Relentless: Episode 3 of the Shattered Chronicles

by Ciana Stone

  "No, mahn," Slats shook his head. "I'm 'fraid that boy's gone."

  "I guess you heard about his ol' lady," the man said. "Man, it didn't take her long to land another one, did it? You know, I still don't believe Cord really did all that shit they say he did."

  Slats nodded. "I got to go, man," he said with a wave.

  "Yeah, sure," the man replied. "Good to see you again."

  "You too, " Slats replied then hurried into the back door.

  He made it through the building to Cord's office without encountering anyone else. He quickly booted the computer, logged in and set the remote access. "There you go," he said to himself, "just like the doctor ordered." Then he sat down and nervously waited.

  *****

  "Excuse me, sir." Jeff looked up in the direction of the voice. A skinny little man with thick glasses stood beside him.

  "Are you the gentleman here to apply for a job?" the man asked.

  "Yeah, man," Jeff answered, "that's me.

  "Yes, well," the man cleared his throat. "If you will please come with me, I'll get you an application form to fill out."

  Jeff held up one beefy hand. "If it's all the same to you, I'd just as soon fill it out sittin' right here." He turned his attention back to the door, leaving the little man bewildered on what to do.

  "Well," the man said, "that's highly irregular, but I suppose it will have to suffice."

  *****

  "Candy, we make a great team," Cord congratulated the AI on its performance. Now he was in his own element. Having completely convinced Juan that he was Maria calling, he had also persuaded him she was up for a bit of afternoon delight.

  "Thank you," Candy still sounding like Maria, replied in a sultry tone.

  Cord laughed out loud, then drummed his fingers excitedly on the desktop. "Candy, return to normal voice."

  "Affirmative," she replied, losing Maria's voice.

  "Okay, let's see what else you can do." Cord was like a kid with a new toy, so excited about the AIU that he forgot about his meeting with Morgan and also about being careful.

  "Candy," he thought of something. "I want to order some Chinese food and I want you to use the Northern Mandarin dialect."

  "Do you wish to order the same as last time?" Candy asked in Chinese then waited for a response.

  Only Cord didn't speak Chinese. It didn't take him long to realize that no matter what he said in English the AI could not respond. He felt like a real idiot as he realized that the last command, he'd given it was to switch to the Mandarin dialect.

  A sudden rush of panic gripped him. Without the AI he wouldn't be able to tie into the office computer and contact Slats. Even worse, he wouldn't be able to download the data from the satellite surveillance system.

  Okay, Cord, he reached up and scratched the back of his neck. Think! What are you going to do? He reached forward as an option popped into his mind. Pulling out the keyboard drawer he quickly typed the words "speak English" and held his breath as he pressed the enter key.

  But all the AIU did was return another Chinese phrase. Cord removed the headgear and saw the words displayed on the alternate monitor. But it was in Chinese characters and he couldn't read it.

  "Damn!" he stared at the monitor with his mind racing. "Okay, okay," he said to himself. "All I need is two words. There has to be a Chinese-English dictionary around here somewhere!"

  He removed the AIU glove, and he spent the next twenty minutes tearing Slats' house apart. But the closest thing he got to a language book was a book titled How to Speak Southern. Tossing the book back on the bowl of the toilet, he looked up at himself in the mirror above the bathroom sink.

  "Well," he said to his reflection. "Time for a shave."

  *****

  "What in the world can Drake Tapper know about Cord?" Morgan looked at her reflection in the mirror as she combed her wet hair.

  The call had unsettled her more than she cared to admit, not to mention confusing her. If the CIA and the FBI hadn't been able to find him, or find out anything about him then what could Drake Tapper know?

  "But what if it wasn't Drake Tapper?" she asked her reflection. "What if this is just some cruel hoax?"

  *****

  Cord parked his bike outside of the Chinese restaurant and went inside. The hostess met him and asked to see the owner.

  "Is there a problem, sir?" she asked.

  "Oh, no. I just need information."

  "Very well, would you like to have a seat while you wait?"

