Woman King (12 page)

“Why not every time?”

“That would be a little too obvious,” Gabriel
said. “We’re a clandestine organization, looking to protect the
interests of our kind. If we influenced every election, it would
draw too much attention to ourselves.”

“And why is this necessary?”

Gabriel walked over to a desk and asked for
one of the iPads. He quickly called up a news article and walked
over to me.

“Read the headline,” he said, gesturing to
the text on the screen.

Presidential Candidate Holds Prayer Rally

Oklahoma City (AP)—Thousands of evangelical
Christians flocked to the state’s capital today to participate in a
prayer rally at the invitation of Governor Bob Ferry. Ferry, a
devout Christian known for handing Bible verses to his aides, is
preparing to run for president.

“This guy is a joke,” I said, shaking my
head. “Why should you worry about him?”

“It is easy to laugh at him here in San
Francisco. He seems very remote from your life. But do you remember
the story of the Trojan horse, Olivia? The people of Troy believed
the horse to be a gift and therefore let it into their village,
only to be destroyed by the Greeks hiding inside. Ferry is a man
who prays for rain, and who bans books from his state’s libraries
because they promote witchcraft. One man like this may be a joke,
but when you elect an entire Congress full of them.”

“Are you telling me that men like Ferry are a
threat?”

“
Exactement
. He carries in his heart
the same vision as other zealots: to turn us into true believers.
The civilized world is a mile wide and an inch deep. If you create
the right settings, religious fanatics could control this country.
Already in Europe we see the beginnings of nationalism and
xenophobia. Here in the U.S., a congresswoman is shot in the head
at point blank range; in Norway, government buildings blown
up…Extremism is everywhere. A witch burning doesn’t seem so
implausible when laws and justice are meted out in God’s name.”

“Do you really think that the country could
be hijacked by people like this?”

Gabriel looked out through the open windows
at the darkened sky beyond. “I would rather ensure that it doesn’t
happen.”

“And how do you see me in all of this,
again?” I asked.

“I see you running a campaign. Levi Barnes,
your old boss, is running for congress. It’s a new seat created by
the latest redistricting process, so it’s wide open, no incumbent.
He’s declared, but hasn’t picked his campaign staff yet.”

“And he’s going to hire me…because you asked
him to? It’s been a decade since we’ve worked together.”

Gabriel smiled. “I know him well because of
my work with technology. He invented an application that
essentially turns a smart phone into an encrypted credit card. He
sold the technology for an enormous sum…an amazing man,
really.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said, “but you still
haven’t answered my question. Why is he going to hire me?”

“Because you’re the best person for the job,”
Gabriel said. “And because I will strongly suggest that he
does.”

“Suggest,” I repeated. “You mean a
spell?”

“If that is what it takes to get him on
board, yes.”

“Why would you go to the trouble to gain one
congressional seat in Silicon Valley?”

Gabriel smiled as he walked us back toward
the elevator. “What makes you think it’s one seat? I told you it’s
about the total number of seats held. Our job is to ensure
rational, moderate people win seats.”

“I should think the hardest part would be to
get rational, moderate people to even run for office.”

Gabriel nodded. “It is increasingly
difficult.”

We descended one more floor, walked out of
the elevator and stopped outside an office with its door closed.
Gabriel knocked and the door was quickly opened by a tall, slim man
with dark black hair and bright blue eyes.

“Hello, Aidan,” Gabriel said warmly. “This is
Olivia, the empath I told you about.”

Aidan, whose handsome, dark features were
slightly distracting, even for a man easily a decade older than me,
gave me more scrutiny than I would have expected. He seemed to be
examining me closely, although I could not detect an ounce of
emotion coming from him.

“Hello, Olivia,” he said cordially, a hint of
an Irish accent coming though. “Welcome to the Council. Gabriel has
high hopes for you inside this organization.”

“You can check out, but you can never leave,”
I said with a smile. “Oops, I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Aidan tossed back his head and laughed. Now I
could feel his warmth bubbling up. “Yes, something like that, I’m
afraid. In fact, we need to get you set up for your work. I told
Gabriel I would manage that task so he could see to other
business.”

