Virtue of War

by L O Addison

  “They come every second Thursday of the month,” Matteo said. “There’s always extra security that day. It’s when the Shepherd visits, too.”

  Kaylin raised her eyebrows. “You mean the Shepherd doesn’t live at the main base?”

  Matteo shook his head. “No. He visits about three times a month, but he doesn’t spend much time there.”

  “But he’s their main leader,” Duval said. “What kind of leader doesn’t spend time at his own base?”

  Matteo shrugged. “It’s how he chooses to run things. No one ever questions the Shepherd.”

  Kaylin did a quick calculation in her head. “It’s three days until the Ascendancy is due to visit the Wardens’ base,” she said, struggling to keep from sounding panicked. “That’s probably when the Wardens are going to hand the Virtue over to them.”

  “So we only have three days to get the Virtue back before we lose it to the Ascendancy for good,” Beck said.

  “It’ll only be three days if we’re lucky," Lio said grimly. "I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ascendancy came ahead of schedule. They won’t want the Virtue in human hands for long.”

  The room went silent, as if the weight of their predicament had simply crushed all the noise from the room.

  Then Beck took a deep breath and said, "This changes nothing. Our plan is still the same: we do a stealth entry into the base, steal the Virtue, and get out."

  Matteo bit his lip. "I stand by what I said before," he said quietly. "I don't think you have any chance of getting in. Especially not if there's extra security posted."

  "What if we avoided the main entrances and tried to find another way in?" Beck asked. "There are hundreds of miles of tunnels in Paris. There have to be some smaller entrance points the Wardens don't know about."

  Matteo frantically shook his head. “No. There’s a reason the Wardens don’t bother guarding every tiny crack that leads into the tunnels. They were all boobytrapped during the Syndicate invasion.”

  Beck frowned and gestured between himself and Kaylin. "We fought in the Syndicate War from the beginning to the end. You really think we don’t know how to handle a few boobytraps?”

  Matteo shook his head. “You don’t understand. Civilians laid traps there when they took shelter in the tunnels at the beginning of the Syndicate invasion, and then the French military laid more traps, and then the Syndicate laid their own traps to kill French soldiers. And then when the Syndicate invasion was over, the Wardens took over those tunnels and laid even more traps to ensure no one could make it to their base without an invitation. These days, you can’t walk further than a yard through those tunnels without running into either a trap or a skeleton.”

  Kaylin rubbed at her face and let out a curse. "Isn't there anyone who knows how to get through the tunnels?"

  "The top officials in the Wardens have maps, but they're obviously not going to share it with you," Matteo said. "And some street kids have figured out the safe paths, but they know the Wardens will kill them if they help someone break in. So they're not going to be any help, either."

  Duval narrowed his eyes on Kaylin. “If there’s no safe way to breach the base, then we should send in the thief alone. Isn’t she the expert at sneaking into places she doesn’t belong?”

  “I’m a thief, not a magician,” Kaylin snapped. “I know how to get through locked doors and crack safes. But I can’t magically deactivate boobytraps that are meant to take out entire squadrons of soldiers.”

  Duval sat back in his chair, his arms crossed, and turned to Beck. “I wouldn’t object to making her try anyway. If she lives, the Virtue is recovered and all is well. If she gets killed, it’s no loss. She’ll likely be sentenced to death anyway.”

  Kaylin gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to snarl a retort. But before she could reply, Beck snapped, “The Resistance has a legal system for dealing with criminals, and it doesn’t involve sending them on suicide missions.”

  He kept his tone calculating, but Kaylin knew him well enough to see the anger in his expression. It eased her panic just a little to know that at least one person at this table didn’t want her dead.

  “I second this,” Lio said, his tone disapproving. “I won’t have lives needlessly wasted.”

  Duval nodded stiffly. “Then we’ll have to explore other options to secure the Virtue.”

  Silence descended on the room again. Kaylin wracked her brain, trying to think of some way to get inside the Wardens’ base, but it was useless. They had too little time and too little intel.

  Duval was the first to break the silence. “I can only think of one other way to ensure the Virtue’s safety.”

