Lucky 13
Felicia watched the last member of the Council leave before turning to Ian. “I did not realize the danger I would be in. Does the council do this often?”
Ian slowly shook his head. “They don't deliberately try to mislead us,” he said. He rose to his feet and picked up his black uniform jacket, with the shiny silver eagle insignia on the collar. “But, intelligence being the game that it is, they don't always give agents the whole story at the beginning of an assignment. It's for our protection as much as anything else.”
She nodded. “I understand. It's terrible that the Traitor Katherine did all of those terrible things to the other agents, and what she's done in Karen and Brad's world. I'm not sure how to explain this to them.”
“Well, the worst is yet to come, in their world,” Ian said. “She's taken her time, building up a base of influence. Fortunately, cleanup shouldn't be very difficult. Unfortunately,” he added with a wry grin, “if we do it quickly, it's going to be very messy and public.”
“What do you think we should do, Ian?” asked Felicia, after thinking things over. “I can't think of a way to fix this, and keep our hosts lives intact.”
“We can blend in well enough, on the other side. We have two individuals who don't want their lives screwed up, and who are native to that world; we should talk to them, find out how much assistance they'd be willing to give us. We could offer to compensate them in some way. Gold, money, whatever.”
“I think we should let them rest for a while longer before we talk to them. Karen was terribly cranky.”
“Yes, that she was.” Ian slung his jacket over his shoulder and left the council chamber. “That may be a good idea. We've got time, anyway. I don't know about you, but my body feels pretty well-rested.”
“Mine does, too.” Felicia picked up her jacket, not glancing at the new pair of silver bars on the collar, and followed. “I am surprised, however. I did not think that my performance was very good.”
“You did just fine, you got us to where we needed to go and you influenced those who needed a little nudge. You're not expected to know every policy and procedure going into the field for the first time.” He smiled. “I was very happy with your performance, as were they.”
“Thank you.” Felicia smiled. “And it looks like we're going to work together again.”
“Yes, indeed. As long as you're not sick of me yet.”
“No. I've liked this mission so far, and you're a good partner.”
Ian smiled and punched in a code at the elevator. “Would you like to have dinner with me, then? And in the morning we can brief Brad and Karen.”
“That would be lovely. Thank you.”
Ian took Felicia to a small restaurant he knew. It was high atop the extinct volcano that formed the base of the island; from the window, they could just see a few other islands in the archipelago, deep green and spread out among the sapphire sea.
“This is very nice,” said Felicia. “All of the green reminds me of home.”
“One of the most beautiful places in the world,” Ian said agreeably. “It's sort of a tradition for me to come here after something big. Though it feels like we're in the middle, not the end.”
“It is the middle,” agreed Felicia. “We still have a lot to do.”
“I'm glad you haven't been scared away yet,” Ian said, and sipped his drink. “It's a very different place. Chaotic, uncivilized at times. What did you like best about it?”
“I liked the snow, the food, oh, the beds were very comfortable. Television, and all the different clothing.”
Ian nodded. “Yes, all of those things, the diversity, too. Here, things tend to blend together. There, you travel five miles and everything's completely different.”
“I'd like to see more of it. I know the people can be a bit angry and cranky ... but otherwise it seems like a nice world.”
“It's a good place,” Ian said. “And I like to think that when I'm there, I'm not just protecting our world from the dangers of that one, but that I'm protecting them from us. If we were to colonize them, that diversity would go away, or at the very least, it would diminish.”
“That's true.” Felicia looked out of the window, at the islands. “Have you ever been to any of those islands?”
“No. Just the main one.”
“I haven't been to any of them either, but from here, they all look really nice. I like to go places that I have never been.”
“I can understand that. In light of that, I envy Katherine, a little. Madness and plans for global domination aside, she gets to live there ... I wouldn't mind that, myself, one day, if it were allowed.”
“Do you think that she was always like that?” asked Felicia. “Or... do you think that she just made a lot of bad choices?”
“She wasn't always rebellious. She was a model student and a model agent for a very long time, but that's the nature of sociopaths. It wasn't until she was on a mission there that certain murders she had committed here came to light. She managed to stay hidden in that dimension until just recently.”
“I'm glad that she didn't kill us.” Felicia was silent for a moment, and paged through the menu “Instead, she sent us breakfast.”
Ian nodded slowly. “She probably would have tried to make some sort of deal in return for us not turning her in.”
“She was also following Brad and Karen around quite a bit. Perhaps she planned something for all of us... but we shouldn't worry about that now. We are going to fix this.”
