It was as if he was seeing the real her. It was the rawest form of Lily in front of him. There was no pretense based on her teachers, her new friends, or her parents. She was distressed, anxious, and hiding nothing from him as she pulled herself free from the tangled covers and limped to the bathroom.
She passed him without noticing him, turning on the light to her bathroom and turning on the faucet.
Dana debated staying in the corner and watching her for the rest of the night, finding her to be in enthralling show.
But he also knew that Sean was waiting outside, and it was only a matter of time before his head of security decided to wake up the entire house by knocking, just to be sure that he could keep the Sandover family safe from the unknown presence in their home.
Therefore, as Lily was pressing a cold rag to her carpet-burned knees and splashing her face with water, Danna backed out of her bedroom, creeping down the stairs and leaving the house, smiling to himself, knowing that it would not be long before Lily was having nightmares focused entirely around him.
Dissention in the Ranks
“Don’t you have about a million other things that you would should be doing right now?”
“…probably,” Dana admitted, clearly not concerned.
“And in case you’ve forgotten,” Sean continued, “you are a public official. You have work that you need to do. You can’t spend every waking moment stalking this poor girl.”
Dana leaned back in his desk chair, pressing a hand over his chest in mock hurt. “Stalking?“ he repeated, pretending to be shocked. “I have made an investment in this girl. I have a feeling that she could go very far. I am only making sure that she is cared for, and safe.”
“That’s fucking bullshit, Dana,” Sean said sharply. “I’m not an idiot. I know precisely what you’re doing.”
“Oh, do you?” Dana said, smiling. “You know me that well?”
“I would dare say that I know you better than almost anyone currently alive.”
“…and he would probably be right,” the older man admitted. He turned his eyes back to the screen, watching the security cameras of the third tier school where Lily was just finishing her school day.
“Come on,” Sean said, walking to the computer and turning Dana’s chair away, forcing him to break his concentration. “There are other things that we need to focus on,” Sean said seriously. “We’re meeting with—”
“I think tonight I’m going to go to Archangel,” Dana said, cutting off Sean.
The head of security stopped, blinking in confusion at his boss, and then shaking his head.
“What?” he demanded. “Dana…you’ve got to be kidding me! At some point, you have to do some work. The Commission doesn’t run itself.”
“Yeah, it kind of does,” Dana said. “It’s really just a matter of me delegating tasks.”
“Then delegate!”
A dark smile crept over Dana’s features.
“Well,” he said slowly, “I honestly didn’t expect you to get attached to this girl so quickly. Seems like you have a few unresolved issues…” he sang.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Sean asked, getting more exasperated with Dana by the moment. “I told you before, I worry about everybody in the Commission.”
“Yeah…” Dana agreed. “But the level of concern you have over Little Lily is clearly far higher than the level of concern you have for Clark.”
“They’re two completely different situations.”
“Not for me,” Dana said simply.
“Clark has Mark to watch over him. It’s also easier to keep an eye on Clark because he’s here all the time. Lily on the other hand, has absolutely no idea what to do to handle you. She doesn’t have her own personal security. And she’s out there unsupervised, and will easily become a target for bullying if they see how interested you are in her.”
“Which is precisely why I think I’ll go to Archangel tonight,” Dana said. “I know you think that me giving her special attention will endanger her, and you’re probably right. It does seem that I spark some jealousy among the Commission members with who I shower my affections on. However, rather than think it would be better for me to stay away from Little Lily, you might want to consider the fact that, by staying close to her, I’ll actually keep her safer.”
“How do you figure?”
“I may spark jealousy,” Dana said, grinning wickedly, “but I also scare the shit out of people.”
“No argument here…”
“If Little Lily does find herself to be a victim of bullying, and I’m nearby, I can put a stop to that very quickly.”
“That may be so,” Sean admitted unwillingly. “But you really do have work to do.”
“It can wait till tomorrow.”
* *** *
Sean had tried every trick he had ever used to keep Dana from going to Archangel. He thought he had succeeded for a brief moment when Dana appeared to lock himself in his study. However, when Sean remembered that he needed to relay another message to the leader of the Commission of the People, he walked into his office to find Dana absent. Groaning to himself and extremely irritated that he had forgotten about the secret passageways, he ran to the bookcase that he knew to conceal a hallway to the car elevator room.
He barely managed to catch them Dana as the leader of the Commission was driving one of the Commission cars toward the elevator to get to the street.
Sean allowed Dana to play chicken with him as the leader of the Commission revved the engine and sped toward Sean as the taller man held out his hands for Dana to stop.
His adrenaline spiked when Dana pressed his brakes and barely manage to stop the car just before Sean’s knees.
The head of Commission Security, placed his hands on the hood of the car, glaring at Dana through the tinted windshield. He lifted one hand and crooked a finger, motioning for the older man to get out.
After a brief hesitation, the driver’s door opened and Dana stood, leaning on the open door, pouting.
