Part 30 (1/2)
I turned on the seat, looking directly at Francois until he couldn't ignore me. ”But is it enough?” My voice was tight and low. My emotions bubbling beneath the surface. ”Is my wanting my brother safe enough reason to embroil others in fighting Vaverek or fighting the Council or . . .” I waved my hand before me. ”Seems d.a.m.n selfish to me right now.”
”That's one way to look at it.” Francois knitted his hands together. ”But you're forgetting the family that was killed by the earlier s.h.i.+fter. The one most likely driven by Vaverek.”
”But . . .” I hadn't forgotten the family, especially the little girl. ”Maybe I'm being stupid but I have to make sure I'm doing the right thing for the right reason.”
”That you're not fighting just for your brother?”
”Yes.” I leaned forward, mimicking Francois' pose. ”I'm asking you and Willie and . . .”
”And Bran.”
”Yes.” I bit off the word. ”To risk your lives for my brother.” I paused then added, ”If I'd seen Vaverek torture hundreds, or there was a threat to the city, or the world was at war, then I'd have no doubts. But right now I feel like I'm starting a war rather than ending one.”
”If we did not go with you tomorrow would you go alone?”
”Of course.”
”Why?”
Now it was my time to snort. ”Because Van is my brother.”
”Any other reason?”
I twisted my hands together. ”Because it's not right. What's been done to him. He's a good man.”
He tilted his head as if considering my words. When he spoke there was none of the witty, urbanite Franco I once knew, or the suave and controlled Francois I knew now, but a man who'd faced his own demons. ”Thus in silence in dreams' projections, Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals; the hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand, I sit by the restless all dark night-some are so young; some suffer so much . . .”
”Poetry?”
”Walt Whitman, wrestling with the same issues. Seeing the individual soldiers who fought your country's Civil War, row upon row in hospital beds.”
”What does a dead white guy's poetry have to do with my brother?”
”When light faces off against dark then light must win or the world as we know it is destroyed.” He paused, then added, ”It's the small battles that are most hard won and matter the most. You're not fighting for your brother, you're fighting to stop those who imprisoned your brother. To rebalance right and justice and goodness.”
He rose and looked down at me. ”The small battles are just as important as the large ones. Because if the Vavereks of the world are allowed to continue next time it won't be one s.h.i.+fter kidnapped or one family murdered. Then it'll be a small community, then a larger one and on it goes.”
I listened to his steps receding as I mulled over his words. My dad told me once that every choice has a consequence. I'd made my choice. Could I live with the consequences?
Guess I'd find out tomorrow.
CHAPTER 59.
I'd given up looking at the clock to see time ticking past when I decided what I could do. I punched in Vaughn's number on my cell phone, surprised that the phone still held a charge, a week one but enough to get a ring. I wasn't surprised when she sounded half asleep.
”Vaughn here.”
”I need a favor.” There, nothing like jumping right in and asking for help, persona non grata or not.
”Alex?” She sounded like she'd sat up and was scrubbing her hand across her face.
”Who is it?” A male voice mumbled next to her. M.T. Stone.
Should have calculated that potential speed b.u.mp. It was one thing asking my fellow team member, another to run my idea past the Agency instructor. d.a.m.n.
”You still there?” Vaughn asked me then spoke to Stone loud enough that I could hear. ”Go back to sleep. Nothing to do with you.”
Yet.
”Yeah, I'm here,” I mumbled into the phone, wondering and not for the first time, if this was a bad idea. ”I don't want to put you in the middle of something.”
Vaughn laughed. ”Part of the territory. What's up?”
And there it was. That unconditional support, no questions asked, just an implied I've-got-your-back. I never expected it. Never looked for it, especially from a group of strangers and a group of women.
I released a sigh I didn't even realize I'd been holding and gave her a quick overview of everything, or as much of everything as I could share. The whole Were agitation, potential involvement of the Council, suspicion of how and where my brother was going to be used to destabilize the whole human versus non-human status. When I finished there was silence.
”d.a.m.n, you've been busy.”
If she'd been closer I'd have given her a big hug and I wasn't a huggy- feely kind of person.
”So what now?” she asked, all awake.
I sucked in a deep breath. ”I was hoping you and the team might be in the vicinity tomorrow. As backup.”
Vaughn's voice lowered. ”You know who probably won't like it.”
”Our director?” I whispered though there was no one on my end listening in.
”Yup.”
”Yeah, I kind of figured that.” I rushed through the next part. ”Which is why this is all unofficial and under the table. If the team, or as many members of the team who are okay with the plan, just happen to be at the palace at Versailles tomorrow around ten, and if they see some bad s.h.i.+t going down, and jump in, then I can ask for forgiveness later.”
”As opposed to permission beforehand?”
”Yeah. Something like that.”
She paused as I heard my heart beat hard within my chest. Please, please, please, say yes.
”Funny thing,” she said as if chatting girl-to-girl anywhere. ”Just happen to want to see Versailles. One of my favorite spots from when I was here as a girl.”
My shoulders dropped from around my ears and my hand unclenched from the phone. ”Vaverek will be there, so this could get ugly.” No could about it. Vaverek was a nasty piece of putrid meat and he was willing to do whatever he needed to do to accomplish his agenda. Tough, so was I.
”No worries,” came Vaughn's casual reply. d.a.m.n, I adored her.