Rain to Miroc. Spark’s technology. And Seana’s company was the one that stole it. So much for calm and comfortable. “I don’t see what I have to do with this.” Was I speaking too loud? Too fast? I had to breathe, to relax again, or Seana—who knew me every bit as well as I knew her—would know something was wrong.
Seana frowned, with that little line between her eyebrows that had always meant I was missing something she thought obvious. “The technology should have worked. We’re not making guesses and throwing them up into the sky. We know exactly what should happen and what shouldn’t. This was—there have been problems.”
I stared at the video feed of the lab, tried to look intent on the men and women in pristine white suits sitting at pristine gray desks, hard at work on the computers before them. “What sorts of problems are we talking about?”
“Minor accidents. Failures in models that had previously worked. Those were the most obvious issues.”
I risked a question. “When did this start?”
“About a month ago.”
About the same time Spark took her plans to the city council. But what did that mean? What could it mean? Could another company’s spies have learned about it then? “Could it be sabotage?” I wondered aloud.
“Ash.” Seana’s sharp voice forced me to look at her. “Focus, please.” She changed the camera angle so it no longer pointed at Eddis. “Sabotage is not a casual word. The security on this project is immense, and I’ve gone over every detail. There’s not a single hole. Unless….”
I held my breath. If she knew about Spark and Copper—Copper had already shown the ability to poke holes in Jansynian security. If Seana was suspicious…
She finished her sentence. “Unless we are betrayed from the inside.”
And I could breathe again. “Inside? You think one of your own people?”
Seana rested her hands on the desk. Her fingers laced together. It wasn’t like her knuckles could get any whiter, but I could see her fingertips digging into the back of her hands. I’d never seen her this distraught. “It is impossible to believe. We are Desavris. But I believe the data has been altered. Is being altered. Only a few have that level of access.”
“And one of those people is your husband.” Seana looked down and away and I revised my statement. “Not just one of—you think he’s the one.”
“I cannot find any evidence that Eddis is involved in this disruption, but I am aware my judgment may be compromised.”
She took a deep breath. “If he’s betrayed Desavris—if I misjudged the character of my husband so fundamentally—then I don’t deserve my position. I wouldn’t deserve any position here.”
I began to understand. “But you just said, you married him when you were both new here. You hardly knew each other. Maybe some other company made an offer—or a threat—I don’t know, he might have reasons—”
She cut me off with a wave of her hand. “No. That isn’t how we do things. We aren’t savages.” And by savages, she meant humans. “First, last, and always, Ash. If Eddis were to betray that trust—for him to turn against his family—no other company would pay for information obtained in such a fashion. He’d never work again. He’d be throwing away his future. It would be psychosis. For me not to have seen it….”
“Okay,” I said. I couldn’t take the pain in her voice. So despite the fact I still had no idea what I was agreeing to, I said, “I’ll help.”
She reached into a drawer and retrieved a sleek, black data stick. She slid it across the desk and I slapped my hand down to catch it. “What you have there are all the records and files associated with this project. Logs, technical files, communications, video surveillance—everything. I shouldn’t have to tell you how important it is that information never leave your person.”
I turned the stick over between my fingers. What would this data stick be worth to Copper, to Spark? And Seana trusted me with it. “You think something in here’s been messed with?”
“I’ve run every test, used every measure at my disposal. And believe me, Ash, Desavris wouldn’t be in the position it holds if we didn’t use the best security algorithms that exist. If anything on that stick has been doctored, they didn’t leave a pixel—not even an electron out of place.”
Now I understood. “You want me to use magic.” I closed my hand around the data stick, felt its smooth weight against my palm. I couldn’t deny the thrill I got at the idea. All this time lately being a mediocre secretary and a reluctant investigator—it would be nice to do something I was good at. Something I could sink my brain into.
And there were other reasons to help. “You’re going to owe me.”
She was all business again. “Yes, of course. The message you sent. A friend who needed help? What was it you needed?”
I squeezed the data stick. “We can talk about it after I’m done.” Whatever I found, I hoped it would be enough leverage to buy off the assassins chasing Spark. And maybe even get Seana’s help tracking down any plots against Miroc. The trick, of course, would be finding a way to ask Seana for that without her thinking I’d betrayed her.
That was going to be the trick with everyone.
#
Kaifail stands at the center of the Thirteen. The gods to his right live at odds with the gods to his left. Conflict in the heavens spills down to the world and we, their children, are driven to walk in our parents’ footsteps. Giants and lizards make war when their father-gods argue. Birds hunt boneheads. It’s not as though our world was at peace before the Abandon.
As Kaifail served as mediator for the rest of the Thirteen, so he taught his priests to do the same. Another Bright God specialty, of course, but even we priests of the Dark God who spent most of our days lurking in libraries and arcane laboratories received some amount of training. To the outside world, a priest of Kaifail was a priest of Kaifail and it wouldn’t do to embarrass the church if someone came to us in need.
