The Gate of Tears, Episode 33

Patrick Prichard ~ 4–25–2029, 12:01 AM EST

Patrick comes to with his back on the pavement. A medic in Cabal battle armor is kneeling next to him.

“Try not to move, sir,” the medic says.

“Well, this never happens.” Holly’s voice comes from just outside his field of view. She steps closer so that he can see her. “Cabal Leader Prichard flat on his ass.”

“Sitrep,” Patrick groans.

“Your entire response team is dead and Tench is threatening to destroy Baltimore.” Holly’s eyes twinkle.

“We underestimated the Knights,” Patrick says. He channels and pushes himself into a sitting position. The medic grunts in protest; he looks over at the man. “Leave.”

The medic doesn’t question the order, to his credit. Holly watches the man go. Her tone is sarcastic, but her tone is almost always sarcastic. “If you die of a brain embolism, I won’t be held responsible.”

“I’ll make a note in my debrief,” Patrick says. “What about our source?”

“They’re at a hotel in Baltimore. Or they were. I haven’t told Tench that.”

“Good job.” He nods at her, goes to slap her back and checks himself. Holly doesn’t like to be touched. Instead, he taps his watch. “I have to make an unpleasant phone call.”

“Want me to listen in?” she asks. He nods.

Devona’s phone rings twice before she answers. His contacts give him her video feed; her face is in its usual cold, peevish mask. “Well. How’d you manage to fail this time?”

“Their Valkyries are better than the Brotherhood’s intelligence indicated,” Patrick says. He pauses. “And Allen is capable of using a technique I’ve never seen before.”

Holly’s eyebrows go up, interested, but she doesn’t ask aloud.

“I want that woman dead, Prichard!” Tench snaps. “Her, Snyder and their Datamind! They have to be expunged, tonight! I don’t care if you have to go to war with the United Kingdom to do it!”

“We have a source inside the group. She’s not an assassin, but she’ll do.” He pauses. “What about Baltimore?”

“We’ve determined the time isn’t right to play that particular card,” Tench says.

Patrick relaxes by increments. “Fine.”

“Do not call me until they’ve been dealt with,” Tench says and hangs up. Patrick runs a hand through his hair.

“We should kill her before she kills us,” Holly says.

Patrick ignores the suggestion. “Call our source and put her into play.”

“I did it as soon as your chopper went dark. She came back online twenty minutes ago and confirmed the order.”

He nods. “Good woman.”

“This is an extremely low probability plan. Best we can hope for is one, maybe two of them eliminated before they kill her. You know that, right?” Holly asks.

“I don’t have any other options.” Patrick rubs his forehead. “Find me when it’s done.”

Patrick walks towards the waiting helicopter and the medics.

#

Mae-Ying Allen ~ 4–25–2029, 8:01 AM GMT

Mae-Ying spends the entire trek through the Wild in an extended war with her brain to avoid either falling down or passing out — or both. By the time they reach C.J.’s beacon and Throw out, she’s close to her limit, exhausted and in agony every step of the way. They arrive in the physical world and Mae-Ying’s vision clouds with color and flashes. She spins, physically, and finds the floor again.

“I hate gravity…” she murmurs as she fights her way back to full consciousness.

Raskoph is at her side a moment later. “Are you alright?”

“You think if people ask her that enough she’ll stop doing things like falling over?” Jeb asks, on his way out of the room, presumably for medicine. Mae-Ying hopes it’s medicine. Painkillers are medicine. No, no painkillers yet. There’s work to do. Always work to do.

“Did everyone else make it back?” Mae-Ying asks.

Raskoph nods. “Yea. Bry’s okay. Niva’s resting — apparently Melina’s not the greatest in the deep Wild.”

“Then I’m great.” Mae-Ying exhales.

“You Threw out of a car?” Raskoph asks.

“I forgot, in the moment, why we did the thing with the van,” Mae-Ying says.

Raskoph pauses. “Well, you’re alive.”

“Uh-huh…”

Jeb comes back. “I gotta deal with Benny’s gut wound and then I’ll come down there.”

“Can she have anything for the pain?” Raskoph asks. Jeb tosses him a bottle and an injector.

“Noooo.” Mae-Ying holds up a hand.

“Are you sure?” Raskoph asks.

“I am not starting down that road,” Mae-Ying says.

