“This…” Alex began. “Look, I don’t know if I can do this.” Tristan fixed his gaze on him. “Why don’t I go in the system and have it send Emil out for us to pick up?”

“Because his father would never leave him unattended or unprotected.”

“I can have one of the guards accompany him out.”

“You were able to convince the woman at the office.”

Alex sighed. “Sure, but she was barely paying attention to me. This guy is going to be alert for exactly what we’re doing.”

Tristan smiled, and Alex didn’t like it. “He is, in fact he has a habit of sounding the alert on the weakest suspicion.”

“And you think I’m going to be able to fool him?”

“He has gotten it wrong each time, and each time he has been reprimanded. Even if he suspects you, unless you do something out of character, he won’t be willing to risk it.”

“What about when he checks the system and the order isn’t there? I can at least put that in.”

“No, I don’t want any evidence that we were here to remain once we’re gone.”

“Tristan, you saw how easily I took control of Weeber’s system, I already have this one. I can make it forget.”

“No. You might miss something.”

Alex went to protest he didn’t miss things, but Tristan’s glare silenced him.

“The parents of the children here are too important to follow procedures. You have your instructions, it’s just another boring job for you. If the guard gives you any problem tell him to contact the child’s parents.”

“You want him to call them?”

“He won’t do it. Another false alarm could cost him his position, and he can’t afford to be fired. So you’re going to use that. You’re going to insist that it’s part of his job and that he really needs to verify the orders are correct.”

Alex sighed. He didn’t like this. He could be on the front line, but subterfuge wasn’t his thing. At least he had his—

“Your earpiece,” Tristan said, palm up. “Give it to me.”

“Wh— Why?”

“I don’t trust you not to try to make changes once you are out of the hover. I won’t risk having you jeopardize the job.”

“I might need it if something goes wrong.”

“It won’t.”

Alex didn’t want to hand it over, he was defenseless without it. But as Tristan narrowed his eyes and anger began burning in them, Alex gave it to him.

“I’ll be waiting here.”

Alex’s hand shook as he opened the door. He was so fucked. It would serve Tristan right if things did go wrong and this failed. Except Alex would be the one in the middle of it, not Tristan.

He tried to calm himself as he walked across the parking lot and up to the entry gate. The guard there barely glanced at his ID before opening the gate.

On the other side he felt like he was being watched, which he was. Cameras and sensors were tracking him as he walked along the path leading to the building. Alex had himself mostly under control by now, repeating to himself that Tristan knew what he was doing. That things would go exactly as he’d planned.

He certainly hoped they would. Alex didn’t look forward to having to shoot his way out. Or having to explain how he’d screwed up.

When he opened the door to the building, he had a bored expression on his face. Boredom was something he could fake easily. No mercenary wanted to appear too eager to do a job, it led the employers to underpay.

The lobby was large and uninviting, a square stone room with only one door on the opposite side, behind a counter with a guard sitting there.

Alex handed his Identification. “I’m here to pickup Emil Rithal.”

The man scanned the card. “There isn’t any instructions about one of our charges leaving.” He said as he read a screen.

Alex leaned on the counter, crossing his arms to hide his shaking hands. “Those are my instructions.”

“We can’t release one of our charges without the proper forms being filled.” The man’s tone told Alex this wasn’t the first time he’d had to deal with this. He eyed Alex suspiciously.

“I’m sure it’s on its way. Just call the kid’s parents. They want to see him, so they’ll be happy to authorize whatever you need them to.”

The man hesitated and Alex sighed. “Go ahead. Look I know the situation you’re in and I don’t want you to get in trouble over this. Without the proper form, for all you know I’m here to kidnap the kid, right?” Alex forced a chuckle.

The guard twitched, then forced a chuckle of his own. “It’s okay. I’m sure it’s just stuck in the aether somewhere.” He grumbled the rest in a low voice. “If the rich assholes even bothered filling it. I swear it’s like they think none of our procedures apply to them.”

