Reno popped up to Home at the agreed upon time. Marc was awaiting him on his aerie decking, sitting there watching the sun set.

 

"How is he?" Marc asked the moment Reno was substantial.

 

"It was touch and go there for a bit," Reno replied taking the drink Marc held out for him, swallowing all of it, then taking a seat. Reno's glass refilled itself.

 

"Ok," Reno said, at a signal from Marc,  "here is what I know, as opposed to what I suspect. Stephen went off the other day, dropped Adam off at the airport for a flight to Malta, then popped out for somewhere. We are assuming that was to see Basil Sutcliffe. A few days later they all met in Malta, presumably to meet someone whose existence they wanted to keep secret - or at least whose whereabouts they wanted to keep secret. Stephen had Basil and his group there for protection, which, unfortunately, broke down when a bunch of urchins began a street brawl. Someone took advantage of that distraction not to attack this guy Stephen was there to meet, as they all expected, but instead to attack Stephen.  May or may not be the same group. Could have been two teams there, one after Stephen's contact the other after Stephen.

 

"The attack was nearly successful. It was swift and sure, and only very fast action saved Stephen's life."

 

"Hmmm," Marc commented as he sipped on his drink. His mind was obviously turning over the possibilities. Or perhaps turning over how far to trust Reno.

 

After a while Marc continued, "I am certain Margaret and Maya have an agent at the Refuge; probably several. If we could put together how we learned that Stephen was going to Malta, surely that person could as well. Whoever attempted this assassination, seemed intent on Stephen although that seemed to surprise Sutcliffe. We need to know who it was they were meeting. And more importantly why."

 

"Probably to do with this integration committee thing?" Reno suggested.

 

"Not clear. Stephen has been busy laying down false trails for us to follow, so it might have begun as something entirely innocent, or at least unrelated to my business, but as he was exposed for a brief moment the attempt was made.  What else have you learned from Tommy or anyone else?"

 

Reno gave Marc the rundown of the files they'd been looking at before the incident with a dying Stephen had disrupted them. Marc listened, his eyes on the sunset.

 

"Oh," Reno added, "and one of the first things Stephen asked, when he regained consciousness, was about the safety of someone called Dinah.  I don't know of any Dinah at the Refuge... so..."

 

"See what you can find out regarding her. Discreetly. No sense alerting anyone else that he is particularly worried about her. She'd be a way to attempt to control Stephen if his enemies could get their hands on her."

 

"Yeah. Okay," Reno said thoughtfully. "I'll just skulk around and hope for the best."

 

"Also, who's Laszlo? Any idea?  He may have been on Malta," Reno added. "Oh, and they had a recorder with them Adam. So they've had the benefit of a replay of everything."

 

"Do they indeed.  I dare say Lord Sutcliffe made quite certain to study it after my comments. See if you can find out where Adam is."

 

"Roger," Reno relied.

 

Marc thought for a moment then said, "There may be a backlash from the Listeners, especially if they come to believe the Council ordered an attack upon Stephen. Or they might believe it was me personally. I will arrive at the Refuge tomorrow, in hopes of getting there before they all react and decide to lock any strangers out of the Refuge. Tell no one this, at present. I plan to arrive as quietly and as unobtrusively as possible."

 

"Okay," Reno said hesitantly.  "But if they are suspicious of you..."

 

"I need to get to know Stephen. He and I need to come to some level of trust. I believe if that happens the Listeners will wait for a signal from him."

 

"Yeah, they trust him and take direction from him without a qualm."

 

 Marc after sipping his drink added, "And, in an effort to tamp emotions down, see if you can encourage any rumour that Stephen was hurt accidentally, during an attack on whoever he was meeting at Malta. Sutcliffe certainly assumed that.  Do your best to discount any speculation that this was an assassination attempt on Stephen himself."

 

"But..." Reno began.

 

"Also," Marc added, waving him quiet, "as part of my campaign to make myself seem trustworthy..."

 

"Seem?" Reno asked.

 

Marc smiled that cold smile of his. "Perceptions are often more important than reality. It will do me no good to _be_ trustworthy if no one believes that I am. Now, where was I ... In my campaign to appear trustworthy, I want to move that equipment away from the inhabited parts of the Refuge as soon as possible. Find a place to put it where we can get to it instantly, but where it will be less of a threat to Stephen and his people. But it needs to be inside the Refuge grounds."

 

"Do you think you'll need to use it," Reno asked after he'd swallowed to moisten his suddenly deathly dry throat.

 

"I believe its disappearance from its former abode has been noted. Once I'm located at the Refuge they will make the proper assumption. And it will give them pause. I do not want them, whomever they may be, to destabilize the situation even further."