  An uncomfortable feeling clawed at Kaylin’s gut. She had a feeling she knew where this was going, and she didn’t like it one bit.

  Lio tilted his head. “What exactly would our other option be?”

  “Bomb the base,” Duval said. “Destroy it and bury the Virtue under a million tons of rubble. Take the Wardens out in one fell sweep, before this war can escalate further.”

  “No!” Matteo cried.

  The entire room turned to look at him. Matteo flinched under their gazes, but his eyes burned with desperation as he said, “You don’t understand. That base doubles as their training camp. At least a quarter of the people living there are orphans they’ve recruited off the streets. They’re just desperate kids.”

  “We’re aware of this,” Duval said, his voice quiet and somber. “Believe me, I don’t make this suggestion lightly.”

  “How the hell can you even think of bombing the place?” Kaylin demanded. She gave up on trying for a diplomatic tone, letting anger burn in her words.

  Duval just went silent and ran a hand over his short beard. For just a second, his stoic mask broke, and Kaylin saw pain lining his expression.

  “Fifty million,” he said quietly. “That’s how many children Earth lost during the Syndicate invasion. And that’s being conservative. There are already whispers that the war with the Ascendancy is going to be even more devastating.”

  Duval shifted his gaze over to Lio. “This Virtue is dangerous enough that the Rhuramenti sent you across the galaxy to contain it. If the Ascendancy gets hold of a weapon that powerful…” He slowly shook his head. “There’s no telling how many millions more deaths there could be.”

  “This isn’t a math equation,” Kaylin snapped, anger flaring in her chest. “Those kids aren’t just numbers. They’re living, breathing victims. You can’t just drop a bomb on their heads and claim you’re saving lives.”

  Beside her, Red stirred from his nap and growled at the sound of Kaylin’s raised voice. He reared up, planting his front paws on the edge of the table. He hissed, the spikes along his back raising as he locked eyes with the commander.

  “Get that damn beast under control before I shoot it,” Duval snarled at Kaylin. He jabbed a finger toward her. “And get yourself under control, too. You have no right to criticize us. You’re the one who stole the Virtue and placed it in the hands of the Wardens. If it wasn’t for your greed and stupidity, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion!”

  Kaylin looked down at the table, swallowing hard to keep herself from admitting that she wasn’t the thief. They wouldn’t believe her, and even if by some miracle they did, they’d just kill her when they realized they had no use for her.

  She shushed Red, waving him away from the table. He laid back down at her feet, but a low growl still rumbled deep in his throat.

  Duval started to speak, but then Lio raised his hands, cutting off the commander. “Regardless of Kaylin’s crimes, I agree with her. We must avoid bombing the base.”

  “He’s right,” Matteo said, his voice rising to a panicked note. “You can’t bomb them.”

  Duval shot him a sharp glance. “In case you’ve forgotten what those handcuffs are for, you are our prisoner. You don’t get to tell us what we can and can’t do.”

  “But I can,” Lio said sharply. “Commander Duval, I demand th
at you find another option.”

  “We don’t have other options,” Duval said firmly. “The Ascendancy will be arriving any day. If we don’t have the Virtue protected by then, the Ascendancy will get hold of it.”

  “Bombing the base won’t be enough to destroy the Virtue,” Marin said, her voice cold. “It’s built to withstand even the most powerful weapons. Even the Rhuramenti don’t know how to completely destroy a Virtue.”

  “We don’t need to destroy it,” Duval argued. “We just need to keep it out of the Ascendancy’s hands. Bombing the base would accomplish that. The Wardens would be ruined, and the Virtue would be buried deep underground. And once the bombing ends, we could send in our soldiers to fend off the Ascendancy from trying to unearth the Virtue.”

  Kaylin whirled toward Beck, silently urging him to disagree. He swallowed hard, his brow furrowed as he considered what Duval had said. Then he quietly said, “I agree with Ambassador Lio. I don’t like this plan.”

