Evenfall (118 page)

So he drifted between conversations, getting deeply involved in some and eavesdropping on others. The microphone and radio set that he and Sin were using was convenient in that they could each hear everything that was happening around the other. That eliminated the need to constantly check in with updates and progress, as well as cutting down on the suspiciousness of repeatedly and apparently talking to oneself.

On the other hand, it also provided a lot of background noise that had to be dealt with. It was a little difficult at first; he could constantly hear what was happening on Sin's end, yet he was attempting to carry on coherent conversations on his end or overhear what others were saying. The first time he tried to talk while Sin also happened to be having a conversation he needed to listen to, it was rather distracting but Boyd did not let it affect his interaction.

After a few hours he was able to ignore a lot of the background noise from Sin's side and could concentrate on listening in on conversations around him. Having so many people around ended up being a blessing; it was less conspicuous when he spoke to Sin quietly by barely moving his lips because he could be talking to someone nearby and it also made it less likely anyone noticed him in the first place since he was surrounded by so many others. At times when he needed to say something longer to Sin than a few words, he wandered to one of the walls; it wasn't rare for anyone to just want to briefly get away from the crowd and it gave him the opportunity to pretend to study the pictures.

It was pure luck that he happened to be turning toward the nearest picture when Jessica somehow managed to show up. In the months since Sin had left Lunar, Boyd had not thought too much about the people from there but when he heard Sin say her name he'd automatically tensed and stared blindly at the picture in front of him.

There was a range of reasons he was not pleased to hear that she was there. The first was because she could potentially blow their cover if she somehow managed to see 'Kadin' and mention to someone there that he and 'Jason' were connected. Although at Lunar Boyd had made a casual remark that he was considering stopping by the convention for the art, he still didn't want anyone connecting the two of them. But she really had no reason to go to the Northeast wing of JKS so that was unlikely. More than anything, it was because of who she was.

He didn't want to have to listen to her flirt; the very fact that he had to hear it raised his defenses, making him guarded and start to grow irritated. He hadn't had a chance to see Sin that day, he probably wouldn't until later, so he did not appreciate in the least that she commented on how handsome he looked in a suit.

Boyd remembered the first time he'd seen Sin cleaned up; it was before the flight to France when he had turned to see Sin standing framed in the doorway to the training room. The sullen way Sin had held himself had only enhanced the effect, the starch white shirt against his tanned skin and the way his eyes had stood out even more without his hair messy and half-hiding them...

He'd looked amazing.

Boyd didn't like the idea that Jessica got to see Sin in a similar way at all to the way he'd seen him then. He could tell at that point that he was definitely not going to like the conversation. Not that it was a surprise, as he doubted any conversation Jessica would choose to have with Sin would be one he would relish overhearing.

She made it worse, however, when she mentioned the lip ring. He felt strangely possessive of the lip ring – he'd liked the idea from the start, even if Sin hadn't, and over time it had become a familiar part of kissing him. Boyd had run his tongue and lips along it enough to know exactly what it felt like, he'd sucked Sin's lower lip into his mouth and played with the hoop of metal and when he'd pulled away he'd still found his eyes dropping to the way the silver ring disappeared between his lips.

Over the months, Boyd had acquired a fascination with it and it had been a little disappointing when Sin had to get rid of it. So it started to annoy him that she said anything about it; somehow he felt like she didn't have a good enough reason to mi
ss it whereas he certainly did.

When she started complaining about the help they had hired since Sin, Boyd couldn't help but think she was an idiot. Of course no one was as good as Sin; she was damn lucky she'd had him there in the first place. No one of that caliber would normally think to work for such an unprofessional woman and establishment. Even Jason Alvarez would have been far overqualified; it was not typical for someone who had worked such prestigious jobs including for high-up officials to suddenly decide to break drunks apart at some random, unimportant night club.

She was dreaming if she ever thought she'd find a decent replacement. Sin was exceptional at what he did and if it weren't for the fact that Sin had started to like some of the people there and that he'd become more comfortable in a civilian setting, Boyd would have thought that Sin's talents were wasted at Lunar just as they would be at any nightclub.

Everything she said from that point on just made the entire exchange more irritating. Boyd could feel his annoyance growing the more flirtatious she sounded, the closer and clearer he could hear her voice.

He could just imagine her touching Sin, trying to win him over and when she propositioned Sin, Boyd barely stopped himself from saying coldly into the radio, "Tell her to fuck off."

He knew he was just being jealous as well as, to an extent, possessive of Sin. He knew that he was being irrational, that he should be ignoring this conversation because it was not likely to contain pertinent information, that he should go talk to a few more people and try to ascertain when the leaders would arrive.

He logically knew a lot of things but that didn't change the fact that he wanted Jessica to get the fuck away from Sin, to stop trying to charm him and touch him and just in general to stop being herself. He'd managed to ignore much of his ire for her in the months since Sin had worked at Lunar, but hearing her voice and thinking of his last conversation with her only served to renew it.

"You must be American," a man suddenly said at his side and Boyd looked over. He'd felt him approaching but there were so many people in the room that it was not an uncommon occurrence; it was just that most of them continued past him. This man, however, had the sort of amiable expression that showed he was probably stopping to talk to anyone who seemed interesting.

"Sorry?" Boyd said, trying to shut out the annoyance he'd been feeling so he could concentrate on his part of the assignment.

"The flag," the man said with a smile and nodded his head toward the picture in front of Boyd. "The way you were glaring at it just now, I could tell it made you angry."

Boyd looked at the picture and realized it was a painting of an eagle with a small American flag pressed over it and protected by the glass. More than the fact that he hadn't realized what he was looking at, Boyd was surprised by the man's comment. Had he really been glaring?

