Cynetic Wolf

Dirty Laundry

After the meeting ended, the Council split. Fitz, Lilia, Mico, and I ended up heading to grab food. I was exhausted and starving after seven straight hours of planning. We’d lost track of time.

When we got to the mess, the place was deserted. The trays made it obvious why: meatloaf and brussel sprouts. I cringed but was hungry enough not to care.

We all sat, and, despite earlier arguments, things felt cordial, friendly almost. It was nice for a change, and Mico told me about how he’d traveled with his parents serving a wealthy emulate family. He’d visited Old Europe’s cities and had stories from his parents and grandparents about London, Paris, and Rome, before they’d been reduced to a shadow of their former selves.

I’d never visited Zone Three, never thought about it. It wasn’t an option growing up. Animotes like us didn’t travel, certainly not overseas. Mom always said, “be happy to have food on the table. Many weren’t so fortunate.” Yet, it must be so cool. To see how people lived before the Fall, before modernity and the divergence would be fascinating.

Mico promised if we made it through this alive, he’d bring me. Somehow conversation shifted to Nazi Germany and the similarities to today. Next to me, Lilia mentioned a woman.

Fitz tensed, his shoulders stiffening. Something was up. But what? I tried to focus on what they were saying but Mico was going on about something to do with the Stasi. Why’d he have to be so loud?

“What’s this have to do with her?” Fitz’s nostrils flared as his voice rose.

“You know full well, Lyam,” Lilia whispered. Why was she whispering? “You’re resisting because of what happened to her. You don’t want to lose the boy too.” She noticed my gaze and I looked away, but not before she realized I’d been paying attention.

“That was quite a meal wasn’t it, Raek?” She gave me a strained smile. “I think I need to walk that off. Lyam, care to join me?” She gave him an insistent look.

“I could use a little exercise.”

“Perfect.” Lilia rose. “Mico, tell Raek that story about Lyam and the pirates, you know the one. I’m sure he’d enjoy that, and Lyam won’t be here to protest.” She elbowed Fitz flirtily, but it seemed forced, mechanical. “See you two in the morning.”

“We’ll talk later, Raek,” Fitz said. “Make sure you’re staying on top of your studies and doing your homework.”

Was that a code? Was homework getting ready to leave? I’d done that. But plans had changed. Maybe he was tired, or maybe it was Lilia. She was attractive. Did Fitz have other things in mind? That devil.

“So the pirates...” Mico waved his hands to signal an epic adventure. “This must have been fifteen, no twenty, years ago...”

My attention was slipping. It might be a great story, but something gnawed at the back of my mind. What was it?

They’d been talking about Fitz’s wife. They’d been comparing her and me, and they’d left. Fitz wasn’t interested in bedding Lilia. This was personal. They didn’t want me to hear. Why?

I had to lose Mico and find out. I wouldn’t have another chance to discover what happened to her. But how to escape? The bathroom could work.

“One second, Mico.” I scrunched my face and grimaced. “I’ll be back. Something I ate, ugh.” I rubbed my stomach. “I gotta go!” Jumping up, I waddle ran toward the bathroom. Once out of sight, I switched directions, following Lilia’s earthy perfume. I was back in business.

Rounding the corner, I heard voices and snuck down the hallway.

“He’s a boy, Lilia.”

“We need him, Lyam, and you know it!” Lilia hissed. “You are too stubborn and scared to see it.”

“Scared?”

“Yes, scared,” she said. “You lost Kira. You weren’t fast enough and your plan failed. It made you cynical. It made you weak,” she said. “You lost the fire to see this through.”

“Don’t tell me what I did or didn’t lose, Lilia!” he retorted, his voice hammering steel, slashing and angry and building to a roar.

“So why are you trying to stop this?”

“I’m not trying to stop it, only slow it. We need to control—”

“And if they realize he’s here?” she spat. “If they place troops in the towns? Or if he turns on us?”

“He won’t turn on us,” Fitz answered, proud anger in his voice. “Raek’s one of us, he’s wolfish through and through.”

That made me smile.

“I know what you’re planning!” Lilia replied, her voice triumphant. “You must think I’m an idiot.”

She knew? That took Fitz aback. “What, what do you mean?” His voice wavered.

“Don’t play dumb. You planned to escape and take the boy. Cut the crap, Lyam. The nurse told me, Darthie. She overheard everything. You thought you were so smart, so clever.” She laughed a mocking cackle.

“Lilia, I don’t know what you’re—Ah!” A groan. “What was that? Ahhh!”

