Silas awoke with a start, one hand clutching his chest. His breathing was heavy he looked around at the interior of the SUV and the inside of the cargo jet beyond that. He could see that Raven was kneeling on the ground not far from the vehicle. He was hunched over small a silver disk that was casting light in the form of a hologram. Floating in the air a few feet from Raven’s face was screen similar to the window for a webcam and a young girls heart shaped face was displayed. He couldn’t see her very clearly from his seat but he was sure that it was Cassie, their handler.

A technological genius with a talent for invention, Cassie graduated from MIT at the fragile age of seventeen. It was she who saw that he was properly informed and outfitted to take on the assignments she gave him. She also provided the documents and any security clearance, be it codes or a fabricated clearance card that he might need. There wasn’t much she couldn’t hack into or create in the fluidity of cyberspace.

After her graduation, she was approached by the Director to come work for a program that finally gaining steam, garnering the attention of the higher ups. With the amount of funds the Director had at his disposal it didn’t take much for Cassie to agree to a meeting. It was a lucky coincidence that Silas had happened to be in the city…or just a reminder of how cunning the Director could be. He had assigned Silas to escort the young graduate before his plane even touched down.

It was with a cold sense of clarity that Silas reflected back on that day.

“Does this place do that to everyone?” Cassie asked as Silas had shut the car door behind her.It had been a brisk day, and the thick coat seemed to swallow the petite girl. Her eyes had been bright with curiosity and innocence, but Silas didn’t see it. Life had lost much of its color by then.

“I’m sorry?” His tone was as flat as the stare he fixed on her.

“That.” She had pointed directly in his face.

“I don’t understand… Miss..?”

“Cassandra, but for the love of Christ don’t call me that. Cassie, that’s what you’re allowed to call me.” She quipped with a wide smile as she fell into step next to him. Soon, he remembered, she was taking two steps for every one of his as they made their way up the Citadel’s steps.

“Cassie, then. What’s wrong with my face?”

“Nothing, it’s a nice face. A little pale, but nice enough. But you look like someone just stole the last cinnamon roll.” Silas swiped his ID before letting her through. She had pointed back to the card reader as Silas went through the glass door. “Those are really easy to fool, by the way. You need biometric scanners, maybe even brainwave detectors.”

Silas had cocked an eyebrow, grudgingly impressed “This is only the lobby.”

“So? Ever heard of a first line of defense?” Cassie retorted as she followed him to the elevators.

“More than you have.” Silas had muttered as he stepped in after her.

She looked up at him as the elevator doors closed. “You’re a very surely person.”

“Surely? I think you mean surly. And no I'm not.”

“Fine. But you are kind of pissy while trying to be stoic. It's kind of funny.”

Silas had looked down at her, eyebrows raised, surprised and little amused. “You…Well, you’re short.”

“Nope, I’m fun sized, Mr. Pissy Stoic.”

For the first time in very long time, Silas remembered smiling slightly as he walked out of the elevator after her. But it was the meeting with the Director that won him over. But it wasn’t her wit or intelligence, it was her ability to hold on to who she was that made Silas pull for her. The truth of who the Echelon was, who Silas was and what he did, sobered her a little, just enough for Silas to really see what she was made of.

“So…the government is as shady as everyone thinks it is…good to know.” She chuckled humorlessly. “I feel like I really don’t have a choice.” A distant echo of sympathy flashed dimly through Silas, but not enough for him to show it.

“That isn’t true, Cassand-Cassie.” The Director amended when Cassie shot him a look. “You always have a choice, everyone does. Don’t ever think that you don’t.” Silas had realized at the time that the word weren’t meant for her but for him. But they only served to further steel his resolve.

“What will happen if I refuse?” Cassie asked timidly. Silas remembered that she had glanced his way when she said that. He knew what had gone through her mind in that instance.

“Not what you’re thinking.” The Director hadn’t missed the glance either. “We will simply erase the memory of this meeting from your mind. It wouldn’t harm you in any way, but you wouldn’t recognize either of us if you passed Silas on the street or if you stood next to me in line at a restaurant. But,” The man had pushed his graying blond hair back off of his forehead then. “I sincerely hope you won’t do that. You have tremendous ability and it would it be a waste to squander it. If you were to join the Echelon, you could be a part something so much bigger than just yourself. Bigger than me…bigger than Silas. We operate from the shadows to keep the world from destroying itself. Without the Echelon, this country would have torn itself apart years ago. We are all that keeps this world form the brink of chaos.”

Silas hadn’t really been paying attention to the speech; it was something that he had heard before. He had rather been paying attention the profound effect the words were having on Cassie. Her gaze was riveted to the Directors face and she hung on every word he said. Silas knew what she would decide, probably before she even did.

Cassie had sat there in for a long time, staring straight ahead, but not really looking at anything. She met Silas’s cold, brown eyes with her warm, honey colored ones before looking back at the Director, “I need some time to consider.”

“Of course, of course, take all the time you need. You can’t leave until you make your decision, though. The guard outside will take you to a room.”

Cassie nodded and left the room. Silas had known this what the Director had been waiting for; the chance to speak to him alone.

The Director sighed and leaned back into his leather chair after the door had closed, “Do you think she will join?”

Silas had clasped his hands behind his back and said, “I’ll be shocked if she doesn’t.”