  "Yes, that would be fine," he returned the smile and followed her to an empty booth.

  He sat and watched her pleasing figure and shapely legs disappear into the back of the restaurant, to the far booth. She leaned over and spoke to someone who sat there, hidden by the high back of the wooden booth.

  With a nod, she straightened and returned to Cord. "Someone will be with you in a moment, sir. Would you care to order?"

  He shook his head since he didn't have a dime on him. "No, thank you."

  *****

  Slats was getting more nervous by the minute. He looked over the mail piled up on Cord's desk and at the computer every few seconds.

  "Come on, mahn." He should have heard from Cord by now. His eyes darted over to the door, knowing any moment someone would come in and discover him.

  *****

  Jeff was in the middle of filling out the job application when he saw Morgan pull up in the parking lot across the street in a fancy sports car. Jeff quickly called Cord’s office.

  "Alexander Enterprises," Carla's voice answered,

  "Let me speak with Slats," Jeff said.

  "I'm sorry sir," she replied politely. "I don't think he is here."

  "He's supposed to be there!" Jeff said. "Hey Carla, this is Jeff Davis."

  "Jeff!" she responded in a friendly tone. "How have you been? We sure miss you around here."

  "Thanks, Carla," he said, craning his neck to see Morgan go into the front entrance of the plant. "Listen, I really need to talk to Slats. Would you mind paging him in case he's there?"

  "No, I wouldn't mind at all," she said, "Hold on."

  Jeff listened to the music that filtered over the line as Carla put him on hold. Anger rose as he remembered the day Juan had fired him. Alexander Enterprises was the only place he had ever held a steady job. For the first time in his life he had a place where someone trusted him and put their faith in him to fulfill his responsibilities. Losing his job made him feel like a loser all over again and he hated Juan for that.

  "Yo man," Slats' voice cut into his thoughts. "Is that you?"

  "Yeah, it's me!" He snapped at Slats. Pushing his anger aside, he continued. "Morgan just got there."

  "Okay, " Slats said. "I haven't heard anything from, ah ... the ancient warrior. You may need to go check things out."

  "I'm on my way!" Jeff slammed down the phone and ran out of the door like a swarm of bees was after him. If Cord was in trouble, he wanted to be there to help him out. Besides, he didn't really want a job, anyway.

  *****

  "May I help you?"

  Cord looked up and recognized the old man who had appeared out of nowhere.

  "Sit down," he said with amazement clear in his voice.

  "We shouldn’t be seen together," the old man said and thrust a folded piece of paper into Cord's hand. Then he turned and walked to the rear of the restaurant, disappearing into the kitchen.

  It all happened so fast, it left Cord dumbfounded. He didn't even notice the waiter standing beside the booth asking to take his order.

  "Huh?" he suddenly realized he was being spoken to.

  "May I take your order, sir?" the waiter repeated.

  Cord unfolded the piece of paper in his hand, exposing the characters written on it.

  "Yes, sir," the waiter looked from the paper to Cord like he was crazy. "I speak English."

  Cord looked up at him like he, too, thought the entire world had suddenly gone crazy. It suddenly dawned on him that someh
ow Joe had known why he was here and had given him the phrase, "speak English."

  "Damn!" he muttered, "I've just crossed over into the twilight zone."

  "Sir?" the waiter looked at him like he was a certified lunatic.

  "Never mind," Cord stood and stuffed the paper in his pocket. "I, ah, I've changed my mind. Thanks anyway."

  The waiter watched in bewilderment as Cord left the restaurant.

  *****

  Cord found Big Jeff sitting on Slats' back porch drinking a beer when he returned.

  "Hey, man," Jeff stood, "where you been? Slats said you might be in some kind of trouble."

  "I've been out for Chinese," Cord replied, passing Jeff and going into the house. "Did you see Morgan?" he asked over his shoulder.

  "Yeah," Jeff answered, following Cord into the house. "She showed up about thirty minutes ago."

  "Good!" Cord said as Jeff followed him to the computer. "Now for Phase Two."

