Involuntary Control (Gray Spear Society) (18 page)

While the twins waited, Bethany realized the night sounded wrong. She was accustomed to hearing insects in the summer. In the city there was only traffic noise and the occasional distant siren.

Norbert came back to the door and turned on the light. "It's safe. Come in."

"Do you always check your house that way?" Leanna said.

"Every time. It's a good habit."

The twins walked into a sparsely furnished living room. There was just a couch, a plush chair, and a television stand. Everything was white or beige. The only decoration was a plain, wooden crucifix hanging on the wall. Bethany liked how uncluttered the room was.

"I know it's not much," Norbert said, "but that's by design. There is nothing here that can be used to identify me. My home is as anonymous as I am. Did anybody explain the rules about using your real name?"

"No." Bethany shook her head.

"It's simple. Bethany and Leanna don't exist outside of headquarters. We always travel under cover, even when we're just going home. Our true identities are our most closely guarded secrets."

"Why?"

"Because many of us left family and friends behind when we joined the Society. Our enemies could use those innocent people as leverage against us. To protect them and ourselves, we keep those relationships hidden. Even within the Society, we're careful. I may never tell you my last name."

"We could figure it out," Bethany said.

"Please, don't. If I want you to know something about me, I'll tell you. I'll show you to your bedroom."

He led the twins to another room as plain as the first. A queen-sized bed had blue sheets and a thick, white comforter. There was a nightstand and a dresser, both made of lightly lacquered pine.

"I love how clean your home is," Leanna said.

"Cleanliness is another good habit," Norbert said.

He stripped the bed and changed the sheets with a fresh set. Bethany admired how he placed the new sheets so neatly and symmetrically. In the enclosed space she could smell his sweat.

"I'm going to take a very quick shower," he said. "I'm still ripe from working out. Then you girls can have the bathroom for as long as you like." He left the bedroom.

Bethany sat on the bed. There was a
Bible
on the nightstand, and she flipped through the pages out of mild curiosity. She had been raised as a Muslim, but religion had never been an important part of her life. The Satin royal family had always placed political power well above God. Public worship had simply been a way to generate support from the peasants.

"I like it here." Leanna yawned.

"Me, too," Bethany said. She felt remarkably safe, even though the bedroom and the city were unfamiliar. "Norbert is a nice man."

"I think he likes us."

Bethany heard the shower running. She rested on the bed while she waited for her turn in the bathroom. The mattress was soft, the air was warm, and she was extremely tired.

Her eyes closed.

Chapter Eleven

When Bethany woke up, the sun was shining through a window. She needed to use the bathroom, so she went off in search of one.

After she finished, she discovered Norbert lying on the couch, still asleep. He had thrown off his covers and was completely nude. Fascinated, she approached him.

She had seen pictures of penises, but this was the first time she had looked at a real one so closely. The skin was more wrinkled than she had expected. She wondered if the wrinkles would go away when it became erect. The rest of his body was covered in nice, thick muscles. She loved how his chest tapered evenly down to his waist.

She went to get her sister. They returned to the living room and admired Norbert together in silence.

His eyes opened. When he saw the twins standing there, he hastily covered himself.

"Girls!" He blushed.

"You have a nice body," Leanna said.

His face became even redder. "We should get moving. You two can take a shower while I make breakfast. Are those still the same clothes as yesterday? After you wash up, put on the fresh outfits you brought."

The twins took turns in the shower. They still couldn't find shampoo that was the right color, so they just rinsed their hair. At least Norbert had the right white soap for their faces.

After bathing, Bethany changed her clothes. The new outfit was identical to the one she had worn before except for fewer wrinkles and stains. She liked wearing clean things, but she wished she didn't have to change so often or do so much laundry. The whole process seemed wasteful. Why couldn't they invent clothes that never got dirty? Animals didn't have this problem.

The twins went to the kitchen. Norbert had prepared fried eggs and toast. There were big glasses of grapefruit juice.

"There is something on the toast," Leanna said.

"It's called butter," he replied. "It's delicious."

The twins exchanged anxious glances.

"I'll make more toast," he said, "without butter this time. It will be perfectly plain."

"Thank you," Bethany said, "and could you cut the yolks out, please? We don't like the yellow and white touching."

Norbert sighed.

He made the entire meal again, this time separating the eggs before cooking them. He even filtered the pulp from the grapefruit juice so it wouldn't have too much texture.

When they were finally eating their meal, he said, "You shouldn't stare at a naked man. It's sexually provocative."

"Oh," Bethany said. "We've never seen one before."

"Seen what?"

"A naked man. Not in real life."

He gave them a funny look. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"You two have led a very strange and sheltered existence. I guess you've never had a boyfriend."

The twins shook their heads.

"But we read about sex on the internet," Leanna said.

"That's wonderful." He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure the internet has many lovely things to say about matters of the heart." He stared at them. "I'm being sarcastic."

Bethany bit her lip. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No." He blushed.

"Do you want one?"

"Yes," he said quickly, "but I'm trying to stay focused on my training right now. Besides, members of the Society have a hard time with romance. Dating outsiders is awkward because we can't tell them who we really are. Dating within the Society creates conflicts of interest. In the worst case you might get a pregnancy."

"We can't become pregnant," Leanna said.

"Really?"

"The king had our uteruses removed when we were fourteen."