I said goodbye to Gabriel as Aidan shut the
door to his office. For a moment we sat in silence, but then Aidan
began to speak, fixing his blue eyes on me.

“I’m a shape-shifter,” he said. “In my
village in Ireland, every other year one boy is born with the skill
to shift. It’s considered good luck to be the family whose child is
born with the talent. My parents however, were not as thrilled as
others might have been. I didn’t stay at home for long. I met
Gabriel one evening outside Aix-en-Provence. He was walking in the
hills under the glow of a full moon and we…ran into each
other.”

“Is it painful to shift?” I asked, knowing it
must sound so utterly human.

“At first, when we’re young, yes, but not
now.”

I could feel genuine friendship coming off of
Aidan in waves. I felt a sense of loyalty and duty from him. I
wondered why he’d taken such an instant liking to me.

“Why did you volunteer to help me?” I asked.
“Don’t you have an HR department like all global
bureaucracies?”

“Because I wanted to meet you myself,” Aidan
said. “It’s unprecedented for a human to work for the Council.
Gabriel is impressed with your skills and hopes you will be able to
increase our chances of winning elections.”

“I hope I can live up to everyone’s
expectations,” I said. “What happens to people who lose
elections?”

Aidan’s eyes twinkled. “We send them out with
the werewolves.”

“I see, my fate will rest with Zoran,” I said
jokingly.

Aidan’s smile disappeared, and I detected a
momentary sense of loathing. “Oh, I do hope that is never the case,
my dear, I do hope it is never the case,” he said. Then quickly he
changed the subject by opening a drawer in his desk and pulling out
a small device that I did not recognize.

“Is this going to hurt?” I asked.

“No, but it will be weird,” Aidan said. “I am
going to embed a tracking device in your skin. No matter where you
are, in this time or another, we will be able to find you.”

“Did you say ‘in this time?’ ”

Aidan smiled. “I did. You know about the
portals. It’s possible that you will use them to go back in time
one day. We all wear them. Well, most of us do, anyway.”

I held out my arm as instructed and Aidan
used the device to stamp the skin on the underside of my arm, near
my wrist. I felt pressure and heard the pop of air, but there was
no blood, only a tiny blue dot where the device now sat under my
skin. I glanced at my arm and then back at Aidan.

Aidan nodded, seeming to understand my
thoughts. “It’s semi-permanent, but it can be deactivated if
necessary. And it will convert to a homing beacon if you’re in
trouble.”

“How can I get in trouble running an election
for a congressional seat?”

“Olivia, you should know better than anybody
that politics is a dangerous business.”

****

Before leaving that evening, Aidan gave me
several binders with information to read. It was mostly
organizational charts of the various Council directors, as well as
the Council’s mission statement. I gave him a slip of paper with my
bank account on it and he promised that funds would be transferred
into it almost immediately. Normally, I said, I did some work
before I got paid. Aidan laughed and said that Gabriel had wanted
to compensate me for the time I had lost in transitioning to my new
life.

I knew my mother would be furious if she
found out about the funds. It would only confirm for her that there
was something strange about a group that was willing to pay me
before I’d even been on the workforce a day. But I was happy to
take the money. I wasn’t convinced that Levi Barnes would hire me.
If this new arrangement didn’t work out, at least I would have
extra funds in my account to support myself until I decided what to
do next.

It was decided that first night at the
Council’s offices that I would keep my firm open and use the same
employees. Since I already had a track record running campaigns, it
was a perfect cover for my work with the Council. Gabriel had
returned to Aidan’s office and handed me a binder with information
about District 15, the new congressional seat Levi would be running
for.

Previously made up of two other districts,
the new territory was enormous, encompassing two counties, all of
Silicon Valley, part of the state’s farm basket near the city of
Salinas, as well as the coastline near Santa Cruz. In my opinion,
it was political suicide to try to represent such a huge district,
the interests of urban, suburban and agricultural voters certain to
clash over the years. I couldn’t wait to hear why Levi Barnes
wanted to return to the House of Representatives.

