“Captain Aceso,” the driver introduced himself, his eyes never leaving the narrow path as they zipped along. “You’re Jane, and back there is the unnamed individual.”
“Correct.” Christine nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” the captain said as he pulled to a stop next to a large, squat building. It was similar in design and appearance to the one on Solomon. Aesthetics aside, it was comforting for Christine to be back among the Wraiths once more. Their fearsome reputation belied a protective nature she hadn’t expected when she’d first met them. But Wraiths like Collyn and Esau had proven that just because they were genetically Imperfect didn’t mean they were beings without souls. It was something Christine believed all Perfects of the Dominion should know.
They entered the building, and once more a wave of déjà vu washed over her. It was nearly identical in every aspect, though the color scheme of the walls was mildly different. The flag of the Dominion hung on one side of the large foyer, while the royal crest of the House of Lukas stood on the other. It was a reminder who really held power on this base, and Parliament was definitely not it. For now, she mentally amended as the smug face of Laird Christophe McCarroll flashed before her.
Christine sighed and placed a hand on the small of her back. The baby was really irritated, apparently, pushing around for all it was worth. This, combined with the weight she’d gained, made every part of her body ache. However, the pain in her lower back threatened to make her come unhinged. Not a sharp pain, it was more akin to a dull, constant rabbit punch.
“Ma’am?” Aceso stopped and looked at her, concern etched upon his face.
“I’m fine,” Christine said and struggled to compose herself. Not an easy task, but one she managed. “Onward and upward.”
“How’d you know…” Aceso’s voice trailed off. He gave her a wry smile and offered his arm to help her up the stairs. Christine thought about it for a moment before accepting his offer.
“Thank you,” she told him. “Sometimes it just hurts to move, you know?”
“I can imagine,” the officer replied. “My wife was the same way with our first.”
“You have kids?” she asked as they carefully ascended the stairs. That was news to her. Outside of Gabriel, she’d never met a Wraith who’d fathered children, or even heard of such a thing occurring. She gave their driver a quick once-over, and noticed he lacked the surgical implant all Wraiths had in the back of their heads. That answered her question about how he had kids. Captain Aceso wasn’t a Wraith.
“I did,” Aceso replied. His emotional mask slipped just a little, and Christine could see he was in pain. “I do, I mean. They’re just…not around at the moment.”
“I’m sorry,” she said earnestly. “I hope one day you’re all reunited.”
“We will be,” the officer assured her with a gentle smile. He had a faraway look in his eyes. “One day.”
They finished the climb in silence, Christine lost in her own thoughts as she wondered where her boyfriend had ended up. He’d gone radio silent the moment he’d slipped onto Belleza Sutil’s side of the gate, and since Christine had been on her own outbound flight soon after, she hadn’t yet heard if he’d made it safely to Trono del Terra. It was a good guess he had. After all, it made sense that Laird McCarroll wouldn’t be looking for the long-lost senator to return to the Core worlds.
Aceso stopped at a set of wide doors and knocked twice.
“Come,” a voice said from inside. Aceso pushed a door open and stood aside as Christine and Wil filed into the room. He followed them in and shut the door, latching it to ensure privacy.
Christine was taken aback by the man who awaited her. If she hadn’t known it was Malachi, bastard brother of the fallen emperor, she’d have assumed this was Solomon IV, Emperor of the Dominion. The face was slightly thinner, but other than that, he was the spitting image of their deceased liege lord, down to the strange green eyes that were a Lukas family trait.
Malachi was just as tall and broad shouldered as his brother was. His face featured far fewer worry lines, though, and while the emperor had sported some facial hair, Malachi obviously preferred to keep his face clean shaven. Possibly to blend in with the Wraiths he was helping train, was Christine’s guess. He’d gone so far as to ensure he lacked any hair on the top of his head as well, she saw.
