Paragon - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

I roamed the lower floor of the aircraft for the next hour. I made myself disinterested and swiped a magazine from an unsuspecting seat table before leaning outside one of the bathroom stalls. Many mortal scents flickered by me in the tightly packed cabin.
Heartbeats and heat. Quiet murmuring and snoring.
A few low lights on for the night owl readers but the aisles were mostly empty as it neared the early hours of the morning London time.
It went like this as I conducted the same action further down the plane and again on the upper floor. I flashed a steward my business ticket and she welcomed me with a smile into the upper deck bar. I scanned the mortals that drank and chatted. I even ordered a drink I did not consume. I had covered every row of the aircraft but for first class and not a single slow heartbeat stood out to me. Not one with a penetrating ring of gold that threatened to take me off this flight thousands of feet below without a second thought.
I sighed slowly through my nose and let the tang of gin float up to greet me. I took a plush chair by the nearest free window and contemplated the next eight hours of flight time. Perhaps they hadn't had enough time to get one of their own on this flight.
That played to our advantage–but not for long. I sure as hell wasn't naive enough to believe they wouldn't have an immortal waiting for us when we touched down on the continent.
I felt a few curious glances that were longer than polite run over me. A flickering pulse sensing that immortal, enticing beauty. The men were the most obvious. The women more subtle and masked. It wasn't until one of such mortals sat opposite me regarding her own window, that I broke my solitude gaze off the night sky.
She was a professional.
Business wear and a travel bag to match. Expensive watch and perfume. Her hair piled in trademark corporate waves. But that is where the familiarities ended. Her hair was blonde, her eyes a sharp blue and cheekbones to compliment it–she knew she was beautiful. Remarkable women often did seek solace among other remarkable women if only to blend in for a moment.
I resisted a smirk and returned my eyes to the skies.
She drew out a laptop onto the table and scanned the glow a moment. So much for my own solitude from mortals. They had to take their work wherever they went–
"Apologies."
I glanced at her face over the laptop. "–For this. It's the best place to get the wifi on board."
"It's no issue." I answered, tilting the glass and listening to the clink of ice. "I was not staying long."
She arched a brow and glanced at the untouched drink.
"Evidently not up to taste." She quipped, eyeing her screen again.
I smirked darkly out the window. "You could say that."
The only taste I desired was that of Quinn Adams' lips. Those summer green eyes and quick wit. The mortal opposite me was delightfully dedicated to her work. I savoured the low quiet, careful murmurs and clicks of keys. It set my mind into a calm I hadn't had for a few days. It let my mind wander and plan ahead.
It let me think of the heat and rainforests of South America. Of finding a beautiful patch of land with no name and communication with the rest of the world and exploring it with Quinn. The beaches were extraordinary and the wildlife stunning... The locals were welcoming unless you crossed the drug cartels but even then–everyone had a price or negotiating point. They would be no danger to us.
"Would you mind if I took a seat with my friend?" A low voice asked.
My thoughts ripped out of my fantasy and landed on the suited culprit.
My heart froze over at the sight.
"Oh of course–let me just..." The oblivious mortal flustered herself in her own politeness and quickly gathered her laptop with a quick smile at an immortal above her.
The immortal that waited like he had all the time in the world.
His heart hadn't beat yet. It told me he was old. Very old. His eyes were a dark steel and his suit a gun metal grey to match. Three piece. Paragon made. His hair was neatly arranged in dark waves past his ears and his face as smooth as porcelain.
"You have my sincerest gratitude." He drawled with a smile carved like stone.
The woman stuttered out a thanks and moved hair back from her eyes as she surrendered the chair and moved away lost in the change in the air. Not as lost as I was. I stared at an elder immortal. One that pre dated me for many generations–one I had seen in the high rooms of Paragon in London.
He slowly took his seat and unbuttoned the front of his suit to fold himself. When he leaned back and set his arms on the chair like a throne he met my eyes. There was that endlessness to them. An emotionless void that sucked you in and didn't let anything escape.
He bridged his hands and watched them.
"So, you choose a mortal over your immortality?" He murmured in a flat tone.
