Into the Breach: Choices can be deadly...

by Lottie M. Hancock

  "I think you're wrong, Sam," interrupted Drew. "You said that it took a swing at you and you woke up, right?" Sam nodded. "I have been thinking. What if it wasn't him that sent you back? What if you left on your own?"

  Sam looked questionably at the priest who just smirked at him.

  "What do I do now?" he asked sounding lost.

  "I will refresh my reading on your kind, son," answered the priest. "As for now, just do what you have been doing. Your powers are growing. Just let it happen. I doubt the Powers that made you like this would have done it for nothing."

  "You said that there were four kinds of humans," Drew reminded him. "You only mentioned three."

  "Yes, I did," Father Donovan's face fell. "There are the Descendants. They are the ones who are born as Ascendants who were turned. These are people we never want to encounter and that we must keep you from becoming."

  22

  M ichael was kind enough to drive Senator Brandt home to gather her things for the trip to Washington D.C. and they returned to the hospital for Stephanie to say her goodbyes before catching the plane. She did not know if her daughter would still be alive when she returned, but knew somehow that if she didn't go, she would be burying her only child.

  Stephanie sat in the small chair at her daughter's bedside and took her hand, kissing it tenderly. All her work would be gone in just a few hours, but the alternative was something she could not live with.

  "Sally," the mother choked. "I will be back soon. Maybe when you wake up, we can start over again. Make things right. Please, wake up." Stephanie stood slowly and leaned over to kiss her daughter's forehead. "I do love you, baby."

  Michael watched Stephanie choked back sobs as she walked briskly out of the room to catch her cab to the airport. He didn't envy her. The arms bill was something that she and her daughter worked on daily. He wondered if she knew that Sally had been leaving fliers across the Stanford campus highlighting the necessities of having this bill passed. Killing the bill will upset Sally but under the circumstances, what else could be done? No, he didn't envy her.

  Charlie waited in his truck just inside the parking garage of Massachusetts General. His instructions were to be ready at any time for her to come out. His fingers ached from gripping the steering wheel too tightly once again. Occasionally, he would have to force the digits away from the hard plastic to regain circulation. An hour had passed. An hour he could have been sitting with Allison. If she woke up and he wasn't there, he could never forgive himself. Would she think he abandoned her? Wasn't he doing that now? He knew he would never be able to give her the life they had planned once this was done. He couldn't live with himself if she had to look over her shoulder for the rest of her days. But she would be alive.

  The elevator doors on the opposite side of the garage opened as it had a dozen times before, but this time a sharp dressed woman with brown hair exited alone. She looked upset, but he couldn't let that concern him now. She stepped into a waiting cab and she pulled out of the garage onto Cambridge with him following closely behind.

  Silently, Faith and Sam entered the isolation ward. The priest’s revelations were still roiling inside him and he wasn't sure how to respond. If he had brought himself out of that dreadful world that the raptor had created, he was certain that it didn't bode well. The beast would try to get back at him for that black eye if he had. He felt no differently than he had a week ago, a month ago. Hell, he was just no different, period.

  Sam spotted Dr. Mathers at the desk going over charts with a nurse. The doctor spotted them but didn't try to approach. His face was fallen and rigid as he indicated one of the rooms with a turn of his head.

  Stepping into the sterile room of Bernice Morgan, Sam was surprised to find the bed empty. Her husband, however, was sitting alone in a chair by the window with swollen, puffy eyes.

  "I didn't do it," began the businessman. "I couldn't. I just couldn't let it all go."

  "Mr. Morgan," Sam began carefully. "Please accept our condolences for your loss."

  "I kept it all and lost it all, Detective. I am the richest poor man you will ever know." Morgan stared at the empty bed as Sam and Faith stepped out of the room. There was nothing that they could have said that made any difference. He had to live with his choices, although they were choices he never should have had to make.

  The detectives took a moment to gather themselves, proof that they were still human, after all. They passed two of the rooms to look into the senator's daughter's room to find Michael sound asleep and alone with Sally. Faith laid her hand on Sam's arm and they stepped back, allowing the young man his rest.