“Yes, we will.” Ian ordered something involving seafood and a fresh drink when the waitress returned.
Felicia glanced at the menu, and wasn't sure about which dish she should choose. Taking the safe route, she ordered the dish that Ian ordered. “Thank you, Ian. This is a lovely place.”
“An all-time favorite,” Ian said quietly.
“Did you grow up out here, or is this somewhere you've grown to like?”
“Someplace I grew to like. My first partner took me here after our first assignment. That's where the tradition came from, or the superstition ... not really sure which it is. But I've come here after every assignment, and I'm still alive. Unrelated, certainly, but some coincidences are nice.”
“That is a nice coincidence. Do you still talk to your old partners?”
Ian nodded. “All of them have retired. I keep making these trips.”
“You must really love it, then. I'm very glad that I got to work with you.”
“Likewise. You're good at what you do, and I'm glad you enjoy the work.”
“Are you retiring after this?” she asked, breaking a silence sometime later.
“That's what I'm trying to figure out,” Ian said.
“I'd love to work with you again, but I'd understand if you retired. You've done this for a really long time, and I am just starting. If you do retire, please, stay in contact with me?”
“Of course,” Ian said.
Felicia smiled in response. “I grew up out in Woodmont. This seemed like the only chance I had to see more of the world. I missed my family for a long time, but even though this is dangerous, I'm glad that I chose this path.”
“Well, you'll certainly have time off before you get sent out again. Time to travel and return home for a while, if you like.”
“I have that chance... but, they all have different lives right now. I'm not part of that anymore, and I'm not the girl that they remember. I think it will be better if I just enjoy whatever time off that I have.”
Ian smiled. “When you've been to another world, the one you're from just doesn't seem the same anymore.”
“Yes.” Felicia nodded. “It really doesn't seem the same here.” Felicia looked thoughtful for a moment as she picked at her food.
“This will be my first time going through a gate,” Ian said in a low voice. “I have to say, that changes things a little. It feels temporary, when you're sharing someone's body. When you're in your own body, and in a strange place ... well. A new experience.”
“Yes, that will be different, but I think I have a good feeling about this.”
“Same here,” Ian said. The waitress returned with their plates, and Ian ate slowly, dividing his attention between the vista, which had gone red and orange in the sunset, and Felicia.
Felicia smiled at Ian before eating her food. “It would be nice to stay there for a while,” she said, quietly.
Ian hesitated to reply. He'd been able to think of nothing else since finding out they'd be traveling through the gate to complete this mission. “I agree,” he finally said.
Felicia bit her lip and did not say what was on her mind. “We'll enjoy the time that we have there.”
“Of course.”
“Ian ... When Katherine disappeared, did they look for her right away, or did they trust that she was doing the right thing?”
“It was assumed that she merely had to maintain cover for a while. It wasn't until six months had passed here that they became concerned. The first agents they sent after here were supposed to rescue her.”
“They never returned, did they?” She knew the answer to the question; the traitor Katherine had been given more than passing mention at the Academy.
Ian shook his head. “No.”
“I love my job,” Felicia said in a cautious tone. “And I like working with you, but I don't know if I'm right for this anymore. I don't think I can complete this mission properly.”
Ian looked troubled. “You've already seen part of it through. I can't imagine someone else could be fully briefed in time to go finish up. I understand if you wish to step aside, but it would make a difficult job much more difficult.”
“I don't know if I can finish,” she admitted very quietly, with a circumspect glance around the restaurant. “I don't think I'll want to come back here, and I shouldn't tempt myself with that.”
“I see,” Ian said. “And here I'd hoped you'd be keeping me on the straight and narrow, in that regard.” He chuckled. “I may be tempted, as well. We'll simply keep an eye out for each other.”
“I feel terrible for thinking that way,” Felicia said, leaning back in her chair. “What would happen if the gate was damaged? Would we be rescued?”
“Perhaps,” Ian said thoughtfully. “That would require using another gate, which would require creating or locating another gate ... I think it would be unlikely.”
“Which would mean, we'd be stuck over there. Maybe for the rest of our lives. Do you think you could handle that ... never seeing this again?” He nodded towards the vista of islands, sun and sea.
“My life could be as short as another day, or as long as another hundred years. If I don't see this view again, I'll have the memories.”
Ian smiled. “The only things you can ever really own.”
“The sunset is beautiful.” Felicia smiled and looked towards the red and gold sky.
