Despite a lot of tough talking and threats from the DGRI agents, he hadn’t stayed in their custody for long. The facts about the events leading up to the Breach came to light, and Olivia’s government contacts ordered the choppers to drop Israel off at an airport in Midland, Texas, where he was met by a Sentry Group jet that was well-stocked with pre-cooked cuts of beef and so comfortable that it neared the point of pretension. He scarcely noticed it, though, and spent most of the flight back to Silversky thinking about Erin and what might have happened to her.
For two days he stayed in his room at Silversky and only interacted with people long enough to take his meals and refuse visitors. He spent the time going over the events of the last week of his life and watching news channels spin the fabrications that had been built around the explosion in Texas. It was the usual mix of opinionated reporting and slanted journalism that dominated the airwaves with a lot of speculation, out-of-context facts, and finger pointing designed to influence whatever flavor of viewer the station in question catered to. The one bright spot to it all was the fact that Jordan and Carmine Screed were being blamed for the entire thing and had taken Israel’s place as America’s newest terrorist threats. Even with that, though, it didn’t take him long to grow disgusted by the whole thing.
On the morning of the third day after Leticia, he cleaned himself up and went to see Olivia in her office. She wasn’t in, but he was told he could wait and she would be along shortly. He thanked the security officer and passed the time looking through the books and photos that were collected in her office. There were pictures of Olivia with celebrities and well-known politicians as well as writers and poets of every sort. Israel found one photo in a well-polished silver frame placed on a bookshelf that was an easy view from the desk.
It was an old photo with washed-out colors and a few scratches. It showed a group of six young people- early twenties Israel guessed -all laughing and playfully posing beside an old Cadillac convertible. Israel recognized a young Olivia Warburton sitting on the hood of the car with her legs kicked out as she leaned back to back with another young woman. In the lower right hand corner of the picture, someone had written The Darkwalkers.
Israel heard the near-silent whirr of Olivia’s wheelchair enter the room and, without turning around, he said, “I never figured you for being in a band.”
She rolled up next to him and saw what he was holding. “Oh, yes. Well, we weren’t a band. More like a gang of foolish kids. Kind of a junior Sentry Group. All of our families were involved in life behind the Veil and we thought our lives would just be one big, rollicking adventure. So much so that we gave ourselves that name. That was actually taken about a week before we met Stone. The name stuck, though. Stone adopted it for our more elite Sentry operatives.”
Israel put the photo down and sat in a chair where he could face Olivia. “How is he?”
“He’ll recover. He’s tougher than most polar bears and just too damn stubborn to die.”
Israel nodded. “Good. He owes me a story.”
“So I heard.”
Israel’s gaze drifted to the bright, clear day outside Olivia’s window. The light blinded him a little, but he looked anyway.
“How are you, Israel?”
He shrugged. “Things have slowed down now. I’ve got time to sit and think, figure out this new life of mine. Unlife? Whatever it is. I figure my only choices are to stay with Sentry or spend my life dodging the DGRI. Not much of a choice there.”
Olivia nodded. “As I’ve said, you are welcome here and we are best equipped to help you with this new…lifestyle. You have my support, regardless, though. After what you and Erin did it’s the least I can do.”
“I’ve been watching the talking heads,” he said, looking back at her. “What’s the real story back in Texas?”
“The Twins are there now, actually. They’re heading up a joint investigation team that’s focused on recovering as much information as we can from the site as well identifying what victims we can. The place is a wealth of genetic samples and atmospheric trace samples. The Twins are in their element.”
“Is there any sign of Erin?” Israel asked.
Olivia dropped her eyes and said, “We don’t know yet. The explosion was so massive and so hot that what remains we found are having to be identified by DNA records. The truck was reduced to scrap so that’s no help. I think she would have been in touch by now if she were alive, Israel. It’s a safe assumption that she just used the last of her strength to save you.”
“I know what she did,” Israel said with more of an edge to his voice than he intended.
“Of course,” Olivia said.
“There are people that tell me not to trust you. They tell me that you only care about your agenda to the exclusion of all else, including the safety of your agents. I don’t know how true that is but I also don’t have that hard a time believing it. If I stay here, I need to know that you aren’t going to withhold any information, that you aren’t going to send me into a situation blind. I want to know everything, Olivia.”
