Chapter 2 #2
“Like I said before, we’ll require full disclosure,” Adrienne says. “Which is confidential, by the way. Only the Authority has access to personnel files. Your abilities remain private unless you choose to share with other people. But we can deal with that in the morning.”
I nod, relieved they’re not going to make me do anything now. “What are the other conditions?”
“Once your abilities are disclosed, you’ll have to commit to mandatory training.”
“I’m already proficient in everything.” Sort of. If I’m going to disclose my incitement, they’ll find out soon enough I’m not at all proficient in it.
“Then you won’t require a lot of sessions,” she says. “But you’re required to attend at least one.”
“I can do that.”
“We also require you participate in practical training, and if you choose not to be a field operative, you’ll be given a work assignment on the base.
Finally, the most important condition—the location of the Dagger must never be projected to anyone,” Adrienne concludes with a look that says, I’m not fucking around.
“Projecting our location is an automatic death sentence.”
“But no pressure, right?”
Nobody cracks a smile. Not even Gray.
Kallister’s voice is gentle as he says, “We’re responsible for every Mod on this base. We take their safety seriously.”
“How many people live here?”
“Enough,” he says vaguely.
“And their families?” I press. “Children?”
“You can save the rest of your questions for after disclosure.”
“Fine,” I say when I determine he’s not budging. “Let’s move on. I want to talk about Xavier.”
Kallister chuckles.
“I told you she likes to run things,” Gray pipes up. He grins at me. “This is our briefing, Darlington.”
“Not until we talk about Xavier,” I say stubbornly. “What are you planning to do with him?”
“The lieutenant?” Adrienne knits her brow as if my question is preposterous. “He’ll either be executed or be used as leverage.”
Horror tightens my throat. “No. You can’t do that. Please. I’ll vouch for him.”
She flicks up one brow. “He’s the enemy.”
“He’s not. He deserted when he snuck me off the Command base,” I insist. “And he helped me make it through the Blacklands.”
It’s the opposite, really. Xavier squealed like a little girl each time he heard so much as a rustling in the darkness. If anything, he was an impediment to our journey.
But they don’t need to know that.
“I would be dead if it weren’t for him.” I look around at the table. “Please. He doesn’t deserve to die. He’s willing to join our side, and he’s far more useful as an ally, trust me. He’s highly trained, almost as good of a shot as I am—”
Gray snickers.
“And he’s entirely loyal to me.”
“Yes, and why is that, exactly?” Adrienne challenges. “Why did he put everything on the line for you?”
I didn’t anticipate the question, so it requires some quick thinking on my part. “There was a Silver Elite mission in Ward C—” I turn to Gray to back me up. “Do you remember? The hospital ward with the fragmented Mods?”
“Yeah. Fucking brutal. Ford didn’t seem to care, though.”
“He cared. We spoke about it later, and Xavier said he’d done some digging and didn’t like what he found.
We suspect the Company is experimenting on Mods whose minds are fragmented.
There were all these blood vials in that hospital room…
” I shake my head angrily. “Anyway, Xavier didn’t like it, and then after his girlfriend died—” I cast a pointed look in Gray’s direction.
This time he has the decency to appear remorseful.
“He realized there was nothing keeping him in the Command anymore.”
I pray I’m able to see Xavier before they interrogate him, because if he doesn’t corroborate this crazy story, they’ll know I lied to them. But it’s all I’ve got right now.
“We became friends,” I admit. “When I was sentenced to die after the Jubilee, Xavier refused to let it happen. He wasn’t going to let his superiors murder me for the sole crime of being Modified. He has a conscience.”
“I’ve yet to meet a Prime with a conscience,” Teriq says, his tone derisive.
“There are plenty,” I shoot back. “We work with them, for fuck’s sake.”
“She has a point,” Gray hedges, but Teriq isn’t having it, shaking his head in irritation.
“I don’t give a shit. I’m not letting a Prime wander around our base gathering intel that he can feed to his fellows if he manages to escape.”
