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Lycander pulls into the lot, and orders the fake police to surround the
carnage. He steps out of his car, and approaches Renata and Quidel. They’ve
just laid down their weapons, and are holding their hands up just a little,
even though they know that they’re all friends here. “Miss Granger. Couldn’t
stay away, huh?”
“I didn’t know this bank was a front. I tried to get out.”
Lycander adjusts his pants by his belt, and looks around as his team begins
the clean-up procedures. “Yeah, well, that decision was above my paygrade.”
“The question is,” Renata begins, “did they keep me close so they can make
sure I don’t do anything stupid, or did they hope something like this would
happen, to eliminate me without getting any blood on their hands?”
He chortles, and looks back at all the death and destruction. “Neither. They
only assign people they trust to a place this important. You failed your
initiation mission, but you showed leadership and ingenuity. There’s no way
you could have known whether it was a powder or a gas. The water would have
worked if it had been the former.”
She points at Quidel. “He survived. Did the other one?”
“She survived,” Lycander admits with a nod. “She did quit, though.
Obviously, we had to protect both of them, but especially Q here, who asked
to stay in the program.”
“I don’t blame you for lying to me. Not too long ago, I wanted to be one of
the liars.” She takes a breath. “What happens now? I already know too much.”
Lycander nods again. “That’s also above my paygrade.” He looks back yet
again, but this time to his car, where his boss is still waiting. “Listen,
uh, a very important man is about to come talk to you. Not that you have an
attitude problem, but you both need to be on your best behavior. He doesn’t
like informality. He sent me over to assess the threat level, so I’m using
this as an opportunity to warn you that he can end your career...or your
life.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Sir,” Renata says.
He waves at his chauffeur with two fingers. The chauffeur opens the
passenger door, and lets Director McWilliams out. He stays there while
McWilliams buttons his blazer, and walks over with purpose. “Samani.”
“Director,” Lycander responds.
“So, these are the two that saved our asses this morning?” That’s a pretty
colloquial thing for him to say.
“Yes, sir,” Lycander replies.
“Renata Granger, sir.” She holds up her hand, bloodied from the battle. “I
would shake your hand, but I better not.”
“I prefer a tight nod anyway.”
She obliges. Quidel does too.
“Miss Granger,” the Director goes on, “I understand that you had some
trouble with your initiation. We saw something in you that day, which made
us not want to lose your talent. We didn’t know if you were right for field
work, but it appears that you have proven us wrong, while proving
me right to keep you on the payroll at all.”
“Thank you for saying that, sir.”
Director McWilliams opens his mouth to say something else when a classic
burgundy roadster barrels down the road, and pulls into the lot. A couple of
fake police try to stop the driver before noticing her placard, and letting
her through. “Oh, here we go,” McWilliams mumbles. “Look, Granger, I want
you to know that it wasn’t my decision to leave you in the dark. Even
I answer to the council.” He could go on, but there isn’t time.
This isn’t how this twist is meant to be revealed. Yes, Renata will usually
reappear around this time during the new recruits’ training, assuming they
make it a year in, but that whole plotline was scrapped when Renata suddenly
failed out. She switched to what should have been more of an Ambient role.
The drama surrounding her discovering the truth should have a particular
impact on the trainee, which doesn’t matter now that Quidel is a full
officer already anyway.
Renata doesn’t let her chin drag on the ground for long before she pulls it
back up, and begins to foam at the mouth. She’s speechless at the sight of
her mother. Libera has been a part of this the whole time. It explains a lot
about how she raised her child and why. These little secondary realizations
are all presumably swimming around in her head right now as she watches her
mom walk up to them in anger.
“Director McWilliams,” Libera begins accusatorily. “Why was my daughter
placed in such great danger?”
“Chief Granger. Didn’t know you’d be here.” He was not happy, but despite
technically being Libera’s superior, he was also quite scared of her. He
came up in analysis, while she started out in the field. At least, that’s
what the implanted memories say. In reality, none of that actually happened.
“Answer my question,” she demands. “This bank was meant to be a low-level
asset. Easy breezy. Keep Renata employed and fulfilled, without risking her
life. That was our deal.”
“Your deal?” Renata questions. She immediately seems to regret speaking up.
She’s not ready. She’s not ready for this. It’s not supposed to be like this
at all. A shock, yes, but after months of training; not a traumatic
experience like this attack.
Libera doesn’t seem ready to explain herself anyway. “Go on,” she urges
McWilliams.
“It was a low-level asset,” the Director agrees, “but over the years,
departments have added to it, and its importance as a strategic stronghold
have increased. It’s nobody’s fault, it wasn’t planned; it just happened.”
“It didn’t just happen over the course of the last year,” Libera argues. “I
was given outdated information.”
“True,” Director McWilliams admits, “but things were recently pushed over
the edge with one particular deposit, and the unfortunately timed leak of
its existence.”
“Show me,” Libera demands. She faces her daughter. “And then, Renata, I’ll
explain everything. I promise.”
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