“Jane?” Malachi asked as he stood up and offered his hand. She accepted and sat down opposite him. Wil looked around in confusion before taking the chair next to her. Behind her, Captain Aceso moved into view and stood next to Malachi’s desk. He crossed his muscular arms and looked at her, his face a blank mask. Whoever Captain Aceso was, he wasn’t a man to be trifled with, Christine decided as she cleared her throat.
“Yes, I’m sorry,” she sputtered upon realizing the commandant of the Wraith Corps had been waiting for her to reply. Despite the stern look of his aide, Malachi’s eyes twinkled merrily as he watched her.
“You used a very old and secure pass phrase to get into my presence,” Malachi said without preamble. His piercing gaze shifted from her to Wil, lingering on the technician for a few uncomfortable moments, before returning to Christine. “Gan and I set that up with two others a long time ago. Do you understand the reference?”
“I get the red herring part,” she stated. Seeing him motion for her to continue, she did just that. “It’s code to inform the person that what they’d expected was not all it seemed, and the real enemy still lay hidden.”
“Very good,” Malachi nodded. “And the first part?”
“‘The walls have fallen’ obviously means Jericho has fallen,” she replied. Malachi chuckled and shook his head.
“Close,” the commandant told her. “The walls are the secret of Jericho, not Jericho itself. Someone broke the vow of secrecy surrounding it, and it wasn’t who Gan thought it would be. It makes for a very compelling investigation, if one has the manpower. Which, I’m assuming, you do not, and that’s why you’re here.”
“I’m here because someone burned Jericho to the ground,” Christine replied bitterly, “then they pissed on the ashes. They killed my friends and innocent people loyal to the Dominion. I want blood.”
“Tell me everything that happened first. As much as you can, at least,” Malachi said as he leaned back in his chair. He steepled his fingers before him and looked at her with an intensity Christine hadn’t expected. However, she’d been mentally preparing herself for this inquiry for weeks, and she was more than ready for the question. But first…
“Wil, you might want to leave the room,” she informed her old friend. “This way you can maintain plausible deniability.”
“Nope, you already said I was in,” Wil reminded her. “Remember?”
“Okay, just offering.” Christine shrugged and looked over at the quiet captain. “And you. Captain Aceso?”
“I’m very interested to hear just what my old friend Gan’s been up to these past few years,” he replied and shrugged. “Go ahead and share.”
“Very well then,” Christine said and leaned back on the small sofa. It was very comfortable. “Just over five years ago, Chief Gan received some intel on a potential coup d’état involving a few of the more prominent senators. Chief suspect among them was the late Laird Beau McCarroll.”
“That asshole…” Malachi muttered in a low voice. He motioned for her to continue.
“Agents of Jericho did some recruiting, and we found a promising young Bureau agent who was in the midst of an IA investigation,” she continued, remembering just how hard certain elements within the Bureau had gone after Andrew after the tragic death of his partner, Agent Buckley. She shook off the memory. “It didn’t take much to recruit him, though the chief lied a little to him beforehand. He’d been told he was ‘reassigned,’ when that was far from the truth. The agent didn’t care, though. He’s a patriot, loves the Dominion, and had a sense of loyalty that impressed even the chief.
“This agent was put into deep cove
r using an identity that had been crafted over the years with some outside help. The ID was hired by the Laird, and the agent worked his way up within the McCarroll household until he was pretty much his senior aide, after getting the previous one fired. From then on out, it was easy, but we didn’t find anything with the Laird. He was dirty, but he wasn’t a traitor. That was all we cared about.”
“Then he died,” Captain Aceso said. Christine nodded.
“When Beau died, Christophe inherited the title and lands, as well as the trained and vetted staff that had served his father so well,” Christine said, a small smile on her face. “It was literally the best-case scenario for us. Christophe kept his father’s senior aide, which left our agent in place. The agent reported that the new laird was doing ‘off’ things, and having strange meetings, which he wasn’t a participant of. He’d also drafted something called the Boxley Act, but we were unable to find out what that was, because shortly after, the agent had to extract himself when…mitigating circumstances arose.”