“That was your heart. Neat Russian invention in the forties, trigger-released Potassium Chloride. I put it in your coffee at dinner. Completely undetectable. Elevated heart rate, eventual cardiac arrest. Sorry, Lyam, but I can’t let you ruin everything we’ve worked for.” A poisonous venom lathered her normally polished voice.

Cardiac arrest?

Thud. Was that a body hitting the floor? This wasn’t happening…

That heartless bitch.

Fitz coughed. A gasping choke, a rough groan. Silence.

No...

Shit. I had to run, to get out of here. But Fitz, if I could help… I paused, frozen and took a step toward them. What if he was alive?

A door creaked open. Footsteps.

“What should we do with him, ma’am?” a nasally voice I didn’t recognize asked.

“Take him away. Make the body disappear. Somewhere in the city, a lake, the woods… I don’t care. I don’t want him found, ever!”

“Yes, ma’am. We’re on it.” Two sets of footsteps hurried my way.

Stomach churning, I retreated, searching. There was a door to my left. I took it. What if they found me? They’d kill me. Like they killed Fitz. It was all my fault.

Tears fell as my hands trembled. It was locked.

SmartCore controlling my breathing, I hurried to the next door. Locked too. Crap.

The footsteps were getting close, maybe fifty meters around the corner. “Glad you brought the cart, boss,” the nasally voice droned.

“No one thinks twice about dirty laundry,” a hard voice rasped. “Even if they did, who’d want to look inside?”

They stopped talking. Thirty meters.

Two more doors a ways down. I darted, twisting the handle. Yes! It was open. I crept in as they rounded the corner, closing it as they came into sight.

Don’t move, don’t breathe. If they heard anything...

They passed and I exhaled.

Wait, I’d hadn’t checked the room. I turned.

Shit! Someone was sleeping on the mat. She was still out. My hand shot to the handle but she made a noise. Crap. I froze.

If she screamed, they’d come back. Or worse, Lilia.

Her pulse was rising, she was stirring. I had a minute, tops.

Twisting the knob, I inched into the hall. It was empty. Phew.

I sprinted, mind racing. Where could I go? Lilia knew I’d leave. She’d be watching for me. Regardless what I’d said at the meeting, she wouldn’t trust me. She’d force me to stay if she had to. She’d killed him.

My room would be guarded, Fitz’s too.

That left one option, the storage room. When I got there, it was open and I slid in, locking the door behind me. I turned on the light and his face flashed before my eyes. He was gone... forever. My body shook as I dug into the pile for something warm and durable. He’d want me to stay focused, to survive. Who knew when I’d have another chance.

We must be out in the country, away from prying eyes. I’d lie low in the woods somewhere and figure out a plan. I didn’t have anyone to turn to. The government wanted me dead, the rebels weren’t much better.

Would I really never see him again? My heart throbbed. Totally alone...

But I could survive on my own. Mom raised me well to be a lone wolf. I smiled despite my pain. She’d be proud, wherever she was. At least I hoped she would.

I put on black biopoly pants, a stretchy fabric, a rugged mix of man-made and natural fibers that were tear resistant, form-fitting, and, most important, warm. My fur would help, but if I was out there when the worst of winter hit... Preparation was the key to survival. Vynce taught me that; Fitz too.

A dark evoshirt caught my eye. It would stop a knife, and be plenty warm. What about a pack or anything else? I found the one I’d seen earlier.

It’d be great to have a weapon, but I hadn’t seen any earlier. There was a door next to this one, another unmarked one. If there was a second lost and found, that’s where you’d put it.

Couldn’t hurt to check. I’d been here all of two minutes. I should have time.

Turning off the light, I unlocked the door. My thermals didn’t work through the walls, infrared either, so I couldn’t detect anything.

Here goes nothing. Opening the door, I peered out. Nothing. I scurried to the next door, but it was locked. Shoot. Guess you wouldn’t want weapons walking away.

Could I break it? Maybe. But would it be too loud?

The hallway was empty. It should be fine.

It was 22:06 and there weren’t many people about. I flexed a fist and visualized the interior of the big metal door. What did I remember from construction class?

The reinforced bones in my hand were ten times the normal human limit. Would that be enough? Hope so… I swung, and the handle exploded from the doorframe with a dull metal ping that echoed a few seconds before dissipating.

The door opened, and inside was a myriad of machines and tools, everything imaginable. From smartbands and solar ovens to SmartBulbs and dot point speakers, most too heavy or impractical to bring.

In the corner, hunting knives. Despite humanity’s hundreds of thousands of years, the need for blades and sharp objects had never gone away. Probably never would, even with the claws. I grabbed two.

