I laid my phone on Wallace’s desk and punched in the number, thumbing on the speaker phone as I had been instructed. It rang twice before the call connected.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Hey, Liz. Sorry about the unfamiliar number. New phone.”
“Ray? Where the fuck have you been?” she demanded.
I hoped she had the sense not to say more, but just in case I hurried to respond before she could volunteer too much.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just disappeared without telling anyone, but I got a new job, and they needed me right away. Things got a bit chaotic. Sorry I didn’t contact anyone earlier.”
“Jesus, chaotic? There are a lot of people who are going to have questions for you, you know. You’ve been reported missing. People have been looking for you.”
“Oops,” I chuckled nervously. “Well, I will have to sort all that out, soon. But for the moment, I am actually calling to ask you for a favor.”
“A favor? You disappear for months, then you call me up out of the blue to ask for a favor?”
“I know. I am sorry. But it’s important. Please, I need you to trust me.”
There was a brief moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
“You’re asking a lot, Ray. But I guess I do owe you one or two favors. What do you need?”
“Thank you, Liz. Really. I can’t talk about it over the phone, though. Can you clear your schedule for a couple of days and meet me somewhere?”
“This is a hell of a favor, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, I’ll try to move some things around. When and where do you want to meet?”
“There’s a hotel downtown, I will text you the address. Meet me there on Thursday around 9am?”
“Ok. Should I bring anything?”
“No. Just… keep this between us, will you? Don’t tell anyone about me, either. Not yet.”
“Alright. But I had better get one hell of an explanation on Thursday. I’ll see you then.”
The call disconnected.
“Well, that went better than I expected,” Wallace observed. “She must really feel indebted to you, to agree to that request.”
“I did save her life once or twice,” I shrugged, hoping he would accept that as enough of a reason. “Some people take that sort of thing seriously.”
“True. Even so, I want you to keep a close eye on her. She may be useful, but she could also be dangerous to the cause,” he caught Tom’s eye over my shoulder. “Be very careful.”
“Of course, boss,” I agreed, placidly. “You know me. I always have my eye on the ball.”
“Right. On that note, Tom, Luke please wait in the hall. I want to have a private word with Rayna for a moment.”
“Uh oh, am I in trouble again?”
Wallace waited to respond until the door closed behind them.
“I want you to know that I still have some reservations about this plan. And about your commitment to it.”
“Oh?”
“I am fully aware of your… hesitance to resort to lethal measures. And I also know you are clever enough to figure out that this chemical is not going to be used for benign medical treatments.”
“Wally, come now, you know I can set aside my feelings…”
“Maybe yes, maybe no. Either way, I want to be sure you are… properly motivated to complete this task, and not for example, to botch it on purpose so that we don’t have the drug available to us.”
“I am always happy for a bit of motivation,” I replied, carefully.
“Good. Then listen carefully. We have plans in motion already, and they are going ahead, whether you succeed or not. I want the Profentanyl due to its enhanced safety for humans, but if we can’t get it, I am already fully prepared to move ahead with other, riskier, options. The venue has been chosen. Our schedule is set. That is why we are on a time crunch, here. If you blow this, you will not be delaying anything. You will not be saving a single life. If anything, more people will die, because I will be forced to use a substandard product. Do you understand?”
I nodded slowly.
“It seems pretty clear. You are planning to have to the people here execute these plans?” I asked.
“Some of them will be participating, but only in a supporting capacity,” Wallace sighed. “As you yourself observed, the students here are not… ready for that sort of thing, yet. They are useful for certain tasks, but for critical matters, I do have some competent, experienced field agents on my side. They are operating out of another location, preparing for our next move.”
“You going to tell me what this ‘next move’ is?”
“Not yet. Perhaps if this outing goes well, if you prove yourself, then I will consider it. Show me that you are capable, show me that you can be trusted, and I may rely on you for more in the future.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Well then, we have no problem,” I grinned.
“Are you that confident?”
“Of course. You know me, Wallace, I know how to put on a good show.”
“Alright, Rayna. Let’s see what you can do. Then we’ll talk again. Dismissed.”
I rose and slipped out of the room. That was one of my options shot to hell. But there was always at least one contingency plan. A lot would depend on Liz. We would see what happened when we met. Until then, I just had to continue on as planned. One day at a time.
The morning dawned crisp and cool. I looked up at the sky for a moment, briefly reveling in feeling of the sun on my skin. I had been trapped underground for a while, at this point. Seeing the trees nearly barren of leaves, I realized with a start how deep we were into the fall. My thoughts briefly wandered to the rosebush, which I hadn’t had time to finish winterizing. I wondered if it would survive the coming season. Shaking my head, I banished the thought. Nothing I could do about it now. I climbed into the car and Tom pulled away from the curb.
“You really think she will agree to this?” he asked.
“I do,” I replied.
“And if she doesn’t?”
“We give it a shot on our own. We can always revert to the… original plan if things go sideways. We can handle it, either way.”
“Alright. I’ll follow your lead on this one.”
“Fantastic. Alright, so first we meet up with Liz, get her on board. For that, I need the two of you on your best behavior. Remember,” I turned back to look at Luke for this part, “ubarae are very sensitive to emotions, so you are going to need to ensure you are not acting like you hate her and want her dead. Luke, you especially are going to have to keep an open mind, here. Because I don’t trust you to fake this. So, try to really go into this willing to get to know her. Whatever the broader concerns may be, she’s really not that bad. Got it?”
The younger man nodded hesitantly.
