by J. N. Chaney
I took a bite of the bacon-wrapped asparagus and closed my eyes.
Mulberry grinned. “Good, isn’t it?”
Instead of answering, I attacked the food. I devoured the steak in under a minute, taking a second to wash it down with some water before tearing through the sides like they owed me money. Despite all the many classes I had taken, table etiquette was not one of them—further emphasized as Mulberry calmly cut into his steak when I looked up from my empty plate. I had finished a full minute before he did.
He smiled, finished his food, and cleared our plates, taking a moment to refill my glass before heading back into the kitchen.
I leaned back into my seat, full of the best meal I’d eaten in forever.
Mulberry returned with a pair of plates. The one that he put in front of me had a brownie with a scoop of ice cream on top, and I was hungry all over again.
“How was the steak?” he asked before I could dig in.
I raised my eyes up from the brownie with the ice cream slowly melting on top of it. “Oh, it was fantastic. Best food I’ve had in a while.”
Considering the life I’d lived, it wasn’t saying much, but it was enough to drag a smile to Mulberry’s face.
I cleared the brownie from my plate slower than I had the rest, but I was still faster than Mulberry. I imitated him as he cleaned his mouth with his napkin, placing it on the empty plate, and sipping from his glass. I looked down. I’d been pushing a thought down all evening, but as the night was coming to a close, I just couldn’t keep it bottled anymore.
“So,” I started, clearing my throat softly. “Do you know when Clementine is coming back?”
There was a pause, and I knew that whatever Mulberry had to say probably wouldn’t make me very happy. The look in his eyes told me that much, at least.
He sighed and took another, rather long, sip from his wine like he was trying to gather his thoughts. “I got a message from her after she completed her last assignment. Apparently, she’s decided not to return. As she put it, she’s found a new venture that better suits her lifestyle.” He cleared his throat and scratched at his jaw. “She won’t be coming back.”
My face went slack as my hands settled down on the armrests of the chair. I took a deep breath, not knowing what to say.
“I know this isn’t easy for you to hear,” he said, quietly.
“This is—” I paused. “This is why you asked me here tonight, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
The move had probably been inevitable. Clem’s ambition had always been to leave this place. I’d just thought she would take me with her. How could she abandon me here? I thought she’d only needed some time to herself, but this—this was permanent. This was forever. How could she leave me behind so easily?
Wasn’t she still my sister?
I felt a sudden pain in my chest.
“Uh,” was the only sound to come from my mouth as I looked down, fighting back a growing lump in my throat. I cleared it before my emotions could bubble up to the surface. I wasn’t about to embarrass myself in front of Mulberry. “I guess—” I paused, trying to stay collected. “—it’s for the best, right? I-if that’s what she wants.”
Mulberry nodded, his eyes drifting to his plate. He twirled his glass in his hands but didn’t take a drink. “It came as a surprise to us, but we agreed to let her go. Your sister is an independent young woman, and she’s always done things differently.”
That was putting it lightly.
“She’s capable, and I’m sure that she’ll succeed in any venture she chooses,” he said.
They were empty words, and we both felt it. I knew that Mulberry saw right through me, and he was just trying to soften the blow. “You don’t have to lie about who she is,” I said, narrowing my eyes on the table.
We were quiet for a while, sitting together with bowls of melted ice cream. I was so angry, and it rose in me like a fire, burning in my chest.
But then, to my surprise, Mulberry reached out around the table and placed a hand on my wrist, and suddenly the heat in me began to fade. My eyes slowly lifted to meet his, and he gave me a simple nod of understanding. The same eyes that had seen through me when I was an orphaned child, saw through me now, and they broke me.
Hot, angry tears slipped down my cheeks, and there was nothing I could do to stop them.
“Clem has her own path to follow,” he said, even as I struggled to keep my composure. “It won’t be an easy one, but she has made her decision, and we must accept it. You have your own path, Abigail.”
I reached up to wipe my cheeks and felt a sob escape my throat.
I heard his chair scrape across the floor, and another surprise struck me as his arms wrapped around my shoulders. I reached out and held him, as more sobs wracked my chest.
“It’s my fault she’s gone,” I whispered into his shoulder.
He placed his hand on my back. “It’s not. I promise you, it’s not.”
I nodded, sucking in a shaky breath and clearing the tears from my cheeks with the backs of my hands.
Part of me hated Clem, but the other half loved her, and that piece of me would mourn today for quite some time.
I wanted to ask why things had to be this way, why she had to be so broken and wrong, but I didn’t. I just kept crying into Mulberry’s shirt. The old man had always been there for me. He was the father I’d always wanted, and Pearl, a mother figure. We were the strangest sort of family, but I knew in my heart, there was love here. I knew because tonight there had been good food and ice cream, and a tender man who cared enough to hug me and tell me that it wasn’t my fault.
Mulberry smiled at me, picking up my unused napkin and using it to wipe the rest of the tears from my cheeks. “You get some sleep now, kiddo. It’s getting late.”