“Come on…” he whined like a petulant child, “I just want to make sure a Little Lily is okay.”
“Am I going to be able to stop you?”
Dana feigned contemplation, his eyes hidden behind the sunglasses, so it was impossible for Sean to know if he was seriously thinking over the question, or if he already knew the answer.
“No.”
Sean sighed heavily, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes before lifting his hands in defeat.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll drive you.”
Sean took his time replacing the car that Dana had tried to take and then walking to his own car, Dana becoming impatient behind him and walking quickly around him to get to Sean’s car.
He got into the passenger’s side as Sean slowly climbed in to the driver seat, taking his time to check his mirrors, turn on the ignition, and anything else he could think of to stall Dana from getting out of the Commission basement.
“Dana?” he started as the car ascended in the elevator. “May I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“I understand that Lily is your niece and that you’re trying to reconcile your old life before the Commission with your new life. And I can’t even begin to imagine what that’s like. But I must know. What is it that really interests you so much? I would think that Thomas would be the one you would be most interested in toying with. Just considering your history…”
“Unfortunately, I understand Tommy a little too well. And I understand Lily very well as well also, but it’s her that I think could be shaped to go much further.”
“You keep saying that, but I’m not sure what you mean.”
Dana heaved a sigh, lifting his hands in the air to make obscure gestures as he tried to articulate what he wanted to say.
“Let’s just say…” He started slowly. “That I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be around.”
Sean furrowed his eyebrows, almost becoming confused enough to pu
ll over the car so he could face Dana ask him what he meant.
“Are you unwell?” he asked.
Dana laughed. “I suppose,” he said. “But, physically, I’m fine. No, I don’t have some terminal diagnosis. And, no, I am not feeling my mortality.” He turned to look at Sean. “Though it may not look like it, I am getting close to seventy years old.”
Dana leaned his head back against the head rest, allowing it to roll around with every turn of the car, his thoughts clearly lost within themselves.
“Everything is about patterns, Sean,” Dana said. “The entire world runs on patterns. And I’m starting to see one play out before my very eyes.”
Sean drove mechanically, waiting for Dana to explain further. It took a long time for him to speak, and it took too long for Sean to realize that Dana was stalling for time, making sure that Sean was going in the correct direction for Club Archangel while keeping the younger man interested in his words.
“When I was first brought into the Commission it was because Bryant Morris became obsessed with possessing me. I still don’t know if it was some sort of challenge for him, or if he just felt connected to me, or what exactly made him so interested, but something drew him toward me. It was like he couldn’t not be around me,” Dana continued to explain. “I feel that pull with Little Lily.”
“But Bryant Morris was more interested in taking you in a criminal, right?” Sean asked.
“True,” Dana agreed. “It’s the timing that makes it so perfect. It’s the timing that fits the pattern more than anything.”
“And what timing is that?”
“Eyna,” Dana answered. “His progress is coming along so beautifully…Every day I feel more and more obsessed with him.”
“Wait, I thought you were saying you were obsessed with Lily?”
“It’s a different feeling,” the leader of the Commission said vaguely. “With Lily, I see her more as…and heir, someone to take over my position when I’m gone.” Dana smiled broadly. “With Eyna, what I truly see is death.”
Sean had trouble keeping up with Dana on his best days, but he was having a particularly difficult time keeping up with the current conversation.
“And that’s why you’re obsessed with him? Because you see how dangerous he is? How much damage he can deal?”
“In a sense,” Dana agreed. “Bryant Morris became obsessed with my testing when it stopped working as he anticipated,” he explained. “As he spent more time around me, I began to learn his weaknesses, his likes, his dislikes, his schedule…It was inside knowledge of him that allowed me to eventually kill him.”
“I’m still not following,” Sean said, too distracted by the conversation to realize how quickly he had already brought Dana to Club Archangel.
“If I am to die, it will likely be soon,” Dana said. “Because I am becoming obsessed with Eyna in the same sense that Bryant Morris became obsessed with me. That means, soon, I’ll let my guard down just enough for him to strike the fatal blow.” Dana’s head turned to look at Sean, smiling. “And when I die, I will need someone strong, someone ambitious, someone who understands what the Commission truly is to take my place. I believe that person is Little Lily.”
Sean was unable to respond and he ended up focusing on the remaining few blocks between the car and Club Archangel, trying to wrap his head around exactly what Dana was saying.
Sean pulled over to the curb and looked around the area, distracted.
“You’re going to stick out like a sore thumb if you try to go inside,” Sean murmured. “You’ll have to stay out here.”
Dana made a pouting face, clearly not pleased with the declaration, but also understanding it.
“Fine,” he said. “Pull into that alley over there.”
* *** *
The drive back to the Commission from dropping Lily off at home was a silent one. Sean remained staring ahead on the road, while Dana smiled to himself in the passenger seat.
Finally, when he could no longer take it, the head of the Commission turned, a triumphant grin painted on his features.
