Page 38 of High Seas

“Sir,” one woman said, jogging to reach the General’s side. “I beg you to see reason. What he just proposed is a suicide mission, at best.”

The General stopped right in front of me and pivoted around to face her. “You think I don’t know that? He is our leader. What would you have me do?”

She stood up straight and looked him in the eye. “Stop following.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw.

“Sir, you know the battle zone better than anyone. Much better than Dantone. You know what it’ll take to end them. He’s tried it his way and failed. Now is the time to try it your way,” she pleaded.

He glanced back toward the steel door, then back to her. “Spread the word. Everyone meets at 0400 in the Military block. Find someone to kill the video feeds.”

She saluted him and her once-hopeless eyes filled with excitement… and determination. The military leaders were also desperate, it seemed. Desperate enough to undermine Victor himself.

I slipped into the meeting room where Victor sat at the end of a long table. He caught sight of me and blew out an aggravated breath. “Maru, I assume you’re here to ask me the same questions you’ve been asking for days now, so let me just cut to the chase. No, Eve has not returned. Yes, you’ll be one of the first to know when she does. No, I don’t have any new information or intelligence. No, there is no way to contact her. We’ve tried, but her communicator is not functional.”

“Is it damaged, or is she dead?” I blurted. “Can you tell if she’s still alive?”

“I have no way of knowing for sure,” he answered coldly, deliberately.

“Would Kael know? Surely, he thought of a way to track them. They were just going back seven days, so why can’t we reach her?”

He offered a placating smile. “Seven days, yes, but perhaps she dropped it or lost it. Perhaps it’s broken, or else traveling through time disables the technology. We’ve considered every possibility, Maru, but until Eve struts back into the Compound, we won’t know anything solid.”

I persisted, “Will she be able to get in? I’ve seen the broadcasts, Victor. What if she’s in that sea of humans piling up outside and can’t get back to us?”

He stood up, his chair rolling backward across the floor. “You know what? You’re right. What if she is out there? No one is being allowed inside right now. You were a tracker in your military days. You should go look for her. It’s the perfect assignment for you. Your talents are being wasted while you sit inside waiting for Eve to show up. Just make sure to take your security clearance tag with you. That’s the only ticket back in. Not that I’d show anyone out there you had it.”

I nodded. “Of course. Thank you.” I turned to leave, keeping my face neutral and my tone impassive so he wouldn’t know how expertly I’d just played him.

“Maru?” Victor prompted, stopping me.

I turned to face him, wondering what he could possibly want. “Hmm?”

“I’m curious…” he began, tapping a finger against his jaw. “What did you give her? Just before she jumped, before she went to the roof, what did you give her?”

I smiled innocently. “New stakes. I even carved a pattern in them for her. I thought she’d appreciate having new ones. She’s used the same ones forever and they were getting worn, not to mention shorter with each sharpening.”

He nodded slowly and gave a plastic smile. “That was very thoughtful of you.”

* * *

I grabbed my security tag from my room, but instead of heading outside, made my way to the elevator and took it to the lowest level I could that was allowed by my clearance level. Then I slipped into the shadows and made my way down to Kael’s lab via the maintenance elevator.

The doors opened at the end of a stark white hallway. I’d only been down here a few times, to collect Eve after one of her upgrades. I hated this place. Every acrylic cell held some kind of monster in it. They weren’t people anymore. He’d damaged their DNA to the point where the pitiful creatures were primal. Completely animalistic, all they could do was react. Most were violent. Many were young. All were former Assets who weren’t strong enough to make it to the top.

Thank God Eve was talented. If I had found her in one of these cells, that would have been the day Kael Frost died by my hand.

The day I overheard Victor telling one of his men that he was considering sending an army back in time as a backup plan in case the top three Assets failed in their missions, was the day I wanted to kill Victor. I knew I had to warn Eve, but Victor moved the date up and tightened security on the Assets. If I had said one word, they would have killed us both. So, I slipped her the information, along with some water I had Father Micah bless, tucked into the handles of a set of new stakes.

I wasn’t sure what army he could possibly send. We certainly didn’t have enough troops here to send back, and the lesser Assets were still training, though many of the less-skilled were put on city patrol since so many military men and women had been killed lately.

And now it was clear that whatever force he sent, if he even followed through with the notion, hadn’t made it to the gala either. Every additional failure made me worry more for Eve’s wellbeing.

Their plans, their actions, screamed sloppy and desperate.

My feet were whisper-quiet on the gleaming floor, but my presence upset the subjects as I passed by. They stirred, spinning circles in the small enclosures they occupied, grunting and screaming. Half way down the hall, I came to a halt. A boy stood in the center of his cell. His eyes were a glacial blue, but it wasn’t the color that made the hair on my arms raise. And it wasn’t what he said, but how he said it.

“Doctor Kael,” the boy announced, his lips never moving, the voice resonating through my mind, “you have a visitor.”

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