Raskoph rolls his eyes and Mae-Ying gives him a look and a smile with clenched teeth, trying to convey her reasons via her eyes. Raskoph glances around. His orange aura licks at the edge of his skin. He lifts Mae-Ying up by her good arm.

“Thank you,” she says.

“We’ll be in the next room,” Raskoph says.

“Oh, great,” Jeb shrugs and leaves.

Mae-Ying takes measured breaths. “I need one of those motorized wheelchairs for aging diabetics…”

“I’ll put it on the shopping list.”

“Please do,” she says. Raskoph opens a door to the next room and it occurs to Mae-Ying that she’s not in the hotel. “This is the house?”

Raskoph nods. “Not furnished yet. Marshal Reed isn’t the best for keeping up materiel that isn’t a forward base or safehouse.”

“It’s okay, I’ve spent the last twelve hours getting real close to the floor.”

Raskoph leads Mae-Ying down a hall while trying to lend support that doesn’t actually result in him touching anything other than her elbow. It is a blessedly short hall.

The room they go into has a big marble fireplace, very nice wood panelling, and is furnished with four folding chairs and a card table. The card table has a camping lantern on it.

“I’m going to go horizontal again now.”

Raskoph eases her down to the floor.

“Thanks again,” she says. She looks up at him. “So that was rough. You got that noise thingy on you?”

He nods. He sits down next to her, legs folded under him, and sets it on the floor.

“How much do you know about what happened?”

“Niva told me what she knew. I sent Melina to the Manor to brief Marshal Reed on some of it.”

“Niva wasn’t there for the accident.”

“No.” Raskoph pauses. “Bryana told me about that.”

“So she’s awake?”

He nods. “She can shut down. It’s a Datamind trick. She realized there was a good chance someone in the car had betrayed us.”

Mae-Ying nods. “So we were attacked by a Keeper team 45 minutes after we left the safehouse. Bryana told you the details?”

Raskoph nods. “Melina’s excuse is that they must’ve had a very good investigator with them, somehow who followed Schulyer’s trail from the hotel to the house and then your van’s. Until I spoke to Bry, I was willing to accept that. I’m not entirely sure now.”

“I’m fairly sure it’s Melina.”

Raskoph cocks his head. “Why?”

“First off, Ria shot down their helicopter. An Executioner got out. Melina had a shotgun and she never took a shot at him. He almost took Ria down, Raskoph. I was fucked up like this. I had to get up and rush him.” Mae-Ying inhales. “Later, she said their Investigator must have died in the crash. I don’t know if it follows that they had one.

“After I rushed this Executioner, I passed out and I had a… vision. About him. He was talking to Tench about what to do about this little snafu our team caused. Then he left her office and he made a call to someone, and he told them to contact their source. He referred to the source as a woman.”

Raskoph looks at the wall. “I think this scenario was intended to implicate Niva.”

“Niva wasn’t there.”

“No, but you have to look at it from a paranoid angle — she could’ve put a tracking device on the car, she could’ve made a call while she was gone. You’d have to not know Niva very well.” Raskoph shakes his head. “I think you’re right. I don’t know if she knows we’re onto her. It was a risk, sending her away, but I couldn’t have her in the house until I talked to you and confirmed what Bry saw.”

Mae-Ying nods. “I tried to keep a straight face, but I felt like shit and I’m not the best actress.”

“You did fine. I’m going to call the Manor and see if she’s — “ He frowns, as though something has just occurred to him. He looks around and taps his watch. “Ria?”

“What?” Ria’s voice comes out of Raskoph’s watch.

“Get to Bryana’s room. Go now,” Raskoph says. He walks over to the table and picks up a handgun, ejecting the magazine and checking it before reloading the gun. “Why’d she come back at all? She’s experienced and she’s not an idiot. She was expecting you to get killed on that op, you didn’t, now you have to suspect a mole. Unless she’d been paid to come back or thought she might have to do one more thing, coming back is an idiotic risk.”

“God damn it,” Mae-Ying tries to get up and fails.

“Avraham, get in here and protect the Ambassador,” Raskoph says, tapping his watch again.

“I am coming,” Niva’s voice sounds sleepy. Mae-Ying takes a deep breath.

Raskoph taps his watch a third time and says, “C.J., Michaels, Snyder, sound off.”

“Copy,” C.J. and Jebs’ voices come back almost immediately. Lydia doesn’t respond.