  Next to Sally Brandt's room was Allison Barns. The room was empty other than the pretty blonde girl surrounded by machines checking vitals, and IV's dripping from two different bags. Charlie was surprisingly nowhere to be seen. Sam stepped in anyway. Something didn't feel right. There was a heaviness in the air that was too familiar to the detective, and a slight scent of sulfur. The bastard had been here.

  "You smell that?"

  "I don't smell anything, but, Sam, come look at this," Faith said as she picked up a sheet of paper from the window sill. Taking it, Sam read it silently, his eyes hardening.

  "We have to go," demanded Sam as he quickly turned and darted for the door. Faith followed him through the hallways to the elevator. He pushed the button going directly to the garage, shifting uneasily before looking at his partner and pulling out his phone.

  "Chief," Sam said as they got off the elevator and cell reception came back up. "I need to find the location of the senator now! The raptor blackmailed Charlie Eagen to kill her."

  23

  C harlie stretched his aching fingers on his shaking knees as he glanced at the gun laying in the passenger seat. He tasted the bile teasing the back of his throat, threatening to botch everything but he held on. The woman had the cab stop at the parking lot instead of the entrance to the airport just as the man on the phone said she would. How he had known that she would do such a thing when it wasn't the obvious choice, baffled him. He watched as the cabby took her fare and drove away before getting out of his truck. His legs shook with every step. Never would he have thought that he would take another life but Allison needed him. The man on the phone had said he would take care of her. He promised that she would wake up as soon as the deed was done, but it didn't make it any easier on Charlie.

  He watched her start walking briskly toward the airport and soon followed her. His distance to her was growing shorter and he knew he had to go through with it.

  She must have sensed someone behind her because she turned her head to find a young man walking at a deliberate gate toward her. Fear shot through her but she couldn't move as she saw him reach into his jacket and pull out the gun.

  "What are you doing?" She shook, watching the man stare at her silently with tears streaking his face. She had to take the chance. "Son, I don't know you but I feel that you don't want to do this."

  "I have to," he cried. "I have to! Don't you see? He will let her die if I don't!" The man wailed, but he stood stock still with the gun pointed directly at her. She knew what was happening.

  Another coma, another blackmail.

  This man was not going to back down just because she asked him to. He also had someone to save. Her shoulders dropped and it felt as if the world was being destroyed around her as she waited for the bullet.

  The scream of a breaking car and a distant siren broke the tension. Sam and Faith came out of the coupe quickly but kept their distance. A patrol car was following closely behind the chief's blue sedan from the far end of the parking lot but Sam's eyes were on Charlie.

  "Mr. Eagen," Sam cautiously called out, his hands out in front of him. "Charlie. Can we talk a minute?"

  "There's nothing to talk about!" Charlie bawled. The man was falling apart and Sam knew he had to be stopped before he went over the edge.

  "Sure there is, Charlie." Sam took a couple of steps closer, trying not to make the man wit
h the gun nervous. "How is Allison?"

  "Wh-what?" Charlie stammered. "Allison? How do you think she is? She isn't waking up. Not until I finish this!" The gun shook in the boy's hands, but it kept its steady aim at the senator.

  "This won't bring her back."

  "Yes, it will, dammit!" he shouted. "He told me that he will wake her up."

  "And you believe him?" Sam tried to plant doubt into the boy's mind, but knowing himself that it was true, made it that much more difficult for him to sound believable.

  "It's better than nothing." Charlie's face teetered between anger and desperation. Two things that didn't mix well with guns.

  "Just give me the gun, Charlie," Sam stepped closer. "We can work this out. Don't do this."

  "No!" the boy shouted and re-aimed the gun at the senator but his fingers were shaky and his arms were too tense.

  An explosion erupted in the mechanic's hands and he dropped the gun. His entire body shook violently; afraid the gun would jump up and shoot at him next. The senator flew backward in a spin that threw her several feet and she landed hard on the asphalt. Sam dove at Charlie and tackled him onto the ground without resistance. He jerked his hands behind his back and cuffed him as the boy sobbed into the oil streaked parking lot.

  Faith rushed to Stephanie's side as Chief Shafer helped Sam pull Charlie to his feet. The mechanic stared, lost, into nothingness.

