Adam stepped inside the sparsely furnished office and closed the door behind him. He stood at attention with arms crossed behind his back, hands clasped, and waited. Darius—his superior, friend, and mentor—stood immobile, looking out the tinted office window and into the night. Silence stretched inside the room. Adam was too experienced to start twitching as he waited, but still, he wished Darius would get started.
“I gave you an out, Black. Several in fact,” Darius said to his reflection. “The least of which was in the guise of two orders. I did everything in my power to prevent this from happening. And yet you still proceeded with this foolish course of action. Do you realize what you’ve done?” Darius asked, his tone weary and angry. “Do you realize the gravity of this situation? Of the position you have put me in? I have always protected you. Defended you when others wouldn’t, and at great risk to myself, because I knew where your heart lay. Your rule breaking ends now, Black. I can’t keep putting myself on the line, no matter how much I respect your skills or our friendship.”
Spinning, Darius slammed both hands onto his desk, rattling the laptop sitting there. “You acted like an eighteen-year-old novice, Black! I ordered you not to romance Rachel. Dammit, Black, couldn’t you have waited? Couldn’t you have petitioned Antipolemarchos Valis first? You will face an inquiry. I cannot prevent it!”
Adam opened his mouth, but Darius stopped him with a violent slash of his hand. “No. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want your explanations or your excuses. It’s bad enough you went against my express orders. I hope it was it worth it. Ms. Flanagan certainly won’t thank you after she realizes the gravity of the situation your foolhardiness put her in.”
“This was... We… I got carried away,” he finally replied, knowing that, as a justification, it sucked. It also wasn’t completely true.
“You don’t say,” Darius snapped back. “She better believe that screw with you was the best one she ever had because you completely destroyed her life for it.”
Adam winced at hearing his misdeeds reduced to one crude statement. “But, we—”
“Do you understand, Black, why we have the rules we do?” Darius asked over Adam’s contradiction.
“They are there to protect civilians and to hide our existence,” Adam responded. At Darius’s glare, he quickly added a “Sir.”
“Do you think our rules don’t apply to you? That they’re simply there so Adam Black can break them anytime he wants?”
Adam gritted his teeth. “That is not it, sir.” …there’s something about her.
Darius took a deep breath and sat down in his office chair. He steepled his fingers in front of his chest and leaned forward. “She will, of course, be offered the same choice they all are in this kind of situation.”
“She could be sent back home,” Adam interjected, knowing the suggestion wasn’t an option, but feeling the need to try, for her sake if nothing else.
“Impossible. You know this as well as I.” Darius pinched the bridge of his nose. “The rules are the rules, Black. You do not get to decide when to bend them. You need to take them seriously.” Darius let his hand drop to the table with a loud smack. “I’ll grant you, the times you’ve discarded the rules in the past worked out for the better, but you have to reevaluate your decisions.” Darius scowled at Adam a while longer before he heaved a deep sigh. “You know her options.”
“Choosing between death or a lifetime in what amounts to a gilded cage isn’t much of a choice,” Adam grumbled.
Darius fell silent, and once again Adam waited. The rules governing Darius’s decisions were strict, and Rachel’s prospects bleak. Adam truly hoped she wouldn’t choose death over a lifetime of seclusion.
“There is one other option,” Darius said after a long break in the conversation.
“Sir?” What other option? Then something in Darius’s pensive gaze clued him in. A sensation, much like the one Adam had every time he succeeded in a mission, grew in his chest. “You’d let her join? Become a recruit?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I have my reasons,” Darius evaded.
“How? That’s unheard off. We don’t recruit that way, not after seeing what Rachel has seen, and not without being vetted well in advance.”
“I have my ways,” Darius responded. “If she chooses to stay with the Order, you will take charge of her training unless and until I say otherwise. After the usual timeframe, she will be free to choose her headquarters and whether or not she ever wants to see you again.”
