by A. K. DuBoff
“Officially rejoining the Taran Empire won’t change who we are—it will afford us the necessary stability and resources to be our best selves. Culture will flourish, and we’ll finally be able to set aside the petty disagreements that have plagued our people for the past three centuries. For this reason, I move for immediate ratification of Elusian Alliance’s reunification agreement with the Taran Empire and move for the Mysaran Coalition to do likewise.”
His press secretary’s mouth dropped open. “Sir, that’s…”
“You’re the wordsmith, Ellen. I’m sure you can come up with a way to soften the blow. But that’s the message.”
She took a shaky breath. “How do you want this delivered?”
“I’ll say it myself. Have a speech draft on my desk by the end of the day. We’ll make the announcement at 07:00.”
Ellen gave a reluctant nod. “Yes, sir.”
Joris watched her leave and then walked up to his window to gaze out over the city. He had no way of knowing how the speech would be received, but he was certain he was about to make history.
— — —
Kira knocked on the outer glass wall of Leon’s office. “Hey. Look who you couldn’t get rid of.”
Her friend glanced up from his work in surprise. “How’d you get over here?”
She shrugged. “I convinced Monica to let me shadow you.” She had more to say, but it couldn’t be said aloud where others might be listening in.
Gazing into Leon’s eyes, she formed a direct telepathic link. “Pretty sure Monica’s going to have security watching me like hawks, so I need you to run interference for me,” she told him.
He got a look on his face that only an old friend who knew her too well could, already anticipating a crazy plan. He formed a response in his mind, “What do you have in mind?”
“Just a little poking around. Nothing too invasive.”
He sighed. “What have you seen so far?” he asked aloud.
Kira leaned against the edge of his desk and grabbed a small metal planet model, one of the few personal items on the obsessively tidy desktop. She tossed it back and forth between her hands. “I got to spend the last hour in C Wing communing with a gerbil.”
Leon’s face scrunched up. “Wait, what?”
“You really don’t want to know.”
He took the metal planet from her and set it back in its holder, straightening the base to square alignment. He resumed eye contact with her to continue their telepathic conversation. “Okay, so C Wing. You’ve already been somewhere I’ve never had access to. I doubt hanging out here with me is going to get you anywhere.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t have a computer down there.”
“Kira, you cannot use my computer to hack into the MTech system,” Leon said in a terse mental tone.
“When you agreed to be liaison for this mission, you committed to help me out with anything I needed to uncover the target information. Right now, that’s use of your computer.”
“You’re going to get me fired—or worse.”
“The very fact that you’re worried about an ‘or worse’ is precisely why we have to do this.” She paused. “But what makes you say that? You didn’t give any indication of danger before.”
“I…” He focused on his computer monitor. “It’s probably nothing, but I overheard someone in the break room this morning mention that one of their acquaintances from the employee housing community wasn’t around the last two mornings. They normally commuted together.”
“Where’d this person work?”
“That’s the only reason I’m mentioning it now. I guess it was some sort of ‘special assignment’ connected to B Wing in some way.”
Kira kicked back in her chair, pretending to wait while Leon looked something up. “Is that suspicious somehow?”
“Not unto itself, no. But when I looked him up, Tim Masters, there was no employee record.”
“So, either he’s been ghosted, he’s attached to some secret division, or both.”
Leon wilted in his chair. “You’ve got it.”
Kira got a devious glint in her eyes. “Hey, I think there’s some really involved genetic model you need to show me on your computer. Maybe teach me how the software is used? Might take some hands-on learning on my part.”
“Yeah, I’m happy to give you a demonstration,” Leon replied aloud, then added in his mind, “Shite, Kira, you better help me find a new job when this is over.”
“I’m sure we can work something out.” She shooed him from his chair and sat down.
Leon grabbed the visitor chair and pulled it up next to her. “Here, let me pull up an example file for us to walk through.” He leaned over and brought up a menu with some genetic sequences and displayed one on the main monitor, which was visible from outside the office. He then cleared part of the interactive desktop to give her a covert place for her hacking work.
“I doubt I’ll get very far,” she muttered. “I’ll need a passcode to get into anything secure without drawing attention.”
He caught her gaze. “Are you suggesting doing a Reading of someone?”
“If I have to. Unfortunately, Monica’s the only person I’m certain would have such a passcode, but she’s impossible to read.”
Leon’s brow wrinkled with confusion.
“Oh yeah, by the way, Monica is Gifted—like, she quit TSS telekinesis training.”
“What?!” He then continued telepathically, “Like, an actual…?”
“Yeah, she must wear contacts to hide the bioluminescent glow. Would have been an Agent if she didn’t have such a diabolical streak.”
“How do you know she has abilities?” Leon asked, his eyes wide with wonder.
She smiled over her shoulder at him. “How do you think?”
“Shite, Kira. You tried to read her mind? She’s probably expecting you to do exactly what you’re doing!”
