by L O Addison
“It’s in the country of France,” Beck said. “Which is in Europe. So it’s pretty much halfway around the world from here.”
Marin turned in her seat beside Lio and raised her eyebrows slightly. He nodded in return as he reached up to touch the metal pendant that hung from around his neck. He had guessed that the Virtue was that far away, and now they had intel to confirm it.
“This looks like a big city,” Lio said, gesturing to the map. “Do you know exactly where it is?”
“Down to the exact inch of land it’s sitting on,” Beck said with a nod. “The tracker we used is the most accurate type we have.”
“How do you know the tracker hasn’t been separated from the Virtue?” Marin asked, her eyes narrowed in shrewd suspicion.
“If the tracker had been removed, it would have sent an alert to us,” Beck said. “We’ve gotten none of those alerts. And, besides, it’s smaller than a grain of rice, so we don’t think the thief even knew it was there. It just got knocked temporarily offline by the magnetic pulse of one of the lock-breaking tools.”
Lio nodded slowly as he absorbed all this. “So do you know who has it now?”
“Yes,” Beck said, his expression instantly darkening. “They call themselves the Wardens.”
Lio tilted his head. “Are they an organization?”
Beck nodded. “They like to think of themselves as a political movement, but they’re more like a cult. A man who calls himself ‘Shepherd’ founded the movement at the end of the Syndicate War, and they’ve been growing ever since.”
“I was debriefed on them by the Council’s security team,” Marin said to Lio. “They’re a group of humans who are violently opposed to any aliens coming to Earth.” She shifted her gaze back to Beck. “But I was informed they were nothing more than a small fringe cult. Hardly a true threat.”
Beck sighed and rubbed at his forehead. “A year ago, that was true. But word has been spreading about the alliance with the Rhuramenti, and a lot of people aren’t happy.” He gave a rueful smile. “Our last encounter with aliens wasn’t exactly peaceful. Some people think that allying ourselves with alien civilizations will just invite another invasion.”
“It’s utter foolishness,” Lio snapped. “Alliances are the only way to stop the Ascendancy. There isn’t a single civilization that could withstand them on their own.”
Beck shrugged. “You and I both know that, but a lot of other people don’t. The Wardens are determined to fight off any alien who lands on Earth, and their numbers have been growing hugely over the past few months.”
“How dangerous are they?” Lio asked.
“We don’t honestly know,” Beck admitted. “It’s damn hard to get an accurate estimate of their numbers. They’re still a disorganized mess in North America, because law enforcement here has been cracking down on them hard. But their following is growing rapidly in Europe, and they've been shipping a lot of their North American members over there to join forces. Their main base used to be in Chicago, but they moved to an abandoned military base in Paris."
Lio pointed toward the dot on the tablet screen. “And is that where the Virtue is?”
Beck nodded.
Marin turned to Lio, speaking quietly in Rhuramenti. “This is good news. It’s just a human cult that has the Virtue, not the Ascendancy.”
Lio shook his head slightly and replied in the same language. “The Ascendancy could still be behind this. Don’t discount them so quickly.”
The door banged open, and Nathan strode in, his expression turned down in a scowl. He nodded a greeting to them.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t join the three of you sooner,” Nathan said as he took a seat beside Beck. “I’ve been on a conference call with D.C..” He raised his eyebrows at Beck. “They sent you the map?”
Beck nodded and pushed the tablet over to Nathan, but the commander waved it away. “I’ve already been filled in on the location.” He turned to Lio and said, “It’s not really a surprise the Wardens are behind this. I’ve been suspecting they might pull some stunt to try to piss off your people and stop our alliance with the Rhuramenti.”
The commander didn’t even bother sounding apologetic or concerned. If anything, he just sounded amused.
Lio bit back the urge to tell the commander what the Virtue really was: not just some holy relic, but a weapon of mass destruction. A weapon that could wipe out the entirety of the human population. Then maybe Nathan would take the situation more seriously.