It was awhile before the man spoke again, “Silas, you know I don’t approve of what you’re doing.”

“I didn’t come back seeking your approval; I came back only because you asked me to. I owe you that much.”

“One might say you owe me more than that, son.”

Silas had glared at the Director for a long time, livid at the older man’s nerve. “Now that’s a game you really don’t want to play. You think you did me a favor, convincing her to keep me? You think that was a kindness?”

“You’re alive, aren’t you?”

He exploded then, the pain still so fresh at that time. “SHE’S NOT! What the hell does my life matter if she’s not here to see it?!”

“Do you think that dying will bring her back?” The Director retorted forcefully.

“It doesn’t matter, he’ll still bleed.”

“It does matter. I already lost a wife…why must I lose a son too?” The Director solemnly asked. Silas had to look away from him. “She wouldn’t want you to do this."

That had bothered Silas most of all. He knew it was true; she wouldn’t have wanted him to proceed the way he was. It had been far too late for Silas when he finally realized why. But to quench the seething rage he felt, he had no choice but to proceed.

“It doesn’t matter what she wants anymore; she’s gone.” Silas whispered as he looked down at his boots. The tidal wave of grief he felt then had almost smothered the fury that resided in his heart. “Nothing matters anymore.”

Almost.

Silas lifted his eyes when the door smoothly slid open and Cassie walked in. The resolve on her face dampened his rage a little.

“Director Fallon, I accept your offer.”

The Director widely smiled than, genuinely happy “I’m glad, Cassie. From here on, you will be Silas’s primary handler. But in time you will come to realize that you are so much more than that. He is the most important person in the Echelon, maybe in the country. It’s within his power to bring entire governments to their knees, even this one. It’s your job from here on to keep him alive. Whether it is by advice on tactics or identification documents, you will provide him anything he needs to complete his assignments. Silas is the tip of the spear, without him we are lost.” Cassie nodded eagerly and had offered Silas a wan smile.

The nearly comical shock on her face still amuses Silas to this day when he had smiled in return. From that day forward Cassie had been his constant companion. Combative though their first meeting had been, Silas had come to trust Cassie with everything, becoming one of his closest allies and friends. Through her guidance and his deadly skill, they tread down this dark path together. But even she couldn’t blunt the realization this path had given him; he was a monster… one who wallows in blood and darkness.

The tip of the spear, Silas thought scathingly, more like the blade of the Reaper’s scythe.

Silas often tried to think of himself as a necessary evil, that he was the one of the few who kept the balance in world, kept it from the brink of chaos as the Director had put it all those years ago. It was the only comfort he could offer himself when he felt that awful self-loathing and even then he couldn’t banish it completely. Cassie did all she could to keep him from seeing himself in that way. She was constantly reminding him of the world without chaos that the Director envisioned, that he was integral in leading them to that coveted utopia he envisioned.

He laughed bitterly and opened the door as the hologram disappeared. From the dull roar of wind outside the metallic wall of the jet they were still in the air, but Silas was still disorientated from the strange dream and had no idea what time it was. He sat sideways in the seat and bowed his head while messaging his temples to try and keep the dull pounding in his head from becoming a full-fledged headache.

“We’ve got about four hours until we reach Seattle.” Raven said from above him. Silas looked up and nodded. “You look like shit by the way.” Raven added. He looked to be taking in Silas’s sallow face and ringed eyes.

“Feel like it too…That was Cassie wasn’t it?” Silas asked, deflecting the pointed jibe.

“Uh huh, she said that you need to contact her as soon as you get home. She’s got something big for you apparently.” Raven leaned against a tall metal cargo crate and ran a hand through his short blonde hair. He took a deep breath and looked at Silas. There was something bothering him. Silas didn’t have to be able to read his mind to know what, it was written all over Raven’s face.

“Silas, are you ok? I’ve never seen you look this….unhealthy.”

“I guess we’re pretending that we have coffee together every day.” Silas muttered .

Raven’s expression turned from concerned to exasperated, “I’m not going to pretend that I know you very well, but I know you well enough to tell that something is bothering you.”

Silas tilted his head to the side as he decided on how to word his answer. The man was more perceptive than Silas remembered. But the thing was, he didn’t even really know what was bothering him. He took a deep breath and asked “Raven, when you were little and you had to go in the basement for something, did ever you get the feeling that you weren’t alone? Do you remember walking back up the stairs and feeling, not really seeing, that something was standing behind you? Then you would race up the stairs and slam the door?”

Raven shrugged, “I never had a basement growing up.”

Silas shook his head and rolled his eyes, “Ok, then. Do you ever feel like…something is watching you? But you know you won’t see it if your turn around, it’s only something that you see in your peripheral vision.”

“Yeah, I guess so. What of it?”

“I feel as if we didn’t leave the basement alone.”

Raven’s eyes narrowed, “You think we were followed?”

Silas made a face, “Not in the physical sense….it’s not really easy to explain.”

The corner of Raven’s mouth tugged up into a smirk, “You think we’re being haunted by Raikov’s ghost?”

Silas smirked as well, “I think he would have a right, don’t you?”

“I think he would have the right to haunt you.”

Silas raised his eyebrows and rubbed a palm against the grip of the pistol at his side, “He would have to get in line.” Silas replied quietly before settling back into his seat.