by Saxon Keeley
Instead he finds her room left uncharacteristically messy. Drawers have been pulled out and emptied, hangers stripped and thrown over the floor. A letter on her bed flaps about in the icy breeze from the open window. Perching on the edge he reads the message she has left for him.
Details that he never knew come to light devastating him. Since Wesley’s death, his daughter’s life had been a living nightmare. How did he not see it?
Placing the letter down on the pillow, Alistair realises he is not alone. As black as the shadows a soldier with bug-like-eyes watches him. His rain mac sways in the wind. His breath muffled and coarse.
“Where is Jessica?” asked the soldier. He does not get a response. “You are her father. What kind of father does not know where his sixteen-year-old daughter is?” Again, no response.
The soldier grows impatient and when he raises a gun at him, Alistair catches a glimpse of the white dragon around his arm.
“That is a cruel trick. My brother would never come to me as a masked villain. You took everything from us.”
“No trick and not S.E.L. Although I am a seeker of peace, I am so much more than them. Not that it matters to you anyway,” said the soldier.
For a second Alistair feels like the pieces are falling into place, able to connect some of the dots. “It was you that was responsible for Oscar’s assassination.”
“No,” he laughed. Tilting the weapon, Alistair is utterly perplexed to see it is the same pistol he used to execute Du Yu-Yan. Flecks of blood stain the metal. “I will admit to killing your general in Nibiru, but I had more business with the commander of Yong Squad than anyone else. You took everything from that poor girl and drove her to such hatred. Just has you drove her to kill, you have driven your own daughter to run away. This war of yours, was it worth it?”
“No,” Alistair said under his breath, feeling truly guilty for his neglect.
“This has somewhat complicated matters,” he thought aloud. “On the other hand, this is perfect motivation and she cannot have gotten far.”
“Motivation for what?” were the last words Alistair spoke.
A crackle rips through the house.
Nicholas and Alexander reached Jessica’s bedroom to discover the Chairman dead. He had shot himself consumed by the grief of losing his brother and daughter. Although the window was closed, the latch had been left open. When Alexander went to investigate, a shadow moved about the garden below, fleeing into the night. While he was distracted, Nicholas discreetly disposed of his sister’s letter.
POST-TERRA FIRMA
PEACESEEKERS
COMING SOON