Fifteen
I rubbed my eyes. I’d been staring at this screen for hours now, and there was no end in sight. Sometimes, working as a researcher meant days and days of tedious, boring tasks. The job would get done eventually, and then I could relax.
I glanced over the screen, holding a real-time satellite visual of the city of Ruto. It was night, and I woke up early to get some exercise in before finishing off a report for this particular operation.
It wasn’t like I had anything better to do with my time, but even so, I’d been working this case for a solid month. I wished I could take some time away from it.
Apparently not. Law enforcement vehicles were easy to spot and track. The unmarked ones were a different story. They looked like your average vehicles, only with a few key differences. Spotting them took an accurate eye, but I was pretty good about it. The way they drove, their brand of tires. I could usually spot them if I paid attention.
An alert came in, pulling my attention from the screen. I flipped the visual over to see the call then groaned.
Numbers Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine, otherwise known as Alonso and Bart, the lowest ranking idiots in the guild.
I reluctantly accepted the call.
“Are we clear?” a man’s voice asked over the encrypted comm. “Control? Are you there? We need an escape route! We have security after us!”
“Hold position, Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine,” I said, clearly irritated. “Pulling up mission data and establishing escape route.”
“Hurry!” said Number Thirty-Nine.
“I don’t see any of them,” Thirty-Eight said. “I think we can go.”
“I said, hold position,” I insisted. “Don’t make me tell you again.”
“There’s nobody here,” he said.
I scanned the data from the surveillance program in seconds, surprised by the sheer incompetence before me. “Gods. This is bad. You botched this entire job.”
“It wasn’t our fault!” insisted Number Thirty-Eight. “Will you just get us out of here? That’s your job!”
Bart’s voice grated me, and I wanted to turn the system off. Instead, I lost my patience. “I’m not the one who tripped every single a
larm within a two-kilometer radius by setting off that explosion, am I?” I asked, rather curtly.
No answer.
“You two got yourselves into this mess, so if you just follow my instructions, I can get you out of it, but I swear to the gods if you argue with me again, I’ll let you clean it up yourselves. Understand?”
Still no response.
“Well?” I asked.
“Understood,” said Number Thirty-Eight.
I counted the time down, and after fifteen seconds, I keyed the comm again. “Okay, you can move out, but keep your speed at a cool eighty kilometers per hour. Any faster, and you’ll get tagged by the speed cams, and you’ll have cops all over you in a matter of seconds.”
“Copy that, Station. Moving out now.”
The car slid into traffic.
I shook my head. These idiots had no clue what they were doing. “Keep to the north route. I sent an anonymous tip about your vehicle speeding on East Forty-Fifth. That should keep the authorities running over that one stretch of road for a while, so keep your current speed, and don’t attract any attention, and you should be in the clear. Do you understand?”
The comm keyed on their side. “Yes, Sation,” Thirty-Nine said. “We’re trusting you.”
You probably wouldn’t if you knew who I was, I thought. It was the middle of the night, so the roads were deserted except for downtown. That was where the clubs were, so it was entirely normal to see droves of vehicles and people coming and going at all hours, but the same couldn’t be said of this part of the city. That’s why it had struck me as odd when I saw three vehicles careening out of a small side road at two in the morning, each of them identical makes and models.
“Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine, did you kill all the alarms before going into the target’s house?” I asked.
“Yes, of course,” Thirty-Eight said.
“Even the silent alarm that rings the target’s security company instead of the police?”
“The what?” Thirty-Nine asked.
I rolled my eyes, checking through the dossier for this particular mission.
The building’s alarms were mostly wired to call the police in the event of a break-in. Inside the bedroom, though, there was a silent alarm that called the target’s security company instead. A security company that consisted mainly of former Union military, with a high average of dishonorable discharges.
It was the kind of security that shot first and asked questions later. Not something you wanted to deal with on a stealth mission.
“Never mind,” I said, picking up a set of vehicles in pursuit. “Just a heads-up. It looks like you have three hostile vehicles coming at you from the north, currently about ten clicks from your location but closing fast. They didn’t show up on my radar until you broke cover, so it’s safe to assume they have some sort of visual on the whole situation as well. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Roger that, Station. We’ll keep our eyes open.”
I scanned across the area, making sure once more that none of the authorities were patrolling the area. It was both good and bad news that they weren’t. Good news for the two men whose lives I was watching over like the universe’s most under-qualified guardian angel. Bad news since it allowed these newcomers to do as they pleased without having to worry about the cops.
I zoomed back to the three incoming cars, now only five clicks away. They stopped, forming a sort of blockade across the road. I sighed, finally finding Thirty-Eight and Thirty -Nine a road that would lead them around it.
“Heads up. I’ve just highlighted a road on your map that should get your around the blockade ahead,” I told them. "Once you turn off North, there aren’t any speed cams, so you have to punch it to beat a police vehicle coming around in that direction. You’ll have to time it.”
“Understood, Station,” Thirty-Eight said.
