No Peace for the Damned

kept my thoughts strictly on Thirteen.
    It was almost nine o’clock that night when Thirteen finally pulled into the drive. Relief washed over me; air filled my lungs once more. The whole team was here now. I pulled my legs upunder me. No reason to rush out to meet him. After all, he hadn’t even said good-bye. Or called. Or texted.
    He ambled through the front door. I nearly choked on my drink. His hair was disheveled, his eyes ringed with dark circles. He looked as if he’d aged ten years in a day. With barely a greeting to anyone, he lumbered into the great room and sat heavily in one of the love seats. His head hung forward to rest in his hands.
    “Um, would you like something to drink?” I asked quietly.
    He lifted his eyes to mine and smiled. “That would be wonderful, Magnolia. Thank you.” I moved to the kitchen in a blur. The next moment I was back at his side, fresh OJ in hand. He took the glass. I took my seat and waited with everyone else. Theo leaned against the wall behind me, a warm weight at my back.
    Thirteen finished his drink then clapped his hands together. He took a deep breath and began. “When Theo was in the confines of the Kelch estate, he was asked a single question: ‘
qui est l’annuaire?
’ His translation was correct, but there is another, broader meaning to the term
l’annuaire
. Directory. In this case, the Network directory.
L’annuaire
is the living compilation of our entire membership. Every piece of information about every single member of the Network, present and past, is housed in the well-protected
l’annuaire
…a man named William Broviak.”
    “William Broviak is
l’annuaire
?” Theo asked after a pause. “A
man
is this directory?”
    “That’s correct,” Thirteen said. He sounded tired, resigned. “You see, William has a special gift, a psychic talent that he has spent the majority of his tormented life trying to alleviate. William sees relationships.”
    A relationship psychic? Well, let me just add that to my growing list of “what-the-hell-is-going-on.”
    Thirteen continued, “He has the unique ability to instantly see the connections between individuals the moment he meets someone.For example, in meeting Charles he would know that he is married to Marie, has two brothers in the military; his father, his mother, his coworkers, everyone he knows and has an emotional tie to would be imprinted in William’s mind. So when he first met a certain member of the Network…”
    “He knew the identity of every Network member,” Cordele finished his sentence.
    “Exactly.”
    Hmmm…I glanced back at Theo.
    “But none of us knows
all
the members,” Charles argued. “We only know those we directly work with. Everyone else is an anonymous face in the crowd. ‘You could pass a fellow member on the street and not even know that you both worked for the same elite organization.’ Isn’t that what you told us from the beginning?”
    “
You
don’t know every Network member,” Thirteen corrected him. “But I do. At least the ones in my division. As a chief in the organization, it’s part of my job to recruit and work with every member on their assignments. William was discovered by one of my predecessors nearly twelve years ago. His ability was revealed to the chief at the time and he was put immediately under the care and protection of our agents. And has remained under that protection ever since.”
    “Wait,” Heather said, waving a hand in front of her. “You took him from his life and just kept him? Made him the Network’s prisoner just because he had some ability that wasn’t his fault?”
    She had a point. And I could see where the situation might hit a little too close to home for Heather. Still, she wasn’t the only one trying to work through this new information. Everyone’s mind was reeling, processing. I took another drink.
    “He is no prisoner, Heather,” Thirteen said sternly. “He has his own life, however self-destructive it may be.” The last he saidunder his breath. He was getting a headache. And when I saw the man’s image in his thoughts, I understood why.
    “The smelly old drunk guy at the Turtle?” I announced without thinking. “That’s
l’annuaire
?”
    “Wait, you mean Bill?” Theo asked from behind me.
    “Drunk Bill is
l’annuaire
?” Jon asked at the same moment.
    Thirteen sighed so deeply his shoulders fell forward. “Yes, Bill at the Turtle is
l’annuaire
. He’s watched by Miller, and others, but