  Sitting down, he quickly put on the AI communication equipment and punched in the phrase Joe had given him on the keyboard, enabling him to switch the AI back into English mode and instruct Candy to link up with the computer in his office.

  "Tell Slats he can go home now, Candy," Cord said. "And download everything into your data banks."

  "The download will take forty-eight hours," she informed him.

  Cord thought a minute. "Do it as a background function," he instructed, "and change your voice to that of Jeff Davis."

  "That voice is not on file," she replied.

  "Candy, log the next voice you hear as Jeff Davis," Cord directed.

  "Affirmative," came the immediate response.

  Cord removed the headgear and glove and handed them to Jeff. "Put this on and talk to the girl."

  Jeff gave him a strange look but took the seat Cord vacated. He put on the strange-looking glasses and slid his hand into the glove. "Goddamn, man!" he exclaimed almost immediately. "No wonder you and Slats spend so much time with this thing! This is better than the movies!"

  "Talk to her," Cord told him, feeling a little impatient. He wanted to get over to Morgan's office as soon as he could.

  "What do you want me to say?"

  "Anything!" Cord said. "Ask her what her name is."

  "What's your name, sweet thing?" Jeff asked with a big smile plastered on his face.

  "My name is Candy," she replied, tossing her hair.

  "Yeah, well, I'm Big Jeff."

  "Nice to meet you, Big Jeff," she said politely.

  "So, stand up there, beautiful. Let's have a look at you!"

  Candy stood up and held out her arms as if to say "here I am."

  "Damn!" he grinned wider. "If you ain't cuter than a hair in a biscuit!"

  Jeff pulled off the headgear and looked up at Cord in sudden embarrassment. "I feel like a damn fool talkin' to this thing!"

  "You're doing just fine," Cord assured him. "Tell her to change the scenery."

  "She can do that?" Jeff asked in surprise.

  "Sure," Cord nodded, "you can even change the way she looks."

  Jeff put the headgear back on. "That's okay, man. She looks just fine!" He continued to play with the AIU, changing scenes and having Candy perform for him until Cord felt that there had been sufficient dialogue collected for a voice match.

  But tearing Jeff away was a chore. Especially after he discovered that he could have Candy take her clothes off. But at last Cord succeeded and instructed Candy to call Morgan using Jeff's voice and set up an appointment for him to come in and talk to her about helping him to get his job back.

  Morgan was less than agreeable but Cord was able to have the AI convince her to at least meet with Jeff. That done, they proceeded with the next phase.

  *****

  Jeff stood by the door rocking back and forth from one foot to the other. While he stood there, he noticed that the same car he had passed on his way in was still parked just up the street. Two men were inside it.

  "Jeff, how are you?" He jumped as Morgan's sudden appearance startled him.

  "Hey, Morgan," he said with a sheepish grin. "Things have been kinda rough but I'm gettin' by."

  He had always felt a little self-conscious around Morgan. Not that she hadn't always been nice to him, but because she was so smart and beautiful, and he didn't know how to act around a woman like her.

  "I don’t know that I’m going to be much help, Jeff.” She took his arm and pulled him off to one side. “I don’t exactly have any pull around here anymore.”

  "I understand. Do you–could we talk?"

  "Okay," she gestured to him. "Come on. Would you like a cup of coffee or a soft drink or something?"

  "Yeah," he agreed, "that'd be good. Where's your soda machine?"

  "It's out in the warehouse."

  "Good, show me the way and I'll buy you one."

  She unlocked the door and led the way through the dark office to the warehouse. It was empty since the shipping department was already closed for the day.

  Jeff plunked coins into the machine and motioned for Morgan to make her selection. She did and pulled the drink from the slot as it dropped. Waiting for him to get his own she opened the can and took a sip.

  "Okay," she said, "what do you want to talk about, Jeff?"

  "I'm Drake Tapper.”

  Her mind whirled in confusion for a moment then anger set in. "What the hell's going on?"

  "Cord wanted to be sure you'd be here," Jeff explained and took a step back from her.