“Which is why we have to move quickly. Until she tips her hand, I’m staying the course. I don’t have another choice.”
Leon released a long breath and ran his fingers through his light brown hair.
“Relax,” she told him. “Just show me this genetic model of yours.”
Kira tuned out Leon’s half-hearted explanation of the model while she returned her attention to tunneling through the MTech computer system. Eventually, she reached a quartered off section of the network. “My, my. What have we here?”
“That’s a lot of data,” Leon commented out loud before he caught himself. “Must be some serious models, or videos—something—to be hogging that much space.”
“Like a whole secret division.” Kira gnawed on her lip. “I need to find out where it is, physically.”
“Kira…”
“Stop. Be supportive or make no comment.”
He nodded.
“Now, when do people normally head home for the day?”
“Around 18:00 most days. Why?”
“Because once most people head out, the cleaning crew steps in. And if anyone knows about secret doors in the facility, it’s the people operating in the background.”
“Even if you find a door, how do you expect to get in?”
“We find someone with the right access.” She smiled. “You really know your stuff with these genetic models.
“Thanks.” Leon sighed. “I never should have agreed to this.”
“No take-backsies.” Kira patted his arm. “We’ll go on an expedition after lunch. Maybe we can catch one of the early cleaning crew.”
“For the record, I do not endorse this plan.”
Despite his grumblings, Leon proved to be a good sport for the rest of the morning while Kira counted down the minutes to their lunch break. Her desire for a salad had continued to intensify. At last, he escorted her to the cafeteria, which she’d seen briefly during her tour the prior afternoon.
The room was filled with people from across the A Division. What Leon didn’t need to know was that Kira had no intention of t
racking down a single individual to give her a lead. If there were people around that wing who knew something relevant, there was a good chance they’d pass through the lunch hub at some point in the next half hour, and she’d get all of their stories.
“Forgive me if I’m not too talkative,” Kira said while they got in line. “I’m ravenous. That test this morning really did a number on me.”
“Sure, don’t worry about it,” Leon replied.
Kira cleared her mind and began reaching out to those around her whenever she was able to make brief eye contact, sensing for any indication about their position or access. Since they had just left their stations, current work assignments were at the forefront of their thoughts, making her task far easier than it would have been at any other time.
Most people were low-level techs, but there was the occasional manager. Kira dismissed the first forty people in a matter of thirty seconds, then moved onto the next wave. By the time she was up to the front of the buffet line, she’d vetted close to two hundred people and had encountered no one promising.
Feeling disheartened, she prepared a salad with extra carrots and radishes before finding a seat along the side wall with Leon. She kept her mental scan running in the background while she kept an eye on the room.
“I don’t recall you being much of a salad person,” Leon commented when they were settled at the table.
“I’m normally not. It was that foking gerbil…”
He almost spit out his first bite of sandwich.
“Yeah, laugh all you want.” She stabbed into a piece of carrot and bit off a chunk. Stars, that’s satisfying.
Kira was trying to think up another witty retort when someone’s thoughts caught her attention.
She zeroed in on a man just entering the cafeteria. He wore a white lab coat, like half the other employees, and had a brisk gait that was offset by a twitchiness in his hands. After a brief moment of eye contact with Kira, the man kept his gaze straight ahead until he reached the queue line.
“Whatcha up to?” Leon asked.
“Shh, nothing.” Kira blocked out her companion while she attempted to read the newcomer’s mind.
Without a solid link, his thoughts were scattered and disorderly, but several impressions came to the forefront for Kira. The first was that he looked down on those around him—perceiving the other workers to be nothing more than menial cogs. Beneath that, he was working on something important. They were about to make history, and he’d get to be a part of it. The final impression was that whatever experiment was underway had a danger unlike anything else the man had previously encountered. Not only were the subjects dangerous, but he had to tread carefully with his own position.
‘Subjects’? Are they doing experiments on people here, too? Kira was pulled back to the outside world by the sound of a plastic tray clanging to the ground.
“Sorry!” a woman said while bending down to pick up the spilled contents.
Another woman chuckled and bent down to help her. “Collisions are bound to happen now and again, don’t worry about it.”
Kira had a moment of panic when she realized she’d lost sight of the man, but she quickly spotted him seated at the end of a table on the other side of the room.
Keeping one eye on him, she returned to her salad.
Leon gave her a questioning gaze from across the table. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing I won’t reveal in due time,” she said around a mouthful of salad.
A slight shake of his head was Leon’s only reaction. He resumed eating his sandwich in silence.
Kira finished her meal two minutes before the man across the room, but she remained seated until he rose to clear his tray.
She stood and grabbed her own tray. As she separated the waste into the appropriate bins, she timed her movements so she’d be able to leave right after the man.
“Go on ahead back to your office. I’m going to… stop by the restroom,” Kira said to Leon.
