by Gareth Otton
“Thank God,” norman said. “If we can catch her brother, find the mole in the FBI and stop nightmares all by the start of the news cycle tomorrow, then we might just be able to hold this war off a little longer. In fact, we might be able to push it back indefinitely. A mole in the FBI is the sort of thing that will set the American’s heads reeling, and they will be more concerned with that than us. This is good work, Stella.”
“Lucky work,” she said. “Had she not chose tonight to walk into Tad’s kitchen, then we would still be clutching at straws. What do you think we should do about Astur?”
“Nothing,” Amelia answered for the Prime Minister. “Like Norman said, that’s what will save our arses in all this. I will have our PR people leak it to the press and within twelve hours the Americans will do our job for us.”
Tad could see Stella didn’t like hearing that. He suspected she wanted a shot at Astur herself.
“It’s for the best,” Tad said, hoping to rein her in. Stella sighed and looked over to the monitor where there was yet another flash of light and more screaming.
“I didn’t expect that,” she admitted, nodding at the monitor. “I will have to arrange medical attention if I want to keep her talking tonight. Are we done here?”
Not looking tired at all, Norman nodded. However, his eyes were fixed on the monitor with fascination.
“They’re amazing,” he said. “Just a simple design and all that power.”
“Yeah, well, hopefully those simple designs will help stop nightmares once and for all,” Stella said. With that, she excused herself and walked out of the room. After a final few seconds watching the footage, Norman looked away and followed her. Of course where he went, Amelia wasn’t far behind.
That left Tad alone, watching the screen and feeling like a third wheel. Right now there was nothing for him to do, and despite Tony still being merged with him, he was starting to feel his exhaustion. Unlike Stella, he needed sleep. Taking one last look at what was happening in the interrogation room, he realised that tomorrow would be another busy day.
“Growler,” he called, waking up the puppy who’d long since fallen asleep. The little guy yawned wide, then wagged his tail as Tad reached down to stroke him before scooping him up and holding him close. “Let’s go home, boy.”
Growler snuffled once in agreement, and Tad changed the channel.
27
Sunday, 17th July 2016
18:01
“Everyone, calm down,” Jacob said, arms raised and repeating himself for the third time. This time he used Dream to augment his voice and cut through the noise of sixty-eight dreamwalkers. It was their largest turnout yet. If only it was for a more positive reason.
Once again Jacob skipped their competition to create somewhere fantastical to host this week’s meeting, opting for his garden once more. Last week it was because of his injury, this week it was because of the mood.
Tad had been dreading this meeting for two days. When Mitena appeared, he’d hoped it would be the beginning of the end for their troubles. Unfortunately, progress was painfully slow.
Trevors’ Team failed to catch Kuruk before he left his hideout, the American government had somehow squashed Amelia’s mole in the FBI story, and Mitena’s injuries from destroying her dreamcatchers had been so severe that Stella had no choice but to postpone speaking to her. She’d led five, two-hour-long sessions, but they were making painfully slow progress.
Mitena had explained her process for creating the dreamcatchers, but the struggle was in replicating her success. Mitena was confident they would work on nightmares, but they would need to be mass produced. Every bedroom in the Borderlands needed one before they could put this nightmare situation to bed.
Therefore Tad was left with little news to appease the crowd tonight, and they hadn’t even given him the chance to hand that over. Between the news of the explosion and the American deaths, they were scared and the unruly response was kind of deserved.
“That’s better,” Jacob said as the silence settled. “I understand you’re eager to be heard tonight, but talking over each other won’t help. Now, we finished last week by giving Tad the chance to look into these troubles. It’s only fair that we hear the latest news from him before we descend into chaos.”
Turning to Tad, he mouthed the words good luck before taking his seat.
Tad felt the eyes of every dreamwalker fall upon him. He couldn’t see them of course, because in Dream he was almost as blind as he was without Tony. However, he could feel them in his head, knew instinctively where they were, what they looked like and so much more. In many ways it was better than seeing. However, today, when he could do with making eye contact with people, the situation wasn’t ideal.
Slowly, he climbed to his feet.
“Evening everyone,” he said, but got only stony silence in response. “What a week.” There were a few quiet chuckles, but still a quiet crowd. “Right, update. Well since last week, the Dream Team have identified the two killers responsible for all the deaths so far.”
“We know that. You nearly got yourself blown up going after them,” someone muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Yeah, American heroes too,” Brad, their normally friendly Texan, chipped in.
“I know. You can trust me when I say every effort was made for that not to be the case. Unfortunately, things worked against us that day that—”
“What things?” Brad interrupted, fury bubbling under his already loud voice.
“Everyone, calm down,” Jacob repeated, once more holding up his hands. “You’re attacking the man before hearing what he has to say. What’s wrong with you? We’re better than this.” A shamed silence fell over the crowd and Jacob turned back to Tad. “Sorry brother, please continue.”
Tad hesitated another moment, carefully weighing his words to not set off this volatile crowd. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to say this first part and people weren’t going to like it.
