Domrik sat on the couch in his private library, waiting for Kelly to answer the call. He wasn’t sure he wanted her to pick up, but he had to update her. It was the right thing to do.

It took longer than usual for her to answer. When she did, her face appeared within the projection. She was walking outside in the night. “You have immaculate timing. I just escaped another obnoxious dinner conversation. Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine,” Domrik said. “Well, mostly. I’ll get to it. How are you and your family?”

“I’m holding up for now,” she replied, looking behind her as she unlocked her car and sat in the driver’s seat. “I had to find a secure place to talk. They don’t suspect anything of me yet, except…” She looked down and away, her mouth squirming as she hesitated.

“Except what?”

She pursed her lips. “They asked about you again today. They’re noticing how much time we spend together.”

“Ah, so they don’t suspect our theft, they suspect a… different kind of theft.”

“Pfft,” she giggled, blushing. “You don’t have to be so dramatic about it.”

He laughed along with her, the edges of his ears burning. “It was indeed a late night out.”

“With Jase.” Her smile dropped as the realization killed the joke.

“That’s why I called,” Domrik said. “I think I know where he is.”

Kelly perked up. “Is he still alive?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t visited me as a disembodied voice or anything. If he’s still alive, he must be somewhere under the Antiga Nature Preserve.”

“How do you know this?”

“A small dose of blasphia.”

“Mm, hope that wasn’t your last.”

“What are you implying?”

“I might eventually work up the guts to go on a trip of my own.” She waved the comment away. “Anyway, isn’t the Preserve a restricted area?”

“It is.”

“That makes sense. What are we going to do? We can’t just get someone to take that risk for us. We could wait a few days and hope Jase makes it back.”

“We don’t have to wait, because I’ve already set things in motion.”

Her eyes went wide. “You told someone!”

He held up a finger. “Not about the heist! Only that there lurks something suspicious under the rolling hills of the Preserve.”

“Why didn’t you discuss this with me?”

“What am I doing right now?”

“No, I meant telling anyone anything even remotely related to what we did,” she growled, slapping a hand on her forehead. “Who did you tell?”

“For one, Eleanor knows.”

“There’s more than one?”

“And Yuka Brisham.”

“Yuka, the Senator!” She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Why does she have a need to know? What could she possibly do?”

“She can mobilize a portion of the Eredore Guard. She will be contacting the Guard Commander shortly.” He paused, waiting for her response.

“Why do I get the feeling you have more to tell?”

“Because your intuitive abilities are improving.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ugh, just give it to me straight.”

“If the Commander agrees to a recon mission, I might be going with them.”

She stared. “You’re kidding. Please tell me you’re kidding, because I swear…”

He shook his head solemnly. “I’m not, Kelly.”

She slapped her thigh, glaring out her car window. “Dammit, Domrik!”

“I said I might, which means I might not.”

“You can't go.”

“That's not your decision.”

“Let them do it on their own!”

“My offering to tag along is what got Senator Brisham to consider my advice in the first place. If I hadn't offered, she might have waved me off, and Jase's excursion would have been for nothing.”

She sniffed, her gaze shifting everywhere but the camera. “You are seriously considering working with the military.”

“I don't like the idea any more than you, but someone has to point them in the right direction.”

“How do you know what's right, then, hm? How do you know stealing the Bow was the right move?”

He bit his lip, searching for the answer. It had to be there somewhere, but it refused to show its ugly face. “It's an investment for the future.”

“Says the one who preaches about staying in the present.”

“When else could the future exist?”

“Now's not the time for philosophy. I'm too pissed for that.”

He wanted to capitalize on her accidental pun, but he let it go. “Things will look worse before they get better, I promise. Darkness throws a fit when exposed to light. We just have to tough it out.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

His throat constricted as he spoke those words. Even his voice lost some of its poise. He hoped she didn't detect his doubt.

“It's really hard to see current events as a result of more light. Can't we just admit things are getting worse, and that we're getting desperate?”

“We can, and I will. Hence the heist, and my further risk of prompting the military.”

She stayed silent for several moments. He was certain she hadn't expected that concession from him. He wondered if she had enough anger left for more argument.

“Just let me know what they say,” she said, wiping her eyes.

“I will, that's why I we're talking now. I thought you'd want to know.”

She leaned her head against her fist and blew air out her mouth. “Ten minutes ago, yes, but now I wouldn't mind forgetting for a day or two. I've just been too damn stressed over these past few weeks.”

“Hey, when you're in the mood for more action, you could always help Hector look for his wife, Judy. I think I located her at the Rivercrest Mansion.”

Her head twitched from side to side. “I'm close to burnout, Domrik. I'd only be a burden in this state. I'm taking the rest of the week off from work. They normally don't allow spontaneous vacations, but they're feeling generous.”

“Good, get some rest. You deserve it.”

She pushed her lips together in a tired smile. “God knows we all do.”

He waved. “Talk to you soon.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

He slumped back on the couch, let out a deep exhale, and unintentionally fell asleep.

***

Evan looked at his mother across the table. She was buried deep in text searching for answers he wasn't sure he wanted to know. At times, he thought she was going crazy, but they had never been through a situation like this. His father occupied most of her mind as usual, but for vastly different reasons than before. He'd take her consistent complaining and arguing over obsessive worrying any day.

He wondered how much she would revert to her old patterns if they found him. Their marriage was complicated, for reasons he never really understood. They went through continuous cycles of conflict and resolution on a schedule so regular he could have predicted it down to the day. Once, he asked his mother why she argued with his father so often. She said that was how relationships worked. Since then, he distanced himself from others, not wanting to get too close to start an argument. He didn’t like the isolation, but he liked interpersonal friction less.

