“Every little piece of stress helps to destabilize,” said Saskia. “Who knows which straw will break the camel’s back?”
“So we moved our focus to the Checquy,” said Claudia. “A much larger organization with greater diversity. And when Gestalt joined us, she provided us with better insights into their weak points. Their indoctrinated hatred for the Broederschap. The pressure they face from the British government. We tried to take out Rook Thomas, the one who was really making the merger happen. Gestalt thought that if we removed her from the equation, it would all break up.”
“It was a good idea,” said Gestalt, inspecting her nails.
“And if you hadn’t botched it, it might have worked,” said Claudia.
“Botch is a very strong word,” said Gestalt, looking over at Odette pointedly. “In any case, I like to think it shook her up a bit.” Odette kept silent. She was not about to share any information, especially information that Gestalt might enjoy.
“I was always against it, anyway,” said Saskia. “You know if you kill her, you’ll just make her a martyr to the cause.”
“Which brings us to today’s attack,” said Claudia. “It’s very last-minute, but one of the advantages of our being a small group is that we’re very flexible.”
“What are you going to do?” whispered Odette. She was still reeling from the suggestion that she was the origin of their plan.
“There’s a group of Checquy children in town,” said Simon.
“No,” breathed Odette.
“They’re here for a field trip.”
“No.”
“We’re going to kill them.”
“No!” She slammed her hand down on the table.
“That’s the reaction we’re looking for,” said Simon. “Gestalt told us about your terror when you thought Alessio might have been caught up in the fog attacks. She said that you were distraught at the very idea of it.” Odette shot Gestalt a poisonous look. The blond woman winked at her.
“Mariette is there now, waiting for the students to arrive,” said Saskia. “Then, when she judges it appropriate, she will unleash a poison that will wipe out the group.”
“This will hit them hard,” said Simon. “According to Gestalt, Grafters killing Checquy children will strike a particular chord in the Checquy mentality. It dates back to the Isle of Wight. They have some oral tradition that they all have to experience.”
“Now, I didn’t think it would be necessary,” said Saskia. “We really, really thought the fog attacks would push them over the edge. That the mutilation and terror would kill the negotiations immediately. Frankly, I thought the Checquy would kill the delegation as well.”
“Including me,” said Odette.
“We tried to snatch you, ’Dette,” said Saskia. “We really did.”
“Killing those children will hurt them like nothing else could,” said Simon.
“In an ideal world, we’d destroy their training ground,” said Claudia. “Kirrin Island would be full of little corpses if we could manage it. But it’s impossible.” She shrugged awkwardly. “It’s too well guarded.”
“Our attack today may not even get them all,” said Saskia. “I expect there will be some little monster who doesn’t need to breathe air or is actually a living song or some such ludicrous atrocity. But that’s not a bad thing, really. Traumatized witnesses ensure that the story doesn’t die. A kid, scarred for life by what he’s seen, that will whip the Checquy into a frenzy like nothing else.
“And it will be public, so the regular people will be outraged too. The Checquy will have to scramble around, produce fake families to mourn the loss. Unless they decide to pretend that they’re orphans. Which just adds to the pathos, really.”
“And Alessio?” said Odette weakly.
“We will do everything we can to protect him,” said Saskia. “We do understand — he’s the real reason you didn’t come with us.”
“But he’s not,” said Odette faintly. “He wasn’t the only reason.”
“We care about him too, ’Dette.”
“I can’t believe you would kill children,” said Odette. This can’t be happening. They can’t mean this, not truly.
“They’re not really children,” said Claudia. “They’re not humans. Humans can’t do what they do.”
“We are in no position to say what humans can and cannot do, Claudia!” said Odette.
“Don’t cheat yourself, ’Dette,” said Saskia. “We are human. It’s human to make tools. To fix broken bones, and straighten teeth, and remove cataracts. Humans figure out new ways to do things, organ transplants and fighting disease and doing research.” She gestured around the room to her comrades, and Odette noticed herself included in the group. “We’re just ahead of the rest of them.
“But I’ll tell you what humans don’t do,” she said in a poisonous tone. “They’re not born with fangs, or mirrors for skin, or with the air around them turning to bronze. They don’t swim through the earth. Those creatures aren’t human. They’re vermin, they’re cockroaches. And the targets? They’re baby cockroaches. That’s all.”
“And you!” Odette exclaimed to Gestalt. “Doesn’t this concern you? These people you’ve allied yourself with — they don’t think of you as human.”
“I don’t think of myself as human either,” said Gestalt. “I’m something more. But then, I’m something more than the rest of the Checquy too. I’ve always known that.”
“The Checquy killed us,” said Saskia calmly. “They would have wiped us out. They don’t get any mercy.”
“Everyone in the delegation will be finished,” said Odette. “They’ll destroy them.”
“And that’s a loss,” said Claudia, “but this is war. And it will put everyone else in the Broederschap — all our people in Europe — on our side. They’ll be able to evade the Checquy. There are fallback plans. I’ve seen them. I’ve read the files.”
“And then?” asked Odette. “Do you think they will just leave us alone? After what you’re going to do? They will never stop coming.”
“The Broederschap hid before,” said Simon. “For centuries.”
“They thought we were dead,” said Odette.
“And they were fine with that,” said Claudia, and her voice shook with barely controlled rage. “The Checquy felt no guilt, no doubt about what they had done. They nursed their spite and their hatred for generations, even when they thought they had won.”
“They didn’t find us because they weren’t looking for us,” said Odette. “Now, they’ll know.”
“We’ve learned a lot since then,” Simon observed. “Look, they’ve been trying to track us down this whole time.” He gestured around the room. “We’ve been right in England, in London, and they haven’t caught us. They never will.”
“You would make us fugitives!” said Odette. “Forever.”
“It would be better than joining ourselves with them,” said Claudia.
They cannot be convinced, Odette thought in despair. “Where is Pim?” she asked finally.
“Why are you doing this?” asked Saskia.
“What?” asked Odette.
“Why won’t you acknowledge the truth? You hate them too, Odette!” said Saskia. “You can’t pretend you don’t. You can’t pretend to me. I know you too well.”
“Where is Pim?” said Odette coldly. “I want to talk to him.” This time, I can make him see, she thought. I know I can. And if I can convince Pim, then the rest will follow.
“He’ll be here in a moment,” said Claudia finally. “He’s just finishing up with that Checquy-thing that Gestalt brought in with you.”
Felicity!
48
Felicity knew immediately what had happened.
I failed.
I failed at every single thing they ordered me to do.
I did not prevent the Antagonists from seizing Odette.
I did not capture a member of the Antagonists.
I did not keep her safe, and alive, and in Checquy custody.
I failed.
Compared to all these failures, the fact that she was lying paralyzed on a surgical table did not seem quite so bad.