by C. G. Hatton
Quinn was waiting outside, leaning casually against the bulkhead. “All clear?” the big man said, more lightly than he was feeling. There’d never really been any doubt about Sorensen so it was a justified assumption.
NG nodded and turned to go. It would be good to give Acquisitions a miss for a while. Emotions tended to be high in here at the best of times – lately it was becoming unbearable.
Quinn stood up to his full height and took a step forward, his bulk blocking the way.
“Not now, Quinn,” NG said softly.
“Does this mean we’re clear to get back out there?”
“Not yet.” He had to go through everyone who had any connection to the tabs they ran, Legal mostly but some divisions of Media too, before he could initiate the list again. There was too much risk otherwise.
Quinn didn’t like it. “We’re boiling over down here, NG.”
The headache banging behind his eyes peaked. He stared at the handler with eyes that he could hardly keep open. “I’m not prepared to risk losing anyone else.”
But you can risk yourself, Quinn was thinking, biting his tongue not to say it. “I want to go after Anya,” he said instead, willing NG to give him the go ahead to take Hilyer and get out there. They’d already spoken about the special projects team. Quinn was usually the most stable of the handlers, steady and meticulous in his planning. The man standing there in front of him was itching to join the hunt for Mendhel’s daughter, just to get out there and shut down the breach.
“We will,” NG said, “but we need to do it right. Can you get in touch with Pen?”
Quinn nodded. “He’s been avoiding us but if you let me go, I’ll get through to him.”
NG rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Give me a chance to talk to Hil and I’ll clear a trip to Aston. We need Pen in on this.”
Talking to Hilyer hadn’t gone well. NG stood under a torrent of hot water, leaning his head against the bulkhead and letting the water flow over him. He needed to sleep but he needed to shower away the tension first.
He hadn’t been able to face the idea of fighting an insubordinate and obnoxious field operative who’d been cooped up in Medical for a week so he’d ordered the kid into the Maze to work off his pent-up energy before sending for him. The interview still hadn’t been easy, Hil slouching, mistrusting everything that was said and seriously thinking that the Alsatia was the last place he wanted to be. It had been hard to soothe, even with a damned good whisky. The promise of a special projects assignment hadn’t done so much as pique Hil’s curiosity and only the prospect of going back to Pen had done anything to get him on side.
It was frustrating.
‘You pander to their whims and wonder why they screw you around,’ that dark voice of doubt whispered. ‘You should kick Hilyer out on his ass. See how the child fares then.’
NG tipped his head up, eyes closed, feeling the water splash over his eyelashes and onto his cheeks. Like tropical rain. The kind that fell suddenly, drenching, cleansing. He didn’t want to move. The Alsatia in this state wasn’t the safe and calm sanctuary he could usually run back to. There was an undercurrent of instability that he couldn’t calm.
‘You’re losing it. Have you not grasped that yet?’
A sharp stabbing pain lanced into his ribs suddenly. Pain from the flesh and bone that had been shattered by the armour piercing round, the wound he’d worked hard to heal. NG slumped against the shower wall. He had no control over it. All the aches and pains he’d been shutting out, all the old injuries he’d healed, started to filter back into his awareness.
‘You abuse this body, Nikolai. My body.’
It felt like his reality was unravelling. He bowed his head, water running down the back of his neck. Breathing was hard work. He tried to close it down, focus in to cell level but he couldn’t concentrate.
‘You’re too weak to fight me.’
The water was steaming hot but there was a cold chill deep inside that was spreading. He could feel the dark mist swirling and for the briefest of instants he was tempted to give in to it. Give up. Stop trying to do well by everyone. Why should he care? Who the hell had ever cared about him?
It was a dark place to be and he was sinking into it. A distant part of him felt Devon and Evelyn nudge urgently at the Senson, both coded, demanding his attention.
The mist receded, pain gone in a flash that left him gasping.
He stood there for a long moment, water flowing over his skin, the warmth returning slowly. He scrubbed a hand over his face and sent to them both, not bothering to keep the weariness from his tone, “If it’s not urgent, I’ll deal with it later.”
Evelyn replied first. “Sean’s found LC,” she sent. “She wants to see you.”
Chapter 17
“And it all comes together…”
He raised his eyes. “The fortunes of the guild I created should never – ever – have rested so precariously on the actions of so few individuals.”
The corners of her mouth turned up. “But they are such an extraordinary few.”
She was teasing him.
He swirled the jug and rested it on the table.
“Is that not what history relies upon?” she asked. “That the few sacrifice for the greater good of the many?”
Poppycock again. The few rarely sacrificed anything. The few were mostly the few who fed off and profited from the many for their own ends.
She pushed again. “Is that not what you attracted in the very essence of the guild you created? Gathering the special, the outcasts, the exceptional to challenge the norms of society in this galaxy of such self-centred creatures? You are frustrated by their actions but surely, you could not have expected anything less, anything different from them? Each roll of the dice was weighted, and it was you that fixed the odds. Don’t deny that.”