But he knew better than to tell the commander the truth. If word leaked that the Virtue was a powerful weapon, they’d have the entire planet vying to steal it.
“How do you plan on getting the Virtue back?” Lio asked Nathan, keeping his tone calm.
“The same way the Wardens got it,” Nathan said. “Stealing it.”
Lio raised his eyebrows. “There has to be a more diplomatic way to go about this,” he said. “Can’t you negotiate with these people? I know my Council would be willing to offer a large reward for its safe return to us.”
Nathan shook his head, and a wrinkle of frustration creased his forehead. “No. The Wardens have made it damn clear that they will never negotiate or work with any aliens, or any organization that sides with aliens. Their leader, a man they call the Shepherd, has pretty much made that his personal motto. We could offer them the entire universe’s fortune, and they wouldn’t give us the Virtue back.”
“You’re sure of this?” Lio asked.
Nathan nodded. “Yes. We’ve tried negotiating with them before, and they refuse to even speak with us. It’s a matter of principle for them.”
“It’s a matter of idiocy,” Marin muttered in Rhuramenti.
Lio ignored her comment and said to Nathan, “Is stealing back the Virtue the only option?”
Nathan nodded. “Pretty much. At least it’s the only one that promises low casualties.”
Lio sighed, but gave a reluctant nod. “And who would steal the Virtue back?”
“Goodfellow,” Nathan said.
Lio raised his eyebrows. “The thief who stole it in the first place?”
“Precisely,” Nathan said with a nod. “She was the one who you ran into earlier. Apparently, she got a little too cocky and decided to come back to steal some more things from our base. But we have her in our prison now, and I think she’ll be willing to take on the job of stealing the Virtue back from the Wardens.”
“Why?” Lio asked.
“Goodfellow doesn’t have any ties to the Wardens except money,” Nathan said. “She didn’t even know who was hiring her for the theft. Stealing the Virtue was just a matter of profit for her.” He offered a grim smile. “So we’re going to offer her the deal of a lifetime. If she steals it back from them, we won’t execute her for her crimes.”
Lio frowned as he considered this. “And what makes you think she’s the best choice to steal it back?”
Beck cleared his throat and spoke up. “Goodfellow is notorious for being the best thief alive. If anyone can steal it away from the Wardens, it’s her.”
“And she won’t be alone,” Nathan added. “We’re going to send along a few special operative agents of our own. That way she has a team to help her with the theft and also keep her in line.”
The plan was madness. Reckless, desperate, and completely lacking in diplomacy.
But Lio could think of nothing better. He longed to consult the Council, but that would take weeks, and he couldn’t wait. If he did, and if the Ascendancy was involved as he suspected, it was likely the Ascendancy would get hold of the Virtue before the Council could even review the Resistance’s plan.
Lio glanced over at Marin. She gave a grave sigh and slowly shook her head.
“It is not a good option,” she said in Rhuramenti. “But I think it’s the best one we have.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Lio replied. Then he turned to Nathan and said in English, “I will approve this plan. However, we wish to travel with Goodfellow and your o
peratives to France.”
“You?” Nathan repeated, pointing between Lio and Marin.
“Yes,” Lio said sharply. “Us. Our job is to retrieve the Virtue at any cost. I refuse to sit around and hope for luck while your thief tries to steal it back.”
“Okay,” Nathan said. But if his tone was anything to judge by, he didn’t find Lio’s request okay at all.
Which was simply too bad. Lio didn’t trust Nathan or the Resistance. He needed to get the Virtue back, and Lio couldn’t ensure that happened if he was halfway across the planet from the artifact.
Nathan narrowed his eyes, and Lio braced for the commander to try to debate with him. But then Nathan tilted his head slightly, as if in thought. After a long moment, he gave a slow nod.
“Actually, I think that might be a good idea,” he said. “You’re far more familiar with this relic than Goodfellow or my men are. I think you might actually be valuable to them. You can give them advice on how to safely secure it and transport it out of the base.”
