The Immortal Crown

CHAPTER 22

A Long Two Days

Hannah’s disappearance wasn’t discovered right away, giving Justin some time to brief Lucian that their world had just been turned upside down. Ironically, Mae’s raiding of the salon down the highway caused enough of a stir that first night that no one in Carl’s family spared a thought for Hannah.

“They said it must’ve been a whole team of guys,” Walter told Carl. It was late, and most of the household would’ve normally been in bed if not for the breaking news. Walter and some of his other brothers had just returned from a local tavern where they’d gotten the scoop. “Everyone shot dead except one, all the girls taken. Heard there was a fire or something too—like maybe they tried to burn the place down to cover their tracks.”

Justin was lounging in a stuffed arm chair in Carl’s study, trying to appear casual, though anyone looking closely would’ve noticed the death grip on his untouched scotch. After the exhausting evening with Hansen’s followers, Justin couldn’t have stomached the alcohol if he’d wanted to, and the latest developments had only reinforced the need for sobriety. Across the room, Lucian’s drink was equally untouched, and his eyes met Justin’s at the mention of “a whole team of guys.” A whole team—or one Mae.

Justin almost felt bad for Lucian. Justin had at least been semi- prepared, knowing about Mae’s last secret visit to the salon and her niece. That didn’t make tonight’s developments any easier to handle, but Lucian had had it much worse when Justin had essentially told him in sixty seconds that Mae had run off to liberate stolen Gemman girls and left a fugitive Arcadian concubine in her place.

“Damn,” said Carl, stamping a cigar butt into his ashtray. “Pittsfield had some fine girls there too.”

“Is this common?” asked Phil, legitimately curious. He was, as of yet, blissfully unaware of the disaster unfolding in the Gemmans’ laps.

“Not usually around here, this close to the city,” said Carl. “Out in the real country . . . yeah, you’ll get all kinds of barbarism. People stealing their neighbor’s daughters. It’s savage. Makes me sad to see it happening here.”

“Someone must’ve thought it was worth the risk,” said Jasper, leaning forward with clasped hands. “Figured they could make a lot of money—or maybe they wanted to keep the girls for themselves.”

“What’s so special about this group?” asked Atticus.

Carl leveled a warning look at his sons. “Just a particularly pretty group. Smart thing would be to sell them. They lose half their value once they’re bedded.”

Justin felt mildly ill, but it was getting difficult to tell if it was from Arcadian gender politics or his continuing recovery from divine powers.

“Do they just raid salons?” asked Phil. “Any chance that prowler you had here the other night was connected? You said that place is relatively close, and I’ll come out and say it: our women are a particularly pretty group.”

Carl frowned, not liking the suggestion but unable to deny it. “I already upped the security, but I’ll have the boys do some extra watches too.” Said boys didn’t look thrilled about this but offered no complaint.

Lucian, however, had plenty to say afterward, once the Gemmans had retired to their guesthouse for the night. He ordered Justin to his room and immediately turned on him, after politely asking Val to step outside.

“If they increase security, Mae’s going to have a hell of a time getting back in here,” said Lucian.

Justin shook his head. “Didn’t you follow what I said? Mae’s not coming back.”

“No!” exclaimed Lucian. “And that’s the problem. I didn’t follow half of what you blurted out earlier. Why would Mae do that? Why would she abandon the mission to raid a salon and—so help me—kill a bunch of Arcadians! We’re supposed to be here to promote peace!”

“The salon was holding Gemman girls,” said Justin, trying to make a logical argument for something he knew was illogical. “Girls stolen from our country.”

“Mae couldn’t have known that,” argued Lucian.

“Come on, you only have to look at them to know! Plus . . . one of them was her, uh, niece.”

That took Lucian aback, and Justin sketched a hasty explanation of the Koskinen family’s sordid history. He blurred the details of how Mae had obtained her intelligence, though, citing a vague connection to the Swedish mafia, which wasn’t entirely a lie since Mae had once tried to work with them.