Hector’s arrival pulled him out of his ruminations. The man sat next to him at the table, still in uniform. “Hey, bud.”

“Hey,” Evan replied.

Lori appeared suddenly on the other side of the table. She looked at Evan with innocence. “Thought I’d join the pity party. The more brains, the better the ideas.”

“Any ideas at this point would be nice,” Marvain mumbled, turning a page.

Evan narrowed his eyes at Hector. “Aren’t you supposed to be investigating the heist?”

Hector folded both forearms on the table. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing, but the higher-ups are starting to call off the extra teams. Crime rates have risen again in the newly unenforced areas. We’ve been reset back to our previous schedules, fortunately.”

Marvain tore her gaze from the book. “What about the search for Zandith? Have they found anything?”

“Nope, just a handful of dead officers with no lead on the killer.”

Her mouth hung open. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“We’re having serious talks of calling it off. Twenty-seven dead with nothing to show for it. Even worse, there’s no pattern. Across the statewide search, it’s an even spread. We can’t tell if we’re close or far from our target. And honestly, we have plenty of resources. We could continue for months. It’s the fear that’s getting to us, and I know some badass dudes that are begging to pull the plug on this operation.”

“Are you one of them?” Evan asked.

A sly grin sprung to his face. “Oh, on the badass part, hell yeah. The pulling-the-plug part… undecided.”

“Shouldn’t they be more eager to search? If you tell them everything you know about Zandith, they might start making progress.”

“And lose my job on account of looking crazy? Hell no. I hardly know anything anyway. Well… now a little more thanks to Domrik. He gave me a location we could search for Judy.”

Marvain leaned in. “Where?”

“Rivercrest Mansion.”

Lori put a hand out over the table. “Wait, wait wait wait. You don’t seriously believe him, do you?”

He fixed her with a defensive glare. “I’ve known him for far longer than you have. He knows things.”

“Fine. Let’s say he’s on to something. How are you going to get a warrant to search the mansion?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“I do,” Marvain stated, looking at the three of them expectantly. “I could file a lawsuit against Damron Wellfire, the man Zandith forced me to give it to. I could accuse him of coercion or something that would warrant a search of the mansion.”

Hector frowned. “That could work, but its risky. Remember who we’re dealing with here.”

“He can’t hide forever, and for the record, I’d be doing this for myself, too,” she said, her posture triumphant. “Because fuck him, fuck his mansion, and fuck everyone who works for him.”

“You do realize if Judy’s at the mansion,” Hector said, “she’s working for him.”

Marvain eyed him dangerously. “You know what I mean.”

Evan couldn’t conceal his smile, although at the same time, he caught Lori gazing uneasily through the table. He didn’t have to ask. He knew where her kept gravitating. Adam’s absence had become a weight on all their lives, even with his own suspicion of Adam’s continued existence in an afterlife. He unconsciously projected his imagination into Lori’s mind, wondering what it was like to believe in absolute loss. Who would do that to themselves without allowing the slightest hope?

“Do you think he had anything to do with the heist?” Evan asked.

Hector snorted. “If he did, it would be a pretty dumbass move. Why would he want a piece of rock and metal anyway? Its only value was historical significance.”

“Unless there’s more to it,” Marvain suggested, meeting Evan’s gaze with a glance. He flashed back to their conversation with Domrik the day before. It was more like an interrogation, but he didn’t seem to take offense to it. Strucka would definitely have something to say if he were here.

Evan decided to ask the uncomfortable question. “Did you talk with Domrik about the heist?”

“I asked when he told me about Judy’s location,” Hector said. “He called me the morning after the heist, and it sounded like I was the first one to notify him. He doesn’t watch the news much.”

“How did he find Judy’s location?”

He shrugged. “Beats me. He does a lot of things of which I have no clue how they work.”

“Like healing?” Evan suggested, tipping his gaze toward Lori to gauge her reaction. Her scowl deepened, but he got nothing else.

Hector glanced around the library, then spoke in a hushed voice. “Listen, what you saw that night? Never. Happened. Hear me?”

“It’s alright, man,” Evan said, gesturing to his mother. “He showed us. We know it’s real.”

“And he told you why not to tell anyone else, yes?”

Evan nodded.

“Then nothing happened to me on that day.” When his mouth started to tremble, he covered it with a hand and looked away. “Nothing physically.”

Evan put a hand on his shoulder as he breathed his silent sobs. He broke contact when Hector regained composure.

“Maybe Domrik did it,” Lori asserted, catching another glare from Hector. “Maybe he could tell you a thing or two about the Sacred Bow.”

Evan stiffened. What would she say if she knew what he knew? She had more pull on Hector’s emotions than anyone else.

“Nah,” Hector blurted, shaking his head. “Like I said, you don’t know him. He wouldn’t hurt a bug.”

Evan interjected. “He would if it was an assassin sent to kill him.”

“That’s different. Who wouldn’t defend themselves?”

“Everyone has secrets,” Evan said. “Even him.”

“And until we know them, we won’t jump to rash conclusions,” Hector stated. “Now, about Judy. I think Marvain’s plan could work, so long as you’re willing to pay the lawyer’s fees. If we want to do this correctly, we go the legal route.”

“I’m fine with that,” Marvain said. “When do we start?”

“Processing will take a week, at least. I can’t do much to speed it up. Just make sure to formulate the incident that implies there is something so search for. That won’t be too difficult, will it?”

“No, there was sabotage of the Aetherite banks. The door had its handle removed.”

“Excellent. That would give us cause to search underground where Judy is.”

“Might be,” Lori corrected.

Hector narrowed his eyes. “Do you want to find your mother, or not?”

“I do, just setting realistic expectations.”

Evan gazed at her, amused. Her commitment to objectivity was one-of-a-kind.