After the Dark

Chapter one A cold day in hell

Six months on the run.

Six months in small towns, big cities, motels, hotels, campsites, public parks, cohabiting with the riffraff, even the homeless, scrounging, surviving...

What a humiliating tenure this had been, in the post-Pulse ruins that was America, for a man of Ames White’s abilities and sensibilities. But White was, if nothing else, a man able to endure difficulties, to overcome hardships, to shrug off adversities that would defeat even above-average specimens of mere humanity.

True, he was not particularly blessed with patience — that attribute had always eluded him. Nor was grace in the face of frustration his long suit; forbearance in the presence of mediocrity — not his forte. Nor was compassion a trait he considered worth cultivating. So in his lack of “sensitivity,” he seemed — to the second- and third-rate minds he so often encountered — cruel, even cold.

But such (wrongly) perceived cruelty and coldness only bespoke a superiority of mind and spirit, the end result of thousands of years of selective breeding; and, as such, were part and parcel of his ability to prevail. Anyway, Ames White was free of most of these primitive “human” emotions, though admittedly vestiges remained. He had loved a woman, once; and he loved his son.

But that was family. Breeding. That was allowed, even encouraged.

And Ames White was possessed with a dark, wicked streak of humor. He could well appreciate the irony of a “cold” character like himself finding refuge in the bitterly frigid Dene Tha town of Meander River, Alberta, Canada.

Its population no larger than the Sunday crowd in a Seattle marketplace, Meander River had taken him about as far north as he could manage, short of renting a dogsled. The people who lived here were so removed from civilization that White wondered if these subhumans had even heard about the Pulse, let alone felt its repercussions.

The Meander River economy was based on barter, and the citizens had very little use for computers, which meant scant had changed here, after what had been a cataclysm to the nearby United States. When terrorists set off an electromagnetic pulse over the East Coast back in 2009, the USA had lost everything, a superpower instantly reduced to the status of Third World nation. To Meander River, the event was as trivial as an electrical outage in a thunderstorm.

Buried under a mound of snow measured in feet, not inches, Meander River was the perfect vacation getaway for the person who didn’t want to be found by persnickety types... NSA federal bosses, say, who might be annoyed that a certain agent had gone rogue; or the Familiars, White’s breeding cult family, who might be ticked that one of their own had failed in every one of his mission objectives, and could merit a reprimand... the fatal kind.

If those were the kinds of people you needed a vacation from, then Meander River had much to offer. Not only was there the biting cold and daunting snow, Meander River was also over three hours from the nearest pre-Pulse landing strip, and a good twelve hours from Edmonton and a real airport. Those conditions did not make travel to this fugitive’s frozen paradise a simple proposition, particularly only a week before Christmas when the average high for the day was still well below zero.

Meander River was also located in the middle of the Dene Tha Native Reserve. Back in the United States, such locales were called Indian Reservations, with the generally abominable conditions to be expected as the end result of a several-centuries-long government-sponsored genocidal undertaking.

Up here, conditions were at least slightly better, with a school, a firehouse, a general store, and maybe a hundred clapboard houses, all in decent enough shape. The area was neatly maintained, without the abandoned cars and paint-peeling buildings White knew were par for the course on U.S. reservations. Best of all, the Meander River racial makeup meant that White wore reverse camouflage — he was one of only four or five persons in the town without the dark red skin and flat, wide features of the Dene Tha — giving him the prime advantage of seeing pale-face trouble coming from a long ways off.

The Familiars were universally white, racial purity being one element of the breeding recipe that had been perfected over countless centuries. And, of course, the U.S. government, particularly the ironically dubbed black ops agencies, weren’t exactly renowned for their Rainbow Coalition hiring practices. So, for the time being anyway, White felt — if not safe — prepared to meet any difficulty, in this tiny Canadian burg.

