The man who fell, p.19
The Man Who Fell, page 19
“You'll be fine,” the man told him. “Cup of tea and biscuit and you won't even know anything happened.”
“Great!” he groaned quietly, then let out a heavy breath.
“It's a bit of a shock, I suppose,” the Voice told him. “But nothings really changed when you think about it. You're still the same guy you were.”
“Actually everything's changed. Now I have to go through my past and try to work out what was innocent fate or my decision and what was me being shaped to the Ilan's purposes. I mean before I met Celeste I was with a girl – Sonia. But she got a grant to study abroad and left. But did she really get a grant? Or was that the Ilans simply clearing the road for Celeste? I became an architect – why? Because I liked it? Or because it suited them?”
“And then there's Celeste herself. The way we met. The way she dressed. Spoke. Looked. Was any of that real? Or was everything calculated to draw my eye and turn me into an obedient little poodle without a clue?”
“I mean I knew some of it. That she was controlling my life. But this is a whole new level of shit!” He handed her back the papers. “It's just so damned sick!”
“You sure this will work?” He changed the subject to something that actually mattered. The reason they were taking his blood.
“The top brass do. And it's not just us. It's the top brass across half the world.”
“Good.” He nodded. But he wasn't really sure it would work. It seemed too simple. A DNA test? He got the idea. Simply compare his blood and that of all the Ilan women, look for the common sequences, and then build a test that would detect it in others. Once they had that they wouldn't just be able to detect the Ilans, but their husbands too. And that might be even more critical. Because a lot of those husbands were in politics. The very ones directing the armies to incarcerate the other families. And he assumed, the ones who'd released all the secrets of the families to the world.
Maybe this would end the incarcerations – he didn't know. Though it was interesting that the armed services were doing this and not the politicians. In fact no one had even told them it was happening according to the Voice. That suggested a rift – as if the soldiers didn't like what they were being asked to do. Which after twenty days of families being locked up, was about time he supposed. But what would it do to the political landscapes across maybe hundreds of countries? After all every politician who tested positive, would then find out he was part of a conspiracy he knew nothing about, and being used to further the goals of his wife and her sisters. He suspected it could lead to chaos.
And on the personal level, what would happen to all those husbands out there when they found out what their wives were doing behind their backs and how they'd been manipulated? That could get ugly. After all the wives, clearly didn't have any love for their husbands. And they were already killing them just as part of their natural madness.
Then there was the larger picture. What was the world going to do once they had to accept people with strange and sometimes scary gifts walking among them? Because you couldn't just lock up maybe millions of people indefinitely for no crime. And you couldn't just murder them. So sooner or later they would have to be released regardless.
“So why are you doing this again? I don't mean the test, I mean you the military and not the government?” He'd been surprised when the Voice had told him that. She'd called it a military action. “Shouldn't they be leading this?”
“Because we can't trust them. Some of the orders coming down the political chains of command were … war crimes. Actual genocide. They were calling in drone strikes in the US. Bombing runs elsewhere. And at that point we realised we couldn't trust our leaders. But we didn't know why they were giving such orders or what could be done about it until we had a chat with someone we know and despise. And at that point it became clear that we had a fifth column running right through our political classes. We had to find out who we could trust.”
“Someone we know?” The phrase confused him.
“What was it you called her – plucky? That damned girl! Even wearing a hood she's easy to recognise.”
“Figures! If someone was going to end up costing me blood it would be her!” And she did seem to have a way of causing him strife. But this? He wasn't sure if he should thank her for this – or just kick her! Hard!
“So what are you going to do with the test? I mean when you know that someone's an Ilan? Just stop taking their orders? I'm not sure that's legal.” But it was still probably for the best if they were calling for military assaults on their own people. Or the other families as they truly were.
But that raised another question. What if some of these political big wigs were Ilan by blood, but weren't part of the Ilan conspiracy? Presumably a lot of the orphaned Ilan boys didn't end up as the husbands of other Ilans. Any way he looked at it, Dale thought, this was going to be a mess.
“That's going to depend. It'll be different from country to country. But at the least they can't be trusted to lead soldiers. And maybe we'll push for a law in New Zealand that says no Ilans can be in office.”
“Damn, there goes my future career as a politician!” He let out a somewhat bitter laugh. But even that, he realised, was probably a violation of their civil rights.
“But you know what else you should do?”
“What?”
“Publish the names.” It seemed the obvious thing to do to him. People had a right to know. And it would fairly quickly ruin their chances of taking power. It might even stop the bloodshed and end this world wide disaster. Though maybe that was hoping for too much.