Today I was the person in need. If Micah told Copper what he’d seen—and I had to assume he would—she wasn’t going to take it well. It wasn’t like I could tell her the truth. If Copper knew I was now working for Seana, that Seana trusted me enough to simply hand me a copy of the information that had put Spark’s life at so much jeopardy, what would she think? What could she think?
Seana’s guards escorted me back to the base of the lift and asked if I needed them to take me anywhere. They didn’t question when I said I would walk. “Talk to the officer at the gate,” one of them said. “You’ll need a security badge for when you return.”
The checkpoint agent expected me. She invited me inside her cramped booth filled with viewscreens and computers. I stood in the corner under the uncomfortable scrutiny of guards watching through the windows. “The director had a sample of your DNA to provide,” she said without inflection. A printer next to her came to life and spit out a thumbprint-sized disc. On one side, tiny metal dots connected to inner circuitry I could just make out through the semi-transparent plastic.
“Wear this against your skin,” was the only instruction she offered as she handed the disc to me.
When my fingertip touched the metal side, the disc lit up and then went dark. It stuck to the end of my finger; I had to pry it off. “Thanks.” I dropped it into a small pocket inside my shirt. No way was I wearing this thing to go meet with Copper.
Back out on the street, once I’d made it a couple blocks from the Jansynian compound, I ducked around to the shadowy side of a building and sat down against its wall. It wasn’t the best spot—the alley smelled of baking metal and I had to pull my hood up against blowing sand—but it was out of sight of the Crescent and that’s what mattered. I slid the data stick into the hidden pocket alongside the security disc. There they would both be safe from getting lost or stolen or accidentally discovered.
Just to be safe, I summoned the security pattern and worked the magic to make sure neither of Seana’s presents were broadcasting anything back to Desavris. Not only didn’t I wan
t Seana’s people following me, but Copper seemed to have some way of picking out Jansynian spy devices, and wouldn’t that look suspicious if she found one on me? Both the data stick and security disc lay dormant. Good.
It felt like this morning had lasted a lifetime already, but when I checked the time, I was still on track for my meeting with Micah. Assuming he showed up at all. I hadn’t seen him on my trip back down the lift, so for all he knew, I was still a prisoner.
The warehouse was easy walking distance, even as the late-morning sun set the street temperatures to broil. I’ll admit I was distracted, my brain volleying back and forth between the magic Seana wanted and thoughts on Seana herself.
Stupid—I’d lived in Miroc all my life and I should have known better. Even in bright sunlight, even on an empty-looking street, I should have been paying attention to my surroundings.
I heard the click of the gun readying above my head. I squinted up to see Copper on the edge of a nearby roof, a serious-caliber weapon pointed in my direction. “Micah says I should hear what you have to say. Micah says I should trust you.”
Her arm straightened. “But given the state of things, if the Jansynians decided to let you live, I’m pretty sure that means I have to kill you.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Plans within Plans
I heard all three sounds at once. The scream, the screech, the explosive release of a three-burst round. I had trouble connecting those with the sight of a dark object streaking towards Copper from above, of Copper bringing the gun around, but not fast enough to stop Iris from ramming into her. Iris, shifting as she dove, from falcon to tiger. She landed atop Copper and knocked the gun away with one swat of a massive paw.
Another shift and Iris was Iris again, sitting with a knee on Copper’s chest. “Ash! Are you okay?”
I had to look at myself to be sure. I still stood. No blood I could see. “I think so.”
“Good. Now what the hell?” Iris stood and pulled Copper up with her. Twice the Fyean’s size, Iris had no trouble overpowering her.
“Don’t hurt her.” I spotted a fire escape I could use to get up there. “I can explain.”
“He betrayed us!” Copper struggled against Iris as I climbed. “The Jansynians let him go!”
Iris pulled Copper’s wrists behind her back, held her still. “What Jansynians?”
I pulled myself up over the edge of the roof. “They grabbed me in the tube station. Took me up to the Crescent. I spoke with Director Seana Desavris.”
Iris’s eyes widened and a wave of white rippled through her hair. She was as surprised to hear Seana’s name as I’d been to see her. “Listen to me, Copper. Listen to me. We have to talk to them. To protect your sister, we have to find out who’s after your sister, and this is the best way to do it. I swear, I didn’t tell her anything about you or Spark.”
Copper had stopped squirming. A cold look passed through her eyes, quickly hidden behind a considering squint. “You talked to Desavris,” she said carefully.
“They’re the ones who have Spark’s tech.” I kept my voice even, but unapologetic. “What I don’t know yet is if they’re the ones trying to kill you.”
Copper looked calmer now, but her eyes kept flicking over towards the gun that lay out of reach. I was glad Iris still had a grip on her. “What did they offer you? What’s the going rate on betrayal these days?”
“They didn’t offer me anything. Have you ever actually talked to a Jansynian? They’d never ask me to betray my employer, and wouldn’t want to work with me if I were the sort of person who would.”
“So they just brought you—a human—up into the Crescent, where nobody goes, all for a little chat? Forgive me if I find that hard to believe.”
