Episode 5 - The Tide Recedes, and What it Leaves Behind

  Chapter 40 - Unspoken Agreements

  “What do you reckon? Operation ‘Lumpy Bird’?” I joke.

  Rishi giggles from his desk, a surprisingly girlish sound. “You can’t name it that.”

  “It’s what the random word generator spat out. Don’t see any reason why not?”

  “Adrian will make you change it. You know he likes them poetic.”

  “Fucking Adrian,” I mutter, scrolling through a digital dictionary for more inspiration. After a moment of further study, I replace the briefing documentation with the name ‘Somber Courage’. It’s weird to be writing what will be my own operational parameters in another day.

  Having secured my way onto the mission, there remains major hurdles. Getting my communicator finally programmed and secured with me to Cooperative City being one. Then, once I get there, I’ll need to find a way to break into Murasaki and install it. And it’ll need a power source. And it’ll need to be hard-wired into their intranet. This list goes on, bordering on overwhelming in its complexity.

  I’m willing to accept that I might not get everything right this first try. I can scope things out, get a better lay of the land, and come back at it a second time. It’s perfectly normal to need some groundwork to get a proper operational plan with a chance of success.

  And yet…

  That closed letter from my Dad and friends has been pinned to my wall for so long. Words I have held myself back from reading as a yoke across my shoulders to force me onwards in my cause. I cling to a desperate hope that I can get it in one go, as futile as my better thoughts know such a hope to be. There is a lump in my throat at the thought I will need a second attempt, one that could be months out.

  It would feel really good if I could get it in one go, if I could see words that I knew Dad wrote again.

  I won’t even be able to communicate back with my Dad, even if everything goes right. Anything that injects messages into Murasaki’s intranet will be detected almost immediately. At best I can listen, and reassure myself that the people that I loved are still living, picking up the details of their lives from afar.

  I haven’t faced what comes after - those dreams are far too unlikely for even me to give myself the fleeting joy of dreaming. Like falling leaves, and fields of green. The thought rattles my nerves, threatens my focus with its nebulous uncertainty. Could I get them out? Could I even meet them again? I don’t dwell on those thoughts for fear they will consume me. Focus narrows my vision, timelines with hard deadlines crystalize determination. Handle the problems in front of you, leave the rest of it for tomorrow.

  The mission needs a second agent. And he’ll hate my guts for dragging him into it, but I know who will be the best fit. It’s almost perfect that his last mission was such a mess, something less likely to involve action is the ideal next option. I think Aster knew who was a good fit when he approved me for this. He needs to keep his nose out of other people's business.

  I type Rhett’s name and ID number into the second recommended operative option and send it to Rishi for review.

  “Operation Somber Courage,” begins Adrian. “Something a little quieter for you, Rhett, while you recover.” He hands Rhett the data stick while I wait across the conference table, impatiently picking at my cuticles beneath the table.

  Rhett hasn’t even questioned my presence yet; he thinks he’s on his own for this one. I’m a normal face in most briefings since my grounding.

  Rhett plugs ?the data stick into his tablet, and Adrian continues. “Bio-Vat Labs is contracting us to come and investigate what they believe is a sabotage operation by a competitor. The yeast strains in some of their bioreactors keep on crashing, usually due to uncontrolled temperature spikes. Their own security and operational teams have been unable to identify a cause. So they are turning to experts in espionage to help out.”

  “Just me?” he asks as he opens a few of the data files, then his eyes narrow. There is a Vespa on his ear that hums its wings as he lifts his head and looks across the table at us both.

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  “You’re helping her?” he accuses Adrian.

  Adrian scratches his chin. “I’m not stopping her.”

  “And Aster isn’t either?”

  “He’s the one who signed off on my permission. Regina doesn’t know yet,” I reply. Adrian seems just as unsure as I am about whether or not Rhett’ll agree with our unspoken request.

  “So that’s what you wanted the other day. You realize I can’t go anywhere near Murasaki,” Rhett says clearly, putting the mission brief down. “Pell’s signature is all over everything I touched. I was embedded there for nearly a month, and that was pushing it last time. Security will come down on me the moment she touches anything digital.”

  “I’m not asking you to help. I’m not asking Adrian either. Just to turn a blind eye, for a night or two at most.”

  Rhett frowns. “You’re too green to be operating on your own.”

  “Murasaki is my old stomping grounds-”

  “It’s been months. And you never left the district. You’ll get caught,” he warns.

  “I know. I’m okay with it just being an observation exercise…”

  His frown deepens. “No, you’re not. Adrian, shut this down.”

  Adrian shakes his head. “I am not officially involved. I don’t talk about secrets, remember? Unless that is an order?”

  There is a dismissive grunt of denial, like Rhett’s hesitant to fully play that card for this situation. “What’s Mum’s involvement in this client?”

  “Low, it’s so straightforward it didn’t come through her. I don’t even think she’s aware of it. Why are you so paranoid about her?” I reply.

  Rhett raises one eyebrow, Adrian joining him in the piercing look they both send my way. “You should learn to be more paranoid about what she knows,” mutters Rhett, turning his attention back to the mission briefing.

  I grunt, folding my arms and slouching into my office chair. “Don’t you both seem chummy these days?”

  “You’re not winning allies here,” says Adrian with a sigh. “If you are out, you are out-”

  “No,” I beg suddenly, sitting forward. “I need Pell. I need her to program the control unit and do the final installation. You don’t have to be there physically. She doesn’t have to touch security. Pooka and I will get us in and out.” Rhett groans, and before he can object, I double down. “You said, ‘When the opportunity seems right’. Remember? Let me see what I can work out. Please? I don’t get many opportunities.”

  He looks pained, like the idea of this torments him with more than just the possibility of his mother finding out and we end up being disciplined again. I do wonder what went so wrong in his old life with the black market runners that he carries its scars so visibly.

  There’s more at stake here than just my own plans. Rhett has keys to things Adrian and I will never be able to access at Aquila. If he can be reliably won to our side. If I can stoke whatever in him enjoyed operating with the black market runners and defied his mother once, there might be benefits for me, eventually. I’m not used to operating as a team. I was always worried about the others I loved getting dragged into my mischief at Murasaki, not that I was particularly good at keeping them insulated either. But Aquila is quickly teaching me the benefits of teamwork, and no one here is an innocent bystander, unlike at Murasaki.

  Adrian is hesitant to put his own skin on the line - and he should be, his vulnerability is so clear. Unlike me, with Pooka looming as an obvious threat, or Rhett with his martial prowess, Adrian has nothing except his wits, his secrets, and the powers Aquila has granted him. I’m still not even certain if his willingness to turn the other way with me is protective inclinations towards me he so vehemently denies, or ingrained habit of seeing and hiding so much.

  Our side? What am I even talking about? I will miss my opportunity here if I don’t focus on this task.

  “Last time we spoke you said you didn’t have the parts you need?” questions Rhett.

  I grin, I’ve won.

  “I’ve been experimenting with intercoms in the workshop, got everything that I still needed. It works, it will work. I’m sure of it. I just need you to look the other way for me, and let me borrow Pell for one night's work.”

  “If you can scout a mission plan that sounds plausible,” rumbles Rhett with a resigned sigh.

  “Of course. You can have final sign-off.”

  Fuck, that was a terrible lie.

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