She held his eyes with hers in silence for a long moment. “The Leticia Breach was the largest ever recorded, Israel. You were there. You saw what wants into this world, this reality. Saw it more clearly than anyone, I’d wager. You saw the zealots who want that to happen and the lengths they are willing to go to. The truth is, they aren’t the only threats we have to face on behalf of the world outside the Veil. That is what I have spent my life fighting against. Join me in that fight, Israel, and I promise I will share everything I know with you.”
Israel stood again, went to the window, and looked up at the painfully blue sky. “Erin gets a memorial,” he said, “like Matt’s.”
“That’s already being done.”
“And you take care of my dad like you promised before.”
“Absolutely.”
Israel watched the full, white clouds for a time and then looked back at Olivia.
“I’m in.”
EPILOGUE
Erin Simms woke to shadows.
Her eyes fluttered open in slow, weary blinks. All around her was the bright glow of moonlight. She lay face down, the scent of loam in her nostrils and thick grasses caressing her cheeks and tickling her ears. Air whispered through the tall blades and a lone night bird warbled somewhere in the distance. The air was dry and autumn crisp.
Erin slowly pushed herself up and nearly cried at the pain that lanced through her every muscle and joint. The sickly metallic tang of old blood coated her mouth. A dim memory came to her and she tried to call out for Israel, but her dry throat and aching jaw denied her the action. She’d tried to get them out, to save them, but it had been so hard through all the pain and chaos of the moment. She looked about, hoping to see him nearby, but was brought to a stunned stop when she saw her surroundings.
She was on a hilltop overlooking a small cove. Far below, what looked to be a community of small log cabins was spread out around a large stream that flowed over rocks and swirled in small pools before it continued into the darker night. A larger structure, long and rectangular, stood on a small rise opposite the hill she was on. People, easily a hundred or more, moved between the buildings and campfires. There were adults and children. Some sat tending to pots and roasting meats while others danced or huddled over tables laughing or talking.
Beyond the encampment was a mountainous, shadowed horizon that rose to meet a night sky filled with twinkling stars that glittered with hints of color that Erin couldn’t remember ever noticing before, as though each star was a tiny glittering opal. What had hijacked her attention, though, was the moon. It was huge and full and filling the world with silver light brighter than she had ever seen, which made a kind of sense when when you took into account the other moon. It was smaller, maybe a third the size of the larger one, and hung in the sky just slightly to the right and above its bigger sister.
The Inner Dark was the space between realities; that was what Warburton had told her-
worlds upon worlds and the doors between them. When all was said and done, she thought, isn’t that all the Breach had been? Erin’s mind reeled at the implications.
She turned in a slow circle. There were silhouettes of trees in the dark that looked too narrow and tall to be natural. The air was clean, cleaner than anything she’d ever smelled before, totally untouched by anything industrial. The grasses at her feet seemed too dark even in the moonlight, and when she touched a blade it felt as though it were covered in a thin, fine fur.
Her gaze returned to the encampment and she noticed that a small group had gathered and seemed to be staring in her direction, straining to see in the dim light. One of them raised a tentative hand and waved at her.
Erin returned their stare and, after a moment, waved back.
THE END
Author’s Note
This is not my first book.
Truth be told, it’s my fourth. The other three are steaming piles of word-vomit that should never see the light of day. I really hope this one is less so. If you made it this far, I’m going to assume that you thought it was and enjoyed at least some of what you read.
The adventures of Israel and Erin will continue in Conduit:Paragons Book Two and Unveiled:Paragons Book Three both to be released before the end of 2015 barring alien invasion, spontaneous human combustion, or the renewal of Firefly. I want to take a moment and say thank you. Time is the most precious thing we all have and that you chose to spend some of yours wandering the back roads of my imagination is something I am truly grateful for.
I’m told in the era of Amazon and the E-book, reviews are super important. If you want to leave me one I encourage you to do so. If you want to follow me on digital media, I’m on Twitter @cstevenmanley.
Again, thank you, and I hope you’ll continue to follow the story of Israel and Erin.
C. Steven Manley
Awakened Page 28
