The guard opened the door, but as we passed, he touched my arm, drawing my attention.

“Be careful with her. She has been curled up on her cot, sobbing, since you left. With occasional breaks for sleep.”

“Has no one tried to talk to her?”

“She says she won’t talk to anyone but you. Others have tried, but she just goes turns her back, ignores them entirely. We didn’t want to push her too hard,” he shook his head.

I took a deep breath,

“Alright, well, I’ll see what I can do.”

We entered the makeshift prison to find Jessica lying on the mattress, curled up, hugging her knees. I knew she heard us enter, because I heard her quietly mumble,

“Go away.”

“I just want to talk for a little bit, if that is ok, Jess? Please?”

I watched her stiffen at the sound of my voice, tension running up her back and into her neck. She remained perfectly still for a moment, then she finally pushed herself into a sitting position and turned towards me, though she refused to meet my eyes.

“They said they didn’t know when you would be back,” she said softly. “I worried you were…”

“Who me?” I shot for jovial, probably missed by a bit but it was close enough for the situation. “No need to worry about me. I was just running a few errands. Why not talk to one of the others?”

“I couldn’t… I couldn’t face them until I had seen you, until I explained, apologized. I said such terrible things to you.”

“It wasn’t that bad, Jess. I’ve heard worse.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Why not? I do. I mean, how could I have been so stupid?” she looked up at me for just a moment, eyes shining with tears. “I knew what he was, what he could do. How could I have thought it was love?”

“Come on, Jess. You know it isn’t about stupidity, that’s what they do. You couldn’t help it. And don’t be too hard on yourself. It wasn’t just you. They have a lot of people under their control right now.”

“I don’t know if that makes it better or worse,” she dropped her eyes again. “I really believed him. I really thought… I hurt people for him. I would have hurt you. How can I… how can I go on, after that? Knowing what I’ve done?”

“We need you. You go on because you have to. Because you can help.”

“But the things I did with him… for him,” she shuddered, wrapping her arms around her knees.

I put a hand on her shoulder, what had been done to her was one of the most severe violations a person could suffer. The worst the ubarae were capable of, but pledged not to do. I’d put bullets in people for this. It was the reason my job existed.

“What he did to you isn’t your fault, you know that.”

“I know, but that doesn’t make it easier.”

“I’m sorry, Jess. We should have been able to protect you.”

“I know you did, what you could. And thank you, for coming for me,” Jessica took a deep breath, gathering herself, then straightened her spine, as if she had made a decision. “Alright, if I can help, I want to do that. What do you need to know?”

“You sure you can handle this?”

“I’m sure I have to, like you said. I’ve heard some of what they are planning, and it isn’t good.”

“Well, that is exactly what we are hoping that you can tell us about. We know very little about their long-term plans.”

Jessica’s eyes widened,

“You don’t know? But I thought that he would…” she looked behind me, at Simon.

“He told us what he could, but Simon didn’t know much beyond the taking of the Organization.”

“Oh my god,” Jessica covered her mouth. “Then we need to get to James right away. There isn’t much time.”

It turned out that Jessica had more information than anyone had expected. As the only ordinary human in the Organization, apparently they hadn’t been terribly concerned with what she overheard, confident in the absoluteness of their control. With that control broken, she was able to fill in a lot of the gaps in Simon’s knowledge. She held the table at rapt attention as she explained.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“They planned constantly, it was impossible not to overhear,” Jessica took a deep breath, eyes on the table. “They have the Organization, but they know they need to finish the purge, eliminate the last people who know about them, before they are truly secure. Otherwise, they face what ubarae have feared for millennia: all of humanity turning on them, and hunting them to extinction. The Domini know that they could have absolute control, but only if everyone is unaware of their existence. So, they are plotting the assassination of every government official that knows the truth.”

“All of them?” Wallace interrupted. “There are half a dozen high ranking officials in each country. Including heads of state, presidents, prime ministers. They plan to kill all of them?”

“Yes. See, they couldn’t get to the leaders themselves to corrupt them, they are too well protected, but the next people in the line of succession for each country have already been turned. They are essentially sleepers, waiting for their moment. From what I overheard, the Domini plan to attack when the next G7 summit, in Quebec, begins. Most of the leaders will be gathered, in one easy location. They are planning a coordinated series of bombings, both on the summit and separately, on any country whose leader is not attending. They will call it a terrorist attack. And I guess it really is. Either way, with the people who know of them, who could stop them, eliminated and with their new puppet governments installed, they will impose severe restrictions on the liberty of all humans, saying that it is necessary for public safety. They will slowly increase these restrictions over time and the Domini will infiltrate more of the world’s governing bodies, which should be easy, with the Organization in shambles. Long term, they plan to reduce us to cattle, that they can kill and consume at will. They have been working towards this for a long time. The fact that you are all still here is the only mistake they have made, the only variable unaccounted for. So, I suppose the question is, can you stop them?”

