Virtue of War

by L O Addison

  “Yes,” she said.

  Nathan nodded once. “That was what, three years ago? Toward the beginning of the Syndicate War?”

  “Yes.”

  Nathan gestured toward her. “He tells me you were a member of his sniper team. You came to his team as a rookie and left talented enough to be picked up by a special ops team.”

  “Yes.”

  “And our database tells me that you stayed on that special ops team up until sixteen months ago.”

  “Yes.”

  His scowl deepened. “I’m going to need more than one-word answers, Kaylin. I want to know what happened sixteen months ago. Why you deserted, who recruited you, why you’re now working against the Resistance.”

  “No one recruited me,” she snapped. “I work for myself. I’m the one who decides which jobs to take. No one else. And you can hardly claim I’m working against the Resistance. I agreed to steal the strepind crystals, and it happened to be stored on your base. That’s all.”

  Anger flitted across Nathan’s face, and he leaned closer. “We both know that’s not all, Kaylin. Not even close.”

  “I took a job to steal the crystals. Nothing more.”

  “Who hired you?”

  “Hell if I know.”

  Nathan’s scowl deepened. “If you expect to get out of here alive, you’re going to have to give me more than that.”

  Kaylin barked a sharp laugh. “You really expect me to know? My specialty is retrieving alien artifacts for buyers. And it’s kind of completely illegal for people to buy that stuff. Buyers don’t exactly broadcast their identities when they offer me a job.”

  “How do you find the jobs if you don’t know who offers them?” Nathan asked.

  “Through a whole chain of people. All I get told is that a friend of a friend has a friend who needs a job done.”

  “So who was the ‘friend’ who told you about this?”

  “I didn’t even get that much info this time. All I got was an anonymous message sent to me.”

  “And you still took the job?”

  She shrugged, wincing as it sent fresh pain up her neck and through her aching head. “Yeah. I’ve taken anonymous jobs before. They’re not much different from jobs where I work with a solid contact.”

  Nathan’s face curled in disgust. “Not much different? Stealing a sacred holy relic doesn’t seem at all different to you?”

  Kaylin scoffed. “Look, I don’t know much about those crystals, but I know they’re not holy or a relic. I’ve seen them on the market before. They’re used for powering alien medical lasers, which makes them about as sacred as a battery pack.”

  She tried to jab a finger toward Nathan, but remembered a second too late that her hands were stuck behind her back. She flinched as the cuffs dug into her wrists, but she kept her tone steady as she said, “I was doing the world a favor by stealing that crystal. You had it just sitting around collecting dust, but I was going to put it in the hands of someone who would actually use it for medical treatments.”

  Medical treatments bought off the black market, but still. It would have helped save lives.

  “Cut the bullshit,” Nathan growled.

  “No, you cut it,” Kaylin snapped. “That crystal isn’t human tech, and neither are the lasers they power. The only reason you have that crystal is because the Resistance stole it from a Syndicate wreck. You’re thieves, just like me. So quit playing high-and-mighty and acting like you have more of a right to own it than any other person on Earth.”

  Nathan shook his head in disgust. “And what about the Virtue you stole? Do you honestly think that’s going to be used for medical treatments, too?”

  Kaylin shook her head. “I don’t know what a Virtue is, but I didn’t steal it.”

  “Stop playing dumb,” Nathan said, his voice cracking like a whip. “That’s not going to help you. You are far, far past that point. We know you’re Goodfellow.”

  She blinked a few times, sure that she’d heard him wrong. But Nathan just kept staring at her with that intense, accusing gaze.

  Kaylin had the sudden urge to laugh. There was no way they could actually think she was Goodfellow. She was a small-time thief who procured harmless alien objects for buyers.

  Goodfellow was… Well, no one really knew what he—or possibly she—was. All they knew was that Goodfellow had a knack for stealing and selling some of the most deadly items on the black market.

  “I’m not playing dumb, and I’m definitely not Goodfellow,” Kaylin said. “I don’t deal weapons. I stole the crystals, and that’s it.”

