10
SIBYL WORKED IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS. organizing a secret mission away from the prying eyes of the vast majority of your highly skilled, perceptive agents must not have been an easy feat. The few that were let into the loop were already in the expansive underground hangar by the time I arrived with Chae Rin and Lake. I could see their tiny forms through the glass of my elevator as it took us down. They were scurrying across the pavement, loading seven white delivery vans. Belle had gone ahead of us. Maybe she was already among them, helping to prepare the decoys.
It was part of the plan. Each van was inconspicuous enough to pass under the average civilian’s radar. Under Sibyl’s orders, they would drive off in different directions, forcing potential enemies to split their forces to get to the cargo they wanted: the rings. Two rings, two vans, two Effigies in each, waiting to strike like snakes in a gift box alongside a small crew of agents for backup. A city-wide shell game. It was Sibyl’s idea, but Rhys was the one who’d figured out the routes, the one directing agents to their respective vans. In his maroon suit, Kevlar-based like the one I was currently chafing in, he leaned against a wide table set up next to one of the vans, a paper map spread across it.
“Howard?” I waved excitedly when Howard Day, the beefy, bald Sect agent I’d met in New York, lifted his shades to greet me.
“It’s good to see you again, Maia.” His voice was just as grave and his expression just as serious as ever. I was glad he was okay; he’d been in bad shape the last time I’d seen him. Cocking his head to the side, he narrowed his eyes. “What is that?”
He pointed at the leopard-patterned bandana around my neck. Lake had lent it to me to hide the steel neck-band keeping the little voices in my head in check.
“Neckwear is against mission dress code regulations,” he started to say, suddenly reminding me how very stuffy he could be. “It can be a distraction on the battlefield and—”
“I think it’s pretty. Howard, relax. We’ve talked about this.” The beautiful woman standing next to him smiled at me through her long lashes, green eyes bright against her tawny skin, a similar shade to mine. “I’m Eveline. The wife.”
She was shorter than I was, which made the height difference between the couple all the more noticeable, yet charming nonetheless. Her black hair was shaved close to her skull, pronouncing the square shape of her head. The three white studs at the corner of her left ear gleamed under the hangar lights.
“Didn’t know you were married,” I said as she greeted Chae Rin and Lake.
“Well, they say the family that slays together . . .” Rhys left his words unfinished as he flashed me a quick glance and an even quicker smile.
Keeping my face unreadable, I dodged both, looking at the map instead. “These are the routes we’ll be taking, right?”
My evasion didn’t go unnoticed. After a slight pause, Rhys straightened up. “Yeah. The routes of the different vans are all here in marker.” I could see the red streaks tracing lines through London and Essex, the two cities sandwiching us here in Epping. “Each will take different paths out of the facility, but, Maia, you and Belle will be in one of the vans going underground.” He tapped the route with the tip of his covered marker. “Route L-9. It’s an underground highway built during World War II. It was used for communications during the war, but since then, the Sect has revamped it and built new structures. There’ll be Sect agents in stations along the way monitoring the route and keeping the tunnel APDs online.”
“We’re not headed to the same place, are we?” asked Chae Rin. I could hear the sound of music from her headphones as they dangled down her chest, her phone deep in her left pocket.
“You and Lake will be in Unit Two, heading out toward Dover Port with Unit Three following close behind as backup. Belle and Maia are heading northwest in Unit Seven with Unit Six as their backup. For security purposes, you won’t be told the location until you get there.”
“I’ll be with you, Maia,” said Eveline, picking up a gun off her table. “And a few other agents.”
“Do I get one of those?” Chae Rin watched, far too interested, as Eveline fitted the gun inside the holster on the small of her back. “Hey,” she added when Howard gave her a sidelong look, “unlike some of us, I can’t generate my own weapon. It’s for protection.”
I peered around the hangar. “You really think we’re going to need all these people?” Several agents were suiting up and equipping themselves. Preparing for Saul. Felt more like preparing for a war. My stomach lurched as I watched them pack into their respective vans.
“We know it’s a possibility that Saul might launch some kind of attack to find the rings,” said Howard. “He wouldn’t come unless he had some trick up his sleeve. We want to be prepared.”
“Don’t worry.” Rhys’s tone was much lighter as he rolled up the map, sweet enough for my heart to speed up. The difference between his boy-next-door and boy-bred-for-battle personas was like night and day. But both were dangerous. “I’ll be one of the agents in your van. And as I seem to remember, we’ve worked pretty well together in the past, right?”
I remembered too. “Okay, whatever,” I said, avoiding his smile. “We should go get ready. Get in position or something.”
