“She’s got no resources. No one to help her.” Evangela repeated in a pointed manner to the soul who’d been brave enough to question her. “Anyone who might’ve helped her is dead.”
Persephone.
Evangela stamped out the quiet voice inside her head as quickly as it had taken flight. She resumed her stroll around the impressive command center. The hem of her cream sweater flowed around gray spiked-heeled boots that clicked against the glossy cedar wood flooring.
“Maeva doesn’t have the wits to last for long on her own. What about police reports?” She questioned the group. “Anything from the monitoring sites that may’ve picked up someone fitting her description?”
Negative replies met Evangela’s query and were challenged by her palm slamming down hard on a console carrying a row of printers.
“What about our people in the field? Have they picked up on anything? Anything we can count on, that is?” She spoke in a tone that warned the group against anymore useless replies.
“She’ll go back to anything she knows, if it’ll ensure her survival,” Eva added.
Persephone.
Again, the low voice surged and Eva clenched
her fists to prevent curling her fingers into her hair to silence
it.
~~~
Maeva eased off the gas as she approached the cottage set to the left of the big metal gate. She’s there, Mae thought. Evan- her sister- hated the States. She would never leave the place staffed unless she was there.
Mae eyed the faint illumination across the distant black sky. Lights from the house, she guessed. Hide in plain sight, Evan always said. Maeva almost smiled, wondering if she would’ve remembered Eva saying that were she still on the Re-Gen. It was a drug that had done more harm than good.
Did Evan know that? Mae wondered. Had keeping her half-crazed, always been part of the plan? Had keeping her half-crazed been part of the plan to keep her quiet about what really happened that night? What had really happened and why would Evan have given her poison to make it so hard to remember it?
She hoped Eva might tell her when they were face to face. She had driven all the way from Colorado; using the knowledge she had picked up from Saffron to tap into ATMs along the way for cash. She hadn’t really needed the money and had taken it just in case. Tammy had supplied her with an open ended ticket and enough cash to cover her expenses. Her destination now in sight, Mae prayed it would lead to the piece of the puzzle that would explain the dreams that kept her awake at night.
A uniformed woman left the cottage as Mae rolled to a stop before a red and white striped lever built off from the construction.
“License, ID or passport please,” the woman requested.
Mae had her license ready and handed it over to be scanned. If the guard was curious about her last name matching Eva’s, she said nothing about it.
The woman returned Maeva’s license and then
returned to the monitor to await the results of the scan. Mae set
her head back against the leather rest of the black truck
she’d...taken from a Park and Ride bus stop. Her gaze drifted back
toward the lit sky and she could’ve sworn she caught the flicker of
flashing lights in the air.
~~~
“Boss!”
Someone called and Eva saw a young man waving from where he sat hunched at a terminal.
“This just came through from security,” he said when Eva was leaning close to peer at the wide monitor.
“I knew it. I told you idiots,” she snarled yet her dark eyes gleamed in approval as she studied the scan of Maeva’s driver’s license. Protocol was to run the license or passport of every visitor. She had never celebrated her penchant for paranoia more.
“I’m going up,” Eva was heading for one of the chrome plated elevators when another member of her staff arrived from another car along the bay.
“Boss,” a bull-chested man bounded toward Evangela. “We’ve got a situation-movement near the south terrain of-”
“You could’ve saved yourself a trip, Erlich,” Eva waved a hand to the patrolling captain. In person trips were necessary if she couldn’t be reached by phone. Aside from the communication equipment on the basement level, networks were powered down for personal devices.
“We already got confirmation of the visitor through security,” Eva told the captain.
Erlich’s small, assessing hazel stare flickered to the monitor and then back to Eva. “I’d say what you’ve got there is a decoy. We’ve got choppers headed in from the South. Black Hawks-that’s government.”
Eva’s heart made a graceful pirouette from her chest up to the back of her throat and then thudded to her stomach like a stone. Yes...she really did hate this country…
“What’s our position?” Her calm made a speedy return.
“We’ve already enacted reinforced defensive measures across the southern ridge with additional positioning along the entire perimeter,” Erlich explained.
Eva was nodding. “Good and closer to the house?”
“Armed perimeters at ten and twenty feet out,” Erlich scanned the command bay with a measuring gaze. “Right now, this is the safest place for you. This part of the house will be on lockdown to give us time to shake these fuckers.”
“Those fuckers are military! They’re coming in Black Hawks!” Someone saw fit to remind the officer.
“Don’t panic, folks!” Erlich raised a hand. “The basement level has compartments that span the entire foundation of the house. All staff are being directed to various basement locales at this time. This level is titanium cased-you’ll be safe.”
Evangela shared a knowing look with Erlich, acknowledging what he hadn’t said. Their ‘safety’ and how long it lasted was highly contingent on whether the Black Hawk’s crew was on a take no prisoners mission. Evangela knew they most likely were. The artillery they’d use would be designed to level bodies and buildings.
“My people will be in touch shortly. You folks relax,” Erlich made a curt exit.
Conversation deafened the room then as the communication’s staff disregarded Erlich’s words and panicked.
Eva made no attempt to rein them in. Instead, she used the pandemonium to her advantage. Calmly, she made her way to the communication’s control room. Quickly, she checked the gauge that controlled the lock down sequence of the room-40 seconds. With unflinching efficiency, she located the panel that led to the sub-flooring beneath the house.
The look Erlich had sent Eva, told her to act fast. Once the basement level sealed itself- a second countdown would begin. At the end of it, toxic gas would release through the vents. The gas would spread over the entire basement level under the foundation of the house, frying computer circuits and terminating staff within seconds. The staff had reason to panic. Their boss found them expendable. She would risk leaving no one behind who might share trade secrets.
