by Andi J Feron
A few more spoke about Jerap and, after the funeral, I went to pack my bags. There was about to be a reckoning, and I was the executioner. Seraphine came and sat on the bed.
“You never told me what Jerap showed you.” I put some clothes into my bag.
Earlier in the week, I told her about the vision Jerap had given me, and she agreed things needed to be handled on Earth.
Seraphine was quiet a minute, then said, “He wanted me to get a message to his family, and also asked me to take care of his cat.”
“I can bring it back from Earth if you like?”
“That’d be great. I obviously trust you more than having it brought as cargo.”
I kissed Seraphine. She seemed distant, and I knew she was sad about Jerap’s death. She had been much closer to him than I had been.
“Good luck Talon. Make the bastards pay for hurting our girl.”
“Totally on it.”
I gave her one last kiss before getting on my shuttle to Earth. On the way, I made a list of who I was coming for. I arrived at my old house and Glenda was gone. I found a note on the counter that said she was in town to pick up some things and that Allie could help herself to some cookies when she made it back. I grew angry at the thought of this woman feeding Allie, caring for her, all while preparing her to be recruited.
I marched into the bathroom and opened the cupboard under the sink. My heart rate increased, and my stomach churned as I saw the paper bag still sitting there. I opened it to find four bottles of various prescription medications. The labels were ripped off, so I couldn’t make out what they were or who they were prescribed to. I couldn’t fathom how Allie was able to obtain them.
I saw the notebook and opened it to the note. I felt shaky from anger. I started a fire in an old metal barrel out back and threw the entire bag in. I was hoping Allie had forgotten about the stash and she wasn’t saving it just in case. I went back into the house and waited. With the sound of the front door opening, I heard Allie and John talking. I walked into the room. I hugged her tighter than usual.
“Talon, you okay?”
I released her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Glad to see you is all.”
“I’m glad to see you too.”
I looked at John, and I knew it would be too much to hug him. I waited until Allie left for the bathroom.
“Hey John, thanks for having my sister’s back when I can’t be here.”
“Yeah, always will.”
“I appreciate it,” I added, trying my best to thank him without making him suspicious of my motives.
The kids told me they would be out back in the treehouse. I couldn’t believe that they still used that old thing even after all these years. I heard a car door slam, and I went out to greet Glenda.
“Talon! Good to see you. I was going to make tuna casserole for dinner,” she said.
“Hey, let’s go for a ride. I want to show you something that I want you to do next with Allie. Let’s take your car. Mind if I drive?”
I held out my hands for the keys, and she handed them over. She was studying me, and I guessed she was trying to sense my emotions. I was trained on how to repress my emotions, and I let my training guide me.
She climbed into the car with me, a choice she would regret. I drove further from town. I had to get away from the house to keep Allie and John from seeing what I was about to do. We made it to an old potato field, and I motioned her to follow me.
After a short distance she asked, “Where are we going Talon? I should probably get back to Allie.”
At the mentioning of Allie’s name, I turned around and slammed her to the ground.
“Talon, what are you doing?” she tried to stand up before I threw her down again. “Talon, please! What do you want?”
“I want you the hell away from my sister!”
“Why? I’ve done nothing but care for…”
“You’ve done nothing but drive her to a suicide attempt. You’ve done nothing but almost get her killed in a car accident. You’ve done nothing but try and make her pliable for recruitment!” I roared.
I followed her as she tried to crawl backwards away from me. She jumped up and tried to kick me. I kicked her down, and her eyes went glassy. She was in my head. I saw Seraphine lying dead with a Khalbytian brand between her shoulder blades. I saw Allie the same next to her. I ignored them and turned to her.
“They forgot to tell you something, didn’t they?” I smiled slightly, as I spoke. Glenda looked scared that I noticed her. Pausing for effect, I finished with, “Mind tricks don’t work on me.”
I grabbed her by her collar and dragged her as she screamed, trying to break free. She bit my arm repeatedly but I ignored her. I pulled her across the frosty field until we reached a fence post. I grabbed rope and strung her to the post. The rope was Loctorian, and it would take a special tool for her to break free.
I put my face close to hers to be sure every word I said would sink in. “Now, you’re going to wait out here for your friends to come get you. If I catch you near my sister, there will be nowhere you can hide. I’m going to be tracking you, so don’t think you can try anything funny. Let’s see if the longer you sit in this cold, the more you realize that big bonus check wasn’t worth it after all.”
“Talon, please, I’ll freeze. Show mercy.”
“I’m only showing you the same mercy you showed a fourteen-year-old girl when you forced her to suffer to the point where she thought death was a welcoming option.”
“I’ll freeze!” she repeated.
I gave her a satisfied smile. “Better hope your friends get here quickly then.”
I ignored her screams as I got into her car and drove away. I pushed a button and activated a device I stuck on her when I tied the ropes. The device would keep her from freezing until help arrived. I parked her car a couple miles away from the house in an abandoned barn before walking home. Once I made it inside the house, Allie saw me.
