Hold Fast Through the Fire by K. B. Wagers

Author:K. B. Wagers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Published: 2021-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

Max stood in the conference room, staring at the shifting data on the wall in front of her, occasionally reaching out to stop the flow of information and read something more closely.

“When I saw it yesterday I thought, ‘That’s a face I haven’t seen in a while,’” D’Arcy said as he joined her. “Tea?” He passed over one of the steaming mugs in his hands.

“Thanks.” Max tipped her head at the screen. “Who are you talking about?”

“Vincent Grant.” He tapped the image of the hard-eyed man in the news article Max had been reading and then pointed up at the photo next to Senator Tieg’s.

“You knew him?”

D’Arcy’s laugh was humorless. “Thankfully by reputation only. He’s an ex–Mars PeaceKeeper and was heavily involved in the suppression of the protests in ’09.”

“Stephan was there, too, right?” Max glanced across the room to where the Intel commander was talking with her brother and Nika.

“He was a baby, a shiny lieutenant on his first Intel assignment off-world.” D’Arcy grinned at her, but it faded quickly and he sighed. “We were on opposite sides, Max. Most of the time I let it stay in the past. I lost my temper yesterday and I shouldn’t have. He and I have both done things we regret.”

Max nodded, but it was hard to process that the man next to her had once been part of an organization she’d been brought up to believe was wrong. Ironically, it was less difficult to realize her parents’ black-and-white view of the situation wasn’t the reality. Everything about the Mars riots was more complex than the news and the CHN wanted people to believe.

What she knew was D’Arcy. Trusted him with her life. He’d wanted his home safe and free, and she couldn’t fault him for that. “Why did you join, D’Arcy? Why come to the NeoG when we were basically your enemy?”

“I didn’t have much of a choice, though it wasn’t the NeoG I was mad at. And for the most part they were actually trying to keep the peace. When everything went down I ended up in custody and was given two options. This seemed like the better path, one where I could make a difference,” he said after a moment of silent contemplation. “There are people I left behind who feel like I betrayed everything we fought for just to keep from going to rehab, but it’s more complicated than that.”

“Most things are.” She pointed at Grant. “Tell me about him.”

“He’s dangerous, Max. Like I said, we never tangled personally, but I lost friends to him and his squad. People were yanked off the street and turned up dead later. The end of it all involved a member of the NeoG killing a protestor—a friend of mine, Hadi Shevreaux.”

“I remember reading about that. The captain in question was arrested and charged with excessive force. Discharged from the NeoG and sent to rehab. It was a big reason why the CHN finally came to the table with Mars.”

“Still didn’t quite work out like we’d hoped, but things are a little better.

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