It used to be that it didn't matter what Boyd was feeling inside, his expression just shut down and he became entirely unreadable, especially in the context of a mission. He knew he'd been angry but he hadn't realized it had made it to his expression, not when he'd been so careful so far to make sure he didn't break character at any point.

What the hell was wrong with him? Had Monterrey and Sin changed him that much? Had he just grown that bad at his job? He didn't think so; truthfully, he thought it was probably just Jessica. It was almost to the point that her presence was apparently enough on its own to lead him down the path of irrationality.

"Oh, right," Boyd said belatedly, giving the man a lopsided grin. "I'm that obvious, huh?"

"No, not at all," the man said with a laugh. He turned his own eyes on the flag and his expression darkened a little. "I think it's that way for all of us. We all lost someone, you know? Some of us lost everyone. When we see the flag... it comes out."

"Yeah," Boyd said somberly. He stared at the flag, and even if he personally didn't think the war was a result of the American government in particular but rather just the inevitability of human nature, he wasn't about to let the man know. "Guess I can't help it when I look at the flag. I keep thinking that red on there should be their blood, not ours." He wondered what Sin thought of the conversation if he was listening in. He'd probably assume that if Boyd had been glaring at the flag, it had been a carefully calculated move to blend in as Kadin Reed rather than pure dumb luck.

"It should," the man agreed. He looked over and smiled again. "I'm Pat, originally from the United Liberation for Truth but here it's USNE5. Where are you from?"

"Kadin, True Democracy Movement and USNE7," Boyd answered, referring to 53's original group name and Janus' designation for all of their inducted cells.

Andrews had already told them that Janus had their own way to track their constituents, just as the Agency used a numbering system. ULT and USNE5 both referred to what he knew as Sector 62.

It was complicated, really; the Agency used sector numbers, Janus used their own designation system, but the rebel groups (including those unaffiliated with Janus) used the names they had given themselves when speaking or referring to each other. Most of the names of the rebel groups were referred to by acronyms such as LoRS for the Liberation of Repressed Society, which Boyd knew as Sector 89.

"ULT, huh? We haven't heard much from you lately. Word on the street was few months back you were gonna be bigger than LoRS then suddenly you're off the radar." He knew that Pat would be familiar with both 53 and 89; most rebel groups in the same regions knew of each other's movements and activities for possible alliances or even rivalries. In their case, they were both from a group in northeast America, designated for Janus by 'USNE.'

Pat made a face, looking uncomfortable. "Well," he said after a moment, "you know how it is. Someone doesn't agree with the boss, he gets some followers, the group breaks up... Same thing happened to LoRS except we kept more of our original people." He looked around then leaned in closer. "Truth is, we're trying to grow big like that again. It's part of the reason we wanted to join Janus... With them backing us, we'll be able to expand, get our guys back, all that."

It also meant they'd lose their identifying characteristics and simply be assimilated into a greater whole, but Boyd didn't say that. "We're probably all thinking the same to some extent," he said easily. "Even the people out of America."

"Yeah," Pat said. "There's a lot of them too. You know they're even starting to recruit in new countries? A few guys over there said some Latvians are getting in on it, same with Estonia, Lithuania."

Boyd hadn't known that but he didn't think it was too surprising. "Yeah?" he asked. "But you just said it's some guys, bet it's not even real info."

"No way, these guys know what they're talking about," Pat insisted, leaning in to speak more quietly while he glanced around. "They've been getting all the info they can on Janus 'cause they been trying to get into them for a long time now. I know them, they're legit."

"Hmm." Boyd appeared to consider that for a moment, looking at Pat doubtfully. "Latvia, though? Lithuania? What's there?"

Pat shrugged. "Probably plenty of people who are unhappy with their government. They're close enough to Russia, maybe it's also a strategic point."

"Could be," Boyd said, sounding unconvinced even though he suspected Pat was correct. "I dunno, though. What else did they say?" He asked it as if he were trying to find a reason to believe Pat.

"Well," Pat said thoughtfully, "They're going for neutrals now, too; I heard they've got some feelers out in Greece mostly. The guys said Janus is trying to get most of Europe and after that they're gonna focus more on South America."

That was another tidbit of information he had not heard yet but, once more, did not particularly surprise him. "Hope they can make some headway in South America," Boyd said, seeming to consider the information. "I hear they're real interested in staying out of the politics of the war right now."

Pat waved a hand dismissively. "They've always been like that. It's only a matter of time; once Janus starts scouting the area, they'll realize they're right."

"Yeah." Boyd glanced past Pat to the nearest Janus representative, who was halfway across the room and in a very intent discussion with one of the representatives from a rebel group. "Unless they're stubborn. They wouldn't be the first."

"You mean China?" Pat said with a grimace. Boyd idly slid his gaze back over to Pat and just shrugged languidly without saying anything, not wanting to give away any amount of information he may or may not have, but Pat took it as an assent. "Yeah, they're having troubles with them," Pat said, "Those die-whatever people."

"Nah, I heard it's dee-something," Boyd said lazily. "Deebees or Deejees or some shit."

Pat shrugged unconcernedly. "All they've got is farmers on their side. Those guys said the die-people are causing troubles now but, personally, I bet it won't last long. Janus is more powerful. They'll get China, Europe, the Oceanic Republic..."

"Sounds like they're taking over the world," Boyd said with a little smirk and Pat nodded, pleased.

"Hey Patty, get over here," someone called from across the room and they both looked over. A man was standing by a table, grinning widely and waving him closer.

"He from ULT too?" Boyd asked curiously, noting that the man was next to one of the people Boyd recognized as one of the Janus representatives he'd run into earlier. They were standing by a table with stacks of paper spread across it but he couldn't tell what any of it said from that distance.