Roy

 

As we had so many times before and I suspected, many times to come, we worked through the night. We were quiet and efficient, none of us caring to talk much, but the air in the room was soft and caring. I was impressed at the resilience of these young kids in the face of all of this.

Maybe some of them could join us.

In the end, using the Capitis Leonis, serum and antidote – along with some of the strains from the stabilizers Kesari had stolen – we found a way to “heal” the hybrids.

Yet not all of the shifter qualities could be so easily undone. Some of them would have increased speed, better hearing and sense of smell.

Lhambo, however, volunteered to spin it as Kesari explained it. They’d be told it was a side-effect of their illness. To think of it like a vaccination. In being given an innocuous version of a disease, your body could fight it better and grew stronger.

Our “golden bullet,” as Kesari nicknamed it, was far from perfect, but it would work on new hybrids. We’d continue to work on it, but she wasn’t certain with any amount of time we could ever stop it after a week had passed.

That was the catch and one that seemed to break Kesari’s heart. I didn’t press her at the time to tell me why. I knew she’d tell me in time.

That was why it had been so hard to help Hunter. Not that it mattered in the end – somehow he’d gotten free of the SOA during a transport – and wound up dead. I knew it was the fault of the traitors. They'd either let him out or had given him back to Frost to be butchered.

Piper had told us she’d long suspected one was lurking in Shifters of Anubis. It was how they’d gotten Kai, she’d said. And later, herself.

From now on, her team’s movements would be falsified. Only she and Balt would know where we all were. It should keep us safe and at that, Kesari gave me somewhat of a relieved look.

It was morning and we were dozing on a couch together, in some empty hallway on the top floor. Far away from the war-room and science rooms. Light was breaking through the clouds and Kesari was curled up on top of me. My eyes were heavy, but I couldn’t quite fall asleep.

Shifters of Anubis agents were missing. And I knew, somehow, Faye was one of them.

Faye, who’d mentored Kai, Enele, me, and now Talori. She’d probably been put up to it by Piper and Soraya, fussing older sisters and cousins. She was friends with everyone. The best of the best in the Black Ops. Fast, smart. and skillful. Kind and full of fun.

So, when Piper came along the hallway and woke us up, handing over cups of coffee with red-rimmed eyes, I wasn’t surprised, but my heart ached. Faye and seven others. Presumed dead.

Silently, I wondered if Andrei had gotten out. If we’d ever know.

“Faye – she was so nice,” Kesari said, weeping into her hands. “She didn’t want me to go down into the Foundry. And the last thing she said to me was, ‘I owe Roy and I will not be responsible for breaking his heart.’ She was so worried about everyone else. Not herself at all!”

“That was Faye,” I said heavily.

Piper sat down and sighed, her hands on her stomach. “I should have never let Herrod take over. I should have been there.”

“You’re pregnant,” I said bluntly, rubbing my eyes. “Faye knew what she was doing. She’d be the first person to tell us to stop crying and get over it.” I choked a little on the words. “She was such a badass. I admired her a lot.” She was the only person who could call me Snowy or Roysey.

“She always used to joke you were her long-lost little brother,” Piper said. “The two lost blondes… SOA was her family. It’s why she loved the younger agents.” She paused. “With her, the TLO was always personal. Her parents were sent in after the Kazans – they were in charge before me. They were killed by the TLO. But she never talked about that, only about how she should have done more for Kai, for me and Balt, Isla, too…”

“We have to stop them,” Kesari said, struggling to sit up straight.

“You’ve done more than enough,” Piper said. “Think of all those people you helped.”

“We need to go home, Kes. Pack up for San Francisco and file a report. This Op is over.” I said, rubbing her back and closing my eyes. “We lost, but we will get them in the end, though.”

“Piper!” a beautiful voice rang down the hall, enveloping us and we all looked up. Yet there was a note of pain and rage in that voice, too. I watched as Soraya Lafi charged towards us, scattering light. Her gray eyes brimmed with tears and her long dark curls, tipped with gold at the ends, were in a messy halo around her head. “Tell me it’s not true. Tell me Faye is not missing.”

“Sora,” Piper sighed, trying to sit up. “How did you get here?”

“Faye has no family, Piper! I’m – we’re her family. I got the call.” Soraya’s lovely face was crumpling and she leaned against the wall. “It’s true, isn’t it? Faye is gone. I can’t… No…”

I looked away then, my own face working and I felt Kesari stand. She stepped forward and took Soraya into her arms. Soraya, the older and stronger sister everyone looked up to. And Soraya let herself fall against Kesari, sobbing and holding onto her.

“Faye was trying to protect me,” Kesari said, in a strangely older and bracing voice. “And I will never forget that. All of my work will honor her.”

