Deathwatch (The Faded Earth Book 1)(19)
“Maybe you’ve been a good influence on her,” Stein said. “I just hope it holds through the day. The drones should hit the outer wall within a few hours. You and I are the only ones in the chapterhouse who know the truth. We’re going to have to move fast and keep it quiet, Brogan. Are you ready?”
He met her eyes again, this time finding his resolve. “Yeah. I am. These last few weeks with Beck, getting to know her, seeing what she’s going through...it brought some things back. Memories of going through the same thing. They stuck with me. Those were hard times for me.”
Stein smiled, half sad and half wistful. “I remember. You were the first kid to take a swing at me. You never forget something like that.”
Eshton smiled ruefully. “You could have put me in chains.”
“Oh, please,” Stein said with a snort. “If it weren’t for feisty kids willing to take a swing, our recruitment numbers would be shit. And that’s who I need right now. Once the warning comes through, the system will alert Beck and tell her to contact us. You’ll get that message, and you’ll go in. A familiar face might help her deal with being kept in the dark a little better.”
Eshton knew the words weren’t meant to sound manipulative, but they were and both of them knew it. “So we’re clear, you want me to use what little trust I’ve built with her to make sure Beck doesn’t go around asking questions.”
“Damn right,” Stein confirmed. “The other options are worse. I couldn’t honestly say how the others would vote, but some of them favor more...permanent solutions.”
He ran a hand over the stubble peppering his scalp. “Yeah, okay. Rock and a hard place. Why wait until we get the message, though? Why not just have me go in, say the project is being scrapped, and send her off?”
Stein shook her head. “Because then she’ll know we’re watching, which will make her ten times as suspicious. Right now she probably knows something is off, but she doesn’t know what. If we show our hand, it’ll drive her to do something stupid.”
Eshton was about to respond when a harsh chime sounded from the tablet. They both looked down at it.
“What the hell?” Stein said, snatching the device up and thumbing through its menus. “This says the drones reached the wall already—an hour ago.” Her eyes danced over the data, confusion slowly being replaced by grim understanding. “Son of a bitch. She doctored the feeds and delayed the notification. Looks like she sped up the work, too. I can’t see what’s going on in there, Brogan. You need to go. Now.”
He went. Eshton wasted no time asking if she would come with him. This project was being kept from the rest of the Watch here in Brighton, strictly need-to-know, and the head of the chapter leaving in a rush for destinations unknown would raise a battalion’s worth of flags.
His armor stood sentry just outside the office. It cycled open at the back as he approached, nearly leaping into it. The rear panels closed like flower petals curling up at night, hissing as they sealed. The helmet swung back up and locked in place.
As always when he wore the armor, Eshton felt the higher purpose behind it. Usually this meant embracing his role as a shield for the rest of humanity.
In that moment he was terrified he might have to play the part of the sword.
*
Fortunately, they planned ahead. Establishing a need for occasional random checks of the dig site allowed Eshton to show up without causing much fuss. No more than one of his kind ever did, at any rate. He forced himself to move through the mine normally. Rushing would attract more notice, and the faces around him were already afraid.
An empty suit of armor moved steadily behind him in follow mode. Out here such a thing went wholly unremarked. Citizens had no way to know the suit contained no Watchman. The trick would be getting it back into the chapterhouse without alerting his brothers and sisters. That would have to be a bridge crossed once he came to it. Every other plan revolved around Eshton and Stein having more time than this mad rush allowed.
The pantomime of calm nearly drove him insane. The lift took approximately a year to reach the top of the mine. Yet when he approached the door, Eshton hesitated. Standing out here allowed the possibilities to exist in a cloud, like the old Schrodinger thought experiment. Reality would be set once he went inside. Eshton had killed entire families, fought off Pales, faced down furious citizens daring to ask what right he had to enforce laws they had never agreed to. He could face this. If today meant silencing someone who reflected his own struggles, he would face it.
Taking a deep breath, he keyed the door.
Beck was nowhere to be seen. A glance at the console showed a handful of programs running, one of which looped the hidden cameras, which obviously weren’t as secret as they were supposed to be. A ball of ice formed in Eshton’s stomach as he moved down the tunnel formed by the excavation. It was a tight fit. The post Beck left behind was large enough, but the passage itself barely allowed his suit through.
He followed it to the end. The quality of the rock changed substantially near the terminus, going from the muted earth tones of natural stone to the even gray of concrete. The drones had cut through this as well, creating an opening into a large chamber beyond.
Inside sat Beck, back against the curved wall with arms wrapped around her knees. It was almost exactly how he’d found her that day outside her family home, though this time the expression on her face was less haunted and more terrified.