Herald of death

"If she hadn't surrounded us with innocents, what would have been the easiest way to deal with the three of them?" Kate asks as the guards leave her.

"I would have detonated the bomb after identifying the targets and leaving the area. No one would regret the rest of the attendants anyway," Ethan says. He lets go of the steel elevator cable with his left hand and catches the edge of the third floor.

"She always surrounds herself with bystanders," Kate comments. "Once, she concluded the sale of viral bombs in a middle school."

"Couldn't she do that on a crowded public terrace?" Kyle mocks as he places himself on the opposite side of Ethan. He grasps an electric panel lid and tears it off, revealing a multitude of colored cables and control boards. He stares at it for a moment and finally says, "I'm usually good with electronics, but I'm lost on that one."

Ethan pulls out his phone and sends a picture of the panel to Tombstone. His phone vibrates a few seconds later. "She says you need to invert the blue and red cables on the bottom-left board," Ethan reads.

'I haven't told you what it is,' Ethan sends as Kyle gives him a questioning look. He receives another text and reads, "Is it an elevator's door inner control panel?"

Kyle shrugs and inverts the wires; they spark as he re-inserts them. The doors slide open, revealing an empty, expensively decorated corridor.

A gust of Ether flows into the elevator from the left. Ethan glances at the reflective surface of the elevator door's corner. A light-purple sphere floats above the ground, disturbing the Ether with its presence. The disturbance grows stronger as a slit appears on its surface, revealing an eye that stares at the elevator. "The hallway is being watched," Ethan whispers.

Kyle re-switches the wires, causing the doors to slide shut. "A camera?" he asks.

"It's an ability or a spell, but it's clearly supposed to act as a camera. It's a floating sphere that sprouted an eye," Ethan says. "But I was able to sense it when the doors opened."

"How did you sense it?" Kyle asks.

"Through the Ether," Ethan answers. A doubt crosses his mind, bringing him to ask, "I know that Six is able to properly absorb and use Ether. But what about you?"

"What do you mean by properly? I'm able to use my abilities for a minute or so, and I only need around ten to replenish my Ether," Kyle says. He closes his eyes, clearly trying to sense Ethan's Ether.

"I'm sorry, I should have asked when we were at the hotel. It was wrong of me to assume," Ethan says. "Your way of using Ether is the same as that of the average person in the other world. It is … deeply flawed. Six and I, and the powerful fighters I met on the other side, are all capable of absorbing Ether as easily as we breathe."

"I literally need to focus for several seconds to even sense Ether, I don't see how this could be possible," Kyle says. "How high is your Perception?"

"Nineteen, but I was able to sense Ether clearly at sixteen, if that matters at all," Ethan answers. "I've met a young man who was able to learn it, but I guess you'll need time. When this is over, I'll teach you."

A guard enters the elevator and pushes the second-to-last button. They climb to the next floor, and Kyle readies himself to open its doors. "We won't have long to exit the shaft if he goes to the last floor," Kyle says.

"Don't worry, he will stop under us," Ethan reassures. He closes his eyes to better sense the surrounding Ether. He tries to detect any other surveillance abilities on the fourth floor. "This floor seems devoid of magical surveillance."

The guard enters the third floor, passing the eye to enter the surveillance room. "Why did you page me?" he asks the man sitting before the computers.

"I got a warning that the elevator's doors opened and closed. But the elevator wasn't even on this floor." Ethan recognizes the voice as that of a stressed-out Trevor Hastings.

"What a perfect coincidence," Ethan mutters. He pulls out his phone and calls Tombstone.

As he leaves Trevor, the guard stops the door from closing and says, "I'm going to check the floor. … Don't bother us with false alarms; Valeria is arriving soon, and we are already stressed enough."

"Welcome back, Reaper five," Tombstone says as she picks up the call.

"Did you find anything on Trevor Hastings? I know I told you it wasn't urgent at all, but his relevance to our mission just skyrocketed," Ethan says.

"I found his boarding information, passport, poorly anonymized social media accounts, past employments, and what's left of his family," she says. Everything she gathered slides on Ethan's phone. "And I just searched a few leaked databases that gave me his phone number."

