Chapter 18

The night the mirror exploded, Mark had made coq au vin in honor of Charles’ memory. It was Vivian’s third visit to the apartment. Robert had prohibited any such visits without his prior approval and supervision. But, as time had passed and other priorities occupied Robert’s attention, it had become easier to sidestep his directives. Mark felt a little guilty about it, but Vivian’s nonchalant attitude toward Robert’s boundaries had made it easier to rationalize their transgressions. Besides, Lilith clearly had no further interest in him and, even if she had, this apartment was in a different town, over twenty miles from the last one. It seemed implausible that she could find him here even if she’d wanted to.

Mark had used cognac, and the coq au vin was good, but hadn’t measured up to Charles’ standard – the pearl onions not as well-browned and the meat not quite as tender. Vivian had nonetheless been lavish with her praise.

As they sipped their wine, they reminisced about Charles, Mark was surprised to discover that he and Vivian had been neither spouses nor lovers.

“We didn’t have that kind of relationship,” Vivian said. “It was mainly just the work involving his research and the conversions we did together. He was a remarkable man, even by Elysian standards – highly educated and very scholarly, as you saw — professorial. But that wasn’t all. You saw how well he cooked, and he was also a sculptor –beautiful work; delicate. And you know, before his conversion, he was in special forces command?”

“Really?” Mark said. “That I would never have guessed!”

“It’s not that odd, I suppose – he told me his father was an admiral. He did counter-terrorism. That’s probably why he got into the Dacian stuff later.”

“The Dacian stuff?” Mark said.

“You know, the security and the rescues and the counter-measures—the kinds of things Robert does and the people that rescued you. That’s probably why Lilith had him killed.”

“Is that a constant thing between Elysians and Dacians – the fighting, the killing?”

Vivian shook her head. “No. It’s unusual. They keep to themselves for the most part, except for the Amrita and the kidnappings. And we don’t actively seek them out, needless to say. But it flares up sometimes because of incidents like the one you were involved in. I’m still beyond angry about that. There was no need for guns.”

“The guy told me they used rubber bullets,” Mark said.

“Which can obviously kill. And you’ve seen what came of that.”

Mark nodded. “Well, hopefully things are starting to calm down. I worry about you being in the middle of all this.”

Vivian reached her hand across the table toward him.

“Mark, I’m so...”

Suddenly, they both jerked back in alarm as the wall mirror exploded into hundreds of glittering fragments, the sound reverberating through the room. They instinctively ducked for cover beneath the table, their eyes wide with shock.

“What the hell?!” Mark said, as they exchanged bewildered looks beneath the table. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Vivian shook her head.

Mark crawled to her, his heart pounding. “We need to stay down and get out of here. Come.” He took her arm and they crawled over to relative safety behind the sofa. Mark glanced up and realized that the window on the west side of the room had shattered as well. He hadn’t noticed. Something had come through that window and smashed into the mirror.

“I think a bullet came through that window,” Mark said, pointing.

Vivian nodded. “So we go that way?” she said, gesturing toward the door of the spare room.

“Yes,” Mark agreed. Unless the shooter was in a helicopter, there was no way he could get to them at that angle.

They made it to the room without further incident and Mark closed the door. The room had a window, but it faced south. He quickly drew down the roller blind. He pulled the office chair and another chair over to the south wall and they sat with their backs to it.

“Jesus!” Mark said. They were both still breathing heavily.

“I guess we have to call Robert,” Vivian said. “But my phone’s in my purse in there.”

“I have mine,” Mark said, pulling it out.

“Mark, you’re bleeding!” Vivian said, reaching toward him.

Mark’s eyes followed hers to his left hand. Blood was pouring from a wound on his palm. He must have gone over a shard of glass as they crawled.

“It’s okay,” he said, inspecting it. “It’s not that deep.” He looked around for anything he could use to stem the bleeding, seeing nothing.

“Here,” Vivian said, reaching down to his shoe. “We can use your sock.”

She pulled off his shoe and sock.

“I’ll hold it here,” she said, taking his hand. “You call.”

Mark was relieved when Robert answered on the second ring. He explained quickly what had happened and where they were.

“Any more shots?” Robert asked.

“No,” Mark replied.

“Good. My guess is that they’re long gone, but stay where you are and away from the window. Are either of you hurt in any way?”

“No, just a scratch on my palm from glass on the floor,” Mark said.

“Okay, it’s going to take me ... at least thirty minutes to get there. So just sit tight. I’ll call when I’m close. If anything else happens, call me immediately.”

Robert called again about forty minutes later.

“We’ve looked around and there’s no sign of them. We’re going to come up. Just stay where you are till we get there.”

Robert arrived with another man. Robert used gauze and medical tape to bandage Mark’s wound.

Robert stood up and looked at them, shaking his head.

“I know,” Vivian said, meeting his eyes. “Just give it to us with both barrels.”

“You absolutely have to stay apart,” Robert said. “It’s just as simple as that. We risk losing both of you otherwise, and possibly others as well. It’s not a risk worth taking.”

“You’re right and I’m sorry, Robert. I truly am. And this was my idea, not Mark’s by the way. I know we’re putting you in danger as well as ourselves. I promise to follow your lead until this is over.”

Mark nodded his concurrence.

_________________________________________________________ Mark was in a motel as Robert’s people scouted potential locations for yet another apartment for him.

Robert called. They had found the bullet, which had been stopped by a stud in the wall behind the mirror.

“It looked like a .308 Winchester, but it’s hard to tell – it was beat up pretty badly. Definitely a large-caliber round, likely from a hunting rifle used for deer or even elk. We scouted around a bit. He was up on that rise on the other side of the parking lot. We can see the muzzle flash on the recording, but you can’t see much else – too dark. We’re having frames blown up to see what information we can get.”

“Can I look at them when you’re done?” Mark asked. He wanted to get a look at whoever had tried to kill one or both of them.

Robert called the next day.

“I sent you the link. The only things visible are on the couple of frames during the muzzle flash. Too dark otherwise. They cut the landscape lighting cables. He was in black with a ski mask. You can see a speck of white on one of the frames. Could be a reflection from a button. Let me know if you spot anything.”

Mark examined the frames on his laptop. The muzzle flash obscured most of what was behind it, although you could see the faint silhouette of the crouching figure holding the rifle. He looked more closely at the white speck, zooming in further. He felt a sudden tightening in his chest.