The Sands of Time 70

 

Joon and Maia were staring out over the landscape from one of the observation bubbles. She was sitting too close to him. Maia- 25, he had to remind himself. She wasn't his Maia. The scary thing was he was having trouble telling the difference. 

Lost in thought, he realized he had missed what she was saying. Something about the wine. It was good. He wondered how Maia would feel about his situation. If the roles were reversed he didn't think he'd be too happy... 

There he was again, not listening. Maia- 25 was smiling, oddly. He had something caught in his throat. He coughed, straightening up. She had taken his hand, lacing her fingers through his. 

"It's okay," she soothed, "don't fight it. It's only worse if you fight it."

What had she done to him?

Hillier bursting in. The guard trying to stop her. 

There was something... crawling... in his throat. 

An energy beam. Where had Hillier gotten the weapon? A shriek as Maia went down. 

Hillier had killed her. 

He couldn't breathe. Something was in him. Hillier calling for help. 

*******

HOURS EARLIER

A shapeshifter can go lots of places. But they were monitored, watched. She knew there were cameras everywhere, had to be careful where she changed forms. The gig would be up if they knew what she was. 

She had watched their guards change shifts, would see them talking. It was easy enough being the guard, this time. Of course, the real guard had to be dealt with. 

Shrug

"It's tonight," the new guard confided. "When TK3 is on duty."

"How are they doing it?" Hillier asked. 

"I'm not privy to that. Just that it'll be the bitch, the one he's all moony over." 

Hillier smiled, but not inwardly. 

*******

"How did this happen?" Yvette hissed. 

Jack shrugged. "I have no idea."

"You were supposed to be watching him."

"I was watching him," Jack roared. "Like a hawk." 

"Not good enough, clearly."

"Who did this?"

"No idea. I have suspicions."

"Why is he so important?"

"Again... I don't know. He seems to always be at the center of things."

"His security witch killed Maia."

"Good. No, not really. We can't interrogate her now."

"Did they get it out?"

"Yes. Nasty thing."

"Mind slug?"

"Yeah. Similar to joyworms."

Jack shivered. "Barbaric."

"We're supposed to be running this operation and his guards were compromised."