•
Frank O’Brien had good taste in hideaways. NG sat on the cabin’s porch with Sean and watched his two field operatives wander back along the dirt path from the beach. The sun was setting, long shadows stretching out from the wooden cabin, the shade bringing an edge of chill to the day’s warmth.
Hil and LC were quiet, walking slowly as if neither of them really wanted to return to face the crap they’d been running from. They were both hurting, Hil physically, LC reeling from the news that it was Anya that had betrayed them. Hilyer hadn’t been subtle in telling him.
NG stretched out one leg and leaned back on his elbows on the step. It hadn’t been easy to listen in but he wasn’t about to give them any privacy, not when he was this close to bringing them both back in. He’d brought Hil along for two reasons – one, to get him away from the tension that was brewing on the Alsatia and two, to cushion the meeting with LC. Luka looked exhausted, tense, dreading going back to the guild. He was walking along next to Hil because he was caught in the momentum, otherwise he would have turned and run.
“He had a bad reaction to some stuff he was drugged with,” Sean said softly, still concerned.
NG caught a hint of more than concern there. She’d given him a brief run down of what had happened, how she’d caught up with LC on some freighter out in the mining colonies and stayed with him until the kid had finally admitted who he was. Sean was embarrassed that she hadn’t brought LC straight in. It was complicated, was the way she’d tried to explain it, completely failing to justify even to herself why she’d let LC persuade her to let him hand himself in to a bounty hunter. She felt bad because she hadn’t been able to convince LC that the guild was safe.
They’d had a tough time by the sound of it and NG had taken more from her mind than Sean had admitted to openly. LC had a tendency to charm without meaning to. Evelyn wouldn’t be impressed to see that she had competition.
Sean touched NG’s knee. “I’ll leave you to it. Be gentle with him.” She stood, waved to Hil and LC and headed into the cabin.
LC was fraught, heart pounding, eyes tracking Sean as she disappeared inside. Hilyer gave NG a brief acknowledgeme
nt, held LC by the shoulder for a second then jogged up the steps and followed Sean.
LC stood awkwardly, not sure what the reception was going to be. He’d lost weight, his hair was cropped short and his eyes had a haunted look to them, a drastic shade paler than they used to be. He was dreading being hauled into Medical, so god knew what he’d done to change his eyes like that. A tiny metal tag was pierced through the top of his left ear. Sean had touched on their encounter with bounty hunters, the tag physical evidence that LC had been caught somewhere along the line. She’d admitted that she’d reprogrammed it so technically LC belonged to her. That wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind when he’d hired her to find the kid.
“Sit down,” NG said gently, an invitation rather than an order.
LC sat on the step. He was trying desperately not to think.
NG placed a hand briefly on the back of the kid’s neck and gave him as much healing warmth as he could spare, calming and reassuring. He felt LC take a deep breath and relax, still scared deep down but that trembling anxiety easing.
They both sat there, breathing in the fresh sea air and staring straight out towards the sea.
“It’s good to see you’re alive, LC,” NG said finally, softly, non-threatening, no trace of anger or retribution.
He felt LC’s breath catch in his chest, a panic as the kid thought of his handler with a depth of grief that was almost overwhelming. Mendhel wasn’t alive and it was his fault, he was thinking desperately.
NG said quickly, “We know what happened, Luka. You had no choice. We know it’s been a hard time, and believe me, the guild hasn’t had an easy time of it either, but we want you back.”
It was too easy to read his mind, emotions laid open. LC wanted to blurt out everything. There wasn’t even any need to maintain a physical contact. The kid wanted to explain but he was tying himself in knots because he couldn’t. NG could read the thoughts there easily, the dilemma about the package. It all came back to the package Zang had sent them to steal. He was the package, LC was thinking, how could he admit that?
What the hell did that mean?
It was frustrating, tempting to just grab the kid’s arm and take what he needed to know.
Just tell me where the damned package is, NG was thinking, biting his tongue not to say it out loud, not to spook the kid.
He felt the touch of LC’s mind with the shocking realisation that he was being read.
LC was scuffing the toes of his boots against each other, staring at the ground. “I don’t know where it is,” he said.
NG turned his head slowly. Apart from the Man, he’d never met anyone ever who could do that. It hit him like a physical blow.
He felt LC reflect that shock back, the adrenaline rush fast, heart racing. LC turned to look him in the eye, trying frantically to throw up a shield and shut down his thoughts.
“You didn’t say that out loud, did you?” LC whispered, starting to shiver.
NG stared at him, thinking clearly, ‘What happened out there, Luka?’ Simply thought it, not using the Senson, just mind to mind in the way the Man hated.
LC’s face flushed, horrified, as he tried to not think. He was good but NG was better. Whatever defences the kid tried to build were easy to break through. LC was terrified that he’d been discovered but there was also a tinge of incredible relief that he wasn’t alone.
NG stood up. It was hard not to grab hold of that feeling and cling to it. He’d always been alone. “Come on,” he said, “let’s walk.”
The sun was sinking gradually down to the horizon, darkness creeping in across the calm expanse of sea. They walked slowly, random thoughts tumbling from LC as he flashed on memories from the past, how he’d come to the guild, how Mendhel had rescued him from being shot on Kheris when he’d been stupid enough to get caught, and how NG had welcomed him in to the Alsatia. Anything but what had happened at that lab with Hilyer.
