Orion

“Yusef Abadi, Gareth Morrison, Trevor Espinoza….” Jax hesitated as he reached the last two names on the list on his phone. “Keanu Rivera and Paris McCarthy. All confirmed dead.”

“And the fire damage?” Gardner asked, eerily standing in the corner of the office.

“Floors 2 through 6 are toast. Floor 7 was partially burnt, but the fire was put out before any serious damage was done. The front lobby is only damaged from the explosion. On top of the dozens of broken windows.”

“The rest of the Council has to know about this. This was an act of war.”

“Spare us the goddamn war talk, Gardner,” I cut in. “This was an act of self-defense. You’re just looking to pick another fight so you can prove your loyalty.”

“I’m trying to defend us. I’m trying to defend this organization. I’m trying to defend the Council, and two of its highest-ranking members have just been killed in an enemy attack. That was no act of self-defense, Orion.”

“You saw the same footage that I did. Keanu had a gun pointed at one of their men, and they tried to save him.”

“Whose side are you on, Orion? Because it seems like through this entire situation, you’ve been trying to steer us away from the clear path and avoid anything that could cause the slightest bit of difficulty.”

“‘The clear path?’ And what was that, exactly? Kidnap two random people and hold them as bait for a force we know nothing about? If that was a ‘clear path’ to anything, it was fucking catastrophe.”

“We had a plan for eliminating the enemy. We had far superior weaponry and dozens more men at our disposal, but you let caution override your duty and instead invited them onto our floor peacefully. And now five people have died, all of them on our side.”

“Do not fucking lecture me on what my ‘duty’ is supposed to be. I have believed in this organization for far longer than you have, and I care about protecting it just as much as you claim to. I said we shouldn’t have picked a fight with people we didn’t know. I said that they could’ve been capable of overpowering us. You and the rest of the Council shrugged and brushed it aside because we have bigger guns and thought we were invincible. Which one of us was proven right today?”

“You led our men right into a goddamn bomb! You redirected them from our trap and walked right into theirs!”

Jax slammed on his desk. “Save your arguing for later. One of you put Weaver on the phone. I want a status update.” Gardner, being the kissass he is, whipped out his phone immediately. He dialed Weaver and set his phone on the desk. Once he picked up, Jax asked, “Where are you at with the press situation?”

“We’ve managed to keep them away from the evacuated employees, but they’re asking a lot of questions. Some people in the city reported hearing both of the explosions and the gunshots, and it’s attracting more than local news stations. There are reporters from all across the media; New York Times, Associated Press CNN, you name it, they’re covering this. People aren’t buying that this was caused by some accident, and they won’t buy that this was a random terrorist attack without digging into our business. Eclipse is as good as cornered so long as the media stays on our case.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Jax took a long breath in. “What about the employees? Have they said anything?”

“We made sure they’ll keep quiet about the attack to the ambulance, but that will have been all for naught if the police take them in for questioning.”

“Keep the police out of this by any means necessary. And send all the employees home, they’ve waited long enough. They’ll have the next month off. Just keep any information from leaking until this all blows over.”

“That I can do.” He hung up.

Jax looked at Gardner. “Tell the rest of the Council to meet us at Montoya Island tomorrow evening at 8:00. We need to discuss how Keanu and Paris are going to be replaced. And how to handle our new adversaries.”

“Whatever it is you prepare for, you’re not going to be prepared for what happens.” Of course Finn was just playing us to bide his time. He knew this is how things would have ended.

And Jax may not say it explicitly, but his mind is already made up. He knows what he’s going to do, and in order to preserve our illusion of democracy, will pressure the Council into approving it. The only purpose they have served under his leadership is emboldening him in his decisions or trying to steer him into agreeing to their own decisions. Gardner is his second-in-command, and his entire role can be boiled down to telling Jax what he wants to hear and riling everybody up with colorful monologues in the hope he gets nominated for leadership.

The rest of the Council is no better. Keanu and Paris were the people Jax entrusted with everything, but now that they’re both dead, it’s going to be a constant pissing match between the other seven members over who—if anyone—gets to fill their positions. I know I won’t be considered for it if Gardner keeps pushing the narrative that one of the most significant strategic failures in the organization’s history was somehow my fault. Now, even after five people have been killed because of their thoughtless approach to the situation, Jax and the others will undoubtedly be looking for vengeance.

It’s hard to know who is more at fault for any of this. Keanu and Paris stubbornly refused for months to nominate emergency replacements, which could have steered us away from the clusterfuck that’s about to begin when the Council meets. The leadership in Eclipse could have also taken the incoming threat more seriously and communicated with them to figure out a compromise instead of huddling up and waiting for an hour to see what they did. And after they showed up, we could have ordered the guards to fan out across the building and flush them out instead of keeping everybody packed together in a room and vulnerable to the second bomb. And if Jax had any ability of critical thinking, which he is yet to show, he could have kept somebody like Gardner out of a top leadership position who only feeds on his worst impulses.

But none of that happened. And now we have a leadership vacuum, millions in damages, and a spotlight on national news while Percy and Finn, along with their military allies, have everything that they wanted. And Jax could end up making the crisis worse if he steers the Council into starting a manhunt for them in Cleveland. This attack was them trying to be subtle, avoiding outside attention while intimidating us. If they find Montoya Island or any of our other bases in the north where they don’t have to be quiet, there’s no telling what they might come with.

The Council has been in disarray ever since Jax came into power, and Eclipse was their perfect opportunity to take advantage of it. But while they may have exposed that inner chaos and tension with the attack, it doesn’t mean that the Council will do anything about it. As long as the thirst for vengeance and the competition for power continues to cloud their judgment, we could be in for a long and catastrophic conflict that we aren’t remotely prepared for. The Council will just keep throwing the kitchen sink at them and hoping that the problem goes away.

But luckily for them, I have my own plan to get out of this.

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