The Phoenix Crisis (22 page)

“
When I can,” she looked at
him sincerely. “When this is all over, I promise you, I will see to
it that all their names are cleared. But doing so now would have
been too bold and too soon. It was already an overreach that I
created a new office and positioned you in it.”

He nodded, having no real
choice but to accept her reasoning. He did miss his ship though,
and now that he wasn’t there to keep an eye on things, he worried
about his crew’s safety.
Summers can handle
it
… he reminded himself.  

“
There is something else…”
said Kalila. “I didn’t tell you before, but now you should know.”
The words came out slowly. Pensively.

“
What?” asked Calvin,
feeling a trickle of anxiety. I wasn’t like Kalila to mince
words.        

“
It’s about your mother,”
she said.

“
Is she alright?” Calvin
felt his heart jump to his throat.

“
I don’t know. When I
decided we would be coming here together, I knew your mother would
be in danger—especially after clearing your name and granting you
powers—so I tried to get her moved into my own protective custody.
But, when my people got there, she was gone. And the neighbors said
they hadn’t seen her for days.”

Calvin’s mind raced and he
immediately began thinking of scenarios that could possibly explain
this information. Perhaps his mother had moved and not told anyone
or perhaps she’d gotten wind that something was amiss and had
decided to lie low—
no that was too much to
hope for
. He knew the likeliest answer was
that she’d been taken. Probably by the Phoenix Ring. But where? And
had she been harmed? “How long have you known?” he asked, looking
at Kalila very carefully. For once able to study her body language
without being swept away by her charms and beauty.

“
A few weeks,” she admitted
quietly.

“
Weeks? So you knew this
whole time? When I brought you aboard the Nighthawk, you
knew?”

“
Yes.”

“
And you didn’t tell
me
?”

“
I’m sorry, Calvin,” she
looked at him with eyes that were not apologetic. “I knew there was
nothing you could do for her—not then, not yet. And I didn’t want
you to become… distracted. We had a mission to do. But now you can.
Now you can find her and help her. No world in the Empire is
outside your reach. ”

He didn’t know what to feel. A part of him
understood and accepted the logic behind Kalila’s words, but
another much larger part felt betrayed and enraged, mostly angry
that his mother was missing and it had happened because of him,
because of the choices he’d made. He looked out the window. Feeling
wrath and a renewed desire to hunt down the bastards behind this
conspiracy and make them pay.

The rest of the drive was silent.

Chapter 14

“
You have some serious
explaining to do.”

Zane looked up from one of the many computer
terminals in his mansion to see the large round face of his older
brother. Caerwyn didn’t hide his emotions well, not around family,
so Zane knew he’d have to give him his full attention. He logged
out, deciding to review the Phoenix Ring’s financial logistics
later.

“
What is it now?” asked
Zane.

“
What do you think?” Caerwyn
pointed to one of the screens on display. Zane had muted it so he
could concentrate but the images were still there, plain to see. It
was replayed footage from the Assembly Floor earlier that day,
showing Princess Kalila Akira and her Intel Wing boy-toy addressing
the Assembly. As far as Zane was concerned it was old news, those
events had happened hours before.

“
Politics,” he said with a
sneer. “So much growling, so little teeth.”

“
And what do you call what
you do?” asked Caerwyn. “You and that
cult
of yours.”

Zane frowned. “Cult?” He knew Caerwyn was
baiting him, and he didn’t want to get into a petty squabble.
Caerwyn did not understand the Phoenix Ring. And, by its very
nature, he never would. But their interests were aligned, his and
theirs, and that meant Zane need Caerwyn to be happy. If he wasn’t
happy he wasn’t cooperative, and more than ever Zane needed
Caerwyn’s political sway and influence, even though he hated the
political games.

“
Now the fallout from Renora
is not landing on the King and his family.”

“
It will,” Zane assured him.
His plans were always done in layers and while it was true that the
Black Swan part had backfired—and the Akiras were no long suspects
in the attack—that didn’t mean other forces weren’t already in
place and at work to see to it that the King was blamed for that
“tragic” situation.

“
So you say—just like you
said that using the Black Swan replica would eliminate the Princess
as a threat. Just like you promised me the throne of the Empire.
But now… what are these, empty words? The Princess is back, and now
she is digging. Investigating. She even has a pet Intel Wing agent,
and as I understand it a pretty good one, working for her. What
about
that
? You
told me
you
controlled Intel Wing.”

“
There have been a few
setbacks,” Zane admitted. “But the plan is working. You will just
have to trust me.” It was true that, despite the unexpected twists,
the Phoenix Ring’s overarching goal was coming closer. “The Hour of
Ascension is fast approaching,” he said. “And then you will have
your throne.”
And I will have my
Empire.

“
Words,” Caerwyn waved him
off. “Just hollow words. I need proof. I need assurances. I need to
know what is being done to keep this from getting to you, and to
keep your…
private
dealings
… from being linked to
me.”

“
Calm,” said Zane. “Calm
like gentle rain. A storm is brewing but do not fear. There is
peace in the tempest.”

“
What the hell does that
mean?”

“
It means that things are
exactly as they should be,” said Zane. “No investigation will
uncover what is happening, not fast enough. The pieces are already
in place. And there is nothing to link me to you other than my
blood.”

“
And you don’t think they’ll
tear this house apart looking?” Caerwyn moved closer and looked
Zane in the eyes. “You mean to tell me that with all your scheming
and all your plots there is nothing here for them to
find?”

