by Kate Sander
The guard. The guard who she thought had seen her. Apparently he had.
"The people you work with," Freudman said, laughing. "Are not the only Zoya in existence you know."
He was looking just over her head as he spoke.
He couldn't see her. It was just this asshole. And, if his wire worked...
In one last desperate attempt before she blacked out and died again, Black Eyes worked her knife free from her waist.
Thrusting over her head hard, Cesar screamed as the knife drove through the face mask. The wire loosened. Not stopping to assess the damage, Black Eyes sprang forward and jumped through the window, glass shattering around her.
"Then I focused and ended up back outside this building," Black Eyes said, finishing her story.
The rest of the Zoya Task Force had left to their own desks to start going through the files they'd unlocked.
"Let me see," Carter said softly. Black Eyes brushed her long dreadlocks away from her face, showing him her neck. "Ouch," Carter said under his breath. He held his fingers out to touch the raw, cut skin, but he thought better of it, fingers stopping an inch from her neck.
"How the hell did they almost kill a dead woman?" Black Eyes mumbled.
They never got to an answer.
Ramjeet ran into the room, "Boss," he said gasping. "You gotta come look at this." Not waiting for an answer, he sprinted back to his desk.
Carter and Black Eyes ran out of the room. The handlers were all on their computers, desperately typing at their keyboards.
"I'm out," John mumbled. His hands left the keyboard and he hit it in frustration. Igor rested a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"What's-"
"They hacked us," Ramjeet said hurriedly, not letting Carter finish. Sweating, his hands never stopped moving on the keyboard. "They must have fed Black Eyes a password that gave a program a back door into our servers."
"Are they accessing anything?" Carter said.
"All of it," Ramjeet snapped. "They're stealing all of it."
"Fuck," Cathy said as her screen turned black. "They kicked me."
"Me too," Kevin said.
"No, no, no. Dammit," Leslie muttered under her breath.
It was just Pierre and Ramjeet left to fight the hack. The rest of them had been kicked from the entire ZTF server.
"All you," Pierre said, as his screen went dark.
They crowded around Ramjeet's screen, watching him desperately type code into his keyboard. "Almost. Have. It." he said through gritted teeth.
His screen went black.
A cartoon image of a fat man in a Hawaiian shirt popped up on every screen in the headquarters. "Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word," it said through every speaker.
"What just happened," Carter said. "Ram, tell me you can get it back."
"Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word."
"I... I don't know."
"Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word."
"What does that mean?"
"Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word."
"It means we're fucking dark," Ramjeet snapped. "They have all of it. Files, missions, everything. We're wiped out. The Zoya Task Force has no more information. We're done."
"Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word."
"Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word."
"Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word."
Carter picked up a computer monitor and threw it into the giant screen on the wall. They both exploded in bright red sparks.
"Then go off the grid," Carter said grimly.
13
Sol
Dried blood on his hands.
That's all he could think about. That's all he could focus on. The dried, cracked, blood caking his hands. Picking underneath his fingernails, he couldn't get all that blood out. It was annoying and distracting.
He was so consumed by trying to get that damn blood out from underneath his nails that he didn't notice Bianca sitting on his doorstep.
"Semper," she gasped, rushing up to him. "Semper, what happened to you?" Running her hands up and down his arms, she stopped at his hands.
"I'm fine," he mumbled. "It's not mine."
"Let's get you inside," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him inside the door.
Sol allowed his lover to pull him inside his apartment. Her gentle hands took his robes off and drew a bath.
Kill one man and it's like he's in shock, his father mocked as he sat on a chair, still trying in vain to pick the blood out from under his fingernails. How's this pussy supposed to run a country?
"I don't know," he muttered back to his father's voice.
It wasn't abnormal, hearing his father berate him. He'd done it while he was alive, why wouldn't he do it now that he was dead?
Bianca led him to the bath and helped him into the tub. Allowing her to gently wash his hands and arms first, he was trying not to think about how warm the blood had been as it gushed out of Kapre.
What did you do?
His hands trembled violently and Bianca held them lovingly, caressing the backs until the tremors stopped.
"You're my rock," he muttered to her.
"Hush now," she said, gently washing his arms and chest. "Relax."
Sol closed his eyes and lay his head back, resting it against the back of the tub.
"Drunk again," his mother yelled from the living room. "With the smell of whore on you. What kind of example are you set-"
The sound of fist hitting flesh interrupted her rant. Glasses shattered on the ground as she smashed into the coffee table.
"Enough of this," Titus said from the bed beside him. "I'm going to kill him this time. He's gone too far." Titus sprang from his bed and rushed to the door.
Sol leapt up from cowering underneath his sheets and tackled Titus to the ground. They scrapped silently for a minute, with many small "ooofs" and grunts escaping them. Sol won, he was already ten and hitting puberty so he was bigger than Titus. Straddling his little brother, he put both hands against his shoulders, preventing him from getting up.
"Mom said not to come out of our room," Sol hissed, winded and gasping for air. "For once in your life would you listen to her?"
"You're gonna let that asshole hit your mother," Titus hissed through gritted teeth.