  Duval scowled. “Did you not hear what I said? I don’t like it, either. But we’re running out of options.” The commander let out a long breath and braced his palms against the table, turning back to Lio. “Ambassador, believe me, I don’t recommend this lightly. It would be a horrible thing to do. But I genuinely believe that killing a small number now could prevent the loss of millions of lives in the future.”

  “Murdering, not killing,” Kaylin said coldly. “There are kids trapped in that base. Bombing them would be murder, plain and simple.”

  Duval shot her an incredulous glance. “You really think you have the right to lecture us about morality? You’re a thief.”

  Kaylin almost snarled something to defend herself, but Beck reached under the table and rested a comforting hand on her knee. Kaylin took a deep breath and composed herself, keeping silent and turning to Lio instead.

  Nothing she said mattered to these people. But Lio’s opinion did.

  The ambassador’s face was even paler than normal, his thin lips pulled into a grim lime. He took a deep breath as he surveyed the table, his ice blue eyes flickering between everyone seated there. His gaze finally landed on Marin, as if he was desperately hoping for some advice from her. But her expression remained impassive.

  Lio took a shuddering breath. Then he quietly said, “This is a decision that is far beyond my level of experience. In normal circumstances, I would refuse to give my opinion until consulting with the Council. But given that the Ascendancy will be arriving in a matter of days, I don’t have that luxury.”

  He went silent for a long moment. Kaylin leaned forward anxiously, but Marin just gave him a small, encouraging nod.

  Lio cleared his throat and then said, “We must not do anything that would cause undue harm. I believe we can all agree on that.” He turned toward Duval and said, “Commander, I’d like for you to get your bombers ready to deploy.”

  “What?” Kaylin cried.

  Lio turned toward her, and the strained look of defeat on his face made Kaylin shut up. Lines of pain crinkled his forehead, and horror widened his eyes. But his tone remained firm as he said, “If it’s our only option, then we have to take it. We have no choice.”

  Lio’s voice lowered to a hushed whisper as he added, “You don’t understand what you’re dealing with. You don’t understand just how devastating it would be for the Ascendancy to get hold of that Virtue.”

  Kaylin turned toward Beck, silently pleading for him to do something, anything to put an end to this. Shock overtook Beck’s expression, and he stared mutely at Lio for a long minute. Then he finally managed to choke out, “There are hundreds of kids inside that compound. Hundreds.”

  Lio let out a ragged breath. “I know. But there is simply no other choice.”

  Kaylin opened her mouth to curse out the ambassador, to tell him he was a sick fool, that he was just as bad as every power-drunk official on Earth. But all that ended up coming out was, “Let me at least try.”

  No one said anything for a long moment. Then Duval turned to her and raised his eyebrows. “Pardon?”

  “I said, let me try,” she repeated, although it was harder to choke out the words a second time as it dawned on her exactly what she was saying. She took a deep breath. “You say it’s a suicide mission to break into the base. You also say you want me dead. So let me try to break in. If I somehow get in, I’ll get the Virtue and bring it back, and you don’t need to drop any bombs. If I don’t…” She shrugged, doing her best to keep terror from seeping into her voice. “Then it’s no loss to you, right?”

  Duval gave her a disbelieving look, while Lio’s eyes widened in shock. Beck shook his head and opened his mouth, clearly ready to protest. But Kaylin shot him a sharp look that was harsh enough to silence him. Beck slowly closed his mouth and nodded.

  He understood. Nothing would ever make up for the lives her careless actions had stolen. Nothing would ever bring back the innocent kids that had been killed on her last mission for the Resistance. But saving the kids inside that base—or at least trying to—was the closest she could get to redemption.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Beck said quietly.

  Kaylin nodded. “I know. But I want to.”

  Duval rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. Then he nodded to her wrist. “You understand that the taros bracelet works from long distance, don’t you? If you try to run anywhere but inside that base, we won’t hesitate to hit you with a dose of taros sedative that will stop your heart."

  Kaylin swallowed hard. “I understand.”

  Duval turned to Lio and raised his eyebrows. “What do you think, Ambassador?”