"Thorough, as always," Ethan comments. "He's their security guy, and we'd need him to look the other way."

"Give me a few minutes," Tombstone says. Ethan can hear her tapping on her keyboard through the line just before the call ends.

"We are going to be here for some time," Ethan says, scanning the silent guards with predator's sight. The only sounds they emit are their heartbeats and the rustling of their clothes. "Six, Valeria isn't in the building yet. One of her guards said that she should arrive soon."

"I'm still looking for any of the other two," Kate whispers.

Kyle fidgets with a near-empty, crumpled pack of cigarettes; the sound echoes in Ethan's mind. "It's not exactly the time to smoke," Ethan says.

"I don't intend to," Kyle replies, his heart rate quickening. "To tell the truth, I've never smoked in my life. This one belonged to a friend of mine."

Ethan shuts down his predator's sight and turns to Kyle. He mutes his earpiece's microphone and asks, "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"I don't know why you're doing this job. But for me, it's personal," Kyle says, placing the packet back into his pocket. "Even though I wasn't born there, I grew up in Algeria with my mother. I wasn't immensely popular, being of mixed origins. But I had one very close friend."

Kyle falls silent for a moment. "I had a mission in Algeria once. I paid a man to use his home as a sniping nest, and he stayed the entire time, making small talk and offering me tea. The weirdest part is that despite everyone I met being nice, I had to bargain for everything, even food," Ethan says, trying to lighten the mood.

Kyle smiles lightly before returning to an emotionless face. "One day he broke a car window to steal a bag. He spent a year in jail for it. When he came back, he was different. He still acted as a friend, but he started judging anyone who didn't act according to what he was told about the Quran."

"He was indoctrinated inside," Ethan comments. "That's awfully common."

"It got worse over time; it was everything he talked about, everything he was," Kyle continues. "I joined the army, and he disappeared. Not even his mom knew if he was alive. Three years later, I heard his name on TV; he blew himself up in a factory, collapsing the building and killing a hundred people."

Ethan stays silent, feeling only disdain for the terrorist. Yet he clearly perceives that Kyle has violently conflicted feelings about his own words. 'Wait a minute, isn't that—'

"I deserted and hunted down the men who brainwashed him," Kyle says, cutting off Ethan's thought. "When I found them, their underlings were running around. A sniper had killed their leaders on the balcony of their own home."

"I'm sorry I took it from you," Ethan says. "But why did you join if they are already dead?"

"You missed one. You couldn't have known or cared; Yasin Hakeem wasn't at the top of their ranks. But he's the one who indoctrinated Tariq and made him do it," Kyle says. "He took off on his own, and I hunted him, destroying everything he tried to create. I got stuck when he joined Ghaya, and that's when Tombstone made first contact."

"What do you plan for after? If everything goes well tonight, you'll have achieved your goal," Ethan asks. He briefly triggers predator's sight to ensure that nothing is happening.

"I've made quite a bit of money hunting down terrorists for them," Kyle says. "He used to smoke before it all began, even if it was forbidden. He called it a taste of liberty. I'm keeping it for when it's all over, and then I'll retire."

"Sounds good," Ethan comments.

"I've spotted two more members of her personal detail," Kate chatters in their earpieces. "They're securing the place. I think she'll arrive soon."

Ethan reinstates predator's sight and hears a series of cars parking near the entrance. A dozen individuals exit them, immediately forming a protective circle around a woman.

"I've also spotted the Plague Merchant's bodyguard," Kate whispers. Ethan's phone vibrates as she starts a video call, aiming the camera at Tatiana. He glances at the feed that captures Tatiana watching the auction room, her back against a wall. A man next to her leans into her ear, whispering something. Ethan redirects predator's sight to hear him through the building. "Valeria's escort is landing," the man whispers in Russian.

Tatiana's physique is more refined than Ethan remembers. She appears to have lost a lot of weight while growing her muscle mass, giving her an agile look. A long, black sleeve and a glove fully hide her left arm. Yet something feels wrong with it, as if small rocks lined her skin, creating relief under her sleeve. Her powerful heart beats at a sluggish speed. She whispers back, "Good, get ready." The man leaves her side, tapping something on his phone.