What Are You Willing to Risk?

by P. L. Camery

  When Lawrence walked up to Perry’s third story apartment he didn’t bother to knock. He slipped his hand into his uniform pocket and pulled out his skeleton card. His own design, it overrode the lock scanner and the door slid open.

  “Special Agent Richardson,” Perry said, not bothering to lift his head from the paperwork on his desk when Lawrence found him in his study. “I suppose I should be surprised. Why have you broken into my home?”

  “Just on a little off record assignment,” Lawrence growled as the door slid closed behind him, “you know how it is.”

  “No, I don’t,” Perry stood and turned to face him, glaring.

  “Oh?” Lawrence crossed his arms, countering the man’s gaze with a look of hatred, “I suppose what happened tonight was approved then?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Then you’re a liar,” he uncrossed his arms and clenched his hands into fists.

  “Careful Agent Richardson,” Perry’s voice was stone cold, “I’m still your superior.”

  “Not. By. Merit.”

  “I could still have you stripped of rank and status. Everything you’ve worked so hard for- gone.”

  The boy laughed humorlessly, “But to do that you would need council approval. No one else would waste their best asset for your pride.”

  They went silent and Lawrence watched as the old man crossed the room to a buffet and pulled a bottle of wine and glass from the left cabinet. Lawrence imagined slamming the bottle against the Admiral’s head as he spoke, “Why did you send the assault?”

  Perry took a sip of his wine, “What assault?”

  “Don’t play stupid.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But whoever did it is smart.” He jabbed his finger into the buffet for emphasis. “We need to scare the government, to let them know we’re serious.”

  Lawrence growled, “That’s it? A sheer act of terrorism? We’re better than that. We need to be smart with what we have, not waste it on making the populous hate us.”

  “You’re only upset because we interrupted your cast’s little party.”

  “You seriously need to stop and think for a minute!” Lawrence yelled. “Your little stunt caused more damage than it’s worth. We’re going to have an increase in manhunts, hundreds of people, both our own and innocents, under suspicion and wrongfully murdered, and we don’t even know what Dr. Lance’s new weapon is on top of it all.”

  “Oh, I thought you’d try to pull that. Don’t you worry boy. We already had a separate more qualified agent stationed to hear the information which you seemed to have missed.”

  “What, Mavis?” The admiral’s eyes darkened, and Lawrence smiled; though his next statement was a shot in the dark, he considered it to come from point blank, “Yeah, she mentioned how you gave her that secret assignment. I’d hate to break it to you, but she didn’t hear anything either. Your assault came too early.”

  The boy was pleased to see his face contort with anger, “Thank you for telling me this,” his eyes darkened dangerously, “Now that I know Cadet Cruz has been acting as a rogue, and she will have to be punished.”

  “What?” Lawrence narrowed his eyes, “But you can’t punish her, she was under your orders.”

  “No. She wasn’t.”

  Lawrence quickly replayed the previous events in his mind as he appraised Perry, “You set her up. Hoping to get the information but free to blame her if things went wrong. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, she didn’t seem to know what was going on.” The old man took a long draw from his glass and Lawrence turned away in disgust, “You’re a real bastard you know that?”

  When Lawrence was back outside, he reviewed the details in his mind: Perry is plain stupid. He’s probably going to bring the rebellion to ruin with his stupidity. He’s treacherous and has no moral standard. He used Mavis… Lawrence moaned and felt a sudden sinking in the pit of his stomach. Mavis- I need to apologize.

  *****

  The next day after school, Lawrence followed Destiny through Democris’s underground park to the bench that she and Mavis would meet at.

  “So, why the sudden interest?” Destiny asked as she plopped down on the wooden seat.

  Lawrence tilted his head, “How do you mean? Do I need a reason to hang out with you?”

  “Yes,” Destiny teased, “you wouldn’t work us into your busy agenda if there weren’t a reason.”

