When Rain Rises

Chapter 17

"What are you two doing here?" Aiden asked, crossing his arms. "I'm presuming the spy is gone if you're appearing."

"He is," Davis confirmed. "The Dianists are stalking him as we speak." Davis pointed at the arched roof of a nearby abandoned house. "He was up there most of the time." Rain's gaze followed his finger to the rooftop. He could see a crumbling brick chimney that would've probably have been what he was hiding behind. He doubted the spy could hear much of anything from that distance, but he could see them just fine, especially with binoculars. "That was pretty good thinking, explaining some of our gadgets while he was watching."

"How is that a good thing?" Rain asked. "Doesn't that mean he's learned information that he's going to share?"

"Precisely," Aiden smiled lightly. "And so he'll have to go back to his base of operations to do so—that's where he'll either relay the information in person or electronically to whoever he's working for. The information he could have learned about our equipment isn't at all significant, and most of it could even be explained just as easily by anyone who has seen us in action before."

"So the fact he possibly thought it was valuable is a hint that he isn't well-informed on the Vincent," Alyse noted. "Which adds credibility to the theory that they're after Aiden as a person, and not the Vincent in general."

"Perhaps," Aiden said while rubbing his chin. "But then why bother to report our equipment in general if they were just after me? There's always the possibility that they're reporting on something else, so we can't say for certain they aren't well informed on the Vincent just yet."

"He could just be updating to his superiors that we've been given our gear," Rain offered. "Maybe it affects whatever they're planning, which we don't know yet."

"That is a possibility. For now, formal training has been concluded. I will do my best to continue to train you informally, as you are still my apprentices and it is my duty to turn you into agents. But our strategy has now shifted. We will no longer be meeting in the field. It is up to you both to continue practicing the fighting and maneuvering abilities I've already taught you, and perfect them in the meantime. Our primary focus now is discovering who this spy works for."

"We'll need to nab him if we're doing that," Davis said. "Best way to do it."

"Yes," Janet nodded.

"And capture him we shall," Aiden assured. "The Dianists will brief me on their progress and we will plan accordingly. Speaking of which..." Aiden stuck his hand into a satchel behind him and pulled out two small radios. Rain only recognized them because he would sometimes see security forces walking around with radios strapped to their chests or shoulders. The main difference was the security forces' radios looked well maintained, and top-of-the-line with a digital monitor and sleek metallic finish. On the other hand, the radios being presented to them by Aiden were bulky, plastic and riddled with marks and scratches.

"Hey, these aren't high-tech at all!" Rain frowned as he took one while Alyse took the other. "Why don't we have cooler versions?"

"All this technology is new, Rain!" Alyse hissed as she took the attack on their equipment personally. "We're working on it."

"Well, tell your parents to hurry up."

"Man you love your gadgets, don't you?" Davis laughed and looked over at Alyse. "Rain's probably your family's biggest fan, you know."

"If not the most impatient one," Alyse muttered. She dropped her defensive tone nonetheless. "Though, you'd think a street-born would be more grateful for any kind of technology when they've lived in squalor their whole lives."