“Shit. Shit!” Raskoph pounds his fist into his thigh. Niva bursts into the room. Raskoph nods to her and goes running out the door. Mae-Ying looks up at Niva.

“What is happening?” Niva asks.

“Come here. Close the door,” Mae-Ying says.

Niva closes the door and walks over to Mae-Ying. She kneels down.

“Melina’s the traitor. Lydia just failed to respond.”

Niva smiles. “I know.”

“You… know?” Mae-Ying suddenly realizes Niva’s wearing her frumpy old clothes. Niva doesn’t have any clothes like that, anymore, unless they were stored at the Manor-

Mae-Ying throws shallowly.

‘Niva’ pulls a handgun with a long silencer from the rear waistband of her skirt as Mae-Ying Throws, and fires. Mae-Ying feels something hard and painful pass through her chest, but it doesn’t feel as though she was actually shot. She can still breathe and isn’t screaming in agony, for instance. God, please, Raskoph, please hear the shot.

Cursing, ‘Niva’ stands and starts to spin Logos. The door bursts open again and another Niva staggers into the room. The new Niva’s gait is wobbly, her eyes slightly unfocused but fierce with anger; a whip crack of ice blue Logos flashes from the new Niva, who must be the real Niva, as the woman standing above Mae-Ying must be Melina, Cloaked as Niva.

Melina raises the gun and fires at Niva. Niva’s right hand comes up and a raging inferno of ice-blue power surrounds her. A bar or rod of searing light extends from her hand. Niva’s mouth widens into a scream, silent in the Wild, as she charges Melina.

Melina goes to pull the trigger again and Mae-Ying reaches through the thin membrane between the shallow Wild and the world grabs her ankle. Melina’s hands jerk upward in surprise and the shot goes wide, but she resists Mae-Ying’s pull and her resistance yanks Mae-Ying out of the Wild again.

Then Niva’s on Melina, her eyes wild, huge and terrifying with rage; the searing blade of Logos is too bright to look at. Melina brings up her arm to block Niva’s attack and her limb is seared to ash around the elbow; her forearm and hand fall to the ground. Melina shrieks wildly as Niva plunges the blade through her chest.

Most of Melina’s upper abdomen chars and begins to fall apart; her body falls sideways as her Cloak collapses, revealing her true face. Cinders trickle down over Mae-Ying. Niva holds the sword pointed at Melina’s corpse, staring hatred at the other woman. Then her hands flex and the blade disappears.

She falls to the ground beside Mae-Ying. “Are you okay?! Did she hurt you?!”

Niva brushes Mae-Ying’s hair away from her face and stares down at her in panic.

"I'm fine. I thought she was gonna shoot you..." Mae-Ying starts crying.

Niva taps opens her shirt, revealing her vest and a small indentation where Melina’s bullet lodged. "She was not worthy to kill me."

Mae-Ying activates her glasses with a gesture and opens a line to Raskoph. “Melina’s dead.”

Raskoph speaks after a moment, his voice hollow, "Good. Lydia’s dead."

Mae-Ying closes her eyes. Niva stares at the wall, the color draining from her light brown skin.

"Fuck," Mae-Ying says.

"Are you two okay?" C.J. asks from the doorway

"I am no worse than I was when I got here," Mae-Ying says.

"I am fine,” Niva says, in a small voice. “Thank you, C.J."

C.J. nods. "I'm going to go see… I'll see what I can do. Please call if you need help."

"Thank you,” Mae-Ying says. C.J. closes the door behind him. Mae-Ying breaks down sobbing.

#

Niva stands guard over Mae-Ying, holding her shoulders and glaring at anyone who dares to open the door. An hour later, Raskoph returns. He looks sufficiently haggard that Niva’s finally stops glaring and looks down.

Mae-Ying pulls herself together and sits up next to Melina’s corpse. Raskoph looks at it for a long moment.

"She was Cloaked as Niva," Mae-Ying explains.

Raskoph stares at the body's wounds. "What happened to her..."

"I did," Niva says. Raskoph looks at her questioningly, but apparently no further response is forthcoming.

"She almost killed me," Mae-Ying says.

Raskoph nods. "Yea...that makes sense. You and Lydia were on their list from day one." He looks back at Niva. "Can you give us a second?"

