by Dean Jones
“Who are you?” He grunted through his gritted teeth.
“Oh, I am nobody in particular, just an interested party who is keen to learn exactly what you know and how you...erm…tick.” The sickly politeness in the man’s voice struck a chord in his memory but when he tried to place it the pictures of his family resurfaced so he continued to struggle to keep his mind here and now.
“You see Seth, I have been looking for you for a very, very long time. In fact, I actually thought you dead and I will admit when I considered it I felt a tinge of sadness and a lot of regrets” he clicked his fingers and one of the trailing men placed a chair beside him. The man lowered himself onto the chair and placed his hands onto his knees and gently tapped an unknown beat as he stared down at Seth.
Uncomfortable as the buzzing was Seth didn’t much like being looked down on and so fought to raise himself up onto his knees, so he was face to face with this man, whoever he was.
“You are so strong Seth, I have never met anyone who had your strength of will and character, but I suppose it is to be expected. It’s a shame that things have turned out the way they have as I did hold out some hope we could have been partners and worked together in the best interest of each other. Mainly in my interests but you’ll agree every partnership needs a leader.”
Seth clenched his jaw tightly as another wave of memories flooded his mind along with that god damned buzzing!
“So strong, it is incredibly impressive.” The man mused.
“To business, are you in a position to provide me with some answers and cooperation?”
Seth was trying hard to maintain his grip on his emotions as the image of his wife dead was something he wouldn’t believe and so he fought back the pain and tried to focus on the man in front of him.
“Where am I?” he growled.
“I want you to answer my questions Seth, I am not here for yours.”
Seth gritted his teeth again and struggled as another wave of memories flooded his mind.
“I don’t care, tell me where I am and where my family is!” he spat.
“Ah well I see you need some, how do I put this…persuasion,” he lifted himself with an effort from the chair and turned slowly back towards the door before shuffling out.
As he passed the two men he paused, whispered something inaudible and left closing the door softly behind him with a snap.
The buzzing subsided slightly and as Seth’s mind cleared a little he saw the larger of the two men advancing on him. The man raised his hand before bringing it down with a fury in his eyes, which promised nothing but pain.
Seth took the punch and only slightly moved to the side before a knee connected with his nose and he fell backwards.
Two pairs of hands grabbed his shoulders and he considered fighting back but the buzzing wouldn’t let him formulate any kind of defence never mind attack.
He was dragged back to the bed and roughly thrown onto it.
Seth watched through watery eyes as the smaller man dragged the chair and sat down next to him. He coughed to clear his throat and to perhaps get Seth’s attention.
“My name, Mr Goodman, is Agent Clarence Harvey, and I am here at the direct request of the United States government to ascertain your intentions and discover whether you can be useful to us in some way.” The accent was from the southern states, Seth knew straight away, possibly Georgia though he hadn’t been there in a long time he did remember their particular twang when they spoke. Clearly, he was educated, and the drawl of the words wasn’t the same as the locals he had met all those years ago.
His head was clearing now, and he raised himself onto his elbow and took in the man called ‘Agent Clarence Harvey’. His blonde hair was slicked back, and he could see the contempt in his steely blue eyes.
“Now I would prefer it if we didn’t have to ask my friend, Agent Blakeford, to strike you again, though I must admit it does give me immense pleasure to watch him work” Agent Blakeford wrung his hands and Seth looked him up and down considering him. He was a large man both in height and stature.
Clearly works out Seth thought. His short brown hair was parted to one side and very neatly cropped he noted.
“Agent Blakeford does like to get the answers for me but as I said I am hoping you will cooperate willingly?” This was clearly both a question and a threat. Seth shrugged slightly before pushing himself quickly to a seated position facing the two ‘Agents’. He took a little satisfaction at the instinctive flinches from both men and smiled to himself as he continued to try and get the measure of what was going on.
“I still don’t know what you have me held here for, perhaps you tell me some things and I will tell you some things?” Seth asked, though he figured the answer wouldn’t be a cooperative one.
“This is not a negotiation, Mr Goodman, this is an interrogation” Agent Harvey laughed and looked up at his colleague who was also smiling.
“You clearly do not fully understand the situation you find yourself in…I want information and you will give it to me…either willingly or I will extract it from your bloody, toothless mouth!”
The hairs on his arms stood again and he felt a static electricity pass over him. The buzzing continued but the images had been pushed to the back of his mind.
“Where are my family?” Seth asked as he needed answers too and threats from this man were not enough to stop him asking questions.
“That’s a question I will be only too happy to answer…they are dead, Mr Goodman, you killed them”
Seth’s mind again filled with pictures and he started to feel a sense of loss. He shook his head to try and get the sight of them out, but they were stuck.
“Yes, you remember don’t you, killed along with all those other innocent bystanders…you see that’s why we are here because two days ago you somehow killed fifty-seven people. All that remained were their charred and lifeless bodies and yet you don’t have a mark on you,” he leaned forward and grabbed Seth’s arm.
