The Silver Braid

The Silver Braid

  A Silver Braid Heritage story

  by

  Shanna Hughes

  Copyright © 2015 Shanna Hughes

  * * *

  Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your

  friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial

  you for your support.

  * * *

  To Leigha,

  Because you inspired me to create

  the fierce heroine that I’ve named Leigha.

  To Maya,

  For supporting me all these years.

  This one is for you.

  * * *

  Someone was watching me.

  It wasn’t like he was subtle about it – he had been far too noisy climbing up the water drain for my taste, not to mention the fact that he wasn’t concealing himself properly. I snorted. Newbie. Having grown up as a member of a secret organisation sworn to protect people from evil beings such as the Infected, spying was a second nature to me. At the age of six I’d had enough skills to trick the teachers at school. I was nine when I managed to fool my family into thinking that I wasn’t in the house when I was. The day before I turned twelve, I’d killed my first Infected – humanlike beings without a single shred of goodness in them. They evolved about twenty years ago when a virus mutated and changed a quarter of the world’s population into these monsters. Killing my first Infected had made Edward incredibly proud.

  My mood plummeted way past zero just thinking of his face when he’d found out. A genuine smile, reaching his eyes, a sparkle in them like I’d never seen before. He kissed my hair and told me he was proud of me.

  Proud. I hadn’t been able to sleep that night and it had nothing to do with my upcoming birthday or the fact that I’d killed someone. I hadn’t been able to sleep because Edward saying he was proud was something that was as rare as a white Christmas in Africa.

  Edward. My dad. Or at least, that’s what I had called him until I was five. By then, he decided that I was a big girl, and strict as he was, he had told me – not asked – to call him Edward. And to address him as Sir in public, or anything that had to do with business.

  My childhood didn’t contain any happy, fuzzy memories. There was no spending the afternoon with classmates, playing with dolls or learning how to ride a pony. A hobby was something I’d never had, at least not one I’d chosen myself. It was a good thing I had always liked the martial arts, because those were mandatory in the Griffin household. No, my childhood memories consisted of extra lessons after school, and evenings putting theory to practise. My weekends had not consisted of parties during my teens, but of hunting the Infected. And killing them.

  Luckily, I was good at it. I’d had my black belt in karate since I was ten and was very skilled at sword fighting. (A sword was my favourite weapon, although a gun came in pretty handy at times, too). My sense of direction was excellent; even if I was dropped off in the middle of nowhere, blindfolded, I would find my way back easily. I always had a smart reply ready.

  That was why my mood plummeted just thinking of Edward being proud of me, that day I’d killed my first Infected, because it had also been the last time I’d seen such a genuine look on his face. My witty replies and sarcasm were definitely not appreciated in this family, but I couldn’t help it. It was who I was.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my stalker move again and sighed. He still had a long way to go if he had trouble mastering the key elements of spying. I pulled the rubber band out of my braid and gently untangled my hair, which was so light it was almost white. Some people called it silver, which I supposed was true. After brushing it, I took off my tank top, only hesitating for a heartbeat before unhooking the clasp of my bra. I couldn’t care less that Oliver, the boy next door, was spying on me as I undressed and got ready for bed. If he wanted to see me naked, then he was going to be lucky tonight.

  I put the bra on the chair and was about to unbutton my jeans when I heard a crashing noise and smiled inwardly. I knew exactly what that was – it was Oliver tumbling into my room after he’d leaned against my window. That window was not supposed to be leaned into. Of course, I was the reason why that couldn’t be done in the first place.

  “Hello Oliver. How nice of you to drop by. Would you like a coffee with that?” I said as I turned around and faced him.

  “Leigha. I, um, I’m sorry. I thought I saw something suspicious and figured I should check it out”, he stammered. He glanced down at my breasts.

  A sly smile spread across my face. “Of course you did. Was that before or after you noticed that I was undressing?”

  His cheeks coloured bright red and he averted his gaze, his right hand fumbling with the zip of his navy-green jacket.

  My smile widened. “I trust you like what you’re seeing, then? How about next time you just buy Playboy and jerk off in your room? I’ve known you were here as soon as you climbed out of your room...” I glanced at the big, antique clock hanging on the wall above my door, “seven minutes and forty-three seconds ago. Anything to add?”

  “Playboy? Why would I spend money when I can see it live just across the street?” He recovered fast, grinning like a fool. “And imagine FFG finding that magazine in my room. The horror. If I could even manage to smuggle it in, that is.”

  I put on a t-shirt as I pondered his words. Oliver had been recruited about two years ago by Force For Good – or FFG, as we called it for short. Yes, I know, they seriously lacked imagination. Assuming that he would even be able to smuggle Playboy to his room, there was no way FFG wouldn’t know – they had cameras everywhere in their buildings, even if it was just to house the members and recruits who didn’t live nearby. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. Sometimes I doubted if you had privacy if you went to the toilet or took a shower.

  I was about to reply when a piercing sound wailed through my room. One look at the light installed above the door showed me that this alarm was meant for me. Sighing, I took off my sleeping shirt and reached for my bra. After a moment that lingered just a little too long, Oliver had the decency to turn around.

