Earth Thirst (The Arcadian Conflict) - By Mark Teppo Page 0,45
she asked me to. That's what will gnaw at her.
I can't blame her. She's human, after all.
BOOK THREE
HUMUS
SIXTEEN
I hear voices coming from the hotel room as I exit the stairwell. I pick out Mere's voice easily enough, and after listening for a moment, I recognize the other voice. I fumble with the door handle, pretending that I'm having trouble with the electronic key, and by the time I figure it out, all sound from inside the room has stopped. I enter the room, casually looking around as I shut the door behind me. She is sitting in one of the chairs and the bathroom door is nearly closed.
“Don't slip in the dark,” I call out to Ralph as I walk by the bathroom.
Mere's wearing comfortable jeans and a gray turtleneck sweater, made from the same grade of wool as the sweater she bought me. She's already started stretching the arms over her hands. Her hair is pulled back into a loose pony tail, and her eyes are bright—she's been crying, but not recently, and there are other emotions that have taken precedence.
“I have very good hearing,” I remind her as Ralph catches his foot on the edge of the bathtub and nearly pulls the shower curtain off its rings.
“I know,” she sighs. “He… I don't know what he was thinking.”
Ralph comes out of the bathroom, and when he nervously steps past me, I can smell bourbon on his breath.
“I only made travel arrangements for two,” I say.
“Where are we going?” Mere asks.
I glance at Ralph. “Why don't we start with why he's here.”
“You told me to call him.”
“Call, yes. Invite him over for a drink, no.”
“We're not drinking,” Ralph says. “Not… not now,” he amends when I look at him again.
“What sort of travel arrangements?” Mere wants to know.
“Mere,” I say patiently. “There's a Need to Know conversation we need to have. Is Ralph an asset or a liability?”
“Jesus Christ.” Ralph backs away from me, and when the bed hits him on the back of the legs, he sits down heavily. “You did do it.”
“Do what?” Mere demands.
“He set the fire. Oh, shit. The guys at the hospital. What did you do there?”
Ralph's had too much time to speculate and he's letting his ideas get the better of him. This meeting is going sideways, and it needs to get back on track. I move, slapping Ralph down on the bed and putting my hand over his mouth. He squirms for a second and I apply pressure. He quiets down, his eyes bulging with fear. Mere is half-out of her chair and I stop her with a word. “Don't.”
She glares at me, not entirely cowed but smart enough to not make any sudden movement that I might interpret as threatening.
“Do you remember the boat?” I say. “Do you remember what I said when I held you?” She nods and I don't have to say anything more. “All of that still applies. More so, perhaps, because I am under a bit of stress right now. Do you understand?”
She nods again.
“Everything is either an asset or a liability,” I explain, partially for Ralph's sake. “You want to be an asset.”
“I know,” she says quietly.
“Eden Park was not my doing, nor was it my responsibility. Why?” She doesn't answer at first and I repeat the last word. Firmly.
“Because you had retrieved your asset,” she snaps, “and no one there was a liability.”
“Correct.”
Ralph starts to squirm under my hand, and judging from the amount of white I'm seeing of his eyes, his panic is getting the better of him.
“That's… You're a cold-hearted bastard,” she interjects.
I bare my teeth at her. “I'm a soldier of Arcadia,” I remind her.
She stares at me for a long time, still furious with me, but when I do nothing but wait for her to say something, she finally sets aside her outrage and thinks about what I just said. And why I am waiting. “He's an asset,” she says, nodding toward Ralph.
I take my hand away; gasping and coughing, Ralph scuttles back on the bed until he runs into the headboard; even then, he tries to press himself as far away from me as possible. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he says when he can breathe more readily. “What the fuck is going on?”
Mere sits down again and her shoulders slump as she leans back against the seat. “You heard him,” she says. “He's a soldier. He follows orders.” The last word comes out dripping with venom.