“
There is nothing.” In truth
Zane did have a great deal of information here. But it was all
encrypted and hidden. And even if a professional team of
investigators downloaded every scrap of data he had, they would
find nothing they could use. Aliases, not names. Even the numbers
he kept, such as the transaction information he’d just been
reviewing, were not the correct numbers. The numbers themselves
were useless without the cipher, which existed only in his memory.
And the best part was that an investigator could look at the
numbers and not even realize there was a code that needed to be
cracked. What good was looking at the number two when it actually
meant nine?

“
Damn you, you’d better be
right,” Caerwyn said. “And what of this Executor of the Empire
talk? That doesn’t concern you?”

“
It’s showmanship,” said
Zane. “Nothing more. A title. Words. Nothing.”

“
What do you mean nothing?
He has the powers of the princess herself, and the training of
Intel Wing. The boy has two silver stars on his record!”

“
Mister Cross is a fish out
of water and he won’t know where to begin. The Princess only
brought so much attention to him, and gave him such a flashy title,
to posture. He won’t know where to begin and there is
nothing
he can do to
connect us to you.”

Caerwyn nodded, looking somewhat reassured.
“See that there isn’t,” he said. Then he stormed off.

In truth Calvin Cross was more of a danger
than Zane had admitted, and he knew it. He’d played down the threat
in order to keep Caerwyn calm—Caerwyn had to be placated and
trusting. As for Calvin, there were ways of dealing with him… and
Zane intended to reach out to his various resources and handle the
situation. As soon as he reasonably could.

But for now there was a far greater concern
to worry about. The truest, deadliest danger of all, the one that
threatened to undo everything, the one that cost Zane sleep at
night, was one that Caerwyn didn’t even know about. And that was
what haunted his thoughts, not the newly appointed Executor of the
Empire. It was the Rahajiim. If the Phoenix Ring’s own agents were
defecting—something he’d failed to prove but increasingly
suspected— then all bets were off. They would make a move as soon
as they could. And so far the Enclave was still on the table. Whose
side they took might determine the ultimate balance of power. Where
the Enclave went, the isotome weapons were certain to follow.

***

The analysis lab felt empty, like a ghost
town, as Rain moved from terminal to terminal. She’d pulled the
replicant corpse out of the freezing unit and was conducting tests
on it. The freezing units in the lab could get significantly colder
than the morgue freezers in the infirmary, and there was just
something creepy about this corpse that made her not want to have
it around at the infirmary. That and the tools to properly study it
were here in the lab.

“
So what makes you tick?”
she asked the corpse. There was no one else in the lab—since so
much of the crew had gone aboard the Arcane Storm, they could no
longer maintain a continuous watch in the analysis lab.

The computer returned a result on a tissue
sample she’d excised from the corpse. Unfortunately the computer
seemed as baffled as she was, as the configuration of the
matter—and its biological properties—did not fit any of the
well-known and understood configurations in the biological
database.

Rain had not been assigned to study the
replicant, and she did so voluntarily during her own off-duty time.
She was compelled by the mystery of the alien life form, and how it
could adapt so perfectly to take the shape of another living
organism. She also believed there were medical advances that could
be made—new treatments and therapies—once the replicant’s biology
was understood. For instance, it had tremendous regenerative
capabilities, and an autoimmune system that functioned unlike any
other organism in the galaxy. The fact that the organism had been
killed at all seemed remarkable. And that Xinocodone had been able
to force it back into its original state was just as fascinating.
The rapid and forced transformation seemed to have caused the death
more than any allergic reaction to the Xinocodone. But what had
made that happen? It was quite the medical mystery. And one that
gripped her curiosity.

“
I wonder if—”

She was interrupted by an alert sent to the
lab. She’d told her staff to page her if a need arose.

“
Dr. Poynter,” came the
voice of James Andrews, one of the assistant medics, over the
speaker.

She slid the cart, which bore the
replicant’s corpse, back into the freezing unit and sealed it. Then
she tapped the button to answer the call.

“
What is it,
James?”

“
It’s the ops officer… you’d
better get down here.”

She felt a surge of anxiety and immediately
bolted for the door, not even taking the time to reply.

“
Situation?” she asked as
she stormed through the entrance. One of the medics handed her a
pair of gloves and a mask, which she put on while another medic
hurried to get her up to speed.

“
The patient began seizing.
We got him stabilized but now his heart rate has fallen and he is
only breathing sporadically. Blood pressure is only forty over
twenty—and still dropping.”

James was standing over Shen, who was still
strapped to the hospital bed. A special forces soldier stood guard
over him, looking down at the gaunt, dying patient with curiosity
and cluelessness.

Rain went up to Shen’s side and started
checking the various monitors. “Did you perform an EQR?”

“
Not yet.”

“
Prep for an EQR STAT,” said
Rain. As she did, Shen began seizing again. Very violently. He
convulsed under the straps and she wondered if the straps might
potentially hurt him. One of the medics rushed to Shen, probably to
try to hold him down or pointlessly put something in his mouth, but
Rain stopped him. Knowing it was better to leave him be. She
searched all of the objects near Shen and made sure there was
nothing potentially dangerous for him to strike or choke himself
with during his convulsions.

“
Get that EQR ready,” said
Rain as she watched Shen seizing. After ninety-seconds the seizure
ended. There was still no sign of consciousness—and there hadn’t
been since Shen had been brought to her.

“
Blood pressure is now
immeasurably low,” said James. “Pulse spiked during the seizure but
now it’s coming down.” He watched the monitors while the others set
up the EQR. “Ten beats per minute…”

We’re losing
him
, Rain realized. She’d promised not only
Calvin but herself that she would save Shen, no one was so far gone
that they should be given up on. Unfortunately it looked like this
was Shen’s time after all...