"You son of a bitch," they heard their mother gasp. "You dare lay a hand on me."
"I am the fucking King," their dad slurred.
Titus struggled, but Sol kept him pinned down.
SLAP
Their mother was hit again.
"Let me up," Titus sobbed, tears falling down his face. "Sol, you have to let me help her."
"She said," Sol whispered. "I can't. She said to stay here."
Another glass smashed.
"Go to bed," their mother commanded. "Now."
A slurred answer that Sol didn't understand. His father staggered past their bedroom door.
"That whore fucks better than you ever have," he yelled at the living room.
Silence answered.
"Fucking bitch," their father slurred to himself as he stumbled away towards their bedroom.
Sol slowly let Titus up from the floor. Titus scrambled up.
"You're a pussy," he sobbed to Sol. "Letting him do that to her."
"Go to bed, Titus," Sol said softly. "Let's both go to bed."
The pulse lights flickered off in the hallway as their mother went into the spare room.
"Goodnight, boys," she called softly through the closed door. "Thank you for not coming outside. I will see you both in the morning."
Sol sighed and returned to his bed.
"You're a coward," Titus muttered from his bed. "I hate you."
"Love you too, little brother," Sol muttered, staring up at the ceiling. "Love you too."
Sol shot straight out of the tub, water flinging off his body, sending Bianca sprawling to the floor.
"Mother," he gasped before he got his bearings.
> He focused on where he was. Carabesh. He was in Carabesh. A man now, not the snivelling little boy he was back then.
And his dear Bianca was lying on the ground looking stunned.
"Bianca," he said, quickly getting out of the tub to get to her side. "I'm sorry, I must have dozed off. Are you okay?"
Smiling at him, she allowed him to help her to her feet. "Yes, yes, my dear. You just caught me off guard is all."
Sol heaved her upright, "Thank you, love," he said to her. "I will dry myself off and meet you in the living room. There is much we have to discuss."
Bianca nodded and left the bathroom, leaving Sol to dry himself off and find clean robes.
His father had never hit his mother again. After that incident, she'd had to stay in the house for almost a week for her black eyes to clear up. His father had dealt with the guilt by showering her with gifts. He'd even stopped drinking and visiting the prostitutes. For a while, anyway. The King liked his prostitutes.
'Cause I fuck pussy, his father's voice said in his ear. You are a pussy. There's a difference.
"I'd rather be a pussy than act like you," Sol snapped.
The voice stopped talking and Sol came to a realization. Yes, he may be a coward, but today he'd needed to kill and he had, possibly saving countless lives in the process. Maybe, just maybe, he could be King. And just rule differently than his father had.
That meant that he had to go home. He had to be King.
His mother hadn't died for nothing.
He had to go.
Sighing about what he had to do next, he walked out of the bathroom to the living room, to a beautiful Bianca sitting on the couch waiting for him. She'd even made him caffé.
But she was a common woman.
Not fit for a King.
"Listen, Bianca," Sol said, sitting down on the couch beside her. "I need to talk to you."
"I need to talk to you too, Semper." Bianca said, smiling wide. "It's why I came here to begin with."
Sol cringed at the use of his fake name.
"That's what I want to talk to you about," Sol said. "I'm not Master Semper. My name is Prince Sol the eighteenth. I am the true heir to the throne of Solias in Langundo."
Her mouth fell open in shock.
"And I'm going back home," he finished. "I'm going to take my throne back, or die trying."
Tears formed in Bianca's eyes.
"Look, I love you, okay. But I have to. Don't be sad. You've been amazing."
"It's not... it's not that," she said, smiling. "I'm carrying a future king?"
"What?" Sol said, jumping to his feet. "What are you talking about?"
"It's why I came here," she said. "I've missed my monthly. And it's yours." Smiling. "I'm carrying a future King," she said. "Oh, Semper, I'm so happy."
"No," Sol said, blanching. "You can't prove it's mine."
Bianca went from smiling to pure loathing in a second.
"Of course it's yours," she spat. "What? Do you think I just fuck anything?"
"Then it's not a future King," Sol said quickly. "It's a bastard. You're common. A common bastard will never sit on the throne of Solias."
"You're horrible," Bianca gasped, striding for the door. "Wasn't the last queen a common? So you're part common. You're filth."
Sol didn't say anything.
"And so was your mother," Bianca sobbed while she fumbled with opening the door.
Sol cracked. That was it. He took three quick strides and caught up with her, pushing her against the door hard, smacking her head with a bang.
"Never. Talk. About. My. Mother. Again," he hissed. Terror flashed in her eyes.
The fear focused him and he let go of her shoulders, embarrassed.
"Look," he said. "I'll send money..."
Bianca wrenched the door open. "Don't bother," she snapped. "I never want to see you again." She fled down the hallway.
Sol let her go.
Hmm, his father said in his ear, you might just be my son after all.
14
Carter
"Evac plan bravo," Carter shouted, running to his office.
There was a flurry of movement behind him. Every agent in the ZTF knew their job. Carter ran to his desk and took out the paper copy of all the information that he had on Freudman. Even if he hadn't had the time to print off the new stuff, he still kept the old stuff hidden in a safe under his desk.
