Perspectives
an excerpt

A general murmur passed through the room and David shook his head in annoyance. “If you fall asleep, you’ll have to fill yourself in on your own,” he called over to Riley.
“Oh how will I handle the stress?” she mumbled, already slipping away as she lazily picked up her pen and scribbled something on the paper she was lying on.
David could not resist the urge to rub his temples. “As irresponsible as this seems right now, Riley is the crux of this plan,” he said. “She will be—”
“I thought she had refused to cooperate in taking down Thatcher,” Cormac interrupted.
“She suggested the plan to General Reamer, so I’m willing to bet she is fine with cooperating in this manner.” General Reamer looked confused – that is, his eye brows were a fraction lower than normal and his left pinky was tapping rhythmically on the desk – so David felt the need to extrapolate. “I use the word ‘suggest’ very loosely. In all likelihood she heavily manipulated General Reamer to think of and inform Avery of this idea. As I was saying, Riley, assuming the name Renee Laurent, and General Blackwell will join Marcus and Lucas in Manette tonight. We will simulate a jet crash somewhere in the vicinity of Thatcher’s camp, and with luck he won’t have dismal scouts. In the likely event that he does, Riley and General Blackwell will hike until they are discovered. We will have to launch a pursuit, but General Blackwell’s military expertise will help him evade anything. Worst case scenario, Riley will have to kill a few pilots.
“Isn’t General Blackwell too high-profile to perform well in an undercover mission?” Tanner asked skeptically.
“That’s the point,” Avery answered. “He’ll draw attention away from the twins. Riley will give herself healing abilities and extensive medical knowledge, which we hope will endure her to the group. She will serve as the perfect communication device between their group and me.”
Logan Mc Daniels flipped idly through his notes. “What is the general’s alibi for leaving?”
Darren immediately began shaking his head, muttering something that sounded vaguely like ‘ridiculous.’ David only laughed. “He will escape with the recently sentenced Renee Laurent, with whom he fell in love during the interrogation process.” A few scattered laughs answered this announcement.
“That’s about the extent of it. Katherine, where is Mark?” Katherine reached behind her chair and hauled her five year old onto the table, bring coloring page and all along.
“I’d appreciate if you would stop killing people when Mark is around,” the mother said crossly. “The therapy bills are mounting.”
“I thought he doesn’t mind.”
“He doesn’t and that’s why I’m paying for therapy.” Katherine glared steadily at David until his raised his hands in defense.
“You’ll be compensated and Riley can suppress his memories for free. Marky?”
The little boy’s head snapped up. “Yeeaaahh?”
“Were you listening to the big people talking earlier?”
“Maybe… Do I get candy?” David nodded and Mark mirrored him. “Yes I do!”
“What did you think? Was it stupid?”
The little boy chewed on his lip. “Nooo…”
David nodded as he got his last ditch confirmation and tossed a lollipop Mark’s way. The boy caught it deftly and unwrapped it as he happily returned to his coloring. David knew some of his advisors scoffed at having Mark on the board, but whenever the boy did happen to guess a password they thought was impenetrable, or see an obvious hole in a plan they though was ironclad, the boy proved his worth.
“But what about them,” the boy said suddenly, pointing around at the advisors. “What if they tell on Blackie?”
Katherine pulled her son back. “Marky, I doubt—”
“No, good job Mark!” David said. He smiled around at his advisors. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just don’t trust you. Riley!”
The girl jerked awake, casting about groggily for her pen, which had somehow gotten imprinted on her face. “Whadda you wan me to write?” she slurred. Then she straightened up and looked over at Darren strangely. “Wait, we’re in love? I thought he was just being sympathetic with me!”
“Thatcher is a romantic, he’ll like love better.”
“That is true. Alright…” Riley blew Darren an exaggerated kiss and then turned back to David. “Dictate away.”
“I don’t care how you word it; just make sure they can’t speak any of the contents of this meeting to anyone untrustworthy. No need to cripple the organization in paranoia, but a little restraint is fine.”
“Alllright, done.”
“One last thing: this conversation will take up approximately two seconds, so we will file out immediately on the heels of the media and the dignitaries. Riley, you’ll need to split yourself again and get back to your cell. Take your Riley self to some remote place where you can splice your selves back together without being seen.”
Riley obeyed and her prisoner self disappeared. David motioned for her to write down the two second term, and then turned to Blackwell. “Make it look ugly.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Riley finished writing, the whole small assembly rose, and David led the pack out into the hallway. He was assaulted with microphones for comment, but the he walked past them with purpose, as did the rest of the advisors. Darren was at the tail of the group, but he fought past reporters to reach David, pulling him to a halt as they reached the end of the media tunnel.
“Sir, there’s something I’d like to speak with you about.” He sounded uncertain and nervous, which was incredibly strange to hear coming out of Blackwell’s mouth. The rest of his advisors kept moving around them with purpose and Darren looked to be battling internally until most of them were out of range. Finally, when he was sure no one with a gun was in close range and the cameras were all trained on the pair, Darren reached into his pocket and pulled out an unmarred white envelope. He flashed it in David’s face and then reared back and socked him in the jaw.
David was sent spiraling to the ground and Darren threw the envelope down on him with disgust. “Consider that my resignation,” Darren sneered, spitting with rage. David reached for his sidearm, but Darren delivered a kick to his head, and he was out like a light.