The last thing Gabriel told me that evening
as I prepared to leave was that we were having lunch with Levi the
next day at the Four Seasons Hotel on Market Street.

“You work fast,” I said in response.

Gabriel smiled and said he would meet me in
the dining room.

At home later that night, I read through the
materials I had been given. After his defeat, Levi Barnes left
Congress and Utah for California. During the following decade, he
became a very wealthy man. His most recent invention, enabling
smart phones to act as credit cards, had ensured that he, along
with his children, would never need to work again.

I wondered how much he had changed in the
decade since I had worked for him. We had parted ways on good
terms, but had taken different paths. His life had been consumed
with entrepreneurial pursuits and mine with politics. He was
married with a family. I had started a business in the City. Time
had passed quickly. But now, here we were again, being reunited by
Gabriel Laurent, a man whose connections and background I was only
beginning to grasp.

I arrived at the Four Seasons dining room at
1 pm, as directed. I checked in with the host, and was led to a
table where Gabriel and Levi were already seated.

Levi Barnes was aging very gracefully. His
short, black hair had grayed somewhat in the decade that had
passed, but his blue eyes looked as crisp and aware as ever, and he
had managed to keep his tall frame fit and trim over the years.
Gabriel, once again impeccably dressed in dark jeans and a white
oxford shirt with driving loafers, was almost vibrating with
feelings of approval toward me. And while he was holding something
back, I was sure of it, there was no hiding that he felt almost
proud of me as I strolled to the table.

Both men stood up to greet me. Gabriel gave
me the traditional
bisou
on both cheeks and Levi clasped my
hand in the two of his.

“Olivia, it’s so nice to see you,” he said.
“I’m embarrassed that it’s been so long since we’ve seen each
other.”

Right away, I opened myself up to Levi,
curious to know what he was feeling. His aura was bright yellow,
glowing like the sun on a summer day. This was a good sign, as
yellow tends to demonstrate people who are positive, have strong
intellect and are imbued with the power to inspire. Those are good
skills for elected office. He was feeling a deep sense of
curiosity, but was otherwise happy. For someone who had to quickly
assemble a team and jump into a congressional race, he struck me as
remarkably calm. I wasn’t sure if that was his nature—I didn’t
remember him being that calm before—or maybe it was Gabriel’s
influence.

We all took a seat as I spoke. “It seems you
have been a bit busy.”

Levi laughed. “Yes, I guess I have,” he said.
“The valley is a remarkable place. There are so many ideas to
pursue, so many businesses to start…well, it captured my
attention.”

“And now,” I asked, as the waiter came by to
bring me a menu. “You’re ready to return to Congress?”

Levi nodded. “Utah was unpleasant and I
didn’t think I would ever return to politics. But a lot of time has
passed and I have changed my mind. I have enough money to last a
lifetime. My children are grown and living their own lives. I am
ready to do something new—or old, I guess, in this case,” he said,
smiling.

The waiter came and took our order. I was
almost too excited to eat and requested a bowl of soup. Gabriel
frowned and added a piece of fish to my lunch, saying, “the sole
here is too delicious to be missed,” and ordered a bottle of
Sancerre to go with the meal. It struck me as odd, his desire to
feed me, but despite my efforts I could not detect any untoward
motives on his part.

If Levi found it odd that a French digital
media executive was ordering lunch for me, he didn’t show it.
Gabriel told Levi that we knew each other because of his interest
in building an office tower in San Francisco. “I have toyed with
the idea of re-locating some, possibly all of my employees to San
Francisco,” he told Levi. “France is lovely, but we have no
start-up culture and our film industry has less of a need for the
kind of 3-D animation we develop. I spend so much of my time coming
to California that it makes sense to relocate. Olivia has been kind
enough to put up with my half-hearted efforts to look at parcels of
land and provide me with a political analysis of my chances.”