Ian finished his drink and reached up with one hand to touch the eagle insignia on his collar. “I tendered my resignation, effective at the conclusion of this mission,” he said. “There is still time to withdraw it, but I don't think I will.”
Felicia turned away from the setting sun and towards Ian. She was silent for a few moments as she tried to think of what to say. “I'd like for you to stay, but I'll understand if you don't. Please, watch the sunset with me... just in case it's our last one.”
Ian smiled and enfolded one of Felicia's hands in his own. “Not a very positive way to think about it,” he scolded gently. “But understandable, and the sentiment is accurate enough.”
Felicia squeezed Ian's hand a bit, and turned back to the window. “We don't know what life is going to bring us. This could be the last sunset that we see here, but it could also be something wonderful.”
The stars were starting to come out. Brad and Karen would have recognized them. Brad would have been able to pick out the Dippers and Cassiopeia. Ian knew this, but he wasn't sure why. Sometimes there was a little fragment left over after a trip; never anything significant, just some random fact that Ian knew, or fancied he knew, about his last host.
“Thank you,” Felicia whispered. Karen had once painted a sky scape a lot like what she was looking like. She blinked in surprise at the thought, and shook her head a bit.
“We'll let them have the evening together,” Ian said. “And we'll talk to them in the morning. With any luck, we can be back in their world by noon and save both worlds by dinner time.”
“I hope they're feeling less afraid in the morning. It will be nice to make things safe again.”
Ian nodded. He was still holding Felicia's hand. “I'm glad you are a part of this mission. You work well with those two.”
“Thank you. I've enjoyed it, but it's terribly confusing.”
“You've done good work.”
“Thank you.” That wasn't what she was confused about, but she didn't have to tell Ian that. It was nice to just sit with him.
Ian flagged down the waitress and ordered another drink for himself and for Felicia. He told himself this would be the last; he needed to be clear-headed in the morning.
“What are you going to do?” asked Felicia.
Ian chuckled. “I wish I knew. You're one of the few I can even talk to about work, much less about ... you know ... not wanting to go home.”
“I don't really have anyone else to talk to either. But I understand. I think that's why we have our jobs. We can't stay in one place. It's not who we are.”
“No, not at all.” There were lights visible on the more distant islands, now, yellow pinpricks. Some of them flickered like the stars overhead; this archipelago was one of the few places in the world where bonfires and torches were still used. The native culture had certain rights under the Last Treaty; there were only a few dozen of them left, though, so the islands would be built over and assimilated within a lifetime or so.
“It's so beautiful.” Felicia looked over at the islands and the lights, and she realized why she liked them so much. They were different from anything else she knew.
“If you didn't have a job to do,” Ian asked , “what would you think about the gate?”
“I trust you entirely too much.” Felicia smiled. “I'm -- you know -- what happens is what happens. I'd try to see if I could go through, just to see what things were like. I like exploring, places that aren't home.”
“Well, this place is feeling a little too settled for me.”
“It's very settled,” Felicia agreed. “And just about everyone seems happy. I don't know if I am, because all my training tells me how perfect here is.”
“Different things make different people happy. Lots of people will tell you that happiness is what's inside, what's around you doesn't matter so much.” He smirked, nodded to the waitress as she set down their drinks. “And the people who say that wouldn't be liars; just incorrect.”
“They wouldn't stop the program, right?” asked Felicia after the waitress left. “So much has gone wrong... but after the gate is destroyed -- ”
“Too afraid of contamination to just stop altogether,” Ian said. “No, the Council would keep sending travelers there to make sure there was no threat to our way of life.”
“If I return safely, they'll let me go again, right?” Felicia looked troubled for a moment, and she glanced around the restaurant. “I think I am talking too much.”
“I don't mind your talking to me of these things; and this place seems very private.”
“You'll watch out for me when we get there? I don't want to do anything stupid... I don't want to mess up the opportunity that I have.”
Ian nodded. “Absolutely.”
“I could make sure that you would, but I trust you,” said Felicia, after looking into Ian's eyes. “I can't use my Talent on you.”
Ian hadn't thought she would. That had been a gamble. Sometimes, young and inexperienced agents were a little too loyal to the Council. Felicia seemed to have held onto a mind of her own, even through her time at the academy. That was a fact which hadn't been mentioned in her file; just something he'd observed on his own.
“I think I've had too much to drink,” she said. “But tonight. it seems final.”
“That, it does,” Ian agreed, and clinked the edge of his glass against Felicia's. “To a good trip.”
“To a good trip,” Felicia echoed, and she downed the rest of her drink.