“Know what?” Diar asked, with a warning in his eyes.
“That you jumped that day on purpose. You deliberately fucked up your legs,” Mitch said.
“I wasn’t going to become like them, I’d rather have died,” Diar stated.
“You nearly did!” Mitch exclaimed.
Diar’s question came after a few moments had ticked by. “Why did you keep quiet?”
“Because you accomplished what I wanted. Escape. Shit, I envied you, Diar. Alfred locked me down even harder. Alexander suspected what you’d done and was worried I’d follow suit.”
“Mitch, if they’d thought I’d attempted suicide or injured myself on purpose, I wouldn’t be sitting here. Like you, I took guarantees, but they don’t want me, which is fine,” Diar said, not looking bothered.
“They still want me, the great, wonderful heir to the Weideman name and reputation. Seriously, the whole shebang makes me sick. I had to resort to threats this time; they were dropping hints that if I didn’t obey, they’d have me killed.”
Diarmad sat up straight, and Mitch noted the worry on his friend’s face. “Will they come for you?”
“No. I told them over a dozen people had files that I’d crafted. That if I died suddenly, accident or not, those individuals would set the information free. Alfred hated that but couldn’t do anything about it,” Mitch said and released a bitter laugh. He knocked back the last of his whiskey and picked up the second glass.
“Nowhere in this world is safe from them,” Diar warned.
“Only one place is, and that’s the one I wouldn’t be welcome in,” Mitch agreed.
He’d long thought that the Uile-bheist had gathered together and holed up somewhere. He’d no idea where, as the planet was massive. Mitch harboured no ill feelings toward them and strongly believed his theory was accurate. Kill them, and the Sin they held rampaged unchecked. Mitch had enough evidence to know he was correct.
The Sealgair Uilebheist were not saving mankind but condemning them. But there would be no convincing them. Mitch was clueless about what to do. He couldn’t allow them to continue to destroy the Uile-bheist, but he had no clue how to contact them, let alone help them.
“It’s a conundrum, isn’t it? A Sealgair Uilebheist wants to aid the Uile-bheist,” Diar mused.
“Yup, that’s one I don’t have a solution for.” Mitch scowled as he looked over the loch. There had to be an answer somewhere.
Jess/Loch Ness Monster
Jess walked into the tower and saw Mary Worth staring into her mirror network. “Problem?” she asked, concerned.
“No,” Mary replied. She looked smug, as if she knew something Jess didn’t, and that annoyed her. Jess hated secrets and felt inclined to poke Mary in her eye, but Mary wouldn’t tell.
“Disease needs to eat. Do you have anything for me?”
“Yes, and you’re going to love this. The irony,” Mary stated.
“Oh?”
“Loch Ness. A guy has been dumping oil into the loch, it’s contaminated,” Mary said.
Jess frowned. “Looks like the Loch Ness Monster is about to revisit her stomping ground.”
Mary nodded as Jess walked through the mirror into the dark sky of Scotland. The air was cold here, and she shivered.
Jess shifted into the Loch Ness Monster, or Ness for short, and paddled into the loch. The water was even colder, but that didn’t matter. As she glided underwater, she reached out with her senses and sought the offender. Ness heard several boats and swam under them, investigating to see if they were the culprits. The culprit was active right now, or Mary wouldn’t have sent her through.
Finally, after two hours of searching, she found him near Drumnadrochit.
Ness gritted her teeth and growled underwater. Scum! She dived underneath, checking what he was dumping, and an oil drum nearly hit her. Furious, Ness flicked the vessel with her flipper. It rocked wildly, and the man on board yelped.
She watched as he peered over the boat and into the loch.
I see you, Ness thought, and Disease raised its head. It was hungry, and the victim above would provide a wonderful meal. Disease could sense that the oil drum held bacteria that would cause contagion.