  Nathan pulled a knife from the sheath on his belt. Kaylin’s heart kicked with panic, and she pressed closer to the wall. Nathan raised the blade until it touched the bottom of Kaylin’s chin, pricking the skin there.

  Kaylin resisted the urge to jerk wildly away as a drop of warm blood trickled down her throat. She forced herself to meet Nathan’s eyes, refusing to back down from his furious gaze.

  “Nathan, I think she’s telling the truth,” Beck said, taking a step forward. “Hurting her isn’t going to help.”

  “She’s Goodfellow,” Nathan said. “A professional trickster and criminal, and a deserter to boot. We can’t trust a word that comes out of her mouth.”

  “Then what’s the point of asking me about my crimes?” Kaylin hissed.

  “I’m not asking,” Nathan said. “I’m demanding. If you don’t start coughing up information that actually sounds reasonable, I’m going to decide you’re useless. And the second that happens, I have absolutely no reason to keep you alive.”

  Kaylin swallowed hard, wincing as the knife dug deeper into her flesh. She glanced wildly at Beck, and he stared back with an expression that looked nearly as panicked. But he made no move to help her.

  Anger heated her veins, driving away some of the cold panic. But she forced herself to keep her voice steady as she asked Beck, “What’s he talking about? What’s this Virtue thing I supposedly stole? And why the hell do you guys think I’m Goodfellow?”

  Beck ground his jaw back and forth, his face clouding over with angry disappointment. “I’m not playing this game, Kaylin.”

  His voice was colder than she’d ever heard it, and it made her skin prickle with fear. It was really, really hard to piss off Beck. Whatever this Virtue thing was, it must have been pretty damn important if everyone in the Resistance was this worried over losing it.

  “Beck, listen to me,” Kaylin said, staring him right in the eye. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know what a Virtue is, or why you think I stole it. So do me a favor and fill me in.”

  Nathan scoffed. “You really expect us to believe you didn’t steal the Virtue?” He shook his head. “It’s over, Kaylin. You’re caught, so you might as well start cooperating if you want to keep living.”

  “But I didn’t steal it!”

  Nathan barked a harsh laugh. “Yesterday, someone sabotaged our security system in our main storage building. They completely blacked it out—cameras, sensors, alarms, everything. It shouldn’t have been possible, but doing the impossible is Goodfellow’s specialty, isn’t it? And then that same person stole the Virtue and left Goodfellow’s calling card.”

  Nathan jabbed a finger at her. “Today, you waltz into the southern quarters and pull the exact same tricks with the security system. Then you steal the strepind crystal. And when we catch you and search your pack, what do we find? Goodfellow’s calling card, right in the front pocket of your backpack.” Nathan raised his eyebrows in an incredulous expression. “And you honestly expect me to believe you’re not Goodfellow?”

  Kaylin’s stomach dropped. “What the hell do you mean, you found his calling card?”

  Beck spoke up from behind Nathan. “If I show you, will you stop playing stupid?”

  “No,” Kaylin said. “If you show me, I can prove it’s not mine.”

  Beck gave her a cold, disbelieving stare. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out two items—o
ne was a foldable digital tablet, and the other was a familiar data chip. The tiny red device was no bigger than a fingernail, but the sight of it made Kaylin’s nerves crawl with unease.

  Her buyer had sent her that chip and told her to plug it into the nearest chip-socket she could find on her way out of the base. He’d told her it was an extra layer of security, that it’d ensure all the security cameras were thoroughly wiped.

  Beck unfolded the digital tablet, turning the screen so Kaylin could see it. Then he plugged in the chip, activating it. Immediately, a white text box filled the screen with a single sentence dominating the center.

  “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

  Nausea twisted her gut. She remembered learning that quote in her eleventh-grade English class; it was from a Shakespeare play, and the line was spoken by the trickster character who shamelessly deceived the humans.

  It was spoken by Robin Goodfellow.

  “Holy shit,” she whispered.

