Previously: Hanna Wilcox looked forward to the end of her assignment as a Volunteer in the Fisher Contract. Unfortunately for her, the spell that protects her such that only one man on Earth could unleash war was showing signs of deterioration, starting with a surprise pregnancy. Hanna’s military training took over and pushed her urge to panic aside. As a Search and Rescue (SAR) specialist, she had a nose for finding ways in and out of tough spots, blind corners, and dead ends. If the spell really was failing, she didn’t have time to overthink.
Hanna leapt from the edge of the tub, snatching the pregnancy test out of Sam’s hand with her left hand. Without a pause, she yanked the lining out of the bathroom trash can with her right. She tossed the test in the bag and tied it tight as she fast walked into the living room. Sam, unaccustomed to sudden action, scrambled to catch up.
“Can you take this somewhere and dispose of it thoroughly? Drown it, burn it, do whatever you have to do to make sure it’s never found. When it’s done, I need you to find a doctor, someone who doesn’t know anything about me, to give me an exam and figure out how this happened.”
Sam, again, struggled to keep up. “Uhh… yeah. Yes, I can do that, but shouldn’t we tell Spruce what’s happened. Maybe he can repair the spell.”
Hanna stopped and turned to face him, her eyes burning with terrifying clarity.
“No, nobody associated with the Fisher Contract must know. If my protection is weakened, that means anyone can kill me. Until I can figure out how this happened, we can’t trust anyone. Not even Spruce. I only trust you.” Hanna pulled Sam close, and kissed him forcefully, desperately. “I only trust you. Please, do as I ask. Hurry. I’m going to pack.”
Sam felt a sickening knot take on weight in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to hold her tight and tell her he knew it was for the best, but all he could do was nod his head in agreement at her request.
“Pack? Where are we going?”
“As far away from here as possible.”
Vice President Charmers set the pile of military reports on the desk directly in front of President Fabok.”I’m sorry, Mr. President. The reports are alarming. Either the Chancellor is determined to open old wounds or he’s lost complete control of rebel forces within his borders. If we don’t act soon…”
“I know, Evan. I know.” President Fabok had a habit of scratching his chin whenever his stress levels were pushed too high. “What of our spies inside the Maldonian government? Surely they can tell us something.”
“Ahh, yes. You’ll see the coded messages here.” Charmers flipped through the pages of the military reports to a specific page halfway through. “Two of our agents independently believe that the rebel attacks are false flags designed to test our border strength without accepting responsibility.”
“How long until the border situation goes critical?”
“We can’t know for certain, but…” Charmers clenched his fist hard enough to sting. “We should expect an attack within days.”
President Fabok shook his head slightly while scratching his chin. “This is getting out of hand. Arrange a meeting with the Chancellor. I’m sure if we talk it out, he’ll be reasonable.”
“Mr. President, I’ve already sent several messages requesting a conference. All requests have been ignored. I strongly recommend we follow protocol and have the Volunteer moved into the Capital, near your living quarters.”
“No! No, not yet. I’ve already given Spruce the go ahead to prep Hanna, but there’s a chance we can end this peacefully.”
“Mr. President… Elias, you know I’m obliged to remind you of the protocol. The Volunteer must be at hand if war becomes inevitable. If you’re uneasy about the situation, I can manage the logistics.”
“Evan, that’s enough. Your point is well taken, but I’m not… we’re not ready for that until all avenues have been exhausted. To be safe, I authorize a Tier 1 response along the Southern end of the border to protect our citizens. If an invasion comes, I want our people shielded.”
Charmers forced himself to project a dire expression, but he was smiling inwardly. A Tier 1 response will generate new reports around the country. Public opinion will undermine Fabok, whether he knew it or not. “Understood. I’ll get the forces deployed.”
Now, all he had to do was get Hanna within striking distance.
Mage Spruce rehearsed the intricate weaving patterns with his hands to repeat the spell he used on Hanna for her maintenance check. Every flick, twist, and flex was perfect. A small bead of sweat slid down Spruce’s back from the intense and increasingly frustrated concentration he applied to the task.
The ‘ripple’ he detected during Hanna’s check couldn’t be… shouldn’t be possible, but it was there. A negative flicker in the flow of the spell’s power.
“I don’t understand. Decades of refinement and practice have never failed me. I can’t be wrong.” Spruce’s neck muscles strained when he spat the words quietly but forcefully through his clenched jaw.
There was one other possibility. If the spell was perfect, the interference must be coming from Hanna or someone close to her. He had to investigate without Hanna’s knowledge to prevent contamination of the test results.
Hands still shaking from the strain, Spruce retrieved a divining map from a nearby cabinet. He unrolled the map on the examination table and began a low, rumbling recitation to invoke a remote divination spell that retrieved data on Hanna’s body. In less than a minute, translucent figures and symbols appeared before Spruce’s eyes, much like a medical readout projected by a holographic screen.
“There,” he said to himself as he pointed to an anomalous entry in the cardiovascular section. “What is that?!”
Hanna’s heartbeat was stable but out of step. Spruce refocused the divination on Hanna’s heart rhythms and blood flow, slowing down the reception to examine the anomaly more closely. That’s when he saw the discrepancy.
Hanna’s heartbeat wasn’t out of step. The divination spell picked up a smaller, secondary heartbeat.
She was pregnant.
“Saints and demons!” Spruce quickly cut off the divination spell. He sat for longer than he intended, thinking through the implications of his discovery.
“The spell isn’t flawed. The spell is perfect. My spell is perfect. It’s the Volunteer who is flawed. She did this. Hanna did this. It’s not my fault.”
Spruce reached for the phone and began dialing the President’s private line, but he stopped midway through.