“How did you do it, Mr Goodman, this is the answer my government want to know?” he squeezed the arm tightly and Seth looked down at the hand and quick as a flash and without thinking he had hold of the agent's arm.
Instinct kicked in and Seth knew he had the measure of both these men.
Slowly his gaze moved from the arm now in his right hand up to the shocked face of the agent in front of him.
“I asked where my family were, I do not believe what you are saying and want to know, now.” The calmness in his voice was chilling and the agent grabbed at his fingers with his free hand before looking to his friend who obligingly started to punch Seth in the head.
Seth wasn’t interested in the blows, instead, he increased the pressure of his grip and slowly twisted the arm watching the contempt be replaced by pain on Agent Harvey’s face.
Agent Blakeford was screaming now and Seth was aware of the door opening and more men entering, but his focus stayed on this man who was lying to him. Bearing his teeth, he gave a flick of his wrist and the sickening snap made everyone stop.
Agent Harvey screamed, and several hands grabbed at Seth’s arms and shoulders trying to get him off their colleague as he started to whimper on the floor, having fallen from the chair when his arm broke.
He could taste the blood now rolling down his head into his mouth from the blows he had taken from Agent Blakeford, but he didn’t care because the buzzing was subsiding as his anger built. He wouldn’t be kept here and if he had to fight his way through all these men then he would.
“STOP!” someone shouted, and all the men did as they were instructed. Seth looked up from Agent Harvey to see a newcomer entering the room. This one wasn’t wearing the suits which marked the other agents, he was wearing a white medical coat and he confidently walked up to Seth and Harvey and looked down at the now crushed arm still in Seth’s hand.
“Seth, I am Doctor Garrett” a flicker of memory at the name made him look up into the kind brown eyes of this man. His curled brown hai
r fell around his face and he smiled at Seth.
“That’s right, just focus on me. Now can you please let go of Mr Harvey’s arm, so my team can see about fixing the damage that looks quite extensive?” it was a polite English accent and Seth was off guard as he’d been focused on fighting back but his demeanour showed no fear of Seth nor concern for Harvey.
Slowly Seth released the arm and Harvey threw himself backwards away from them.
“You fucking barbarian, I will pull out your fucking eyes!” he spat as Agent Blakeford helped him up from the floor
“Kill this mother fucker, Ted,” he said to Blakeford who, for a second, looked like he was going to until Doctor Garrett raised his hand to stall the movement.
“Now, I don’t think killing our guest would be the most appropriate action given the circumstances we all find ourselves in would it, Mr Blakeford?” Ted stopped and shrank back, clearly, the doctor was in charge.
More men in white coats escorted Harvey out of the door with Blakeford following behind. Outside Seth could see a long corridor leading away from his room.
“Nasty business really, such a shame to meet in these circumstances but these are sometimes how the best results are obtained.” Garrett mused.
“I am terribly sorry for your loss Seth, I am sure you are feeling pretty low?” Seth did feel pain when there was mention of his family and this inference they were dead hit him harder than when he had been told they were.
“However, they do say Karma is a bitch and you are by no means an innocent after the things you have done…” the doctor drifted off for a second, clearly remembering something.
“Yes, well, nothing to be done about the past so best to move forward into the future is what I say.” Seth was taken aback at this chipper comment considering it was just a second ago he was giving Seth his condolences.
“They are not dead!” Seth stated, more for his own sanity.
“What? Oh, of course, they’re dead my good fellow, saw photographs of the bodies myself no sense settling into denial, you need to address the facts that way we can get this moving along nicely.”
He got to his feet and took Seth’s head in his hands and examined the damage caused by Blakeford and the others trying to free Harvey.
“Hmm…well this won’t do at all” he said “I’m afraid you’re going to need stitches in a couple of those cuts Seth and in an ideal world I’d get right onto it but unfortunately orders are orders,” he reached into his pocket and took out some gauze and sticking plaster and started to dress the wounds.
“Best I can do under the circumstances,” he said apologetically as he worked.
Once he finished he reached into his other pocket and Seth was grabbed firmly by both arms as the syringe was stuck into his neck and Doctor Garrett pushed the plunger down so the contents flooded into his bloodstream.
“There now, that should let you sleep for an hour or so” Seth felt his limbs become heavy and couldn’t resist as he was guided to lie on the bed.
“Well, have a nice rest. I do hope you will be more cooperative when you wake?” Seth's eyelids became heavy. “With luck, the cuts will have congealed sufficiently by then. No point in you spoiling everyone’s plans by bleeding to death now is there?” The room started to go out of focus as his eyes closed and blackness took him.
Where Is He?
Marcy dragged Hope from the floor and looked around for Seth but in the melee of screaming people, running this way and that trying to avoid whatever it was that had caused the explosion, she couldn’t see where he had gone.
They had been stood behind him as he faced off with those fanatics but where was he now?
As the area began to clear she moved behind a building nearby with Hope in tow to try and get a view on the scene and see if Seth was anywhere close by.
