Endangered Ch. 10

"Damn it," wheezed Sam as she crashed down beside her colleague, gulping down air. "I'm... out of... shape."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Lisa glanced over at her reassuringly. Sure, Sam could stand to lose fifteen or so pounds to be in peak physical condition, but she'd mostly kept up on the way over. Besides, her figure was beautifully full, curved, and womanly. She looked great for a thirty-five-year-old mom. "You didn't have any problem throwing me around like a rag doll this morning."

"Believe it or not, I'm out of shape with my judo, too," Sam sat back, closing her eyes as she wicked sweat away from her brow with her sleeve. "Michelle went in?"

"Yeah, I'm dying to know what's going on in there," Lisa frowned in frustration at her exclusion.

"Beings take a while to warm up," Sam noted to console her fellow angel. "I've noticed they don't care one bit for your human accolades or qualifications. You have to earn their trust through actions in their world. Michelle has earned their trust, we'll get there eventually."

Inside Reyla's study, Michelle waited politely in the dense shadows at the rear of the room. The fireplace crackled happily, providing dim illumination and a sense of almost primal conspiracy in the darkness. It was obvious that an intense discussion was winding down and she wasn't about to interrupt.

In human interactions, being ignored like that would probably be considered an insult. She'd seen that mistake over and over again when dealing with Beings, especially amongst powerful men who were used to obsequious courtesy in human society. It was stupid to assign importance to petty social niceties or to bluster with self-importance in the presence of ancient, magical creatures. So much could be learned by simply listening quietly around Beings.

"Come now, Timothy," Lillian almost scoffed at the elemental in her trademark teasing accent. "I can't believe you didn't piece at least some of it together before now."

"I've been focused on other things," Reyla's head of security shrugged. "It feels like I've been pulled in a thousand directions these last months. You're telling me you knew?"

"Suspected," Lillian nodded. "Of course you don't go throwing those sort of suspicious around without proof. If I'd actually been in Brazil, I think it would have been obvious."

"The signs are clear enough," Arvil agreed from his position leaning against the end of an ornate bookshelf. "Your work to keep the peace amongst the crafting syndicates was inspired though, Timothy, don't let Lillian tease you for missing it."

"Harumph," grunted a very pale elf that Michelle had never seen before.

He sat in a position directly across the crackling hearth from Reyla. This seemed to indicate some respect if both Lillian and Timothy, Reyla's defacto generals, were forced to stand. That in itself was very interesting, but how did he relate to the incident in Brazil?

"You have something useful to add, Envoron?" Reyla's upper lip twitched, almost forming a sneer as the fair-skinned elf's inarticulate disapproval. She caught herself though.

"No point in grubbing for proof that a wolf is a wolf while it drags off more of the flock every night," Envoron spoke with a thin voice, scratching out his words around damaged vocal chords. "You go out and hunt the cur."

"How... enlightened," Reyla sighed in exacerbation. Acknowledging Michelle for the first time, she found her excuse to change subject as the wizened elf took breath to babble on. "Ahh, Michelle. Meet Envoron, our other resident class one Being. I'm sorry to say we're pulling him away from his peaceful retirement for today. Recently, events do seem to have developed an ugly tendency to precipitate."

"Michelle Hamund. I'm honoured to meet you, Envoron." She strode into the flickering firelight, confidently introducing herself with an outstretched hand, only to be brought up short as the elf turned his milky gaze her way.

"A human?" Envoron scowled, peering closer as if he didn't trust his magical senses. His voice was scratchy and unpleasant to the ears. "Ugh. What is it doing here?"

"Yikes," Timothy muttered under his breath.

Michelle glanced to Lillian for help, but she should have known better. The vampire was trying to contain laughter, her shoulders shaking silently.

"She," Relya said a little pointedly. "Is here to help us find the best way to clean up your student's mess. Moreover, she's the dragon's Familiar."

Michelle got a better look at the elf as he made a few throaty, indignant sounds and proceeded to sink back in his chair without reply. She hadn't seen that many, but for an elf, he looked ancient. Hell, he actually had a wrinkle or two and his eyes were obviously next to useless, clouded over and white. More shocking, his entire neck was a mangle of twisted, shrunken scar tissue. What, in this magical world of healing spells, magic blood, and restorative draughts, could have caused that sort of permanent damage?