Lucian sat down on the bed, looking about as far as possible from the dazzling and cheerful politician Justin usually saw. “You know, she mentioned that she was looking forward to this trip, and I dared to hope—well, it doesn’t matter. She’s out there now, and I don’t know how the hell she’s going to get back home.”

“She’ll find a way,” Justin insisted, not that he had any idea either. “And in the meantime, there’s another situation you should know about.”

Lucian’s head jerked up. “Really? Something worse than one of our soldiers going rogue and forcing us to smuggle a defector back home, in order to save our asses?”

Justin considered that. “I guess it depends on how you define ‘worse.’ You know I had that meeting with the Grand Disciple, right?

Well, it looks like Hannah isn’t the only Arcadian we’re going home with. I made arrangements for the Arcadian cultural lecturers to visit us, uh, immediately.”

For a moment, it almost looked like Lucian thought there was some joke going on, and Justin couldn’t entirely blame him for the mistake.

“You said they were missionaries in disguise and that letting them in would be a terrible idea,” Lucian reminded him.

“Turns out I was wrong,” said Justin. “They’re actually hackers in disguise who want to stage an act of data terrorism.”

And so, he delivered his second bombshell of the night, about how they’d be escorting a group of Arcadians back home, half of which were defectors while the others harbored plans to usher in an attack upon the RUNA. Again, Justin did some serious editing, leaving out Odin and playing up the Arcadian defectors’ motivation to start a new life in the RUNA in exchange for selling out their countrymen.

“You should probably let Atticus know soon,” added Justin helpfully. “You guys are going to need to get in touch with the people back home to get that delegation into the country.”

Lucian was quiet for so long that it actually started to become disconcerting.

You might have really done it, Horatio told Justin. Here’s someone who deals with tough situations and scrutiny on a daily basis without cracking his smile, but you may be what finally breaks him.

“How,” began Lucian at last. “How could you and Mae possibly wreak this much damage in only a few days? I mean, I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but did you really want to get back at me for something this badly?”

Justin sat down beside him. “You can’t think of it that way. Think of it as an opportunity.”

“An opportunity for what?”

“Greatness. You said you wanted this trip to prove something to the people.” Justin held his hands up in the air. “Can’t you see it now? Lucian Darling, the senator—the consul—who uncovered a plot to undermine our country and who secured the release of innocent Gemman girls stolen from their homes. Imagine how happy their families will be. The RUNA’s never been in better hands.”

Lucian thought about it for several moments. “The odds are good some of those girls were sent away, just like Mae’s niece. Are their families going to be happy?”

“The media doesn’t need to know that. All we’ll need is confirmation of their genes in the registry and then an adorable photo op with you.”

“Good will with my own people is going to worsen things with Arcadia.”

“The Arcadians don’t vote, and they’re the ones who’ve worsened relations with this media stream plot,” said Justin, warming up to all the spin potential. “And when they’re caught, their government’s going to disavow all knowledge of those hackers. We’ll let it be known that the girls were recovered through the assistance of our new defector friends and leave out the part about a rogue soldier killing Arcadians. The government here’s going to be so concerned about backpedaling and keeping us from retaliating on the data stream conspiracy that they’ll let the girls slide. So, really, we come out looking good, and relations aren’t that much worse than before.”

Lucian gave him a long, scrutinizing look. “How do you do that? How can you talk people into anything? Do you think of this stuff in advance, or does it happen on the spot?”

”Are you impressed?” asked Justin.

“Kind of terrified, actually. But glad you’re not in politics.”

Perhaps now would be a good time to ask if he’d like to learn about Odin, said Horatio. You’re on a roll.

Justin ignored the bird but felt a little unnerved that in many ways, he was doing now exactly what he had back at Gideon’s house: spinning tales and converting hearts and minds. He wasn’t really sure if it was genius or trickery.

It’s both, said Magnus, almost affectionately. And this is why our god has chosen you.

