricks?’

  ‘Tricks are for kids.’ Nasira stepped into view. The Colombian sun shimmered over her bronze skin. ‘How you feeling?’

  ‘I feel … alive,’ he said.

  She couldn’t take her eyes off him and he wondered how awful he looked after being trapped in that facility as their guinea pig. He swallowed and felt his throat stick.

  ‘You noticed, huh?’ Nasira said.

  ‘Highly trained ex-operative at your service.’ He attempted a salute and wobbled in the hammock. ‘Wait, how long have I been out?’

  ‘Two days, five hours,’ she said. ‘Roughly.’

  ‘How did you—’

  ‘You’re not gonna shut up until I tell you everything?’ Nasira said. ‘You got yourself shot, remember?’

  ‘Yeah, I won’t be forgetting that anytime soon.’

  ‘Someone attacked those armed crazy people, then we got out of there,’ she said. ‘Took you to a hospital under your Brazilian passport. They did what they could. But—’

  ‘But what, I died?’

  ‘Clinically.’ Nasira moved closer. ‘And then you kicked in again. No brain damage. Uh, no more brain damage.’ She forced a smile.

  Jay touched where he’d been shot. Under his t-shirt the entry wound was stitched and dressed.

  ‘How did I make it?’ he asked. ‘I don’t have the pseudo things anymore.’

  ‘Remnants, maybe. Hell if I know,’ she said. ‘Enough to rebuild your lung by the look of things. I ain’t complaining.’

  ‘You and me both.’ Jay smiled, but felt it dissolve. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Nasira crossed her arms. ‘Don’t be.’

  ‘You found me.’

  ‘You didn’t think I would?’

  ‘Only thing that got me through,’ he lied.

  He wasn’t about to tell her he’d given up on anyone coming for him.

  Nasira reached forward and took his head in her hands. He’d seen her rupture someone’s ear drums with the same motion, but this time she was relaxed, her fingers moving through his matted hair. She pressed her forehead against his and was silent for a moment, as if making sure he was real and he wasn’t going anywhere. When she let go, he wished she’d held on a bit longer.

  ‘It’s my fault,’ he said. ‘I walked into a trap. I’m better than that, I shouldn’t have—’

  ‘Don’t matter. Not anymore.’ Her voice was soft. He wasn’t used to that and it made him feel worse.

  ‘Yeah, but I screwed up. And I almost didn’t come back.’

  ‘We almost didn’t find you,’ Nasira said. ‘There were these … mercenaries, dunno what they were but they were coming at us. Wanted us dead. I thought they were Fifth Column, you know, so they could reprogram and use us again—but they don’t seem to be Fifth Column at all.’

  ‘We need to find their headquarters,’ Jay said.

  ‘The mercs?’

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘The people who abducted me, stole my suede jeans.’

  ‘Pseudogenes.’ She let out a slow breath.

  He hauled himself upright. ‘Right, whatever.’

  ‘You’re not going in there half cocked.’

  Jay laughed nervously. ‘They didn’t touch that.’

  His chest burned in protest but he swung his body around and lowered his feet to the wooden floor.

  Nasira stopped him. ‘Slow down, you ain’t exactly in peak condition right now. You’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘I woke up like this,’ Jay said. ‘I’m flawless.’

  ‘The hell you are.’ Nasira held him down by his shoulders. ‘For a dead guy, you—’

  ‘Say I look so good tonight,’ Jay said.

  Nasira’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you quoting Beyoncé?’

  ‘No.’ He sat back in the hammock. ‘Look, I’ve been out of it a while. And they played a lot of music.’

  ‘You’re not going anywhere.’ She helped him recline. ‘We got time.’

  ‘No, we have a duck,’ he said.

  Nasira looked down to see the duck waddling between her legs. It quacked angrily at her, then continued on its way.r />
  ‘These people who took me,’ Jay said. ‘I think their headquarters are in Rio.’

  Nasira ran a hand through her dark coiled hair. ‘Why you telling me that?’

  ‘They turned things off inside me. That means they can turn it back on.’

  ‘So you wanna go to Rio?’ she asked.

  Jay shrugged. The movement made his chest burn. He winced and breathed slowly. ‘I was supposed to go there to confess my sins. Now I guess I have two reasons to go.’

  Nasira folded her arms. ‘You were going to Rio?’

  Jay swallowed. ‘I was thinking about it. A little.’

  ‘Those people who took you, you even know who they are?’

  ‘No,’ he said.

  ‘You know where in Rio exactly?’

  ‘No.’

  Her shoulders dropped. ‘Great. How we supposed to find them?’

