Patriots & Tyrants

by Brian Cotton

  ***

  The briefing had ended just a few short moments before, and Kaspar was already hounding Clarke for information. The layout of the complex was laid bare on the large laptop screen. Clarke studied it hard for Harvey so he could report a complete analysis to him. Kaspar watched as he did his work from over his shoulder. He knew that it made Clarke nervous, but the computer wiz got over it quick enough.

  “You find anything new about any type of cure?” Kaspar asked.

  “No, they aren’t manufacturing it here, or I haven’t found anything out about that. How’s she doing?” Clarke replied.

  “She’s fine, now, but these spells she’s having are getting worse every time. Those drugs we’ve got her doped up on aren’t going to do the trick forever.”

  “I know. You’ll want to be careful here.”

  Clarke pointed out the circular lobby area. It was wide, and there was very little in the way of cover. Kaspar nodded in acknowledgement as he saw what Clarke was talking about. It was a good place for an ambush. Clarke had almost gotten used to being Kaspar’s unofficial C.O. He knew that his friend didn’t pay complete attention in the briefings, so it became his job to point things out to him. The lobby would be nasty if there was any type of fire fight. It would give the Agents plenty of space to surround them. If that happened, the only thing the rebels could do was surrender, and hope that the USR would be taking prisoners. Actually, it would be better if they weren’t.

  “I see,” Kaspar said as he noticed the predicament that they would be in. “You think Buck will do okay?”

  “I don’t know. He seems like the type of kid that knows all the answers on a test, but then gets anxiety at test time and can’t remember anything.”

  “That ever happen to you?”

  “Of course not.” Clarke replied, with a cocky grin on his face. He continued to study the layouts. “This one could be dangerous.”

  “Aren’t all of these little missions that way?”

  “This looks different, though. I mean, there are too many wide open areas all around. You guys better be extra careful in there.”

  “We always are. I’m just worried about Buck.”

  “Don’t worry about him. You can’t control what he does. If he freezes up in there again, just get yourselves out.”

   

  .07

  Sullivan sat in the plain, red car with his new partner, Kevin Little. Little was young, didn’t look anything older than mid-twenties, and he still had his boyish looks about him. His dark hair was spiked up in the middle. The thick gel held together what looked to be a Mohawk. Sullivan sighed at the sight of it when they first met. He didn’t want to work with any more douchebags. The young detective was sharply dressed in a black suit, as well. Sullivan thought his new partner must have been a real hit with the ladies. Sullivan told the kid to dress casual, but Little replied with, “this is casual”.

  Outside, the sun started it’s descent down the gray sky. With the sun beamed in on his eyes, Sullivan reached down for his sunglasses and slid them on. Little did the same beside him. The audio they were patched into was full of static at the moment. Their suspects were not gathered inside, yet. The two partners said nothing to each other while they waited. Even though Little didn’t say much, Sullivan already started to like him. In his mind, he took back the douchebag thoughts he had earlier. The rookie not only didn’t talk, but he didn’t disobey an order, either. Unlike his former cohorts, the veteran Agent thought that maybe this could turn into a great working relationship.

  As they sat in silence, Sullivan’s mind turned to Davie. His son was left with Aunt Mary once again, the third night this week he had to spend away from him. Davie was still doing excellent in school, bringing home nothing but straight A’s. Sometimes, Sullivan wondered how good Davie was actually doing. He heard stories of the class clowns that disrupted class, didn’t do their homework, and still managed to get passing grades. The teachers, not wanting to offend the children in class, couldn’t bring themselves to fail a kid when that was what he or she deserved. That fact alone made him question how great of a society they would live in when those kids got older. Hell, George Mason managed to get out of the school system with a  passing grade.

  “How long you been an Agent?” Sullivan asked, breaking the silence.

  “Not long. Just got promoted to Detective status.” Little replied. He looked down at the brand new shield attached to his belt as if it were a trophy.

  “You got any family?”

  “Nah, just my parents who I take care of.”

  “Any women in your life?” Sullivan asked, thinking of Julie as he did.

  “Nope. Nothing long term, anyway, just the occasional one nighter, you know?”

  Sullivan raised his right eyebrow, “Be careful with that. You don’t want to get caught up in a legal mess with unwanted children. You know how seriously the government is taking that, right?”

  “Yeah, I know, I’m careful. I’m thinking about going sterile anyway. I don’t want any Little bastards running around.”

  Sullivan leaned back in his chair. “That’s good. This job makes it impossible to raise a kid right and to have a happy marriage.”

  “You speaking from experience, Will?”

  “Sure am.”

  The two went silent again. Sullivan’s thoughts returned to the task at hand. This Reed character worked at a top secret USR facility doing top secret, USR things. He thought back to the broadcast that the resistance, or someone claiming to be resistance, put out several months ago. There had been no other mention or broadcasts from the rebels since that day. Perhaps it was all a ruse by the USR in their propaganda techniques to make people fear the resistance as those who can’t be trusted. They set off a bomb in a USR controlled building after all. He kept hoping that Reed and his boys had something to do with whatever had been put in the water supply. The answers wouldn’t come by themselves and someone on the inside obviously didn’t want him snooping around. There was only one problem and that was the man seated next to him.

  Sullivan turned to Little. “What do you think they are doing?”

  “Who, sir?”

  “The guys we’re watching.”

  “I don’t know. Don’t really care, either, to be honest.”

  “Why wouldn’t you care? We might have to kill them.”

  “If it comes to that, then so be it. They made their choice if they are doing something illegal.”

  “No thoughts at all about it?”

  Little started to tense up a bit before he spoke again. “Will, seriously, we’re not supposed to know. We’re not supposed to question our orders. The USR has reason to believe that they are resistance. So, we do what they say.”

  “You don’t always have to do exactly what you’re told.”

  Sullivan could sense some discomfort coming from his partner. That was good, he could use that fear against him later. Either he was a dedicated Agent, loyal to the death to his superiors, or he was a coward too chicken shit to do anything but.

  Whatever the reason, Sullivan had to figure it out fast.