The Eden Projects (FINAL EDITING)

Chapter 54. Foil

"How would you like to proceed?" Matthias, the lead officer assigned to watch over Zero, settled into the chair opposite Maliver at the center of the long conference table. The room was dim, most of the lights were either dimmed or turned off entirely to save on power.

Maliver reclined at the head of the table like a spider resting comfortably within its own web.

Zero had been taken.

Perfect.

Destruction was always more effective from within than without.

He stirred the murky surface of his over-roasted coffee with a spoon before letting it settle.

"What would I like to do..." His eye drifted toward the calendar on his desk. He thumbed through several pages before stopping on the current date, give or take a few forgotten years. "Where is he now?"

Matthias checked the pager clipped to his belt. "The tracker was removed and abandoned in town. Last recorded body temperature came from an old staging outpost not far from our position."

Maliver laughed quietly. "Of course Ace would take them there. Smart creature." He lifted the cup to his lips. "If they hadn't given themselves away..."

"Are you going to pursue them?"

Maliver's chair scraped violently across the floor as he stood. "Do you honestly think I'd let Kasper and his band of fools walk away with nothing more than an empty threat at their heels?" His voice rolled through the room. "This isn't some childish grudge."

"No, sir."

"Then mind your tongue."

Matthias quietly slid his coffee cup back onto its saucer, wiping away the faint ring of moisture it had left behind. He was older than Simon.

That had never mattered.

Maliver wandered toward the investigation board fixed against the wall. Notes, photographs and strings connected months of careful planning. Ace's handwritten letters sat discarded inside a wastebasket beneath it. He always kept them. They amused him. "What do you think should be done?"

Matthias shifted.

"Go on."

"Permission to speak freely."

Maliver gave him a dismissive wave.

"I don't know how to justify using a child as a weapon." Matthias leaned forward. "Even if there's only the smallest chance it'll work. They're brothers. You could break him." He hesitated. "It's cruel."

"Cruel..." Maliver smiled faintly as he returned to his chair. "You don't know the meaning of cruel."

"I think I have an idea."

"Do you?" Maliver checked his watch. "Wasn't it cruel when I reassigned you to Redside? Wasn't it cruel when we denied the Rims food and medicine to preserve stability inside the walls? Wasn't it cruel to fuel their drugged economy until it broke itself? Wasn't it cruel when the strain leaked into the population?" He leaned forward. "Cruelty isn't some unfortunate side effect, Matthias. It's nature." He crossed the room. "Everything new requires something old to die." His hand slammed the porcelain cup onto the conference table. It exploded into white fragments.

Matthias jumped.

Still gripping the broken handle, Maliver held it up between them. "How do we know the nature of the cup?" He let the shards fall. "Only by breaking it." His eyes settled somewhere beyond the room. "I've let Kasper grow." A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Now I must know what breaks him."