“See?” he said. “I told you. She was in danger. Wasn’t it lucky that we were there?”
Sean decided not to answer.
“I thought you would be pleased.”
“Pleased?” Sean repeated incredulously. “You saved her from those other attackers just so you could attack her.”
Dana leaned backed in his seat, rolling his eyes. “You are way too tense. I wasn’t going to rape her anything.”
“Oh, really?” Sean snapped. “Dana, she’s seventeen years old. She’s a child.”
“Hardly,” Dana groaned. “I was younger than her when I started opposing the government.”
“Yeah, and look at where that got you.”
“I’m quite possibly the most powerful man in the entire world. That’s where it got me.”
“I’m not going to argue with you,” Sean groaned, still looking ahead at the deserted road. His voice was quiet and Dana knew exactly what mood he had fallen into. Dana hated that mood. Sean was no fun to play with when he was feeling morally conflicted.
“Oh, you’re in that mood again,” Dana noted, shaking his head.
Sean remained silent.
“I suppose nothing I say right now is going to lessen your anger towards me…”
“What do you care if I’m angry at you?” Sean sneered. “Why would you care about anything?”
Dana rolled his eyes again, but he knew Sean had not seen. He took a deep breath and changed the tone in his voice, adjusting himself to Sean’s current mood as easily as breathing.
“Perhaps you’re right…” he said, his voice calm. “She is still a child. I’m not sure exactly how those boys got her drugged and in that alley, but it seems that she doesn’t realize the kind of danger she’s in here in the capital. And perhaps I was a little overzealous, but I really had no intention to harm her.”
He glanced at Sean out of the corner of his eye, seeing that the taller man was still staring dutifully at the road, though his grip had somewhat lessened on the steering wheel.
“This is a much bigger problem than just Little Lily,” Dana continued, pretending to look anywhere else but it Sean, as if philosophizing some great fact about life. He made sure to temper his voice exactly as needed to keep Sean calm. “I think we’re going to have to consider that the young members of the Commission of the People believe themselves to be more powerful than they really are.”
He felt the change in Sean’s demeanor as his mind focused on something other than what had occurred that night with Lily.
“Perhaps it’s time to look further into the young people, make sure that they are obeying the rules, perhaps even scare them a little bit…”
Sean turn to Dana quickly, once again nervous.
“Always remember, Sean,” Dana said, turning to his head of security. “Fear is the only effective way to control the population.”
* *** *
John was once again feeling his tunnel vision closing in on him. Everything he had seen that night in the meeting room with Julie and Miranda had reminded him how friendly his gun had looked a few months previous.
He trailed Dana to his basement office, his eyes were the ground, his thoughts tangled, and his stomach churning with disgust. He knew he had to be careful, as he had a few other members of the security detail also behind him. Dana had called them to his office after the meeting so that they could discuss surveillance on the young people of the Commission. Sean had to remain strong until the meeting was over, but he could feel exhaustion wearing his resolve.
Dana strolled easily into his office as if nothing was out of the ordinary. A few of the human members of the security detail seemed disturbed by what they had seen in the meeting. The two members of the Eight Group who were present seemed unaware of what was causing the tension in the room. They were clearly nervous, wondering if they had done something wrong. Sean looked at Mark and nodded to try and assure him that
everything was alright.
“It seems that we have let the young people do whatever they want for far too long,” Dana noted.
“Surely this was an isolated incident,” one man said. “There are other teenagers around the entire country that get pregnant without a license. It was bound to happen at some point within the Commission. It’s just statistics. I’m not sure why you said it was some other crime…”
“It’s not about the crime,” Dan said. “It’s simply about not letting corruption settle into the Commission of the People.” Dana leaned against the front of his desk, folding his arms over his chest and looking at every figure in the room. “It is like I said in the meeting—no one in the Commission is above the law.”
Sean’s jaw clenched against everything he wanted to say. He wanted to ask why no one was keeping Dana in check and holding him responsible for his crimes.
He did not say it because he knew precisely what Dana’s answer would be.
Because everyone else let him get away with it.
“As soon as we start handing out special favors to those in the Commission just because they are in the Commission, the sooner we allow the cancer to set in to this group of politicians, and it won’t take long until the entire structure is too unstable to remain in place. The Commission will crumble if we allow anyone any leeway.”
“So what you want us to do?” one of the security men asked.
“I want you to keep an eye on all the young ones in the Commission. It seems like they’ve already established a pecking order, and there are a few who have already been victimized. While a little bit of bullying is nothing to be too worried about, I want to know if any of these young Commission members know any secrets of the others that could peg them as Commission criminals.”
“And what of the parents?”
“Definitely keep an eye on them as well. I’m sure that my display tonight upset quite a few people.” Dana leaned to one side of his desk and grabbed a stack of papers, leafing through them briefly before holding one out to each of the security team that he had called. On each piece of paper was a list of names Dana wanted investigated.
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