They reached the intersection and turned off, immediately picking up speed. Watching the police car, they had about thirty seconds to get back to North before they were seen.
It took about ten seconds for the thugs at the blockade to realize they were being circled around by their quarry. They scrambled to get back into their vehicles and resume the chase. Thankfully, this put the enemy behind them instead of ahead. It would make the rest of this a little easier.
I noted a small problem with my plan. While the two idiots still had to maintain the speed limit to avoid being noticed by the cams, the security team didn’t.
“Be advised, Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine, you now have pursuers en route. Maintain your current speed but turn left at the next exit and speed up from there. Understand?”
“Roger that, Station.”
Moments later, the pursuing vehicles divided into two lanes behind them and opened fire.
I softly cursed.
“Station, we’re taking fire here!” exclaimed Bart.
“Still your fault,” I grumbled into the comm. “Take the next right. I’ve already dispatched the drones. They should be there soon.”
“We’ll try to hang on,” said one of them.
I checked the location of the three armed drones currently flying across the city. They wouldn’t be enough to take down the vehicles on their own, but they’d serve as a distraction long enough to give them the slip.
I breathed in deeply as Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine’s vehicle came into view. They were moving dangerously fast. Even from a thousand meters in the air, I could see the sparks from the gunfire hit their doors.
I followed the road behind them with my drone’s scope until I found the leader of the three cars.
“We need some cover now, Station! What’s the fucking hold up?” asked Thirty-Nine.
I chose to ignore them, focusing instead on the drones. They were arriving now, speeding to meet the oncoming vehicles.
I took aim at the frontmost cab, tagging it with the aiming program, followed by the other two. This would send precise targeting information to the drones. All I had to do was give the command to pursue.
I keyed it in, and the drones began their descent.
It only took them a few seconds to reach the vehicles, and when they did, the little bots used their onboard flamethrowers to send a wave of fire at the vehicle.
A second later, the first car swerved, cut right, and then flipped, rolling over and over again, so much that I thought it might not end.
The second car didn’t have time to stop. It swerved right and left the road, surviving a few seconds before it hit a bump and spun around, crushing its side into a light fixture.
The third vehicle had time to dodge both its disabled comrades and continue the pursuit of Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine.
Not for long.
All three drones convened on the last remaining vehicle, immediately unloading what remained of their incendiary liquid in a single, bloody burst. The fire covered the glass, blocking the driver’s view, and while I couldn’t see much from all the light and smoke, the result was about to become very clear.
The vehicle slammed into the wall of a nearby bar, exploding dust and debris into the air and sending people screaming into the street.
In seconds, my team veered off into another road, escaping the busy intersection. On my orders, they quickly filed into an alleyway. “Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine, proceed to the evac point. You know the drill.”
“Thanks, Station! That was some amazing work with the drones.”
I cringed at the compliment but didn’t respond. In case of situations like this, we tried to have multiple exit strategies in place. They weren’t always available, especially off-world, but this job had taken place in our city, so we had everything from drones to additional pick-up locations. Once they were out of their vehicle, I’d kill the cab remotely, and the two of them would hike it to another transport. A different make, and a different model.
I turned my attention back to the other cars. No sign of movement from the first, but the second had its door open, and I could see someone
on the grass, lying on their stomach.
“Sorry,” I whispered. I didn’t know these people, and honestly, I had no idea whether they deserved any of this, but they’d been protecting a very dangerous man, and that had put them here on my screen.
I touched my comm, changing the channel. “Number One, are you there?”
“I am, Twenty-Nine, what’s the status?” Mulberry asked, his gruff voice sounding ragged.
Over the last year, my ranking in the organization had grown, but that was true of almost everyone. Mulberry believed competition bred success, although I didn’t find myself wanting to outperform anyone. I just did what I was told and tried my best. The added rank had happened on its own.
“Complications have been dealt with,” I said. “Operatives are clear and coming home.”
Mulberry sighed. “I want you and the two operatives reporting to me first thing in the morning.”
“Understood,” I answered.
I ended the connection and looked back into the scope. Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine were already on the move, leaving the alley and heading away.
Given tonight’s bungle, I wondered what Mulberry would say to them tomorrow.
Whatever it was, I just hoped I didn’t get wrapped up in their stupidity.
* * *
Mulberry hadn’t been kidding about wanting to see us first thing in the morning. I’d barely gotten four hours of sleep before my comm crackled with the old man calling me to his office. Alonso and Bart were already there, fidgeting in the seats in front of the oak desk.
Tension hung thick in the air. Mulberry looked calm, but I sensed an undercurrent of anger in him, simmering just below the surface. I sat as far in the corner as I could manage, trying to stay away from the impending storm.
“Now that we’re all here, let’s get started,” he said. “Alonso, tell me what happened at the target’s apartment.”
I looked away. The sight of the two of them still made me sick.
Alonso sat up straight in his chair. “The schematics said that the best point of entry was through the back, boss. The building didn’t have a service elevator, but it did have a service staircase that doubled as an emergency exit. We took that and—”
