Book I - ch 14. Veiled Truths

* * *

Pegasus looked up from the screen when the door to the observation room opened behind him.

“We have confirmation,” Griffon said. “He really is local. Family hasn’t seen him since yesterday. Uniforms are questioning them now.”

“Anything useful?” Pegasus asked.

“Not so far. We found some New Nation propaganda at his house, but mostly harmless. He comes across as a lowly supporter. One of those people who rants and raves online about how foreign powers have infiltrated our government.”

Pegasus nodded to himself. “Did we get anything from the two that died?”

“Also locals as far as we can tell. Wolf and Hydra are looking into their connections.”

“Did Zeus say anything about the New Nation’s upcoming attacks? I heard Unicorn mention another place was tagged with their graffiti.”

Griffon shook his head. “It wasn’t them. It said ‘Thanks for your sacrifice.’”

And the New Nation always spelled it out as ‘thank you’.

“We’re to continue investigating the attack on Dragon’s family until they need us,” Griffon said. “Zeus suspects Dragon was targeted because they thought she knew something related to the bomb threats.”

“It would be great if she did,” Pegasus said. “That would mean we have something.”

“Doesn’t matter what we have if she doesn’t know what it is. And she came up blank when we were brainstorming earlier.”

On the screens in front of them, Robyn stepped into the interrogation room. Her movements were steady, but there was a moment of hesitation as she closed the door, before she turned to face their prisoner, Rupert Gellman.

“And you’re sure interrogating one of the men that killed her parents isn’t too personal for her?” Pegasus asked.

Griffon leaned in closer to the screen. “She seems fine. You, I’m not so sure of.”

Pegasus spared him a glance. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Griffon rolled a chair over and sat down without looking his way. “That you got a death wish all of a sudden.”

He laughed. “Is that why you sent me to Athena?”

“No, that’s protocol.” Griffon ran a hand back and forth along his own close-cropped hair, trying to mess it up. An exercise in futility, but it was a habit that displayed his frustration. “I’d settle for knowing what’s gotten into you lately.”

Robyn started reading a list of minor crimes the man was suspected of having committed. Pegasus kept their com off so they wouldn’t bother her.

Nothing of importance was being said yet, so he allowed himself to divert his attention back to Griffon. “What are you worried about?”

“You. You were never this troublesome, and suddenly…” Griffon made an explosion gesture with his hands, though he was nice enough not to try for the sound effects. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d be having you tested right now.”

On screen, Robyn smiled at Gellman. Pegasus recognized that smile. She was getting closer to the real subject.

“Is it really that bad?” he asked Griffon.

“You’ve been going off on your own a lot lately. When it was Scorpion, it was understandable.”

“Understandable…”

“But then you ignored mission parameters to save Bear,” Griffon continued. “And now taking Dragon’s sister outside when you were both supposed to be locked in a room.”

Pegasus smirked. “I think if we locked ourselves in a room that might’ve been a bigger problem.”

Griffon glared at him. “Don’t be cute. You know I hate it.”

Pegasus gave him the most mischievous smile he could muster. “Can’t help it. I was born this way.”

“Nonsensical and annoying?” Griffon asked.

It was definitely too much fun to tease their team leader.

“I’m tempted to have you tested if only to make you stop.”

“Oh, come on. If I really were a spy, I’d be keeping a low profile, wouldn’t I?”

“Or you would reason that’s what we’d think, and cue all this inane behavior.”

“Do you want me to get tested?” Pegasus asked, only half serious. If anyone were thinking he was some kind of impostor, he wouldn’t be standing there.

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Griffon waved him off. “I want Jekyll back, I’m tired of Hyde.”

On screen, Robyn mentioned the plans they’d discovered for an upcoming attack as she paced behind Gellman’s chair.

“Can’t help you with that,” Gellman answered, looking amused.

Robyn shrugged as if it mattered little to her either way. She sat down on the other side of the table from him. “I figured as much. But you know what? That’s okay. In fact, we can sit back and watch it all burn. All I care about is you.”

His eyebrows twitched in an aborted frown.

“Congrats, he’s unsettled,” Pegasus whispered.

“On the fifteenth, you entered a house on Chester Road,” Robyn continued. “What were your orders?”

He gave her a disgruntled look.

“C’mon, you can tell us. What’s the harm? Tell us how specific the orders were. Did they tell you to kill me, or was there something else on the list?”

Gellman clenched his jaw.

Pegasus turned on his com. “Dragon, did you see that?”

She gave the slightest nod. “Your orders weren’t to kill me?”

Gellman stiffened.

“Everybody’s dead now, you can tell us the truth. Were you sent there to capture someone?” Robyn straightened in her seat, narrowing her gaze on him. “No, you were shooting too many bullets for that. You don’t capture anyone if everyone’s dead. So you were there to kill someone… Was it a man? But why now?”

“Dragon, something’s wrong,” Pegasus said as soon as he saw the man relax. “We’ve got this all wrong.”

Robyn pushed herself up and leaned forward across the table. “You know, those people you killed were my family. So you see how it might look to me that it would be okay for me to go find yours… I could set them up at one of our facilities and you can roll the dice on whether it’s the place your people are planning to bomb next. How’s that sound?”