Of course, White’s whiteness had its downside. Among this dusky population, he stuck out like a failed Manticore experiment — he wouldn’t have looked any more out of place had he been that imbecilic Dog Boy or that psychotic Lizard Man. While this would make him easy for his pursuers to spot, over all he maintained a certain peace of mind knowing that anyone hunting him would likely be in the same Caucasian — or at least non-Native American — boat.

Even so, White would also be harder to spot now than half a year ago, when his picture was broadcast on every television in North America. His spiky brown hair had grown out and covered his ears, a neatly trimmed beard and mustache replacing his previously clean-shaven face, giving him a well-groomed mountain-man appearance; his piercing dark eyes remained his most identifiable feature. The parka somewhat masked his lithely muscular build; but then, he had always looked slighter and less capable than he actually was.

He thought of himself as a mild-mannered Clark Kent, who could remove his glasses, strip off his attire, and reveal the über-man beneath. On the other hand, he had no need for glasses, with his keen Familiar-bred eyesight, and no one had ever accused him of being mild-mannered, or of having any manners at all, when it came right down to it.

When White had first arrived here four months ago, the former NSA agent rented a small blue house once owned by a schoolteacher who had taken a post in Calgary. With its two bedrooms, a sometimes functioning TV aerial, a bathroom with perpetually cold running water, and living-room fireplace, the one-story clapboard at least kept out the chill. He had enough money to live comfortably up here, the benefits of both government service and money provided him by the Familiars to run their operations.

Working for two secret organizations over half a decade had kept a steady flow of untraceable cash running through White’s hands and flowing into numerous bank accounts under as many names. The fact that the NSA didn’t know about the Familiars had allowed him to work both sides of the fence. For their part, the well-funded Familiars had been in existence longer than anyone could imagine, and they had wanted White to maintain his position within the NSA. The loss of that position through the treachery of his subordinate Otto Gottlieb would definitely have angered his Familiar superiors, a good reason for White to take this extended Canadian getaway.

Eventually, he would have to approach the Familiars and make peace with them, though doing so would surely mean risking his life. His priority for these many months had been survival — to retrench and use his best weapon... his mind... to begin working out a solution, to think his way out of this seeming impasse. He had personal desires, involving his boy, but he still shared the beliefs and goals of the Familiars, and his goal was to convince them that he should be allowed a second chance.

And yet still he remained in Meander River — telling himself that he was merely allowing the Familiars to cool off, to achieve a distance from his failures that might allow him to present his case before dispassionate judges. Truth be told, though, he had come to like living up here, where just getting by was a little harder — it gave him a feeling of tranquillity, and also pride that he was not only surviving, but adapting quite well to his new surroundings. He was free of the stress of his former double life. Someday, when he and his son Ray were reunited, this might be the sort of place where they could live together.

Even White’s dreaded migraine headaches — something he struggled against constantly while working for the government (of course, those assholes could give Jesus Christ migraines) — hadn’t bothered him nearly as much as he’d settled into life in Meander River. Pain was something White and those of his breed had largely overcome — their pain thresholds had been bred to near extinction, the remnants remaining only to serve as the warning system nature intended. But certain physiologically driven discomfort — genetically passed along — broke down the well-bred defenses of White and his kind... the migraines a prime example.

Bundling up in a parka, ski mask, and boots, White prepared for the short walk to Malcolm’s, a combination restaurant and bar that was the only place in town to get either a hot meal or a real drink. Cooking not being among his many skills — and not an interest he wanted to cultivate — White spent a lot of time at Malcolm’s, where the hired help, as well as the owner himself, had long since recognized him as a regular.

They were a stoic, sour bunch, however, still treating him like a stranger, an outsider. Perhaps it was racial, but in any event, White had the unmistakable feeling that none of the Malcolm’s crew liked him. It wasn’t an uncommon response on his part; people often appeared to instinctively feel an antipathy toward him, probably because of his well-earned air of superiority.

White didn’t give a good goddamn whether these savages liked him or not, another common response on his part. If he could not be with his own kind — his son, for example — Ames White was quite content with his own company. If anything, he appreciated the staff at Malcolm’s for not inflicting small talk upon him — such interaction was a part of life among the mongrel humans that he had endured far too long.

