Vasili was waiting for us when we pulled into the warehouse. There was a brief flicker of relief in his eyes when I got out of the car, quickly suppressed, as if he had never doubted my return. It was a compliment, really. I did my best to return it.

“James is waiting for the two of you, wants to debrief.”

“Of course. How are our people doing?”

“A few injuries, some minor, some more serious. The incubus…”

“Simon.”

Vasili rolled his eyes,

“Simon is tending to the more serious injuries. The rest will be at the briefing.”

“And Jessica?”

“She is locked up in the old office. Simon doesn’t think she will be awake for awhile yet. Have you heard from Tom?”

“No. I don’t think I will anytime soon. Even for all of our precautions, they will likely suspect he was involved in this. He is going to need to be careful.”

Vasili led us into the warehouse to the table and folding chairs that had been established as a meeting area. I collapsed into a chair the minute I arrived. Today was catching up to me, I wasn’t as young as I had once been.

“Are you alright?”

I hadn’t noticed Simon arrive, until he put a hand gently on my shoulder.

“I’m fine, just tired. Don’t let me distract you from the others.”

He held my eyes for a moment, then nodded.

“I’ll be back to check on you, once the others are stabilized.”

“Sure, mom,” I waved him off.

James took a seat across from me, and the rest gathered around, sitting or standing wherever there was space.

“Glad to see you back,” a faint smile flickered across his features. He hadn’t really liked this plan. “Run us through it.”

I nodded and summarized what happened on the inside, though I was admittedly vague about what data I had downloaded and why, when we got to that part. Nobody really dwelled on it, because I moved on quickly to what happened with Suzette.

“You were thrown down a flight of stairs?” Jim asked.

“Not a whole flight,” I rolled my eyes.

“Is she dead?”

I nodded slowly,

“Either I finished her directly, or the smoke did, once I was gone. I’m not sure which.”

There was a moment of silence. We had all known Suzette, if not liked her. Until a few days ago, no one could have conceived of this outcome.

“Anyway, I got her phone,” I fished it out of a pocket and held it out. “Maybe there is something on there we can use, contacts to other Domini.”

“I’ll have someone look into it,” Jim took the phone from my hand with a look of paternal concern. “I think, all in all, this was as successful as we could have expected it to be. Good work, everyone.”

I nodded, but I wasn’t comfortable with the praise. People had died. People had been left behind.

“Now, on to other matters,” James continued, now was not the time for reflection. “I have heard back from several of the other enclaves, at least their Partials.”

There was a murmur of excitement. There were others who were alive.

“They got hit worse than we were, the messages barely arrived in time, and they were too late for many. They still have some people in play, but not enough for an organized opposition. I have advise that, for now, they should take up surveillance on their respective political leaders, keep the Domini from compromising them, if they can, and await further instructions. This leaves us to try and figure out what those instructions should be,” he met my eyes for a moment, and I swallowed hard.

I did not want to be the one to have to make this call, but it seemed we were rapidly running out of options. If the other enclave had been intact and uncompromised, if they had been able to aid us, that would have been one thing. But if it was worse than this everywhere, I was not sure what could even be done to avoid the last resort.

“But, before any decisions can be made,” James answered my thoughts, “we still need to gather some more information. We have people in the field, and I am still waiting on responses to several messages I have sent out. I am also hoping that when Jessica awakens, she will have some information for us. So, for tonight, we should tend to the wounded and get some rest. Tomorrow, we will discuss our next steps. Anyone else have any thoughts?”

There was a general shaking of heads. Based on the vacant expressions around me, no one was really in the headspace for planning at the moment. I couldn’t criticize, neither was I.

“Meeting adjourned, then. For now.”

He waited until most of the agents had drifted away before he approached me.

“You got everything we need off the servers?” he asked.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“I can’t guarantee it was everything, but I got all I could.”

“Good,” he nodded. “Frankly, I wasn’t sure you were making it out at all, I’m happy for whatever you have. You think it will be enough to convince people, if we have to?”

“No, of course not,” I snorted. “The only people who will believe this story are the same people that believe in Martians or lizard people. It sounds insane, and you know it. Even with documents, even with evidence, people are going to think this is a hoax. I would.”

“How do we address that, then?”

“We are, at the very least, going to need government support. Each world leader who is privy to the secret is going to need to go public, make an official announcement to their people, declare a state of emergency. Maybe then, we will convince enough people for it to work. Maybe.”

“So, we keep the politicians safe, we make sure they are ready to make a speech, and we pray we figure out a better plan before it comes to that?”

“Pretty much.”

James sighed, rubbing his eyes with his hand,

“Yeah, that’s how I see it to. I was hoping you had something more… solid.”

“Sorry, boss.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped, then. I’ll start making preparations on my end, reaching out to the necessary politicians. You keep that data safe. There are still a few enclaves that haven’t checked in yet, maybe they are in better shape and are simply avoiding us because they can’t be sure we can be trusted.”

Neither of us really believed that.

“Alright,” James nodded. “I have some calls to make.

“I am going to see if Simon needs help with the wounded.”

I watched Jessica through the office window. She was sleeping, seemingly peacefully, for now. When she woke up… well, that would be another matter entirely. I should be doing more than just sitting here. There was no shortage of things to do, after all. But the instant the immediate, emergency concerns had been taken care of, I had lost all motivation. I had only stopped for a moment to sit, but it seemed I didn’t have it in me to rise again, not right now. I heard footsteps and turned to see Mark sit down next to me,

“How are you doing?”

