by Sam Sisavath
“Where am I?” she asked.
“One of Porter’s many safe houses,” Aaron said. “You’re safe. If they were going to find us, they would have already. You’ve been snoozing for the last eighteen hours.”
“Eighteen hours?”
“Yup.”
Her eyes were heavy, and keeping them wide open as she looked around at the room took some effort. But she managed, not that there was anything particularly noteworthy to see. She was in a room that still smelled of old machine parts. That explained the heavy oil stains and grease. A single high window provided the only source of light because she didn’t see anything that looked electronic anywhere.
The rod that was fastened to her left hand was gone and replaced with a fresh cast. Quinn stared at it for a moment, expecting to feel pain from the still-broken bone underneath, but there was only a slight…what the hell was that? She couldn’t quite put it into words, but something was still happening down there where she couldn’t see.
“Did you give me more of Porter’s pills?” she asked.
Aaron shook his head. “No. Why?”
“It doesn’t…hurt.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Aaron had picked up the chair and walked over to sit down next to her before handing her a water bottle. “Maybe you’re still hung over from the gas. I heard it packs a punch.”
“Gas?” She took a sip from the bottle. It was warm but a godsend, and she kept drinking until most of it was gone.
“Back in the SWAT truck. One of the many goodies Porter managed to squirrel away before he went rogue. It’s pretty strong stuff. You’re awake, but Xiao’s still sleeping it off in the next room.”
“She’s okay?”
“She’s sleeping like a baby. Don’t worry about her.”
There was a slight throbbing along the back and side of her head, and when Quinn reached up, she felt bandages.
“Just a precaution,” Aaron said. “Trevor said one of his men got too enthusiastic and walloped you a couple of times with the butt of his rifle.”
“That’s one way to put it.” She attempted to sigh the pain away and leaned back against the pillow. It wasn’t very soft, but considering where she could be right now, it was welcome. “You made it out of the warehouse okay.”
“Xiao saved me.” He gave her an almost embarrassed smile. “She’s really good at that.”
“I’m starting to realize that.” Then, “You said Trevor. Who’s Trevor?”
“From the rooftop.” When she shook her head, “Well, it was pretty chaotic up there, from what I saw on the news. Anyway, Trevor was the commander of the SWAT guys that took you and Xiao on the rooftop. He also gassed everyone while they were transporting you back to their station, then brought you and Xiao here.”
The name didn’t ring any bells, but the face did. Fifties, soft brown eyes…
“A lot of people had to burn their identities to get you and Xiao here,” the teenager continued. “Trevor, too. No way he can go back to his old life now. But I guess you know a little something about that.”
Yeah, just a little something.
She took another sip from the bottle. “What happened to Porter? He was in the other stairwell at the same time as us…”
Aaron shook his head and his face turned moody. “Trevor doesn’t know what happened to him or the SOPs. He tried to go into the other stairwell, but they wouldn’t let him. So he quickly left with you and Xiao. He barely got out of there with you guys, from what he told me.”
“How did he get up there?”
“Helicopter. He was your exit strategy. The plan was for everyone to surrender to him on the rooftop. Then he would do the whole gas thing and you guys would disappear. But it didn’t really work out that way. He said the feds assaulted the building first before the plan could be put into motion. That took everyone by surprise.”
“They couldn’t afford to let us leave, not after what we’d seen.”
“I guess not. They controlled the scene, still do. They can come up with any excuse they want for why they went in. Anyway, when Trevor saw the assault go down, he ordered his pilots to land.”
“There were a lot of people on the rooftop. More in the truck…”
“Trevor’s the only one who had to burn his identity. There could be others in his unit who knew what was happening, but I don’t know. I didn’t ask, and I’m not sure he’d tell me anyway.”
Quinn stared up at the peeling paint along the ceiling above her. There was a certain serenity to being here, lying in a strange building where there didn’t seem to be traffic anywhere beyond the walls. Or at least none close enough for her to hear. She wanted to just lie still and not move and wait for someone to come rescue her.
Where are you when I need you most, Ben?
“What now?” she finally asked.
Aaron gave her an amused look.
“What?” Quinn said.
“I was hoping you’d tell me. Porter was the brains of the operation, always had been.”
“But you came up with the rescue plan.”
“Yeah, but that’s one plan. Porter’s been running the show since me and Xiao climbed onboard this train of his. This was all his idea.”
“And you don’t know where he is now? Or if he’s even still alive?”
“He’s still alive,” Aaron said.
Quinn couldn’t tell if he actually believed it, or wanted to.
“How can you be so sure?” she asked.