  The boy grinned, but it wavered when he noticed Mavis, a few feet off, glaring at him. He quickly lowered his gaze and swallowed the lump in his throat, “Hey Destiny, I’m going to go talk to Mavis for a sec, I’ll be back.” Before she had a chance to respond he strode forward, trying to offer Mavis a halfhearted smile. “Hi- uh, how are you?”

  “Fine,” her voice was emotionless and hollow.

  He took a deep breath then said, “Look, I’m sorry about what happened yesterday…”

  “Which part?” Mavis cut in, “The part where you tried to bite my head off or the part where you got me in trouble with Admiral Perry?”

  Lawrence paled, “What?”

  “Don’t play dumb,” Mavis sneered, “Perry called me in just now, basically going off how I told you about my mission and how I’m never to be trusted and can’t even follow basic orders. He said he’s going to make sure I don’t get any important missions and I’ve been sentenced to extra drills and cleaning duties. Basically, I’m lucky he didn’t have me arrested for treachery. So, I don’t know what you were trying to do but I hope this pleases you.”

  “It doesn’t,” Lawrence could feel anger boiling up within him, “I swear when I see him, I’m going to wring his neck.”

  “Don’t,” Mavis said sharply, “Just don’t, you’ll only make it worse.”

  “Mavis-” he appraised her, choosing his words carefully, “please I’m sorry, I didn’t know what was going on. I know now he’s at fault and you were just following orders and…”

  Before he could finish, she huffed and stepped around him. The boy’s heart clenched, and he simultaneously wanted to yell at her and run the opposite direction. Instead he followed in silent shame to where his sister sat waiting. She glanced between the two on them and said to Lawrence, “See, I knew you had a reason for coming!” He ignored her and watched as they fell into conversation without him. As they walked, he only half listened from his station trailing behind, hands fisted in his pockets.

  Sighing, Lawrence glanced up at the rock ceiling high overhead with its scattered holes of incoming sunshine. His mind drifted to his youth, to asking his father how the sun was able to shine underground when he could see no holes on the surface to let it through. The older man had grinned at his son, explaining how there were in fact small holes on the surface and how a series of mirrors and lenses were able to reflect and disperse the light. He then went on to say how even the smallest holes in the system could bring light to dark places. Lawrence smiled at the memory then frowned again at the thought of his parents; I wish they were still here…

  His gaze shifted back down as he noticed the rise in Mavis’s tone, “I just don’t understand it Dest, she treats him like shit and yet he follows her like a stupid dog trying to please its master.”

  “Perhaps that’s what he wants,” Lawrence said, instantly regretted his words as both girls stopped and turned to stare at him. “Or at least,” he continued, refusing to back down, “what he thinks he deserves.”

  “No one thinks,” Mavis began coldly, “they want to be treated like shit.”

  Lawrence shrugged, “True enough, but he thinks he deserves it. So that’s what he gets.” Neither girl spoke, his eyes shifted between them uncomfortably, “Who is this guy anyways? Anyone I know?” Destiny glanced to Mavis for direction, but the girl seemed to be busy with her own thoughts.

  I hope I haven’t upset her more…

  Suddenly panicked by the silence Lawrence continued, “It
’s not a big deal I mean I don’t care who it is I was just wondering.”

  Mavis looked up, “Huh? Oh, it’s a guy from my school, Roland Stone.”

  There was another minute of silence before Lawrence blurted out, “Is he your boyfriend?”

  Destiny rolled her eyes, “He wishes! I’m convinced he’s madly in love with her.”

  “Why isn’t he then? Your boyfriend I mean.”

  “He has a girlfriend,” Mavis snapped.

  Lawrence internalized a flinch, not the answer I was hoping for. “But you like him?”

  Mavis narrowed her eyes, “Why are you so interested?”

  “No reason,” the boy shoved his hands into his pockets, “just trying to make conversation.”

  Mavis shook her head then returned to conversing with Destiny, who was eager to reinstate the flow of speech. Lawrence rubbed the back of his neck and trailing behind again, but after a few seconds, he glanced at his watch, noticing a message from Cal.

