An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2)

by Marie Andreas

  “Why did Harlie say I was missing? This is part of the base, isn’t it?”

  “It is but something down here was blocking Harlie. The feed has been doctored as well. We saw them wheel you through those doors at the front of this corridor, yet the vids just show an empty hall right after that.” Reece got them outside and sat her down on a chair. “I need to find someone I trust to get the body. Bart said to do as little as possible until he could get here.”

  “Great, so this branch is compromised too?” The fresh air helped Aisling’s focus but things were still fuzzy. She wasn’t up to fighting off more enemies.

  “Hopefully, it was something limited to those two. But Bart’s bringing Harlie with him. He can search on a level our tech can’t.”

  “I’m going to set up a scanning for all personnel, just to cover the tech side.” Jones nodded and vanished back into the building.

  Reece took the chair next to Aisling. “Are you sure you’re okay? You really don’t look good.”

  “Flatterer.” Aisling winced as she moved her left hand without thinking. “I’ll be fine once this gets healed by a real medic and we are out of here.”

  “You too, huh?”

  “What?”

  “The need to get out of here. It hit me right before Harlie called me.” Reece rubbed the back of his neck. “We can’t leave here soon enough.”

  “Precog feelings? Or a hunch?” Aisling kept her voice low.

  “Who knows? I sure as hell don’t.” He bent down closer to her. “There is a seer outside of London, not Area 42, but I know of him because of the agency. He thinks he can help determine if what I’m experiencing is actually fey.” His eyes met hers. “All of it.”

  There were too many different emotions in those gray eyes for Aisling to deal with. But for once they didn’t seem to be pulling at her. She almost told him about Harlie running similar studies but couldn’t do it. They’d come clean later, once it was clear he wasn’t linking into some secret siren ability. His precog had helped in the past, and his ability to swim far beyond human abilities had saved both her and Jones from a watery death. But siren abilities were too dangerous. Might explain about his eyes though.

  “That would be a good idea. Just to be safe. If fey abilities are somehow coming through into the breeds...” Aisling left the rest there. If it was happening to Reece, it had to be happening to other breeds. The High Council would never tolerate that. The years of fey ruling over humans were gone, but they would see the breeds as siding with the humans since they all looked like them.

  “Yeah. That’s what I thought too.” He gave a tight smile and stood up. “Let me get the medic who was with Jones to look at your hands.”

  Aisling held up her right one.

  “They healed you in there?” He took her hand and turned it around gently.

  “I did it.” She shrugged. “I had no way to use my gun, so I self-healed.”

  Reece rocked back. “Didn’t know you could do that.”

  “Neither did I. But I know I couldn’t do it again right now.”

  His smile was genuine this time. “I’ll get someone to fix the other one. Without going inside and no gurney.” He jogged over to the medics standing out front.

  Caradoc, Maeve, and a medic were discussing Caradoc’s freedom, and/or his extremely hard head, off to the side. Reece had figured out something had been wrong, but hadn’t shared it with them. Better that he came to save her first. Aisling thought about going over there to tell them, but her energy was shot.

  The woman medic dealing with Caradoc finally shook his head, raised both hands in the air, and walked off. Caradoc and Maeve must have noticed Aisling watching them and they both came directly to her.

  “What happened?” Maeve took the seat Reece had just left. “Jones and Reece went barreling inside after they took you in and told everyone to stay out.”

  “The medics who were taking me in to be treated weren’t who they were pretending to be.” Aisling quickly told them what happened. “They’re still trying to determine if this base is long term compromised or if it was short term and I was just a spur of the moment grab. But they were prepared to grab someone I think. There’s no way anyone could predict what would happen with the plane or that we’d land here.”

  “Or that you’d be injured.” Caradoc frowned.

  “That’s not a good look. What?” Aisling asked.

  He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “One of the things Mott had been working on, before everything blew up for him months ago, was a predictive algorithm program. He didn’t get as far as he’d wanted but it could predict weird events.”

  Maeve watched him as if waiting for a twisted joke, then shook her head. “Like this? That our airport would be slimed, the military airport would be under attack, someone would kill the pilots, and Aisling and Reece would have to land the plane here because we’d probably crash into the Atlantic if we kept going?”

  “Yes.” Caradoc looked unhappy. “Let me check in with Mott. Don’t go anywhere—we stay in sight of each other until we get out of this.” He stalked off but true to his word, stayed within visual range.

  “He’s getting his stalking skills from Reece and Bart. Wonder if he realizes he’s mimicking them?” Aisling watched him go closer to the plane and pull out his phone.

  “How are the hands?” Maeve had been watching Caradoc but pulled back when Aisling held them up.

  “Yeah, I healed one, no, I’m not sure how, and yes, the left one still hurts like hell. Reece went to go get someone to fix it.”

  Maeve looked at her injured hand but didn’t touch it. “It sounds like Bart is going to get another plane to get everyone over to England. I get to fly with you guys as long as they get us off the ground in ten hours or less. After that MI-6 has another flight for me.”

  “Why so fussy on the time?” Aisling swore. “Something else has happened, hasn’t it?”

