“How’s our patient?” Roen asked finally, breaking the silence. He could only take so much of his own pity party before he started to annoy even himself.
“Irritated and demanding we rob a pharmacy for painkillers.”
“One of his more reasonable moods, then.”
Marco agreed. “He told me he wants crepes for breakfast.”
“What are you going to feed him?”
“I dunno. I told him I was going to check our stock and be right back, and then I came up here and hung out with you.”
Roen chuckled and they clinked cans again. The mission should be almost over, and he would soon be reunited with his family. That was the right thing to do. He could hang tight a little longer. The Prophus forces would be en route within the next few days. They would attack the catalyst facility in the middle of the night through two identified points of weakness. One was the supply tunnel, and the other was a sewage exhaust that Helen had determined only functioned during daylight hours. It would be an awful mission, and he predicted minimum fifty percent attrition, and at best, a twenty-five percent chance of success, but these were numbers the Keeper was comfortable with.
“Damn witch,” he muttered. If he were one of those lucky enough to survive the attack, he would finally get to see his family. He finished his can of beer. “I shouldn’t have gone clubbing that night.”
“Pardon?” Marco asked.
“It’s nothing. One fateful decision to go out the night I met Tao. I was actually thinking about staying home and watching the unabridged version of Metropolis…”
“Roen,” Elias called from the first floor. “You there?”
Roen looked away from the window, feeling a little sheepish that Elias had gotten the jump on both of them. “Up here.”
“You have a call in the shed.”
“For the two of us?”
“Just you.”
Could it be? Roen forced himself to stay calm, though for a second, he considered diving over the railing and rappelling down the rusty chain hanging from the ceiling. At the very last second, he reconsidered. It would be an awfully embarrassing way to die. He took the extra minute to scramble down the stairs and jogged into the shed, almost tripping and falling down the steep stairs.
Sheck was fidgeting with the comm station and had pulled up the local news on his computer. The team was huddled around it, watching as the local anchor relayed a breaking story about the arrival of the National Guard and how Ontario was now under martial law. There was now an evening curfew, cars weren’t allowed on the roads after midnight, and all citizens were required to carry identification on them at all times. Anyone caught breaking these stringent rules would be subject to arrest.
“That IXTF woman really wants you back,” Helen said to Prie as she changed his bandages.
He shrugged and held his palms up. “I would, too, if I were her and I had lost me. Even unconscious, we Frenchmen are just too irresistible.”
Helen yanked the bandage off suddenly and Prie howled.
“Careful,” he snapped. “You are going to rip the stitches and I will bleed out all over you and then one of you undeserving fools will have to take Pri.”
“Should have left him with the IXTF,” Marco chuckled, following Roen down the stairs.
“I heard that, Marco,” Prie snapped. “Pri still remembers that time Ahngr left him to die against that horde of Zulu warriors.”
“Hey,” Roen added. “Ahngr left Tao to die during the Great War.”
“Once an asshole,” Prie said.
“Always one,” Roen agreed.
“Sir,” Sheck interrupted the conversation. “Got someone on channel three who wants to talk to you.”
Roen pushed his way through the small crowd of people and snatched the headset out of Sheck’s hands, shooing everyone away. He changed the channel to three. “Yes?”
“Roen! Thank God it’s you.”
He felt a pain in his chest probably not unlike a heart attack and for a moment, nearly fainted with relief. He began to sniffle in a most unmanly way.
“Are you all right, honey?” she asked.
“You’re all right,” he sobbed. “I saw the pictures of the house. You were missing for so long. I wanted to come look for you. I couldn’t, though. They told me you made contact but that was it.”
“I’m all right. Alive at least.”
Roen exhaled and tried to keep himself from falling apart. “Where are you? Is Cameron with you?”
“I’m with Faust’s cell right now. Some of his people picked us up this morning. Roen, I told you to put a crypto key in the submarine.”
“I forgot,” he said sheepishly. “So you’re all safe? Hang tight at Faust’s base. I’ll have things wrapped up here in a few days, and then after the attack I’m heading straight to you.”
“Actually,” she said, “I’m not staying.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Then she told him everything, starting with the attack on the farmhouse to their escape to the submarine. She explained how she had to run their operation from the trailer, and how they decided to stay put until Cameron arrived. She finished with their reunion and Jacob showing up.
Roen’s blood froze in his veins at the mention of the Adonis Vessel. His heart stopped and his fists tightened at hearing Jacob’s name. His mind turned to rage when he heard about Cameron’s fight with Jacob. “Cam was…” he asked.
Jill was sniffling by this time too. “He got beaten up a little, but he’ll be all right. It looks much worse than it is. His pride suffered the worst beating. Roen, you should have seen him. He’s grown up so much.”
“So where are you going now?”
“We need to get Rin back. I placed a tracking device, the bangle, on her. It went dark somewhere in Northern Canada, then Cameron remembered Alex talking about a loyalty haven. The Keeper moved a satellite to the vicinity, and we picked up the beacon again. I’m taking Faust’s entire team with me. We attack in three days.” There was a long pause. “Roen, Cameron wants to come.”
“Over my dead body!” Roen thundered.
“I can’t stop him,” Jill said. “Tao says we need every able body for this mission, and he’s right. The Keeper has already approved it.”
“Fuck the Keeper!”
Roen collapsed over the table in despair. She was right. His wife and child were attacking a Genjix base, and here he was on a stupid suicide mission. He buried his face in his hands. He should be with them. He had to be with them. Then, something occurred to him.
“Hang tight, Jill. Don’t leave until you hear back from me.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Roen. You can’t abandon your mission.”
“I’m not, but just wait. Please.”
He took the headset off and beckoned to Sheck. “Schedule a call with the Keeper for this evening. All hands.” He looked over at a puzzled Marco. “I’ll be back. There’s going to be a change of plans.”
Marco frowned. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’m going to recruit some backup,” Roen said, strapping on his holster and heading back up the stairs.
It took Roen six hours to find the right moment. He passed the time changing hiding spots – basic surveillance 101: locals tend to get suspicious if someone stays in one place for too long – and pretending to debate Tao on the effects of the Japanese Meiji period on the modern world stage. In the end, Roen basically ended up blaming Commodore Matthew Perry for the United States’ involvement in World War II and eventually the rise of the Communist government. Of course, imaginary Tao was in agreement, mostly because Perry was not a host, so Tao could lay that blame completely at humanity’s feet. Tao was biased that way.