I leaned back against the headrest of the seat and looked out the window of the plane; we were descending, not long now before we would be back on the ground, and the final leg of this journey would begin.

“You alright?” Mark asked.

“Yeah, fine. Why?”

“Do you know what you are going to do, when we land?”

“No idea. I obviously can’t give Carmine what he wants,” I glanced over at Simon, sitting across the plane with Liz. “But as to what I am going to do…”

“It’s a tough situation.”

“Don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

“Sorry. We’ll think of something, though, right?”

“I don’t know. Carmine is… he knows us too well. I’m not sure there is a way around this one.”

“Well, maybe Gail can help, when we arrive.”

“Maybe.”

“Ugh, this is easy, just give him the parasite,” Wallace groaned, leaning over the back of his seat to look at us. “He is one of them anyway, if they want to discipline their own people, who are we to interfere?”

“There is a reason I didn’t consult you on this, Wallace.”

“Yeah, because you don’t want to face the truth. You are soft, Ray. Always have been. He is not worth your concern.”

“Thanks, Wallace. That’s really helpful.”

“Come on, Ray. What exactly do you think is going to happen to them, anyway, once everything is out in the open? The rest of the world is about to learn what you and I already know: there are monsters among us. You think everyone is just going to come together and live in peace and harmony after that? Don’t be a child. No, this is going to end badly. So, what’s the point in trying to protect them? It’s just wasted effort.”

“Look, Wally, in case you aren’t just being an ass here, let me explain something to you,” I sighed. “Do you think, even if we gave Carmine exactly what he asked for, that he would give us anything in return?”

“Of course not. He is a liar, and he gets off on causing pain. He will make you beg, then he will do whatever hurts you the most.”

“Obviously. So, I am not giving him anything or conceding anything. It would be pointless. The only thing to do is to try and get him to meet for an exchange. Maybe then, we could find a way to get the upper hand.”

“He would have to be stupid to agree to that.”

“I know.”

There was a moment of heavy silence.

“We can’t really make a plan until we hear from him again, let’s just… hope there’s more wiggle room here than I think there is,” I took a breath. “What are you two planning, when we arrive?”

“We were just going to meet with Gail, see how we can help,” Mark replied.

“I am hoping to meet up with some of those military guys,” Wallace added. “See what plans they have for the enemy. I’m looking forward to collaborating.”

“Well, just remember to keep your mouth shut until you know what they have been briefed on,” I reminded him. “I doubt everyone knows the truth and we don’t need you blundering in and upsetting things.”

“I can handle myself, thank you. Besides, they’ll all know soon enough, won’t they?” Wallace slapped his knees and rose. “Well, I am going to grab a drink, anyone want anything?”

God, yes.

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

“No thanks,” Mark frowned at Wallace. “You shouldn’t either. We’ll be landing in like 20 minutes.”

“Relax, I’ll be quick.”

“That’s not what I…”

Wallace turned and left, leaving Mark talking to his back. He gave up and turned back to me.

“What do you think is going to happen, when we arrive?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully it will be uneventful. We’ll do some patrols, make sure the announcements go out and no one gets assassinated, then we let others take over.”

“And then?”

“Don’t ask me that, Mark. How could I possibly know? Things are probably going to be chaos, at least for a while.”

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“Yeah,” he sighed and changed the subject. “How is Jessica doing?”

“Honestly?” I glanced to the front of the plane, she was curled up in a seat, eyes closed as if she was asleep. I leaned closer and lowered my voice further. “I don’t think she is doing very well. She is scared, traumatized.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

“But worse, I think part of her misses him, too. When Carmine called, she apologized to him, felt guilty about leaving. He shouldn’t have been able to affect her directly, over the phone, which means there is still something in her that isn’t free of him, even now. I’m hoping it will just take time, but who knows?”

“It’s a shame we were never allowed to conduct experiments on human-ubarae interaction. Would have been useful to have more data on this kind of thing.”

“Yeah. Well, maybe that is about to change, too.”

“Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?”

I shrugged; I didn’t really have an answer for that.

“Alright, can I ask, why did you bring Jessica here? Doesn’t this seem like the worst possible place for her to be right now?”

“I tried to tell her that,” I sighed. “But she was too afraid to go home, and she didn’t want to stay with the ubarae, for understandable reasons. I figured she would be safe with whatever dignitaries Gail is protecting. What else could I do?”

“That makes sense, I suppose,” Mark nodded. “Now all we have to do it get her there.”

“Well, hopefully that part will be easy. That’s where we are going anyway.”

“And if we run into trouble on the way?”

The crackle of the announcement system interrupted, saving me from having to answer that particular question.

“Attention passengers, we are making final preparations for landing. If everyone can please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts, we should be on the ground in about 15 minutes. Thank you.”

I reached down and buckled up. I checked my phone.

“Gail messaged; she is going to meet us at the airport.”

“Did you fill her in on everything?”

