Page 38 of Concluded
“Aliens?”Dee hissed.
Achilles, who was next to him, gave a kick.Which hurt his already-sore foot but also shut Dee up.
Grimes looked pained, like a schoolteacher dealing with naughty students.“There are only a few hundred of them, living in small settlements in several countries.They mostly want to keep to themselves and preserve what they can of their culture.This particular group was given special license to homestead on tribal land in exchange for sharing some of the technologies they brought with them.I guess the tribal leaders are working with the immigrants to find more efficient methods of storing energy and generating water.”
That was a long speech from Grimes, who rarely gave them.Quite a bit of what he said was news to Achilles and would have been interesting to explore if other matters weren’t more important.But he did have a question.“So what’s this place?”
“Their home.They live primarily underground, but they keep this space for visitors from the tribe.And now they’re letting us use it.Spanos, you can stay here until you’re fully recovered.Now tell me what the hell happened.You start, Martell.”
Dee had clearly never done this before; his account tended to ramble and stray, and Grimes had to ask a lot of questions.The farther that Dee got into the story, the grimmer the chief looked.Tenrael quietly joined them midway through—the alien had left the room by then—and knelt beside Grimes, expression stony.
Finally, Dee got to the point where Achilles showed up—in chains—and Grimes held up a hand to stop him.“Spanos, can you please speak now?”
“Sure.”He began with showing up at Dee’s place in Portland and discovering him missing, explained how Henry and Becker had helped him track Dee, and then described his initial encounter with Dunn, when she’d promptly sent him packing.
Grimes’ scowl had grown even deeper.“She could manipulate the will of a Bureau agent so easily?”
“Well, mine, yeah.Maybe if someone stronger had faced her?—”
“You’re as strong as any agent.”
Achilles paused at the unexpected and unsolicited praise.He hadn’t thought that the chief considered him especially useful.“Anyway, she didn’t exactly manipulate my will.I mean, Iwantedto leave.I’d already tried to quit, remember?She just gave me an extra push.”
“But you returned to her.”
“When I realized what she’d done, yeah.”Achilles considered for a moment.“I was really pissed off at being manipulated.And really concerned about what was going on.I shouldn’t have gone by myself, but….”
“But you knew that we’re shorthanded and you felt the need to act quickly.”
Once again, Achilles paused.This was empathy, coming from Charles Grimes.Not that Grimes was an asshole, but he wasn’t exactly the touchy-feely type.Hell, Tenrael was generally better at relating emotionally to agents than Grimes was, and wasn’t that weird.
The next part of the story was hard to tell.“Anyway, I did go back.And she… zapped me.Just sort of wiggled her fingers and I was in so much pain I couldn’t even scream.”
Tenrael spoke for the first time in a while.“A similar thing happened to agents Clark and Gale last year.”
“Yeah?And did they get transported to some type of terrifying liminal space?’Cause that’s what happened next.”
Grimes paled.Which was quite a feat, considering how white his complexion normally was.His breathing grew harsh.“Liminal space?Explain,” he barked.
So Achilles did, in as much detail as possible, even though he would have preferred not to think about it at all.Grimes listened, his lips pressed so thin it must have hurt.Achilles didn’t understand why this particular part of the tale upset the chief so much, but he continued.He didn’t gloss over Dee’s initial acquiescence with the torture, but he also made sure to describe how Dee had facilitated his escape, likely putting himself in grave danger.
There was heavy silence.Achilles was exhausted; Dee was hunched over as if expecting a blow.Grimes and Tenrael stared at each other silently, as if they could communicate telepathically.For all that Achilles knew, maybe they could.
Then Grimes abruptly stood.“I need to talk to some people.Both of you stay put.Get some rest.There’s food over there.”He pointed at the kitchenette.
He and Tenrael started to leave, but Dee surprised them all by jumping up and planting himself in front of them.“Hang on.All of this started because you guys were so eager to get your hands on me.And now you’ve got me, but you’re acting like I’m barely an afterthought, and you won’t let me ask any questions.”
“Bigger fish to fry,” Grimes said through clenched teeth.
Dee threw up his hands.“I get it!End of the world as we know it.And I fucked up big time.But Jesus, I can grantwishes, and I don’t know why, and there are demons and aliens and werewolves, and I don’t understand….”His voice tapered off and he covered his face with his hands.
It was possible that Grimes’ expression softened an infinitesimal amount.“I know why you can grant wishes.One of my agents has been doing research, and she’s reasonably certain she knows what you are.”
Exhaustion forgotten, Achilles leaned forward.This should be interesting.
Dee uncovered his face and stared at Grimes.His expression was a study in mixed emotions: hope, fear, anxiety, eagerness.“What am I?”he whispered.
Grimes shrugged as if it weren’t particularly important.“She’s pretty sure you’re a genie.”
