Page 56 of The Stone Survival
“No, you’re not, and I don’t blame you. Although I wasn’t expecting…this…” He glanced across at Lionel.
“Tell us what you know about the faction?” Levi asked.
“They approached me a long time ago after I failed the initiate trials. It was an invite to talk over the phone. They offered me a favor in turn for a favor to be returned at a later date. I turned them down. Tried to trace the call. Failed. Forgot about it until a few years later.
“I was working in administration at the HQ. Connecting calls, managing the guardian team rotas, and sending backup where it was needed. I was sick of it. Of seeing my brother thrive as an elite.” He glanced at Serath. “Of desperately wishing it had been me.” Serath’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t say a word, and Ulrickson continued. “And I got a call from them. Again. Once more they promised me a favor in exchange for a favor to be returned. In hindsight, I should have told them to go fuckthemselves, but instead…Instead I told them I wanted what my brother had. Power. Prestige. Status. I remember being so angry that day. I’d been reprimanded over something inconsequential, and I was still seething. I told them to give me what I wanted, to prove themselves and then we’d talk.” He tucked in his chin. “Two nights later, my brother was dead.”
“Bullshit!” Serath said. “You’re saying they killed my parents, that it was their fault?”
“Calm the fuck down,” Levi snapped.
Serath bristled, but I placed a hand on his arm. “Let him finish.”
Serath breathed in and out through his nose to calm himself. “Go on with yourstory.”
The way he saidstorymade it clear that he didn’t believe a word of it.
But the depth of sorrow in Ulrickson’s eyes seemed a little too sincere for me to disregard.
The councilman continued. “I was supposed to be on duty that night. I went into the lounge to make coffee, like I always did. My job was tedious at the best of times, but that shift was a dead one. No one ever called in, not unless it was Dani from Outpost Seven wanting to play chess.
“I killed some time with the bulletin board and drank my coffee, then…I woke up hours later in the storage closet with no memory of how I’d gotten there. I ran back to my post to find the monitors dead. I managed to get the system running again and checked the logs to find a series of messages and calls for backup from what I knew to be my brother’s com. I also found a dispatch notice sent to him from my station while I’d been unconscious. Someone had used my access codes. Obviously, I panicked. I tried to contact my brother, but there was no response, and then the phone rang. It was them. This faction. They told me they’d done their part. My brother was dead andwould no longer be overshadowing me. They told me…They said everything was handled, and I’d soon be elevated just like I’d wanted. I screamed and cried, but it didn’t matter. It was done. They made it clear that if I said differently, then evidence that I’d maliciously caused my brother’s death would be circulated, and I’d lose everything.”
“So you went along with it,” Serath said. “You kept your mouth shut.”
Ulrickson took a shaky breath. “I did. I did what they wanted. They had me.”
I believed him, but Serath looked less than convinced. “And what about me? Did they tell you to abandon me too?”
He shook his head. “No. That was all me. After what happened, I was afraid. For you…for anyone connected to me. And…honestly, I couldn’t bear to look at you. To see my brother in your face. The guilt…”
“So you sent me to an orphanage?”
“It was supposed to be a good place. A happy place for you to grow up.”
Serath’s lip curled. “Yeah? And who told you that?”
“I was wrong. I realized that when I sent Farnell in to check on you.”
Serath stilled. “You…yousent Farnell?”
“Yes, and when he reported the conditions they were keeping you in, we agreed that he would adopt you.”
Serath had gone still, his eyes narrow slits as he processed this. It was an easy enough thing to check on with Farnell, which meant that Ulrickson was telling the truth. Serath’s shoulders relaxed slightly, telling me that he’d deduced the same.
“I’m sorry,” Ulrickson said. “Sorry for the distance. For the loss. For everything. I’ve lived under a shadow since that day. Waiting for them to call. To demand their favor. I kept my son at bay all these years, afraid he’d be drawn into the web.” Hismouth turned down. “But I miscalculated letting you join the elites. I didn’t realize their plan…I didn’t know they’d try to kill you. I’ve never been able to figure out what their final agenda is.”
“I believe you,” Levi said.
“They haven’t asked anything of you?” Lionel asked.
“Not yet, but I get a call every now and then reminding me of my obligation. Reminding me that I haven’t risen high enough not to be pulled back down.”
“You’re not the kind of man to sit back helplessly all these years,” Lionel said. “You must have done some digging.”
The corner of Ulrickson’s mouth tipped up. “Oh, yes. I did. And I was successful in tracking a couple of the calls several years back. I have coordinates.”
“You think it’s coordinates to their base?” Levi said.