Stepping back, Soraya nodded, getting a grip and eyeing her. “You’re Talori’s boss, right? Dr. Iyer?” She glanced at me and smiled slightly. “Talori said you managed to wrap Roy around your little finger. I have to admit until this moment, I didn’t think anyone could.” I flushed and she forced a laugh. “Good for you. Weslark men need a strong woman to keep them in line.”

I was about to make a retort when Balt appeared. He looked from Piper to Soraya, then sighed. “We’re all needed in the briefing room.” We groaned. “Hey, there’s coffee.”

Piper and I stood up, but Kesari shook her head. “I’m staying here.”

Balt went to say something, but I interjected. “That’s fine. I can fill Kes in.” I gave her a small smile. “And I know you – I know what you’d say if they need your opinion.”

She smiled at me and slipped an arm around Soraya, who was staring at her phone. Her face was tight and her eyes were glassy. “Thank you,” she got out, then she looked up, straight at Piper. “I have to tell my parents.”

Piper nodded tightly. “I’ll be free later in the day.”

“And I should tell Talori and Enele, too,” Soraya said in a stronger voice. “Maybe we bring them here or I go there…?” She went and sat on the couch. “I never thought this would happen.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Piper replied. “You take as much time as you need.”

As we walked away, I looked back before we turned the corner and I watched as Kesari sat by Soraya’s side, quiet and brimming with compassion. It made me fall in love all the more.

And I could all but hear Faye saying those words to her.

I owe Roy and I will not be responsible for breaking his heart.

In a way, I had to wonder if Faye suspected she might not make it out. There had been steeliness in her gaze before we got separated. She was ride or die when it came to SOA.

And those words were both a threat and a promise for the two of us. She’d have known Kesari would tell me she’d said that.

For me, I knew what Faye was telling me. Loud and clear. Don’t screw this up, Roy.

Smiling a little, I vowed silently, I won’t.

 

Two days later, Rurik and Lev were sniffing around as I packed my bag and tried not to yawn. I was dead exhausted. And I had to leave for Iceland tonight. Kesari was leaving for Berlin.

In a month, we'd be back together and in San Francisco. Working on a long-term Op focused on the science and medicine around shifters, hybrids, and inanis. Trying to save lives. Improve the golden bullet and thwart the TLO’s house of horrors.

When I finished, I put my bag by the door and found Kesari standing in the bedroom, packed and hugging herself. “Have you heard from Dez?”

My heart sank. “No. You still haven’t either?”

“No,” she murmured quietly. “I can’t understand it. I even called his dad, but nothing.”

We both fell quiet. Dez had left the day of the explosion at the Cantina, saying something about a family emergency to Enele. But when we’d tried to contact him – we’d gotten nothing.

Had something happened to Dez down there? Something he didn’t want to talk about or face? Or was he merely done with Shifters of Anubis?

If it was the latter, I couldn’t blame him, but I also didn’t think it was the case. In my gut, I knew it was the former. I was worried sick and so was Kesari. She’d spent half the night last night trying to get a hold of him until her phone died.

“I don’t want to leave,” she announced stubbornly.

“Kes, I tried – we’re getting shipped out tonight. That’s how it is in SOA,” I said.

“This is where we fell in love and we don’t even get a chance to have one more day?” she asked. “One more day to grieve our friends?”

“There’s too much to do,” I said gently.

Kesari turned and wrapped her arms around me. “I don’t want to leave – but if I’m being honest, I don’t want to leave you. Four weeks is an eternity.”

I smoothed a hand over her hair. “I have to see my parents. Gather up my stuff from Iceland. And visit them for real. Piper’s orders.”

She tipped her face back and looked at me. “You’ll call me?”

“Every day,” I said.

Kesari sighed and I did too. “Kes, I know, I wish I could meet your parents, but the timing…”

“I get it,” Kesari said brightly, pulling away and grabbing one of her many bags. “Come on, let’s go. Will you get the rest?”

With a final look around, I stared at the stripped bed and then up at the skylights. I understood Kesari’s reluctance to leave. It meant moving on from what had happened here – the good and the bad. Part of me wanted to dig my heels in too.

“Roy?” Kesari asked. She came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my torso as I closed my eyes and let out a pained breath. “We don’t have to leave just yet.”

“You know Faye is the one who told me to go to school,” I said. “She pushed me into it. Said if she wasn’t SOA, she’d have studied astrophysics. Really loved Carl Sagan and Neil DeGrasse Tyson.”

“It feels like we’re leaving her behind – the others, too,” Kesari choked out.

Turning, I pulled her to my chest and rested my chin on her head. “She’d be the first to tell us to get the hell out of here and get to work.”

Yet for a long time, neither of us moved.