The Valkyrie Project (36 page)

"Maybe there was falsified information in the Continuum files."

Ana's training prevented her hands from flying off the table in exasperation.

"
What do I have to do to convince you? I want you to come with me. I know the idea of leaving the Agency is scary, but we are fighting a war for people who don't care if we live or die."

"You've said that before;
I've heard your doubts and reservations. I understand where you're coming from, Ana, but are you sure you're going to let the Continuum convince you to leave the good guys? Isn't that exactly what the Continuum would want?"

"The good guys? Are you kidding? The people who messed with your mind? Alando Piscina killed nine people and himself
because of what they did to him and it's the same thing they did to you and you think those are the good guys?"

"They're better than the other side
—"

"Even if they are, why should we be forced to fight for the lesser of two evils? I am going to find Guillermo and find the
real
good guys."

"The good guys who killed Justin?"

Ana should have been prepared for that one. Instead she just lit into it. The frustration of knowing she was right and not being believed carried the words from her mouth like wind stripping leaves from a tree.

"One casualty," she said
. "Chalk one up for the good guys. Want to count it up for the Agency? Should we start with the nine that Alando killed? Or maybe all the people mining Androkal at the South Pole that the Agency refused to save so they could let the Continuum use their slave labor to extract it and then steal it from them later?"

Jrue looked at her, confusion pushing wrinkles onto his forehead and around his eyes.
Sadness found its way from his dark brown pupils into Ana's, but it did not penetrate the clarity of her newly free mind.

"I love you, both of you, but I have to
go. I didn't come here to be talked out of this. It's too late for that. The Agency had their chances and I'm not giving them any more."

Ana did love them.
She could only hope that her departure would give them the strength to follow. But in order to lead, she would have to leave.

"Ana,
" Marisol started. "Maybe we can—"

B
ut Ana cut her off. "No. We can't. If you don't want to come with me, you'll just have to figure it out yourselves."

Marisol tried again, but Ana was already
walking away.

--

Outside the bar, Ana turned up the skywalk toward the train stop. A hot breath passed her ear. A strange familiar voice. He didn't slur his words like men talking to women outside a bar tended to do.

"I think it's time to take you home."

It should have sounded like an unwanted advance from a sexual predator, but the tone was firm and confident, the enunciation precise, and the voice warm, gentle, full of love.

Ana
spun to face him and lost herself in the bold, brave eyes of Guillermo Callif.

"I'm sorry, Ana.
I had to know if you were ready to lose everything you have in order to get something you thought was impossible."

She flung her arms around him, and he pulled her close, lowering his head next to hers.

"It is time to do the impossible."

Val: if I had a time machine, I'd go back and relive every moment with you. But since I don't, I'm glad that there are so many more moments to come
.

I also owe a huge debt to Kim for reading a half-finished piece of work that I tried to convince myself was enough and even providing edits and enough positive feedback to keep me going. And Patrick, for beta reading so quickly and keeping the lights on back at the blog. Sorry to keep you hanging for seven months only to push you off an only slightly shorter cliff.

To: Nichole for being kind as my first reader. My mom for giving me the vocabulary of an English major. My dad for being my model of how to put in the time to get everything done. Wally and Darcie for blindly buying writing advice books off my Amazon wishlist. I know I still desperately need more.

And the people who will probably never know how much influence they had: Dean Wesley Smith, Joe Konrath, Brandon Sanderson, Neal Stephenson, JJ Abrams, Iain M. Banks, Mark Danielewski, and Robert Ludlum.

And finally, to the NBA owners for locking out the players and giving me an extra 130 days to work on this.

If you liked what you read (or even if you didn't), please leave a review on
Amazon
to let others know that you enjoyed (or hated) The Valkyrie Project. My only goal is to create books that people enjoy reading as much I enjoy writing. Any feedback is welcome and appreciated!

Nels Wadycki is a
Software Engineer residing in Chicago, Illinois. He doesn't usually talk about himself in the third person, but he thinks that's how an author bio is supposed to go. He tries to maintain a couple blogs (
http://nelswadycki.com
and
http://fanaticalpupil.com
)
, but for author-type stuff and updates check his Facebook page (they just make it the easiest) at
http://www.facebook.com/FanaticalPupil
. If you liked what you read and want to see if there's more, the easy way is to go to:
Amazon
and look at what's available.

If you want to ask Nels a question about this book, other stuff he's working on, the best places to eat in Chicago, or who to draft #1 in fantasy basketball this year, feel free to email him:
[email protected]

Legal Type Stuff

This is a work of fiction. There’s not really any way this could resemble someone’s actual life, but if such a coincidence were to occur, just know that the names, characters, places and events depicted are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any such resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental
or fictitious. Though I would be fascinated to meet such people or go to such places.

eBook Edition License Notes

T
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