he
said into the com, activating the coding that would put him through directly to
the head spy. It still took a moment for her to activate her end.
“Angel. What can I do
for you? Have you decided to come in?”
“Don’t bother tracing the
call,” said Angel. “It will do you no good. And I think I prefer staying out
and free at the moment.”
“We won’t try and find
you, Angel,” said Sergiov.
And I’m supposed to
believe that? thought Angel with a chuckle. “What I have to tell you is very important, so
listen. Countess Zhee was very forthcoming with a little persuasion.”
“So you had her. We
wondered where she had gotten off to.”
“I had her, and after a
little conversation she told me everything. I let her go, on the condition
that she leave the capital and disappear from public view.” There was no way
he was going to confess on the com to a capital crime, no matter what promises
were made. “The tale she told me was like something out of a bad holo vid.
But under the pressure she was at during the moment, I believe her.”
Angel was silent for a
moment, letting Sergiov digest what he had already told her, and then started
into the story.
“Time travel,” exclaimed
Sergiov. “Are you flippen kidding me?”
“I am not, Director. And
if you think about it for a moment, it will make sense to you as well. Her
faction believes they can go back in time and destroy the Cacas before they
ever became a power, and therefore rescue humankind from what history has
wrought.”
“But, everyone born since
the coming of the Cacas will cease to exist. The Empire will cease to exist.
Her people would erase trillions from the timeline, including themselves.”
“The crazy fools think it
worth the sacrifice, and they don’t care who doesn’t agree. Anyone not on
their side is against them, including the Imperial family.”
“You mean?”
“They, along with a party
whose origins are unknown to them as well, think it is worth it, that humankind
will experience a golden age of expansion.”
“My parents. My
grandparents. All of our ancestors, wiped from history. It must not be.”
Angel could tell that
Sergiov was horrified. That was the emotion he had wanted her to take from
this com. Now, if she could only spark the same feelings in the Emperor.
“I’m going now. I
predict you will locate my first relay at any moment, and then it will only be
a matter of seconds before you start the trace.”
“Wait,” shouted Sergiov,
but Angel had already severed the connection. His car ejected the com box into
the sky, where it fell apart on the way to the ground, disassembled by its
internal nanites.
They will have some kind
of plan to get the resources they need, whether from the Emperor, or from some
other source ,
he thought as the car left the pattern and headed out of the city, changing its
transponder code several times along the way. He didn’t have any love for the
Cacas, and wished them hell and fire. But he also had no wish to have never
existed himself. That was something that his ego could not stand.
* * *
“Do you believe him
Director? I mean, Admiral.”
Sean still had trouble
remembering some of the new titles his people sported. Ekaterina Sergiov had
been the Director of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, the primary civilian spy
agency for the Imperial Government. She had served under his father for almost
two decades. Sean had decided on advice from his cabinet to link all of his
intelligence agencies under one administration, to make sure that all necessary
information got to where it needed to be. So Sergiov had been given the nod.
And the rank of a four star full admiral, so she would be able to command
military operatives.
“I don’t know, your
Majesty. He sure seemed to believe it. Voice stress analysis implies
truthfulness. But then again, he is a psychopath, and the same rules
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley