Hitting the Target Read online

  Her grandmother sighed resignedly.

  “All right. Well, just you be careful out there, Mia child. And come back to me safe and sound.”

  There was anxiety in her faded brown eyes as she spoke the words. Mia couldn’t help remembering it was what her grandmother used to say to her father and mother when they left for work in the mornings too. She spoke them like a protective spell even though the disappearance of Mia’s parents so many years ago proved they had no power to fend off harm.

  But they warmed Mia’s heart anyway.

  “You be safe too, Neemah,” she said, kissing the wrinkled cheek again. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  Pulling on her warmest coat, she stepped out into the biting wind, being careful to shut the door quickly so the chill wouldn’t get into the flat and make her grandmother’s bones ache.

  All around her was a barren landscape of gray concrete. There were a few sickly trees planted here and there on the street corners but their bark was rusty orange from the fire rock dust which gusted out of vents in the sides of the tall monolithic buildings. The cold wind stank of burned fuel and the exhaust of the multi-level busses which trundled over the cracked pavement like enormous black beetles.

  For a moment, Mia wondered if it had always been this way. Had the city been so bleak before the Revolution, or had everything been better like her grandmother claimed?

  Unbidden, a picture flashed in her mind’s eye—another city but a greener one. Clean air and flowering trees everywhere surrounded high, white buildings with big, shiny glass windows. And he was there—smiling at her. His hair like a golden-brown mane around his face, his eyes clear green like a tropical sea. Clear green until they turned golden that was…golden and animalistic and his features began to change. He beckoned to Mia and said her name in a deep, growling voice. He…

  No. Mia pushed the strange image away. It was nothing—just a fragment of a dream but somehow it filled her with fear…and made her ache inside. Why did she keep having the strange dreams every night? Was it because of what she’d done at work—because of the act the Commandant had forced her to commit? Was her mind trying to take her away to someplace else, someplace where she could finally be at ease? But if so, why did the man’s eyes change? Why did his voice take on that strange, growling quality?

  There is no such place anyway, whispered a little voice in her head. Not after what you did.

  Such dreams of a different life—such longings—were sedition and Mia knew it. Thank goodness The EYE had no way to look inside a person’s head or likely everyone in the Republic would wind up in their basement!

  Anyway, there was no point in thinking such things, she told herself. This was her home and good or bad, it was where she would live the rest of her life. The clean city and the man with the golden-brown mane and green eyes that turned golden were just a dream.

  With a sigh, she began the long trudge to the station where she would catch a rickety, rattling tram that would take her to the tall, gray building that housed the Care Center in the middle of the city. There she would work a twelve-hour shift and then come home exhausted, fall into her narrow, hard bed, and wake up to do the same thing tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that over and over again.

  This was her life and there was no point in dreaming about anything different or better.

  Chapter Two

  “You’re wanted by the Commandant,” hissed the tall man in a dark suit from the corner of his mouth. He spoke the words as he passed Mia in the long hallway which was painted a sickly, industrial grayish-green.

  Mia stiffened but tried to keep her face blank and her gait natural as she continued on her way down the corridor. She had never seen the tall man before and chances were, she would never see him again. Nor did she have to stop and ask him what time she was supposed to go to the Commandant—when he summoned, the call was always urgent and immediate. Luckily, it was almost the end of her shift.

  “Your pardon, Supervisor Clms,” she said, approaching the director of the floor where she was working at the control desk. “But I find myself unwell. May I be excused fifteen minutes early tonight?”

  Supervisor Clms, a woman with thinning blonde hair and a perpetual scowl on her face, as though she’d smelled something nasty, glowered at Mia. But there really wasn’t much she could say. Mia had been working double shifts without complaint for days and she never left her duties incomplete. Every patient in her care was stable and in good condition, as a glance at the bank of monitors mounted on the control desk proved.

  “Very well,” Clms growled at last. “But see you’re here early tomorrow. You’re needed to train the new girl coming on.”

  Mia nodded with weary acceptance. At least she wouldn’t be the only healer’s aide on her floor anymore. Hopefully the new girl would pick things up quickly and then they could share the shifts.

  “I’ll be here,” she said quietly and turned away.

  “See that you are!” Clms barked at her back as Mia made her way down the long hallway with patient rooms on either side of it. As she passed room 517 an involuntary shiver ran down her spine. Images flashed through her mind. She remembered the man in the bed, his face quiet in repose…remembered leaning over him and fitting the needle into his intravenous system…remembered pushing the plunger…

  Mia pushed the memory away violently. She hadn’t wanted to do that—no matter how much he might have deserved it—she hadn’t wanted to. She was a healer, not a killer. But when the Commandant ordered…

  The Commandant—he would be expecting her to get to him immediately and he was not forgiving of tardiness. Mia quickened her steps until she was almost running, though the new pace was hard on her tired body. If someone had asked her earlier if she would have the energy to run at the end of her long shift, she would have thought they were joking. But The EYE and its operatives had a way of energizing her with a mixture of adrenaline, nerves, and pure terror.

  The alley outside the Care Center was deserted and dark and didn’t look safe at all. Mia would never have traveled that way at night if given a choice, but it was the fastest way to the Command Center of The EYE.

  Luck was with her and no strange men popped out of the shadows to chase or grab her. Before Mia knew it, she was showing her identification papers to the guard at the front door. All citizens of the Republic were required to keep ID papers on them at all times and the yawning guard took a quick look at Mia’s and waved her inside.

  Mia stepped into the tall gray building which looked almost identical to the Care Center and every other building in the city and made her way through the metal detector. On the wall, in shiny brass letters, was the motto of The EYE.

  * * *

  Ever Watchful

  Never Sleeping

  Always Guarding

  Secrets Keeping

  The Republic must be Kept Intact

  Of Diligence there is No Lack.

  The EYE is Always Watching

  * * *

  Mia had seen the motto before, and she barely glanced at it now as she made her way to the transi-lift which would take her up to the Commandant’s office. As always, she passed the mysterious door with blue light coming from beneath it. There were guards on either side of it, looking straight ahead.

  The first time Mia had come to The EYE’s headquarters, she had been intensely curious about the strange, pulsing light that came from the room. But a hard stare from one of the guards had convinced her it was none of her business—just another secret that was kept by The EYE. She had never dared to stop and study it again.

  This time she barely even noticed the door and its pulsing light. She walked fast and wrapped her coat more tightly around herself. Though the inside of The EYE’s headquarters lacked the biting wind she’d been subjected to outside, there was nonetheless a chill in the air—a cold, quiet menace which was as pervasive and as silent as fog.

  The Commandant’s office was at the end of another long hallway, the doo
r shut like all the others, yet Mia knew he was in. She tapped timidly at the dark wood and a voice as smooth as oiled silk called, “Come in, Mia.”

  Mia turned the knob and stepped inside the surprisingly spacious office. Here there was luxury which couldn’t be found anywhere else in her meager experience—a deep, soft carpet which mostly covered the shiny real-wood floor, crimson curtains that hung at the windows, blocking the view of the city like panels of blood, a shiny brass lamp which shed a warm golden glow over the large room.

  Though everyone was supposed to be equal since the Revolution, Mia was aware that operatives in the highest rungs of the government always seemed to have nice things. They also had real sugar and tea instead of artificial sweetener and steep and individual motor vehicles to take them places, so they didn’t have to ride the rickety trams.

  But it wasn’t the luxurious surroundings that drew her eye—it was the Commandant himself.

  Sitting behind a real-wood desk that had been polished until it gleamed, he was a short but muscular man wearing the olive-green uniform of The EYE. His dark brown hair was slicked back from a low forehead and his skin was pale and smooth and shiny, almost like a plastic doll’s. His features were blunt and crude—his nose had obviously been broken more than once. He always reminded Mia of a physical education instructor who had been put into a uniform. But the cunning in his small, perfectly black eyes belied the rest of his appearance. As did his silky-smooth voice.

  “Hello, Mia,” he purred, smiling at her. “So nice of you to join me, my dear.”

  “I’m only here because you called for me.” She lifted her chin, trying to keep the fear out of her voice and not entirely succeeding. “What do you want?”

  The Commandant made a tsking sound and shook his head as he steepled his stubby fingers on the shiny surface of his desk.

  “Now Mia, my dear—is that any way to speak to your good friend The Commandant? Especially when I called you here to give you a new assignment…and a promotion.”

  “What…what kind of assignment?” Mia couldn’t keep her voice from shaking. “I don’t want to kill anyone,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

  “Relax, my dear. There is no necessity for killing…not yet anyway.” The Commandant’s thick, liver-colored lips stretched into a rubbery smile that showed teeth stained nico-stick yellow. “For now, your job will only entail observation.”

  Mia’s heart, which had been pounding in her chest, began to calm a little.

  “Who do you want me to observe? One of the healers at the Care Center?”

  Healer Chalm, she knew for a fact, was taking medication meant for his patients and using it himself. Half the time he was late for his shift and his eyes were always bloodshot and his words blurred. The signs were impossible to miss but he never got into trouble because his father was a member of some council, high in the Republic. Observing and informing on someone like him wouldn’t bother her at all.

  But the Commandant was already shaking his head, his slick hair shiny in the glow of the brass lamp.

  “I’m afraid not, my dear Mia. The assignment I have for you involves someone far from the Care Center—you will be observing an alien.”

  “An alien? Do you mean someone from…from the South who has somehow infiltrated the People’s Republic?” Mia asked, frowning. She couldn’t think what else he might mean.

  “No, he’s not from the South at all—though he now lives there. Lives in Bountiful.” The Commandant made a face, as though the name itself was bitter on his tongue.

  “Bountiful?” Mia repeated, still not understanding.

  The Commandant nodded.

  “The depraved southerners have invited some of his people—who are from a space-faring race—to live and work among them. They have allowed them to invade our beautiful planet of Ormyu Five without even consulting the People’s Republic about it.” His small black eyes narrowed. “The EYE doesn’t trust their motives.”

