AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Very.
“Have you met the traitors, Kynan Morgan and Tayla Mancuso?”
I met Tayla.
She’d only seen Mr. Morgan in passing. And from the way everyone at DART talked about him, he was an excellent boss who ran a tight ship. They said he was liberal with praise, fair with criticism, and unforgiving of incompetence. He certainly didn’t sound like the man who had betrayed The Aegis, stolen its treasures, and sold it out to demons and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
When Eva said as much, albeit a little more gently, Maja’s reply had been, “Not all villains wear black hats.”
Eva didn’t mention that Kynan had been wearing a black DART baseball cap at the time she’d seen him.
“One last thing before I go,” Maja said. “Will you be available for Jennifer to do a short Q&A with you tomorrow night? We want to post something about the joint project with DART. She’ll send the questions to you today. Nothing hardball. It’s going to be a puff piece to show the world that we’re one big, happy demon-fighting family.”
“Are people going to believe that after the Boston incident?”
Maja waved her hand as if shooing a pesky fly. “We’re trying to get that out of the headlines. Turns out that lady walking her dog near the scene got video of one of our guys stumbling out of the building and shouting that his partner was dead just as two DART agents arrived. It destroys the narrative that DART took forever to get there and cost the life of an Aegi.”
Unsure how to respond, Eva merely nodded. She’d been around the media world long enough to know that was how things worked. Everyone wanted to put forth a narrative that made them look good. The first version of events usually got traction, and even if it turned out to be completely wrong, there would always be a percentage of people who wouldn’t see the new information or would believe the new information was fake or a lie, even if itwasthe truth.
So, she wasn’t surprised. But shewasdisappointed. The Aegis held itself above all others as the guardians and defenders of humankind. The keepers of truth. The just and righteous.
Everyone is expendable to The Aegis. Everyone.
Shoving Tayla’s condemnation aside, Eva finally replied. “I wasn’t aware we’d put that out there.”
“We didn’t,” Maja said. “But that was the takeaway by several media outlets.”
Of course, it was. Most likely by design. And The Aegis would let that narrative ride until forced to correct it in a statement that would be buried so deep few would see it.
“So, will you be available?” Maja asked.
Eva checked her schedule and nodded. “I’ll take a look at the questions and get back to Jennifer if I have any concerns.”
Maja smiled. “Excellent. You are all doing a great job. We’ll talk later.”
The feed went dark, and Eva started when Keeley appeared across the table from her.
“Oh, hey. I didn’t see you.”
“Sorry, it sounded like you were wrapping things up with whoever you were talking to.”
“I was.” Eva glanced at the time. “We’ve got twenty minutes before the group session upstairs. Wanna grab something quick to eat?”
“I actually came to ask you the same thing. I hate walking around here by myself. People look at me like I’m a pile of demon shit they almost stepped in. It’s so rude.”
She gathered her things and stood. “Imagine what DART’s people are putting up with at Aegis HQ.”
“Well,theydeserve it,” Keeley said with a snooty sniff. “We don’t.”
Eva had noticed the dirty looks and insults spoken under people’s breath, but none of it bothered her. She had a skin toughened by a structured upbringing and a career in the public eye. Heck, her emails had to be screened before she read them because she got so many whackos sending her disturbing shit, from insults and threats to marriage proposals.
A few glares wouldn’t register on her annoyance meter at all.
They headed back inside, and as they strolled through the wide corridors, Keeley nudged her with her elbow.
“So…how did the workout with Logan go yesterday? I saw you leaving the gym, and it looked like you got taken to the mat a few times.”
“I did. And it was about as humiliating as you’d think.”