  Maybe I go find Cal, he was already pulling out his phone to GPS his friend’s location, we could get to work hacking files to see what Dr. Lance is up to…

  It took ten minutes for Mavis to realize he wasn’t coming back. Disappointed, she turned to Destiny and asked, “Do you know where Lawrence ran off to?”

  Her friend shrugged, “Don’t ask me. That boy has so many projects and meetings and missions I gave up on keeping track years ago. I don’t start to get worried unless he’s been missing for a few nights.” Mavis gave her a skeptical look and Destiny continued, “Well, he gets upset and starts arguing if I ask him about it or show concern. Finally, I just figured he knows how to handle himself and if there’s a problem and he needs me to help, he’ll tell me.”

  Mavis considered this for a moment then asked, “Do you think he was right? I mean about Roland being treated badly because that’s what he wants?”

  “No,” Destiny laughed, “he doesn’t want to be pushed around by Kara, he wants you. It’s pretty obvious.”

  “Why do you think he doesn’t then, you know, commit to me?”

  “Because he’s under her spell, she won’t let him.”

  Mavis shook her head and sighed, “But it still goes back to him letting her control him- he deserves better.”

  “And so do you,” Mavis glance up, startled by the sudden U-turn of the topic, “If he doesn’t want to go for you maybe you should look for someone better, maybe another guy from school? Or how about Cal?” She seemed excited now at the prospect, “You and Cal would be perfect together!”

  “Yeah no,” Mavis laughed, “I mean I like Cal and all but no.”

  Destiny looked straight at her, “Aww, just consider it at least…”

  Mavis rolled her eyes, “Alright Dest, if I must.”

  “Yay!”

  After shaking her head, Mavis pulled out her phone to check the time. “Oh shit!” she exclaimed, “I need to go! I’m going to be late for drills!”

  ****

  After he had found Cal playing pool at their favorite retro bar, he pulled his friend away from getting hustled into another game and dragged him to the research district in Democris until they were at Lab 3. With his parents, Lawrence had reprogrammed the lock to this room years ago so that it only responded to his skeleton card, thereby giving him a personal workspace. The interior of his sort of secret layer consisted of three separate computers which rose from their hard-drives as touchscreen holograms and surrounded the user in a semicircle; a massive desk equipped with four drawers and cluttered with various papers, devices, books, notes; a miscellaneous cabinet with an array of spare parts and chemicals; rows of tables piled with projects and equipment; a utility closet; a fume hood which took up one wall, and a filing cabinet which took up another.

  Lawrence and call took up their usual spots at the computers. After a few minutes Lawrence let the primary computer run the hacking sequence for the upper cast supercomputer’s data base as Cal watched the secondary unit for any sign of interference trying to counter or infiltrate their system.

  “So, I heard the party took a turn for the worst last night,” Cal commented.

  Lawrence swiveled in his chair towards his best friend, “That is a drastic understatement.”

  “Awe shucks,” Cal snapped his fingers in mock disappointment, “sounds like fun. Wish I could have been there.”

  Lawrence laughed for the first time that day, “Yeah it was exciting, idiot Perry sent the cavalry in just in time to ruin everything…”

  “You mean improve,” Cal interrupted with a grin, “everything is improved with a dash of chaos.”

  “Yeah, well, it ruined my evening,” the boy responded, rolling his eyes, “Mavis showed up in your stead and I kind of yelled at her when the attack came,” he tried a halfhearted shrug, “in the moment I figured she’d blindsided me.”

  “What? That sweet girl?”

  “I know, not one of my brightest moments.” The sequence completed, and Lawrence used a few key strokes to redirect to Dr. Lance’s personal computer, “Thank the Guardian for the government’s obsession with documenting everything.”

  “Except for us!” Cal grinned, “No matter how much they’d absolutely love to.”

  “Amen,” Lawrence concluded as Lance’s files came up. Then he pulled up a new search engine and began muttering to himself, “Now let’s see- keyword weapons… No, no way too broad. How about rebel repression, oh geez even worse.”