“Then hold him in a cell until he proves his loyalty,” I plead. “Just don’t kill him.”
There’s a brief silence.
“We’ll take the request under consideration,” Kallister says.
“Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?” Adrienne asks politely, and Gray bites his lip as if trying not to laugh.
“No, that was it.” I hope I did enough to save Xavier, but I don’t know.
“Good,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Then let’s move on.”
The rest of the briefing focuses on the Silver Jubilee and the fallout from that, including how my cover was ultimately blown.
My blood burns as I describe how Lyddie De Velde, my best friend in the Program, turned on me, yet nobody around the table even blinks to hear it, as if betrayal is a daily occurrence for them.
I don’t reveal what I did to Jayde Valence. If the Authority isn’t ready to share all their secrets with me, then fine, right back at you, assholes.
After the briefing, Kallister pulls me aside as promised and says, “Stay behind. I’d like to talk.” He glances at Fiona, who’s gathering her tablet and comm. “Fi, could you ask someone to bring Wren’s dinner to the war room?”
She nods, but I don’t miss the tight lines around her mouth. Her distrust of me is palpable.
Gray hesitates at the door, his gaze shifting from me to Kallister, but then he tips his head at me in goodbye and leaves the war room. Once everyone is gone, Kallister drags his chair so we’re sitting next to each other.
“You were there the morning my brother died,” he says without mincing words.
A hot stab of agony slices into me. “Yeah. I was.”
The pain on his face mirrors my own. “Did he suffer?”
“No. It was fast.”
Kallister rakes his fingers through his hair, visibly upset. “I wanted an extraction. We could have rescued him.”
My surprised gaze flies to his. “My contact in the Point said the people on top refused to risk it. Wasn’t it the Authority’s decision not to rescue him?”
“That was the result of the vote, yes.” I hear the bitterness in his voice. “I was outvoted four to one.”
“Grayson voted against it, too?” I say in indignation.
“They all did. I understand why. A rescue in broad daylight would’ve been too dangerous, and we couldn’t risk Gray.
He’s the only pilot skilled enough to fly through Company airspace undetected and get close enough to launch an air assault on their base.
The logical part of my brain gets that, but…
” He trails off, letting out a heavy breath.
“How much did Julian tell you about me?”
“Not much. I knew he had a brother, but not that you were twins. He said you guys didn’t really speak after he joined the Command.”
“Not often, no.” Kallister rests one palm on the table, running his fingers along the steel edge.
“I thought it was foolish when he signed up for Command service. Julian joined right after upper school. He was determined to work undercover for the Uprising and help them sabotage the Company. Me, I wasn’t interested in all that undercover bullshit.
I’m better suited for a control center, making tactical decisions.
But Julian wanted to be on the ground, in the thick of it.
I told him it was too risky, but my brother never shied away from danger. ”
“Why didn’t you reconnect afterward? After he deserted the Command and resettled in Z as Jim Darlington.”
“We did, occasionally. But we were living very different lives. I was here at the Dagger, and he rarely left the ranch because he was wanted for desertion and couldn’t run ops anymore.
And, well, you know how stubborn Julian was.
We butted heads every time we spoke. His way was the right way. Always.”
I chuckle. “Sounds like him.”
“Eventually we drifted apart. Hardly ever spoke. And when we did speak, we argued.” Sadness dampens his expression.
“I do regret that. I wish I made more of an effort to keep in touch. When I found out he was captured and sentenced by the Tribunal, I called for a vote immediately, but the others shot it down, and now my brother’s gone.
” Kallister studies me for a moment. “You were at the execution? You witnessed it?”
I swallow a lump of pain. “Yes.”
“Our intel says there was an inciter in the crowd. Someone nearly succeeded in inciting the firing squad to turn their guns on themselves. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
The knot in my throat thickens as my chest tightens with guilt. I wasn’t able to save him. I tried. I tried so fucking hard. But all I could do was stand there and watch him die.