“But you won’t accompany the thief, of course,” Beck said, shooting Nathan a panicked look. “Entering the Wardens’ base would be way too dangerous.”
“Of course,” Nathan said, giving Beck an annoyed glance. “I wasn’t suggesting that. Lio can travel with Goodfellow and the tactical team to the base in Nice.” He turned back to Lio and said, “Nice is a city fairly close to Paris, and we have a highly secure Resistance base there. If you stay there, you can be closely involved with planning the theft, and also with containing the Virtue once it’s brought back. But you’ll never be in any direct danger, as long as you stay on the Resistance base.”
Nathan turned back to Marin and added, “It’s the safest option for the ambassador and everyone involved.”
All of Lio’s political training still couldn’t keep him from raising his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn’t expected such a level-headed plan from the commander, not after Nathan had displayed so much hostility and rudeness.
Marin quietly muttered in their own language, “Who swapped the asshole’s brain out with a reasonable one while we weren’t looking?”
Nathan’s mouth dipped into a frown. “What was that?”
“A Rhuramenti prayer for luck,” Marin said, giving an easy smile. “We will all need it.”
Nathan grunted, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “It certainly won’t be easy,” he admitted. “And neither will convincing your Council to let you go.”
“I’m going to invoke emergency privileges and leave without their explicit permission,” Lio said. “Waiting for the Council to make a decision will take too long. If we know where the Virtue is, and if you have a valid plan to get it back, then we shouldn’t delay.”
Nathan raised his eyebrows. “Seems like you might actually have more common sense than the average human politician.”
Lio merely nodded, although he struggled to hide his satisfaction. That was probably the closest the commander would ever get to saying something respectful to him.
“Beck,” Nathan said, nodding to the lieutenant. “Go grab our little thief. We have a heist to plan.”
9
Beck
Beck found Kaylin curled up in the corner of her cell, her head drooping against her chest. He wasn’t sure what sort of sedative Marin had hit her with, but whatever it was, it obviously had some nasty side effects.
As soon as Beck opened the door, Kaylin stiffened in fear and looked up, squinting against the light. But when she saw it was just him, her muscles relaxed slightly and she dropped her head back down.
“What do you want?” she muttered.
He wanted this to not be happening. Beck still couldn’t wrap his mind around how the hell Kaylin could be Goodfellow. When he'd worked with her and trained her, she’d been aloof and a little sharp, but she’d always been… good. She’d fought in the Syndicate War because her little brother had been killed at the start of the invasion, and Kaylin hadn’t been willing to stand by while other innocent people were murdered.
Beck had seen the war leech the goodness out of a lot of people, but he’d never suspected Kaylin would be one of them. But here she was, a thief and a murderer.
It didn't make sense, and some part deep inside him refused to believe it. But even if it seemed impossible, Kaylin herself had admitted to stealing the Virtue.
Beck held up the taros bracelet in his hand. “I need to put this on you.”
Kaylin peered up at the slim, black bracelet, and her expression darkened as she recognized what it was. The bracelet was far more effective than any pair of handcuffs. It had hypodermic needles hidden inside that were filled with taros sedative, and Beck had the remote to the bracelet clipped on his belt. Simply tapping the remote would activate the needles and pump Kaylin full of enough sedative to knock her unconscious for half an hour.
And tapping it multiple times… For someone as tiny as Kaylin, it would likely be fatal.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Beck said with a heavy sigh. “You’re the one who got yourself into this mess.”
Kaylin didn’t reply, but she also didn’t struggle as Beck knelt in front of her and clipped the taros bracelet into place. Then he grabbed the magnetic key to her handcuffs from his pocket and waved it over her bound hands. Keeping on the cuffs when she had the taros bracelet was overkill.
The handcuffs popped open, and Kaylin tore her hands free and threw the cuffs at Beck’s feet, where they landed with a sharp clink.