“This dream plan only works if Mae gets those girls in without being caught,” warned Lucian. “That border isn’t easy for anyone, on either side, to cross. If the Arcadians find her, we’re going to be the ones having to do a lot of disavowing. And if it happens before we leave the country, there’s no way they’ll let their delegation come with us. Hell, who knows if we’ll be able to leave.”

Justin thought back to his last encounter with Mae. He’d had no sign that she was planning anything of this magnitude. Her concern had been for him, and if he would’ve let her, she’d have gone to the temple too. Something must have happened, something must have driven her to act. Something that probably had to do with that damned knife. And if that was the case, he had to believe she wouldn’t do this without a concrete plan to get back to her own country. What that plan was, he couldn’t fathom, but he believed in Mae. He had to.

“She won’t get caught,” Justin said firmly. “She’s been thinking about this. She’s got a plan, and we’ll see her back in the RUNA. That being said . . . life will be a lot easier for her when she gets back, even if she’s victorious, if you come out telling our government that you authorized her actions. They’ll spin a cover story for the media, but she’ll still have a lot to answer for behind closed doors.”

“I’ll have a lot to answer for,” protested Lucian. “I’m not consul yet, Justin. I don’t know why you think I have the power I do.”

“Because your star’s going to be so high after we sort out this mess that there’s no way you won’t be consul. And no matter how many regulations have been trampled on, no government official’s going to punish you for helping one soldier who’s responsible for a heartwarming victory. No one will come after you when you’ve got that much public love. They’ll grumble, and that’s it.”

“A consul leads the senate and upholds the law.” Lucian sighed. “You’re basically telling me I can throw all that away if I’m popular enough.”

“Pretty much.”

Lucian sighed again. “Then we’d better go tell the others what to expect.”

Justin had to give his friend credit. Lucian might have needed a fair amount of convincing, but by the time he pulled himself together and called the other Gemmans for an impromptu meeting, it was as though Lucian had personally orchestrated everything from the very beginning. He did a fair amount of editing himself, smoothing out some of the parts where he’d clearly been in the dark, in order to inspire confidence for the plan. He stood by Mae, leaving out the part about her niece, and insisting her actions had been on his orders. He made everything sound easy, so much so that Justin almost wanted to let go of his own doubts and forget that there were actually a million things that could go horribly wrong.

Atticus, their diplomat, had the biggest problem with it. “This is a disaster,” he exclaimed. “There’s no way this can end well! We’ll start a war.”

“If what you say is true, they’re already trying to,” said George, who seemed to be taking the proposed conspiracy personally. “Why wait to catch their hackers in a sting? I saw we start dropping bombs as soon as we get home.”

“Because we need proof,” said Lucian patiently. “We need to find out how much they know and how much they learned from that Gemman defector—what was his name?”

“Cowlitz,” said Justin.

George actually looked impressed. “I’ve heard of him. He was pretty high up on the tech side. Had no idea he ended up here. Me, I’d go to South America.”

That outside verification of Cowlitz’s history soothed Atticus a little, but it was clear his mind was still spinning with all the potential diplomatic fallout. “It’s going to be very hard getting that Arcadian woman back in with us.”

“We’re going back in with the same number of women we left with,” said Lucian. “So long as we can keep them away from her for the rest of this trip, there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Atticus groaned. “We’ve got a long two days ahead of us.”

The group finally dispersed to get what sleep they could, and Val caught Justin’s attention before he retired to his room. “You and the good senator painted us a very rosy picture back there,” she said softly. “How much of it was true?”

“All of it,” Justin assured her. “We’re going to return to the RUNA as heroes, uncovering international plots and freeing young girls. Hope Dag’s finally ready to make an honest woman of you because you’re going to be hip deep in suitors after this.”

Val rolled her eyes. “And you’re hip deep in bullshit. Both of you. How much trouble is Mae in?”

“None, not so long as she succeeds.”

“Succeeds in getting a group of girls through a hostile country and through a highly protected border, you mean?”

“Yes.” Justin started to turn away, and Val pulled him back.

“I’m serious,” she said. “Please tell me Mae has more to go on than a wish and a prayer.”