Niva gets her muley, wrathful glare back. Mae-Ying puts a hand on her arm. “It’s okay.”

Niva's grimace becomes a flat line. She jerks a nod and leaves the room.

"Marshal Reed's coming.” Raskoph kneels down next to her. “I had to call him. It's his jurisdiction."

Mae-Ying sighs. "Okay. Yeah. I should probably get some medical attention..."

"Medics are en route. They were already coming out when..." He glances at Melina. Raskoph clears his throat. "It looks like Snyder cottoned on, but not fast enough. I gave her a gun after you all left. She had it out but she didn’t get a shot off."

Mae-Ying covers her mouth and begins crying again. "God damn it..."

Raskoph puts a hand on her uninjured arm. "This isn't your fault."

Mae-Ying shakes her head. "I don't want to see Reed like this."

Raskoph hesitates. “Ma'am… Mae-Ying, you're the one in charge. If you tell me to handle it, I will, but…”

"No. I mean I've got to pull myself together. I can't think about this."

Raskoph inhales. He nods. "All right. Do you want me to leave?"

"I don't care. I need... I need to clean myself up. I don't think I can walk."

"There's a bathroom down the hall. I'll get Niva."

"Thank you."

Raskoph rises and looks at her for a long moment, like he's going to say something. Then he turns and goes to the door. Niva comes back in. Raskoph speaks to her in a low voice. She nods and walks over to Mae-Ying. She bends down. Her ice blue Logos flows over her body and she lifts Mae-Ying into her arms without effort. "Don't squirm."

"Okay..." She puts her head on Niva's shoulder. Niva cradles her as she carries her down the hall. In the bathroom, she helps Mae-Ying undress, careful of the bandages on her leg and the loose sling Ria put her arm in.

Niva wets a cloth and starts wiping at Mae-Ying's face. Her touch is gentle and calm. Mae-Ying forces a smile.

"You do not have to be strong. You have some time before he gets here."

"I shouldn't have sent you ahead."

"You did not know Bryana was well, and you could not risk leaving Benny and Jeb behind. You put her in the hands of the only person you could trust. It was the right thing to do.

"What if she'd killed you?"

"Mae-Ying, you warned me to be careful of her, and I was. She could not have killed me if I had my guard up. We did not know she was the traitor for sure."

"I knew." Mae-Ying stares at her reflection in the mirror. "I should have had Ria kill her..."

"You did not know, Mae-Ying. No one knew. Not without everything to put together."

"No, I knew."

Niva looks her in the eyes. She sets the cloth aside and touches Mae-Ying's face.

"Everyone's going to try to tell me this wasn't my fault, but it was my call." Mae-Ying doesn't say anything for a long moment. "I can't think about this right now."

Niva picks up the cloth and tries to clean off Mae-Ying's chest and arm. "Okay."

Mae-Ying is quiet. Niva finishes cleaning her up. She brushes out Mae-Ying's hair as best she can. She leaves for a moment in, then returns with a skirt, one of Niva’s own, and a tank top. "You will need a belt, but I will not put pants on you."

"That's for the best. Could you get me my blazer and a scarf?"

"Yes. Stay here. Do not try to hobble around."

"Oh, don't worry..."

"You make it impossible not to worry," Niva says as she leaves again.

"I told Raskoph to get me a motorized wheelchair. I think he thought I was joking..." Mae-Ying stares down at her skirt, pretending to smooth it out, as Niva leaves again. She’s pretty sure Raskoph’s in love with her. What is she going to do about that?

"I will make sure he knows you were not joking," Niva calls back.

"Yeah cause I've got no upper body strength and like hell am I going to rely on someone to push me around. Plus, broken arm." She's not sure Niva heard her, this time. She's actually not sure how big this house is. She keeps talking to herself anyway. "Can't use crutches either, I guess."

Ria looks into the bathroom. "You need something?"

"A drink," Mae-Ying says.

"See what I can do."

"Thanks, Ria."

Ria nods. Her face is somber.

Niva returns as Ria leaves, carrying the blazer and scarf. "You are shouty and loud."

"I've been told,” Mae-Ying says. “My mom tried to explain to me what an inside voice was, but it never took."

Niva tucks the blazer around Mae-Ying’s shoulders. "At least I will never have to worry that you might want something and I would not know about it."

"I'm pretty good at communicating what I want."