I thought I’d be better prepared for the look on Rhys’s face, the quiet but unmistakable pang of hurt in his eyes as he watched me. I pretended not to notice. It was better than dealing with the sudden twinge of pain I felt upon realizing that if he was really innocent, then I was hurting him unnecessarily.
But if this was a ruse and he was playing me . . .
“Good luck,” I said to Howard with a quick nod before taking off.
The awful sensation corroding my insides was the same I felt every day I avoided telling Uncle Nathan that I’d become an Effigy. I would look in the mirror and wonder how I’d become so pathetic, or if I’d been like that from the beginning.
You’re so annoying! Just confront him, I ordered myself, but I kept walking. The thought of confronting Rhys over what he might have done sent a fresh surge of panic through me. Because knowing the truth meant consequences I wasn’t prepared for. Because I didn’t want to believe he could hurt a friend in cold blood. Because I was a coward.
And because of that other thing.
You don’t believe me . . . because of your crush? Pitiful. This body. This life. You don’t deserve it.
I could still remember the way she’d laughed at me. Natalya . . . She was probably watching everything right now, more determined than ever to take me over.
That is, if sending me into a tailspin of doubt wasn’t her plan all along.
“Oi, Maia.” Lake tugged my sleeve as we walked side by side down the hangar, past the agents loading weapons. “Something going on between you and Aidan?”
I stopped. “No. Why? Who told you? What are you even talking about?”
“Relax!” Lake laughed in surprise before lowering her voice. “Wow, try a little harder to act less guilty, yeah? Seriously, you guys have been weird since he came back.”
“What ‘you guys’?” I could feel my mouth drying. “There’s no ‘you guys.’ Since when has there been a ‘you guys’?” Luckily, Chae Rin was already off somewhere hounding some agents to lend her a firearm “for protective purposes.” Otherwise she’d have been picking apart my obvious insecurities like a barely healed scab.
Lake, on the other hand, only shrugged. “I dunno. A while ago you guys seemed to be getting along well.” I hated the way her grin spread across her face as she added, “Really well. Especially on his part. It always seemed to me like he was a bit taken with—”
“That’s not possible.” The heat rose up from my cheeks.
“Not possible?” Lake made a face as she adjusted the tight black bun at the top of her head. “What does that mean?”
I struggled to find the words. “I mean, that can’t happen.”
“Why not? Goodness, you need to have a bit more self-esteem, yeah? There’s nothing wrong with you.” She patted me on the shoulder. “You’re a bit neurotic and judgmental, but aren’t we all?” She paused. “Actually, no, it’s just you.”
Self-esteem was probably one reason. Even before my family died and my introversion went into hyperdrive, I’d found the comfort of my own room and a good gaming console more reliable and relaxing to be around than the opposite sex. The other reason was something I didn’t dare utter here, to anyone.
Not until I was sure of the truth about Rhys.
“I’m sorry. I’m not good with . . . romance feelings.” My stilted delivery made that pretty clear. I couldn’t blame Lake for laughing.
“Anyway, don’t worry about that stuff. If it happens, it happens.” And she gave me one last slap on the shoulder. “Nothing wrong with a little love on the battlefield, I always say. Plus, he’s really hot. Pretty face, banging bod.” She shrugged. “You could do worse.”
“Duly noted,” I mumbled, my toes curling in embarrassment as Chae Rin sauntered back to us, gunless.
“We’re four minutes out from the start of the mission,” Sibyl’s voice came from the overhead. “Everyone get to your stations.” She didn’t have to be physically present to order us around. Communications was too public for a mission that was only supposed to involve part of her fighting force; she’d set up her own operations base from her office instead.
“Oh dear. I’m getting a bit nervous.” For a few seconds, as Lake shifted uncomfortably on her feet, I could see the erratic rhythm of the rise and fall of her chest. Then suddenly, like a switch had been flipped, she snapped her head up. “Oh, by the way, Maia, speaking of Rhys—”
“We weren’t,” I said flatly.
“Since you two are in a bit of a rough spot, do you want me to help by getting him an invite to the TVCAs? I can ask my agent for tickets!”
Chae Rin laughed. “Of course you’d be worrying about some celebrity wankfest instead of the actual mission at hand. Why am I not surprised?”
“What?” Lake said as I distinctly heard Chae Rin mutter the word “airhead.” “I’m just trying to lighten the mood a bit, sorry. I know you’re all about blood, death, and destruction, but some of us aren’t.” Lake tried to keep her voice measured, but I knew it wouldn’t last. “Besides, this stuff is important too. We have other kinds of Sect duties, you know.”
“Other kinds of Sect duties! I’m dying!”
“Yes, other kinds of Sect duties!” Lake’s voice rose rapidly over the harsh dissonance of Chae Rin’s laughter. “Going to this awards show is our duty. Cheryl and Sibyl okayed it—hell, they want us putting ourselves out there.”