  Maeve looked around, but no one was nearby. “Yes. There’s been an attack on a science lab in County Meath, Ireland. They are still tabulating what was taken. But all personnel were killed, twenty-two highly skilled brainiacs murdered where they stood. The lab was extremely hidden, and unknown to most agents. The only reason they told me after the attack was because of who they caught doing it.” She pulled up a grainy image on her phone. It was a lab, there were bodies on the ground, and three people were ransacking the place. All three looked like Nix.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Shit.” Aisling took the phone with her good hand, but the image was still extremely grainy. There was no doubt who those three were. “Then there are three more of them. Or could these be some of the ones we’ve already seen? And he, they, knew of this top-secret lab, and took it out before anyone could stop them?” She handed Maeve her phone back. “What in the hell is happening?”

  “That’s a good question.” Reece walked up behind Maeve with a medic, the one who’d been with Caradoc originally, coming behind. “Not whatever has caused you both to look sick, I’d like to find out that later, but what’s happening here. All the agents we found are who they are supposed to be. Any who come in later will also be scanned. The two medics who took you transferred in two days ago. Only thing anyone could recall of them is they were arguing about something this morning and both came in a few hours early for their shifts.”

  The medic who’d come with him gave a scowl. “They didn’t interact much with any of us, but made sure to be polite when they did. They didn’t give anything away.” She motioned to Aisling. “Can I see your hand?”

  Aisling held it out and smiled as a healing gel was gently applied. The medic also looked over her other hand. She didn’t say anything but she nodded in approval.

  “The two that attacked you were new? That can’t be a coincidence.” Maeve watched the medic closely until she finished.

  “You should be fine now.” Her eyes said she’d rather have Aisling in a medical room for a full examination, but Reece must h
ave explained her view on going back in right now. She smiled and left.

  Aisling was sure that Reece wouldn’t have brought over someone unless she was cleared, but she still waited until the medic was out of range. “Caradoc thinks Mott might know something about predictive algorithms. He thinks someone could have predicted that we’d land here.” Aisling watched Reece’s face, she expected him to look incredulous or surprised. That he looked neither was disturbing.

  “I wasn’t in the loop for Mott’s project in that area. Only found out about it when he disappeared a few months ago and I found out how many think tanks he’d been involved in.”

  Caradoc came back. He still looked annoyed but not as much as before. “Mott says the people he was working with were still years away from an algorithm generator that could have predicted this many jumps with any accuracy.”

  “Then this was all just a weird coincidence? I take it we’re stuck here until Bart and Harlie arrive?” Aisling didn’t want to think about things for a bit. She was tired.

  “Indeed.” Jones came up. “We have a VIP guest suite to put you all in. Multi-layer guards and alarms. It looks like this base is secure, but I personally don’t believe in coincidences.”

  They went around to a different door than the one used by the fake medical personnel. It took both Jones’ and Reece’s ident cards to unlock, and opened to a short hall with three doors.

  “You guys get the big one.” Jones led the way down. “Well, we get the big one. Bart wants us to wait here too.”

  Reece shook his head. “There’s something wrong with this base, even if that woman is the only one alive who was in on it—there is something wrong. We could be looking while we wait for Bart.” If he’d had a precog event, he wasn’t disclosing it.

  “And we could be targets.” Jones shrugged. “I already went a few rounds with Bart. It’s going to be unique working under him as opposed to Captain Driyflin. Trust me, giving in on this is a good idea.”

  The suite they entered was massive. A front room had a multiscreen set up in front with a dozen chairs, and past that was a kitchen, two bathrooms, and four small bedrooms.

  “You know if you just added a few things this could be like your lair.” Maeve walked around the space nodding to herself.

  Reece shook his head. “I don’t want to encourage too many people to hang out there. Besides, it’s not my lair. Makes me sound like a mastermind of evil.”

  Caradoc was already pulling out things to make coffee. “Good guys can have lairs too. It’s all how they use them. Yours is definitely a lair.”

  Jones shook his head. “Nerds.” Then he settled down in one of the chairs in front of the bank of screens and started searching. He didn’t say what he was looking for, but what looked like personnel files filled the screens.

  Reece led Aisling to the first bedroom. “You look ready to fall over. I told the medic who healed your hand about you being drugged and gave her the syringe that I found. She said it should work its way out of your system in a few hours. Go sleep.”

  Aisling thought about debating it for a split second, then went for the bed. Rejecting his sound and intelligent idea would serve no one. She had her shoes off and the covers pulled back before he got to the door. “Thank you.”

  “Thank you for keeping me from crashing that plane.” Reece looked like he wanted to say something more, but just smiled and left.

  Aisling thought she heard the door shut, but once her head hit the pillow, she was out.

  With everything that had happened, odd dreams weren’t too surprising. Beyond the fact that she’d would have guessed that she was too exhausted to dream. Unfortunately, they were vague and terrifying. The same feeling that had hit her back in Caradoc’s house struck again. Only this one was just coming into focus, something was chasing her, chasing all fey, destroying them as they were caught, but she couldn’t get a good vision of what it was.

  “Aisling! Wake up!” Reece’s face was right in front of her and he was holding her upright.