“Were you taking a walk?” she asked. I nodded. “Talon, you’re nuts. It’s like zero out there.”
“Then why are you hanging out in your treehouse?”
“John’s dad helped us insulate it last year, and put electricity in. We have a space heater that works well.”
“You do know that we have a house that is already warm?” I asked.
“Of course, but the treehouse is ours.”
“You’re fifteen.”
“And?” She was eating Glenda’s cookies, which reminded me of Glenda.
“Oh, by the way, Glenda quit.”
Allie’s mouth hung open. “What? Why?”
“Family issues out West.”
“Oh. She didn’t say goodbye.”
“Well, she got a little hung up.”
“Oh. Well, it’s probably for the best. I’m too old for a babysitter. Besides, you always take things to the extreme. I have one mental breakdown and you hire me a live-in shrink.”
“Only the best for my baby sister.”
“Come on, Talon. I promise I won’t go off the deep end again.”
I didn’t trust anyone else around her at the moment anyway, and I was about to make it clear that my sister was off limits. “We’ll see how it goes,” I said as she started to walk away. “Hey, Allie.”
“Yeah?” she turned to look at me.
“You come first. I know it probably doesn’t seem like it because I’m always gone working, but you’re the most important thing in my life. If you ever get to the point where you feel like you need to make use of the paper bag under the sink, call me first and I’ll be home. I love you, Althea.”
Her eyes grew big and she nodded slowly. “I love you too, Talon.” She carried the cookies out to the treehouse.
I knew by Mr. Bryant’s travel trajectory he would be home in fifteen minutes. I opened my trunk to look at my weapons, strapping a few knives to various locations on my body and holstering my gun. I parked my car a block away and walked down his long driveway. There was a fountain in the
middle of his circle driveway, and his large yellow house had white pillars and rose three stories tall. For a high school guidance counselor, he had awfully nice digs.
I picked his lock and let myself inside. I grabbed some potato chips out of his pantry and a soda from the fridge. I found an interesting documentary of a lion devouring a gazelle to watch while I waited. I sat down on his pristine white couch and began chowing down. I was tracking him, so I knew he was alone. I heard the front door open, followed by the rustling of bags being placed on the counter. The TV clicked off. I knew he was behind me, as I had purposely placed the remote on the table for him to find.
I stood up to face him. “Been a long time Mr. Bryant.”
He jumped back. “Talon! What are you doing in my house?”
“That’s a good question. Maybe you can answer a question for me. What were you doing manipulating my sister for recruitment with a level fifty-four order in place?”
Mr. Bryant tried to bolt for his briefcase, and I assumed he had a gun in it. I threw two knives simultaneously and lodged them in each of his calves. As he dropped to the ground, I swiftly moved in front of him. I put a third knife to his throat.
Bringing my face in front of his I said, “This luxury wasn’t enough for you? You thought you needed the bonus from my sister to upkeep your lavish lifestyle?”
He trembled. “You were a recruiter. You know how it is.”
“Except all my recruits knew exactly what they were signing up for. They knew there was a possibility that death would find them within a year. What you did to my sister never gave her a choice, and it almost killed her twice. You were after a forced recruitment, nothing like what I’ve ever done.”
“You can’t protect her forever, Talon. She has a high price placed on her. You probably haven’t even seen what they value your sister at. You should probably ask yourself why they want a little girl so bad.”
I pushed the knife so it scraped the surface of his throat, causing him to bleed slightly.
“I don’t care about the price. You plot anything against my sister again, and I won’t be so nice next time.” I ripped the knives out of his calves and he screamed as blood gushed from each wound. I continued talking. “By the way, you might want to send some buddies to warm up Glenda. She’s probably a little cold by now.”
I threw him a couple towels to hold on his legs before I walked out the door. For him to call for help, he’d have to release one of the towels, or get creative. I left a map with Glenda’s name starred over where she could be located.
Next, I went to school and searched the student directory. I found the picture of the boy who was going to rape Allie. I tracked where he lived and picked the locks on his front door. I knew he wasn’t home, and I opened up his closet and found a large safe. I got out my scanner and quickly figured out the primitive code. Bottles of prescription medications covered all four shelves of the safe.
I scanned his logbook and found Allie’s name, the words “hot girl discount” written next to her name. Several potent sleeping pills and narcotics were also written by her name. I felt impaled thinking of her having the bottles in front of her, ready to take them all. I began putting dozens of medications into a trash bag until the safe was cleared.
I sat on his bed and waited. I knew that the house was empty, so we wouldn’t be disturbed. He was glancing through mail as he came in. He shut his door and walked to place the mail on his desk—that’s when he saw me. I put my proton blaster on low and fired at his doorknob, melting it in place.
“Who…are…you?” he asked.
“I’m more interested in who you are.”
“What do you mean?”
I tipped the trash bag over and all his medication bottles scattered into one big heap on the middle of the room.
“How did you…?” He turned to see his safe empty and asked, “Are you the police?”
“You wish I was the police. I’m looking for an entirely different form of justice.”
“What do you want?”
