Chapter 3
"Losing Mendhel has been a blow," the Man said slowly, every word resonating. "The guild must be seen to be invincible - on both sides of the line. I trust that action has been taken."
NG didn't answer straight away. He wasn't sure that an answer was necessary. He held the goblet and felt the warmth of the wine. Mendhel had been more than just one of his best handlers, he'd been a good friend.
"The guild is as strong as it's ever been," he said quietly. He swirled the wine gently around the bowl of the goblet and watched the vapours rise. It was true, the guild had survived, but the cost had been far higher than anyone had realised. It wasn't just that it had unbalanced their standing in the complex and delicate political situation between Earth and Winter. The guild thrived on the paranoia and hysteria that rumbled between the two. No, it was the repercussions of the conflict this whole incident had sparked within the guild itself that had hurt.
Thinking back, he'd known right at the start how much certain individuals, key individuals, had been tempted by the chance to use the situation to force a shift in power.
The Man smiled and shook his head. "It's not wise to get caught up on hindsight," he warned gently and filled NG's goblet to the brim. "This turn of events was unexpected but such is the nature of man. The greater our understanding of that capricious nature, the more we can exploit its strengths to our own end." He paused and directed his gaze directly at NG once again. "Tell me more."
-
Mendhel dead? It didn't register. Hil felt wide-eyed and stupid as the words simply didn't register.
"The package was switched on you, buddy," the guy said. "We have Skye, and the package you put in storage is phoney baloney, bud. NG is seriously pissed. We've all been played for fools. The guild has lost its best handler, its best field-op and its second best has been severely fucked with. We were lucky to get you out of there, Hil. We've had teams all over looking for you." He paused then repeated the only bit Hil could grasp. "We've got Skye, Hil. She's as screwed as you are but we're hoping we'll be able to recover from the two of you what's actually happened. Because NG wants that package and he wants LC back."
"What's happened to Mendhel?" Hil said, a chill clutching at his stomach.
"Hil," the guy said, "that's not your biggest problem right now, trust me. NG wants to know what the hell you were doing out there."
"I don't remember," Hil said, frustration fuelled by obnoxious belligerence and every hurt yelling at him to fight back. "I don't know where I've been. I don't know what I was doing. I don't even know your name."
He didn't get an answer before the woman stomped up next to them and gave him a disgusted look. "God, you people are so damned cocky when it's all tickety-boo. It's pathetic to see you like this." She hit the button. He hadn't seen the light turn to green. "Go, scoot. Get your ass up to Medical. I'm sure NG will send for you when he's ready."
He had a dozen questions on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't formulate a whole sentence. He kept his mouth shut and was halfway down the tube before he thought to turn.
"Thanks for the rescue," he said and went home.
Medical was the last place he wanted to be. Hil checked the docking schedule but there was no listing for Skye. If they were bringing her in, she hadn't got there yet. He had to get to Acquisitions if he was going to have any chance of finding out what had happened to LC and Mendhel. His nerves were trembling, from the crash, the drugs or what, he couldn't tell, but he felt edgy and uneasy as he'd never experienced before at home. Home was a secure, safe place but something had changed. He tried to remember exactly what the guy had said but the words slipped out of his memory and were gone, try as he might to bring them back.
The dock area was busy. He didn't want to be around people who would ask him awkward questions and he didn't want this nightmare making public. He knew that Skye always logged in their successful deliveries and let him know if there were any urgent requests for him to contact Mendhel. He could remember that much even if he couldn't remember anything from this latest job. Usually coming in after a big tab involved checking the bank account, picking up any messages and heading out to R&R. Downtime on the Alsatia between routine tabs meant time in the Maze, training, getting to grips with any new upgrades to bioware or just flat out pushing to get fitter, faster, stronger and better for the next one. Coming home was usually a cocky checking of the standings before waltzing out on the next tab. But not this time.
Hil slunk into the lift and kept his eyes on the floor. Three dock jockeys edged in after him and he squirmed, expecting a hard time but either they hadn't heard or they didn't recognise him. They pushed the button for three and two grunts entered the lift between the closing doors. Hil pushed his back against the back wall and let the lift take him up. They reached three and the doors opened. The three dockies jostled each other out and Hil made a move to push the button for ten. He was pushed aside by a black armour-clad arm that pressed twelve. He could see the grey insignia of the Watch - guild internal security - so they weren't just grunts from the guild's militia wing, they were here to pick him up. Shit. They turned to face him as the doors closed and the lift started to rise.
NG was waiting for them as the lift doors opened. NG was the guild's head of operations, head of the guild effectively because no one else ever actually met the guild's council of elders. The Man was the only one of those mysterious figures who ever visited the Alsatia and he only dealt with NG. It was NG who knew exactly who was where, what was what and where they were going. Why everyone called him the New Guy was a mystery because he'd been there as long as Hil could remember.
NG was rumoured to have a sixth sense and it was a relief to see him, to recognise the face and be able to put a name to it. Hil almost fell towards his outstretched hand.
"It's good to have you back, Hil," NG said softly. "We're in the shit and I really need to know what you can remember."
It was like clutching a warm surge of electricity when you shook hands with NG. The guy was an enigma. He was like everyone's big brother but no one knew anything about him. Kase and Martha must have reported in already, Hil realised, suddenly remembering the names of the two extraction agents who had rescued him. And realising who it was who had been sent to extract him sent a chill right through him that set him off shivering. He tried to calm down - this wasn't a good place to go into shock.
NG put a hand up to the back of his neck and nudged him gently into motion down the corridor. That warm hand was reassuring and Hil felt his heartbeat settle slightly. He couldn't help raising his own hand up to the patch behind his ear, awkward and embarrassed.