“Excellent. Once she is onboard, we will get settled into our hotel room and rehearse the plan. Luke, you will go and pick up all our gear, so we have it for the morning.”
“Then what?” Luke asked.
“We settle in, relax a bit, and get a good night’s sleep before showtime.”
“That’s it?”
“Well, yeah. The planning and prep work is already basically done. The night before a job is like the night before a big exam. Sure, you could stay up studying, but if you don’t know it by now, you probably won’t by morning. Might as well be rested.”
“That doesn't give the succubus much time to prepare, does it?” Tom fretted.
“She doesn’t need it, really. Her role is more… improvisational, anyway. We just have to make sure she understands the basics. Besides, you are the one who didn’t want me to call her in until the last minute.”
“I know that. I am just… concerned.”
“Well, don’t be. Everything is already in place, there is no point worrying about it now. Roller coaster is in motion, lap bars are locked, all we can do now is enjoy the ride.”
Tom pulled the car up to the curb by the hotel. Liz was already waiting outside, her long grey coat pulled tight against the cold wind and her dark hair carefully drawn back into a bun. She stood on the sidewalk, leaning against the wall of the building, trying to be inconspicuous. It was something that didn’t come naturally to ubarae; I could see the heads turning and the people watching her as they walked past. It had made her easy to spot.
“Alright, now, remember what I said,” I instructed before we exited the vehicle. “We need her on our side. We also, presumably, don’t want her to realize that anything strange is going on. So, try to actually like her, ok? Don’t just pretend. Truly keep in mind that she is helping us, and we want her here.”
I waited for both of the boys to nod, before I opened my door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. I raised a hand. Liz caught my eye and nodded, then crossed through the crowd to meet us.
“You’re late,” she observed. “It’s pretty cold out, to keep me waiting here.”
“Sorry, traffic,” I shrugged. “Let’s go into the restaurant, we can talk over breakfast.”
The succubus nodded but glanced back at my companions.
“Oh, sorry, introductions. You probably remember Tom,” I gestured, and she nodded. “And this is Luke. We work together.”
“You are all working to help the victims of the Domini, then?” Liz asked.
“Who told you that?” Luke blurted; his tone laced with suspicion.
“Well, that is what you do, isn’t it, Tom? I just assumed that if you were all working together…”
“Of course,” Tom smiled broadly. “Luke is just used to our work being… discreet. Still, he should be more polite.”
“I apologize. That was rude of me,” Luke dropped his eyes.
“Don’t worry about it,” Liz smiled graciously. “If you are used to dealing with the Domini, I can understand why you might be cautious around people like me. But there is no need to be concerned. We are on the same side, after all.”
I smiled. I shouldn’t have been worried about how she would react to them. Liz was a professional. And she did have at least some idea of what was going on here. She had just made it clear that she would play along, at least until she knew what my angle was. Hopefully she would be patient with me, because that might take some time.
“Of course we are,” I smiled, clapping Luke on the shoulder a bit more firmly than was strictly necessary. “Now, let’s get inside, out of the cold.”
We stepped into the hotel restaurant to find it quiet. The morning crowd had already cleared out and brunch apparently didn’t do big business on a weekday. We found a table in the back corner, away from the few lingering customers, and took a seat.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us,” Tom began.
“I owe Ray a great deal. And, of course, I feel a duty to help the victims of the Domini. What they did to those people was an abomination.”
“You really think that?” Luke sounded surprised.
“Of course!” Liz scowled, offended. “What are you saying?”
“He doesn’t mean anything by it,” Tom glared at Luke. “Like I was saying, he is very inexperienced. Don’t mind him.”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. This was going to be a long day. We fell silent as the waiter approached and took our order. It had been a while since I had eaten anywhere but the cafeteria at the base, and I was actually looking forward to it. I ordered a half-stack of blueberry pancakes and a mimosa. That earned me disapproving looks from both sides of the table. Good, it would give them something to bond over.
“It’s not even lunch yet, Ray,” Tom noted after the waiter stepped away with our orders. “Isn’t it a bit early for that?”
“When would you have me order a mimosa, at 5pm?” I rolled my eyes. “Relax. Champagne is barely even alcohol, anyway. Now, can we please get down to business? Our time is somewhat short.”
Tom grumbled but didn’t protest further.
“I am rather eager to find out why you’ve called me here, Ray,” Liz observed.
“Well then, let’s jump right in,” I glanced around to make sure we had privacy. “We need your help with a heist.”
“A what?!” Liz kept her voice low, but her surprise was clear from her tone.
“The short version is, we need a particular drug that we cannot access through the official channels. We are going to… liberate some of it. And I need your help to do it peacefully.”
“Peacefully?”
“I don’t want to see anyone get hurt over this. With your, shall we say people skills, we should be able to smooth over any rough spots and get in and out with no trouble. If you are willing to assist, of course.”
“I don’t know, Ray…” Liz hesitated. “I don’t make a habit of robbing people or breaking the law, in general. Is this drug really so important?”
“I understand, Liz. And believe me, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, and time sensitive. Our scientists believe that this drug is necessary to treat some of the victims who are in the most distress, and if they don’t get the treatment soon, the damage may not be reversable. There is too much red tape to do this properly, so we are… finding a creative solution. I know I am asking a lot here, but we need this, and you are the one ubarae I knew I could count on for help.”
“I’m not sure I can…” Liz began.
“Will you at least let me explain the plan before you decide?” I interrupted.
“Alright, Ray. I’ll hear you out. But this had better be good.”