  She’d been tricked by Goodfellow himself. Kaylin mentally cursed herself for ever being dumb enough to take this job. She should have known better—the reward offered had been too large and the risk too great. But she’d gotten greedy and careless.

  Taking the job had been beyond stupid. Now all she could hope was that it didn’t become fatal.

  “I was set up,” Kaylin said to Beck. “That has to be it. Goodfellow stole the Virtue and then hired me to steal the crystal, so I’d get caught and take the fall for both crimes.” She nodded toward the tablet. “My buyer gave me that chip and told me it was a security device. He set me up so I’d have it in my backpack when you captured me.”

  Beck raised his eyebrows. “If that’s true, then prove it. Show us the messages from whoever hired you.”

  Kaylin winced. “I… can’t.”

  “Why?” Beck demanded.

  “Because the messages are temporary. They delete after a minute of being sent. It’s for the security of the buyer.”

  Beck’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Then give us some other kind of proof. Tell us where you were planning on dropping off the crystal, so we can intercept the buyer.”

  “I can’t do that either,” Kaylin said. “He hadn’t messaged me the drop-off location yet.”

  Beck gave a frustrated curse. “Then get him to message it to you. Tell him you have the crystal and are ready to make an exchange.”

  “It won’t work,” Kaylin said. “Not with him. He’s able to control your security system, so he’s going to know I got caught. He’ll have seen the whole thing through the security cameras.”

  Beck rubbed a hand over his face. “Kay, I need you to give me some sort of proof of what you’re telling us. Give us anything you have. Anything at all.”

  “I don’t have any,” Kaylin said miserably. “I’ve wiped all my tracks for the security of the buyer.”

  “Well isn’t that convenient,” Nathan said.

  “It’s the truth!” Kaylin insisted.

  Nathan scoffed. “Those words mean absolutely nothing coming out of the mouth of a thief.”

  He pressed the knife harder against her throat, drawing a cry of pain from her. Blood trickled down her throat, and her stomach churned at its sickening metallic smell.

  “I want a confession from you,” Nathan said. “Now.”

  “Okay, okay,” she choked out. Nathan drew away the knife as soon as she began speaking, and she desperately gasped in a few breaths. “You’re right, the game’s over. I did it, all right? I stole the Virtue.”

  Her heart thudded frantically as she blurted out the words. She was gambling with her life by admitting to a crime she hadn’t committed. But considering all the crimes she had committed, a false confession was her best option.

  Nathan had made it clear that she was useless to him if she didn’t have intel about the stolen Virtue. So she’d give him intel. False intel, sure. But how would he know that, if he was so clueless about who had stolen it?

  Nathan’s face brightened with eagerness, while Beck’s fell with disappointment. He shook his head slightly, as if in disbelief. Even though her confession had been fake, Kaylin still felt a pang of guilt as she sat there under Beck’s solemn, disapproving gaze.

  “There we go,” Nathan said, giving a sharp smile. He patted her cheek with the flat edge of his blade, making her flinch back. “Now, tell me exactly how you got into the Virtue’s storage vault.”

  “The same way I got into the safe with the crystals,” she said. “I had help. My buyer gave me a window when the security system would be disabled. All I did was follow their directions and add a few lock-breaking tricks of my own.”

  Beck’s expression remained grave, and anger flashed across his face. “Was killing Lea part of the plan?”

  Kaylin blinked in shock, struggling to understand what he’d just said. “What?”

  “Lea Riley,” he repeated, his voice sharper. “The guard you shot in the back last night. Was killing her part of your plan?”

  Shit. This was not going well. She’d been willing to admit to a theft she hadn’t committed, but a murder?

  She was getting in over her head. But it was too late to back out.

  “No,” Kaylin said honestly. “I never had plans to kill anyone.”

  She’d sworn off killing. That was the entire reason she’d left the Resistance in the first place. She’d rather die than ever take another life.

  But there was no point explaining that to Beck. It wasn’t like he’d ever believe her.

  Pain flashed across Beck’s expression. “Did you even know what you were stealing, Kay?” he asked, his voice a pained whisper. “Or did you just agree to steal it, no questions asked?”