  “How about rebel annihilation?” Cal joked.

  Lawrence typed it in and a file on a biological weapon caught his eye. He chuckled, “Leave it to Lance to have a flair for the grand.” He opened the file and began skim it.

  “So, I assume she’s mad at you now?” Cal asked.

  “Hmmm?”

  “Mavis.”

  “Oh,” the younger boy frowned, “yeah, I mean we didn’t talk too much before but now I feel like she’s deliberately ignoring me.”

  “Whatya gonna do about it?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ll probably walk up to her then freeze and be like, apology loading, please wait.” There was a pause as Lawrence highlighted important sections of the file and swiped upward to synch it to his tablet. On a window to his right he pulled up the rebel data base and opened the file for the drills schedule, “That asshole!”

  “What?” Cal asked.

  “Sorry I was just talking about Perry. Mavis said he assigned her to extra drills for screwing up last night and he didn’t even schedule the drills. He’s probably too chicken because he knows he’d have to give an explanation.”

  “Poor girl,” Cal commented, “she’s going to be doing all that extra work when she doesn’t have to.”

  “The hell she is!” Lawrence logged out of the government system and typed in the shutdown sequence. “Come on Cal, I’ve got the basic idea of what this is and there’s enough information saved for us to analyze it later.”

  Cal nearly jumped from his seat to follow Lawrence out the door, “Lead the way Special Agent!”

  As Lawrence and Cal approached the drill field, Lawrence could see Admiral Perry yelling at a small figure separated from the others training and struggling to do a push-up. Lawrence growled to himself and clenched his hands into fists.

  “Careful,” Cal warned, “You look a little agitated.”

  “Don’t you dare hold me back Cal.”

  “Huh?” Cal threw up his hands as his friend broke into a sprint.

  “Perry, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Back off Agent Richardson, or else I’ll have you doing drills for insubordination,” the admiral growled.

  “I’d like to see you try,” he challenged, closing the gap between them.

  “Lawrence…” Mavis moaned from the ground.

  Worry overrode all emotions as Lawrence turned and knelt beside her. “Cal…” he began as his friend came up.

  “Richardso
n!” Perry yelled, furry reddening his features.

  “…go get Mavis some water. I think she’s dehydrated.”

  “Richardson!” Lawrence glared up at him.

  “Are you trying to kill her?” the boy bellowed, “You don’t even have the right to have her here, she wasn’t signed up for drills, so back off!”

  He returned his attention to the panting girl and pulled her up so she was cradled in one arm. “Cal, give her the water.” His friend obeyed, opening the chilled bottle and slowly tipping it into her mouth. Mavis drank, and Lawrence held his breath until her breathing seemed to regulate. and after a few seconds her breathing seemed to regulate. Cradling her, the boy stood, fixing Perry with an icy glare, “Mess with her again and I’ll fight tooth and nail to ruin you. You’ll be dead to the rebellion.”

  Lawrence turned away and Perry sneered, “Better watch your back Richardson, if you don’t, you’ll be dead, and not just to the rebellion.” The boy laughed humorlessly.

  As they walked, Cal came up behind him, “Are you qualified to keep that promise Special Agent?”

  Lawrence felt his heart constricted as he stared down at girl who was passed-out in his arms. “I’ll have to be.”

  *****

  As Mavis came to, she felt a wave of panic and squirmed in her confined arrangement. A gentle squeeze made her realize she was in a pair of arms, and the tight space was due to the soft blanket wrapped around her. Slowly, she blinked her eyes open, and as her vision adjusted, taking in the male figure holding her, she said, “La- oh, Cal.”

  “Morning sleepy head,” the boy responded in a playful sing song voice, “What? You were hoping for someone else?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, okay,” he sounded almost disappointed, “Cause I’m not the one who’s been holding you so don’t think I’m the one who’s crushing on you. I’m just a sub.”