“A prayer? I never took you for a religious woman, Val.”

“After what you guys told us?” Val shook her head. “I just might have to become one if it’s the only way to get us out of this mess.”

Back in his room, Justin was spared any awkwardness with Hannah since she’d already fallen asleep curled up on the floor. Or at least, he assumed she was asleep. It was hard to say, with all the concealing clothing. He would’ve let her have the bed if given the option, but without it, he gladly sunk into the covers, fully dressed, and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Too much physical and mental exertion, not to mention the Exerzol crash, sent his body to a much-needed slumber . . . that unfortunately only lasted a few hours.

He knew what was happening, as soon as the shouts outside woke him up. Hannah, sitting bolt upright, did as well. “It’s okay,” he told her, hoping it was the truth. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“They’ll find me,” she whispered. “There’s nowhere to go.”

”You’re going with us.” Justin made a half-hearted attempted to smooth his wrinkled shirt, then wondered why he was bothering. A few seconds later, a Gemman knocked at the door, and he found one of the praetorians there.

“They’re searching the entire compound,” she said, face grim.

“One of the concubines is missing.” He assumed there were Arcadians within listening distance.

“We’ll be right out,” Justin replied. He took Hannah’s gloved hand and squeezed it. “It’ll be okay.”

In the guesthouse’s common area, the other Gemmans were congregating by gender, and Justin led Hannah to a spot beside Val before joining the men. The Cloistered attire was useful for a lot of things, he decided, because he was pretty sure Hannah had a terrible poker face. Concealed as she was, all she had to do was stay quiet and still and hope that no one thought to have her reveal herself.

“What’s going on?” he asked, stifling a yawn.

“They lost one of their women and want to make sure she didn’t wind up in any of our beds,” said George.

Carl strode in, overhearing the comment. “We didn’t lose anyone. She was taken.”

“Or she ran away,” said a smirking Jasper, following behind his father. “I always told you she was an insubordinate bitch.”

“She was taken,” Carl repeated, though it was clear even he didn’t really believe that wholeheartedly. “None of my women would run away.” He glanced over the Gemmans to make sure they were all accounted for and then directed his sons to search the bedrooms. The young men took to it with relish, turning over bed and chairs, possibly hoping to find some sort of illicit treasures hidden away. Justin noticed Carl giving quiet directions to Walter, and a moment later, the young man disappeared into one of the bathrooms, presumably to search the emergency escape tunnel they didn’t think the Gemmans knew about.

After an hour, they declared the building Hannah-free, and Carl stormed out muttering, “I’ll kill her.” Apparently he was having to face the reality that she might very well have run away. It would’ve been far easier on the ego to accept abduction, Justin supposed.

None of the Gemmans slept well after that, and things grew increasingly weird the next morning when a messenger came from the temple demanding to know everyone’s whereabouts the previous night. Justin was the only one who’d been out, but he had Hansen as an alibi for part of the time and had apparently checked back in at Carl’s during whatever timeframe was of concern to the messenger. At first, Justin wondered if they were under suspicion for the salon raid, but something in the messenger’s manner made Justin think this inquiry stemmed from a different matter altogether. Whatever it was, he was never enlightened, and the messenger left without finding any answers.

Justin and his companions soon found themselves falling into the long two days that Atticus had warned about. Hannah’s disappearance was a personal problem for the family, one they spoke little of to the Gemmans, though it poisoned the atmosphere for the rest of the stay. Of course, Justin knew he and his party wouldn’t have been all that comfortable regardless, what with their complicity in the matter. The Gemman men continued the scheduled diplomatic events, and the women went on with their mix of chores and regulated outings, except for Hannah who, posing as Mae, was excused from the former. She wanted to stay behind and hide in the room during the women’s outings too, but Justin pointed out that wouldn’t be in character with Mae, plus he wanted to minimize any chance of someone speaking to her alone.

