Evenfall (140 page)

"So this Morgan-- you were gonna get fucked tonight or what?"

Carhart blinked at him once, twice and his eyebrows shot up. "Wow."

Sin smirked. "Just curious if you make her call you general in bed."

"Where did you suddenly develop this... sense of humor?" Carhart asked, not bothering to dignify the question with an answer even though the side of his mouth twitched in amusement.

A one shouldered shrug. "Working in a bar."

There was another stretch of silence as Carhart stared at him in surprise. "Well. That wasn't the kind of employment I'd expected you to find." He tried to picture Sin-- alarming, brooding, easily set off Sin-- working in a bar, and the mental image ended in a bloodbath every way he looked at it. He shook his head slowly, eyebrows drawn slightly together.

"Just so we're clear, I think you should know that other than the fact that the mission failed, I was given no details about anything that occurred at any time in Monterrey. Connors was not pleased by the way things turned out, he blamed Jeffrey and me for acting on faulty information, and the both of us were actually suspended without pay for two weeks because of it. Because he deemed this whole thing to be the failure of our entire department, he didn't go out of his way to give me the details of anything that had happened although Ryan attempted to piece together bits from his sources, which was difficult considering his state."

The general sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his muscular chest. "Like I said, I assure you that as far as I've been told, Boyd is alive. I will tell you details about what happened upon your and his return to the compound but not until you give me an account of all that happened from the time you entered Monterrey until you returned. But before we begin that-- do you feel any better?"

Sin shrugged, not really understanding why Carhart kept speaking of Boyd in such a vague manner, and nodded. "I suppose."

"You're lucky I didn't call the medical staff. You looked on the verge of death when you arrived." Carhart cocked his head to the side and observed Sin critically. "You don't look as pale, at least."

"I--" Sin broke off with a scowl. "I don't need the medical staff. I just felt... odd. Off balance. Probably from the reconstructive surgery on my legs."

"Recons--" Carhart broke off and frowned, leaning forward across the table. "I understand that the assignment was a failure because of faulty information but that is all Connors deigned to inform me. That the convention was not more than a rookie orientation and that no one of note, none of the reasons you were there, had actually been present. I feel... responsible for that. I feel responsible for the entire mission if I'm frank, but there are still holes in the information I was given. I know you may not be feeling up to it at the moment Hsin, but I really need for you to tell me in detail everything that happened from the time you entered Monterrey. Especially how and why you were obtained."

Sin rubbed the back of his head again and his eyes flicked down at the table as memories once again flitted across his brain. "How much..." He'd never been one for debriefing and he honestly wasn't in the mood for it at the moment but he knew it was the only way Carhart would tell him anything about Boyd. "What do you want to know?"

"Just start from the top," Carhart said, obviously eager to finally learn anything about the operation.

Sin nodded and shifted slightly before finally looking up with a blank, unreadable expression on his face. "We entered Monterrey and everything went according to the plan. I obtained employment at a night club named Lunar owned by a woman named Jessica Ramirez and continued to work there until the end of August when I went about seeking employment for the convention. Nothing of note happened during those months until we both got the suspicion that we were being watched. However it turned out to be nothing more than a smuggler that Boyd was investigating who was making sure that we were not going to get too far involved in his business."

Carhart's eyebrows rose slightly. "A smuggler? There are plenty of smugglers across the border, why was Boyd investigating him thoroughly enough for the man to take notice?"

Sin shrugged. "He had the suspicion that the man was a weapons smuggler with ties to Janus. It turned out that he was in fact a powerful weapons smuggler, the most powerful according to one of Boyd's informants, but that he did not sell to any specific group and he really had no allegiances to any faction as far as we know. After he came to the conclusion that we were no threat, we were left alone and I no longer got the suspicion that we were being followed."

There was a brief silence as Carhart watched him. "Someone followed you undetected?"

Sin's eyebrow twitched and he made a face. "Obviously."

"Well, that is interesting enough right there. What was the name of his group? He may be someone we may want to look into later in case he does get involved with Janus one day. At the rate they're going I wouldn't be surprised if they got every underground crook under their thumb."

Another shrug. "All I know is, he called himself
Lo mαs chingσn
and he apparently has a very strange sense of humor. Boyd probably has more information on him, as he was the one investigating." Sin looked around the kitchen with a slight frown. "I want a cigarette."

This time the pause was longer and Carhart stared at him blankly for several long moments. "I see." He looked away briefly, cleared his throat and then looked back. "And smoking was a part of your cover. You don't need to do it anymore."

Sin made a face. "Whatever. Anyway the gist of it is, nothing happened that stood out for the majority of the assignment. In fact everything appeared to be going smoothly until the actual evening of the Exposition. That was when we realized that no one on the list of targets was present and so, for lack of any guidance on what to do in that situation, we chose to carry out the second part of the plan and proceeded to detonate the explosives."

The distracted expression on Carhart's face disappeared and his brow furrowed. "And everything before that evening was fine? Your cover-- the hiring process. Everything went on without any flags going up? No one acted as though they suspected you of anything? I suppose what I'm getting at is, are there any indications that your cover was blown and that the Janus leaders on the list decided not to show at the last minute because they knew their plan was compromised?"

Sin opened his mouth to deny that but he hesitated and thought back carefully. That had been something he really hadn't thought of and it was a very real possibility but as he wracked his brain, he realized that there really had been nothing to indicate such a turn of events. "Unless
Lo mαs chingσn
really was a Janus operative and somehow figured out who Boyd was and what he was really up to in Monterrey, no. And that scenario itself is doubtful. Boyd would have alerted me and you from that moment on had he the suspicion that anything like that was the case."