'What's evac plan bravo?" Black Eyes asked.
"We're going to grab everything we can, split up, and then meet at a safe house," Carter said.
Gunshots sounded from the server room and Black Eyes jumped.
"That would be Pierre, destroying the servers."
"Won't Freudman know where the safe house is?" Black Eyes said as Carter shoved the papers into a backpack. "You said he had everything?"
Carter wrenched open the door to his office. "Plan bravo defective," he yelled. "Switch to Plan bravo with White Snow initiative."
"You sure, boss?' Ramjeet said, grabbing a handgun from under his desk.
Igor marched in with two large duffel bags, a stupid smile on his face.
"Yes," Carter said. "It's our only option."
Ramjeet nodded, white-faced.
"White Snow," Ramjeet yelled.
Igor cheered, "My kind of day!"
Carter went to a door that led directly to the stairs. Flying down, feet barely hitting the steps, he charged out of the building.
"You're just leaving them?" Black Eyes asked, hot on his heels.
Carter hit the ground floor and, with an adjustment of his coat to hide his gun, walked out of the building. Reaching inside his coat he took out a black toque and sunglasses and turned onto the street of downtown Toronto.
"They have their instructions," Carter said under his breath, joining in with a crowd of tourists and checking his watch. "Come on, come on," he muttered, checking his watch and looking at the light.
The crosswalk light changed and Carter walked swiftly towards the parking garage a few blocks over. He only had two minutes to get out of dodge or this was going to get messy.
Black Eyes realized the necessity of keeping quiet and following along. They reached the parking lot in silence. Carter walked quickly to the back where a small Ford fiesta was kept. Rubbing his hands above the back tire, he found the small, magnetic box that held the key.
Quickly, he went to the front seat, turned on the small car, exited the parking garage. Checking his watch as he was turning into traffic he smiled. "Three, two, one."
The explosion rattled the windows of the car. People walking down the street ducked and screamed as the shock wave shook through the block.
"Holy shit," Black Eyes said from the back seat, turning around to look at the fire ball that billowed out of the building they'd just exited.
"Matty doing his handy work," Carter said tersely. Taking a right then a left, he managed to hit flowing traffic and get out of the general vicinity of the explosion. Only then, when driving freely away, did he let himself relax a little.
"There is no record of escape plan bravo with the White Snow initiative in any ZTF or Canadian Military document," Carter said, merging into traffic again. "One of Amanda's better ideas. We never even spoke the words in the ZTF headquarters in case we were ever compromised. Turns out, she was right."
"That crazy lady who killed herself thought of this?"
"Yes," Carter said. "And she deserves more respect than that."
His tone shut her up, as he had meant it to. They drove in silence a while, flowing traffic turning into a suburban area. The houses gradually got bigger and Carter finally stopped in front of a large, residential house.
Then he waited.
"What are we waiting for?" Black Eyes asked impatiently. "Whose house is this?"
"I'm getting my nerve up," Carter said. He sighed and exited the car, Black Eyes following.
Marching up the stairs, he wasn't surprised when the door opened without him knocking.
> "Hey, Shelly," Carter said.
"Isaac isn't here," Shelly said tersely. "And I told you to tell me before you wanted to pick him up."
"I know," Carter said to his ex. "This is different. My military organization has been compromised. This is the only place left that we can go."
Shelly stared at him.
"I'm not fucking with you," Carter said. "And I'm not putting you in danger. We took every precaution coming here so that we weren't followed. My team will be showing up, most of them not in vehicles." He looked at her, pleading. "We will be gone by tomorrow. We just need a place to regroup and all our safe houses and personal houses aren't an option."
Shelly sighed, "I guess you all did save our son from the sex trade." She held the door open. "Come in. You guys can hide in the basement. I'll order some pizza and send your friends down when they come."
"Thank you," Carter said.
Shelly led them down to the basement, where a couple of comfortable couches and a large TV were set up.
Carter sat down and rubbed his face.
It didn't take long for the rest of the ZTF to join them. Some arrived by Uber, some parked a fair distance away and walked, others took the train. They trickled in, most in good spirits and none spotting a tail.
"How was that?" Carter asked John as he and Igor came down the stairs, Igor still hauling the two large duffel bags.
"Never put him in charge again," John snapped. Igor laughed loudly. "No, seriously," John said. "He had us taking the train with TWO duffel bags full of guns. The fact that we weren't arrested is mind boggling."
Igor chuckled again.
Ramjeet was the last to enter the now cramped basement, carrying a shopping bag of newly purchased cell phones, headphones with microphones, and a laptop.
"The ZTF will get you back after we reopen," Carter said, taking a cell phone and some earphones then passing the bag along.
"Sure thing," Ramjeet said sarcastically, sitting down heavily beside him. “You know the military. They sure are speedy when it comes to refunding receipts.”
Carter left it. He didn't need to fight about tone right now.
"Okay," he said, standing in front of the twelve people and one ghost. "Black Eyes has some interesting things to report from that old barn."
