Whispers of the Diamond: A Romance of Memory and Desire

Chapter 24 - Terra

By the time I returned to HQ, Jakob was his usual self—fuming and pacing with a string of curses escaping his lips. Ignoring him, I walked past and headed straight for the Field Strategy Table. We had a new plan to execute, aimed at drawing more support to our side.

In truth, we knew that making a significant dent in the TG's stranglehold was unlikely. However, that didn't mean we shouldn't try. If we could gather enough people and attract sufficient attention, the TG would be forced to address us and offer something to pacify the lowlanders. It was a long shot, but every little bit of pressure could count in our favour.

Our aim is to achieve small concessions that lead to an improvement in living conditions. Over the past hundred years, there have been several such concessions. Unfortunately, they don't last because the lowlanders become complacent. In truth, it would take years for any of this to ever come to pass, but we'd done it before, and I was certain we could do it again.

Part of me thinks that's why Alice brought me back all those years ago—a senseless, pointless murder for nothing, in truth—but as a reminder that technology was their biggest advantage. Their CTT was far more advanced than ours, and yet we still used it to great effect. I mean, we had lost people; one bad upload of your consciousness and well, coming back could drive you insane. It's why the higher up the chain you are, the more backups you have. Gaps in the memory or functional parts of the brain bring you back so damaged that you are of no real use.

I sat at the table, peering over countless amounts of data. The advantage of modern technology was that holoscreens allowed for a visual display of information. A swipe or flick of the hand could rearrange data in a way that was very personal. I wondered how Alex had his set up; he seemed to not really care in the moments I'd seen him use the holocomms. I flicked through reports from other units in the resistance, trying to find something that would help Alex discover the identity of the mole. I was also searching for a way to bring Alex to our side. If I could feed him enough information or just give him a reason, he might side with us—another chink in the TG's armour.

"You know it's a lot easier than you think," came Alice's gentle voice as she glided into the room. She always carried a sense of grace, even under the intense pressure of leading everything. "I understand he may be a good man, but he is their best weapon against us, Terra. You can't possibly think he would abandon that for our life."

"He doesn't need to, and you underestimate the love we share."

"Shared," she corrected. "You died, Terra. Whatever you have now, it's a ghost of what it was."

"My heart says otherwise. I never understood his actions or why he chose that path, but everything he has done since being on my case has been to protect me. Even now, Alex is trying to save me," I replied quickly, flicking through more information. Nothing about their mole made sense to me. Nor did it make sense how Alice could possibly know what she did. It was then it hit me. "It's you..."

"No," she replied firmly.

"You have far too much information on Alex, and you've done nothing but try to inject doubt," I began. Alice raised her hand, cutting me off.

"Five decades ago, I saved a girl after she was brutally and senselessly murdered. I kept her close, protected her, and cared for her. Terra, you're one of the people I consider close. I saved you because your death was pointless, and then it was ignored by everyone but the man who loved you. It stands to reason he'd continue to do that; in fact, I was counting on it. Terra, I saved you because you had spirit. We need that," she sighed softly, as if frustrated with the situation, perhaps as much as I was. "I care about you, all the resistance, but you a little more because you deserved better than the death you had. You can make a real change; I'm just not sure that's Alex."

"Why, why would you care about me?"

"Because you remind me of someone I lost. Everyone here, we all have our reasons. Mine... was the murder of my daughter..." Her voice trailed off, and I could see the pain etched into her features. Alice wasn't my mother, but the implication was clear. I'd always known Alice as the strong and fearless leader; this vulnerable side was new even to me. I wondered how many people in her life had gotten this close.

Just for a moment, Alice stopped being the leader, and I saw her for who she was—pained, flawed, like the rest of us. In truth, she was also the closest thing I'd had to family after my death. Well, my first death at least; that has always been the most significant. I'd been shopping, planning to surprise Alex with a dinner. He worked so hard. There was less glamour in serving fast food than being a Hunter, but it was paid, it was easy, and it gave me the freedom to be who I wanted to be. There was a heist at a store across from where I was shopping, and then, as I was heading home, I saw them leaving. To them, I was just a pretty girl alone in a dark alley. You can imagine what Erin, Ricard, and their buddies had in mind. I was assaulted, raped, and then shot twice in the stomach and left to bleed out. It was cold, cruel, and a painful way to die. Ultimately, it was all because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they didn't need a witness who could have identified them.

"I can turn him, just as soon as I tell him who almost got me killed," I replied with a soft smile.

"He won't like the answer, Terra. Be careful," Alice said as she flicked through a few screens and then inputted her password. The surprise on my face must have been quite a sight because, trust me, I never saw this coming. It took me a few minutes to finally send him the email. All I could do after that was wait.