Book One: A Storm of Glass and Ashes

Chapter 14: Leverage

The helicopter was a thing of noise and force, a peripheral monster previously observed, now brought front and center and Hawk was forced into it. Alex, Emile, and Dyson all followed. Each of them were allotted a chair in the belly of the beast, so to speak, and a headset so they could be heard above the roaring blades overhead. Hawk strapped herself into the chair, thinking unpleasantly about digestion, and stomachs, and things with large teeth.

"My first 'copter ride!" Em said, when they got their headset on.

"I'll buy you a t-shirt," Henry said. There was an earnest-ness to it, as if he meant it.

"Mine too," Hawk said.

Alex said nothing. But he squeezed her hand, and then kept it claimed.

There was a fifth person in their group, already swallowed by the helicopter beast. He was unknown, in a black suit, briefcase on his knees, balding, gray, and looking faintly nauseated. Lawyer, Hawk guessed. She turned to him. "Where are we going?" She said.

"Ah," said the man, confirming her guess. "I can't discuss...I mean, we are not at liberty to discuss anything related to the Ararat Project, unless you sign these." Papers were produced from the briefcase, a section of them handed to Hawk, to Alex, to Em. They were very thick. "It's just your standard Non-Disclosure Agreement. Doctor Dyson has already signed his."

Em, who was sitting near the still-opened door, reached out and grabbed Alex's before he had time to protest. Hawk, who knew her friend a bit better than most, handed hers over before violence was called for. Em removed the clips keeping these monstrous contracts together, and chucked all three agreements out the door. Suddenly their garden was a mass of flying paper creatures, pages flapping about like wings.

"Yeah, so that's a no from us," Alex said. He sounded shocked.

"I guess we all have to get out." Hawk said. And didn't move.

"You have to sign," the Lawyer said, ignoring that the things they needed to sign were being turned to confetti by the helicopter blades.

"Your boss is the one who wants us involved. If he really does want us, he has to take us as is. We're not going to blab to the press," Hawk added. "Not until we have something more concrete than exploding smoke in an aquarium. So are we leaving or not?"

"Yeah, make up your mind quick. Y'all are murdering my hibiscus," Em said.

A moment of hesitation.

Hawk took off her seatbelt.

"Fine. Take off." Lawyer straightened his tie and set his briefcase down on the floor, where it sat forlornly. "Kaiser warned me you probably wouldn't sign, anyway. But you understand, that means you can't be in on any major Ararat discovery."

"We know about the Prisms ripping holes in the world," Alex said. "Do we need to know more than that?" This question was directed at Dyson, who shook his head. The helicopter door was slammed shut and, a few moments later, the whole assembly took off.

"They are gonna raid the fuck out of my house, aren't they?" Em said, looking down as her home—and the small collection of Kaiser Willheim's men in her yard—receded into insignificance.

"Willheim is concerned about certain applications of his personally owned intellectual property," the Lawyer said.

Em looked at him as if he were a bug, then turned to Dyson. "The fuck?"

"He means they want the prism back. And probably the busted laser." He crossed his legs. "And I repeat the earlier question. Where are we going?"