Maria watched the bus until it vanished into the distance. She wanted to catch him, to tell him a thousand different things. To tell him one thing above all else. How much she loved him.

She grimaced. Opening a bottle of whiskey, she threw back a mouthful, the familiar burn gracing her throat. She didn’t drink around Jordan, at least not often. She couldn’t get drunk now either, but a few swigs never hurt. The ship would be here to pick her up soon. She was part of the reason the S.U.N. shut down the docks, so they could ferry her in without suspicion easier.

There were other reasons though she didn’t remember them off hand. It wasn’t her jurisdiction. Used to be she’d have to drive four hours to San Angelo, where they acquired the Goodfellow Air Force Base, and take a helicopter, so she wasn’t going to complain. She did have the good graces to feel a little guilty, after the S.U.N. seized the Lake Granbury Marina they shut down all the other docks along the Brazos River, putting a fair amount of people out of work. It was the price of progress.

Maria took another swing from the bottle. There was no ship waiting last night, which told her a few things. Most importantly that Christine drove here from the San Angelo base. She mentioned heading down to Houston, though she doubted the veracity of that. Wouldn’t matter soon. Stepping into her garage, she capped the bottle and opened the door. She stepped towards the car provided by the Taskforce before glancing over to the corner.

Sitting against a far wall was her Harley. She kept it tuned and full of gas, taking it out on the odd ride once in a blue moon to keep in practice. Still, the machine languished in the garage despite being her only possession besides her necklace from her younger days. There was an inescapable sense of dread hovering over her. She took it by the handles, wheeling it out of the garage and into the open.

If she was going to teach Jordan, she needed to sharpen her skills after all. She went inside, changing into her old bike leathers, clasping her jacket shut. She left the helmet where it was in her closet, not feeling like dealing with her hair to put it on. She reached for the case on her bed when something gave her pause.

Smudges on the metal locks. Normally she would only touch them with gloved hands to avoid this kind of thing, same for the tech boys back at base in Dubai. They took pride in their gaudy, shiny bullshit. The chromed metal took fingerprints very easily. They were very smudged, but she could spot that they’d been touched at least twice by shaky fingers.

She could have, though she didn’t remember doing so, touched them bare handed. She knew that. It was a possibility.

But it wasn’t reality.

She took a deep breath. That, too, would be addressed when she got home. Best situation, he fumbled with them and didn’t manage to open it. No, she corrected herself, the best situation was that she was wrong. That he didn’t see the case and never knew about it at all. She did not allow herself this small lie, not even for her own peace of mind.

Worst case she wouldn’t even come home alive. This too was reality. Her work was dangerous on the best of days, let alone what she’d been doing lately. It was enough to make one sick. She pushed it out of her mind, heading outside. Securing the case to her motorcycle, she swung her leg over it and slid into position. It felt right, natural. Gripping the handles, she started the bike and let the engine sing.

Arriving at the marina faster than the law would normally allow, she parked in the designated area. She hated Granbury. So many houses, all seven thousand people shoved into the same area, with all the businesses built up around the town hall. More than once another parent tried to convince her to go to the Opera House and talk mom shop. She’d rather be doing something with her time.

It was a good cover location and provided a nice community for Jordan to grow up in. Otherwise, she held no regard for the tiny place. But he was getting older. Wanderlust was already setting in. Moving might not be the worst idea, depending on how things shook out. One way or the other. He’d miss his friends, but they’d start drifting soon as it was. That’s how teenagers were.

The Brazos River provided no real tactical support, which was why many in the community decried its appropriation by the S.U.N. It couldn’t reach the greater bodies of water that they otherwise deemed appropriate because it narrowed too much. They hadn’t realized that this was already accounted for. The river would be widened, that was all. Twelve hundred miles of groundwork for local communities shut them up real fast and the nature preservation groups were shown the door. Of course, this didn’t make up for the jobs taken, but that was no matter to the local governments getting paid.

