Chapter 47 – Infiltration

Of all the things Mirian thought she’d learn this cycle, spycraft wasn’t on the list, and Valen sure wasn’t the one she thought would teach her. Valen, in Mirian’s experience, was never particularly verbose, but she seemed to revel in two things: knowing things that other people didn’t, and being able to lord that over Mirian.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t do a proper stakeout before I suggested it,” Valen said. “You’re really alone up here?”

“I told you I can’t talk about it,” Mirian said, exaggerating the annoyance in her voice for dramatic effect.

Over the past few days that she’d been working with Valen, Mirian had discovered another truth of spycraft: it was boring as hell. She’d had to spend hours paying attention to foot traffic, waiting for the exact minute someone entered or emerged from the door. She and Valen had done several shifts in the evening, which Mirian still couldn’t believe Valen was willingly doing. Then, for some of the time, they’d both be sitting on the same bench watching the door out of the corner of their eye while Valen would see a passing ox pulling a cart from the train and say something like, “oh, it kind of looks like you!”

Agony. But they had discovered that there were at least three spies using the apartment, and Mirian had recognized two of them. One was the rooftop guy she kept stealing from at the start of each cycle, and another the one she’d been tracking over the past few cycles. The third one used his illusion spell a lot, but Mirian was pretty sure it was the guy who kept visiting Bainrose.

“You’re sure they don’t have another cell?” Valen said.

“I haven’t seen any evidence of it,” Mirian replied. She had to admit, it was certainly a possibility. But wouldn’t she have seen at least some sign of it before now? They didn’t need a second spy cell because they had the guards essentially working for them.

“Did they teach you standard Akanan operations? Why am I asking, of course they didn’t. The usual procedure of the Republic Intelligence Division is to deploy a minimum of two cells. One does the mission, and the other watches them do it. It doesn’t… either this is an unusual operation, or you’re missing the second group. Or, it’s not even officially government sanctioned. Are you sure it’s sanctioned, and not, say, the Syndicates?”

Mirian sighed. “I’m sure, and no, I can’t tell you how I know.”

The evening that they planned to actually break into the spy’s building, Mirian was ambushed by someone she didn’t expect: Lily.

Her roommate came in just as Mirian was preparing to leave for their break-in, and said, “Mirian, we need to talk.”

“Can it wait? I’ve got this really important study session I need to get to.”

“Wait until when? Mirian, I hardly see you anymore. We don’t talk. What… what happened? Did I do something wrong?”

Mirian’s heart broke. “I’m… sorry.” It seemed impossible to explain. How did she tell her that they’d already had those conversations, over and over again until she’d grown sick of them? How did she say she’d heard every story from class, heard about every letter from home, and heard every joke Lily had told during Solen ten times? It had been annoying at first, and then aggravating. When they talked, she was just going through the motions. Despite her efforts to put on a pleasant mask, Lily, who knew her best, had no-doubt seen through to the emotionless affect behind it. It wasn’t fair to Lily. Her friend still felt, and thought, and dreamed and lived—each iteration. Only, this version of her was damned to die in a few days. Nothing could stop that. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she finally said, seeing the pain that was in Lily’s eyes. “I just… I can’t explain it. You’ve always been and will always be my friend. So don’t worry. I’m just—I’m going to be busy. For a long time. It has to be me; there’s no one else. I know it doesn’t make sense. Maybe someday it will. I’m sorry.”

Lily said, “What… Mirian, but what is it? Why—?”

Mirian thought about telling her in a few days, it’ll be the apocalypse again. That’s my life now. It had been her life for nearly a year now, she realized. What did that mean? Was she older now? Should she have celebrated her 23rd birthday? She just said, “I’m sorry,” again, and maybe Lily heard that raw pain turning into tears. She turned and left.

When she met Valen in one of the east alleys, she helpfully said, “Well someone had a bad evening.”

Mirian felt her sadness boil away to fury. “Don’t start. I’m not in the mood.”

Valen sighed. “You’re never in the mood. Always wound up tighter than a crossbow string, and about as resilient.”

Mirian thought about the time she’d slammed the other girl into the alley wall, and how good it had felt. Instead, she said, “You have no idea. And you should be thankful you never will. Let’s stay focused.” That last part was more to herself; she hated to see Lily hurting. Their friendship meant everything to her.

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Valen rolled her eyes.

The plan was relatively simple. The spies liked to go out at night. That meant late evening was the time to break in. The cold nights meant people would be keeping indoors, where it was warm.

Already, knowing where they started was going to be helpful in future loops. Mirian had lost track of their movements for the most part, but now she could start to figure out all the different places they were targeting and why they were important. Maybe she’d find some part of the underground she hadn’t mapped, or a secret way into Bainrose. But actually getting to see the inside of their base? She was intensely curious as to what they would find.