“No. Hanna shouldn’t be able to get pregnant. There must be something unique happening. I need to find out more about this child before anyone else. There may be more to learn that could be useful.”
Sam eased his sedan into the unlit corner of an office building’s parking lot and turned off the engine. His burner phone remained off, but he kept it in the glove compartment. Following Hanna’s request, he reached out to an old colleague who worked as a military field medic.
A rapid knock on the passenger window startled Sam out of his thoughts. He unlocked the door for Casey Atkins. She climbed into the car and shut the door without hesitation.
“Well, well. Sam Eagleton. It’s been a few years. I’ve got to admit, I was surprised to get your call.”
“Thanks for meeting me, Casey. I’d love to catch up, but I’m pressed for time and the situation is… sensitive. How’s your medical skills these days?”
“I’m rusty in a few areas but nothing I can’t manage my way through. Why? Did you get yourself into a scrape that needs to stay off the books?”
“No. No, nothing like that. It’s not for me. My girlfriend needs a checkup, and she doesn’t want anyone from work to know about it.”
“A checkup. C’mon, Sammy. You wouldn’t set up a sneaky meeting if that’s all it was. Out with it.”
Casey stared Sam down until he lowered his eyes. “She’s imbued with a protection spell.”
“Hmm. You’re getting warmer. There’s all kinds of reasons for that, and I won’t pry too much if it’s personal, but I have to know what level.”
Sam hesitated to answer, but he knew Casey could only do her part with the whole truth. “Senior Mage, but the spell is probably Advanced level.”
Casey stared at Sam for a few seconds before answering. “And I’m out. C’mon, Sam. We both know you don’t get a Senior Mage to cast a protection spell unless it’s serious work. Military Black Ops. High-level government. You’re asking me to put a bullseye on my forehead.”
She opened the door and climbed out. Casey turned around and leaned down to eye level with Sam. “No hard feelings on the request, Sam. It looks like you’re in some trouble, so I say this as a friend - get out and do it fast.”
Casey slammed the car door shut hard enough to make her point and walked away.
Sam sat with his failure for a few minutes, unsure where to go next or what to tell Hanna. He pulled the burner phone out of the glove compartment and turned it on.
The greenish glow from the phone lit up in the darkened parking lot, revealing the horrified look on his face when he saw the text waiting for him.
“The dilution is accelerating. If she’s compromised, she’s a liability. Neutralize and exit.”
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Twenty minutes later, Sam closed the door to the apartment he shared with Hanna, unable to look at her as she whisked about, gathering essentials for packing. It was almost reassuring to see her oblivious to the deadly knowledge he carried in his heart.
Hanna stopped when she finally noticed Sam sullenly standing by the front door. “Please tell me you have good news.”
“I... I couldn’t find anyone willing to do the exam. Once they found out about the level of the spell, nobody wanted any part of this.”
Hanna dropped onto the sofa, looking at the carpet. She shook her head, took a deep breath, and stood back up. “Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’d feel better with confirmation, but we’re out of time.” Hanna closed her eyes while she gathered her thoughts. “Okay, come see what I’ve mapped out.”
Hanna firmly took Sam by the hand and led him to the kitchen table. The desire to never let go hurt in a way he hadn’t expected. But the knowledge of the kill order pulled the clamp on his heart down into the pit of his stomach.
On the kitchen table was a map of the city. Hanna explained her rationale for the chosen routes to Sam with the efficiency of a military officer. “Route two is our best choice because it weaves through the residential apartments, but it’s the longest route. Factoring the time of night, we can make it with the least amount of attention if we leave within the next hour. Questions?”
Sam knew he had to act now, to decisively reject the “Neutralize and exit” order. “I don’t have any questions about the route, but there’s something I need to tell you. I received a private text from an old contact who works at the Capital.” Sam hoped the lie he was about to tell would convince Hanna to leave now before anyone realized he ignored the kill order.
Hanna stared at him, waiting.
“Spruce is coming. We have to go now!”
Ten minutes later, Hanna and Sam rushed down the emergency steps of the apartment building, opting to avoid any exit that might be watched by security cameras. They fast-walked down the service corridor on the ground floor to the back entrance that led to the parking garage.
They reached Hanna’s car but hid two parking rows over to make sure there were no security patrols nearby. Coast clear, they sprinted to the car, threw their belongings into the backseat, and buckled in. Hanna drove out of the parking garage, sticking to the route she mapped out in her apartment. The goal was to avoid busy intersections or police patrols as much as possible until they were clear of the city limits. So far, all was proceeding as planned.
Sam’s lie to get Hanna out of the apartment became an unexpected reality when Spruce decided to gather a small squad to pay Hanna a visit, armed with the knowledge of her pregnancy. The Mage activated a tracking spell, and he was surprised to see Hanna already on the move, heading in his direction.
Spruce traveled in the front seat of an unmarked van, directing the driver to turn and accelerate. “Stop here! Stop now!”
The driver slammed on the brakes in the middle of the street. Spruce leapt from the van before it came to a full stop and scribbled a three-foot-diameter sigil on the damp asphalt. He began to recite a low, growling incantation that grew in speed and volume.
The air in the street shimmered with an expanding wall of pulsing, cold blue energy, creating a magical barrier that would block any vehicle from passing through.
Hanna sped along the side streets toward the sewer entrance that led them to the second route from her map. She turned the wheel to make a left on Simmons Street, tires screeching. They were less than two blocks from the final leg of their route, so she felt confident enough to increase their speed.
She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the sign for the last turn, but her speed was too fast, the street was too dark, and her reflexes were too slow to notice the magical barrier as their sedan rounded the next corner.
Hanna’s eyes went wide with realization.
Before she could slam the brakes, the car smashed into the barrier.
Next time: Hanna and Sam crash into Spruce’s magical trap. Can they escape?
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