 

"Right," Reno said.

 

"I will bespeak my operatives on Earth this evening and alert them to the current situation."

 

"And what about info from here?" Reno asked.

 

"I have someone in mind who will be in a position to inform me of any further moves from Home. Or the Council."

 

"You think this person reliable?" Reno asked, swallowing again.

 

Marc's eyebrow went up. "She will be by the time I get done demonstrating to her the wisdom of aligning with me."

 

Reno well remembered how he'd been convinced.  He felt for her. He got up to depart but Marc stopped him with a comment, "What do you think of Lord Sutcliffe?"

 

Reno was unused to being asked that sort of question. "I, uhm, he's very close to Stephen.  Friendship of long standing. Obviously not a signee of the Covenants, but certainly fully Awakened."

 

"And his character?" Marc asked.

 

"He's pragmatic. Quick on his feet. Grasps the situation and takes action."

 

"Thank you, Reno. I'll see you in the morning."

 

Reno was more than happy to get out of there. He wasn't all that happy to learn he'd be around Marc beginning tomorrow 24/7.  Marc exhausted him. Well, maybe it was just because Marc expected him to think 24/7.  How annoying...

 

Lest than an hour after Reno left, the front door swung open soundlessly. Bella, dressed to the nines, as requested, walked in.  She'd never been to Marc's aerie. Not very many people ever had. It had stood on this crag for hundreds of years, almost since the birth of the planet, alone in its glory, and mostly, over those years, so far as anyone could tell, uninhabited. And then, suddenly, right as things had begun to go pear shaped, he'd returned.

 

He'd helped Bella pull her butt out of the fire after the incidents at the Refuge. He'd worked with Maya and Margaret and done what he could to rein them in for her. He'd been a helpful tool.  He didn't understand the interactions, the long-seated hatreds and distrusts. So he'd fallen into line with the rest of the Council.

 

And so, when the time had come to rotate the chair, it had seemed like a great idea to give it to Marc. Bella was confident she could control his access, subtly color his understanding, finally lock in long-laid plans to get Stephen and the Refuge under control.

 

True, Bella did not fully trust Margaret and Maya. They seemed mostly interested in the power that beating Stephen would confer on the Council, finally.  So Marc had seemed the answer. Once he was installed all four of them had conceived of and executed the plan that had taken advantage of a sudden incident, and ended with Stephen in front of the council bench, stripped of his membership, and finally under their control.

 

But... at the last moment, Marc had suddenly changed the game. Oh, not that much. Ever such a tiny step off to the side. Granted Stephen was still suspended from the Council but they did not yet have him where they wanted him to be.

 

Thus were Bella's thoughts regarding this private meeting with Marc. Two power-players planning their campaign.

 

"Marc?" Bella called out aloud and with her mind.

 

-Through here- he responded mentally, showing her a pathway from the main entry where she stood through a comfortable sitting room and out onto a balcony that overlooked the city. The sky was clear and the city lights sparkled below them.

 

A few inset lights showed where the walkways were, and the steps, but other than that, the balcony was in darkness, lit only by the ambient light from the city below.

 

"It's beautiful here," Bella said.

 

"It is," he replied.

 

She saw him then, leaning on a railing looking out at the city.  She walked over to join him.  A glass of wine appeared in his hand and he handed it to her.

 

As she took it their hands touched, which set a tingle through her. Odd. But then there'd always been something different about him. Perhaps it was because he had been Awakened for so very long.

 

He was dressed in a tuxedo, looking particularly civilized in it. It suited him. Severe colours and lines set against his strong features and intelligent face.

 

It began as all small talk and relaxing.  They laughed at Reno's unhappiness of being at the Refuge, they chatted about mutual friends.  Then he showed her to a small table where dinner awaited them. It was exotic fare, or at least cooked in a fashion she wasn't familiar with. He waved away her questions and just smiled. "Enjoy it," was what he said.

 

After dinner came more exquisite wine and they both sat back a bit and regarded one another over their wine glasses.

 

"Reno has sent me some very interesting reports regarding what Stephen is up to," Marc finally said into the silence, rather abruptly ending Bella's enjoyment of the evening. She hadn't really wanted to hear that name.

 

"So I can imagine."  Bella's voice betrayed her, putting too much emotion into the few words.

 

"Hmmm. Tell me what you know of the ops teams he runs. Funny, I do not recall seeing any reports he'd submitted regarding them.  At all."

 

Bella blushed. "I didn't want to overwhelm you with all the details, Marc. You yourself said you weren't current on all the ramifications regarding the Refuge and the Listeners."