Carhart nodded and made an irritated sound at the back of his throat. "So what it really does come down to then, is that Thierry gave us shit information."

"It appears that way." He'd always known he should have shot Thierry back when he had the chance.

"So you went on with the second stage understandably and what happened from there? How did you get captured?"

"I--" Sin broke off and his eyes once again dropped to the tabletop. He stared at the gravy covered spoon that sat next to his bowl and tapped his fingers against the table in a gesture that could either signify nervousness or irritation. "We had a disagreement." His eyes flicked up briefly to meet Carhart's intense blue ones before dropping again. He cleared his throat. "There was a civilian. My old boss, Jessica Ramirez. She had told me in advance that she had a part in planning the Exposition but I had not intended to actually see her there. We spoke briefly earlier in the evening and I thought I wouldn't see her again after that but after the bombs began to detonate as I was escaping out of the southeast wing of the center, I encountered her injured and unconscious near the exits." He hesitated and looked up at Carhart, discomfort evident in his expression.

Carhart raised one eyebrow at Sin and didn't seem at all surprised at what he was hearing-- he seemed to know exactly what was going to be said next. "So you helped her get out." There was no condemnation in his tone, nothing vaguely chastising.

"I-- Yes. The plan had been for Boyd and I to meet at a designated spot several blocks from the convention center after the explosions went off unless we had a tail or our positions were compromised. In that case we had an alternate plan to go into hiding separately and meet up two weeks later or longer, whenever our positions were secure as to not draw attention to the other. I thought-- I had planned, to grab the girl, dump her somewhere on my way to meet Boyd and then continue on my way since she was unconscious anyway but when I told Boyd that I was taking her with me, he became angry and told me to leave her."

That earned him a somewhat surprised stare. "Why would he get angry over that?"

Sin shrugged, still not looking up. "I have no idea. I became angry at his refusal to listen to me because..." He trailed off for a moment and his eyes narrowed. "Had I left her there, the explosives I was about to set off would have killed her without question. And she was a civilian. And I wasn't going to do that. There was no point. It wouldn't have hindered my escape or the mission and she was right in front of me. I would have been unnecessarily killing an innocent person, someone completely uninvolved with my mission. I would have done the same for any civilian, not just her."

"I know you would have," Carhart replied quietly. There was a pause, as if he wanted to know more but didn’t want to push very hard. “What happened next?”

"Anyway he got angry that I wouldn't leave her and said that we should just forget plan A and go straight to plan B, meeting in two weeks."

'If this gets you caught you fucking deserve it.'
His hands balled into fists and a flash of anger, of pain, went through him. He clenched his jaw slightly, ignoring the feelings, and moved on.

"So I took the girl and went in an alternate direction. The route I was going to take to Boyd was clear but routes leading to alternate safe houses were all blocked by incoming emergency vehicles and I had to take an unplanned route towards the waterfront in order to escape notice. I left the girl in a warehouse while I scouted out an alternate route to one of the places we'd decided on in case of Plan B-- it took longer than expected but after I located some good directions, I returned to the warehouse in order to move the civilian outdoors so that help would be more likely to stumble upon her."

He swallowed hard, memories flashing through his mind. "I--" He stopped. "It was stupid. I suppose... I should have listened to Boyd but I just couldn't fucking leave her there." He looked up at Carhart, uncharacteristically expressive, the distress in his face quite clear.

"You don't have to explain to me, Hsin. I think after all this time, I know how your mind works. And I can't say it's not something I wouldn't have done had I been in the same place. Even indirectly killing a civilian, especially when it seems easily preventable, is not something I have ever or would ever do if I can go about my assignment another way. It would be even more difficult when it is a civilian that you are acquainted with." Carhart's tone was genuine, reassuring, even though he was clearly surprised that Sin almost seemed to be looking to him for... approval. "What happened when you returned?"

Sin frowned. "Well, it turned out that she wasn't just a civilian. Although she was unwitting and ignorant of the connection, the uncle who'd gotten her the job at the Exposition turned out to be Hale Clemons, the director of the center and the Janus contact. She... I suppose at some point while I was carrying her, she'd briefly regained consciousness and saw me in a ski mask. When I left, she woke up frightened and confused and called her uncle to come pick her up. She must have mentioned that she thought she'd been kidnapped or something because he appeared with backup, no doubt Janus operatives, and they knew or at least suspected, that I was the one involved. I was out numbered but I took four out quickly, it should have been no problem, I could have easily taken them out but..." His hands clenched tighter, knuckles turning white as he tried not to remember the way her blood had splattered across the cold concrete floor, the way she'd fallen lifelessly, beautiful eyes staring blankly at him, expression frozen in horrified guilt--- He shuddered slightly and forced the memory out of his mind. He would deal with it later. He would... he would take that on later. "I shot at Clemons but Jessica got in the way. So she died anyway."

There was another long silence and Carhart didn't think he needed to hear how the story ended to figure out what happened next.

"I froze. I... fucked up. And they got me." The words were spoken without emotion and once again, he didn't look up. "The next two weeks are confusing; a blur. I regained consciousness in a van but I was heavily drugged and could not escape. They did a scan on me in the van and realized that there was a tracker implanted in me. They took me to an unknown location, I wasn't alert enough to see where, but it appeared to be an old clinic and they proceeded to surgically remove the tracker. I can't..." He paused, reflecting on the incident. "I don't know what happened after that. I remember feeling weak and eventually... nothing."