MARIEL

10~ I Will Stand ~

Thursday, January 30th, 2020

"Tira."

"Yes?"

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Do not question my sanity." Her voice held a warning. It was dark and cold like the weather outside. She heard the early morning winds screaming against the roof. Everywhere, the weather seemed to grow continuously worse. Or strange. Record highs. Record lows. Unusual storms in typically sunny places.

Michael's voice lowered over the phone. "You went against Aleksey's direct orders. Do you realize that is not only treason against Russia, but treason against Aleksey?"

"Yes, I am aware." Tira's face was flat, unconcerned. But, she was becoming impatient. Time was running out. Time to heal. Time to train. Time to return to her duties.

Time to make sure Esther Caravan was safe.

In her room, she was beginning to feel like a wet cat trapped in a bathtub, growing increasingly more furious. Speaking now with Michael, there was a familiar feeling of nervousness. It was the same feeling that had crept over her when Lt. Wilson discovered her apartment bedroom in Chicago. It angered her.

No. It enraged her.

The feeling of nervousness was a sign that mistakes had been made. Tira Arcelin did not -

-should not-

-make mistakes. Yet, here came that feeling, as slight as it might be for a woman of her essence, sending chills over her skin. Had she stuck to the plan, not gotten off course -

"Can you explain how this happened? And then tell me how Aleksey might respond to this?" Michael sounded frustrated, like a man who had given his service for years beyond expectation.

"He will be unhappy at first until he understands my reasoning."

"What? What possible reasoning -"

"Do not raise your voice at me, Michael. Listen." Her voice no longer held a warning. It held a threat, and Michael stopped talking. "When I spoke to her, the subject told me that Mariel Nadier suggested she had a kill chip inside of her." Tira paused, awaiting Michael's reaction.

"May I speak now?" Michael mumbled over the phone.

"You may."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would we protect her for so long if Aleksey wanted a kill chip inside of her?"

"It doesn't make sense, no, but do you expect me, as her protector, not to take that into consideration? Not investigate the tools used to protect her if there is a questionable statement? You are thinking like a rookie, Michael."

Michael scoffed. "Arcelin, you got the package from me, from my hands."

"And I did not see who delivered that package to your hands." She had no reason to believe that Michael had ill intentions for the subject, but there was no reason to believe he didn't either.

"What are you implying?"

However, she had to maintain his cooperation, his trust, ironically. He was a subhuman. There was a level of trust in every subhuman that could be manipulated and used. "I am not implying that you are involved in an initiative to harm the subject. Aleksey has entrusted her to your care for far longer than me. What I am saying is that technology can be hacked, manipulated, changed."

It was quiet on the other side of the line... a line Tira knew, realistically, that Aleksey could listen to at any point in time should he desire.

When Michael contacted her about the chip, Tira had weighed her options. Her first option, the most obvious, was to lie, tell Michael she'd made a mistake. Lost the chip, accidentally broke it, etc. However, each lie, no matter how calculated, was too unbelievable. Perhaps a lie might have worked for a subhuman agent with no experience in the field, but no one would believe Tira would make such a mistake, especially for such an easy task. It'd be far more believable to be upfront, admit that her duty was to protect Esther Caravan. That inserting potentially threatening technology would be negligent and foolish if the goal was to keep the subject alive.