“What circumstances are those?” Malachi asked.
“His brother…” Christine stopped and smiled a little at the memory of their hurried escape from Trono del Terra in the stolen Watcher ship the laird owned, as well as where Andrew had left it afterward.
“Yes?” Malachi pressed.
“His brother was a Wraith. He commandeered a Navy vessel using an executive privilege order from the emperor and ran off to Ptolemy,” Christine explained.
“Fuck me!” Captain Aceso exploded from the sofa. He began to pace the room, apparently angry. “You’re telling me your deep cover asset was Andrew Espinoza?”
“Well, that’s unexpected,” Malachi murmured, but Christine wasn’t paying attention. Her eyes were locked on the captain.
“How did you…?”
“Where is he now?” Aceso asked and approached the pregnant woman. His face was a strange mixture of relief and worry, with just a little bit of underlying…pride? Christine felt confused. Who exactly was this Captain Aceso?
“I can’t say,” she admitted. “Operational security.”
“That went out the window when Jericho was burned and placed out in the open by the DIB,” Aceso countered.
“I mean operational security for the entire Dominion.”
“Cap…let it go for now,” Malachi said and leaned forward. He pointed a long, bony finger at Christine. “Back on task here. What happened next?”
“Jericho was burned, and most of our agents were compromised,” Christine continued, tearing her gaze away from the captain. She looked back at Malachi. “Right now, I know of one Jericho agent whose identity wasn’t burned. There might be more, but it’s a lot of guesswork. Part of my job is to determine whether or not those who are still alive can keep their covers intact. The Deebs are on a witch hunt right now, executing anyone associated with Jericho.”
“That punishment’s a bit harsh,” Aceso murmured. “Usually the Deebs are more on the up-and-up regarding due process and a court of law. You’re certain?”
“Agent Espinoza survived two assassination attempts in the span of four hours,” she replied. “And I survived one.”
“Where are you going next?” Malachi asked.
“I was going to continue the program, but now I’m not so sure,” she admitted after a moment of reflection. “The Jericho connection is a negative one, known. Jericho worked best when nobody knew it existed.”
“Well, I can give you some help with Jericho, or whatever you’re going to call it,” Malachi stated as he gave the captain, who’d remained standing immediately to the right of Christine, a look. “Captain, if you please? The woman’s not going to give you any more answers than she already has, and I’m not going to ask more. Use that big brain of yours and think about what she said.”
“What’s your name?” Aceso asked her, irritated. “Not your cover. I want your real name.”
“Why?”
“To see if you’re telling the truth or not.”
“I don’t think—”
“Fine,” the captain said. “I’ll go first. My name isn’t Captain Aceso, as you may have already figured out. My name is Joel Espinoza. My eldest child was Kevin Espinoza. He was murdered, along with the crown princess of the Dominion, for reasons unknown to me at this time. My middle child is Andrew Espinoza, and my youngest was Gabriel, the Wraith you mentioned. My wife was Rona. She was brutally murdered by the DIB, and I had to cover it up. Who are you?”
“You didn’t mention your adopted daughter,” Christine stated as she struggled to absorb all the information the man had just given her. This was Andrew’s father? That explained the familiarity of his face, she realized. But why was he here under a fake name? You’re an idiot, girl, she thought and gave herself a mental nudge. He probably thought whoever murdered his wife and the nurse was after him, not you. But then, how did the extra body get there?
“You…you’re the agent who escaped with Aurelia! Is she safe?”
That cinched it for Christine. This was her boyfriend’s father…and her child’s grandfather. Oh, boy, she thought. She was now treading on very thin ice. It could go bad in so many ways. “She’s safe and sound on Solomon. I’m sorry for what happened to your wife. One of the Deebs spooked, and it got ugly. My name is Christine Dai. This is Wil.”
