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Tess was still trying to fathom the pinprick of light in the vast dark arena of the lake’s surface when Daire dashed past her, shirtless and shoeless, heading for the water. Dumbstruck, she watched him vault up the rocky outcrop and dive headfirst into the water.
Her mouth open, she landed her shock on H. Not that he noticed; he was too preoccupied with the black device.
“What is this one for?” she squawked.
“This is how he earns my respect,” H muttered.
“He’ll freeze!”
“He’ll survive,” H said, making eye contact. “You think it’s cruel. You’re not used to our life. He is and knows what I know.”
Her anger smoldered again. “And what do you know?”
“That to succeed, he must bear the burden.” Gearing up to shoot him down, her chance was taken when he spoke again. “If you and I want to survive what lies ahead, Daire will be our primary instrument of success.” That silenced her objections. “I’d give my life for you, Tess. I’m faster and stronger than most every other man my age. Age aside, I was recruited into this from basic training at eighteen. Daire has been training since before he could walk. From the moment he could make eye contact, Olympus has been coaching him… If we want quick and sure, Daire is the only one I’d entrust your life to. He has orders and will give his life for yours.”
Drawn to look out at the water again, she couldn’t see him. Couldn’t see anyone. If he got in trouble or needed help, they’d have no way to know it.
“You hurt him when you did whatever you did,” she murmured, still not understanding any of it. “He said you raised him. Is that true?”
“From the moment he was born,” H said, still interested in his little device. “His mother was bleeding out, we were taking heavy fire… He was born in a gunfight, literally… The building was coming down around us, there’s nothing left of Olympus A. Nothing except the lessons it taught us.”
“His mother died?” He nodded. “Who was she?”
“First female Olympus agent.”
Folding her arms, Tess gave him her attention. “And what is Olympus? What was it? Does it still exist?”
“It never did,” he said. “Not to anyone except those in it.”
“And my mom.” H tensed. “She wasn’t an agent, was she?”
“No,” he said, somber. “Carrie was a variable no one saw coming. Me included.”
“And there’s some weird Olympus rule that you’re not allowed to have sex, is that it?” From the flash of surprise on his face, he clearly hadn’t expected her to be so direct. “I’m not an idiot, I know how babies are made.”
“There are rules. Strict rules… Rules with consequences that were put into effect after what happened between Carrie and me.”
“And what was that? What happened between you that was so awful they spent decades trying to hurt us?”
“I won’t talk about that,” he said, probably assuming his word would be the last.
He hadn’t figured out that his authority meant squat to her. “That’s not good enough,” she said, startling him again. “You can’t put up a wall and say no. Not to me. I’m not one of your agents.”
“No, you’re my daughter. A daughter who was never supposed to exist. You benefited from Daire’s experience. By then, I knew what he was… What they were grooming him to become.” Silencing himself, he sealed his lips and blinked to the heavens once before looking at her again. “WhatIwas grooming him to become. He is a product of a lifetime of training. He’ll tell you Olympus is his purpose… Until this day, he will say it. And, yes, my actions took that from him. I took away the only home he’s ever known, and I didn’t warn him the end was coming.”
Seeing beyond the hard exterior gave her a glimpse of his burden. “Eighteen is young,” she said. “You’ve been doing this ever since?”
“My whole adult life.”
“Then I’d say maybe Daire isn’t the only one who lost his home.”
She didn’t expect H to smile, but he did. The warmth of it took her aback. Yet the simple sorrow lingering behind touched some deep corner of her.
“I lost my home when you were two years old.” What did that mean? She couldn’t remember being so young. With careful fingers, he touched her jaw to tip her head up an inch. “He’s right. You have your mother’s eyes.”
From one extreme emotion to another. The last few days had been a rollercoaster, to say nothing of what she’d been through since the car wrecked.
“I was afraid you would never know,” she said as his hand fell away. “That she was gone.”