He rolled his eyes. “You will do nothing of the sort.”
“What did I say earlier about supportive statements?”
Leon threw up his hands. “Fine, but I warned you.”
“I’ll be careful.” Kira jogged lightly across the cafeteria toward the hall where the man had gone.
She paused at the corner and peeked around nonchalantly. The tech was still going straight ahead.
Stepping as quietly as possible, she hurried down the hall to catch up with the man before he reached the next intersection. He took a right.
Kira crept forward and waited to see his next move. Her glance told her it would be obvious, since there was only one visible door down that segment of hallway. However, when she chanced a second look, she saw the back wall of the hallway pulling aside to allow the man through.
A placard on the hidden doorframe read: ‘D Wing – Restricted Area. Authorized Access Only’.
Kira shook her head. Those sneaky bastards.
The door wouldn’t stay open for long. She made a run for it.
After two steps, a firm hand caught her arm. Instinctively, Kira grabbed the wrist and twisted it to bring her would-be assailant to their knees.
“Ow, Kira!” Leon exclaimed.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, releasing his arm.
The door was beginning to close. It was now or never. She took another step toward it, but Leon grabbed her again, looking into her eyes.
“Not now,” he pleaded in her mind.
Fok, he’s right. She couldn’t go in without an exit plan. Kira groaned. “Well, this confirms they’re up to something.”
“And we shouldn’t be here. Monica may decide she’s had enough of your skulking around at any moment.”
“Thanks for coming to find me! I got turned around,” Kira said aloud, and Leon released her arm. She caught his gaze again. “As soon as I figure out how to get in and out of there myself, you won’t be able to stop me.”
CHAPTER 11
Monica reviewed the footage of Kira’s near-infiltration of the D Wing. She scowled at the monitor.
“What do you want to do about her?” Jared asked.
“There’s not much we can do,” Monica replied. She rose from her seat with a huff and paced behind her chair in the observation room. Her plans for Kira had counted on having more time to prepare. Unfortunately, the Guard officer had proven more enterprising than Monica had anticipated.
Jared crossed his arms. “Detain her?”
“The Guard would come looking for her. We can’t compete with the military resources of the extended Taran Empire.”
He frowned. “So, our cover is blown. That’s it?”
“No, of course I won’t give up that easily. We need a subtler approach. I’m thinking.” Monica continued her pacing.
With how easily people could be manipulated, there had to be an elegant solution. Kira herself was an important part of that equation. The strength of her natural abilities, coupled with her training, made her a prime specimen on which to test the penultimate stage of their experimentation. Unfortunately, that wasn’t yet complete. They’d need one final push to bring their plan to fruition.
“I have an idea,” Monica said to Jared as the plan formed. “It’s not without its risks, but it’s the best way to keep the operation on course. We’ve been on borrowed time since the Guard discovered our other lab.”
Jared crossed his arms. “Forgive my bluntness, but why didn’t you take additional precautions when you moved the subjects here?”
Her lips curled into a smug grin. “We have failsafes in place—no need to worry. And besides, the Empire’s eyes were already on this system enough with the reunification agreement so close to being signed. We’re trying to put on a friendly face, remember? Besides, Kira is exactly who we’ve been looking for.”
“You intend to use her as the test subject for Stage Four?” Jared asked.
“She’s perfect, don’t you think?”
He n
odded with consideration. “Already trained as a soldier… she’d probably put on a great show.”
“It would be an excellent template to build upon. I believe our collaborators would be pleased.” Monica placed her hands on the back of her chair, lost in thought.
“Have you ever met them—in person, I mean?” questioned Jared.
“No, but they pull some very powerful strings. If we deliver on our promises, we will be well compensated. They always take care of those who play their part.”
“How will we get her out of here, though?”
Monica smiled. “Through the front door, of course.”
“Assuming by that point we’ll be surrounded by the Guard, how are we supposed to do that?”
“When I say our friends pull some powerful strings, you must trust that they are powerful strings indeed. I’ll share my plan, and it will all be taken care of for us.”
Her colleague let out a slow breath and nodded. “I trust our work and your word. Tell me what I need to do.”
— — —
“So, what’s the plan for today?” Leon asked as he turned off the car in the MTech parking lot.
“Probably not another trip to the gym after how I whooped your ass last night,” Kira jested with a gloating grin.
Leon rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t that bad.”
Kira had to admit, he had kept up better than she would have anticipated. Leon had always been more of the intellectual type than a jock during their teenage years together—not that the two were mutually exclusive—but his recently acquired martial arts hobby had clearly done him good. She could tell he was raring for a rematch, and she had to admit she was looking forward to it herself.
For now, though, her attention returned to her mission. She stared at the lab’s entrance, aglow in the morning light. “It’s probably best you don’t know my plans.”
“That dangerous, huh?” Leon slumped back in his seat and unfastened the safety belt.
