“You really think she’s a traitor? After everything she’s given to this city in service to the Hunter Division.”
Phaeden downs his drink, considering the question carefully. “She was dangerous and unpredictable.” He pours himself another glass. “There’s no place for people like her in my city.”
“She’s my child!”
“I’m aware of that, Commissioner. I know precisely what she means to you. I’ve read your confidential personnel file, don’t forget.”
Maydevine is seething. “If it weren’t for that girl, Arcadian’s sister, this whole mess never would’ve happened. You pushed Silver to act when you extracted the Fusion from her custody.”
“I borrowed that Fusion bitch, with every intention of returning her to her rightful owners.”
“Whom, by all accounts, you stole her from in the first place.”
“She was traded to me, perfectly legitimately.”
“Is the flesh trade really that legitimate?”
“They’re not human, Commissioner. You’d do well to remember that.”
“I take no issue with their humanity, or the lack thereof. I only question the right we have to subject other living, breathing, sentient beings to torture and humiliation for the sake of our own guilty pleasures.”
Phaeden waves that off. “They’re animals. Last time I checked, animals don’t have rights.”
“Still, you didn’t think Silver would go after her?” Maydevine pushes him. “You didn’t think she’d see your theft as an act of betrayal and try to retaliate?”
“I was counting on it,” Phaeden snarls, suddenly angry. “And I have absolutely no idea how she survived that damn explosion.”
A sudden shiver ripples through Maydevine, and Silver’s words start ringing in his ears. She’d pointed the finger at the Governor, and he’d chastised her for it. Why hadn’t he believed her? Too late now.
“It was reported as a methane vent explosion,” Maydevine’s voice is tight and controlled. “That’s what it said in the paper.”
Phaeden laughs. “Yeah, sure.” He takes a sip of his second drink.
“The News and Times said it was a naturally occurring methane vent, from the Old World landfill beneath the Fringe District. They said it was accidentally ignited by some squatters when they tried to light a fire, and got more than they bargained for when the whole place went up in smoke.”
“Of course they did.”
Maydevine battles the urge to reach for his gun. “It’s true, then? Everything she told me?”
“Ella Cross”—Phaeden spits out her name—“was the bane of my existence since her days in the Hunter Division.”
“She was one of the best Hunters the Division has ever seen.”
“She was a loose cannon.”
“How so?”
“She’d only take orders if they met with her approval.”
“She was under my command, and I had no problem keeping her in line.”
“Really? So you must’ve known that she was illegally harboring a Fusion escapee—for all intents and purposes, an enemy of the state—all these years?”
Maydevine looks blank.
“No, of course not.” Phaeden sighs. “She left that part out, didn’t she?”
“Silver found that Fusion girl during her investigation into the Sentinel District murders.”
Phaeden laughs cruelly. “She found that creature during the Second Reclamation, and kept it hidden in the Fringe District while she was still under Omega employment.”
Maydevine refuses to be derailed. “Even if that’s true, how was she to know?” He stands up for his wayward charge. “The existence of the Fusion colony was knowledge kept way above her pay grade. Even mine, for god’s sake.”
Unconcerned with Maydevine’s little outburst, Phaeden calmly finishes his second drink. “Look, she had promise as a Hunter—I’ll give you that. She could’ve excelled beyond anyone’s best expectations, and you would’ve done anything for her—that was the problem.”
“I don’t follow.”
“You had more loyalty to each other than you ever did to the government you were meant to be serving. With you as the Hunter General, she and her faithful pack of dogs could run rampant, using my city as their playground. You needed to be reined in, so I had no choice but to split you up.”
Maydevine shuffles a few mental jigsaw pieces, and recollects one of Silver’s many conspiracy theories. “Her banishment … you’re admitting that was contrived? From the very beginning?”
“The Hunter Division is supposed to be an extension of the government’s power, not an authority in its own right. The balance of control had to be redressed.”
“By sending Silver to the Fringe?”
“A necessary first step. No offense, but I knew that where she went, you would soon follow.”
Another jigsaw piece. “My transfer into the Police Division?”
“Indeed.”
“Orchestrated by you.” Maydevine clenches his jaw.
“And I knew that without her I could count on Alex’s quiet dismissal, slipping into the background like a depressed puppy.”
“And the others?”
Phaeden shrugs. “What about them? A bunch of inconsequential twits, that’s what they were. You can’t possibly think I had a hand in any of that? Truthfully, I was sad to lose the Jenkins girl. Her father was always thankful to you for his promotion, by the way. Until your precious little girl went and shot him.”
“Collateral damage,” Maydevine mumbles under his breath.
Phaeden doesn’t hear it, and carries on. “I offered Rachel the Deputy position, but she refused it.”
“Good girl.”