Trudging down the street, White once again considered all the things that had gone wrong in the past twelve months or so, and the people who had been responsible. At the top of this ignoble list was the transgenic bitch called Max — he had missed numerous opportunities to either capture or kill the X5-specifically, X5-452 — who had turned his life into a living hell. His faithless NSA partner Otto Gottlieb had not only turned on him, but ratted him out to the only enemy as dangerous as 452 herself: Eyes Only, the underground cyberterrorist.

The rebel investigative journalist — whose identity remained unknown — was always prying into matters of importance; most of this interference had been peripheral... annoying but never anything that could truly block White in his own sub-rosa efforts. That had all changed, however, when Eyes Only broadcast one of his trademark video hacks, the subject of which was Ames White.

For all intents and purposes, the renegade broadcast had ruined both of White’s careers, tainting him not only with the NSA but the Familiars. And Eyes Only’s little unscheduled “program” had even been highlighted by segments showcasing inside information courtesy of that wimp NSA underling Sage Thompson and White’s own former partner, Otto.

And though this was the major setback that had sent him scurrying for his life in the anonymity of Meander River, even that could not compare to the loss of his son, Ray. Kidnapped by 452 and an unidentified man from the Familiar’s own school, Brookridge Academy, the boy was now MIA, leaving no clues to his whereabouts. In the end, he not only had lost Ray, but his wife Wendy as well.

Of course, White had killed Wendy himself... a necessity, considering her treachery toward him; but that didn’t negate the nagging needle of loss. His wife had been a fine companion, with many good qualities — she just hadn’t known when to let things go. In the long run, though, he supposed he and Ray were better off without her — she was merely the vessel for Ray’s creation and, as such, lacked the breeding he and his son shared.

The most important thing now was to find Ray. Someday, White knew, he would get his son back. But this was a search he dared not undertake until he’d made his peace with the Familiars.

And in a matter of days — and he did wish he could be with his brothers when it happened — an event would transpire that would put his people on the top of the world. He might seem more valuable to the Conclave, soon — when his expertise and knowledge of X5-452 would come in very handy...

Even on the best of days, as its name implied, Meander River wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis; but as White strode down the deserted street, it dawned on him that things were even more quiet than usual... and usual was pretty damned quiet. As snow blew through, on a moan of wind, like cold sand thrown in his face, White felt as though he were walking through a snow-covered, subzero ghost town. His pistol nestled in the usual belt holster at the small of his back, the cold steel against his spine somehow reassuring; and a second gun was snugged in his parka pocket, where he could get at it immediately. So there was no need for apprehension.

You’ve been in the boonies too long, he told himself.

The snow crunching beneath his boots, the frigid air carrying the not unpleasant aroma of Malcolm’s beef stew, now barely a block away, White recalled the pre-Pulse homily: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.”

But White’s newly revised version was, “Just because they’re out to get you doesn’t mean you have to be paranoid.” He smiled at the thought — even on the run he could maintain control — and started to cross the alley that ran beside Malcolm’s.

And, as he did, from the alley emanated a deep voice — unthreatening, not at all loud, and yet booming: “Fe’nos tol.”

White froze.

The familiar greeting of the Familiars.

After all these months... they had found him. Just because you’re not paranoid, he thought, doesn’t mean they won’t get you. It didn’t matter how they’d managed it, only that they were here, that they had somehow gotten into town without his being aware. He forced out a long, slow breath, a plume of cold steam rising from his mouth as he turned to face the voice.

“Fe’nos tol,” he replied.

Two men faced him, each winter-bundled in parkas much like his. They also wore full ski masks, but whether these were men he would recognize, with their faces exposed, was a moot point. Who they were wasn’t as important as who they represented.

It would seem the Familiars wanted him a lot more than he’d thought; so much for lying low till spring.

Still watching the two in front of him, White became aware that three more had materialized behind him. His skills, like those of his stalkers, were far above those of normal humans. White didn’t need to see the three men behind him to know they were there — he felt them, his combat radar pinging away at his surroundings.