  “What happened? Are we under attack?” It took her a bit to orient to where she was, and when. The haunted feeling from her nightmare was slow to fade.

  “You were yelling in your sleep.” Reece brushed back her hair. “Whatever you were dreaming about, it did not look good.”

  “Nor sound good. Dang, girl, you are loud when being attacked by something in your sleep.” Maeve was right behind Reece. “The screams alone should have chased whatever it was away.”

  Caradoc hung in the door way. “She used to have nightmares when she was little. A lot of them. Our mother called in healers, but nothing seemed to work unless they knocked you out. They stopped sometime around when you were five.”

  “I don’t remember that. How come no one told me?” Aisling patted her hair but it felt like it was still sticking up. The bedsheets were tossed off the bed as well. “Whatever that nightmare was, thank you for waking me. I feel more tired than I was to start with.”

  “Only one thing for it. Tea.” Maeve turned and shoved Caradoc out of the doorway to go to the kitchen.

  “I don’t think caffeine is going to help me sleep.” Right now, Aisling felt that horrific combination of so tired she could barely keep her eyes open and too wired to sleep. The wired part was coming from the vestiges of her nightmare. Her heart still felt like it was beating too fast.

  “Not all tea has caffeine.” Maeve came back in with a steaming mug. “Although technically, this is an herbal tisane, no tea leaves involved. Chamomile is good for soothing the soul and body. Now drink it all.”

  Aisling took it but narrowed her eyes. “Only chamomile? Although right now I’d probably take anything. Especially if it could help chase away the dreams.”

  “There might be a few other components, but nothing you are allergic to nor anything that will react against what she shot you with. I can’t guarantee it will stop the dreams, but it should knock you out enough for you not to notice them.” Maeve used a lot of alternative medicine in her life, and from time to time shared it with Aisling.

  “If I can just sleep.” Aisling took a sip. She couldn’t identify everything in it, but there was a fair amount of honey in there. Honey was the base for nectar, an alcoholic drink favored by the fey but on its own it was soothing and healing.

  “Let’s try this again.” Reece got to his feet. “Finish your drink and go to sleep. We’ll wake you if anything attacks here.”

  “Or when Bart and Harlie get here.” She added around a yawn. The chamomile, honey, and whatever herbs Maeve had added were helping. They all left her room and shut the door. Aisling finished her drink, sat her cup down, and slid back into the bed.

  There were only voices in her dreams this time, nothing scary. And they coasted through Aisling’s sleeping mind gently. “I don’t know that I can help her.” It was Harlie, but at the same time, it wasn’t. He sounded younger, scared, and pissed.

  “You need to fix her. It’s too dangerous for her to have those powers, she can’t contain them. Not to mention I haven’t slept in a week because the nanny keeps waking me up every time she has a nightmare. I don’t care what you have to do—fix her. You owe me.”

  Aisling shivered. She knew that voice. Her mother. But when had that conversation taken place? Before he came to Los Angeles recently, Aisling had only seen Harlie twice—and neither time had there been much interaction. Then what was she hearing?

  “Child, sleep.” Again, the Harlie-not-Harlie voice, but now she felt someone brushing back her hair. “Let go of this.” She felt something push at her mind. Taking something away...or blocking it. But the feeling was soothing, like the hand on her forehead. “Sleep now.”

  Aisling woke up sweating. It was great that Maeve’s chamomile had gotten her to sleep, and there hadn’t been a repeat of the terrifying nightmare, but she felt like she’d just finished a sixty-mile run. On the plus side, she felt recovered enough to have been on that kind of run.

  Like the rest of the suit
e, this bedroom didn’t have windows, so it was completely dark. But Aisling could see the outlines of the sparse furniture enough to move about without switching on the light. Had the voices she’d heard come from the front room? The idea of her mother being here was more terrifying than the nightmares. But whatever happened had felt so real. She could even smell her mother’s perfume.

  She marched to the door, intending to find out who in the hell brought her mother into a secret mission, but instead waited and listened.

  The voices were low, but with concentration she sorted them out. Maeve saying if they didn’t get a new plane quickly, she was going to have to leave. Jones and Reece debating something with Bart. Caradoc and Harlie were the loudest because they were in the kitchen which was next to her room.

  “I don’t know how that could have happened. Aisling shouldn’t have been able to do what she did to the plane. That’s beyond her abilities.” That was Harlie, sounding more agitated than Aisling had ever heard.

  Outside of the weird dream she just had.

  “She healed herself too. After doing what she did on the plane, then being kidnapped and drugged.” Caradoc didn’t sound freaked out, but he wasn’t happy. And he kept his voice low.

  “I...I don’t know what’s happening.” That level of uncertainty and confusion coming from Harlie, along with the echoing voices of the conversation she’d dreamed of, was enough to make Aisling open the door and march up to Harlie.

  “I think you need to talk and talk fast.” The guilt and surprise on Harlie’s face solidified things. Something was very wrong with her. Something that her brother and mother had done to her almost two hundred years ago.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Aisling.” Harlie said with an uncertain smile.

  “No, don’t Aisling me. Something happened involving our mother,” She stabbed him in the chest with her finger. “And you. Talk. Now.”