Niva looks her in the eyes. "You are pretty good at most things."

Mae-Ying smirks. "So how do I look?"

"Like a hero."

"I was hoping for hard-bitten, but that'll do."

Jeb’s voice echoes down the hallway. "Medics just pulled up."

Mae-Ying sighs with relief.

"I am going to carry you,” Niva says. “It will add to your aura."

"Just try not to flash anyone my underwear," Mae-Ying says as Niva lifts her up again.

Niva tucks the skirt against the back of Mae-Ying's legs. "Don't worry. I am a very jealous girl."

Mae-Ying laughs a little and tries not to pay attention to the spike of anxiety she feels. Niva’s face gives away nothing; if she noticed the feeling, Mae-Ying can’t tell. Of course she felt the feeling. Niva knows. She must.

Niva carries her into a front sitting room. To Mae-Ying’s surprise, the medical team are wearing fatigues, with the universal white armband emblazoned with a red cross. At the moment, they’re dealing with Benny, who’s lying on a gurney. He looks pale and clammy, but his eyes are open and alert.

He looks over at Mae-Ying as Niva carries her in. “Fuckin’ mess, huh?”

"Yeah. Hanging in there?" Mae-Ying asks.

Benny nods. He sighs and goes quiet for a moment, then nods at them. "You’re good kids. Both of you."

"You're a good man,” Mae-Ying says.

Benny smirks and laughs, then coughs in pain. A paramedic murmurs at him to lie still.

"Do what they tell you, okay?" Mae-Ying says.

"That an order?" Benny asks.

Mae-Ying mock-glares at him. "What do you think?"

"Yes, ma'am," Benny says.

She prays the medics know what they’re doing. They look competent, but the idea of Benny dying fills her with panic and dread in equal measure.

Raskoph comes up beside them as the medics are rolling Benny out.

"Would you mind setting me down on a chair?" Mae-Ying asks. Niva frowns but complies. She then stands right next to the chair, arms folded. Dear Lord she’s possessive.

Two of the medics approach her. One begins removing the bandages from her leg while the other begins applying a rigid splint to her arm.

Mae-Ying looks over at Raskoph, fishing for a topic, something to distract from the pain she’s still in. The meditation is helping, but only a little. “I sure hope these data are as promising as they looked."

"Bry's downloading,” Raskoph says. “It looks good. She got quite a bit."

"She's amazing," Mae-Ying admits.

Raskoph clears his throat. "I would advise against telling her that."

Mae-Ying laughs. "Noted."

"She asked if we want her to try and track down all of Melina's private communications," Raskoph says.

Mae-Ying nods. "It might tell us something."

"I'm assuming she wasn't stupid enough to use anything we gave her for this, but it never hurts to look,” he says, “Bry might turn up a lead to something."

Mae-Ying nods again. Her voice gets lower. "The dream I had… plus this clusterfuck. They know who we are now, if they didn’t already."

Raskoph blows out a breath. "There's protocol for this." He pauses and looks out the front windows; morning light streams through them, and shines off of several black cars as they drive up a long, winding road toward the house. "Protocol's breaking down, though. It might be time to discuss places you're vulnerable."

"There's my family,” she says, feeling a renewed pang of dread.

Raskoph nods. “I'll handle your family's arrangements personally."

She looks at him. "Thank you."

Raskoph watches as the sedans pull up the drive and circle around in front of the house. Reed climbs out of the middle one. A lot of other men, and a few women, including Cockburn, get out with him. Some of the men are too old to be Lawyers.

She frowns. "The hell..."

"He brought everyone senior…” Raskoph murmurs. “People from the defense ministry, as well..."

Mae-Ying groans a little. "This is protocol, I guess."

Reed strides in. He looks over and sees Mae-Ying. Something like concern passes over his face.

“You'll have to forgive me, sir,” Mae-Ying says. “I can't stand."

"Obviously not, Ambassador,” Reed says. “I'm pleased to see you made it through."

Daisy follows him in, along with about six other people. She looks Mae-Ying up and down, then gives her an inscrutable nod.

"Raskoph has told you we lost Snyder,” Mae-Ying manages to pronounce Lydia’s name without a hitch in her voice. Progress.

Reed nods. He's carrying driving gloves in his left hand, and he clenches his fist around these for just a moment. "An assassination on British soil, of one of our own people… it's an affront we cannot and will not ignore."