  "She's going to die and it’s all my fault," he whimpered.

  "Take him to booking but take it easy, got it?" the chief told the patrol officer as he handed him off.

  "He's right, you know," Sam stated coldly. "He will off her since Charlie can't do the kill."

  "There isn't much we can do about it now, Sam. We just have to get the raptor so he won't do it again."

  They joined Faith. The bullet went into Stephanie's shoulder and clean through the other side. She would be fine, at least physically. Faith was putting pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding but it was still seeping through the cloth. Seeing the edge of Faith's shirt pulled out and ragged with loose strings told Sam where the cloth came from. The chief got on his knees and put his hand over the makeshift bandage. Sam thought he could see the blood vessels in Drew's hand glowing and the trails of the veins running through it, but it passed as quickly as it had happened. Drew pulled his hand away and the bleeding slowed. So, that's how they heal so quickly, Sam thought.

  An ambulance pulled in and quickly placed the senator on a stretcher, but the woman wasn't going peacefully.

  "Just relax, Senator," assured Drew. "They doctors will have you patched up in no time."

  "No, you don't understand! I must catch that plane. He will kill my daughter if I don't." The detectives looked at each other helplessly. This was getting out of hand quickly. The chief nodded at the EMT and they loaded the senator into the ambulance. They could still hear her protesting as the doors closed and they watched as the unit took the senator off to the hospital.

  "That bastard is going to win again," Drew cursed through clenched teeth, his jaw muscles rippling under the skin. They lost sight of the ambulance as it made its turn out of the parking lot and onto the on-ramp, but the chief continued to watch.

  "What? Are you giving up?" Sam scoffed and shook his head. He knew Drew better than to take his words seriously. "This is only third quarter. Anything can happen, right?"

  "I don't know, Sam," Drew's mouth turned up slightly. "I'm not fifty anymore." The men snickered, but they both felt the defeat in the imminent loss of two of the victims.

  "Eagen isn't the type to do this kind of thing freely." Sam handed him an evidence bag with the letter he had found in Allison's room. "He may have pulled the trigger but it wasn't him that did this."

  Drew read the note and nodded, mostly to himself. "I agree with you. There will be a lot we can't disclose with this case, but the fact that he was being emotionally toyed with and blackmailed is evident here. I will give him a good word with the District Attorney and at his trial. It’s the best I can offer him."

  "No, the best we can offer him is Allison sitting at his trial supporting him. Tell me something. If this thing is always doing shit like this, why isn't it ever in the papers? I mean, this many people dropping is going to get out if it keeps up."

  "It's never this obvious, to be honest." The chief's brow furrowed, and his fingers rested on his chin as if stroking a long ago beard. "He is stepping up his game for some reason. As if he is trying to get the attention."

  "What could he possibly achieve by doing that?"

  "Maybe it’s you, Sam."

  "Me? What do I have to do with it?"

  "If he knew you were coming to Boston, it could have been to lure you out."

  "Great," Sam exhaled. "and those comas that happened before I got here?"

  "I wish I had the answers. Hell, it may not have had anything to do with you, but you are an Ascendant. I can't rule it out."

  Sam ran his hand over his bald head and paced before turning around and facing his friend.

  "What good is that? What good is me being this Ascendant? I can't do what you guys do. What is it that I can do that makes this guy afraid of me?" Realization settled deeply in Sam as he heard his own words. The raptor was afraid of him. That had to be it. There had to be something that the monster thought Sam could do that he was defenseless against.

  "We will go to the padre's house tonight. Maybe there is something in the book that might tell us something more about you. In the meantime, take a couple hours before you make your report. Dental appointment or something. I need time to cover some details with Eagen and the senator. Some things have to be worded right or they will suffer more from people thinking they are nuts than for what's happening to them."

  "Do you think they're safe? I mean, Parsons was killed along with his wife."

  "Yeah, I think so," Drew replied as he opened his car door. "At least, Eagen is. Demons can't touch him where he's going."

  "Why are you so sure of that?"

  "We put up defenses around the station. Demons can’t get in. It was the padre's doing. He does it to our houses, too. Well," he corrected himself. "mine and his house, at least. Faith won't let him fix her place. Thinks the landlord will find her out. She is a tough cookie."