“Been better, been worse,” I shrugged. “You?”

“I’m good. You look like you could use some sleep.”

I laughed,

“Yeah, I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” I was exhausted, but I was still too keyed up to sleep. “You know what I do need?”

“Name it.”

“A drink.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Vasquez’s mouth,

“That, I can help you with.”

“Really?”

“Right this way.”

I followed Vasquez across the warehouse, surprised that Simon wasn’t anywhere in sight. Seeming to read my thoughts, Vasquez shook his head,

“He went with James into town, to pick up more medical supplies.”

“They didn’t say anything about it to me.”

“They thought you would want to go with them, if they did. They wanted you to rest.”

“Well, let’s disappoint them, shall we?”

Mark laughed,

“Alright, what’s your poison?”

“Got any whisky?”

“Of course,” he retrieved two glasses and a bottle, and portioned out a generous amount of amber liquid.

I grabbed the glass, raised it briefly in a mock toast and then tossed back the entire thing in one gulp. Vasquez raised an eyebrow. I held out my glass for a refill,

“It’s been that kind of day.”

“Fair enough,” he topped up my glass and took a sip of his own drink.

“Besides, Dad’s out and we have the place to ourselves.”

“So, we’re having a party?”

“Why not?”

“Alright, I’m in.”

Many of the newly arrived agents had already dispersed from the warehouse, as James had suggested. Working from other locations, for safety, but Vasquez managed to round up enough people for a few hands of poker. I was more interested in drinking than in playing, but saying that out loud that didn’t seem wise, so I went along. It wasn’t going to slow me down that much. It turned out, it didn’t slow anyone down. Vasquez had brought out beer and liquor and poker quickly degenerated into drinking while holding cards. Well, who could blame us? It had been a hell of a week. James, for his part, did look a little less than pleased to return to four drunken agents, but even he kept it mostly to himself.

“Can we talk for a moment, Rayna?” he motioned me over.

I made my way unsteadily to the front of the warehouse, careful not to spill any of my drink. Simon clicked his tongue in a downright motherly fashion at this.

“I take it resting is going well?” he observed.

“What? This counts,” I took another drink to punctuate the point.

The incubus rolled his eyes,

“No, it does not.”

“You worry too much. Do me a favor, go take my seat in the game, so they don’t have to wait for me. You know how to play poker, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“Go on, then,” I waved him away. “I’ll be along in a minute. Relax, I’m fine.”

Reluctantly, Simon wandered over to the table and joined the game. Once he was gone, James gave me a serious look,

“Are you fine?”

“Do I look fine?”

“Want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about that we didn’t cover earlier, boss? Basically, everything went according to plan. Got in, got the files, released the prisoners, started some fires. Six of our people made it back, with Jessica.”

“So, what’s the problem, then?”

I looked down at my hands. I had scrubbed them plenty, but I could still feel the blood of the wounded under my nails.

“Six didn’t. Two of those are dead. We did our best to treat the wounded, but some of the others might not make it. And I set fire to a building full of otherwise decent people. No idea how many I killed that way. You could say I am conflicted about what I did today.”

“We talked about this. What other choice could we have made?”

“Sometimes it isn’t about the choice, the choice was easy, it is about living with it afterwards.”

“You did what needed to be done. You made it out alive. What more could you ask?”

“That no one else had to sacrifice their life for it.”

“Let me ask you a question,” James sighed. “If it was you in there, what would you have wanted? If you were the one strapped to a hospital bed, people running experiments on you, would you rather be left there, or have someone set you free, so you at least got a chance?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Isn’t it? You did what you could for them, Rayna.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“It was more than they had without you. Sometimes that has to be enough.”

“And it will be,” I drained my glass. “Tomorrow.”

“Alright, I suppose that’s as much as I can ask. Still, you are going to need to find a better coping strategy. This one isn’t the healthiest, long term.”

“If I only did things that were healthy, I wouldn’t be here in the first place,” I shrugged.

“Rayna,” his tone was warning.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll work on it. But, for tonight, I know this hasn’t been any easier on you, Jim. Come join us, relax for a while,” I gestured towards the table.

“I shouldn’t. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to…”

“Boss, with all due respect, we have been in hiding in a warehouse for a week, we are being hunted by our own people, we just burned down our workplace and I have killed at least one co-worker directly and likely several others indirectly, just today. Fuck appropriate.”

“Hard to argue with that. Alright, maybe it would be good for team moral for me to join for a moment. One drink.”

“Excellent.”

I clapped him on the shoulder, and we began making our way back to the table.

“Where did you go with Simon, anyway?”

“He wanted to get some more medical supplies. And he, well, he needed to eat, at some point. And I didn’t feel right to ask the others to deal with that. Given the… animosity.”

“Probably the right idea,” I agreed.

Arriving back at the table I topped up my drink, filled another for James and tossed a beer to Simon.

“Is this really the time to be drinking?” Simon raised an eyebrow.

“You know, Simon, I put some serious thought into this, and I couldn’t imagine a better one.”

He couldn’t think of a response to that, instead he just popped the cap of the beer on the table edge and took a swig.

“Well, then,” I retrieved the cards. “What is everyone’s game?”