Chapter 11
The Man poured himself another goblet of the wine and held it in the palm of his hand. "Did we err in allowing Mendhel to stay on Earth?"
It wasn't often that the Man would ever consider the possibility of an error. In his eyes, every contingent was planned and any deviation was simply a new avenue to explore. It didn't bode well if he was thinking they'd made mistakes - that NG had made mistakes. The guild operated like a massive family, all living in each others' pockets, devious and closely guarded, every department working on a thousand different projects that all impinged on each other. It was his job to maintain coherency and avoid dysfunction in that huge living entity of incredibly talented and equally fragile human egos. It wasn't simple and he had made mistakes.
He set his own goblet on the table. The wine had already warmed its way down to his knees and he knew too much more would begin to cloud his judgement. The field operatives and their handlers were at the very centre of the guild and were the most difficult.
"Mendhel's relationship with his brother," NG said carefully, "gave us an in to both sides of the line. Pen Halligan is well established in Wintran territory. Mendhel having insights into Earth itself and Winter, through Pen, has given us an advantage for a long time. Yes, it was risky. But it was a danger that we all cultivated. Somewhere at some point we got it wrong. We just didn't know at the time who it was that had managed to break through."
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They spent three days in Ops squabbling over the plan. Quinn had no finesse. Hil always went over every detail himself, by himself, until he could see every possibility. And Quinn wanted to know exactly what he was thinking and why, picking holes in his reasoning. It was driving him mad. Mendhel always gave them free reign. That was where the magic came from - when pure initiative was in play, anything was up for grabs. Hil argued his corner and walked out twice, disappearing into the Maze for a couple of hours each time to work off his frustration.
The tab looked straight forward enough but as well as having to deal with a new ship, he'd have a scary ass, trigger happy, extraction team looking over his shoulder. Acquiring any item from any source was a delicate balance of timing, skill, luck and barefaced bravado. But this tab had too much baggage attached to it for it to be anything other than a massive risk he wasn't sure he was ready to take.
The package to be acquired was in a high security lab on Io Maximus. That was solidly in Earth territory and would be a bitch to get into. Their route in according to Legal was specified in the tab ?- a pick up point would provide ID and access codes. He hated the sound of it. Hated relying on exterior intel to provide him the means to get in. But it was very specific. They had to fly out to Abacus A, which was a colony in the Between, to make contact. Hil had been there before and the idea of going back made him feel sick. And they were asking specifically for him. He almost baulked there and then and the urge to yell for NG to pull him from the tab was overwhelming. He threw a board across the room instead. Quinn smirked and Hil had to resist another urge to throw something at him.
There were no details on the package itself but the lab was a corporate bio-feedback facility that was heavily guarded. Hil never tried to second guess the focus of a tab and it was driving him mad that Quinn was quibbling about what it could be. Considering the circumstances, Hil didn't expect to make it past the initial encounter. The whole thing was yelling set-up. There probably was no package. There'd be no codes just god knows who waiting for the guild to deliver him up to them.
The plan for Abacus A was simple. Make contact with the go-between, leave with the codes and avoid getting arrested for drunken brawling like last time. The go-between was supposed to make themselves known once they docked. He didn't like the sound of it, didn't like taking advice from Quinn and he didn't like relying on anyone other than Skye.
It sucked.
By the time they'd been through all the data that Legal had provided Hil was tired, hungry and had reached the point where he simply phased Quinn out of the equation.
"You're not listening to me," Quinn said.
Hil closed one eye and squinted at the big man through the other. He threw the board he was holding onto the table and stood up. "I'm done," he said and walked out.
Something had been niggling at the back of his mind since he'd sat at that table with the section chiefs, since Martha and Kase had pulled his ass from wherever it was that he'd been. And that was it. He didn't know where he'd been. There was a whole chunk of time missing from his memory and during that time someone had screwed with his mind. He'd been so messed up he hadn't even thought to question it before now.
He walked past the Man's two elite bodyguards, mumbled something about food and needing a break and led them into the mess. It was busy and as they joined the queue, Hil glared around the room, looking for a certain redhead, daring anyone to make eye contact.
"Skye, where's Martha?" he thought, not seeing her there. He spotted Sorensen at the same time the new number one field-op saw him and rose to his feet. Sorensen was the last person he wanted to speak to and Hil turned, muttered that he needed to go clean up, and was half way to the washroom before Sorensen intercepted him and caught hold of his arm. The two guards were right behind and they stepped in close, one with a restraining hand on the guy's shoulder.
Sorensen ignored them. "What the hell happened to Mendhel?" he hissed.
Hil shook free. Skye spoke softly when she sent, "She's in Legal."
People were looking their way. Hil looked at Sorensen and saw a couple of other field-ops standing up. He made a snap judgement and stepped forward, grabbing hold of Sorensen's shirt and pulling him close.
"Whatever you've heard, LC hasn't betrayed anyone," he said quietly.
Sorensen tried to pull away, anger showing in his face. It wasn't surprising. All of Mend's field-ops had been dedicated to the man, above and beyond. Micah Sorensen was one of them and he was due an explanation. Except Hil couldn't give him one.
The two guards took hold of Hil's arms at the elbow, one on either side. "Break it up," one of them said.
"Trust me," Hil said to Sorensen and he could see the anger turn to hurt and confusion. He didn't know what else to say.
Sorensen narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak but one of the guards pushed him aside. Hil let go as they pulled him away and he walked out with them, seeing Fliss stand up on a table off to one side and mouth "Don't worry," to him. He smiled faintly and let them escort him out.
