Page 16 of Inescapable Gravity

Or other activities.

A quick look about the edge of the ceiling told him nothing. If Alex wanted them watched, they would be.

Dialing his phone, he left the bedroom and crossed over to the far side of the house.

The phone didn't pick up. It went to voicemail and Alex's over-reasoned tone answered back.

"Leave me a message and I'll get right b-"

Marius spoke before the message was over. "I want to know where the cameras are hidden. And the microphones. You'll have to give me access to them at some point so that I know what's coming. Who is coming? You can't leave me out of this."

Alex was on the line, his voice calm and reassuring. "I'm not leaving you out of it, Marius."

"Certainly seems so."

"You need to connect with Nix again. When that happens, she'll let you lead her. Until then, we could have cameras on every inch of the house and it wouldn't do any good if she argues with you or takes off in the wrong direction at the wrong time."

"You knew all of this coming into the assignment, Alex. I didn't."

"And now that you know, I hope you'll understand my reasoning."

"I'm too angry to understand." He bit out of the words before he felt his heartbeat slow and soften a bit. "Still, I'm glad to know that she's alive.

"For too long, I thought... I meant that I believed she was lost to me."

"Well, if you don't keep her safe, she will be."

The phone cut out and Marius squeezed it until he heard the plastic begin to crack.

"Who were you talking to?"

His grasp on the phone loosened as he turned around.

She was standing in one of the archways of the central living space.

Leaning against the aged, stained wood, she looked smaller than he remembered her looking even as a teen.

"That's Alex. He's the boss."

She lifted and lowered her head in a nod. "How long have you worked for him?"

"Just the last few months. Most of which we've had in training. We're all military and some of us were a bit rough around the edges. Some of us needed polish."

"Not you though."

Her voice almost made him smile.

"There were a few edges that I needed ground down. I've spent a lot of time in the military. Deployments to a number of places you might know."

Her eyes softened a little. "And what about the ones I wouldn't know?"

Marius felt a hole open up in his belly and the darkness gnawed at what was left. "I wouldn't want you to know anything about those places. You don't need the nightmares."

"Oh..."

He knew that tone of voice.

He heard the soft hiccup of sound that had always plucked at his heart.

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