  “But if he lives in Bountiful—in the South—and never comes to the Care Center, how am I going to observe him?” Mia protested.

  “Why, you’ll be able to observe him because you will be going to Bountiful yourself.” The Commandant spoke as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “What?” Mia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You must be joking—I don’t want to cross the Great Barrier and go south! I never have!”

  “Which is precisely why you were chosen for this particular assignment. That and the fact that you carried out your last mission with such precision.” The Commandant’s rubbery lips stretched into an even wider smile. “You’re perfect for this, Mia. This alien—his people call themselves ‘The Kindred’—this Kindred is a healer—works in one of the Southern Care Centers. As a healer’s aide, you’ll get a job working beside him. You’ll get close to him—”

  “Close to him how?” Mia interrupted. Her heart was pounding again, galloping in her chest. Surely the Commandant had to be joking—maybe he was testing her, trying to see if she wanted to leave the Republic and go to the sinful South. Maybe if she could just show him how little she wanted to leave her home, he would let her be.

  But the Commandant didn’t look as though he was joking or testing her. He gave her a level look.

  “My dear, don’t be naïve. You must get close to him in the way all women get close to men when they have to meet their needs. In fact, we want you to seduce him.”

  “Seduce him?” Mia’s breath was coming short, her pulse pounding in her temples. “But I can’t do that, Commandant—I…I’ve taken The Oath!”

  The Oath she referred to was a pledge all young women of the People’s Republic were expected to take, promising to abstain from sexual acts and affairs until such time as the Republic might call on them to join with a man and have a child for the benefit of their great society.

  It was well known that only the most devout believers in the precepts of the People’s Republic, those with no stain of treason or sedition in their past lives would be called for such a purpose. For this reason, Mia had never expected to be paired off with a man in order to conceive. Both her parents had been taken by The EYE—that alone should have disqualified her from ever having or raising a child.

  There was also the fact that she was far from what the government of the People’s Republic considered “ideal.” It was known that they matched people together not only for loyalty, but for desirably physical characteristics as well. This didn’t seem to apply so much to men—especially if they had connections high up in the ruling class of the Republic. Mia had seen some of the ugliest functionaries paired with the most gorgeous females. But women were held to a different standard. They were all supposed to be tall and slender, with pale skin and blonde hair, if possible.

  With her warm brown skin, black hair and plump curves, Mia was none of those things.

  But none of that seemed to matter. Here was the Commandant telling her not only that he expected her to break The Oath, but ordering her to do it with a strange man—an alien she had never met before—far away in the South where she had never been and never wanted to go!

  “Commandant, The Oath—” she began again but he waved her off.

  “Ah yes, The Oath…” His smooth voice was full of heavy sarcasm. “You don’t need to worry about that, Mia. Just seduce him—get him into bed and meet his needs—get him to trust you. And send back as much surveillance as you can. The EYE will determine what’s to be done with him and his comrades when we see your footage.”

  “But…but I…” Mia cleared her throat and moistened her lips which were suddenly dry with the tip of her tongue. “Commandant, I can’t…I’ve never…I’m a virgin!” she blurted out at last. “I…I’ve never met a man’s needs before.”

  He looked irritated. “Yes, I know that. It’s just another reason why you were picked for this assignment. I believe your innocence will appeal to this alien—this Kindred. His people are known for being foolishly prot
ective of females. In fact, I suggest you put yourself into some kind of danger so that he can ‘rescue’ you when you first meet him. That should establish a connection right away.” He smirked. “After that, you can seduce him more easily because he will feel that he’s saved you. Males of inferior intellect love to play the hero—it makes them extremely easy to manipulate.”

  “But why would he want me?” Mia protested, desperate to get out of the assignment any way she could. “I’m not the ideal—you know I’m not, Commandant! I’m not nearly thin enough or pale enough to temp some strange alien male who can probably have his pick of the Southern girls!”

  He frowned and looked her over critically.

  “It’s true you’re considerably too plump to be ideal. But you’re proportioned nicely, at least and your hair is nice enough, though it’s the wrong color.” He motioned to the thick black braid which Mia had wound into a bun at the back of her neck to keep her long hair away from her face while she worked.

  “Also your eyes are quite striking,” he continued, studying her with the cold gaze of a breeder deciding which animal will go best with another for the desired outcome. “Yes, I think you’ll do, Mia. Anyway, it’s too late for you to lose weight now—you’re leaving tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” Mia cried. This just kept getting worse and worse! “But…but I’m supposed to be training a new girl as a healer’s aide at work! And my grandmother—”

  “Your work will be notified that you have been moved to another Care Center—one far from the city,” the Commandant interrupted. “And as for your dear old grandmother, well…that’s why you need to take this assignment, my dear Mia.”

  His lips curved into a liver-colored smile that made Mia’s blood run cold.

  “Your grandmother,” he continued, musingly, tapping his blunt fingertips on the desk. “Dear old Neemah…she’s all alone in the world now that your parents have gone, isn’t she? Who would take care of her if you disappeared for good? Or worse, what would become of her if she was ever found guilty of treasonous acts against the Republic?”