The Voice didn't answer him, he noticed. Maybe because she was thinking about it. Or maybe because it was a decision that was out of her hands. People much higher than her would have to make it – in every country.
“And you also can't send the husbands home – or actually let them go home at all,” he added as it occurred to him.
“What?! Why not?”
“Because those husbands will be like me. Suddenly discovering that they're lab bred poodles, that their wives and this whole house that they know nothing about has been controlling them their whole lives. Learning that their wives not only don't give a damn about them, but take lovers to advance their careers.”
“They're not going to believe it at first. Then they're going to be shocked, then angry. There are going to be arguments. And arguing with one of these super women whose apparently already missing a few screws up top will likely end very badly for them.”
He looked straight at her understanding only too well what they would face. “They really can't go home at all. Ever.”
“We're done here,” the medic announced as Dale was telling her what he knew. And then he pulled out the needle and got Dale to hold a cotton swab against his injury.
“Thank shit for that!” He sighed, glad to have something else to think about. “Now I can get back to work.”
“You're drawing more house plans up?” the Voice asked him. She almost sounded hopeful.
“Painting. Redoing the kitchen walls. The builders have put it all back together but they didn't want to paint, and with the defences I put in, I can't really have decorators over. They could be killed.”
“Killed?” the medic squeaked at him. “Staff Sergeant?”
“Mr. Fall?” The Voice in turn put the question to him.
“Well maybe not killed,” he back tracked. “Just put in hospital for a month or so. But don't worry, I turned the defences off before you arrived. It's why you should always call first before coming over.”
The pair stared at him with something that looked like alarm. Or maybe horror. But they said nothing. And everyone knew his house was a fortress. Didn't they? Not that he cared. When you had enemies like he did, a few high voltage defences were in order. And maybe the occasional grenade.
“Oh God! Lethal defences?! The girl said you were messed up!” the Voice told him. “That they might even send some people over to shrink your head. I think they might need more than a few!”
“Just as long as they call first. Otherwise they'll end up in the back yard with the mail man! He didn't call either!”
Dale thought that was funny. But clearly his visitors didn't as they started packing away everything in their car, and then took off in a hurry. They didn't even wave goodbye. Maybe they thought he was being serious?
But at least that let him turn the defence grid back on and then go and sit by himself in peace. And wonder just what else he would find about himself in due course that would ruin his day. And already he was thinking he had to start searching the net for the latest articles and reports.
Most of all though, he was thinking only one thing. Damn it all! He was an Ilan! One of the monsters! And up until then the only positive thought he'd had about things was that he was just a normal man. A fool, an idiot and someone easily led. But still just a normal guy. How much worse could things get?
Chapter Twenty Two
The water was lovely. A touch warm perhaps, the pool had been heated just a little more than necessary, but other than that she had no complaints. Especially when she had the pool to herself. Not many of the guests swam. So she was able to get her laps in and then relax a little in the water as well. There had to be some advantages to transforming a hotel into a safe house.
Oddly it wasn't the only one. Other houses were doing much the same, coming to New Zealand and buying up hotels and motels. Farms too. It was a simple equation. New Zealand might be a bit of a back water in many people's eyes, but right now it was being seen as a safe country.
But was it so safe? She started to wonder as she felt the sudden tension in the air.
Something was wrong! She could feel it. So much so that she stopped her swim in the middle of the pool and stood up, looking around to see what was happening.
Then what was happening become obvious as the back door to the hotel burst open and a whole bunch of soldiers came rushing out of it. Soldiers, who took up positions all around the pool and pointed guns at her.
“Bloody shit!” She stared at the soldiers, and in particular the weapons being pointed at her. This did not strike her as being a good way to end her morning swim.
Of course it had to get worse. And she realised it was going to get much worse when she saw the dark haired woman emerge from the hotel with a damned smile on her face. Damn it! Lara thought. Maybe she shouldn't have spoken to the woman on the night of the robbery. Her mother kept telling her she talked too freely! That she should be more careful with what she said. Maybe she should have listened!
“Lara Clarke!” The woman stopped and stood proudly at the end of the pool and smiled at her in triumph. “You're under arrest.”
“Really? You don't look like a police officer.”
“Don't get smart with me!” The woman snapped, her smile vanishing in an instant. “I'm Staff Sergeant Sherwood of the New Zealand Defence Force, Military Police, and we are in the middle of civil defence emergency. I have the power to arrest you.”
She probably did, Lara thought. That was why she was so happy. The more important question was why no one had stopped her and the others. But she knew why. The House could not be risked. Not at a time when all the military forces in the world were setting up camp around their safe houses. They couldn't afford for anyone to guess that this was a Domani safe house. So they'd probably let the soldiers walk through while suggesting to them that this was just a normal hotel.