  Sam watched as Drew drove off down the parking lot, following the path of the ambulance, and wondered if any of them were truly safe.

  24

  F ather Donovan picked up his keys from the entryway table with a flourish. He felt good about having an Ascendant in their midst. It raised the stakes and sharpened his team. In his many years, he had never had so many fighting under him for the cause and it felt great. The number of dark souls invading the city had grown exponentially over the decade, which kept him up nights. This new revelation brought stability back into his life.

  His afternoon prayer group met twice a week at the community center, and it was his turn to pick snacks, so an early jaunt to the bakery was in order. As he closed the door behind him, an old feeling of dread enveloped him. From the corner of his eye, he saw someone sitting on his wrought-iron porch bench and a familiar hatred boiled from within.

  "You're looking well, John," said the dark-haired man. Even in the outdoors, his baritone voice reverberated. "You look almost...human."

  "Camerlon." The priest turned and looked directly at him. In his human form, the beast was thin and lanky. Donovan knew better. Even in this alien shape, the monster was formidable.

  "Ah, you remembered me," the beast feigned surprise. "I am flattered!"

  "There is nothing wrong with my memory," Father Donovan replied coldly. "What are you doing here?"

  "Can't I simply visit an old friend without a reason? Surely you couldn’t begrudge me that?"

  "Friend? Not quite. Now, what do you want?"

  "What I want is for you to remind your dogs that I am untouchable. They are beyond the reach of their limits." The raptor's smile was as cold as the priest's stare.

  "My do
gs will have you for dinner, friend." Light enveloped the man, giving him the size and strength beyond the norm as wings of silvers and grays marbled against the old-world style of the parsonage's front porch. The raptor smiled wide in approval.

  "We shall see, my friend."

  Lightening flashed in the distance as Donovan rushed the demon. The unstoppable force met the immovable object with shattering energy and the pair grappled through the porch railing and adjacent hedge. One of Donovan's hands was around the beast's throat while the other clasped the hilt of his dagger. Rolling the angel onto his back, the demon grabbed the wrist holding the weapon in a vice grip. Donovan kicked up and flung them both into the air. Tucking his wings inward, he spun them with the speed of a cyclone. Anyone who could have witnessed the altercation would have only seen the whirling dervish ripping apart the edges of the priest’s home while, in reality, fists and claws struck violently against flesh and stone.

  The demon began to transform into the shapeless being that he was to break the steel grip of the angel, to no avail. With a twisted arm, he struck upward, knocking the priest's head back. Donovan's grip on the monster broke, but his hold on his dagger did not. He swung at the beast's midsection, although the monster was quick. Crashing through a stoic chestnut tree, the ancient enemies tore into each other with amazing agility. Donovan sliced downward and opened the rotting chest of his adversary, only to watch it close, the stench of sulfur and burning flesh invaded the angel's nostrils.

  Wooden spikes from the whitewashed privacy fence flew like hunting spears. One by one, they splintered off the tumultuous whirlwinds that now enveloped the backyard. The raptor latched onto the angel’s shoulders and dug in his razor claws, latching onto bone. Donovan screamed even as he slashed forward with his blade-like wings, slicing into the charred face of the beast. The angel raged as he lacerated the demon in a continual battery of strikes.

  Tiring of the rapid spiraling, the beast slashed at the angel's wings. Blood gushed forward and the pair crashed to the ground, creating a crater in the priest's backyard. The impact shook the ground but the angel and demon returned to their feet. Donovan stood briefly, then charged the demon with a kick, using both feet. The force spun the demon back, but he quickly gained his footing. Donovan swung his blade with graceful control of the weapon. Camerlon's claws raked at the angel's chest and arms in his attempts to thwart the champion's attack, but the angel was swift. Striking downward, Donovan's dagger sliced into the beast's arm with wicked deliberation and it continued its ravaging path into its side, exposing ribs through the charred flesh. Donovan's hands latched onto the shoulders of the monster. Fire shot through the angel's hands and into the rancid flesh of the beast. Ash and slivers of burnt stone crumbled through his fingers, as they locked eyes.