And yet they had surprised him — come up behind him on the otherwise deserted snowswept street without him tipping to it, till now. They were good — the Familiars had sent their best trackers after him. Somehow, he did not feel a warm rush from the compliment...

A thousand years of breeding by the Familiars had gone into making the strongest human beings possible, superhumans, actually. Only the man-made abominations of Manticore could hold a candle to the Familiars.

Without moving, giving them nothing physical to react to, White said, “From our ancestors. For our children’s children.”

The ski mask on his left replied, “From my father before me. For my sons.”

Then both men pulled pistols from their pockets — small, silver guns with noise suppressors exaggerating the barrels.

So much for friendly greetings...

Keeping his gloved hands unthreateningly loose at his sides, clearly not in a position to go for a gun in a timely fashion, White plotted his next move. These were trackers, not assassins — oh, they would kill him if necessary, but had their mission been to kill him, the greeting would have been bullets, not words.

But there was no use trying to talk to them or reason with them or stall in any fashion. No one of these men was going to be swayed by words — even bribes would fall on deaf ears — and the truth was, he was outnumbered five to one.

Combat 101: when confronted by superior numbers — attack.

White took one swift step forward and leapt, his legs splaying wide as he kicked both men standing in front of him simultaneously. The one on the left grunted as White’s boot struck him in the chest, the man’s gun firing reflexively, the bullet sailing off across town trailed by the snick the gun made; the ski-masked tracker’s feet went up and his head went down as he landed on his back in the snow with a faint whump. The one to White’s right didn’t even get out a grunt as White’s boot caught him in the face, breaking his nose, dropping him to the snow, unconscious, gun dropping from his fingers, burying itself in a snow bank.

White landed nimbly, then swung a leg around, in such a blur of speed that even trained types like these could only back away awkwardly. At the end of his motion his leg hit the ground, and then he was running, down that alley, leaving the fallen two behind, the other three coming after him.

No shouts, no cries, from these pursuers — only their breath, barely audible behind him. Fast as he was, White had no hope of outrunning the trio — these were not ordinary men, but Familiars like himself. Still, with some luck, he might be able to pick a better place to make his stand.

It did surprise and encourage him that they weren’t firing at him. They would have their guns in hand by now — he didn’t look back — and that meant there were no exterminate-upon-resistance orders for these trackers.

He ran with long, easy strides, all those generations of breeding paying off, as he barely broke a sweat. Finally sneaking a look over his shoulder as he rounded a corner to his left, he could tell the three were still back there, the distance holding steady at about fifteen to twenty yards.

He took a right turn, then crouched in a doorway and waited; he did not arm himself, leaving both pistols packed away. As his mind raced, one dominant thought prevailed: he did not want to use a gun on them! Although his stock with the Conclave — the Familiars’ governing body — was at an all-time low, killing a Brother would send White careening across a line from which there was no possible return, except in a body bag.

The first Familiar came around the corner, and White exploded out of the doorway to deliver a flying kick to the man’s head, knocking him off his feet. The second one emerged just as White rolled and bounced to his feet. The Familiar attacked — like White, the man did not have a gun in hand — but White was ready. He dodged, he parried, and as the ski-masked assailant delivered one martial arts move after another, White avoided each, looking for an opening.

As the third man barreled around the corner, White saw his chance. Spinning away from number two, he delivered a side kick to the solar plexus of number three and knocked him on his ass, the man’s breath jetting from him as if he’d expelled a small cloud.

Coming around to number two again, White executed a perfect leg sweep, dropping the man onto his back. Pressing the advantage, he caught the man across the clavicle with a quick chop and heard a sharp crack as the Familiar’s collarbone snapped; but the man didn’t cry out — pain wasn’t an issue, really, but other physiological responses pertained, in this case unconsciousness.

He paused momentarily, considering his three fallen adversaries, none of whom had come after him with gun in hand. The Conclave clearly wanted him alive... and that was a good sign, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t it?