Gellman said nothing.

“I’ll even let you be held at another facility. That way, we can gamble which one gets blown up first.” She laughed. “I’m kidding. I mean, we already know you’re targeting the university.”

“We do?” Pegasus asked Griffon.

“There’s about eighty-percent chance it’s the target, so we’re guessing to an extent,” Griffon said. “We’re down to five locations last I heard, not counting the one that said ‘thanks’”

“Maybe we could arrange for a surprise tour for your son,” Robyn continued.

Gellman looked ready to murder her.

“Does he really think we’d do that?” Griffon asked.

Pegasus shrugged without looking away from the screen. “I believe her and I actually know her.”

“Or you could tell me who you were supposed to kill,” Robyn finished, smiling.

A staring match went on for several seconds, but Gellman blinked first. “Sometimes orders will come in like that, with a bull’s eye on someone who doesn’t seem to be anybody. We don’t ask anything… It’s better not to.”

Robyn nodded as if she agreed. “Tell me who.”

* * *

“Am I supposed to start talking or something?” Sarah asked.

“If you feel comfortable enough,” Athena replied with a smile.

The woman looked to be in her late forties. She was short and somewhat frail-looking, but there was something very intimidating in her dark eyes. It was unsettling, and Sarah found it easier to focus her attention on the room.

This place was a striking contrast to the colorless walls she’d been staring at every single day. Maybe the pale shades of blue were supposed to be relaxing. The couch and chairs all looked comfortable enough to doze off in. But there were no windows. And no houseplants in sight—something else she’d expected to find in a shrink’s office. Not even a plastic one.

“Do you know why you’re here?” Athena asked, either tired of her silence or wishing to recapture her attention.

Because you’re a shrink and I’m going nuts locked up in here, Sarah thought, but she wouldn’t dare say it. Instead, she shrugged.

Athena smiled, leaning back in her seat. “I heard you went outside today with Pegasus.”

Sarah nodded slowly. She didn’t think she could possibly make things worse for herself, but she wouldn’t get Pegasus in even more trouble, would she?

Maybe Athena wanted to know what Pegasus had told her, if he’d said things he shouldn’t have.

As if the woman saw something in her face, her expression softened.

“Everyone here has suffered some kind of loss. We all understand what you’re going through to some extent.”

That wasn’t a question, so Sarah didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say. So much for an excursion. She might’ve been better off staying in her cell.

“I was hoping I’d get a chance to talk with you before you went home,” Athena persisted.

“You could’ve come to my room. The door’s always open from the outside.”

Athena smiled again. It was the same smile. Calm, but not warm.

She thought again of what Robyn said about Pegasus smiling to appear friendly. Athena could take some lessons from him.

“Why do you think your door is always locked?”

Sarah frowned at her. Because this is a secret government facility and I shouldn’t be wandering around on my own, she thought. But again, she shrugged.

“How are you dealing with the fact that your sister… works for us?”

Sarah half expected her to say Robyn belonged to them. Maybe she’d watched way too many movies.

“She’s your older sister, isn’t she?” Athena asked.

That seemed a harmless enough question. “Yes. By almost four years.”

“Do you miss your friends?”

“Yeah, sure.” She hadn’t spent much time thinking about it. It was more like there were two basic compartments in her brain: one where her parents’ death lived—and that she’d been avoiding; and the other where this place and its weird chaos existed. There wasn’t much room for anything else.

“What do you think of all this?” Athena asked. “About this place and your time here? What do you think is going to happen with you?”

Sarah went back to shrugging as a response.

“Are you worried? Are you afraid of us? Do you think we’ll harm you?”

“Can I say I don’t really spend that much time thinking, and then we can move on?”

Athena tried for another smile, but whatever she was about to say was cut off by a knock on the door. By the look on her face, that wasn’t customary.

Pegasus came in. “Sorry, it couldn’t wait. Griffon’s orders. I’m to take Sarah with me,” he said without further explanation.

Sarah jumped to her feet, ignoring the slight sting in her chest. “Is Robyn okay?”

“She’s fine.” Despite his words, he looked concerned. “There’s some questions we need to ask you.”

“About what?”

He looked uncomfortable as he ushered her down the hall and into the elevator. “I was instructed not to say anything that might interfere with what you have to tell us.”

He wasn’t meeting her gaze, watching the numbers on the display instead. They were heading up.

Pegasus had always seemed relaxed around her, but now he was standing a couple of feet further than he normally did, back stiff as if he were at attention. The silence didn’t feel good either.

Uneasiness churned in her stomach. “But Robyn’s okay, right?”

He finally graced her with eye contact. “She’s fine, I promise.”

With fewer additional words and no explanations, Pegasus led her to a room that was the spitting image of what she imagined an interrogation room would be. A small windowless room with a rectangular table and a couple of chairs facing each other. She stopped at the threshold, weary of stepping inside. Maybe she really had seen way too many movies.

“No one’s going to harm you,” he whispered right behind her. “I promise.”

Something about the way he said it made her believe him. Recognizing that she didn’t have a choice, Sarah stepped inside.

The door closed behind her, locking her in.