Norbert had a horrified expression. "Why?"

"To protect us from our brothers. If we had become pregnant with a male heir, they would've assassinated us to eliminate competition for the throne. As long as we were sterile, they could safely ignore us. Of course now all our brothers are dead, and the Satin family line will end with us."

"Tragic and ironic." He raised his eyebrows. "Please, eat your breakfast. We have to get back to headquarters so you can finish your assignments. We're already running late."

* * *

Norbert, Bethany, and Leanna arrived at headquarter a short time later. Aaron was waiting for them. He wore soft gray robes with elaborately woven hems, which looked like some kind of medieval garb. Holsters hung from his belt like a traditional gunfighter, but the weapons in the holsters were sleek and modern.

"Norbert," Aaron said, "it's your turn in the security booth. Jack needs to sleep."

"Yes, sir." Norbert hurried away.

"Ladies, come with me. I have a surprise for you."

Aaron led the twins to the computer room. When they stepped inside, they gasped.

"This was your gift from Wendy," he said. "Nancy and I put them together this morning. Hopefully, we didn't make any mistakes. The directions were pretty complicated."

The table and chairs had been shoved aside, and two ultramodern ergonomic workstations had taken their place. Curved bars made of stainless steel provided elegant attachment points for up to twelve monitors. The keyboard trays and mouse pads were mounted on independent, articulated arms with lateral and rotational degrees of freedom. Bethany walked over and reclined on her new chair. The soft, flexible webbing held her entire body with the grip of a loving giant. Her muscles relaxed automatically. She could easily sleep here when she was too tired to work. The whole setup was as much elegant art as engineering.

She looked over at Leanna, who had already taken the other chair. Aaron had thoughtfully arranged the workstations so they were perfectly symmetric. Curved mirrors allowed the twins to see each other's monitors.

"I guess you like them," Aaron said.

"They're wonderful!" Bethany said.

"I'm glad." He came over and smiled at the girls. "Did you have a pleasant time with Norbert?"

"Yes," Leanna said. "He's a very sweet man. He made breakfast for us, just the way we like it."

"You realize his life will depend on the quality of your work today."

"What do you mean?"

"He, Marina, and Smythe are going into White Flame Technology," Aaron said. "If the cover stories you provide aren't impeccable, they'll be captured, interrogated, and probably killed. You'll never see that 'sweet man' again, and I'll lose the woman I love."

Bethany had known that fact in a theoretical way, but its true importance hit her now. She frowned.

"So," he said, "work quickly but don't take shortcuts. Before I send my people into the mouth of the beast, all of us need to be certain you've done the best job possible. The new identities must be rock solid and the new equipment must work as expected. Do you understand?"

The twins nodded.

"Good. I'll leave you to it." He left the room.

Each workstation already had two monitors and a computer attached. They weren't in the right position, so Bethany and Leanna spent some time making necessary adjustments. The networking and power also needed some tweaks. Finally, they settled back in their amazingly comfortable chairs and start working.

"We should thank Wendy," Leanna said.

"Do you want me to do it?" Bethany said.

"Sure. I'll watch."

Bethany opened a browser and typed a very arcane URL. She had to consult her notes to get all the funny characters right. When the web page came up, it was completely white. There wasn't even a title.

She started typing and words appeared on the empty page. "hck112358: wendy, are you there?"

After a moment the response appeared. "moneybtch: hi. is this bethany or leanna?"

"hck112358: both. we got the chairs. love them! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you!"

"moneybtch: you're welcome. i use the same chair in my cave."

"hck112358: cave?"

"moneybtch: manhattan headquarters is carved out of bedrock under the city."

"hck112358: sounds safe."

"moneybtch: extremely safe. extremely quiet."

Bethany sighed. "hck112358: we're worried. we met a nice guy here. if we mess up, he'll die."

"moneybtch: that's how it is. if we win, our enemies die. if we lose, our friends die. somebody always dies."

"hck112358: i don't like that. it scares me."

"moneybtch: good."

Another page popped up, and more words appeared. "zero: have faith in yourselves, Bethany and Leanna. you can succeed. you were chosen for a good reason."

Bethany typed in the new window. "hck112358: who chose us?"

"zero: I did."

She stared at the words. Then she went back to the first window and typed. "hck112358: wendy, just got a strange message from a user named 'zero' on this system. who is that?"

"moneybtch: don't know. let me check." There was a pause. "i don't see 'zero' on the list. not a legit user. what was the message?"

Bethany copied the text from the second window to the first.

Wendy took a minute before she answered. "moneybtch: i was wrong. zero is super legit. you can trust Him."

Bethany didn't want to consider the unreasonable implications of that statement.

"hck112358: do you believe in God?"

"moneybtch: of course. i process His bank statements."

"hck112358: that's funny."

"moneybtch: no, it's not. you girls need to get to work. Important People are watching."

"hck112358: aaron?"

"moneybtch: him too. good bye and good luck."

Bethany closed the browser and looked at her sister. They didn't need to talk to each other because their thoughts were identical.
Did that really just happen?
They turned back to their monitors.

* * *

Aaron walked into the computer room. Bethany and Leanna were working together on a steel briefcase. They were installing a very complex electronic device into the bottom. It had circuit boards, batteries, and a grid of fine gold wires. The girls worked together in total silence. They both seemed to know exactly what the other was doing without any discussion.