Mae-Ying nods. Her throat tightens but she manages to keep it together.

Reed glances around. "Are any of the rooms furnished, Martin?"

"The boardroom, sir,” Raskoph says. “Should we adjourn there?"

Reed looks at Mae-Ying. He says, "I wouldn't presume to dictate in the Ambassador's house."

"That's perfectly fine with me,” Mae-Ying says.

Raskoph nods. He glances at a medic. "Please get her a wheelchair."

Raskoph leads the dignitaries off. Daisy pauses before leaving the room. "I heard you faced down an Executioner last night."

"That's an overstatement,” Mae-Ying says, “Ruani did most of the fighting."

"Nonetheless, you’ve managed to surprise everyone once again.” Daisy smirks just a little. “Good work, Allen."

She manages a polite nod. "Thank you, ma'am."

As one of the medics brings the chair over, Niva sweeps in and takes it from him. "I will help the Ambassador."

Niva assists Mae-Ying into the chair, and they follow Reed and Raskoph into the house.

#

The people from the defense ministry go over how this is going to be handled. Clearly a lot of them want Reed to back down over the assassination thing. No one wants to antagonize the Light Keepers and, by proxy, the United States right now. Mae-Ying finds herself a little ambivalent. Sanctioning the Keepers, whatever that even means in this context, won’t bring Lydia back.

Ultimately it's determined that, since Reed won't back down, the Prime Minister has to be informed. This is apparently some kind of big step. A lot of them look at one another when they say this. The people from the government depart, leaving Daisy, Salvador and two other Knights Mae-Ying doesn’t know.

Reed glances at Daisy, Salvador, and two other Knights Mae-Ying doesn't know. "Miss Cockburn, Mister Salvador, I need you to return to the Manor. Inform them to stand down to level six security procedures."

"Only to six, sir?" Salvador asks.

Reed's tone is cold. "A woman -- a Knight -- is dead, Salvador. Please attempt to show some respect for my judgment of the situation."

Daisy stands. "Obviously you're correct, sir."

“Mister Finch, Mister Irons, assist Salvador in whatever way you can,” Reed continues.

The two men exchange glances between themselves and Salvador. No one's in the dark about the fact that they're being sent out of the room. Daisy leaves behind them without complaint. Afterward, Raskoph clears his throat. "Do you want me to step out, ma'am?"

"No," Mae-Ying says. Niva doesn't even bother to ask, a point that is probably not lost on Reed.

"Marshal, I have reason to believe that Devona Tench has the capacity to use the Ophelia agent at her disposal," Mae-Ying begins

Reed stares at her for a long moment. "We should call the Grand Marshal."

Mae-Ying nods.

Raskoph pulls the phone over to him and dials manually, like a fossil. How is he even real? She considers whether or not to order him a rotary phone.

Jeffrey Spencer’s voice comes on the line. "Station."

Raskoph pulls a sheet of paper he copied from Mae-Ying's packet: "Ambassadorial Alert Code: 61Z2-9OP31-A87"

Spencer's voice doesn't change from its standard, bland affability. "One moment, I'll inform her."

The phone goes to musack for a moment. Mae-Ying's jaw drops a little. Reed taps his cigarette case on the table..

Waterhouse’s voice comes on the line in under thirty seconds. "What?"

Mae-Ying clears her throat. "Grand Marshal. I'm here with Marshal Reed, Martin Raskoph and Niva Avraham."

"Oh.” Waterhouse pauses. “Hello, Xavier."

"Ma'am," Reed says.

"Grand Marshal,” Mae-Ying begins, “I have reason to believe that Devona Tench has the capacity to deploy the Ophelia virus. Moreover I believe she was prepared to use it on the Baltimore area in order to stop or destroy my team last night."

Raskoph's eyes get big. Reed's jaw just tightens.

"She's having an affair with President Rollins,” Mae-Ying says. “My guess is that they would use the virus as a false flag attack to bolster him in some way."

Waterhouse doesn't say anything for a moment. Finally, she asks, as though in a normal conversation: "Why were you in Baltimore?"

“We went to DC to interrogate a Synesis scientist, Dr. Jack Schulyer. We convinced him to connect to their intranet on his VPN and were fleeing the area through Maryland,” Mae-Ying says.

"That explains some of the comms traffic we've been seeing. Xavier?" Waterhouse asks.