He started the conversation like we were resuming it minutes ago. I was struggling to breathe. It was then that I heard his heart beat for the first time. I avoided his eyes and looked at his watch. A time piece from two centuries prior. It mocked me.
"It appears I do." I said in a murmur that barely made it across the table.
His face didn't crack. His hands didn't move. He was as much stone as he was immortal.
"You are still alive because of your role in the Cold war. No other." He answered simply. My mind flashed back to the missile. To the near destruction of world order. "I do not want to throw away such an asset."
This made me meet those cold eyes.
"Sentiment?"
His gaze darkened.
"Mock me and your time runs closer to its final hand."
"Then why do we sit here? Do you not have a task to fulfil?" I answered with more resolve colouring me. I would be damned if I accepted my fate with no fight.
A small smirk pinched his mouth at my tone.
"World War two. Was that not you seeing to it that heavy water never left Norway. That they never obtained nuclear weapons?"
"You know the answer." I stated simply.
An impossible mission with impossible odds. But we achieved the impossible on a daily basis by existing. It was just another task from Paragon. This answer seemed to interest him. He pulled a hand back and drummed it slowly like one would strike a guitar.
"You must see now how I hesitate, Stella Matthews."
My hand flexed at the use of my original name. He did not miss it.
"Ah yes. You prefer the guise of Tara Fletcher these years..." His eyes travelled over my Paragon made shirt and a faint nod took him. "You have two options." He finished in a bored tone. This conversation was coming to a faster end the closer he came to impatience with it. I felt my body tense in preparation to defend not only Quinn but many mortal lives on this plane.
"You can return with me to London and receive appropriate reprimand for your indiscretion." He paused and tilted his head smoothly. "Or you may enjoy the rest of your flight and decline. You will be terminated on the other end." He added as if discussing the salad menu.
I did away with the well kept manner. It mattered not anymore. He had just made it clear that he was under no orders to act and draw out conflict on this flight. As far as I was concerned my mind was already made.
"You may tell every esteemed member of Paragon that I am truly sorry." I said quietly. His face remained passive as I spoke. "But they can all go to hell. There's no way, no bribe and no reason for me to return." I finished flatly watching his face stiffen slightly.
But nothing else betrayed the rock before me.
Only his fingers had stopped drumming. His heart beat once more.
"I am offering you a way out, you fool. Take it." He grit out.
It was my turn to be curious.
"Paragon don't make a habit of second chances–why offer it to me?"
"Because–" He growled low, eyes burning more intently with gold now, "–you are worth more to us alive than terminated. Your creator was one of our best." He cut himself off and leant back glaring out the window.
"Was? " I drawled, watching his tight expression closely. This was recent.
"He no longer wished to dwell among us."
That was interesting. An immortal opting out. He truly must have seen enough of time and the world to carry on walking it... And an elite member no less. They would have to start creating more at the rate they were dropping–
My expression morphed.
"Surely you cannot be low staffed?"
The anger was more than just that. It was a slither of fear too. Of a lack of control.
Reducing numbers of immortals was more than problematic. Those chosen to transform were chosen carefully and selectively. The right moment of chaos where they would disappear unnoticed. A medical tent in a war zone for one... But an elite falling meant an entire line were no longer able to be created. The elites were limited.
"I warned you of mockery once, Ms Fletcher. Do not test me."
"I don't wish for a duel of words. Just to know where we stand." I pushed, skimming the rim of my glass and appraising this elite immortal. Weakness was something never allowed. But he had exposed a crucial piece of information to me. That made me more valuable alive. That made room for negotiation.
This. We could work with.
"I think I'd like to strike a deal with you Mr..." I ventured, watching him with all the calm I could muster over my years. He appraised me like I was the most petulant child he had ever beheld. But his own choices were limited now. He had clear orders my return was favourable.
"Let us name me Salvador for the sake of pretence." He uttered slowly.
"I believe we can both get what we want here." I answered ignoring formality.
"I'm listening, Ms Fletcher." He returned with that endless darkness, bridging his hands together and waiting for his own moment to strike on weakness. He already knew one was a mortal on board. But he didn't need more than that.