 

"True.  But now is the time for me to find out just what he is hiding. Tell me."

 

Bella's mind went into overdrive.  "Well, I assume you know the basics?" she asked, stalling for time to think.

 

"Let's assume nothing," he replied. "Indulge me. I want to hear how they came about and how they got to where they are now."

 

"Hmmm.  OK.  History lesson.  When the Covenants were first drafted one of the conditions that Stephen had was that we, as a people. assume responsibility for the New Ones.  He even went so far as to say that not doing so was akin to abandoning our children.  Even then, it must be remembered, he had a lot of influence so we couldn't just tell him no.  We had to work with him.  Well, during the negotiations he proposed the teams.  In order to get them, to get the Listeners, in fact, he agreed to Council oversight.  Then, when we finished Home they worked from there.  At that time, too, there were no Council restrictions on movement of Awakened back and forth between Home and earth like there are now.  And that's the way it stayed basically.  Periodically Stephen would petition for permission to base the Listeners on Earth, basically because he was convinced that the mortality rate would drop.  But he also wanted to use such a base as the springboard for beginning integration.  Well, I guess we got tired of listening to him, and the numbers were getting appalling and people were starting to ask questions, so, finally we agreed.  But we stipulated that we, the Council, wouldn't pay for it and that we would retain control such as we have today.  "

 

She sipped her wine and then said, "Then, as you know, the attacks on the teams started and we shut Home to the New Ones, after requiring all the Awakened to return. Then we were basically forced by Stephen into countenancing not only the relationship between Liliana and Richard, but also of acceding to Richard's demands which included the right to require the presence of anyone he wished at the Refuge and the assurance that the Council would back him up.  So there was a massive build up of personnel at the Refuge.  Anyway to make a long story short the attacks stopped and we decided that Stephen needed to be reined in so we pulled everyone back but the personnel who are there today.  Three teams, the support staff and, I think, three healers and five empaths, also a couple of other channelers and dampers for managing the New Ones are what he is allowed now plus a few assorted others like Tommy and Liam.  We also told him to stop all efforts at integration.  He really didn't fight it but then this all occurred almost immediately after the business with the children was discovered and Doni died."

 

"Yes.  And so that's how things have stood for nearly ten years?" Marc asked.

 

Bella nodded. Where was he going with this?

 

"And how many teams were active before we drew everyone back here? I ask as Reno seems to think Stephen is seriously understaffed."

 

"About thirty and yes, he is."

 

"And has made no appeals to the council for additional staff?  You were presiding, so surely if he appealed for help you'd have seen the requests."

 

Damn Reno, she thought.  He knew.  "Every month Stephen submits a report basically detailing the activity at the Refuge, how many, where from, what condition...all that sort of thing.  He also usually includes a request for additional staff.  The reports come to my office."  Bella considered elaborating but opted not to.  It probably wouldn't help.

 

"And yet we've never discussed this issue and you've never granted his requests. Why was that?  And why haven't these requests been forwarded to me, since I've taken chairmanship of the Council?"  His voice was getting silky.

 

She'd never before heard that particular tone from him.  She didn't want to be hearing now.  Her only hope was the unvarnished truth.  "They were never discussed because, as you say, I never distributed them.  Because they weren't distributed his requests obviously wouldn't be granted.  And I didn't distribute them because to do so would have made it obvious that to meet his need for additional staff he was drawing on Listener trained personnel here.  Making that plain to Margaret and Maya would have resulted in further clamp downs.  I happen to agree with Stephen these days on the subject of our responsibility to the New Ones so I filed them." The last was said on a defiant note.  She hated him for making her feel like a schoolgirl with this interrogation.  Who was he to question her?

 

"All right. I am going to grant him three additional teams immediately and double the number of healers. I'm also inclined to revoke the requirements for all Awakened to remain here on Home. Since the danger has passed, for whatever reason, I see no point in limiting personnel at the Refuge to bare minimum."

 

Perhaps it was now safe to breathe.  "He could probably use twice that...and well, the requirement for the Awakened to remain here wasn't just the danger.  That was an opportunity that we grasped.  One of the other things Stephen handled, particularly after the Refuge was established, was policing the Awakened on earth who had what one might call a distressing tendency to view it as their own little playground with at times extremely problematic results.  There was a lot more going on than all that...it's not a straightforward equation.  For instance, Stephen used the freedom of the Awakened to argue that there wasn't that much difference between that and his proposal to work with the New Ones there, in situ, as it were and never removing them any more than was needed from their lives before Awakening.  We couldn't say we didn't trust them to behave when we were saying we were trusting the Awakened, who weren't behaving."