“Well, we’ve done a great job so far,” Wallace muttered.

“When are they planning the bombings?” James ignored him. “Do you know?”

“The summit begins in 3 days, I doubt they will wait long to put their plan into motion.”

“Holy shit.”

The panic in the room was immediate and it took a minute or so for James to regain control of the room. Finally, he managed to quiet everyone enough to be heard,

“This changes things. We can no longer just watch and wait. Everyone, please wait here, I need to have a word with Rayna. Then we will discuss our plans.”

He motioned for me to follow him away from the group. When we were out of earshot, he stopped,

“Rayna, I...” he hesitated for a long moment. “I don’t have another plan. There just aren’t enough of us to do this alone. Even with the support Oliver has to offer, it isn’t enough to stop something like this. Not with only days to prepare. Not all over the world, simultaneously. And if the Domini succeed, it’s all over. If the only people in authority who would ever believe us are dead, we are done. We’re out of options, Rayna.”

I nodded slowly. I couldn’t disagree, but still,

“Are you saying what I think you are?”

“Unfortunately, I am. There is only one way to stop this, before it goes too far. Everything needs to come to light. If we do that, we take away the impetus for the assassinations, and we expose the plot, so that normal security can come in to play,” James took a deep breath. “We need to execute your plan. We don’t have a choice. What do you need to make it happen?”

“I have all the data, but we need find someone who can get it online, widely accessible.”

“Talk to Jason Cain, he might be able to do it, if not maybe he can direct us to someone who can.”

“But that won’t be enough. We need someone with authority, to make people believe.”

“I know. I have been laying the groundwork for that already, coordinating with what remains of the other enclaves. Most of the leaders who know the truth are ready to make emergency addresses to their people, confirming the story. We just need to say the word, and upload the supporting documentation online, where anyone can access it. At least then, people will have a chance to defend themselves.”

“It’ll cause panic, riots. And that’s if we are lucky.”

“I know that.”

“Maybe a worldwide re-enactment of the witch trials. Hangings, drownings, worse. A lot of people and ubarae are going to get killed if we do this.”

“I know that. But it’s that or capitulation to the Domini. We have to choose, now. There isn’t any time left.”

“Should we even be the ones making this choice?”

“Who else? Few even know the situation. No one else can make this choice for us.”

“Maybe this is a secret that never should have been kept to begin with,” I frowned. “We allowed this to happen. We created this vulnerability.”

“Maybe. But it was that way for a reason. It kept peace and kept people safe for a long time.”

“And when we blow it all to hell, what keeps the peace then?”

“I am losing track of what side you are on, Rayna.”

“So am I,” I snapped, then took a breath. “I’m sorry. I just… I’m not sure I’m ready to live with the consequences of this choice, either way.”

“Well, I am sorry to tell you that you don’t get the luxury of avoiding it. There is no one to pass it off to, and not making a choice is the same as choosing to let this happen. We have to bear this responsibility.”

“If we try this, the Domini will probably notice. They will try to stop it, maybe even bump up their plans, do something desperate.”

“Probably, but better that then letting them execute a carefully constructed plan.”

“Still, we will need everyone we have defending the key players. More than that, we will need help,” I took a long breath. “We need Oliver’s people, too.”

James frowned,

“I am not even sure if we should tell them about this, Rayna. They may not… agree with this course of action.”

“All the more reason to tell them. This will affect their entire species. How can we not even consult them?”

“We need to do what is best for humanity.”

“I know that, but they should at least have a chance to prepare for the fallout, James. We can’t just blindside them with this.”

He sighed,

“Maybe you are right. Ok. Bring them, let’s get this over with.”

I went to retrieve Oliver, Liz and Simon from the group. As I passed, Wallace glared both questions and daggers at me; I motioned for him to wait. I didn’t really need to ask if he was on board with this plan, anyway. He wouldn’t hesitate because of danger to the ubarae. When the five of us were far enough away from the others, Oliver spoke first,

“Let me guess,” Oliver looked us both over. “You have a plan, but we aren’t going to like it?”

“I’d be impressed, but I don’t think you need to be a genius to deduce that,” I replied.

“Let’s not waste time we don’t have,” James pressed ahead, unwilling to delay discussion of the uncomfortable topic. “We were hoping to put off this decision for longer, but this new information forces our hand. We need to go public, and we need to do it now.”

“Go public?” Liz raised an eyebrow.

When Oliver replied, his eyes were dark as storm clouds,

“He means they are going to break the Pact.”