“Thanks,” she muttered, although she hardly sounded like she meant it.
Beck took a packet of pain-killers from his pocket and tossed it into her lap. She stopped rubbing at her hands long enough to pick up the small plastic packet.
“For your headache,” Beck said. “They dissolve under your tongue.”
She nodded slightly and picked up the packet, tearing it open.
Beck watched her silently, not knowing what to say. He was right—Kaylin had done this to herself. She’d chosen to desert the Resistance, and to adopt a life of crime, and to steal the Virtue, and to pull the trigger and shoot Lea. But somehow, he couldn’t help feeling a little bit of pity for her. She’d lost everything in the Syndicate invasion, and then on top of that, she’d lost her family of fighters when she’d deserted the Resistance.
Kaylin popped the pills in her mouth, eying the door the entire time.
“Nathan is going to meet us in the conference room,” Beck said. He made sure to speak softly, but the sound was still enough to make Kaylin wince. “It’s just me for now.”
She nodded and let her head fall back, resting it against the wall. “Where’s Red? Is he okay?”
Beck rubbed a hand over his face, trying to hide his surprise. This was the Kaylin he remembered, the one who had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. She’d always had a weakness for animals, going out of her way to take care of them.
In a way, it was relieving to see that side of her had survived. But at the same time, he couldn’t help resenting that she valued the life of her pet dragon more than her fellow humans.
“He’s fine. I put him in a storage container in the hanger with some food and water."
Kaylin cracked an eye open. “What food?”
“Just some chicken scraps from the kitchens.”
“He’s vegetarian, you idiot.”
The insult was hardly surprising, and some deep part of him wanted to smile at it. Kaylin had always been muttering insults at him when she’d trained under him, but he’d learned that it was a bizarre sign of affection.
Although he doubted that was still the case.
“I’ll make sure I give him some salad or something,” he told her.
Kaylin nodded and closed her eyes again. “Spinach is his favorite type. And if he’s being difficult, offer him a carrot. He’ll do anything for them.”
Beck bit back a sigh. This girl officially made no sense. None at all. One moment she was running around stealing things and shooting at guards, and the ne
xt she was spouting directions on how to take care of her beloved, killer pet.
He hesitated a moment and then sat down next to her. Nathan had told him to bring her to the conference room right away, but he figured there was no harm waiting here for a couple minutes while the painkillers she’d taken kicked in.
One of her hazel eyes was squinted open, watching him carefully. He cleared his throat, unsure what to say to her, or whether he should even say anything. But she seemed to be expecting him to speak, so he settled on the one topic she seemed at ease talking about.
“So. How did you end up with a pet dragon?”
“He's a vater lizard. Not a dragon.”
He shook his head. “I am not telling people I almost got my throat ripped out by a lizard. That thing is a freaking dragon.”
The faintest hint of a smile touched her lips, but it quickly disappeared, and she grudgingly answered his question. “I got him how I get most things. I stole him.”
“You sound proud of that.”
“I am. He’d been bred for pit fighting. I saved him from a short, tortured life of killing.”
“Don’t you think it’s risky keeping a pit beast as a pet?”
“No. He’s just like a dog. Only dangerous to anyone who threatens him or his master.”
Beck nodded, knowing better than to argue with her. Unless she’d undergone a complete brain transplant in the past couple years, trying to debate with Kaylin was going to be useless, as always.
“So can he actually breathe fire?” Beck asked.
Kaylin opened both eyes just long enough to give him an exasperated look. “What the hell did I just tell you? He’s not a dragon.”
“Sure looks like one. He's got the wings and everything.”
“Vater lizards can't even fly. Their wings are only good for gliding. And his species is from Hikon, one of the most densely forested planets in existence. Why the hell would they adapt to breathe fire?”
“Because it’d be really freaking cool?”
She let out a choked sound that sounded suspiciously like the beginning of a laugh. Then she closed her eyes, and Beck figured she was done talking.
