Hollow

by Lee Doty

  “You are like Jo… uh, Ash?”

  He nodded.

  “What is your name?”

  “My real name is Paulo. Paulo Quebrado.”

  “Broken?”

  “You speak Portuguese?”

  “Probably less than a thousand words at my peak. Spent nine months in Brazil fighting Jihad Islamica and a couple other terrorist groups.”

  The priest smiled wistfully. “Father DeFranchesco, the priest who saved me after Virginia, said he’d found me broken on the road to Damascus.”

  Jackie shook her head, “Damascus, like in Syria?”

  “Long story. I’m guessing you speak less than a thousand words of New Testament.” He said with a warm smile.

  “A priest saved you after Virginia?” Jackie’s eyes widened, “That Virginia? You were there for the assault on the compound last year?”

  The priest nodded. “I came with the rest to destroy you. I made another choice. I chose her.”

  “Chose Jo?” Jackie knew very little about the specifics of the Virginia attack. She knew that Jo came in like a Trojan horse, trailing breadcrumbs (to not only mix, but murder two metaphors), she’d seen the damage to the compound a month later, knew that the reconstruction was still ongoing, and that quite a few agents lost their lives that night. She knew three agents who had died personally, but she was in the field when it happened and the details were need-to-know. She knew it was brutal, she knew it was a very near thing, and she knew that several Dragon teams had made the assault and that only one had made it out.

  “What do you mean ‘chose her’?” Jackie asked.

  “I mean that my options were to die or kill her, along with everyone else.” The priest said, “I chose to die. I got lucky.” The priest paused, considering, then he gave Jackie a direct look and said “Now I see the hand of God in it.”

  Jackie, though driving the priest’s car, had been looking at him indirectly as much as possible, watching for queues to try to discern what might be behind his words. Now that she had stopped the car, she was giving him her full attention. She was trained in gathering human intelligence, and this intelligence opportunity promised a critical insight into the workings or identity of their nebulous enemy. All of this was why Jackie was paying such intense analytical attention to the priest’s words, body language, expressions… this was why she got such a clear reading of earnestness when the priest spoke about God.

  A possibility opened in her mind that had not occurred to her before. “You are really a priest.” She said, shocked.

  He smiled, “You are a keen observer.” He said, hooking a thumb at his white collar.

  “No, I mean you’re really a priest. I thought this was some kind of elaborate and ironic disguise.”

  “Duh.” He said simply, smile broadening, then he added, “I guess it was all the efficient murder that threw you off my scent there.” He paused, “And of course me knocking you out and stealing all your stuff… including your gun and this nice phone with the tracker app.”

  Jackie shook her head, “When you said Father DeFranchesca…”

  “DeFranchesco… stop analyzing my story.”

  Jackie huffed out a small incredulous laugh, “Touché. When you said that he found you on the road, I thought you meant that you’d taken his clothes or something… terminator style.”

  “Well,” he said, waggling her phone in the air, “I can’t blame you for that, I guess.”

  Jackie gave him a look. He continued, “I guess I did take his clothes after a manner of speaking. After I’d mastered the scriptures, he was the one who took my vows, gave me my first fancy suit like the one I’m wearing now.”

  “You are putting me on.”

  “I see how you’re looking at me.” He said with a small shake of his head, “Am I putting you on?”

  Jackie’s eyes narrowed, “No. No, I don’t believe you are.”

  “If you have time to go over a few pamphlets… I’ve got some in the glove box… compelling stuff about sin and repentance… there is one with brimstone.”

  Jackie shook her head, “This is easily the weirdest night of my life.”

  The priest shrugged.

  “Paulo,” Jackie asked, sparing him another direct look, “Let me call my friends. They can help us, help us find Jo, help us get her somewhere safer.”

  The priest shook his head and again regarded her phone. “Let’s just keep moving for now. Turn right at the next block.”

  Jackie got the car moving, frustration warring with wonder in her head and heart. She took a deep breath and tried to shrug some of the tension out of her shoulders. “I understand that you don’t trust my friends yet.” She gave him a sidelong glance, “But thanks for trusting me.”

  “So far.” He said with a small grin.

  “So far.” She nodded, returning his grin.

  ***

  “Slower.” Xian said again. “The point of using the tracking drone is that we don’t see them, which means they can’t possibly see us.”

  Jayda nodded, decelerating. According to the tracker they’d flown into the old Nissan’s wheel well, the little rusty car was two blocks ahead and three blocks to the right, moving away from them at a right angle. Jayda was still half a block from the intersection where she would turn right to parallel their quarry’s path. If she’d sped up and turned too quickly, there would have still been no way they could have been seen by the priest and the woman with the assault rifle. Jayda knew that she wasn’t following too closely, but that’s not what mattered. What mattered was that the handler thought she was following too closely, and rather than attempt to argue her innocence, it was far better to simply comply than to risk the kind of harsh and arbitrary consequences that Xian was known for in the organization.

  “Also, the point of me giving instructions is so I don’t have to give them again more forcefully.” Xian continued.

  “That was the last repeated instruction I’ll need, sir.” Jayda said, hoping desperately that she was masking the knot of fear in her guts. As long as she seemed competent and confident, she’d be okay. If she didn’t show weakness, as long as she obeyed quickly, as long as she didn’t hesitate, she’d be fine. She hoped. Xian was a legend. He was a legend because of his pedigree—the last remaining soldier of the Beta program. He was a legend because of his effectiveness, his tactical genius, his ruthless, and uncompromising intelligence. Of course, Jayda thought with a sinking flutter in her stomach, Xian was most legendary for the cheerful murder of his subordinates.

