Industry & Intrigue (40 page)

“
But-”

“
You’ll spend a night in lock-up
at the most. I’ll bail you out and I’ll pay each of you three times
the normal rate you get for servicing a customer.”

Greed won out over concern and both
girls nodded emphatically.

“
Good. Go and get changed into
regular clothes, then meet me outside.” Both of them dashed
away.
Inissa
fingered her knife, hidden under the folds of her robe. She wanted
to make it look natural, smother him if she could. But if she had
to, she’d slit his throat to be certain he died this
time.

The sun
was down by the time the three
women arrived at the hospital. The building was brightly lit,
patients and visitors coming and going through the large doors.
Inside the main corridor was a long line of people waiting to be
treated.

“
Get in the
line
,”
Inissa told the girls. “Give me about ten minutes then begin.” The
two girls sat on the bench at the end of the queue. Thanks to
Mikono’s contact, Inissa had the priest’s room location
memorized.

She
passed through the entrance hall and
into the hospital proper. She had to climb two sets of stairs and
then many rooms until she came to the east side corridor. She took
a look down the corridor. Fifty meters away, two watch officers
were sitting outside a patient room. That was it. Inissa waited for
her girls to do their part.

S
oon enough an alarm bell rang. A nurse
came running up the opposite side end of the hall and said
something to the officers. They darted away, leaving the nurse to
stand guard at the room in their place. Inissa slowly made her way
down the corridor, the nurse didn’t notice her.

As she came within a few
meters the nurse
looked at her.

“
Excuse me
,” said Inissa. “Is this where
Isaac Gall is recovering?”

The nurse blinked and slowly
said
, “Yes.
Who are you?”

“
An acquaintance,” replied
Inissa. She grabbed the nurse, who squealed and tried to get away.
Inissa pulled around and locked her arm around the woman’s neck,
putting pressure on her windpipe. The nurse kept struggling but as
her oxygen ran out she stopped struggling and eventually passed
out. Inissa dropped her to the floor and pulled her inside the
room.

The room was quiet. Inissa
could see Isaac’s
mop of black hair on the pillow. She moved quietly, not
wanting to wake him. She reached the side of the bed and moved her
hand slowly. She could see his face now. Cupping her hand, she
moved towards his mouth and nose. He wouldn’t take long to
suffocate.

H
er hand touched his face and the door
burst open, a female watch sergeant stood there brandishing a
revolver. She had it pointed right at Inissa’s head.

“
Don’t move,” said the officer.
It was the same one who had led the raid on the church. Her aim was
steady as a rock. Inissa’s eyes darted back and forth between the
sergeant and Isaac.

“
Don’t even think about
it
,” said
Brenna. “I prefer to take you alive, but don’t think I won’t
hesitate to put a bullet in you. Take your hand away from him,
now.”

She moved her hand
back
. No
point in digging herself into deeper into a hole.

“
Good.” Brenna moved
towards her, the gun still pointed at her. “Turn
around.”

Inissa did as she
was told and put
her hands behind her. She felt the clasp of metal go around her
wrists. There was no way she would get out of this one. Mikono was
already angry, she would be furious when she heard about
this.

Chapter 38

Reese tried to focus on his
history professor, but his mind kept drifting back to his sister.
She still hadn’t tried to con
tact him.

Reese
had come up with the story to tell,
if anyone higher than the watch questioned him and Michael. It was
a good that he had, with the Imperial Intelligence agents showing
up. But once they had the details about the assassination the
agents focus drifted away from the two of them. Reese wasn’t sure
why, but he had seen something in their eyes that looked like
fear.

Imperial Intelligence was the
most powerful
and secretive arm of the government, Reese didn’t want to
know what could scare two of their agents. But he didn’t have a
choice, since it involved his long-lost sister. She had killed the
Galrian minister, there was no doubt about that.

And now with all this talk of
war, Reese wondere
d if he had made the right decision. Should he protect her?
Or should he confess everything? He was torn in two and no matter
which way he looked at the choices looked wrong. Betray his only
remaining family or let thousands die in bloody combat?

It had been eating away at him
for the last three weeks, but he
still had not said anything. Even if he
did tell them it was sister, what good would it do? He only
remembered her from his childhood and he doubted that would help
the agents. She was not the playful girl he remembered. She was a
professional killer.

He shook his head.
What the hell is
wrong with me? I keep up like this and I’ll go mad, seeing
conspiracies everywhere.

“
Mr. Galius.
W
ould you
like to answer the question?” asked Professor Smith.

Reese shook himself out of his
thoughts. “I’m sorry, what?” He had missed what the
prof
essor
had been saying.

“
I was wondering if anyone could
tell
me how
the first Drake of Wei conducted his rule?” the professor
repeated.

They were currently learning
about the ancient empires of Weicarus
. The ancient nation of Wei had been the
first empire in continent of Xenish, united by the drakon warrior,
Ihin Shu, six thousand years ago. He had made himself king or drake
as the drakons entitle their monarch and to this day, though the
rulers of Weicarus had changed many times, the title remained
drake.

Desp
ite his distractions, Reese had been
reading his text books extensively so he knew the answer. “Drake
Shu, was obsessed with the legend of Avathrax the Dragon Tyrant
King. He believed that Avathrax was still alive, having achieved
his quest for immortality. He built the city and palace of Valhai
in dedication to the Tyrant King and spent his rule seeking him all
over the world, without success.”