Adam stared. “I really don’t think me being her mentor is the best idea. After what she learned tonight—”
“This isn’t open to debate, Black,” Darius snapped, cutting him short. “You are the one who put her—who put all of us—in this situation, and by God, I will make certain you remember that fact.”
“Yes, sir.”
“As for Rachel’s fate,” Darius said, pulling a file toward him, “She has some skills the Order can use. Her employment record shows she has potential in the programming field. I want you to make sure she chooses the option which benefits the Order and not the one where she is removed. Understood?” He finished with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good,” Darius said and nodded.
Adam studied him for a moment, confirming the storm had passed, before he asked, “How did the Org find me? My current location isn’t exactly well known.”
Darius’s expression turned weary and Adam tensed anew. “I can’t be certain yet, but some disturbing reports have been brought to my attention. In the past few hours, there have been several organized assaults against our London team.”
Stepping closer, Adam asked, “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know all the details yet, but it looks like we have a mole. Lokhagos Hurston”—Mitch?—“has gone missing and is feared lost. Current intel points to him as our leak.”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“Normally I would agree,” Darius replied, catching Adam’s eye. “But the evidence against him is substantial.”
“Evidence?”
“Yes, evidence. The reports I read on my flight here, stated the strikes all targeted Lokhagos Hurston’s agents. If he is not to blame, then why were all his Hashashin targeted?”
“I don’t know,” Adam replied, shaking his head. “But, I refused to believe Hurston is behind this.” Adam shifted his weight on his feet, itching to pace. “Mitch wouldn’t have deflected. He would have taken his own life before breaking his confidences with his agents. Something else happened.” Adam paused, realizing he’d given in to his movement impulse. He turned to face Darius. “What is Isaac doing about this?”
Darius shrugged. “He’s doing what any Stratigos in his situation would do: he’s investigating his missing Lokhagos and the deaths. Unfortunately, London lost most of its best Hashashin in the attack and there is no way to know at this point if more operatives will be targeted.”
“How many are confirmed dead?”
“I don’t have a final number, but what I do have is staggering. Four Hashashin were killed in London, one in Italy, and three third-year novices tasked with escort duty.”
Damn. Adam stumbled to a chair and sat. “Any injured?” he asked.
“Yes. Two. Both in critical condition,” Darius replied, his voice strained. “But secure.”
Eight dead and two injured? That was almost half Isaac’s force. Perhaps Adam should call. See if Isaac needed any help. Not that Isaac would be amenable to his offer, knowing him.
Darius raised his hand, forestalling Adam’s next inquiry. “I can’t send you to London unless the Stratigos specifically requests your presence. You know this. I haven’t briefed you on the situation only to see you tearing off after what might very well end up being a new enemy we know nothing about. You will wait for your orders, like any other Hashashin,” he said, and then sighed again. “You’re one of the best men the Order has, Black, but you need to use your head a little more. I don’t want a repeat of London.”
The muscle in Adam’s jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth. The London debacle had been unprecedented. “I will wait for my mission orders,” he responded curtly.
“Good. You’re not alone in this anymore, Black. You have one, and hopefully two, trainees to look after.”
Adam glared. “Is that why you assigned Zach to me? Well, apart from his safety and spying, that is.”
“It’s time you grew up, Black. The Order doesn’t need a loose cannon, and mentoring Zachary should help you settle down a bit.”
“But you do not deny he was your informant?” Adam asked, already knowing the answer from Darius’s posture and what he didn’t say but wanting confirmation anyway. Not that it would change things.
Darius smiled. “Comes with the territory.”
“Ah. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
Darius snorted and looked at his watch. “It’s about time for Dr. Wilson to report on Ms. Flanagan’s progress. Why don’t you get some rest, Black?”
“Sir,” Adam replied, acknowledging the dismissal.
“Oh, and, Black?” Darius called, stopping Adam’s progress before he left the room. “Your sister is fine. Her boys are, too.”
Adam gave a minute nod before he stepped out.
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