07-07-2018, 06:43 PM
His heart sank. The feeble grip with with he clasped at Natalie may have well as slipped away. If not Patron Northbrook, that left one option. Jay had a bet how it was going to go with Ascendancy.
He accepted the wallet. Blackness overtook Cayli's face as he steadied himself to confront the man himself. Another soul to lay his own bare before. Painful, but if it got him to Cayli in time, he'd rip out his own a million times for those wolves inside.
He was staring at the bob and sweep of heads within when her voice, steady as ice on dark ocean waters, pulled him back. The words were met with blinks as he processed the information. Evelyn Avalon was a name he knew, if only because of her recent spike in Russian news and the elevation of her beauty to the pinnacle of conversation for a few days. In Moscow, yes, but Jay didn't care. He disliked politics but for what it meant to a soldier. He hated that the two were more entwined than he would admit.
So he knew quite little about her beyond the mess-hall talk. Natalie's suggestion implied she had pull with the right people, but who in Congress could extract him from CCD borders? Unless it involved some kind of operation, there was no way. Even then, that would take time to plan and the stakes too high between their nations to risk such an operation.
Evelyn was a channeler. Maybe she had some unknown use of the power at her disposal that could see him through ticketing. Could she manipulate his identity? Change security? Convince someone to give passage?
None of that made sense. His blinks transformed to frowns, then. Natalie was suggesting something else. Something far less clandestine and far more base.
"She has a lot to lose to go to war with Ascendancy over me. I seem to find myself no longer American,"
he showed her the mark of D1 on his arm, "nor Custody; yet I have to walk paths bearing allegiance to both."
It couldn't be done, of course, not when two nations were so antithetical to each other. It didn't mean Jay wouldn't try. He may rip apart in the effort, but dammit, he'd try.
The furrow to his brow smoothed. Decision made. Dice cast and bet laid. "Do you know where we can find her?"
He smirked, waiting to be led. Certainly, this was a path to the hangman if ever there was one.
But it was the only chance he had.
He accepted the wallet. Blackness overtook Cayli's face as he steadied himself to confront the man himself. Another soul to lay his own bare before. Painful, but if it got him to Cayli in time, he'd rip out his own a million times for those wolves inside.
He was staring at the bob and sweep of heads within when her voice, steady as ice on dark ocean waters, pulled him back. The words were met with blinks as he processed the information. Evelyn Avalon was a name he knew, if only because of her recent spike in Russian news and the elevation of her beauty to the pinnacle of conversation for a few days. In Moscow, yes, but Jay didn't care. He disliked politics but for what it meant to a soldier. He hated that the two were more entwined than he would admit.
So he knew quite little about her beyond the mess-hall talk. Natalie's suggestion implied she had pull with the right people, but who in Congress could extract him from CCD borders? Unless it involved some kind of operation, there was no way. Even then, that would take time to plan and the stakes too high between their nations to risk such an operation.
Evelyn was a channeler. Maybe she had some unknown use of the power at her disposal that could see him through ticketing. Could she manipulate his identity? Change security? Convince someone to give passage?
None of that made sense. His blinks transformed to frowns, then. Natalie was suggesting something else. Something far less clandestine and far more base.
"She has a lot to lose to go to war with Ascendancy over me. I seem to find myself no longer American,"
he showed her the mark of D1 on his arm, "nor Custody; yet I have to walk paths bearing allegiance to both."
It couldn't be done, of course, not when two nations were so antithetical to each other. It didn't mean Jay wouldn't try. He may rip apart in the effort, but dammit, he'd try.
The furrow to his brow smoothed. Decision made. Dice cast and bet laid. "Do you know where we can find her?"
He smirked, waiting to be led. Certainly, this was a path to the hangman if ever there was one.
But it was the only chance he had.
Only darkness shows you the light.