“A silly girl, who threw away her career in support of a convicted traitor.” Concealing a faint unsteadiness in his hand, suddenly feeling unwell, Phaeden sets his empty glass down on the edge of the desk. “Dissident mutineers, all of them.”
The glass slips, and smashes against the floor.
“So why allow me to make that deal with Silver?” Maydevine pretends not to notice. “Why give her hope?”
“Are you really that naïve?” Phaeden laughs at him. “You offered me your resignation, you old fool.”
“For her repatriation.”
“As a civilian, you’d be impotent. If you had no authority left to protect her with, I’d be free to dispose of her without having to consider your political response.”
“You set her up? You allowed me to set her up. She brought you his head!”
Phaeden seems to get a little hot under the collar and he loosens his tie, a tiny bead of sweat appearing on his brow. “After she tried to take mine!”
“And what of the Fusions?” Maydevine growls.
Still uncomfortable, Phaeden removes his tie completely and undoes the top button of his shirt. “What about them?”
“Is it true? What she said about all the empty promises you made about their land. The hollow deals you brokered while you continued to take their women and children away from their homes.”
“The expansion of the city will go ahead as scheduled. They have no leader, so they’re weak. We can take this opportunity to force them back.”
Now Maydevine’s fuming. “And the rest?” He approaches Phaeden, challenging him. “The Fusion pit fights? Illegal prostitution? Genetic experimentation?”
“What’s the matter, Commissioner? Upset that you weren’t invited?”
“You’re sick.”
“You have to understand, when we first struck the deal for the Fusion trade, we thought it was best to keep the new toys eyes only, just in case the arrangement went sour. Only the highest level Omega executives and some Hunter Division personnel were even aware of their existence, and you transferred out of the Division before your clearance could be finalized.” He shrugs. “Of course, now that everything’s about to be blown out in the open, I’m expecting the restrictions to be lifted.”
“What you’re talkin
g about is sheer exploitation.”
“Legal exploitation, Commissioner—don’t forget that part.”
“It’s abuse!”
“I’m not interested in being a shoulder for your tears,” Phaeden sneers at him.
Maydevine would retaliate, but he doesn’t have to. He can see that Phaeden’s not well, and all he has to do is bide his time.
Just a few more minutes.
“Well, you’re right about one thing, Governor.”
Now sweating profusely, Phaeden looks irritated. “What’s that?”
“I would do anything for her.”
Losing his balance, Phaeden falls back against the edge of his desk.
He’s having a heart attack.
He reaches for the phone to call for help, but he fumbles it. The receiver falls off its cradle, landing at Maydevine’s feet.
Maydevine stoops to scoop it up and Phaeden lunges forward, desperately clutching at his shirt. Maydevine helps to lower him gently to the floor, watching him slowly suffocate inside his own body.
Crouching beside him, Maydevine mindfully keeps his back turned to the CCTV camera, deliberately obscuring its view of Phaeden’s head.
Phaeden opens his mouth to talk, but he can’t get any words out.
“Sshhh,” Maydevine whispers. “Relax.”
He holds Phaeden’s jaw closed with his thumb, and pinches his nostrils between his middle and index fingers.
Phaeden struggles, but not for long.
He passes out, and Maydevine uses the phone to call for help.
He has to. There’ll be an official record of this moment, and failing to do so would be tantamount to murder in the coroner’s eyes. He’d be indicted on the spot, and he can’t afford for that to happen.
Not now.
Seconds after the phone call, Phaeden’s personal security team overrides the door lock and rushes into the office. They find their Governor dead, and Maydevine casually lighting up a cigarette.
They draw their weapons, but they have no idea how to proceed. Maydevine seems calm, and isn’t holding a weapon.
Without fear, he glares at them. “What are you waiting for?”
Silence.
“The Governor’s dead.” He takes a puff. “All orders, sentences and procedures, both military and political, are to cease—effective immediately. Call your commanding officers, and call the Enforcement Officer. Now.”
*************************
On the edge of the Fringe District, looking out over the ocean, the Enforcer lowers his HK UMP on Silver as one of the Agents takes a well-timed call from his dispatcher.
To be continued…
OUT NOW
About The Author
Keira Michelle Telford is an award-winning author with a love for the gruesome, the macabre, and the downright filthy. She writes dystopian science fiction, erotic lesbian romance, and other lesbian fiction.
Website: www.keiramichelle.com
Twitter: @mylostanddamned
Facebook Page for KM Telford
Goodreads Author Page
Amazon Author Page
Works by this author:
The SILVER Series
The Amaranthe Chronicles
The Outlier Trilogy
www.ellacross.com
www.facebook.com/thesilverseries
The Prisonworld Trilogy
www.carmenwild.com
Standalone titles:
Cadence of My Heart – an erotic lesbian romance
The Housemistress – an erotic lesbian romance
Hoar & Rime (A Short Story) – lesbian fiction
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ZERO
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
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