"What's going on?" Michelle asked hesitantly.

"Yes. Well. There has been another incident with Radek, in Argentina no less. This time, as you humans like to say, we've really screwed the pooch."

Michelle waited for someone to elaborate, and it looked as if Reyla was about to when Michelle's phone began the piercing chime that cut through her volume settings day or night. Only a few people ever called her from that number.

Reyla's eyebrow arched as the offending phone was retrieved.

"Sorry," Michelle looked around the room. "I sort of have to take this. Any chance it's related?"

"I'd bet my firstborn," Arvil shook his head, apparently amused by the timing.

"You're not likely to have one with skin like that, cousin," Reyla teased the half-breed elf as the phone continued to ring.

Envoron snorted his agreement.

"Take it, take it," Reyla waved as Michelle retreated to the back of the room. "Half the reason you're here is to help us see how they'll react."

"Mr President," Michelle answered, frowning as the Head of State started straight in about a video that was sweeping through the internet like the pox. He seemed quite upset. Taken at close range on a high-end smartphone, it apparently showed the grizzly details of a magical street fight between first Radek and a few soldiers, then Radek and an Elf with an enormous crossbow, then a huge wolf, and finally some sort of summoned abominable creature. "Sir, I'm sorry, but can I call you back? I just walked into a meeting with Lady Narlakis and her people. I think they're just as concerned about this as you are."

"They'd God damn better be," Robert Falconer growled down the line. "What am I supposed to do, Michelle?"

"Play dumb for now, there's nothing superficial to link us to the incident. My initial advice is to tell the Argentinian government to say nothing. Get the tech-heads to give you an assessment on how viable it is to hush this up and take the video down. If it's too far gone for that, we'll just have to spin it some way or another."

"Spin it? Spin it?!" the President groaned disbelievingly. "I'll send you the file, but even I can tell it's authentic. I just watched a man's hand get blown to pieces when he tried to shoot Radek point blank in the temple. It was the look on his face that did it for me, exact same look as this poor Iraqi back in the Gulf who managed to crawl out of his trench and surrender as we started burying his buddies alive in there with our tanks' mine ploughs."

"I'm sorry you had to relive that, Sir," Michelle spoke quietly into the phone. She'd known the president was a veteran of Desert Storm, but she'd never heard him talk about it.

"Don't be sorry for me," he sighed. "He tried to pull a knife on Radek, but the bastard somehow broke off the guy's arm and beat him to death with it while the girl filming screamed herself hoarse."

"Jesus Christ," Michelle swore. "And it's spreading on the net?"

"Like a bloody Mongol horde. Get back to your meeting, Michelle. See if you can come up with a solution for us all."

"Thank you, Sir." The line went dead, and she met the eyes of each of the assembled Beings in turn, assuming by their pregnant stares that they'd picked up the conversation. "I repeat, what the fuck is going on?"

"It appears that your friend Radek, is a demon," Reyla said matter of factly.

"I'm sorry," Michelle cocked her head toward dark-skinned elf in disbelief. "One more time?"

"A demon."

By the time Michelle received the complete picture of the developing mess, a dull throb of pain was growing against the back of her eyes. She stood pinching the bridge of her nose, a habit she'd had some success with back when she'd worn glasses. Arvil, Lillian and Timothy had borrowed her tablet and were rewatching the footage for what seemed like the tenth time as she considered their options.

"Why now?" she wondered helplessly.

"Hmm? Why what?" Reyla spoke softly at her side, startling Michelle into a resentful scowl with her unexpected proximity.

"For one, why the hell didn't you tell me Radek was a demon?" she hissed back, not bothering to hide her betrayal. She and Reyla had been working closely for months now. They'd managed to nurture a mutual respect and level of trust that bordered as close to friendship as the elf was likely to allow. "And two, why is the existence of demons only now coming to light? You know what this will do to the Revelation, don't you? People will say you've been negotiating in bad faith."