Aaron chuckled. “Have you met Porter? He’s kind of difficult to kill. Trust me, he’s still alive. As to where he is now…” The kid shook his head. “I think it’s safe to say they’re not going to take him back down to that same service center.”
“What does Trevor say?”
“We’re operating under the premise that the Rhim’s going to come after us next. Other than that…” He paused, looking more lost than she’d ever seen him. “I honestly don’t know where we go from here.”
Quinn nodded and sat up straighter. Or tried to, anyway.
“Xiao will wake up, and we’ll figure something out together,” Quinn said, and smiled at the teenager. It wasn’t very convincing, she realized too late, but it was all she could manage and Aaron seemed appreciative of the effort. “Until then, tell me about them.”
“Who?”
“The Rhim. Because you’re right, Aaron, they’re going to come after us. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of running and hiding.”
“I don’t know, I’m pretty good at running and hiding,” Aaron said, and gave her a nervous smile.
“I’m not. Not anymore. Not after everything they took from me.”
She paused and remembered the voice from the past: “Never be helpless. Whatever you do, never be helpless again.”
Quinn continued: “I want you to tell me everything you know about them. Everything Porter and Xiao were going to tell me. Don’t leave a single thing out, no matter how inconsequential you think they might be.”
“I don’t know where to begin…”
“Try from the beginning.”
Aaron nodded. “Then I guess we should start with Red Sky…”
Epilogue
He regained consciousness to spew.
It was in his nose, in his throat, and filled his lungs. When he opened his eyes, he saw the world through an opaque green-blue sheen that soon turned blue-yellow.
There was no real pain, even though he could feel the flesh around the holes in his chest and right leg beginning to sew itself up. Three bullets. Two from the commandos that had charged the lobby, and the last one in the stairwell.
There were no signs of Mack and the other SOPs, as he knew there wouldn’t be. He’d lost sight of them during the assault on the way to the rooftop. That was the plan. Was.
Hopefully Xiao and Quinn had made it out.
Two out of nine. Not exactly the best success rate, but he would take it.
He wasn’t afraid. He was beyond th
at.
“Hello, John.”
He knew the voice, even though it came through the thick glass of the re-sequencing tank as slightly distorted.
“You’ve been very busy, I hear.”
He would answer if he could, but opening his mouth just meant swallowing more of the spew. So he said nothing instead, and stared back at the man in the three-piece suit.
Late twenties. Tall and handsome, with crisp blond hair held in place by expensive salon gel. Figures moved in the background, but it was the man with the calming blue eyes that demanded all his attention.
“I meant to come sooner, but, well, work. You know how it is.”
Did the man expect him to reply? He must know that Porter couldn’t. No one could while inside the tanks, while the spew did its work on him inside and out. He could already feel it—the change. They were accelerating the process, maybe because he had escaped the last time they attempted it.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and keep trying.
“You’re still looking for it, aren’t you? Red Sky. That was the purpose of bombing the relay node at Kobalcom, knowing the safety protocol would automatically kick in. How much of the transmission did you and your little posse intercept?”
The man stepped closer, blue eyes growing larger, distorted by the glass. There was no hate, no anger in those eyes. There was only disappointment.
“It doesn’t matter. You can’t stop Red Sky anyway. No one can.”
The man held up a tablet and pushed it close. A newspaper app, with the bolded headline: HOMEGROWN TERRORIST KILLED IN FBI ASSAULT.
“I’m sorry to say, but it appears your reign of terror is over.”
An old picture of him looked unsmilingly back from under the large text.
“What they don’t know won’t hurt them. Tell them a well-executed enough lie, with a strong enough authoritative voice, and people will believe anything. They want to believe. It lets them sleep at nights, knowing their children will wake up safe.”
The man handed the tablet to another suited figure standing behind him.
“But we’ve had this talk before, haven’t we? You didn’t believe me then; how about now?”
A slight pause as those soothing blue eyes bored into his soul through the thick glass, through the spew that coated his own eyes.
“Five years. Five years since you left us.”
A wistful sigh.
“But you’re back now. Alive, against all odds. I told them not to underestimate you.”
The handsome young man placed a hand on the tank and tried to smile. It came out awkward, as if he were exercising a muscle he hadn’t used in a long time.
“Welcome home, John.”
The Conspiracy Unravels
What is Red Sky?
Ex-FBI agent Quinn Turner will find out even if it means delving into the most painful corners of her past.
For John Porter, the threat is more immediate—he must survive the very people he betrayed.
Meanwhile, the conspiracy continues to spread its tentacles in…
Book 2 of The Red Sky Conspiracy, The Devil You Know, set for publication later this year.
From the Author
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