Meanwhile, arrangements were made on both sides for the Arcadian diplomatic group to return home with them, and Hansen visited once to brief Justin on the public details, confirming that all was in order. When they had a private moment, the Arcadian man also let Justin know that all was well with his handpicked group of delegates and that those left behind were still keeping the faith to Odin.

What have I done? Justin wondered after Hansen left. What have I gotten these people into, only to abandon them?

You did good work, but don’t think they’ll flounder without you, chided Magnus. All-father has been connecting with his followers long before you came along. There will be other priests, other dreams.

Hansen also reported that no one suspected a set-up was taking place and that Cowlitz’s men were still going to attempt their disabling of the media stream. Lucian looked relieved when Justin relayed that, meaning the senator was on track to get his public accolades when the plot was revealed. The other half of Lucian’s hoped-for fame, Mae’s rescue, remained shrouded in mystery, and all they could hope for was that no news was good news. When Justin tentatively asked Carl about the raided salon one day, the Arcadian simply shook his head and said, “Looks like they got away with it.”

The day before the Gemmans were scheduled to return home, Justin asked the ravens something that had been on his mind for a while: You’d tell me if you knew which deity was helping Mae, wouldn’t you?

If All-father allowed us, said Magnus.

What’s that mean? asked Justin. You do know and aren’t telling me?

No, we don’t know, and that’s why we aren’t telling you.

Justin wasn’t sure he could buy it. Or maybe you’re not telling me because the goddess helping her is an ally of Odin’s, and this is all terribly convenient for you guys and part of some set up?

That would be very convenient, said Horatio. Which ally do you think it is?

You know which one. Freya. Freya’s a fertility goddess known for her amber necklace. Mae’s being helped by an amber knife sacred to a fertility goddess.

Amber’s important for half of European religions, Horatio argued.

Go look it up on the media stream when you’re home—if it’s still there.

I just can’t shake the feeling I’m being played, Justin said.

Well, if you are, then it’s not by us. We didn’t send the knife. We don’t even have opposable thumbs.

That was true. He and Mae had never figured out where that knife had come from, and Justin supposed that would provide the first set of answers. A human servant was needed to use the Gemman postal system. His initial suspect, Callista, denied involvement, and her patron goddess was more about magic and moonlight than amber and fertility. Odin and the ravens had talked about Mae being crowned in flowers since before Justin met her, and it made sense they’d be referring to a fertility goddess in their own pantheon.

Somehow, despite all the complications tormenting him internally and externally, Justin survived those long two days. On that third morning, his party packed up and made their farewells to Carl’s family. The cloud of Hannah’s disappearance still hung over everyone, but Carl’s initial swagger and pride at hosting important foreigners was still going strong. And really, for those not privy to the dark underside of it all, the trip had been a stunning success. Quiet Phil had managed to work on a favorable trade negotiation, and Lucian had endeared himself to the Arcadian president, who promised to further open lines of communication. Along with touring Divinia, they’d made a number of day trips to other important sites and cities, ultimately accomplishing what no Gemman in history had.

“Now if we can just make it out alive,” Atticus muttered to Justin, as they boarded the bus that would take them back to the border. Justin was pretty sure the diplomat was going to start drinking heavily once they were back on their native soil, and honestly, Justin couldn’t blame him.

The Arcadian delegation coming back with them took separate transportation, no doubt to receive their last, covert orders. Lucian and Atticus had been in contact with the Gemman government, gaining permission for the group’s ostensible purpose: Arcadians visiting and sharing their culture. Lucian hadn’t dared communicate any hint of knowledge of the conspiracy while in Arcadia, but he’d assured Justin that once they were safely within the RUNA’s borders, they’d make sure the hackers were set up and discovered quickly.

“We don’t want them sitting around, gathering more data,” Lucian had said. “We’ll act like we’re going along with the cultural exchange and conveniently set them up in locations most accessible to the media stream’s way stations. Once they take the bait, and we get your defector friends to testify about the plan, this’ll be a done deal.” Lucian had then paused to give Justin a long, level look. “And they really are your friends. That Hansen guy adores you. How’d you pull that off?”