"I? they? NG, I'm sorry, I don't remember anything straight." He was rambling like a fool so he took a deep breath that caught in his chest. "What happened to Mendhel? Has someone told Anya?" He didn't even know where Mendhel's daughter had been living recently.
NG shook his head. "We'll go through a full debrief later. Right now I need to know whatever you can remember. You okay for this?"
They stopped at the door to the conference room.
No, Hil was screaming inside his head. "Yeah," he said. You never said no to NG, he had a habit of hearing yes anyway.
There were four people sitting at the round table. All display screens were off and there were no recording devices evidently out. Chances were the monitors were off too - that was a bad sign. That meant that they didn't want a word of this meeting going any further.
Hil sat down and tried hard to place the faces looking at him. Section chiefs. He was sitting with the five most important people in the guild. Oh crap. And he hadn't even had a chance to wipe the blood from his hands. A simple screwed up tab wouldn't warrant this kind of inquisition, surely? Or was this what happened to all the suckers hauled in after screw-ups?
NG took his place and started up proceedings. "Chief," he said to the huge man sitting opposite Hil, "do you want to take this up?"
Chief was the chief of Acquisitions. He was the only section ch
ief known as Chief, the others referred to by their section. Acquisitions looked after all the handlers, field-ops and security. The Chief was a good guy but Hil had never had to talk to him before without Mendhel smoothing the way first.
He took a deep breath, the loss hitting hard and the loss of memory of recent days making a confusing swirl of empty cold deep inside. He tried to sidestep his emotions and take control. He was with friends here. These people were on his side.
The Chief shook his head, placed his huge hands out flat on the table in front of him and leaned forward. "Where the hell have you been and what the hell have you been doing?" he said coldly. "We get word Mendhel is dead, your emergency beacon yells for help and suddenly we can't contact LC. We were hoping he was with you but obviously not." His voice turned icy. "Tell me the three of you weren't out on a tab that we didn't know about."
What? Hil blinked and felt a pulsing tick above his eye start to flicker. No one ever took an unauthorised tab. Not ever.
"We've found evidence of a tab at Mendhel's safe house on Earth," Legal piped in. She was a smart, black-clad woman who everyone said had connections to the Assassins. Hil had never seen her this close up. She was stunning and scary as hell. "He was handling an assignment that had not originated from the guild. What do you know about that?"
There was silence as the accusation swirled around the room. He didn't know what to say.
"Do you fully appreciate the consequences of this?" Media was another woman, softer in appearance but with an even more scary reputation. "I can't believe Mendhel would do that. We need you to detail exactly what Mendhel gave you, where your pick up took place and what the instructions were for drop off because I am very disturbed that one of our handlers could have been acting independently. What did he say to you?"
The room went quiet and Hil looked from face to face. Science was sitting there, a stony look on his thin face, fidgeting with a data board in front of him like he couldn't believe they were wasting his time with this.
Hil fumbled inside his brain for a set of words to string together into a sentence. He opened his mouth before anything was ready and shut it again when he realised he couldn't remember the question.
He was saved by the Chief who pushed back from the table and stood up. "Let me set this straight," he said. "You left here with LC. That's logged. It is not in dispute and don't deny it. What the hell were you two doing?"
What?
He must have shown something in his face because NG shot a glare straight at him.
"You don't remember leaving with LC," NG said quietly. It was a statement rather than a question and he had it right.
Hil tried to set his face to neutral. It was hard not to fidget. He had dried blood under his fingernails still and his face must have looked a mess. Beyond the pounding in his head, he felt nauseous and the more he concentrated the more he could feel each twinge of pain, in his ribs, his right arm, left ankle, that cold spot behind his ear. He didn't know what had happened so he didn't know what to say. He'd never faced this before. Mendhel had always handled the fallout from any little upsets his ego had gotten him into. He felt distanced from it all - it all seemed so unreal.
Legal pushed a data board across to NG, the thin display screen flickering. Hil squinted at it but couldn't make out any of the text on it and he looked to NG, feeling more and more helpless.
NG glanced at it but didn't say a word.
Hil looked over to Legal and saw that she was staring at him, eyes cold and distrusting.
"It took us five days to get to you," she said. "After we picked up Skye's distress beacon, it took us five days to find you. Can you account for that time?"
He shook his head miserably. It hadn't felt like five days.
She looked to NG again. "We still haven't been able to identify ownership or allegiance on the facility where he was eventually found. I have some leads but nothing substantial as yet."
Hil felt disgustingly tainted. God knows who'd had their freaking hands on him. He wanted to go and shower, feeling more and more uncomfortable.
"?and that leads us onto the other matter," Media said, "the implant. That was a Senson Six, right?"
He stared, and absently reached up to his neck.
"Whoever took that has violated the guild. We cannot underestimate the damage that can be done because of the loss of that implant. That technology is military grade hardware and anything even approximating its capacity is not expected to be available commercially for at least another two years or more."
"A year at best," Science said.
"Regardless, it still means the loss of a distinct advantage across all spheres of our operations. Whoever took it must have been one helluva bio-engineer," Media said. "We had protections on it, I assume."
Hil felt distant from the conversation. They were talking about him as if he wasn't there. He'd answer their questions if he could but they weren't giving him time to think.
"Of course, we did," said Science, with disdain. "We wouldn't send out such a valuable asset unless it was absolutely secure."
"So what consequences are we looking at here?" That was from Media he thought but their voices were merging and he couldn't see straight.
Hil faded out, like he was sitting in the centre of a bubble that was shielding him from everything outside.
A hand gripping his shoulder shook him back to the room. He braced and tried to focus as the Chief helped him up. "Let's get you to Medical. We can go over this later."