  Damien appeared on the balcony. ‘I know someone who can help.’ He flashed a goofy smile. ‘Oh hey, you’re alive.’

  Jay shook his head. ‘Everyone’s so surprised.’

  ‘At least it’s a good surprise, unlike everything else right now,’ Damien said.

  ‘So who can help us?’ Jay asked.

  Damien ran a hand through his scruffy hair and sidestepped the duck underfoot. ‘I know someone. And she knows computers.’

  Nasira didn’t blink. ‘You want to bring her into this?’

  ‘What other option do we have?’ Damien asked.

  Nasira thought for a moment. ‘Fine, but she’s still in America. You really think she can help us find these people?’

  ‘Whoa, hold up,’ Jay said. ‘There’s no way I’m going back to America.’

  ‘Why not?’ Nasira asked.

  ‘Because I’m like the most wanted terrorist in the United States,’ Jay said.

  Nasira snorted. ‘You’re top ten if you’re lucky.’

  Damien counted his fingers. ‘And we’re kind of top ten in every country, so—’

  ‘Where she at now?’ Nasira asked.

  ‘Las Vegas,’ Damien said.

  ‘Vegas?’ Jay cleared his throat. ‘We could … yeah, we should definitely go.’

  Chapter Six

  Vilnius, Lithuania

  ‘Where’s the operative?’

  Sophia ignored the question and put the kettle on the stove. But Czarina wasn’t going anywhere. She pulled up the collar on her ruby red jacket and slid a chair out, but she didn’t sit.

  ‘She got away, didn’t she?’ Czarina’s eyebrows were barely visible under the sharp edge of her bangs. ‘You haven’t said a word since we got back.’

  ‘That’s because you keep talking,’ Sophia said.

  Czarina sighed loudly. ‘It works better when you talk back.’

  Sophia’s mind was elsewhere. She thought of the Russian intelligence agent who’d confronted her in the Moscow subway station. How much did that agent know? She wasn’t Fifth Column, Sophia knew that much. But she was something. And that something seemed very well trained.

  Ieva joined them in the kitchen and took a seat. She carefully placed her modified Glock on the table and rested a hand on each knee. ‘Don’t mind me.’ Unlike Czarina, there was no sarcasm.

  ‘See, we both want answers.’ Czarina offered a stick of gum to Ieva, who politely declined.

  ‘It was one or the other,’ Sophia said. ‘The Fifth Column operative or the explosives. I didn’t have time for both.’

  ‘You really need to stop blowing up subway stations.’ Czarina popped gum between her wine-red lips.

  ‘That’s not funny,’ Sophia said.

  ‘We stopped the other one for you!’ Ieva smiled and tucked a lock of ash gray hair behind her ear. ‘But we didn’t have time to adopt an operative. Sorry.’

  ‘No, it’s best you leave that to me,’ Sophia said. ‘For now.’

  ‘You are training us, yes?’ Ieva asked. ‘So we can do it ourselves!’

  ‘It’s dangerous,’ Sophia said.

  The kettle whistled in agreement.

  ‘You don’t have to capture and deprogram every operative who crosses your path, you know,’ Czarina said. ‘Takes too long anyway.’

  ‘If I didn’t deprogram anyone, you wouldn’t be here,’ Sophia said.

  Normally, Czarina was grateful Sophia had rescued her in New York last year, but sometimes she needed a reminder.

  Sophia plucked the kettle from the stove and poured boiling water into three mugs of tea. She added a touch of cold water to Ieva’s because she didn’t like to wait. Sophia carried their mugs to the table. Czarina took one and sat beside Ieva. Although compared to Ieva’s upright posture, it was more of a slouch.

  ‘Here’s an idea.’ Czarina chewed her gum loudly. ‘These operatives shooting at you … maybe shoot back? Trying to deprogram them with all your fancy codes and phrases, that’s just—’

  Sophia raised an eyebrow. ‘What?’

  Czarina mumbled now. ‘Dangerous.’

  Ieva wrinkled her small nose. ‘But she didn’t try to deprogram anyone. Sophia was stopping them from blowing up the station.’

  ‘Yeah, and look how that worked out,’ Czarina said.

  Sophia looked out the kitchen window. Behind the old Lithuanian mansion, the backyard disappeared into a centuries-old oak forest. There was something about that Russian agent, but Sophia couldn’t put her finger on it.

  ‘I should’ve started teaching you how to deprogram earlier,’ Sophia said. ‘We’re behind schedule.’

  Czarina grunted. ‘I don’t think I want that responsibility just yet.’