“I have been sworn to secrecy on the reason for the mission failure until—”
He never got to finish his sentence. Dreamwalkers started shouting furiously about how that was ridiculous and frankly he agreed. It was one of his most heated argument to date with the Prime Minister. However, political pressure had come down hard to squash the mole in the FBI angle until the Americans knew more, and the Prime Minister feared reprisals should it leak sooner. He’d sworn Tad to privacy as a result.
Tad let them shout for a full minute, flinching every time a comment felt particularly mean spirited. However, soon he was losing patience. They had every right to be annoyed at what had happened over the last week, but after the week Tad had just been through, he wasn’t about to stand here and take this disrespect much longer.
Thunder, loud as anything Tad had heard in the real world, broke directly over their heads, so close it made Tad’s fillings vibrate and his joints ache. Accompanying the thunder was a change in the light, the warm, golden sunlight being replaced with the ominous grey of an oncoming storm. The temperature dropped, the air pressure made ears pop, and in just seconds the world had transformed itself from a comfortable summer afternoon to the moment before a world-ending storm.
Tad stood at the eye of this storm and only tried to speak again when he felt every eye on him.
“I’m sorry for the theatrics, but I’m done with interruptions. I’ve had a shitty week, and most of that was on your behalf. You don’t have to thank me for it, but don’t waste my time and belittle me to my face or we’ll be finishing this meeting early.”
Even Brad had nothing to say in response and the silence stretched for a full ten seconds before Tad spoke again.
“Now, as you all know, I have split loyalties. I have my loyalties to you, my loyalties to the Dream Team, and my loyalties to the government. I am trying my best to find a balance between all that whilst staying true to my conscience. I am sorry that’s not to all of your liking, but being as no one has stepped forward to help, I
’m fed up of apologising for being pulled every-which-way by a job that is frankly too big for me.
“In the meantime, let me fill you in with what I know. Yes, there are secrets that I can’t reveal, but I have news you will want to hear. Once you have done so, yell all you like. But until then, stop wasting my time.”
Again the silence stretched for seconds without interruption.
“The strike against Kuruk Campbell and Mitena Campbell did not go as planned for reasons outside our control. Though it doesn’t look like it now, I was seriously injured, so please take that as proof that I am trying my hardest. I can not tell you the exact circumstances why it ended up the way it did for fear of starting a much larger problem. However, rest assured that we know exactly what happened, it’s being dealt with, and you will all know more within a day or so.
“Now, onto other news. The strike against the Campbells did not bear fruit until the early hours of Friday morning. It turned out that the trap my team walked into was a surprise to Mitena Campbell and has woken her up to certain facts. She has since turned herself in to me and the Dream Team.”
Excited whispers broke out again, but another rumble of thunder, this one a touch quieter, soon put a stop to that.
“We have interviewed her and removed her ability to strike at us directly. I can tell you that their success is due to the dreamcatcher designs we spoke about last week. Using the Children of ADaM attack on the King Dream Gate a few weeks ago as a distraction, they snuck into Dream and trapped dreams directly into their skin using dreamcatcher tattoos. This gave them access, albeit limited, to the power of that Dream in the real world. It was how they managed to dreamwalk and it was how they got the upper hand on some of the more recent murders.
“Mitena Campbell’s have all been neutralised and she is sharing any information she has about them with the Dream Team as we speak.”
He told them a little more about Mitena’s history, the reasons she and Kuruk were on their crusade, and the utterly tragic events that had kicked all this off. He also mentioned that now they had her in custody she would spend the rest of her life in prison and from there she would start using her knowledge of dreamcatchers to help stop the nightmares that were plaguing the Borderlands.
“Beyond this, she has also agreed to help us capture her brother. Between the dreamwalkers on the Dream Team, the Dream Team themselves and now Mitena’s dreamcatchers, it should only be a matter of time before Kuruk Campbell is contained. Luckily, it seems that Mitena was the brains behind their dreamcatcher art and we don’t have to worry about this carrying on past Kuruk.
“So, we are not out of the woods yet, but we are a damn sight closer than where we were last Sunday. We have plans in place that I will not talk about tonight to hopefully finish this in the next couple of days. As always, I would like to again open up an offer to come work with us at the Dream Team. We desperately need help and things like what happened on Thursday would be easier with more dreamwalker support. However, it is still optional, so please, if you’re interested, see me after the meeting.”
Without waiting for a response or fielding any questions, he returned to his seat.
For nearly thirty seconds after he sat down there was silence, almost as though everyone was too afraid to stand up and talk after he was finished. Finally, it was Jacob who broke the stalemate as he climbed to his feet.
“Tad, I think I can speak for everyone when I apologise for what must seem like a monumental amount of ingratitude for your hard work and sacrifices. I hope you can understand we speak out of fear for our safety, not as any personal comment on you, the Dream Team, or the incredible work you have done for us. Does anyone disagree with that statement?” he asked the crowd. After a chorus of people saying no, he continued. “You were correct, a lot of what you told us is good news. However, there is still a lot to worry about.