Every chi
ld had heard the legend of
Avathrax-the multi-headed Tyrant King of the dragons. He ruled the
Pardrax Empire of Dragons for thousands of years before vanity
undid him. He wanted to become an immortal being, never able to
die. In his quest he killed thousands of dragons until a violent
civil war and revolution destroyed the empire and the Tyrant was
killed.

No
one believed it was more than a story
of course. The Pardrax Empire had certainly existed, archeological
evidence had proven that, it had endured for a million years. But
the tale of Avathrax was only a fanciful legend. All that was left
of the last dragon empire were the bones of its dead and the cities
buried under sand and rock.

“
Yes, exactly
,” replied Professor Smith.
“Shu sent expeditions across the lands and waters seeking the
resting place of Avathrax. But he was chasing a myth. If a
historical Avathrax did exist, he would have died millions of years
ago, along with all the other dragons. Biological divergence has
shown that smaller life forms are more adaptable, which is why
bipedal drakons exist now and dragons do not.” Professor Smith went
back to the board and put up more notes. Everyone in the class
jotted in their books.

All this
talk of dragons reminded Reese
about his zoology field trip. Professor Xerin had arranged for the
zoology class to visit the Crean Valley and stay there for
overnight. They were due to leave tomorrow.

Reese was looking forward to
it, but his thoughts never strayed far from his sister.
He wished she would
get in touch with him. He had no idea where she was; if she was
even still in the city and it was maddening.

His history class finished,
Reese made his way back to his apartment
to drop off his morning books and get
what he needed for his afternoon classes. He opened his door and
put his books on the shelf. He was suddenly grabbed and pulled him
into a hug. As he was released, Reese saw that it was
Lucina.

“
Lucina, you’re
here
.” He
was filled with conflicting emotions.

“
Yes
,” she replied.

“
Where the fuck have you been?
I’ve been going
crazy,” he said, letting loose on her. “My sister comes
back after eighteen years and assassinates someone important enough
to jumpstart a war, then just disappears? Michael and I were
questioned by Imperial Intelligence. Now suddenly you show up
again!”

“
Reese,
keep your voice down. No one can know
I’m here,” she said. “I know you’re upset and I will explain
everything, but can you please remain calm while I do?”

Reese’s face was hot with anger, but
he nodded and let her continue.

“
Thank you,” she
said.

She sat down in the
chair
next
to his bed and he noticed her relax. “You have to understand. After
Tercium I was captured by a group of very unpleasant men. They sold
me like property and I ended up in Longhaven. I won’t go into
details, trust me, you don’t want to hear them. I was forced to
endure degrading and horrible things there,” she explained. “The
first time I killed was to protect myself. After that it became
easier. Eventually I was invited to join the Arm of
Assassins.”

Reese’s eyes went wide. He had heard of
the infamous and secretive organization based in Longhaven. Most of
it was hearsay and rumor, nothing substantial.

No wonder the agents were
frightened
he thought.
They wouldn’t be able to deliver an assassin of the Arm to
the emperor as a prisoner.

“
I know,” she said. “It sounds
crazy but believe me its real. I’ve been with them for most of my
life. Reached the level of master, though none of that means
anything anymore,” and she laughed softly.

“
What do you mean?” he
asked.

“
After I left the
university I met my handler. He could tell I was hiding something,
so I killed him.”

Reese found it hard to believe
that this woman that could be so casual about
killing
, was
the same sweet older sister who had played with him as a
child.

She saw the puzzled look on his face and
explained. “I was hiding my encounter with you and your friend. He
would have ordered me to go back and kill the both of you. The Arm
never leaves witnesses. That’s why I haven’t been able to come to
you until now. I had to be certain the Arm wasn’t following me or
watching the university.”

“
So it’s safe
now?”

She laughed at that. “Safe? By
now the Arm knows I killed Ral tor’Kraos. They’ll be sending
someone after me. I’ll never be safe, they do not forgive
treason.
”

“
So what do we do
now?”

She stood up and walked over to
look at all the books on his shelf. “
You followed in father’s footsteps,” she
said, taking in his history and zoology books. She turned back to
him. “We don’t do anything brother. I would love nothing more than
for us to be back in each other’s lives, but that isn’t possible.
If I stay here, you would be in danger.”

“
Come on, you can’t be serious.
We’re the only family each other has, we can’t let go of that,” he
argued. Now that she was back, he didn’t want to lose her
again.

“
I don’t want
to
, believe
me. But I could never forgive myself if I remained and something
happened to you.”

“
Too late for
that
,” he
muttered.

But she heard him and her head turned
and looked at him “What do you mean?”

“
It’s not your secret
assassin group but someone’s already after me. Well after father’s
books anyway.”

Lucina looked back at
th
e shelf.
“You still have father’s books?” Her voice was tinted with
fear.

“
Yes. I was ambushed
on the train awhile
back. When I returned here they had broken in here and taken two of
his books.”

Reese walked over to the
cupboard and retrieved their father’s personal notebook. “But they
didn’t get this
.” He showed her the old, leather-bound journal.

She gazed at it. “Reese, this…this is why
he was killed.”

“
What, what are you talking
about?” Now he was confused, he remembered his parents dying during
the Siege of Tercium. Another set of statistics in the list of
dead.