“Right, and this has nothing to do with your old girl group snagging their first number one. You really are completely, decidedly full of shit, Lake. I seriously—”
“I’m what? Say that again?”
It was never going to stop. It didn’t stop even as the two stalked off to their vans.
Just as they left my sight, Belle turned around the corner of a van, her hair plaited down her head in a French braid. “There you are. You’re with me,” she said. “Come, it’s time.”
Sucking in a breath, I followed.
• • •
One o’clock. In the dead of night, the delivery vans drove out of the underground hangars through a network that took us up to the surface. Only when we were clear of the facility’s reach did our silent procession break up as each van traveled down its prescribed route.
To the regular civilian passerby on the highway, our van would have looked almost too deceptively simple. But our boring, white moving cubicle skillfully hid from view the weapon cases strapped to the wall, the handheld blades and electromagnetic phantom-dispelling bombs tucked in the compartments beneath the black-cushioned benches.
And one of Saul’s rings. It was in a black safe specially fitted against the division separating the driver and passenger seats from the cargo unit we were sitting in. Another van followed a few car lengths behind. The only way inside our compartment was sealed shut with an electronically locked door that could only be opened with a code.
With sweaty palms, I sat rigidly on my bench next to Belle, who laid her head against the wall, eyes closed. On the opposite bench, Rhys stayed alert, watching the several blinking red lights on the center screen of the monitor as the vans separated down different paths. The van floor rocked beneath my boots while I listened to the sound of cars rushing by.
The left and right screens of the monitor acted like a surveillance system showing us different angles outside the van. But they didn’t show us every angle.
“Eveline, what do you see out there?” Rhys held a finger to his earpiece as the communication device picked up his voice.
“All clear so far.”
I could only hear her; she was on the other side of the division in the passenger seat with another agent, Lock, who drove us along the highway.
“All units check in,” came Sibyl’s voice over the comm.
“Unit Seven, all clear,” said Rhys.
“Unit Six, all clear.”
“Unit Five, all clear.”
And it continued like that.
“You don’t think Saul would just ambush us out here, do you?” I asked quietly, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
“Yes. That’s why there are bombs in the bench, Maia.”
It wasn’t a tone I was used to from Rhys. He sounded annoyed. I heard the sting in his voice, but he kept his eyes away from mine as he continued to keep in contact with the other units. Not that I had a right to complain. But my throat still labored as I swallowed hard.
“Maia,” came Belle’s voice from beside me, and when I looked up, my lips almost parted in surprise. Her eyes weren’t fully open as they looked at me, but the encouragement of her small smile, as fleeting as it was, had enough of an impact. “This is all just a precaution—you know that. Don’t worry.”
She wasn’t as confident being warm. Her voice was softer, more fragile. It didn’t come naturally to her. But she gave it a shot sometimes, as if she’d suddenly remembered during those odd moments that I wasn’t just the girl whose destiny used to belong to her mentor. I was the girl struggling under the weight of it.
She was trying, Belle. Every once in a while, she’d set her grief aside and try. And I always appreciated it. But when her smile disappeared, the knit in her eyebrows returned quickly as if to make up lost ground.
“I’m sorry,” Belle said. “I know I’ve been acting . . . strange lately.” She said nothing else, but I already understood. As she brushed back some loose strands of hair streaming down her forehead, I stared at my knees.
“It’s okay,” I said as an insidious whisper of guilt taunted me. “And you’re right about the mission. I guess I’m just nervous. I don’t know if I’m really ready to face Saul again.”
“You should be. This isn’t your first mission,” Rhys said flatly, watching the monitor as he twisted the sheathed tip of his favorite knife against his finger. “Haven’t you been training? You should have toughened up by now.”
That childishness was back, the same defiance masked as innocence while he pretended to be interested in his knife, twisting it against his finger. My hands clenched against my knees as we crossed through a Sect-controlled toll. I heard Eveline’s voice from inside my comm.
“Entering the underground tunnel,” she said. I could see that much on the monitor. The two-way highway stretched on in the darkness, speckled by the small lights lining the wall.
“Well, Rhys,” I said finally with a bitter curl of my bottom lip. “Seems you’ve been reading some of my criticism online. Nice to know you found something to do back home for all those weeks.”
“You mean aside from recovering?”
Recovering from his injuries—the injuries he’d gotten trying to protect me from Saul. I couldn’t forget. A knife plunged into his chest close to his heart.
He’d done that for me.
He wasn’t a bad guy. I knew that in my heart. He’d shown me as much while we were together. It was my head that needed convincing—not easy when there were other people living in it.
“Anyway, this is a mission, Maia.” Rhys faced me with nonchalant eyes. “So let’s stop this here, okay? No one’s out to get you. Stop being ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous?” I sat up straight on my bench. “How about you stop being a jerk?”
Rhys’s jaw went rigid. His shoulders slumped. “Jerk,” he repeated quietly. It seemed as though he wanted to say something else, but he thought better of it. Instead, he turned away with a pained expression that still didn’t reveal his guilt one way or the other.
I heard Belle’s quiet sigh before the road split off from the main highway down a closed-off path: Route L-9. The tunnel was available for commercial and civilian use, but the Sect’s Route L-9 remained hidden from prying eyes. And it wasn’t difficult to see how.
Our path was blocked. The wall stretched up from the paved road to the tunnel ceiling. For a moment, both delivery vans had to slow to a stop—that is before the solid wall smoothly shifted to the side, revealing the Sect’s secret, expansive two-way network. It wasn’t so much a tunnel as it was a miles-long underground bunker.
“We’ve reached the route without any issue,” said Rhys in his usual, mission-fit tone as if he hadn’t just sucker punched me.
“Good.” The tension in Sibyl’s voice was audible. “We haven’t been able to detect any kind of dangerous frequencies on our end either. Checkpoint one, report.”
Checkpoints. Sibyl must have meant the booth on the second-floor walkway above us, blocked off with a safety railing. It could have been either of the two agents standing at attention by the railing who answered, “No hostile sightings. Route is secure.”
“There’s a secret facility outside a small village in Oxfordshire,” Rhys explained to us. “Only a select few agents know about it. Heavily fortified. This tunnel is a direct pipeline.”
“And the ring will be safe there?” Belle crossed her legs, watching the monitor. “What of the other carrier?”
“On their way to another secret location,” Rhys answered. “Everything seems all right on their end. Though their route is a little shorter than ours.”
“Sounds like you missed out.” It was lame, but I couldn’t stop myself.
“Maia, look, I really don’t know what’s been up with you, and I don’t know why you’ve been acting up around me or what I did to you that you can’t stand to be around me. But whatever your deal is, it isn’t my problem.”
“Isn’t your problem?” The dam broke. My voice rose several decibels. “Like hell it isn’t. You of all people don’t have the right to judge me. For anything.”
Rhys’s lips snapped shut as he looked at me in silence.
I could feel Belle’s attention on me without looking. It was then that I realized the situation I was in. Rhys, a potential murderer. Belle, his potential executioner. With jittery hands, I clenched my teeth, thinking of a way out.
“Maia?” Belle leaned over when I turned my head and hid my expression with my thick bush of hair. “Are you okay?”
We crossed another checkpoint. Voices rang through our comms as various people reported in. Agents stood at attention as we passed, firearms ready at their sides.
With trembling fingers, I touched the scarf around my neck, hiding the neck-band keeping Natalya under control. All those weeks having the same nightmare tearing me apart every day and still no answers. No answer I wanted to believe, anyway.
“What I mean is . . .” I sucked in a long breath to still the rise and fall of my chest. “I may not be as calm as you are on a mission, Rhys. But not all of us were lucky enough to be battle-trained since childhood, so cut me some slack.”
“Lucky.” Rhys whispered the word as if it were poison. “You think I was lucky?”
We stared at each other, unspeakable words brimming beneath our heavy gazes. Rhys had told me once about his training at some facility in Greenland. He’d met Blackwell’s right-hand man, Vasily, there as a child. Twisted, violent, vicious Vasily. But according to Rhys, not all of his malice could be blamed on nature.
Some training facilities are a little tougher than others, he’d said once.
“Forget it,” I said more to myself than to anyone else.
“I agree,” Belle said with a dangerous note of finality in her voice. “This is a mission.”
Rhys gripped the handle on his knife. “Fine.”
The agonizing minutes of silence that followed were mercifully broken by Eveline. “All’s clear. We’re approaching checkpoint three,” she said.
“Good. We’re getting close. Checkpoint three, report,” Rhys almost mumbled.
He must have been distracted, stewing in his own anger, because it took him a while before he realized no one had responded. Blinking, he looked up at the monitor. So did I.
Two agents were there by their booths, standing behind the railing like they were supposed to be. Like the others we’d seen, they had their long, stalky firearms, similar to the one I’d seen Howard use to vaporize Saul’s phantoms in New York. What I couldn’t figure out was why their firearms were pointed at us, charging blue along the metal side strips stretching up the length of the guns.
Belle was already on her feet. Rhys had grabbed my hand before I knew what was happening, but it was too late. The deafening blast tore my eardrums, and all I could hear was a terrible ringing as our van launched into the air.