He noticed Alex watching him.

“I don’t work for them,” Alex said with a shrug. “So I don’t care what you think. All I’m interested in is doing my job.”

“Yeah, it isn’t like they care about the little folks like us, do they?” the man typed something. “Emil will be here in a minute.”

Alex nodded and looked at the information floating on the counter’s surface display. All the reasons why Roswell Academy was the best place to keep his child safe and have him trained to become one of the leaders of the universe.

Alex looked around the room. Yeah, if the rest looked like this, it didn’t matter how rich he became, he’d never bring a child of his here. He couldn’t really see himself as a father, not with the life he lived, but if he somehow had a child, he’d raise him. He wouldn’t dump him in a place like this.

The door opened and a woman stepped into the room, accompanied by a child who carried a suitcase almost too large for him. The boy matched the image he had of Emil, although he was a little older, close to eight at this point. Alex stepped around the counter and the boy froze.

“Emil,” the woman said, “keep moving.” Her tone wasn’t pleasant.

Emil tried to hide behind her, but she wouldn’t let him. “That man isn’t my father,” he said.

“Emil.” Her tone became harsher. “Do what you’re told.”

Emil began shaking, but he shook his head.

“It’s okay,” Alex said. He crouched and took out the ID card. “Hi Emil, I’m Aaron. I’m with Weeber security, see?” he indicated the logo on the card. “The guard has verified that I’m really who I say I am.”

Emil couldn’t read the card from where he was, but he still nodded. “I’m here to take you to your father,” he lied and hated himself for it.

“Why isn’t he here?” Emil asked.

“He’s a busy man. He sent me to keep you safe.”

The young boy studied him without moving.

“Don’t,” Alex said, eyes fixed on the woman. She was about to shove Emil forward. Alex stood. “Emil Rithal is my charge. You lay a hand on him and I will break it.”

She hesitated, then stepped away.

Alex offered his hand to Emil and after a moment the boy joined him and took it.

“Do you want me to carry your suitcase?”

Emil shook his head.

They walked out of the building. At the gate he had to call out to the guard and then they were crossing the parking lot.

Emil froze when Tristan got out from the driver side.

“Emil, this is my…partner.”

Tristan stepped around the hover and crouched before the boy and still towered over him. “Hello Emil, I’m Brian.”

“We’re going to take you to your father,” Alex said in the pause. Tristan glanced up at him, then nodded.

“You’re father sent us to keep you safe.”

Tentatively Emil reached out and petted Tristan’s hand.

“Is my father here?”

“No, he’s off planet. We’ll be taking you to him.”

Emil’s face fell for a moment, then went back to being neutral. He nodded and stepped toward the hover. Tristan took the suitcase. Emil only resisted for a moment before nodding and letting go. He handed it to Alex, who put it in the trunk, next to the still sleeping man.

Tristan indicated for him to drive before sitting in the backseat next to Emil. Alex took a moment to get over the surprise of Tristan wanting to be next to the boy, then sat at the controls and took them to the spaceport.

At the vehicle’s entrance Alex handed the chip Tristan had given him to the guard, who scanned it, nodded then let them in. Alex flew them to their private pad and parked next to the shuttle.

Tristan handed him a pack. “You know how this works?”

In it were three containers of biological decontaminant spray. “Yeah, I do.”

“Take care of the hover. I’ll be back once Emil is settled in.”

Alex put gloves on and proceeded spray every surface in the hover. It took almost all of the three containers. Tristan came out not long after he was done and scanned the inside for traces of their presence.

Alex tried not to be annoyed that he didn’t trust him to do the work properly. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d had to remove evidence of his presence.

They placed Aaron at the control, closed the door and went into their shuttle. Alex sat at the communication station, where his earpiece was waiting for him. As he pocketed it, Tristan piloted them out of the spaceport and off planet.