"I didn't tell you because it would put you in an untenable position with your superiors," Reyla explained with uncharacteristic calm. The human had stood firm in the face of her own temper enough times that she had earned some respite in a time like this. "I have been trying to help prepare you and your agency as best I could at least. Besides, none of us really knew if he was or not until your team went down to Brazil. You can't just jump up and down crying demon without evidence, it's dangerous to stir up the weaker Beings like that. As for the other thing, we haven't really hidden their existence, we just didn't explicitly tell you about it. It wouldn't be a problem at all if Radek weren't causing so much mayhem. I don't think that's unreasonable given how humans are likely to perceive us anyway."

"Okay." Michelle drew a calming breath as her mind raced through screeds of disastrous possibilities. They needed to come up with a plan of action as quickly as possible. "I can at least see your reasoning, not that I agree with it. What will Radek do now? How do we prepare?"

"I don't know," Reyla admitted. "He managed to get here through the Barrier without being detected. That hasn't happened before, as far as I know. The Barrier nexi are an obvious target, but they're incredibly well protected. I think this is something new, should look to his past actions for clues."

"He tried to make us fight each other openly."

"The demon will retaliate," Envoron croaked his prediction, stumbling into the conversation. "They are petty, cruel, and cunning to be sure, but single-minded and entrenched to their orders. To be wounded so, revenge will burn hot in his soul. You say he has sown discord between human and Being? Expect more of the same."

"Who is this guy again?" Michelle whispered, glancing quickly to Reyla at her side.

"Envoron is a retired demon hunter of quite legendary repute," Reyla explained. "Long before my time, he slew the leader of a hellhound pack that managed to breach the Barrier. Demonic incursions were much more regular back then, and they've long since given up on that bull-headed strategy of throwing themselves to their own destruction. I think I was born sometime around then actually, not quite sure. He trained the elf you saw attacking Radek in the video."

"Okay, but..." Michelle paused, not wanting to offend the grizzled elf. "Do we take anything he says to heart?"

Reyla surprised Michelle by actually reaching to cup her ear and whisper her words directly against her skin, eliciting a shiver of gooseflesh at the contact of her warm lips.

"Half the time I think he's senile but..."

"I'm not deaf, girl!" Envoron barked, startling the conspiring pair. "Only blind."

"But," Reyla turned her flashing grey eyes on the ancient elf and continued. "He is the foremost expert on demons we're likely to find, and we should listen to his advice. Where is the dragon, by the way? I assumed you'd bring him along."

Michelle watched Envoron warily, but he seemed contented enough to drop the issue.

"He's off with Hailey today, probably blowing something up with one of his orbs. They're up to something."

"No doubt," Reyla's voice was thick with innuendo. "We will have to come up with a solution without his input then. The Synod has asked me to probe the waters and see if you think the governments will be open to a temporary lifting on the memory charm moratorium. Despite her failure to kill Radek, the Huntress was able to round up the surviving human witnesses and cordon off the area. The Synod is in possession of over fifty terrified humans, children amongst them."

"Don't be so quick to dismiss Stemari's efforts," Envoron chided from his seat. "Whatever kind of demon that was, it is clearly powerful. She almost had him for a moment."

Lillian decided to weigh in then, as Timothy and Arvil continued their blow by blow commentary of the bunyip's slow, messy defeat. The hunters had bled it to death in the end, inflicting as many small wounds as they could until it was weakened enough to land a sure, killing strike with one of the elf's long blades.

"I'm sure Reyla doesn't doubt your student's skill or tenacity," she spoke as she slipped down into Reyla's comfortable seat across from the old elf. "Rather, she regrets the situation we are now faced with."

"Of course," Reyla nodded with false calm. Beneath an icy exterior, her temper simmering at the vampire's boldness to goad her at a time like this. She reeked of him, and her magical aura was practically on fire with the sort of satisfaction that left no doubt what they'd done together last night. "What do you think, Michelle?"

"No."

"Just like that? This could all go away you know."

"No, it can't go away," Michelle reached to massage the bridge of her nose again but stopped herself short as the beginning of a plan began to form. "The video is probably being viewed by thousands of people as we speak. Will you tamper with their minds too? No, your omission of the existence of demons will do enough damage to the Synod's relationship with the world's governments by itself. Don't even suggest the memory charm. What we need is a conventional cover-up, a boatload of bribe money, and to control the media angle on this. And you need to pull out every magical stop you have to help me. Is there a way to disguise someone's appearance, make them look exactly like another person?"