"There was a large defense response in that area last night," Reed says.

"We were able to recover a good amount of data, but, unfortunately, one of our team seems to have been on their payroll. Melina Ackermann." Mae-Ying says.

Waterhouse audibly exhales.

"We were attacked as we were en route to Baltimore,” Mae-Ying says, “Back in Manchester, she killed Lydia Snyder and made an attempt on my life.”

"I'm going to do something really unpleasant to Bruce over this..." Waterhouse’s voice is taut.

"Perhaps we could consider administrative reprisals later, ma'am?" Reed asks.

"Ma'am, I don't think Ackermann is the only mole we're dealing with. Or, at least, the only leak,” Mae-Ying says, “I don't think there's another on our team, but..."

"I know about the attack in Philadelphia,” Waterhouse says, “That couldn't have been Ackerman."

"No,” Mae-Ying says, “There was the outside chance it was Snyder but that seems pretty unlikely now."

"We're sure both of them are dead?" Waterhouse asks.

Mae-Ying looks at Raskoph.

Raskoph nods. "Yes. Absolutely sure."

Waterhouse sighs. "I want whatever data you managed to pull out regarding Ophelia on my desk as quickly as humanly possible."

Mae-Ying nods. "Understood."

"I'm going to convene the Council,” Waterhouse says, “They can't tell me the Keepers will abide by the Caracas Accord now."

"Would you care to take a wager, ma'am?" Reed asks.

Waterhouse doesn't say anything for a moment. "I need your support today, Xavier."

“And you shall have it.” Reed leans forward. “I intend to see the Keepers, and their pet science experiment, punished for this.”

"Good. Thank you,” Waterhouse says, “I'll speak to you later. Allen, you have your orders. Beyond that, your mission hasn't changed."

"I understand, ma'am,” Mae-Ying says, “We will proceed with the mission."

"Good hunting." Waterhouse hangs up.

"There,” Mae-Ying says, “Now we're all on the same page."

Reed nods. He looks at Mae-Ying. "I will inform you of any developments at the Manor."

"Thank you, sir," she replies.

Reed stands up and nods to Raskoph -- and to Niva, somewhat surprisingly. "I won't wish you all a good day. I doubt very much we'll see one of those for some time."

"No, I don't imagine we will,” Mae-Ying says, “Good luck."

"To you as well, Ambassador,” Reed replies. He inclines his head, then leaves.

Raskoph looks at Mae-Ying and Niva. He rubs his face. "I'll...I'll go tell Bry to prioritize the Ophelia files..."

"Thank you." She hesitates. "I... I didn't mean to leave you two in the dark about all that. I just never feel like we're alone..."

Raskoph shakes his head. "There was too much to go over and… everything happened so fast."

Mae-Ying grimaces. "I don't think it's going to slow down anytime soon."

Raskoph stands up with an exhalation of breath. He doesn't reply.

"I sure hope you're right about Reed," Mae-Ying says.

Raskoph starts to say something and shakes his head. Instead, he says, "Yea. Me too."

Mae-Ying sighs and closes her eyes. When she opens them again, Raskoph has left. She feels Niva's hand on her thigh.

"You should sleep," Niva says.

"Yeah." The idea of bed sounds both appealing and repulsive, right now. "I don't know if I have a room… or a bed.”

Niva stands up. "There are air mattresses in some of the rooms. I was resting on one when..." Niva stops talking for a moment. She puts her hands on the push bars of Mae-Ying's chair. She backs her up and starts to wheel her toward the door. Mae-Ying reaches up with her good hand and puts it over Niva's.

Niva is quiet as she pushes Mae-Ying down a long corridor. At the base of some stairs, she picks Mae-Ying up once more. Mae-Ying curls into her, grateful for the solidness of her, the security and comfort.

They reach a dark room -- the window is covered with black out curtains -- with two long twin air mattresses, some blankets, and little else. Niva lays Mae-Ying down and pulls the blankets up over her. Then she lies down next to Mae-Ying and gently folds her arms around her.

"I love you," Mae-Ying says.

"I love you," Niva whispers. She brushes her lips against Mae-Ying's temple. "Sleep."

"Don't leave..."

"I won't," Niva presses her forehead against Mae-Ying's head.

Mae-Ying nods and closes her eyes.

Continue in Episode 34!