“The tech from Megiddo Orbital Station.” Joel nodded in understanding. “I met your replacement not too long ago. Actually, he’s around here somewhere.”
“Replacement?” Wil asked, confused. Christine pushed onward.
“Joel, there’re some things you need to know first, about everything.”
“Like?” Joel asked.
“You might want to sit back down…”
“That’s never good,” Joel muttered but followed her instructions.
“Gabriel is alive,” Christine began after taking a deep breath. Joel jerked his head up in shock. “Yes, he was hung for his crime, but Andrew resuscitated him with a nanite treatment, and he was tasked with becoming a member of the Home Guard, or as most people know them, the Darklings. He finished his training, and I lost track of him until he reappeared on Solomon, months ago. He’s now leading the assault to reclaim Belleza Sutil from the Mad Cleaver of Kurong and Battle Group Four of Avalon, who have sided with Prince Ezekiel and Laird McCarroll.”
“So that’s what you were hiding from me when you mentioned Operation Homeguard,” Joel whispered as he gave Malachi a sideways look. “I knew it was something important, you rat bastard…”
“Aurelia isn’t your adopted daughter, sir,” Christine continued, trying to put the rest of what was to come as delicately as she could. “One of the things we discovered during Gabriel’s mad dash to Ptolemy was that his girlfriend…fiancé…whatever she was, Sophie, survived the initial attack on the shuttle she’d been on. She and the other colonists were taken captive by the Abassi and experimented on. Neither she nor Gabriel knew that Sophie was, at the time, three months pregnant.”
“Holy…” Joel buried his face in his hands and began to breathe hard. “I don’t…”
“The Abassi did something to Aurelia, because instead of a three-year-old girl, she looks like a very young teenager,” Christine stated. “Mentally, she’s maybe about seven or eight, but even that’s accelerating at a high rate. It’s easy for her, since she can read minds and pull the meanings of words from people’s thoughts.”
“She can read minds, too?” Joel asked as he looked up. Christine felt horrible as she stared at the gaunt and haunted expression on Joel Espinoza’s face. She couldn’t blame him for looking like that. After all, she’d just turned his entire world on its head. “I only knew about her being able to blow things up with her mind and lift some stuff.”
“She told me about a goat…” Christine’s voice trailed off as the memory of Aurelia killing the two DIB agents came to mind. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Another sharp kick from the baby caused her to wince.
“Af
ter I finished freaking out, it was a bit funny,” Joel admitted quietly.
“Sir, your son isn’t an Imperfect, either,” Wil added, sorrow in his tone. “I’m terribly sorry. It’s all my fault. I didn’t check the test results, or perform a tertiary one, to verify that it was true. I just went on the word of what I’d seen in the system. Hell, we had to tweak the results of his test just so he could get in. Please, don’t kill me…”
“Ow,” Christine grimaced as another kick from the baby caused a sharp, stabbing pain in her back. Her hand moved back to her protruding belly. “Feels like he’s fighting a bunch of janissaries in there.”
“How far along are you?” Malachi asked, a frown creasing his face.
“I don’t know,” Christine admitted. “I’ve been on the run for quite a while now… I lost track of the time.”
“You look like you’re due any time now,” Malachi said. He threw up his hands defensively when Christine gave him a look. “I know you’re not supposed to say that, but you’re definitely pregnant, and, uh…”
“Don’t fret,” Joel offered. “He was like this with his wife during their first pregnancy.”
“You have kids?” Christine asked, surprised. It came as a bit of a surprise, but then, the half-brother of the emperor wasn’t a very well-known public figure.
“Uh, yes?” Malachi nodded. “I married the love of my life after she retired from the Navy. We have two children. Teens, actually. Close to the same age as my nephews.”
“I had no idea,” she replied honestly. Malachi laughed.
“Who cares about the bastard, even if he was the sangre princeps at one time?”
“Malachi,” Joel muttered. “You’re embarrassing the girl.”
Homeguard Page 5