  She shook her head. “I told you, I don’t know what the Virtue is.”

  “It’s a holy relic,” Nathan growled, breaking into their conversation. “It was our ticket to a peaceful alliance with the Rhuramenti. And now, thanks to you, it’s gone.”

  Okay. That was definitely not what she’d been expecting. She’d figured it was something like the strepind crystal, something valuable purely because it was rare and expensive. When she’d lied about stealing the Virtue, she hadn’t thought she was admitting to an intergalactic war crime.

  She cleared her throat and struggled to ask, “Where did it come from?”

  “A Syndicate ship,” Beck said. “The Rhuramenti alerted us to it about two months ago. Their sensors detected it on Earth, and we agreed to retrieve it from the ship’s wreckage and keep it safe.”

  Kaylin winced as she absorbed what this meant. “So the ambassadors…”

  “Have traveled for five weeks in hyperspace in order to safely retrieve the Virtue,” Nathan said. “Only to show up and have us admit that we’d lost it.”

  Kaylin winced. “Oh.”

  Nathan leaned forward, his scowl deepening. “Oh? That's all you have to say.”

  She swallowed hard and tried again. “Oh shit.”

  Kaylin took a shuddering breath as it all started to sink in. She'd been lied to. Tricked. Manipulated. Her buyer hadn’t wanted a thief; he’d wanted a scapegoat. And she’d walked straight into his trap.

  “We can’t lose our alliance with the Rhuramenti,” Nathan said. “Which means we need to get that Virtue back for them. And you’re going to help.”

  “How?” Kaylin asked. “I don’t have the Virtue in my possession, I swear. I can’t just give it to you.”

  “We have a hidden tracking chip on the Virtue,” Nathan said. “Which I’m sure you know, since it was deactivated. But our techs are working on activating it again. Once they do that, we’ll know where it is.’ He wagged the knife toward her head. “And then you’re going to steal it back for us.”

  He stated all of this plainly and calmly, and Kaylin realized she wasn’t getting a choice in the matter. Telling him it was impossible wouldn’t do a lick of good.

  “How am I supposed to steal it back?” Kaylin asked.

  Nathan shrugged and gav
e a dark smirk. “You’re the master thief, Goodfellow. Not me. So it’s your job to figure that out.” He tapped the bloodied point of the knife against her chin. “And it’s my job to kill you if you don’t.”

  8

  Lio

  “Paris,” Lio repeated. “You’re sure?”

  He tried to sound confident and firm, like a competent ambassador, but the headache raging in his skull made it difficult to speak above a whisper. What he desperately needed was some sleep, although he knew it wouldn’t be an option for at least another few hours. He needed to get the situation with the Virtue under control before he dared to rest.

  Soon after he awoke, the base’s communication station had established contact with Rhuramentia, and Lio had spent half an hour crafting a message to send. It would take an entire Earth week for the message to travel through the depths of space and reach his home planet, and another week to receive the Council’s reply. His jaw clenched at the thought of waiting so long. He’d only been on this planet for four hours, and he was already desperate to leave.

  But he would have patience. He would stay here, and he would seek out the Virtue, and he wouldn’t leave this void-forsaken place until he knew the artifact was safely contained. It was his duty as a Collector, and so it would be done.

  “It’s in Paris,” Beck confirmed with a nod.

  The lieutenant sat across the table from Lio, his tense expression illuminated by the harsh glow of the fluorescent lights. They’d been trapped in this meeting room for five minutes, and already, it was driving Lio mad. The room had dusty carpet and walls painted a sickly grey color, and it was hardly large enough to fit a single meeting table and ten chairs.

  Beck flipped around the digital tablet so Lio could see the message that had just been sent to them from Washington, D.C. A map sprawled across the screen, showing the skeleton outline of a city with a red dot highlighted in the right-hand corner. Beck tapped at the dot.

  “Our tech team in D.C. got the tracking device back online, so we know the Virtue is here.”

  “And where exactly is ‘here?’” Lio asked. “I am not familiar with the city of Paris.”