She had a point, but it was the truth, so it was what I had to work with. “Remember what you said the very first time we met—that you were willing to work with us because of my past experience? This is why you came to us. Because I know about Jansynians. Because I know Jansynians.”
Outside of Copper’s view, Iris raised an eyebrow. And, okay, maybe I was stretching the narrative a little. Having contacts among the Jansynians was one thing. Getting invited into the Crescent…
“We’re all on the same side,” Iris said and let Copper go. I had to trust she knew what she was doing.
“Are we?” Copper looked at each of us. Looked at her gun, but she didn’t move toward it. “Micah’s waiting in the warehouse. I’m going to go get him and bring him back here. Don’t follow me.” At Iris. “I want to talk to him. Alone.”
“We’ll wait.”
Iris stood at the very edge of the roof and watched Copper go. Once Copper was safely out of sight, she brought me the gun. “Keep this.”
“What should I do with it?”
“It’s a gun, Ash. What do you think?” She sat down cross-legged on the tiles that lined the rooftop. It couldn’t have been comfortable, given the heat I could feel radiating up just standing here. “So what really happened?”
I slid the pistol into my bag. “Seems like she got my message after all. And the timing was fortuitous.” My voice twisted on the last word and Iris squinted one eye open at me.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the three years you were actually sleeping together, she never once invited you upstairs.”
“That’s right. Maybe it’s different now she’s a director. Maybe it’s because—” Reflexively, I pressed a hand against my pocket to double check the data stick was still there. “She asked for my help. Which is probably a sign of desperation right there. But probably safer for her to bring me up there where she knew we could talk without anyone spying. Even if my presence raises some perfect white eyebrows.”
Iris leaned back, basking in the warmth. Shifters. “But you know she has Spark’s technology?”
“Yeah, Desavris has it, but they’re having trouble with it. Seana thinks sabotage.”
Iris jumped to the same conclusion I had. “You think it’s a Jansynian conflict? Sabotaging Desavris while they try to whip the people of Miroc into a frenzy?”
“It occurred to me. But Seana thinks it’s an inside job.”
“What does she expect you to do about it?”
“Magic. She expects me to do what I do.” I glanced back at the street, but there was still no sign of Copper and Micah. “If I help her, she may help us.”
It wasn’t going to be easy, though. “This magic she needs, I haven’t done anything like it since before the Abandon. I’m going to need supplies and a real workroom.”
Iris nodded. She knew what I meant. She knew where I meant. “I better go with you. I don’t trust you to stay out of trouble on your own. We’ll go tonight, after dark.”
That settled, we had nothing left to do but wait.
#
Seana and I first met because one of Arisia’s directors loved the theater.
As I came to understand, he was a bit of an eccentric. He liked to watch non-Jansynians going about their lives and entertainments. Not unlike going to the zoo. I never met him face-to-face, so I don’t know if he was as unpleasant a person as he sounded.
But I did meet Seana as she and her security team scouted Kaifail’s temple in preparation for his attendance.
I drew short straw that week, so I’d been assigned to assist her and her team, to show them anything they wanted to see and keep them from getting lost on our sprawling campus. Four Jansynians in sleek black suits, taciturn and superior and—I was certain—quietly judging me. Because I wasn’t one of them. Because I was different. I knew enough about them back then to understand that, in their eyes, different was one of the greatest sins I could commit.
I hated it. Not just because they weren’t any fun to be around, but because I had research of my own sitting neglected while I played babysitter. I wanted it over with. I wanted them to go home.
Until Seana started asking me questions. Not just questions about how many doors there were into the theater and how many people we exp
ected opening night, but questions about the art on the walls, the stories behind the topiaries in the gardens and the mosaics in the narthex.
Then she asked if she could see the library. Of course I was happy to show it to her. Her companions were impatient. What could Kaifail possibly have here that Jansyn hadn’t already collected, cataloged, processed? Seana sent them back to the Crescent and I escorted her alone on what I would later think of as our first date.
Seana was a sensualist at heart. As I walked her through Dark Kaifail’s cathedral, she traced her fingertips down leather bindings, inhaled the scents of old paper and ink. She marveled at the research room in the archive, and listened so attentively I rambled at length about my job.
We went for coffee and it was my turn to listen. She talked about Arisia, about the Crescent, what it was like to be born into a life where you knew there would always be a place for you, always someone to care for you—even if that someone was a company. No, not a company, she explained—a family.
Two nights later, she came to my house. In her hand was a bottle of wine, because she understood that was how humans pursued romance. I didn’t turn her away then, or any night that came after.
She was intense. Brilliant and interested in everything, and deeply passionate, even if she expressed that passion differently from any person I’d ever known.
I loved her. She loved me.
For three years, I believed that was enough.
#
When Micah and Copper arrived, neither looked pleased with the other. “What happened?” Micah asked as soon as he was up on the roof. “Are you all right?”
“Iris got to Copper before she could shoot me.”
“Before she could—what?” Micah rounded on Copper who’d just stepped off the ladder. “You tried to shoot him?”
City of Burning Shadows (Apocrypha: The Dying World) Page 8