Answering himself with a shiver, White sprinted off in the direction he’d been going, then turned right at the next corner, his mind working on the next chess move, when another Familiar stepped from the recess of a darkened doorway, a Tazer in his right hand.

Questions fell like snow — where had this masked figure come from? How had the man gotten in front of him while he was fleeing? These thoughts and a dozen others flashed through White’s mind in the moment it took the two darts to erupt from the end of the Tazer and puncture White’s parka.

He felt two sharp pricks in his chest, then his limbs flapped uncontrollably, and his feet lost their purchase and he found himself on his back, looking up at the gunmetal-gray sky. All the antipain breeding of centuries could not stop the electrical storm in his body from having its way with him, his veins on fire as current circuited through him, the questions gone now as the sky turned charcoal and everything around him grew very quiet.

After only a few seconds, White surrendered to the unfamiliar sensation of extreme pain, and then it faded and he felt himself dropping away from Meander River, Alberta, as if he’d stepped off the edge of a cliff, plunking into an abyss, a place much colder than his Indian reservation refuge, and darker even than his darkest thoughts.

The first thing Ames White realized, even before he opened his eyes, was that his gun was gone. The cold steel, the almost happy discomfort of the pistol binding against his waistband, was absent — it was like realizing a pickpocket had taken your wallet. He reached back and confirmed the weapon’s absence from his spine at the top of his slacks.

Despite what he’d experienced, White did not feel the ache, the soreness a typical human would experience; but he did feel an uncomfortable weakness, a certain leadenness, and the area in his chest where the darts had penetrated tingled, in an annoying, tickling fashion. This sensation immediately gave clarity to his thoughts and memory, and he remembered being found by the Familiars.

He was somewhat surprised to be alive, though the actions of the trackers had indicated the Familiars had ordered his capture, not liquidation. Whether or not this was a pleasant surprise remained to be seen...

Opening his eyes to dim illumination, White surveyed his surroundings and his situation. He was in a sparse gray cell, asprawl on a cold stone floor, the cell barren but for bars inset in a small window of the door — no bunk, no toilet; the cell was clean, the stinging smell of antiseptic tweaking his nostrils. A small, naked lightbulb hung in the hall beyond the tiny window, providing the only light; somewhere, water dripped. He still had his clothes (another surprise), but his parka, belt, and boots had been removed.

Looking into the hallway through the bars, he saw not a row of other cells, but a blank stone wall, where shadows danced and jumped. White knew that most ordinaries — the term both the Familiars and the transgenics used to refer to “normal” humans — would be paralyzed by fear to find themselves in such a dank, dark environment, and would constantly search the shadows for mice, rats, or something worse.

White, on the other hand, found the cell comforting. These surroundings, in and of themselves, presented no problems. His only concern now was coming up with a plan that would get him the hell out of here. No matter how bleak his future might appear, one favorable fact remained: the Familiars hadn’t killed him immediately when they found him.

“You have failed repeatedly, Brother White.”

The voice rattled the bars — a booming basso profundo, piped in from somewhere in the darkness of the cell ceiling.

White was startled, but only momentarily. Despite the obvious attempt at intimidation, this was not the voice of God, unless God had a German accent... and, since that seemed unlikely to White, he had a good idea who among the Conclave was doing the talking.

“That’s true,” he answered, calmly.

“And you know the price of failure.”

The voice had all the warmth of December in Meander River.

“I do. But—”

“But? You’re going to try to negotiate with us, at this point?... After these countless failures?”

White had the good sense to not answer.

“... Do you imagine you have something with which to negotiate?”

Despite the sarcastic tone, the man seemed to be leading him — as if trying to... help him?

Why?

White knew this man to be a key figure among the Conclave, wielding a power far greater than any he himself had ever hoped to achieve. And yet now, for some reason the former NSA agent could not comprehend, this important figure was trying to guide him in this dark hour.

White considered his response carefully — the correct answer could mean another chance for him, and the wrong answer... well, that would most assuredly lead to the imminent death he had expected ever since seeing those ski-masked trackers back in Meander River.