I bite my lip to stop it from trembling. “Why don’t you ask me again tomorrow during disclosure?” I finally say. Because now is not the time to relive that particular trauma. Or reveal that particular secret.
That gets me a soft chuckle. “Fair enough.”
“What about you?” I can’t help but pry. “Jim was a powerful mind reader. Is that your ability, too?”
“I can’t read minds, no. To be honest, I prefer it that way. Sounds like a very noisy ability to have.” He surprises me by revealing, “I’m a precog.”
“Oh wow.” I give him a wry grin. “Does that mean you saw me coming to the Dagger?”
“Trust me, kid,” he says, sweeping his gaze over me. “I did not see this coming.”
We’re interrupted by the arrival of a girl who enters the war room holding a metal tray. She has blue eyes and blond hair arranged in two braids and can’t be a day older than fifteen.
“Dinner,” she says.
Kallister goes to take the tray from her. “Thank you, Poppy.”
I watch the girl dart off. “How old is she?” I ask once the doors close behind her. “There’s no way she’s old enough to be a field operative.”
“Poppy just turned sixteen. She’s Fiona’s daughter.
And here at Fi’s insistence. Normally we don’t allow civilians to live on the base,” he explains.
“There’s an entire community of civilians in the valley at the bottom of the mountain.
That’s where the families of our operatives live, as well as other Mods—and some Primes, too—who were extracted from the city. ”
That’s promising. If there are Primes here, then maybe Xavier will be able to stay.
If they decide not to put a bullet in his head, that is.
“How do these civilians remain undetected by Command aircraft?” I ask curiously.
“We jam their radar if they get too close, but the Company rarely flies this far south. Not just because of the Blacklands and their lack of visibility, but this mountain is too close to Tierra Fe airspace. The Tierrans are merciless when it comes to anyone breaking the airspace treaty.”
Kallister sets my dinner in front of me. To my delight, it looks incredibly appetizing, comprising a hearty stew that smells fantastic, a fluffy bread roll, and a small container of grated cheese.
“Is this real cheese?” I exclaim.
“Indeed. You’ll find very few synthetic items here. We’ve got great farming in the valley, and most of our base rations are either smuggled in from the city or imported from Tierra Fe, which means real coffee. Real whiskey, too.” He winks at me.
“I drank real whiskey for the first time on an undercover assignment in the Point,” I confess. “It was fucking sublime.”
Kallister chuckles, a wholly alien sound coming from a mouth that looks like Jim’s.
Uncle Jim wasn’t prone to laughter, but when he did laugh, it came out like glass shards scraping his windpipe.
A sharp bark of humor. Kallister’s laughter resonates from deep in his throat.
It’s a soft, almost comforting rumble. I like it.
“Nothing beats the real thing.” He gestures to the tray. “Go on, eat.”
It’s awkward eating dinner while someone is watching you, but I can’t stop myself from inhaling the meal. I didn’t realize how famished I was. Xavier and I didn’t eat much in the Blacklands. It’s difficult to let down your guard and enjoy a meal while engulfed in pure darkness.
I swallow a bite of bread before imploring Kallister with my gaze. “Would I be able to visit Xavier? I know you probably don’t want me walking around the base until you officially decide whether I’m staying, but if it’s possible, I’d really like to see him.”
“You’re very attached to this lieutenant,” he observes, a gleam of intrigue in his eyes. “Are you romantically involved?”
I laugh. “Absolutely not. But I consider him a friend. He risked his life for me, and I feel like I owe him now.”
“You don’t owe anyone anything,” Kallister says without a trace of empathy, and for once he actually sounds like Jim. My uncle warned me to never go out on a limb for another person, not even him. You owe loyalty to nobody but yourself, little bird.
I disagree. I think Xavier deserves my loyalty. Not only did he help me escape, but he’s Cross’s best friend. And Cross, well, he’s certainly earned my loyalty.
“I know I don’t,” I answer lightly. “But what can I say, the asshole has grown on me.”
“All right, then. Finish your meal and I’ll take you to the cells.”