“He just wants to live the Gemman dream, that’s all,” Justin had replied glibly.

The Gemman dream and worship of Odin. When Justin’s bus reached the base on the Arcadian side of the Mississippi, they found Hansen’s party of men and women were already there. Hansen approached Justin with a formal greeting and then, once others were away, murmured, “I expect things are going to be a little . . . hectic when it all comes out. But I hope once matters calm, and Elaina and the others and I have settled down, we’ll be able to meet with you regularly to learn about him.”

“I look forward to it,” Justin replied, feeling a sinking sensation in his stomach.

The Arcadian soldiers searched the luggage of everyone, Arcadian and Gemman alike, and performed more pat downs to ensure nothing was being transported illegally. None of the soldiers suspected a woman might be smuggled out, and none of them dared ask an Cloistered woman to uncover herself. The Gemmans and the Arcadian delegation were given permission to leave and ushered onto a boat that would take them to the other side of the river. As the shore drew closer, Justin could see the familiar gray-and-maroon of the regular Gemman military waiting for them, along with a welcome sight: the RUNA’s flag.

He experienced a strange emotional surge at the sight of it, the maroon and dark purple field adorned with a golden circle of laurel leaves, that reminded him of his return from Panama. The RUNA’s motto echoed in his mind, Gemma mundi, and he wondered if Hannah had any idea of the extraordinary opportunity those words and that flag offered her. Did she realize that her world was about to open up? Sitting quietly beside him, unreadable in her thick clothing, Justin couldn’t guess at her feelings. Probably she was terrified at being caught, which perhaps wasn’t that unreasonable a fear since they hadn’t crossed the Gemman border yet.

Having her here reminded him of Mae who should have been here beside him instead. Where was she? Surely they would’ve heard if something had happened to her. The not-knowing was maddening, and Justin kept thinking back to their last meeting, to the kiss he still couldn’t understand and how he’d promised her he’d help with her niece. Was there something he could have done differently? If he’d helped her sooner, could they have avoided her disappearing with those girls?

I’m going to give you some relationship advice, said Horatio, interrupting the endless questions.

I don’t have a relationship, Justin replied promptly.

Shut up, and listen anyway, ordered the raven. You and she work well together, no surprise since you’re meant for each other—and I don’t just mean in the romantic way you keep botching up. You’re a team, a good one. You watch out for each other, and that’s good. But that doesn’t mean you’re meant to do every single little thing together. Yes, you have a shared destiny, but you also have an individual one, and so does she. The reason you didn’t think of anything sooner to help her is because that wasn’t your task. That was hers, and she found something and acted. Your task was to uncover the Grand Disciple’s conspiracy and bring these people to Odin. Be content with the knowledge that you’re both fulfilling the duties you’re supposed to.

It’s hard to feel content when mostly I’m worried I’ll never see her again, said Justin. I don’t know how I could get by without her.

Well, then, said Horatio, maybe you should tell her that the next time you see her.

The boat docked at the Gemman base, and a group of Arcadian soldiers waited to make sure both Gemman and Arcadian diplomats crossed over safely. There was no press here—they’d face that in Vancouver—but there were enough Gemman soldiers watching to make Justin feel like he was already being broadcast on the stream. It made him uneasy, especially knowing anything could still go wrong, but the spotlight was Lucian’s natural habit. He thrived on it and made a pretty speech to the Arcadian soldiers at the boat, thanking them for their service and hospitality. He then strode forward to an officer waiting with a chip scanner, making a point to be the first of them to officially return home.

Justin was close behind him and watched as Lucian rested his hand on the scanner. It was a formality for Gemmans, so common that they did it without conscious thought most of the time. And, Justin realized with a pang, it might be Hannah’s undoing.

The officer—a captain, from his uniform—glanced at whatever information popped up on the small screen facing him and gave a small nod. “Welcome home, senator.”