Lara could see her parents in the window of one of the upstairs rooms, looking desperately worried, but helpless. They couldn't risk everyone's safety even for her. Which meant that she would have to deal with this herself. And they had to hope that she could. She had to hope the same thing.
“On what charge?” Lara decided to bluster a little bit, while she tried to think of a way out of this. But really she was struggling to come up with a solution with so many soldiers standing around pointing guns at her. One itchy trigger finger and she would be dead.
“How about interfering with an official operation for a start. Now get out of the damned pool!”
“Now that seems harsh. Do I get a lawyer?” She smiled sweetly at the woman, trying not to show any sign of the worry eating at her.
“You'll get bloody life if you don't get out!”
Lara was about to protest some more when she spotted something behind the soldiers that made her think twice – herself. Somehow she was standing there in the back entrance to the hotel, smiling at her. It took Lara a second or two to realise that it had to be Trina, wearing a hotel robe. And another to understand the plan. Trina would take her place. The Dayli could probably walk out of custody with both her arms tied behind her back.
“Fine. But I still want a lawyer. I demand that my rights be respected.” Not that she actually knew what her rights in this country were, but she suspected they would be much the same as at home.
Then she walked quietly, even meekly over to the pool ladder and started to get out. Naturally one of the soldiers stepped up to her with a pair of handcuffs.
“Not so fast sunshine,” she snapped at him. “I'm not going anywhere in just a swimsuit.” And so she headed over to the table and chairs where her robe was, and started dressing. And then she walked towards the hotel, causing the soldiers to have to catch up.
The switch over was easy. She simply stepped into the hotel even as the soldier with the handcuffs was trying to grab her, turned around and used her gift to confuse him and the others a tiny bit, and Trina stepped in to take her place. Seconds later she was being handcuffed by the man while Lara was using her gift to make herself unnoticed. It was so quick and easy that it was almost as though they'd rehearsed it. And certainly none of the soldiers appeared to have spotted the swap. But then most of them were probably under the effect of her family's gift, and they had no idea.
After that Trina was being marched through the hotel with an entire squad of soldiers behind her, and strangely enough, smiling as if she was enjoying this. Maybe she was. Lara didn't know the woman well, but she knew Trina loved to take a few risks here and there. She also knew she could get out of handcuffs without any trouble. All she had to do was squeeze her hands down a little bit and they would slide right off.
But, that plan went awry in a heartbeat as the soldiers suddenly found some sort of helmet to jam over her head and make sure she couldn't speak.
Lara almost screamed when she saw that, and wanted to leap into action to save Trina, but was held back before she could do anything. The others had expected this, and it actually worked in their favour she realised. It meant that Trina could shift back to her own form at some point, and no one would realise that she wasn't Lara until it was too late. That was Trina's plan from the start.
And then of course she would start screaming the place down when she arrived at wherever she was being taken. Something no doubt, about how the soldiers had come out of nowhere to grab her for no reason. An innocent victim of a wrongful arrest by incompetent soldiers. The Staff Sergeant would no doubt think it was all more mind tricks, until more checking with the cameras revealed that they had in fact arrested a black woman and a guest of the hotel who was threatening to sue them into next week.
It was a clever play. But Lara still didn't like that it had been so close. That she had to be rescued. Or that the army had known where to find her. How did they know that?
Before she could ask any of those things though, she was being crushed to death in her parents' arms, while the last of the soldiers were disappearing out into the street still thinking they'd arrested her. Shit were they going to be upset when they learned the truth. And the Staff Sergeant might well be a corporal by the time this was over and done with.
And while she was being crushed, Rand suddenly came bounding down the stairs and then went rushing out the door to play the role of the worried boyfriend – which of course he was – chasing them down to wherever.
Lara worried for them, though she knew they probably, almost certainly, had everything in hand. Trina was a Dayli, and had probably spent her entire life getting out of far more difficult spots than this. And Rand had the awe and a good head on his shoulder. It was still probably her that was the one in real trouble. Because she knew that once the soldiers found out their mistake, they'd come back. Which meant that she had to be gone by the time that happened.
Naturally she couldn't head overseas. Not just because this was where so much was happening, but also, the computer security at the airports would be being beefed up. If there was one thing the raid on the military facility had taught her, it was that they were developing strategies for dealing with her House. Probably with the others too. And that was likely how they'd found her she realised. Tracked her through video surveillance. There were plenty of cameras around the city and they must have tapped into the grid.
Which meant it was time to buy a house. Somewhere in suburbia, away from the cameras. With neighbours who would easily forget her.