“Almost everything. I didn’t mention what Carmine said about Vasili. They were close and… well I don’t think she should get that sort of news over WhatsApp.”

“Yeah. Well, Carmine could be lying. To make his threat seem more dire,” Mark offered.

“True, but I don’t think he was, much as I would prefer it. For a threat, he only needed to have killed one. The rest would have served him better alive, as bargaining chips. I suspect he was telling the truth, about that particular matter.”

Mark’s shoulders slumped slightly,

“Good point.”

“I’m sorry. I know he was your friend, too.”

“It should have been me that went back. I was about to, we both turned at the same time, but he stopped me, told me he would handle it. I should have insisted.”

“I know that feeling. I wish… I wish there was something I could say.”

“Let’s just focus on work, now. There will be time for grieving later.”

I nodded as the sound of the landing gear lowering into place filled the cabin.

“Well, here we go.”

The landing was uneventful, and we had collected our things and were heading through the airport in short order. As we approached the exit, I saw Gail flanked by a couple of men I didn’t recognize.

“Ray, glad you made it,” she looked tired.

“Gail, how are you holding up?”

“I’m alright. Things are… things are pretty much set in their course, now. All that’s left to do is make sure it all happens. Have you gotten the second call yet?”

“Not yet,” I checked my phone to confirm that I had a signal. “But Gail, there is something else I need to tell you. About Vasili.”

“Not here, Ray. I know what you are going to say, I kind of figured it out when you didn’t mention him, in your other messages. Thank you, for trying to soften it, but I’ll be ok. We can talk more about it later.”

I nodded, letting her take the lead. She turned to the others,

“Pete, Mark, Ray, Jess, meet our security detail,” she gestured to the two men. “Officers Cole and Smith, RCMP. They insisted on coming with me.”

“Ma’am, the…” the officer struggled for the right word. “Terrorists, know that you all were set to arrive here today, they could be lying in wait. It wouldn’t be safe for you to be alone right now.”

That was a possibility, though whether these men could assist in any way was debatable. It probably wouldn’t help to point that out, however.

“Thank you for your concern,” I offered instead. “I should probably introduce Elizabeth and Simon. They… thought they could be of assistance, too.”

The two cops eyed the ubarae nervously, I didn’t know how much Gail had explained, but they certainly seemed suspicious.

“Well, we need all the help we get, don’t we?” Gail nodded and beckoned for everyone to follow. “We should get out of the open. We have two cars out front, so let’s get back to the command centre. And Jessica, once you are there, I will make sure you get to one of the secure rooms, ok?”

“Thanks, Gail,” she replied softly. “I’m sorry, to be so much trouble.”

“You are no trouble, so please don’t say such things. We are the ones who should be apologizing, for everything you have been through. Now, let’s get you somewhere safe, shall we?”

We exited the building to find two SUVs waiting in the lot. We all stopped for a moment, looking at the two cars, uncertain how best to divide the group. I was just starting to picture people as foxes, geese and grain, when Gail took charge of the situation.

“Ray, Liz, Simon, you come with me. Mark, Pete, you go in the other with Jessica.”

“We will split up then, one with each,” one of the officers volunteered.

“No, you both go with the others, we can handle ourselves, right Ray?”

“Most of the time,” I smirked.

“Very well, ma’am.”

I climbed into the passenger seat next to Gail,

“Ma’am, huh?”

“Ugh, don’t you start.”

Simon and Liz clambered into the back, and we pulled out, going slowly until Gail saw the other car pull out behind us.

“So, did you stick all the… vulnerable people in the other car on purpose?” I asked.

“Obviously. I am expecting you to get a call from Carmine any minute, and we certainly don’t need Jessica here for that, or either of the cops for that matter. I figure Pete and Mark can keep an eye on them, while we deal with it. And of course, it seemed safer to keep the ubarae with us.”

“Safer for whom?” Liz raised an eyebrow.

“You, mostly. Cole and Smith seem like decent enough people, but this is all very new to them, and I am sure you noticed how jumpy they were. Let’s not trap them with you in a small metal box just yet, huh?”

“Fair enough,” Liz conceded.

We rode in silence for a time, watching the scenery fly by outside the window. Gail was an… aggressive driver, so she occasionally had to slow down to let the second car catch up. About 20 minutes of white knuckling the grab handle passed before I finally heard my phone ring.

“Answer it?” I glanced at Gail.

“What else can we do? Better to hear what he has to say. Even if it won’t be pleasant.”

“Alright,” I put a finger to my lips, signaling the others to stay quiet, then answered.

“Bienvenue au Québec, Rayna,” Carmine’s face filled the screen. “How was your flight?”

“Let’s skip the pleasantries, shall we? Where do you want to meet?”

“Meet? Oh, that isn’t how this is going to go. If you don’t want this to turn ugly, you need to listen very carefully and do exactly as I say.”

I took a deep breath,

“Alright, I’m listening.”