  Lio pursed his lips tightly, but then he slowly said, “If Kaylin is as good of a thief as she claims, then I believe there might be a very small chance she could recover the Virtue. As long as she understands that she’ll most likely die, and as long as she’s willing to take that risk, I see no reason why we should stop her.”

  Duval nodded grimly and turned to Kaylin. “All right. I’ll permit it.” He rubbed at his chin and added, “You have twenty-four hours. If you can get the Virtue by then and return it to us, we’ll call off the bombing. If not...” He let out a defeated sigh and shook his head. “We’ll have no choice but to go ahead with the bombing.”

  “Thank you,” Kaylin murmured.

  She was pretty sure she shouldn’t be thanking a man who was choosing to send her on a suicide mission. But her brain suddenly felt numb with fear, and she didn’t know what else to say.

  Beck cleared his throat. “I’m going with her.”

  It took Kaylin a long, disbelieving second to register what he had just said. Then she turned to him and blurted out, “What?”

  Beck didn’t even flinch under her incredulous stare. He just looked straight at Duval and said, “I can’t let you drop those bombs. So I’m going to retrieve the Virtue so you don’t have to.”

  Kaylin gaped at him, struggling to believe what she was hearing. Duval’s surprised expression turned to pure incredulousness, and he couldn’t seem to find any words.

  Finally, Kaylin blurted out, “Beck, you do understand what the ‘suicide’ part of a ‘suicide mission’ means, right?”

  He turned to her and said in a strangely calm voice, “We’re probably going to die.”

  “Yeah,” she said, nodding frantically. “Like probably definitely going to die.”

  He shrugged. “We have to at least try.”

  “You’re insane!”

  He scowled at her. “Well, you started it.”

  “But I have a reason to do it!” she insisted. “You don’t.”

  Beck shook his head. “When I joined the Resistance, I swore to protect the innocent. That’s enough reason for me.”

  A lump grew in Kaylin’s throat. She wanted to shower him with thanks, and at the same time, beg him not to go. She could deal with the thought of giving her life to try to protect the kids inside that base—she owed it to the world, after what she’d done. But she wasn’t sure she coul
d handle the thought of Beck doing the same.

  But it wasn’t her choice. Never had been, never would be. No matter how obedient Beck seemed at times, Kaylin knew he was his own person. And if he’d made up his mind to go, nothing was going to stop him.

  Duval cleared his throat and folded his hands, struggling to cover his obvious shock. “If that’s your decision, I won’t stop you,” he said to Beck. “But please know that no one will think less of you if you don’t go.”

  “Thank you,” Beck said. “But I choose to go with Kaylin.”

  “I’m going, too,” Matteo said. Before anyone could protest, he turned to Duval and said, “I have friends inside that base. Friends who want to escape the Wardens but can’t. I’d rather die than just sit here and let you bomb them.”

  His voice took on a fierce note, and he narrowed his eyes, just daring Duval to protest. But the commander just nodded.

  “I understand,” he said grimly. “If you’d like to go with them, I’ll allow it. If Beck and Kaylin manage to get inside the base, I’m sure it would be helpful to have someone with them who knows the layout.”

  Matteo let out a relieved sigh and nodded in agreement. He didn’t look at all nervous, only determined, and Kaylin realized he truly meant what he’d said. He actually wanted to go with them.

  Her gut twisted with a sudden feeling of guilt. She’d volunteered to go as a way to redeem herself, but now it seemed like she was just going to get Beck and Matteo killed.

  Or maybe not. Maybe they could pull this off. Maybe they could actually get inside that base and get out with the Virtue in hand.

  She took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on that possibility, no matter how far-fetched it seemed.

  Duval let out a long sigh and nodded. “All right. The three of you have twenty-four hours, and not a minute more.” He looked at Beck and said, “We’ll supply you with any weapons or equipment you need. Just give me a list.”

  Beck turned to Kaylin and raised his eyebrows. Kaylin forced herself to breathe slowly in and out. Thieving was her area of expertise. If they were going to make it safely in and out of the base, she was going to be the one to guide them.