“It would seem the only way you can get a girl to sleep with you is by drugging her up and making sure she has no say in the matter.”
“What are you going to do to me?” Keeping my weapon on low, I melted the pile of pills. He gasped. “No! That’s thousands of dollars’ worth of pills! My supplier is going to kill me. You just signed my death warrant.”
“And by doing so, I stopped you from violating more innocent girls.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammered.
I threw him to the ground, putting my weapon to his head. “You know exactly what I’m talking about!”
“Man. I’m sorry! Please!” he pleaded.
I resisted the urge to fire between his legs and instead said, “This weapon will disintegrate you without a trace if I put it on a high enough setting. I have a special way of watching you. If your supplier doesn’t kill you and I catch you near another girl, this weapon will meet your face. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
I climbed out his window, leaving him a blundering mess on his bedroom floor. I thought through who else was involved in the scheme against Allie. I knew that the driver of the car had been killed. The passenger was paralyzed, and I figured that was punishment enough. Plus, I didn’t know if his participation was on his own accord or if he had been manipulated by Carrie as well. I would leave him alone.
Carrie was my last stop. I concentrated and saw that she was at the Maine base. I drove to the medical base and found her quarters. When she answered my knocking, I pushed my way inside and shut her door. I pointed my weapon at her, and she froze in place.
“I thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Talon Cooper. You’re a friend of my sister.”
She backed away from me. “Fire your weapon at yourself.”
“Naw, I’m good.”
“Shoot yourself!”
“They really don’t tell you much when they give you an assignment, do they? Lack of communication has always been an issue around here.” I moved closer to her.
“Leave this room!”
“I’m not quite ready for that. No one bothered to tell you that I can’t be manipulated, did they?”
She ran to her back bedroom, but I was in her doorway before she could shut it.
She cowered in the corner. “Please! I’m sorry, I was only doing what I was ordered.”
She didn’t look much older than Allie, and I softened. I knew all too well what it was like to do unthinkable things because the higher-ups and council wanted you to.
“From here on out, my sister is not your mission. Am I understood?”
“Yes, I promise. I like her anyway. She was nice to me even when I wasn’t manipulating her. I was still in the hospital when she got out, and she came up and saw me. She was the only person to come and check on me. All the other friends I made while working undercover didn’t even bother.
“Your sister brought me a teddy bear and balloons. She said she knew we might be a little too old, but they still made her smile so she hoped they would me too. I still have the teddy bear. No one ever gave me anything before. I was on the streets and in foster care before recruitment.”
Leave it to Allie to try to comfort someone else during her own recovery time. I would confirm it with Allie later. I kept my weapon ready to fire as I backed out. I asked Allie about Carrie, and she told me the same story without me asking her specific questions about it.
Allie picked up the conversation, “Talon, I’m sorry about the pills. I don’t know what I was thinking during that time. I didn’t want to die, I wanted the pain to end.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’ve failed you more times than I can count, and the fact you got to that point without feeling like you could talk to me shows me the high extent that I failed you.”
“You never should have had to raise me, but you did. You’ve always put me first. The reason I didn’t go to you wasn’t because I didn’t trust you. It was because I
trust you to protect me and, in that moment, that was the last thing I wanted.”
“Don’t go there again, Allie. I mean it when I tell you that if something happened to you, they might as well bury me too.”
“I promise. I promise if I’m in a bad place again, I’ll let you protect me.”
“Sounds good, kiddo. That best friend of yours, he’s a pretty good guy, isn’t he?”
“John? Yeah, he’s a keeper.”
I gave her a hug before leaving on my motorcycle. I would have to track Allie on my own. I no longer trusted anyone to take care of her in my absence, except John maybe.
I rode my motorcycle back to Saturn base, and walked to Jerap’s old quarters. Jerap had been paying for a woman to care for his cat but had left instructions to give the cat to me once I arrived. The cat sitter was waiting for me when I walked on base. Jerap had known the exact day and time I would arrive to pick up his cat. I put Shakespeare the cat in his kennel and walked to my shuttle. I passed Mr. Fausto on my way out.
“Hey Talon, be careful out there. We have agents being strung up in potato fields and stabbed in their own homes.” When he finished speaking, he shot me a knowing look.
“Thanks for the heads up,” I said with a slight smirk.
Even if Mr. Fausto wanted to, he couldn’t prove it was me. Bryant and Glenda would never talk without having to admit the reason I came after them. They tried to get around a level fifty-four order. Their heads would be on sticks and sent to the council. I boarded my shuttle, so ready to see Seraphine.
Chapter Fifteen
Seraphine - November 29, 2009
Talon was gone for three days this time. I missed him, but it gave me time to process what Jerap had shown me. I had avoided telling Talon the entire truth. Talon and I didn’t keep secrets from each other, but what Jerap had shown me had to do with Talon’s biggest trigger—his sister.
Talon was already understandably riled up about what happened to Allie. I would have loved to have knocked a few heads with him over it. I had only met Allie once, but I cared very much about her. I loved Talon more than I’d ever loved anyone, and I could gauge the damage that would be done if he lost her.