He wasn't going to have much say in anything, that was clear. And there was no way they'd let him walk up to Legal so Martha was going to have to wait.
In the corridor, they backed off and let him walk, stepping in close again as another field-op approached them.
"Hey Hil," she said, eyeing up the guards and shrugging, "I just got in from Redgate. Badger said you'd left this at his place a coupla days ago. He asked me to give it to you." And she held out a necklace, a knotted lace threaded with an elaborately engraved shark tooth.
He took it without hesitation. "Right, I knew I'd left it somewhere. Thanks."
"Badger was really worried you'd forgotten it. You know what he's like and man, I've never seen him so agitated. You don't wanna go out without your good luck charm, huh?"
She smiled and wandered off. He had no idea what the hell it was as he tucked it in a pocket and walked on, shadowed by the two bodyguards who were seeming more and more to be his own personal jailors.
He went down to the dock to see Skye before he had to leave with Genoa. They could talk from wherever he was on the Alsatia but it wasn't the same as being close up. She was upset, upset that he was going without her, upset that he was going back to Abacus and he'd better mind his butt and his attitude and stay invisible this time, upset that he was going with Genoa and upset that her own sorry ass wasn't ready. The Chief had given the go-ahead for the repairs at last but they'd only just started and anyway, they'd need to visit one of her favourite yards to get everything back in shape. <
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He sat on the bridge and kicked his feet while she let off steam. Then he pulled the necklace from his pocket and held it up. She stopped mid flow.
"What is that, honey?"
He didn't need to ask if they were secure, she always talked on a tight link when he was onboard. No one could eavesdrop.
"I don't know," he sent, "but I need you to find out."
"Hold it still."
It didn't take her long, then she whispered, "Where did you get that? Hil, what's going on?"
He shook his head and caught the shark tooth up in his hand, wrapping the black thread around his fingers. "What is it?"
He felt a subtle change in the atmosphere as she kicked in shielding. If anyone was watching them, trying to listen, they'd be a black spot in the centre of the repair dock. Suspicious as hell. Like it could get any worse.
"There's something etched into the pattern," she sent.
"What?" He squinted at it and saw nothing but swirling lines.
"Oh Hil, what is this about?"
"Skye," he sent, exasperated. "What is it?"
She flashed up a magnified scan of the tooth, spinning it round and zooming in until he saw the wording. Scrawled in tiny letters, etched in Badger's meticulous handwriting along a swirl, was a warning - 'guild compromised, trust no one'. It wasn't signed. Hil felt sick to his stomach. If it was a joke, it was a bad one. And if it had come from anywhere else at any other time, he would have laughed it off. But now, after everything that had happened and with his memory still screwed so badly he couldn't even remember where he'd been, it was too much.
He threw the necklace into a locker. Mendhel was dead, LC missing and someone was calling for him by name. What the hell choice did he have but to play along?
One thing that Hil was great at was compartmentalising. When his head was straight. It was frustrating as hell to have a whirlwind of crap whistling around his mind. He paused at the ramp and let his shoulders drop, felt the tension ease, let the pain bundle up and wisp away. He hadn't worked with Genoa before but he wasn't going to let that get to him.
He closed his eyes and let the dark embrace him, felt it warm and comfort him through to the bone. Going out on a tab was an awesome mix of apprehensive yearning for the thrill of the test and a quiet inner calm that came only from knowing you could handle whatever the tab threw at you. Invincible. The cockiness that Martha hated so much came later when you had that package bagged and tucked up under your arm running for the touchline. This was no different to any other tab he'd ever run. Hil took a deep breath and shunted back an edge of panic that this was not just another tab, that his world had gone to shit and his brain was scrambled. He almost wished he could forget what he'd seen etched on that swirl. It changed everything and suddenly the Alsatia seemed a dangerous place to be. He let calm not panic flow over him and stepped onto the ramp.
The connection with Genoa initiated as soon as he entered the ship. Skye was gone again but this time he knew where she was, knew she was in good hands and he let her go willingly. Genoa was quiet while he stowed his bags and headed to the bridge. She was a much bigger ship than Skye, bigger and slower but capable of longer jump distances. He had extraction teams going out with him and whatever happened he would be pulled in. Not an ordinary tab in the slightest but hey, this was where he was so he settled in for the ride.
He sat down and strapped in, refusing to acknowledge the faint tinge of irritation at the unfamiliar layout of the console and the too small space to stretch his legs.
Genoa was still silent. He didn't know how to start up a conversation so he sat and stifled a yawn. It was tempting to nap so why not?
She woke him with a klaxon.
"Undocking in three, two, one."
The ship disengaged from dock with a reverberating shudder. She accelerated too fast away from the cruiser and had to adjust her trajectory to wait for the others.
"Genoa," he said finally.
"Zachary," she replied curtly.
No one called him that. Not since he'd run away from the latest in a long line of foster homes for the last time at the age of eleven.
He felt awkward and didn't know what else to say. He'd never worked with any ship other than Skye. She knew him inside out and when he worked she was there with him every step of the way. Sitting here with Genoa made him feel like he was a passenger. Passive and helpless.
He ignored the chatter as Martha called in to discuss numbers with Genoa. He didn't care how they got there, didn't much care what they did when they arrived. He was being fed to the wolves but he was away from the guild and as soon as he could meet up with LC, he'd catch up on what was what then. There was a dropbox on Abacus. Whatever had happened to LC, if he was okay there was a chance he would have left a message in one of the boxes. Hil just had to get to it.