"Of course," said Reyla. "They don't stand up to magical scrutiny, but I suspect that's not what you want them for."

"Good, let's go then." Michelle snatched her tablet back from the bemused elemental and turned to walk out of the room.

Lillian rose and nudged past Reyla as she followed, grinning wide at the elf's confusion.

"Go? Go where?" Reyla spluttered indignantly.

"Argentina, of course. Time is of the essence." Michelle spoke over her shoulder, phone already in hand and dialling. She was out the door and striding briskly away, Sam and Lisa falling into step behind Lillian without a word.

"I don't simply go to other counties at the drop of a hat!" Reyla burst out of her study, her anger swelling as the four women ignored her, bent to the will of their leader. Only the caramel-skinned one, Samantha, looked back with an apologetic smile and beckoned her to come along.

"Sir, you're not going to believe this, but I'll explain everything as we get underway."

"What do you need, Michelle?" The relief in the President's tone was palpable. Robert Falconer had been impressed with the calm competence of this woman ever since her file had crossed his desk. She'd only proven herself further since then, and she was tenacious once she sank her teeth into something. He'd have considered attempting to court her if he wasn't already happily married and in about the most public office there was.

"First, we push the video to the media." Michelle was almost at the main reception of the Compound now, and the occupants of the huge underground room stilled as their entourage burst from the corridor. "Get a video expert to put some very minimal traces of alteration in there, stuff that makes it look like it's been worked on. I'm talking tiny, undetectable without video forensics, we want Peter Jackson getting instant wood when he sees this."

Reyla had thankfully composed herself by then and apparently decided to join them without further outburst. Timothy was attentively receiving instructions for running the place in her absence.

"Okay, what then?" Robert was intrigued now.

"Give it to the media but don't tell them shit, let them run it however they want with as much confusion and panic-mongering as they like."

"Surely not." The President leaned back in the Oval Office, rocking the reclining function of his plush leather chair back and forth in apprehension. "I hope that's not the end of your plan. What do we say when we're asked to comment? What is the Argentinian government going to do? How am I supposed to get them to toe the line? Hell, what is the line?"

"You tell them to keep their damn mouths shut until I get down there," Michelle snapped, pausing as Lisa mouthed to her that Kat and Pamela were going to meet them at the airport. "Sorry Sir, I'm a little wound up, and this has to go off without a hitch."

"You're fine, Agent Hamund," he chuckled nervously. "Get us out of this mess before the U.N. summit and you can be as pert as you please. I've already put off a call from the German counsellor because I hadn't come up with a strategy."

"I'll certainly try, Sir. Argentina has been struggling for a while, perhaps you can dangle some sort of economic carrot to keep them to the lines we supply. If not, I'm sure you can think of a suitable stick. In the meantime, I need a camera crew we can trust. Also, the prettiest, dumbest South American news correspondent your people can find on short notice." They were inside the Compound garage now, and Lillian blurred on ahead to prepare one of the large SUVs that would carry them to the airport. She glanced at Sam's hurried tapping on her tablet and was pleased to see she was in communication with one of their pilots already. "We'll need a healthy slush fund for bribes too. I want some people to disappear for a while, so my teams will start gathering information on everyone associated with the incident. If you could work out a contact for us in the S.I.D.E. and smooth the way for us to go down there hot, it would be a great help."

"Where are you going with this, Michelle? This is starting to sound very... bold," the President spoke in her ear.

"It'll work. I've got magic on my side, remember?"

"Okay, I trust you to give it your best shot," he agreed cautiously. "Tell me the broad strokes at least."

"We have to control the narrative, Sir. While I'm down there coming up with a cover, we'll very quietly replace as many original copies of the video as we can find with our own slightly edited version. Not everyone will be convinced, but if we give the public a plausible explanation, enough of them will go along with it to tip the scales in our favour. At least I hope it works that way. Reyla said that the Synod has offered to use the memory charm on the survivors but I told her that's about the worst thing they could do..."