  “Your call, huh?” he said.

  “As always”, I muttered.

  It was true – my alarm went off nine out of ten. All special missions were assigned to me. Edward led FFG and despite the fact that he didn’t like my attitude and sarcasm, he couldn’t – wouldn’t – deny the fact that I was the best one around. When it came to FFG, it was strictly business. That meant that the right person was assigned to the right case. This meant me, and after the explosion that had taken out a dozen of our members just a few months ago, I was busier than ever. Most of the people who had died had been our top members. It had looked like an accident, but we knew better. One of our members had worked undercover, originally working for the Infected. It was something we had never seen before – a human working for them. Especially one sworn to protect the world from them.

  My heart ached and I swallowed painfully when I thought back. I was supposed to have been at the meeting, but I’d been on a case that had taken a little longer than expected. At the time of the explosion I had been close to the building where the meeting had taken place – it was part of our headquarters – close enough to have seen it happen. Close enough to have seen Joe in the meeting room, to see his face, before his body got ripped apart. Joe.

  “Leigha? Are you okay?”

  Oliver’s voice woke me from my thoughts and I quickly blinked my tears away, braiding my hair to cover up for the delay in my reply. “Fine. I’d better hurry up. Edward is going to be pissed if I don’t get my ass to his office in the next minute.” I tied the braid with a rubber band.

  When I turned around, Oliver had already st
epped back onto the roof, fumbling with the window. I shook my head and smacked the upper right corner, pushing it back, but not before I said, “Goodbye, baby boy.” Then I turned around, my long, silvery braid just swishing on the edge of my view, and headed for the stairs.

  “Leigha.” Edward didn’t look up when I stepped into his office, after I’d knocked and waited for his permission to enter. “You’re here.”

  Just the tone of those three words made his disapproval clear. Though I’d reached his office perfectly in time, as always, it was never fast enough for him. I couldn’t resist. “One minute and twenty-three seconds, Sir. Well within the time limit of two minutes.”

  He chose to ignore my words. He usually did. Instead, Edward pushed his glasses higher on his nose and waved at the screen against the wall – it was the only decoration. His office was strictly business. You would never find anything in there that showed he had a family. The screen now displayed details of the case that was about to be assigned to me.

  Almost hungrily I took in the picture. Male, early twenties, tall, broad shoulders, well-defined muscles, blond hair, deep black eyes. His face was not unfamiliar to me, although his black eyes changed his features slightly. Hadn’t they been blue before? I racked my brain for his name and blinked when I put the pieces together. “Jake Jameson?” I blurted out.

  “Yes”, Edward said. “He was Infected and Changed yesterday. It’s already been taken care of.”

  Meaning he was dead. Though I dealt with cases like this often, it came as a shock to me this time. Jake had worked for FFG in Australia and had been the best in his team. We’d met once, about three years ago, and he’d shown interest in me. I was only fifteen and Edward had only so much as looked at him and he’d backed off immediately. Now he was dead. Infected, Changed, then killed. By one of my team members, without so much as a doubt or second thought. Once Infected, there was only a very slight chance to Cure someone. Once Changed, that chance was gone.

  “How did he get Infected?”

  Edward looked up then, his mouth a thin line in his wrinkled face. “He read his post.”

  I had to make an effort not to leave my mouth hanging open. “They Infected his letters? But... how?” You could only get Infected when you got in touch with their fluids – saliva, blood, sperm, the usual – or when they scratched you, which made fighting them that much more difficult. The virus spread quickly through your body – after one hour, you Changed. No longer human. And now Jake had been Infected, simply by reading his post?

  “If only we knew. However, now that they’ve managed to transfer it onto paper, I doubt there is any Infected who doesn’t know about it. But that’s for later concern. There is more.” He leafed through his papers, then selected something on his computer. “Here are the latest numbers.”

  Another image on the screen. The graphic showed an incredible rise of people Infected.

  “Tripled”, I said, my eyes still scanning the information, “over the past week?”

  “After we got the news about Mr Jameson, we assumed that the Infected had found a way to transfer the virus onto paper. It was confirmed earlier today by our lab when they found traces of powder on his letters. We’ve found out from reliable sources that the Infected are planning on spreading this virus to at least a third of the entire world population, maybe even half.”

  “I can’t honestly believe the Infected would be able to get their hands on that many letters at the same time.”

  Edward looked up from his papers, his face grim. “I’m not so sure about that.” He picked up a file from his desk and sent it flying my way. I neatly caught it with one hand without even blinking. “There’s your case. Make sure none of the Infected objects reach their destination.”

  “Yes, Sir.” I resisted bowing to him, noting that he’d just dismissed me. Instead, I turned around and opened the door.

  “Oh, and Leigha?”

  I turned back to him. “Yes, Sir?”

  His eyes flicked towards the screen on his desk where he kept an eye on the security cameras in the house. “I don’t ever want to see that Rhine boy in your room again, spying or not. And make sure you close the blinds when you change.”