There were men in black suits picking through prone bodies on the ground and she saw one body being turned over and saw it was Brian, the leader of the group who had been hounding them for the last twelve months. Instantly she could tell he was dead and presumed the rest of his cronies alongside him were likely in the same state and she felt…glad. This feeling made her instantly guilty, but she couldn’t escape it, she was happy he was dead as now they had a chance of a normal life without being persecuted by people like him.
All she needed now was to find Seth, so they could leave.
Several minutes passed and a cordon had been erected along with some screens around the piles of lifeless bodies which had been moved while the men in suits searched for something.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement and turned her head to see an arm raised from the ground…someone was still alive!
“Hope, stay here and don’t be seen” she instructed as she stole herself to leave the hiding spot to get a better view of this arm and the person attached to it. She somehow knew it was Seth even before she saw his face and the relief when she saw it was him was immense.
Just as she prepared to run to his side to help him get up there was a cry from her left.
“Over here…quickly…I think that’s him there.” There was a stamping of feet as several of the men rushed to where he was, and Marcy knew she couldn’t reach him.
As two of the men lifted him from the ground by his arms a third, to Marcy’s horror, punched him in the stomach. She froze and stared in shock at the men who, until now, she had thought were there to help. She had convinced herself as she left her hiding spot that they were some kind of police or agency of the government here to make sense of what had occurred. She could now clearly see it was Seth they were searching for.
She froze to the spot and took another look at what was going on.
Marcy watched as the dead bodies were being unceremoniously thrown into the backs of trucks as people in white coveralls cleaned the area of debris. There was no attempt at an investigation, as she would have expected, the police were being confined to crowd control as those in black suits went about their business and it was clear that their only intention was to find Seth and, as now they had him, they were making their way back to their cars. The sound of a siren broke her concentration and she looked spotted a black van hurtling towards them.
She looked back towards where she had spotted Seth moments ago. He was standing unsteadily between two of the men and knew she was in danger too but couldn’t stop herself and called out to her husband.
“SETH, SETH…IT WILL BE OK, STAY STRONG!” several sets of eyes turned in her direction including the two men carrying her husband. Seth made eye contact and she was sure he recognised her before he was tasered by a third man and bundled into the now waiting van.
Knowing she was now exposed, she turned and ran back to Hope grabbing her hand as she stopped in front of her. “Quickly darling, we must move, daddy has been taken and the men are coming for us, WE HAVE TO MOVE!”
Hope instantly took stock of the situation and understood what was needed and sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her alongside her mother and out of the street into the London crowds.
Behind them they could hear shouts of ‘Find them’ and ‘down here’ but she knew that in the crowd of people, still milling about confused and looking for answers about what had just happened, they would be able to disappear.
They were moving quickly but had stopped running as to run was to attract attention. It had been around ten minutes since they had set off and Marcy had zigzagged through the streets towards Paddington before, finally satisfied she wasn’t being followed, came back on herself and walked down Sussex Gardens and into a hotel where she proceeded to book a room for the rest of the week.
The kind receptionist offered them both a drink as they stood waiting for their key.
“You look like you’ve just run the marathon” she explained in her eastern European accent.
“We’ve been rushing looking for hotels,” Marcy explained, “it’s been a bit hectic in London and everywhere seems to be booked up.
The rece
ptionist nodded unconvinced.
“Any luggage madam?” the receptionist inquired.
“No, my husband has our cases and will be joining us shortly.” Marcy smiled an unconcerned smile and signed the form she was presented with.
The receptionist took the completed document with a nod.
“Will you be paying by cash or card madam?” she asked expectantly.
“Oh, cash please…I find it much easier than cards,” Marcy replied thinking cash is less traceable, so they should be safe.
“Thank you, madam,” the receptionist said taking the cash from Marcy and tapping away on her computer. “Your room number is two four seven and is on the second floor, the lifts are just to the side,” she pointed “or you can take the stairs behind you?” She pulled the card from the machine and passed it over the counter.
With that Marcy took the card and Hope’s hand and made her way to the lift.
Once in their room, Marcy rushed to the window to look out and make sure they hadn’t been followed. Checking the road, she saw no unusual movements or any of the men dressed in black suits who had been lifting her husband into the back of a van.
Hope was shaking with shock and had sat on the edge of the bed. Marcy sat beside her and put her arm around her shoulders.
“It’s OK sweetheart, it will all be fine,” she rubbed her arm and pulled her head into her neck.
“What happened?” Hope asked.
“I think your dad used his gifts to save us, it’s the only explanation”
“But why isn’t he with us?”
Marcy smiled and thought for a second, it was strange he hadn’t been able to leave with them as he is immune to his own gifts and there was no logical explanation as to why he hadn’t come with them.
“I don’t know sweetheart, I only know if he could have then he would be here now” she got up and went back to the window.
Hope looked at her mother stood by the window and wondered what could keep her dad from them, in all her years she had never seen him as angry as he was today. She recalled seeing the group led by the madman circling them and her dad in the centre telling them to leave his family alone.