Injecting the proper confidence into his voice, Ames White said, “I can deliver X5-452.”

At first silence...

... then a terrible, dismissive laugh rattled the speakers in the ceiling.

Chilled, White realized instantly that he had just made a tragic, perhaps even a fatal, error. His response did not seem to be what the Conclave figure had wanted to hear.

But what else could he offer them besides 452? Every plan for the future the Conclave had made hinged upon that bitch’s extinction! Within days, the comet would arrive, and a new era would begin — an era threatened only by the existence of X5–452! What in hell could be of greater importance than “Max”?

A terror rose within him — a panic that urged him to scream, to beg for his life; yet some strength in him wisely prevented any sound, any words, from coming out. But the logical part of him, his keen intelligence, failed him as well — he simply did not know what to say, what to bargain with...

“You can ‘deliver’ X5–452 — how many times have you promised us that very thing?”

“More than once, I know.”

“And how many times has she bested you? How many times have you failed your brothers?”

“Too... too many.”

“What makes you think this attempt will be successful? Why should this be any different from all the other failures?”

Hesitantly, White said, “The plan I have in mind is—”

“Foolproof? Like all of your other cunning plans?... You’ve had so many plans, haven’t you, Brother White... and yet on every single occasion she has defeated you.”

“Meaning no disrespect,” White said, “she has defeated us — all of us — too frequently. As much as we may despise her and what she represents, she is a worthy foe.”

“Worthy...?”

“If she were an insignificant impediment, her existence would not pose such a threat to our cause.”

Now a terrible silence followed, and White wondered if he had spoken too frankly, if his brashness would result, finally, in the ultimate, fatal censure of the Conclave.

“Your previous ‘plans’ have left much to be desired, Brother. How can you reassure us of your abilities? How can you restore our faith in you?”

“You can allow me to present my plan to you. For your consideration. Surely I don’t need to remind you that only days remain.”

“... Speak, then.”

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, forcing himself to stay calm — losing his temper here would be to lose his life — White explained the scheme, in broad but complete strokes. Even he didn’t know every detail as yet, but the high points were already in place, and he went with them.

And, too, there were aspects of his plot that it was best the Conclave not know, at least as yet — not until after the ends had justified his means. The important thing for the Familiars at this moment was he could deliver to them 452... and the Coming would remain securely on schedule.

“This plan will lead to the successful capture of X5-452?”

“I’m staking my life on it,” White said.

“That much is guaranteed.”

What followed wasn’t exactly silence — a muffled whispering, as the voice above and other Conclave members discussed White’s proposition.

And then: “Do you have funds?”

A hopeful sign.

“Yes,” said White. “Some.”

“Then those funds will finance the operation.”

White couldn’t stop himself, blurting, “My own money?”

The voice remained calm. “Whatever funds you have are yours only by our dispensation.”

Best not to challenge that.

“Now that that is settled,” the voice said, “we’ll turn to the timetable...”

Rubbing his forehead, trying to stave off one of his headaches, White said, “We can start as soon as you see fit, sir... Might I ask to join you in better quarters, better circumstances?”

“You know you can’t afford to fail again.”

“I do indeed, sir.”

“That should you fail, there will be no reprieve.”

“Yes.”

“Only your family’s history with the Conclave allowed you to buy another opportunity this time.”

“Thank you.”

White remained stubbornly passive. He knew they were watching him from somewhere, knew too that they were well aware that he hated being lectured as much as he hated to fail. He would not give them the satisfaction of seeing him lose his composure.

Soon the sound of a key in the door announced his return to the Conclave fold as grandly as a fanfare of trumpets.

Forcing himself to breathe deeply and slowly, he instead concentrated on the jackhammer pounding in his skull. He was coming to understand that pain had its purposes, and in this case, it seemed to help him focus.

In the case of 452, her pain would bring him only pleasure, and her death would ensure the triumph of the Conclave, in the imminent Coming.