The ship waiting for her was a three-tier-monster of a thing, impossible to have seen in these waters three years prior. Human ingenuity would change the world, no matter what, that’s what Maria believed. This vessel looked rough and worn on the outside, completely unexciting, hiding the technological marvel that lay within. Climbing aboard, even she was impressed by the clean white interiors and up to date digital displays.

The guards on deck nodded to her- they were trained to recognize people of interest by sight, to ensure no one could approach the ship that shouldn’t. After she arrived below deck the ship began its journey, though you’d never know it inside. All the momentum was dulled. A neat trick that the tech boys once tried to explain to her. One of them, Lafyette, was sweet on her. It was flattering.

The deck would open up and her helicopter would rise on its platform once they got a ways down river, away from sightseers. One of the officials below, had to be part of the governing branch as she didn’t recognize them, directed her to one of the communication hubs. That pinged Maria as off. She stopped, claiming a locker as her own, changing first. Gun holstered, she felt better in the uniform. With practiced ease her hand wrapped around the handle, ready to draw down.

She felt tense stepping into the communication hub, a small room set aside for secure talks. The door shut behind her, locking automatically. Though that was standard procedure it didn’t set her at ease any. A screen waited for her, built into the far wall. A camera was live, red dot watching Maria take her seat, before it sprang to life. It displayed in crystal clear clarity the face of Supreme Commander of the Taskforce, Ethan McFree.

“Sir?” This was his conversation. He’d lead.

“Agent Arnaz, are you doing well?”

“Sir.”

“Operative Wolf went to see you last night.”

She didn’t flinch. Him knowing about it was inevitable. “I was planning to bring it up to you when I arrived. Face to face.”

“I’m afraid things have accelerated. You will be heading directly to the target tomorrow. That’s why we’re taking a risk with this call, which I will be erasing as soon as we are done.”

Maria frowned. “Christine needs to be eliminated. She’s too close.”

“I’ll see to it. Anything else to report?”

In all the years she’d known Ethan, he was never one to bullshit you. So that was the main reason she felt she could ask this, the most important question to her now.

“What is Mr. Smith?”

McFree, if you knew long enough, had a tick. It was very subtle, very slight, but it was there. When you touched on something sensitive, his eyes did a half blink.

“She talked to you about Mr. Smith?”

“Yes sir. At this stage, I don’t think it really matters whose help we procure, but I am concerned.”

“He has helped in some extralegal operations. Your acting fireteam was provided by his services. For what he is, that is not a matter I can directly answer,” he said.

“He could be an alien power, though. My concern is, I would hope, obvious,” said Maria.

“The possibility is valid. Many intelligent, shall we say, nonhuman individuals have found their way to Earth in the last few decades. Some have proven to be a boon. But I again assure you, Mr. Smith has only operated with us in a purely monetary fashion. He holds no sway over our actions or operations. We are not compromised, Maria.”

Maria let go of a long-held breath. Some of the tension from the night before bled out of her. “Okay. Not that it would matter. I’m in this to the grave.”

“As are we all, Maria. With our hands, with our actions, we will change the world. We will make it better.”

“For a better tomorrow,” Maria breathed. “We will sin today.”

“Your fireteam is arriving as we speak as the command ship makes its way to the Gulf. When they have assembled and you have arrived, proceed to the target. Once you’re done there, report back to Dubai and I’ll arrange your promotion. You’ll have earned it regardless. Operative Wolf will be dead, and I have it on good authority that her replacement will be more sympathetic to our way of thinking. This will be worth it. All of it.”

Maria saluted, only relaxing when the feed cut out.

Everything changed with the pull of a trigger. Her hands slammed onto the table in front of her. That’s what this felt like. Maria remained in the room, even after the door unlocked, until a tech came in to check on her. This was worth it. What they were doing was worth the bloodshed to follow. The stains that could never be cleaned. The tears, shed and forsaken.

It would be.