“Glad to be back,” boomed Lucian in his show voice. “Though I am disappointed I missed the Hamaki Cup finals. Tell me the Comets won, and you’ll make me a happy man.”

The man’s stiff face broke into a smile. “They did, sir. 3-2. Great game.”

Lucian whooped with joy and shook the man’s hand, much to the delight of the watching soldiers. “See? You’ve already got this homecoming off to a great start. I love this country.” Still shaking the captain’s hand, Lucian leaned close and dropped his voice so that Justin could barely make his words out. “And keep smiling because you’re also going to help save this country. There’s a woman who’ll be coming through who won’t have a chip, and you will give no sign of this when you scan her. You’ll wave her through, without breaking rank, and I swear to you as senator and soon to be consul that your career will benefit greatly for doing this.” Lucian’s smile increased as he clapped the soldier on the back and said in a louder voice, “I hope we can get a recording of the game on the plane—and you better not have been playing me.”

The captain’s smile had faded, and he looked understandably bewildered. He scanned and sent Justin through without a word, then did the same for all the other men. The Gemman women came next, still grouped in gender order from Arcadia. Justin watched beside Lucian, who was still beaming like a king surveying his kingdom, but both of them were tense under their happy masks. If the soldier called out anything irregular about Hannah while the Arcadian soldiers were still watching, things might still end very badly.

The women came through one at a time, and Justin saw Val lean forward and murmur something to Hannah, likely instructing her how to play along with the scanning. Val probably thought Lucian had managed some pre-arrangement long before this, not knowing he’d had to do it on the fly. Like the hackers, Lucian hadn’t been able to send word of Mae’s mission into the RUNA while they were still in Arcadia.

Hannah’s turn came, and Justin found himself holding his breath. He hoped no one noticed how pale the captain looked. The poor guy was a soldier, one used to following regular orders, not impromptu ones that came down from unverified sources. But his faith in Lucian must’ve been strong because he nodded at the screen as though normal chip information had popped up. He welcomed Hannah home and greeted the next woman in line. Justin exhaled and resisted the urge to sink to the ground in relief.

The entering Arcadians had a different process, a much lengthier one involving visas and paperwork to match their identities, which had been sent in advance by Atticus. Once they were in, the Arcadian soldiers finally left, getting back on their boat and sailing for the other shore.

“I can’t believe it,” Justin muttered, falling in step with Lucian as an aide led them all to the plane that would deliver everyone to Vancouver. “We made it. We’re here.”

When he and Lucian started to board the plane, a voice behind them calling Lucian’s name gave them pause. Justin turned and saw the captain who’d scanned everyone waving his hand and hurrying forward. Lucian smiled at the Gemman and Arcadian delegates and stepped aside from the stairs going into the jet.

“You all go ahead,” he said grandly. “And cross your fingers that score wasn’t wrong.”

He walked across the tarmac to meet the captain, and Justin followed, his earlier tension returning. What was going to go wrong now?

“Sir,” said the captain breathlessly. “I did what you asked. I—”

”Yes, yes,” said Lucian, clapping the other man on the back. “You did, and believe me, you’ll be rewarded. I know it was an irregular thing to ask, letting her through, but trust me when I say you’ve played a role in one of the biggest events of our time. I’ll be in touch with your superiors as soon as I’m in Vancouver, and all of this will be cleared up.”

The captain nodded. “Yes, sir. I believe you. I don’t know who that woman is, but if you say she needs to be here, then I believe you and trust what you’re doing. The thing is, sir, I know who she’s not.” He lifted up a small tablet that appeared to be full of names. “Everyone’s been accounted for in your original party and in the visiting Arcadians. With one exception. Senator . . .” The man looked nervous and then hardened his resolve. “If you can’t tell me, then so be it, but I still have to ask: where is Praetorian Mae Koskinen?”

Lucian exchanged a pained glance with Justin, and here, away from all the other eyes, Lucian was no longer the swaggering leader-to- be. Mostly, he looked beaten down from all the lies he’d become enmeshed in.

“Captain,” he said wearily. “I wish I knew.”