We both had ends and needs. Now was the time to see who could fill their own better.
* * * * *
I stared at the elder.
He watched me back as I made sure my words were sure and precise. Words that would not insult but wouldn't imply a return to the way things were. They never could be.
"Let's get one thing confirmed before I waste our time." I began, leaning back and placing my hands on the arm rests. "Quinn Adams is out of the equation. Our work and negotiation remain separate from her."
The corner of his lip pulled up but he remained silent.
"I know you didn't get on an eleven hour commercial flight to come back empty handed so I offer to remain available on contract basis. Anytime and anywhere as before but–" His emotionless features darkened. "I do not want trackers. I do not want to work alongside another immortal again. I work alone and I work well. Any other of your complications will only make the work harder." I finished with an implicating look.
He mulled over my words for a moment before tilting his head.
"Not good enough."
I tightened my hand and waited on him.
"When the time comes you may be required to work in a group again, Tara Fletcher." He paused and scanned a mortal leaning against the bar intoxicated. "I agree to your terms regarding the mortal. We had no interest in her unless you ventured too far."
A growl did leave me this time and he returned it with a pointed smile of his own. The casual admission that she was something to be used if needed.
"Why is it that you dislike your own kind so much?" He uttered dryly.
I suppressed a scoff and turned my face to the window instead. "I don't tend to befriend beings that have no value for the life around themselves."
He chuckled and rolled his wrist in a circle. "Ah yes. The amusing role in the police force you took up to aid the mortals. I thought it was merely for novelty–"
"You killed two members of my squad for no reason." I snarled, suddenly hearing the crack of the table below me. But Salvador remained amused. It pleased him greatly to see such emotion. But all I saw were the faces of Will and Jamie. Those that filled a god damn cup.
"Do not snap like a common mortal at me, child." He uttered, pinning me with that endless gaze. "For someone who knows the rules well she seems to forget the consequences of betrayal."
"We're just having civil conversation." I grit out, reining in my rage at his indifference.
"Indeed." He drawled, leaning back once more. His heart beat once more. "Say I allow you to leave this plane with that mortal..." My blood cooled. His smiled vanished. "We cannot allow you to burn communication and remain a rogue asset to be called upon so irregularly. You are with us. Or you are against us."
"Then give me a phone and you know how to contact me." I answered unflinching. "It took you ten years to contact me before... Why so eager now?"
"Because the world is not as stable as it once was, child."
His reminder of my hundred year youth was grating. But I kept my face neutral. If the sands were shifting in world power and we were being needed more than before that meant another global event... Another mortal stupid enough to try and end it with nuclear power.
"A phone." I repeated. "And I will come when requested."
He smiled coldly and snatched my glass from the table and drew it up to his lips. He took a slow sip and inhaled the aroma. I watched him unmoving.
"An excellent choice." He murmured. "I bet that woman tastes just as fine."
It took all of my abundant self control not to reach across the table and send his face through the glass just to watch the pieces fall from his skin. I simply returned the stab with a false smile. He seemed vaguely disappointed and lowered the glass.
"Very well, Ms Fletcher. We have an accord." He stated, rising suddenly. He readjusted his fine suit and eyed me intently. "A phone will be delivered to you. Enjoy your trip." He finished slowly with a knowing look.
That was it. It couldn't be it.
"You'll call off–"
"No others will come after you. Your Paragon assets will be reactivated. But you should be aware..." This was it. This was the catch that always lay beyond the facade. "The call will not wait another ten years to come. Your role in Paragon's plans will not be small. As I say, the days of such peace are limited among mortals. We are order." He stated darkly.
On that final word he turned from me and disappeared beyond the doorway to first class. I had half a mind to go after him and see for myself how many immortals were here–yet I knew such things pushed my luck. They had probably booked out the entire seating space just for him.
The result was more than I could ask for. It meant they were either very desperate or the world truly was going to hell soon.
I ripped myself out of the seat and headed back for the mortal I wanted to guard from all of this. If I had to prevent another doomsday event, so be it. But I'd keep her from such darkness for as long as I could. We would keep all the mortals from it and once more they would be none the wiser to how close it all came to an end.