“I would like to know more about how Kuruk trapped you and kill so many of your team. I’d also like to know how he continues to evade you now you have his sister in custody. I wonder why Mitena handed herself into you on Friday morning and this is the first we’ve heard of it. Most of all, I’d like to know how the dreamcatchers figured out where each of their targets were and if whatever system they were using puts any of us in danger.”
Tad groaned and rubbed his tired eyes. Of all the people he thought he could rely on in these meetings, he hadn’t expected Jacob to turn on him. Sure, he had started off nice, but those questions sounded more like accusations than simple queries. The worst part was that he didn’t know how to answer them.
Best start with the hardest part, he thought to himself, and admitted a hard truth out loud.
“Yes, we know how they were targeting people, and yes there is a small chance… and I stress the word small, that people in this meeting need to be worried.”
He might as well said the world was ending for all the restraint they showed. The noise started up like it had never stopped, a wall of outraged questions and angry dreamwalker voices that Tad longed to silence with another thunder clap. However, the last two had clearly not had any lasting effect, so this time he just settled deeper into his lawn chair to wait it out. He didn’t have to wait long.
Strangely, Jacob didn’t need thunder to quiet them, nor even his voice this time. He simply raised both hands as though in surrender, and the whole group quieted down.
Nice trick, Tad thought to himself, and the fingers of his damaged hand started twitching faster in annoyance.
“How is it that they are targeting us?” he asked Tad directly.
Tad groaned again, but there was no help for it. “I am not allowed to say.”
Again the voices rose in protest, but this time they were silenced faster. Jacob raised one hand and everyone was silent.
“Tad, I’m sorry brother because I say this with the utmost respect, but that isn’t good enough. If whatever process they are using to find us will put us in danger, we have a right to know.”
“Normally I’d agree, but this time it really won’t help anyone. If everyone is on alert, that’s all you can do, anyway. In the meantime we are trying to close this—”
“It aint your decision to make this time, boy,” Brad spoke up, his Texan drawl cutting through Tad’s words easily. “We listened to you and gave you your head last week, and you’ve done all you can with it. But I’m done waiting for you to fix my problem. Either you tell me what you know about how they’re coming for us, or I’m going home now and I’ll defend myself how I see fit.”
“Please, I beg you. Don’t make a bad situation worse,” Tad started, but he was interrupted again, this time by Jacob’s DJ voice.
“He’s right, Tad. We gave you a chance.”
“Gave me a chance? I had a week. In that week we identified the killers, took one of the dreamcatchers responsible into custody and we have identified how they are targeting people. And that’s just one week. Imagine what I could do with two.”
“And again we appreciate it, but we can’t just wait to be killed because you’ve nearly solved it. I’m sorry brother, but we need that information now.”
Hearty cheers ran around the circle in response to Jacob’s words, and Tad felt his spirits drop. He was about to make one last attempt to change their minds, but Jacob beat him to it.
“Tad, I know you might have to betray a trust to tell us what we want to know, but not doing so will be betraying our trust.”
“It’s more than betraying a trust,” Tad tried to explain. “It could risk operational security for future actions.”
“Tad, the time has come to make a choice. Everyone in this circle has a vested interest in you coming out on top of this. If you really do have plans to see this put to bed as soon as possible, then you need to decide once and for all about whether you trust us or not. I would argue for trusting us because who better than us to have your back when it's in all our favour to do so. But you can’t keep coming here asking us to trust you and not giving us anything
in return. Trust is a two-way street, brother. You keep asking for help, well this is the only way you will get it. You have to trust us.”
Tad struggled to remain calm and not tremble when all he wanted to do was give in. The trouble was that deep down he agreed with Jacob whole heartedly. If he were in their shoes, he would want to know everything and wouldn’t take someone telling him to blindly trust them at face value. However, Tad could see it from both sides and potentially trusting these people could betray a trust somewhere else.
Jacob and the rest of the dreamwalkers waited with far more patience than he had any right to ask of them, but as the minutes passed, he came no closer to an answer. He just didn’t know what to do, and even in that hesitation, he was letting people down.
When he finally came to his decision, he knew they wouldn’t like it. But he didn’t have any other choice.
Taking a deep breath and preparing for the inevitable, he finally answered Jacob’s question in the only way he felt was right.
28
Monday, 18th July 2016
19:20
Stella looked up from pages of ornate dreamcatcher designs to the monitor on her desk that showed Mitena being loaded into the back of an unmarked van ready for transfer to a secure military base. She was covered in bandages and moving stiffly, but having decided to leave her with the healing dreamcatcher to help her handle the burns, she was doing better than she had any right to.
Something about the scene bugged Stella. The footage was making her queasy and soon enough she had to look away and close her eyes, forcibly pushing the image from her mind and trying to settle her stomach.
An Idol, her mind whispered as once again she thought what that queasiness meant. Even days after getting those answers, she struggled with them. Being compared to mythical Greek deities was a hard pill to swallow, but she was coming to terms with it. As usual, Tad helped. He mentioned how stories have a way of getting exaggerated over time, and he suspected that the greek myths were overblown. Thinking that way and comparing it to what Tad could do, it started making sense.