‘He’s rogue,’ the dark voice mocked, ‘and he’s more powerful than you realise. I should kill him.’
NG shut it out fiercely. There was no way he was going to lose control here. “Talk to me, LC,” he said.
“What do you want me to say?”
LC had a reputation for being reckless and he suddenly opened his mind, flashing back to the lab, getting hit with some kind of virus, the agonising after-effects, getting shot on some back of beyond station and almost dying, sharing the void of each death at Zang’s facility – a whirlwind of painful memories thrown relentlessly at NG.
He took it all, the whole story, no need for a drawn out debrief. LC had an eidetic memory and sharing that intensity of information left a mass of data seared into NG’s mind.
The virus, or whatever it was that Zang had sent them to steal, was rampant in every part of the kid’s body – a living, swarming organism. Fast cell regeneration, immunity to poisons, increased mental capacity. No wonder Zang was desperate to get his hands on it.
But the side effects…
LC was left doubled over, gasping for breath, system about to go into shutdown. Sean had said he’d had a rough time; she had no idea how rough. And the kid was still hurting, no matter how much he tried to shut it away.
NG stood next to him, watching the sun set, holding a hand against the back of LC’s neck and using that contact to help ease the pain, settle the bone-deep ache that was tearing at the kid’s soul.
“The Earth lab was destroyed after you got away,” NG said quietly. “And chances are Zang didn’t know exactly what it was he was sending you in there for. Does anyone else know?”
LC hesitated, a series of faces and snatches of conversation flashing into his mind, giving NG his answer without a word. Christ, this was going to be complicated.
“We need to bring them in,” he said. “Do you understand?”
LC nodded reluctantly and said hesitantly, “Anya’s with Pen.”
NG nodded. “We’ll deal with Anya.” He paused. It was going to be dark soon. “Are you ready to come back?”
It was a rhetorical question. LC had no choice and he knew it.
“Good,” NG said. “There’s someone I need you to talk to.”
They walked back to the cabin in silence. LC was firmly in automatic mode, putting one foot in front of the other, keeping his head empty of thoughts, feeling safe for the first time in a long time simply because NG was there. It was a hell of a responsibility. The bounty on the two field operatives was escalating, the Assassins’ contract was still active, and Zang and the Order were upping their game against the guild. There was no room for complacency but for the moment, he could allow LC to relax.
It was dusk by the time the cabin came into sight. They both saw the smoke rising from the chimney and sensed the presence of another person at the same time, LC hesitating, panic flaring.
It was Sean’s father. No need for alarm. Conversely, he felt LC’s stress level rise as the kid picked up on the thoughts that he shared freely.
‘Don’t worry,’ he thought. ‘Frank won’t betray us. Even if he is the most successful bounty hunter of all time.’
“Oh shit,” LC muttered, heart pounding again, thinking of Sean and not even caring about the price on his head. He backed away a step.
NG couldn’t help the grin that slipped out. “Frank’s a teddy bear,” he said gently. “Unless you do anything to hurt Sean, then he’ll come after you for free.”
He nudged LC down the path.
The night sky was pitch black, no artificial lights, no scurrying mass of thinking minds spilling emotional garbage on all sides and absolutely no risk of an assassin’s dagger in the back.
NG leaned against the railing of the porch, resting a half empty bottle of beer against the wooden bar. Both the field-ops had been visibly relieved when he’d accepted Frank’s offer to stay the night. They’d been expecting to get hauled straight back to the Alsatia but one night away from the dramas of the universe wouldn’t do them any harm.
It was hard not be envious of t
his peaceful lifestyle that Sean’s old man had earned for himself.
‘Don’t fool yourself. You can never settle, you know that. We need the thrill of adversity, you and I.’
He lifted the bottle and drank, unable to argue with that dark muttering deep inside.
The door banged open behind him, soft voices filtering out and footsteps approaching. Frank O’Brien was a rare man with cast iron principles and a strength of spirit that was good to be near. He joined NG, leaning on the railing next to him with a bottle of beer in his hand and a smile on his face.
They clinked bottles.
“So those two youngsters are the best of your infamous field operatives?” Frank said, teasing gently.
NG nodded. He’d known Frank a long time, a trusted associate of the guild who never asked any questions and always delivered. Sean was doing a good job of carrying on that legacy. Except she might now have crossed that line. It was a difficult decision to make but it might be time to ask her to come in. She was far closer and knew far more than any outsider would ever be privileged to.
“My daughter seems smitten with the pair of them. One more than the other,” Frank said, insight and intuition as sharp as ever. The man might be retired, but the instincts hadn’t faded.
NG smiled. He knew that LC was listening in, worried about how Sean was going to react to her father meeting him, like he might not come up to their standards. Christ, LC Anderton fretting about what someone might think of him. That was a first.
“They’re good kids,” he said.
Frank didn’t look impressed. “First thing I ever taught her,” he said, “don’t get involved with the target. And she goes and falls for one of yours.”