I trailed behind Simon, to a curtained off area in one corner of the building. There was a low table in the centre, and Simon gestured for me to sit.

“This is our makeshift exam room, I have been checking on patients here, so they have a bit of privacy.”

“And you brought me here because?”

“Strip to your underwear, please.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“You are more injured than you are letting on. You’ve been hiding it, but I’ve been feeling it all day. You need a proper exam, so I can see what treatment you need.”

I rolled my eyes,

“That isn’t necessary.”

“Do I have to go to James about this? You know he’ll take my side on this.”

“Ugh, fine. We’ll waste more time arguing about it,” I pulled my shirt over my head and wriggled out of my jeans.

Simon stood and moved closer, casting an appraising eye over the large purple bruises over my ribs and abdomen, overlaying the greener, more healed bruises from the car crash. There were also a few on my legs, but they were less impressive. Clucking disapprovingly, he probed my ribs with his fingers, I sucked my breath in through my teeth, trying not to flinch.

“You seem to have been lucky,” he said at last. “Bad bruising, but your ribs seem to be intact.”

He took one of my arms and raised it above my head. I grunted.

“You’ve pulled some muscles. I can tell you are in a lot of pain. You need rest and analgesics.”

“I can rest when I’m dead.”

“Well, that will be pretty soon, if you don’t.”

“I get it, I get it,” I raised my hands in surrender. “I’ll take it easy for a bit, I promise.”

“Good. Ok, you can get dressed. Unless you want some cream to ease the pain.”

“I’ll manage. It’s feeling better already.”

He gave me a skeptical look. I reached for my pants.

“Can I ask you something sort of personal?”

“You already know all the worst things about me, why not?”

“I’ve always wondered, how are situations like this, you know, for you?” I looked at the ground, awkwardly. That could have been more elegantly phrased, but it was a tough question to ask.

“Are you asking if I find you… tempting?” he smirked.

“I guess I have always wondered how it works, for those of you who aren’t killers. Those are the only members of your species I have much experience with.”

“Well, the short answer is no, this doesn’t do anything for me in that way. It’s nothing personal, so please don’t take offense. We aren’t typically attracted to people for physical reasons. And naked or clothed doesn’t make much difference to me. I’m attracted to…” he searched for the words to explain, “desire, maybe? It’s sort of like a feedback loop. The more someone is interested in me, the more I am interested in them. So, in your case, I’m not interested at all.”

“Huh, fascinating.”

“Convenient, too. Don’t want to end up a picky eater, right?” he chuckled.

“Fair enough.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Seems only fair,” I pulled my shirt on.

“Do you ever wonder what it’s like?”

“Sure, but mostly in an academic way. I am very happy with who I am.”

“So, what Jessica said, it didn’t bother you?”

“I assume you are asking because you know it did. But that is less about anything I might be missing and more about being considered ‘defective’ by someone I consider a friend. That will always hurt.”

“Remember, it was the Domini that put those thoughts in her head. They wanted her to help with their experiments. They needed her to think that.”

“I get that. Still…” I shook my head. “It’s not important. Speaking of, though, do you know Carmine, from the Domini?”

“Hard to say. People didn’t use their real names, when we met. A little anonymity made it safer. Higher ups knew, of course, but I wasn’t important enough to get that information. After all, I could have betrayed the movement,” he laughed softly at the irony. “He was almost certainly Domini, especially based on his actions, but I couldn’t say for sure if I ever knew him. Unless you have a picture, maybe? I know some faces.”

“I don’t think I ever took a photo of him, no. I guess it doesn’t really matter, it’s pretty clear what he is. So, are we done here?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“For now. Let’s get back out there.”

I followed Simon back out into the main room. Someone has been hard at work while I wasn’t paying attention, organizing and setting up distinct little areas in the warehouse. Where there had once only been semi-random collections of cots and folding chairs and old crates, things had been rearranged into a collection of distinct spaces. A little kitchen with a table, chairs, hotplate, and minifridge. A meeting area with cork boards and a long table. A sleeping area that was blocked off with drapes, much like the little exam room we had just left. Even a sparring ring off in one corner. The place was beginning to look downright homey.

“Whose been setting things up?”

Simon followed my gaze,

“Gail. She says it helps to keep busy, and she likes organizing.”

“Well, she’s done a good job. Do you see James anywhere? We need to figure out our next move. I want to see if there was anything on Suzette’s phone. Hopefully someone has gotten it open by now.”

“Surely, you don’t think that they would have left anything incriminating on their phones.”

“Not before they took over, of course, they would have been careful. But once they seized power, why take precautions then?”

“That’s a good point. That won’t cover much, though.”

“I know that. But what we need right now is an idea of what their larger plans are. We need to get out ahead of this, Simon. Before it is too late, before this goes so far there is no stepping back.

“You don’t think we are already there?”

“I’m not sure yet. Either way, if there is any thread to follow, we need to do it.”

“I actually might have an idea on that front,” he pointed at James just past the sparring ring and we made our way over. “We talked about it a bit yesterday, Jim and I.”

As we passed a makeshift sparring ring, Vasili and Gail were trading blows in the centre. Vasili still let his right shoulder drop too much when he was blocking, but he could be a bit touchy about criticism, so I would keep that to myself. Finally, we reached James, who was talking with Vasquez. They paused as we approached.