Hooking the larger and more versatile to my belt, I slipped the smaller red into my boot. My just-in-case knife, as Vynce said.

Pushing him and the pains of home to the back of my mind, I looked around. It’d been fifty-nine seconds. I had to hurry. Lilia would be rounding up a search party.

One last check. Nothing useful.

I tightened the tough black straps on my bag and turned off the lights. The door was quiet, so I snuck out. No one in sight. Heading for the entrance, voices. I wasn’t going to make it.

“You heard what Lilia said, no one goes in or out without her okay. Council decided to boost security after the meeting, all the Council members being here and all.”

“But I was supposed to meet Lysa by the pond,” a voice protested.

“Take it up with Lilia,” Ashlo replied. “Just following orders, kid.”

I backtracked, thinking. There was no other way in or out of the building. Zedda had mentioned as much when she’d shown me around, hadn’t she? Still, something nagged at the back of my mind, something Fitz always said, “Always have a backup plan.”

No way the headquarters of the entire Initiative wouldn’t have an escape plan, right? But where? No one had shown me. An underground passage? A lot of these warehouses used to have storage rooms back when they’d produced goods for ten billion instead of one, right? Basements were perfect.

But what about the roof? Even if for no other reason than surveillance. Two secret exits, a fifty-fifty chance? Made sense. The roof at least, I could find, maybe. There were only so many possible entrances, unlike a basement.

I rushed for the stairs, checking over my shoulder at least five times. No one would be training this time of night, not with all the science on disrupted sleep cycles and performance.

Upstairs was quiet, the halls empty. Where would you hide an escape? Corners? If I was an architect, I’d put stairs in the corner or along a wall. Spacewise it made the most sense.

I darted left but after a few steps, I realized it was all wrong. There were sleeping quarters everywhere. The hallway was devoted to cubicle rooms. That wouldn’t work. Roof access must be on the other side, in the fitness area. If it existed at all...

A commotion downstairs. I ran to the big black door but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The gym was deserted, graveyard still. Corners, walls. On the far side were the bathrooms, men to the left, women to the right. Men’s room first. A bunch of urinals, some multi-sized toilets and showers, nothing exciting. It was weird they had separate bathrooms; maybe Caen was more conservative.

Exiting, I headed for the girl’s side. For some reason it felt awkward and I hesitated until the gym door creaked open, voices filling the air.

“In here,” a male voice said. “You take the free weights. I’ll search cardio.”

Hurry. Sneaking into the ladies room, I left the lights off. At least, they weren’t motion activated. Must be saving money. The bathroom was weird, the shape wasn’t even. It wasn’t symmetric with the guys’ side. At first, I thought it was the urinals, but behind the furthest stall was a solid metal door. This had to be it. It made sense too. If you wanted a semi-secret escape, what better place to hide it than a woman’s bathroom?

I tried the handle. Of course, it was locked. Shit.

If I broke this one, they’d hear me. For some reason, I remembered a trick Pavel had shown me, some spy film deal, maybe Bond. Without lockpicks, he’d used a small knife to unhook a door latch. It was worth a try.

The hunters yelled to each other. “Nobody over here, you see anything?”

“Same here. This is absurd! Why are we doing this again?”

“Lilia said they’d found a rat, a double agent, tip from one of the towns. They were going to confront the guy but he disappeared.”

I grabbed the blade and turned it in my hand, ignoring them. It was crimson with a white cross. Maybe religious, or maybe lucky. I could use some luck.

Their footsteps were getting closer.

Extra attachments folded into the knife’s frame. I picked the first, scissors. Crap! Not helpful.

The second was a nail file, but it was too fat.

On the third, I struck gold. A skinny blade. I jammed it in the thin gap between the door and frame and jiggled. Something moved, but I had no idea what I was doing. I kept jiggling, but it was too late, the footsteps were getting closer.

The blade caught the jamb and I pushed the door open, slipping through and closing it as footsteps entered the echoey bathroom. Someone was checking the stalls. Slam.

Slam.

Slam.

They paused at mine. It was unlocked. If she tried the handle...

“All clear!” a female voice shouted.

“Same here!” he responded.

She turned and left, whistling as she walked back into the gym.

I closed my eyes, slumping to the floor, a burning breath escaping my lips. That was way too freaking close.

Behind me, spiral stairs led upward. I’d done it. There was a roof! I climbed to the hatch. It was locked, but I popped it open and an icy cold breeze blew over me, sending a chill down my spine. I smiled anyway.

Hopping onto the roof, I closed the hatch. Didn’t want to create a draft. They couldn’t know I’d escaped.

Wait, where was I? Shit!

I’d miscalculated.