 

"Yes, I can imagine things got tense, and will continue to be tense around New Ones. Charlie Palmer and his children being a perfect example of some sort of separation needed for them from their former lives. Still... You do realize that in reality the Council has no say at all with regard to the Refuge. The complex is not owned by the Council. But by Stephen.  The most we can do is remember that Stephen has options we would definitely not like, and that we need to accommodate more of his needs.  Otherwise, he will reject the covenant as it appears to be more an impediment to his operation than a help."

 

"Well, Stephen doesn't exactly own it either.  I can't swear to this, but my understanding is that he created a foundation that actually owns it and he controls the foundation.  Well, that I know is true...but I am told that he set it up so that should he die the foundation reverts to the control of five trustees:  The abbot of the monastery there, Eli, Liam, Tabitha and someone named Basil Sutcliffe.  They as trustees are charged with ensuring that the foundation and all of it's assets are used to further the aims and goals of something called the committee for integration, whatever that is."

 

"Ah, did he indeed," Marc said thoughtfully, as he sipped on his wine. "We're screwed Bella."

 

At her startled look he said, with a soft chuckle, "He has all the cards. We've got nothing.  He can tell us to take a hike, the Listeners who've been supporting him will pour down onto Earth and land in the Refuge, and there won't be a damn thing we can do about it."

 

"Oh."

 

"And once the news is out I've no reason to think that that won't happen anyway, unless we step forward now."

 

"The news?" Bella asked.

 

"Your assassination attempt on Stephen. I'm afraid it didn't work."

 

"My what?" Bella went dead perch white and sank back into her chair.  "Stephen... Is he.. Someone tried to kill him?"

 

"And very nearly succeeded. He nearly bled out before they could get him back to the Refuge."

 

"Oh, God," Bella said, a shudder running through her body.

 

Marc just watched her.

 

Finally she looked up at him.  "Marc, I swear. I swear I knew nothing of this."

 

"You haven't stopped at murder before why should I believe this is any different." He was calm, unmoved by her emotional response.

 

The fear was suddenly churning her stomach, making her afraid she was going to vomit.  "What...what are you talking about?  What murder?"

 

"Attacks on the Ops Teams. And the incident at the Refuge. Are you saying no one died that day?"

 

Bella, unable to believe what she was hearing said, flatly, "I have no idea what you're talking about.  Killing Ops Teams?  Incident at the Refuge?  What day?  Damn it, Marc, explain what you're talking about and quit being so bloody cagey!"

 

Marc slammed his fist down on the table but his voice remained cold and emotionless. "The day Doni died, Bella. Have you forgotten that?  The whole plan with the children. The attacks on the Ops Teams - I know, Bella. The only question now is, what I'm going to do to you."

 

Bella, now seriously frightened, could think of no way to convince him she really had no idea...except for the children...what he was talking about.  Her voice betraying her fear, she said, "I remember very well the day Doni died and the children.  But I swear to you I don't know what you're talking about, about the Ops teams.  God, Marc you have to believe me.  I don't know!  I really don't know! What will it take to make you believe me?"  By the time she finished she was close to hysterical, her voice wholly beyond her control.  She no longer cared about anything but getting out of there alive.

 

"You ran the Council but yet knew nothing? Is that what you are claiming?"

 

Bella nodded. She didn't trust her voice.

 

He got up and walked over to the edge of the balcony and leaned on the rail. She could see the tension in his shoulders. Was he fighting for control not to kill her then and there? What was he thinking?

 

He turned then and she felt his mind reach out to hers. He asked her to show him. To open her mind to his. He could kill her if she did. He could kill her anyway.  She let him.

 

Her self cowered in a protected corner of her mind, while Marc 'looked'.  He wasn't gentle. He grasped what she offered and thankfully withdrew. When she came back to full consciousness, she found herself huddled in a  shivering heap on the floor at his feet, Marc standing over her looking down at her with an unreadable expression.

 

"My first priority," Marc said, "is to ensure Stephen stays alive. My second is to see what I can do to salvage the situation. When word gets out Stephen has nearly been killed he may have no choice but to withdraw from the covenants due to the anger of the Listeners. That would be utter disaster.  We have to keep Stephen on board and find a way to placate the Listeners."

 

He held out a hand to help her up. She felt nauseous but took his hand anyway. He pulled her easily to her feet and supported her until she was sitting in a chair. He handed her a drink.

 

"I hope I can count on your support, Bella. We need to find proof of who is behind this and rid the Council of them."

 

All she could do was nod while a small portion of her brain wondered what made him so sure it was the Council behind it.