  "Cord!" She grabbed his arm. "You've talked to Cord?"

  Jeff's eyes abruptly averted to something behind her. She spun around to see a man of slender build standing in the shadows. Her heart leapt as she recognized the shape as Cord.

  "Cord? Is that you?" She set her drink on the top of the machine as she called out, not sure she wanted him to really be there.

  Just then two men burst through the back door. Simultaneously, three others crashed in through the door that led in from the office.

  "Everybody freeze!" one of them shouted. "FBI!"

  Jeff threw his hands up. The can of soda flew up and spilled all over the place. Morgan jumped straight up into the air. Letting loose with a side kick, she took out the first agent coming through the door and sent him flying backwards into the two behind him. All three men went down like dominoes.

  Cord, who had been standing close to the main power box, reached out and killed the lights, throwing the warehouse into total darkness. The blackness surrounded them all like a tomb.

  Morgan landed in a crouch, moving on instinct out of the line of fire, just in case someone got trigger-happy. Silently, she made her way across the warehouse to the spot where Cord had been standing.

  She froze as she heard the impact of a powerful blow make contact, followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. Then the room was strangely quiet as no one moved. The sound of another body slapping against the concrete floor sounded loudly through the darkness. Her eyes adjusted and she could make out a dark silhouette disappear behind one of the storage racks.

  The two agents who'd been bowled over by the man she kicked regained their composure and one of them called out. "Please! No one has to get hurt!"

  The words had no sooner left the man's mouth when Big Jeff came up from behind them. He grabbed both men by the heads and slammed them together. "You can turn the lights on now," he called out as he lowered the unconscious men to the floor.

  The lights came on and Morgan jumped as Cord stepped out of the shadows. Conflicting emotions competed for dominance as she looked at him. She didn't know what to do. One part of her wanted to throw her arms around him while another wanted to choke him.

  . For several minutes they both stood frozen in place with Big Jeff nervously watching. Finally, the tension got to Jeff. "Hey, man," he said walking past Morgan, "I'll wait for you outside." He gave Cord's shoulder a squeeze and left through the rear door.

  "What are you doing here?" Morgan's voice cut the ai
r like a knife, sounding harsh and hostile.

  "I had to find you," Cord said as he walked up to her, "to explain."

  "Explain?" She crossed her arms in front of her. "Isn't it a little late for that, Cord?"

  "Things aren't like you think, Morgan," he took a step closer.

  "Yeah, right!" She shot back at him, her eyes hard and narrowed. "What the hell have you done to yourself?"

  "It's kind of a long story."

  "Oh, I'll just bet!" she looked at him hatefully. "So, where's your lady friend?"

  "Morgan," he looked down for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts and to find the right words. "I can explain."

  "Don't bother!" Her voice was strained in anger. "I don't need your explanations. You made everything crystal clear when you walked out on me! So, forget the explanations. Just go back to your precious Cassie and leave me alone!"

  She turned on her heel and walked away. Tears threatened to spill as she headed for the door that led into the office. Cord hurried after her and grabbed her arm as she reached for the doorknob.

  "Morgan, wait!" he pulled her back.

  "Don't touch me!" She spun around and yanked her arm free. "Haven't you hurt me enough, Cord? Just leave me alone!"

  He stepped closer, and she retreated until her back was against the door. "Morgan," he whispered softly and touched her arm.

  She jerked away. In desperation, he grabbed her again, hanging on as she shrank from him. Not knowing what else to do or say he moved his body against hers and pinned her against the door.

  Holding her firmly, he lowered his face and his lips found hers.

  Morgan felt herself grow weak at the feel of him. The love she still felt burned bright within her. But her anger and the hurt of his betrayal broke through, eclipsing the light with its darkness.

  Breaking free from the kiss, she pushed him away. "That doesn't work anymore, Cord," she lied. "Just leave. I have a new life and you're not part of it. You don't belong here anymore."

  He stared at her with pain visible in eyes. But she turned without another word and went into the office, leaving him alone in the warehouse with the floor littered with unconscious FBI agents.