  Anger and humiliation raised its head. I should have known, but how dare he monitor my room, the only place I had to myself? How dare he watch me change? Who knew – he might have watched me change dozens of times. I clenched my fists, nails digging into flesh and drawing blood, but I kept my face impassive. “Yes, Sir.” Pervert.

  On my way back to my room, I was seething. I threw the file on my desk and put my hands on my hips. In admitting that he’d seen Oliver in my room, he’d also given away that he could see the window. And if he could see the window... that meant that the camera had to be near the door. I searched high and low but couldn’t find anything. Suddenly, my glance fell on the clock. Bastard.

  He’d given me that clock as a present for my fifteenth birthday – the day I’d met Jake. I remember he hung it up the wall, making me wonder where this fatherly affection had suddenly come from. He hadn’t given me anything for my birthdays since I’d turned six, and even before it had always been items that would help me whilst working for FFG. A knife. An expensive-looking compass with a hidden compartment that contained a pill which would kill me within five seconds after taking it. But never anything like this. I should have known.

  Raging, I put my chair underneath the clock and took it off the wall. Then I opened the window and threw it out, but not before I held the clock in front of my face and said: “Goodbye, Daddy”. The sickening sound of the clock smacking against the asphalt made me feel a little better.

  After closing the window, I walked over to my desk and picked up the file. It was time to find out everything there was to know about this case. How were they planning on Infecting such a large population at the same time? I opened the file. It contained a single photo that explained it all.

  I groaned and smacked my head against the desk. This could not be happening.

  There was also a one note from Edward. Pack lightly, it said. Yeah, like that was even an option with those temperatures. Mentally, I made a list of the things I needed to take with me. Thermal clothing. Flash light. Weapons. I glanced back at the picture.

  An aging man, with white hear and a long, fluffy beard in the same colour as his hair. Kind, grey eyes, shadowed slightly by his thick eyebrows. A red suit, fitted with white fur.

  Santa Claus.

  I was going to the fucking North Pole.

  * * *

  The next morning – which was only three hours after I’d walked out of Edward’s office – I dumped my backpack on the seat next to me and hit a few buttons. The chopper’s rotor blades started to spin, faster and faster as I checked everything needed for take-off. Yes, I could fly a chopper. One of the perks of having grown up as the daughter of FFG’s leader. Possibly the only one.

  Slowly I pulled the collective stick up and the helicopter lifted off the ground. Once up in the air, I used the cyclic stick to steer the chopper in the right direction and threw a last glance on my house. Edward was standing outside, his hands crossed behind his back. There had been no goodbye or good luck, just him telling me to do my duty.

  “Get your ass out of there, Oliver”, I said as soon the house was out of sight. “I know you’re hiding. Trust me, the chair is far more comfortable.”

  There was a lot of scuffling going around when finally Oliver’s sandy-coloured hair appeared next to me. “How did you know I was here?”

  I sighed and shook my head. “The same way I know when someone’s spying on me, baby boy. I pay attention. In your hurry to get into the chopper, you messed up my papers.”

  Oliver climbed over the seats and sat down in the chair, then sighed contently as he folded his hands behind his head. “This is so comfy. I feel like putting my feet on the dashboard like you do in a car.”

  “Don’t you dare. You’d insult Henry.”

  He stared at m
e in disbelief. “You named the chopper?”

  “It’s my chopper, so yes, I did. Henry the chopper. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?” I checked the flight course and adjusted our path slightly. Our destination was only a couple of hours away – Rapid City, South Dakota.

  Our headquarters was based in the-middle-of-nowhere-Wyoming, concealed from the normal world, which was why we had a few helicopters at our disposal. I could’ve taken a car to drive to Rapid City, but there was no time. The Infected were planning on Changing at least one third of the world’s population over Christmas – I needed every minute, every second I could get.

  In my mind, I was already planning everything. Go to our final destination, find their hiding place, and kill all of them. Then save the presents and Santa Claus, thus saving Christmas. I shook my head slightly. Who had ever thought I’d be off to the North Pole in order to save Christmas? Not me. I was more a sun, beach and cocktail kind of person if I got the chance. Which wasn’t very often.

  “Where are we heading anyway?” Oliver asked.

  “Maybe you should’ve checked that before you decided to tag along.” The world beneath us was zooming past, mountain after mountain, as I headed to the east.

  “I tried, but my roommate who gave me the info last night didn’t catch the entire conversation.”

  I glanced sideways. “I hope you do realise that the entire ‘leak’ – your roommate – is a complete set-up? FFG would never have allowed you to sneak on board of the chopper otherwise. As a matter of fact, I bet they’ve set up the entire trip for two people, not one.”

  Oliver smiled. “I know. It must be time for another test. Nearly two years since I’ve been recruited, you know.” He looked a little too smug.

  “Stop looking so damn proud of yourself. You know you can’t beat me. I’ve been doing this since the day I was born. No matter how long you are with FFG, I’ll always be better.” I wasn’t saying it because I wanted to brag about my skills, but it was a given fact – I had a fourteen-year-head start on him.