  ‘I do!’ Ieva raised her hand. ‘You can teach me. I wouldn’t be as good as you though.’

  Czarina pressed her chewing gum against the side of her mug.

  ‘That’s gross,’ Ieva said.

  ‘You are.’ Czarina left the gum there. ‘Maybe we just need a Plan B.’

  ‘This is Plan B,’ Sophia said.

  ‘So what was Plan A?’ Ieva asked.

  ‘A tropical island.’ Czarina slurped her tea. ‘That was my Plan A.’

  ‘I don’t like tropical islands,’ Sophia said.

  Czarina lowered her lipstick-stained mug. ‘So let me get this straight. One Fifth Column operative wants to shoot another Fifth Column operative, and you care because…?’

  ‘Because one wasn’t Fifth Column,’ Sophia said.

  ‘How do you know that?’ Czarina asked.

  ‘She thought I was Fifth Column.’

  ‘OK, now I’m confused,’ Czarina said.

  Ieva’s nose twitched in disapproval. ‘Then what is she?’

  Sophia thought for a moment. Czarina and Ieva were former Fifth Column operatives. Like her, they’d spent most of their lives in Project GATE. American accents aside, they still spoke their native languages.

  ‘Czarina, do you speak Sri Lankan?’ Sophia asked.

  ‘I’m from Sri Lanka, but I speak Sinhala.’

  ‘Right,’ Sophia said. ‘And Ieva, do you speak Lithuanian?’

  Ieva nodded. ‘And Russian and German and—’

  ‘Yes, but my point is that a lot of us speak English in addition to our first language. And the Fifth Column never squandered that. We were all deployed to our home countries for operations because we could blend in and operate best there.’

  Ieva nodded some more. ‘I was here in Lithuania when you found me.’

  ‘Exactly. So have you ever had a run-in with a Russian operative?’ Sophia asked. ‘Light blond hair, pale blue eyes?’

  ‘You just described half the population on the largest supercontinent in the world,’ Ieva said. ‘But no, I haven’t seen any Russian operatives. Not here.’

  ‘Why didn’t you just take a photo of her?’ Czarina asked.

  ‘She had me at gunpoint.’

  ‘That’s what they all say,’ Czarina said. ‘You’re trying to tell us that you had a Fifth Column operative at gunpoint, and then some blond girl just swishes in, takes over and then leaves. And y
ou let her?’

  ‘She was very careful,’ Sophia said. ‘The circumstances made it hard for me to stop her. And besides, she ran really fast.’

  ‘Made it hard for you to stop the station from blowing up,’ Czarina said.

  Ieva sipped her tea. ‘Mayakovskaya was a lovely station too.’

  Sophia shook her head. ‘The thing is, I put the Fifth Column operative into slave mode right in front of this Russian, and she didn’t even blink.’

  ‘So she’s Fifth Column then,’ Czarina said. ‘Maybe a diversion. And it worked, you lost both of them.’ She leaned over her mug of tea. ‘Now the Fifth Column knows we were in Moscow. Something I’m not all that cool with.’

  ‘What are you trying to say?’ Sophia asked.

  ‘All I’m saying is less talking’—Czarina mimed a gun with her finger—‘more action.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to shoot them in the back,’ Sophia said. ‘And neither will you.’

  ‘You know they won’t hesitate to do the same to you, right?’ Czarina shrugged. ‘Better you shoot first, I say.’

  ‘She didn’t shoot me,’ Sophia said.

  ‘Not this time.’

  Ieva elbowed Czarina. ‘Grumpy pants.’

  ‘I told you not to call me that,’ Czarina said.

  Sophia allowed herself a smile. Outside, the forest grew dark, the treetops fringed with silver from the moon.

  ‘They’re programmed to believe we’re the enemy,’ Sophia said. ‘It’s not their fault.’

  ‘It doesn’t change the fact they can shoot you.’ Czarina turned to Ieva for support. ‘Right?’

  Ieva looked down at her tea. ‘Um, I guess.’

  ‘I’ve killed enough operatives.’ Sophia tapped her phone and pulled up a map of Eastern Europe with various dots, each representing a live operative. Thanks to her friend who was very good with computers, Sophia had secret access to the Fifth Column’s satellites.

  ‘So?’ Czarina asked.

  ‘It’s about time we start saving them,’ Sophia said.

  ‘That’s not working out so well. I mean’—Czarina glanced at Ieva—‘no offense, we have Ieva now. But that’s three of us. And the rest of your little gang is on the other side of the world somewhere.’

  ‘Is there anyone on the radar for us?’ Ieva asked.