Page 92 of Concluded
“It’s not a fucking assignment!”Kurt shouted.“Des and I retired years ago and we’ve been minding our own business.I’m seventy-three years old, dammit.Haven’t I earned some rest?”
“You’re but a babe,” Abe butted in.“I’m over a hundred and thirty, and I haven’t had any rest yet.”
Things devolved into one big squabble.They stopped marching.Achilles, feeling defeated, sat down and sank his face into his hands.His body felt heavy, as if he were turning to stone.He was useless.This had been his stupid, half-baked plan because, even after a long career in the Bureau, he hadn’t come up with anything more clever.Townsend never should have hired him to begin with.Gods, Achilles should have showed up at his parents’ shop on time that day, and it should have been him that got shot.
The opposite of despair is hope.
At first Achilles thought that someone had whispered in his ear.But everyone else was still standing over him, arguing without any real point to it, like exhausted siblings stuffed in a back seat during a long drive.And then the voice spoke again, sounding scratchy and ancient like an antique record:Hope.Love.They sustain us.
Achilles rose to his feet.“Hey!Shut up, everyone.Let me listen.”
Surprisingly, they obeyed.At first there was utter silence; Achilles couldn’t even hear his own heartbeat.Then there was the hint of an exhalation, the trace of a throat clearing, and the slightest suggestion of a single word:Act.
“Someone else is here,” Pandya announced.
“Then let’s bloody well find him,” said Des.
Lu began to sing “Over the Rainbow.”None of them had the range for it except Abe, who didn’t know the words, but they did their best as they resumed the trek.
“He’s humming back!”Mazur exclaimed after a while.“But I don’t recognize the song.”
Abe chuckled.“Sinatra.‘Witchcraft.’”
The humming was quiet, but it grew louder as the group continued onward, arms linked.Just like Dorothy and her crew, Achilles thought.He figured he was probably the scarecrow.Then he tripped over something and nearly brought the entire chorus line down with him.
The something turned out to be a someone.Even though Achilles was literally on top of the person, their voice was still barely audible.Merely a thin whisper that hurt to listen to.And although Achilles grasped one of their hands in his own, the person made no attempt to get up.
“Are you hurt?”Still unable to see a thing, Achilles was hesitant to grope someone without permission, even if only to check for wounds.
“Who are you?”the person asked.
“Achilles Spanos.And I’m here with… a bunch of other Bureau agents.Who are you?”
“Bureau,” said the person, followed by a drawn-out sigh.“Did you imprison me here?”
“No!Gods, no.We’re stuck here too and trying to find a way out.Are you an agent?”
Another sound that might have been meant as a laugh.“No.I’m John.”
Achilles settled into a seated position and heard the rest of the gang do the same.They all seemed to be waiting for him to act, which suddenly struck him as odd.How had he ended up leading this group?His only advantage over them—if you even wanted to call it that—was that he’d visited this place twice before.But he didn’t really know any more than they did, and he certainly wasn’t any more capable.Yet here he was, in charge.
Maybe the first order of business was figuring out why John was here.
“John, we were all Bureau employees at some point.That’s why we got sent here.Do you know why you did?”
“I was a monster,” John whispered.“Until Harry made me a man.”
Before Achilles had a chance to parse this puzzling statement, Abe uttered what sounded like a string of expletives in multiple languages.And then he spoke gently.“Are you Harry Lowe’s John?”
“I was once.”John’s voice was heavy with sorrow.
“Ah, tayerinker, then you still are.”
“He’s dead.”
Achilles felt John’s grief as acutely as if it had been his own.It tore at his heart and made his gut feel hollow.But Abe scooted closer.“I can assure you, John: love survives death.I’ve seen this myself more times than I can count.Felt it when I lost my own Thomas.”
This time when John sighed, it sounded as if a burden had been lifted from him.“He’s been gone so long.I lived on alone with memories for comfort, and our bookshop where we spent so many years together, and our Gavin, who was like a son to us.But they burned the bookshop and took me away, and in this place I can’t feel him anymore.”
