Efferent

Chapter 42

"There has been no contact in almost fifty three hours." Blaise offered solemnly, his expression serious, and I turned to James, who gave a quiet yet firm nod.

"What do you mean no contact in fifty-three hours?" I asked, almost frantically. "Were they even equipped with a means of communication?"

"Yes," James added, "They were. But even if they had not been, they are two of the more highly skilled of the Afferent and are more than capable of returning from the clinic in half of the time allotted."

"What does that mean?" I asked, pinching my brow.

"You know what it means, Ardyn." James shook his head slowly. "Clear as if it had been painted on my forehead, and you know what it means." I swallowed, hard, shaking my head yet unable to verbally disagree.

Blaise shrugged off his position against the door frame and stood upright, approaching me slowly. "They have either been captured at the clinic, or they have been killed." The bluntness of his words flew through me like a bullet.

"So they are in possession of the officials at the clinic?" I turned to face James, "Do you not have any contacts from your previous job that would let you know if they are still alive or not?"

"Regardless if they are still alive, their mission failed." Blaise bit out, returning to his leaning position. "They failed. We do not have the sedatives and we are down two soldiers."

"They knew the situation if they had been caught," James offered in response. "They knew that no one would be sent after them, and they were comfortable with that knowledge." James rubbed deeply into his temple, and silence ensued.

"Is that all that you truly see them as?" I whispered questioningly. "Soldiers? No longer human beings who have been stripped of their free will? Who have finally gained it back only to find that they must swallow and follow orders once more?"

"Of course not." James spat out, angrily shuffling his feet as he stood. "I would not have sent them out there if they were not eager to."

"Eager to please." I spat back. "You all but threatened the Afferent and their safety here at your home with your competition. They must have had some inkling of the effect their success might have had on the results!"

"I truly thought that they would return successful." James offered plainly, "I suppose they were untrained, and must have gotten into a situation far out of their range."

"You sent them into the heart of the enemy!" I protested, "How could you make even the slightest assumption on their field prowess if they had never been tested before? If you have never even seen the magnitude of their powers?" Desertion did not sit right with me, and that is what this felt like. "How can you?"

James opened his mouth to respond, but no answer came forth. "That is what I thought. You can hardly blame them, and you can not expect me to sit here, while they are most likely tortured for information and killed on your behalf." My voice rose slightly.

"What do you plan to do about it?" James offered and growled slightly in frustration. "Is there anything that we could do?"

"Send me in," I offered, staring at James squarely in the eye, looking to Blaise from the corner of my eye. "You know they were supposed to make some form of contact by now. They should have had more than enough time to reach the clinic and locate the serum, yet they have remained radio silent."

They stared as I reiterated everything they had just said. "So we can just assume that something must have happened to prevent them from being successful, something must have happened to them."

"We can not afford to send you in alone." James protested, "And no one else is prepared to face that kind of conflict." He stood firmly, legs spread into a wide stance with his arms crossed as tightly as he clenched his jaw.

I felt my ire rise and my cheeks flush slightly at his proclamation. As if I would stand to the side and let two innocents be sent into the line of fire with no back up, and allow Clark to rage, uncontrollably until his own death. "It does not matt-."

"So send us in. Both of us, together." Blaise interrupted me, shocking us both. "I will go with her, to ensure Ardyn doesn't have any trouble."

"I can handle trouble." I rolled my eyes and toed the floor with the heel of my shoe. They gave me both a look. "I can!"

"I have no doubt." Blaise raised a brow in my direction and continued, "But as James said earlier, we can not afford to lose you. We also do not know the effect of the faux-serum that you have taken either."

"Nothing," I glared spitefully at James. "It has had no effect on me, and has probably ruined my chances of being Efferent ever again."

"Regardless," Blaise interfered, and I redirected my gaze back to him once more. "Regardless, it could take time to develop. Any chance that you could be rendered defenseless by the time that you reach the clinic must be eliminated. We need to bring the sedatives back, but more importantly, we need to keep you and the afferent who went before you alive."

"So you plan to tag along?" I questioned him. He nodded slightly and I turned to James. "Do you have any objections?" I raised my eyebrows. "Or are you going to stand in my way because you think that Clark should be killed."

"So does he," James gestured at Blaise, "Why are you directing your anger solely at me?"

"Blaise is willing to try to save Clark first." I crossed my arms, eyes challenging him silently. "Are you?" He fell silent, holding my gaze firmly as if he was searching for an answer within them.

The silence stretched and the room was pouring over the brink with the roaring quiet, until James blinked, and it ebbed away, little by little, as thought the small ripples in a disturbed pond had finally reached the edge and stilled.

"Fine," he relented, sighing. "You have exactly forty-eight hours to return, with the sedatives and the Afferent."

"Or what?" Blaise inquired lightly, leaning against the doorway casually once more.

"Or we do not wait for you, and no one will come after you." James offered gravely, brows drawn together. "We will assume you are dead, and consequently, Clark will be too."