“How is Jessica doing?” he turned to me.

“Not well. But we’re… working on it. Definitely keep her locked up, for now. And keep a close eye on her. She isn’t stable.”

“Understood. And how are you doing?”

“A bit stiff, some bruised ribs, nothing serious. Really.”

James looked past me to Simon.

“Mostly accurate. Nothing too serious is damaged, somehow, but she should be resting.”

I waved the concern away,

“See? No problem. Has anyone been able to unlock Suzette’s phone?”

“Not yet, that is what we were just talking about,” Jim nodded to Mark. “We haven’t been able to unlock it. We need a tech expert, for this and for some of our… other plans,” he met my eyes. “We need to bring someone in.”

“I am not sure bringing in a civilian at this stage would be wise.”

“It wouldn’t. Which is why I am not talking about a civilian. We need one of the support staff. A tech expert. Mark knows someone he thinks might help us.”

“Why would they do that? You friends?”

Vasquez laughed,

“No. I wouldn’t say that. That’s kind of the point, actually. I’ve worked with Jason Cain before, and he is… prickly. Keeps to himself, does his work, goes home. Not much interested in making friends. If anyone had limited exposure to the ubarae, if anyone was unlikely to have bonded too deeply with them, it would be Jason.”

“So, you think if we could get to him, we might be able to convince him of the truth?” I rolled the idea around in my mind.

“I think we need to try. We need the help; we need someone with his skills.”

“Alright, let’s go, then. We have a window of opportunity here. With the headquarters burnt down, they have likely sent the staff home. Do you know where he lives?”

“We didn’t. But I found it in amongst the files you retrieved,” James handed Mark a slip of paper. “But Mark and Vasili can handle this. I have another job in mind for you, Rayna.”

He nodded to Mark, who headed off to retrieve Vasili from the ring.

“Have you told her yet?”

“Not yet,” Simon shook his head. “I was just getting to it.”

“Good. Frankly, I would have someone else handle this and demand that you rest, if I thought for a moment that you would actually do it.”

“You’re learning,” I chuckled.

“So, this is the next best thing. Simon needs an escort. You need something to keep you out of trouble. Two problems that solve each other, I hope.”

“You know, that has always been your best trait, Jim? Your optimism,” I pulled up a chair. “Now, what do you two have cooking?”

“Well,” Simon began. “You remember when we met, you said we might need some help from the ubarae?”

“As I recall, you weren’t sure who was compromised. So, we couldn’t know who would be safe to approach.”

“Yeah, well I’ve been thinking it over since then. I may not know everyone who is a member of the Domini, but I do know some of their more powerful enemies. There were those on the Council that Omega knew to be strongly against his ideals. We were all told about them, so we knew who to avoid, if we were recruiting or running an operation.”

“Are the other members of the Council sympathetic to their cause, then?”

“Not necessarily, the only ones that made the list were those Omega had attempted to work and was certain he couldn’t turn. The others could have been allies, or perhaps he was still working them, they didn’t share things like that with people like me.”

“So, you know how we can contact some of these Council members?”

“Not directly. It’s not like I have their home addresses. But I know someone who might.”

“Who?”

“My… mate, I guess you would call her. She serves as a coordinator for the Council. She should know how to get in touch with the people we need. Or at least she should be able to give us a place to start. So, I proposed to James that we go and pay her a visit, see if she can help us out.”

“And do we know where her sympathies lie?”

“Not for certain. But, I never got the impression that she leaned that way, and I never saw her at any meetings.”

“It is a bit of a risk,” James admitted. “But it seems unlikely she will be under guard by the Domini. She isn’t exactly a high-profile target, they can’t have that many ubarae to spare, and they wouldn’t send a human to guard another ubarae. So, if she can get us to the Council members we need, it is worth the risk.”

“And if these ‘enemies’ of the Domini have already been… taken care of?” I asked.

“I figure we cross that bridge when we get there. But the longer we delay, the worse their chances get. Either way, it’s the best lead on allies we have, at the moment,” James noted. “We have to follow up on it.”

“You’re right,” I rose from my seat. “Alright, Simon. Let’s go visit this…”

“Elizabeth Ward.”

James handed Simon a set of car keys,

“Be careful, get the information we need and get back here, no side trips, no unnecessary risks,” he held my eyes. “This should be an easy little errand to run, but we can’t afford to lose anyone else, Rayna.”

“Understood.”

I followed Simon out to the car,

“So, where are we heading?”

“Liz has an office downtown; she should be seeing patients today.”

“Patients?”

“She is a psychologist, owns her own practice. She is pretty successful, from what I hear.”

“I suppose it makes sense that she would have an affinity for that. Are you sure she will be working today, with everything going on?”

“I think that for everyone but us, life is continuing pretty normally,” Simon climbed into the driver’s seat. “Other ubarae might not even have noticed anything has happened, yet. After all, it isn’t like they have much contact with the Organization. I suggested we call ahead, but James thought that tipping people off that we were coming might be a bad idea.”

“He’s probably right. Ok,” I buckled my seatbelt and leaned back. “Let’s go visit the good doctor.”