  “Music to my ears.” Xian smiled enthusiastically, but Jayda correctly perceived the threat behind the simple statement.

  ***

  “Wait, I know this neighborhood!” Jackie said, pulling to a stop at a red light. “I’ve only been here once, but I think I know where Jo is, why the trackers stopped moving.”

  The priest looked up from Jackie’s phone, eyes bright. “Yes?”

  “Is she in that big brownstone building ahead? The one two blocks up on the right?”

  The priest consulted her stolen phone again, then nodded. “Could be… she’s definitely on that block, right side and maybe eighty feet up.” He looked up from the phone, giving Jackie his full attention. “What’s in that building?”

  “She’s at Jeremy’s!” Jackie said as if he should know what that meant.

  When he gave her a dull stare, she continued, “He’s her half-ex-boyfriend… I’m sure that’s his building… I think his condo is on the seventh or eighth floor.” Jackie looked about quickly, “We can pull into the parking garage there. It’s over a block away and it’s a bit more expensive so the locals don’t use it as much as the one on the next block. Should give us a place to collect ourselves and plan our…” Jackie noticed the priest’s intensely sharp stare and faltered. “Uh… I’m not trying to set you up or uh… you know… just trying to be uh… helpful.” Jackie trailed off as his stare only intensified.

  Jackie wanted to show her submissiveness by wai
ting for him to speak, but found herself rambling again, looking for absolution from this fierce priest. “You know I’m still committed to our deal, right? I’m still respecting the pinky swear.” She tried to catch his eye to give him some kind of friendly gesture, but his cold, calculating eye caught her instead and completely eviscerated her cool.

  “I don’t uh… have to stop in… uh, the garage if you don’t think it’s… no need for hard feelings.”

  “Boyfriend?” the priest asked with the intensity of a pre-murder monologue.

  And Jackie understood.

  And the realization caught her by surprise, like a perfectly executed Judo throw. She barely felt the hands that had thrown her from the heights of fear and to the ground of mirth with a savage force that shattered her.

  Judo soft, the brief yet perniciously amusing thought flashed across her stunned mind, “If you laugh, you will be killed.”

  This was the most important situation in her long and interesting career, and it required every ounce of her most serious focus, but she was going to get murdered for laughing at a killer’s feelings… she knew it like she knew that life was not fair, like she knew that good people suffer, like she knew that the lottery was a game for suckers… the laughter was unavoidable. Not here yet, but she could feel the illusory vibrations closing in on her, stalking through her chest and throat like a hunting cat, patient and subtle… she was going to laugh and that was going to get her murdered.

  She didn’t trust herself to speak, didn’t dare meet his eyes again. Think of something sad, she thought in pure desperation, but the first three sad things that crossed her mind were about unrequited love and that most definitely did not help. Puppies, she thought, starving puppies… didn’t he look like a starving puppy right now?

  She was going to die.

  Her lips were already twitching even as her brow furrowed with fierce concentration. With every ounce of her considerable discipline she fought it, but the smile would win, then the laughter would win.

  And then she was going to get shot… but maybe only in the leg if she were really, really lucky.

  As she was fighting this desperate battle… mouth pulling slowly, abortively toward a smile that was her doom with eyes made hollow by desperation, the priest noticed what was happening. His eyes widened slightly in comprehension, then narrowed in an expression that Jackie read as self-conscious hurt, leavened with embarrassment. As understanding dawned on him that she was trying very hard not to laugh at him, his hard eyes calculated, calculated then slightly widened.

  And he gave a strangled snicker, then his voice escaped into the expression, making it a full giggle.

  Like a five year old hearing his first poop-oriented joke, he giggled and then he laughed. His laughter was warm and infectious but Jackie was already fevered to the point of death. She laughed too, but while he laughed in embarrassed acknowledgement, she laughed in a hopelessly deflated relief. Finally, it was over and they sat before the green traffic light.

  “So… Garage?” Jackie asked.

  The priest nodded, blushing. His white scars stood out more starkly on his newly crimson face.

  Jackie stepped on the gas and the car moved forward into the intersection. “I said ‘half ex’” she gave the priest a sidelong glance and a small smile, “Not just ‘boyfriend’”.

  The scars stood out whiter still by contrast, though he said nothing.

  ***

  Cleric Bai stood before the tactical display that covered the front wall of the semi’s trailer. The two remaining clerics were just taking their seats behind him when his commlink buzzed. He thumbed the channel open without looking away from the display. “Bai.” He said into the open connection.

  “Is there a revised ETA on the other teams?” Xian asked without preamble.

  “Delta’s transport is on the ground and the hood is off.” Bai said, “ETA ten minutes to your general location.” Bai checked another area of the display before him, then added, “Wolf is on-station and unhooded six blocks away.”

  “You followed my instructions about the womb interfaces, yes?” Xian asked, his voice all clipped efficiency.

  “Of course, Xian.” Bai responded, careful to allow nothing but humble efficiency into the tone of his voice. “Delta is in a stolen electrical service van, Wolf is in the back of a classic 1970’s era restored van… they are actually sitting on a waterbed.”

  “Truly?” Xian asked, voice affable. It was as close to praise as Xian ever got.

  “Truly.” Bai confirmed.

  “Please inform cleric Jing that I’ll need to talk to him in the next staff meeting.” Xian said blandly.

  A thrill of anticipation tinged with icy fear ran up Bai’s spine and seemed to settle at the base of his neck. “Pardon me, Xian,” Bai said, emphasizing subservience, “But I dealt rather harshly with both Cleric Jing and cleric Long when their incompetence contributed to the loss of their teams at the train station.”

  There was silence on the line for a few seconds, but that time lengthened into a black ocean of smothering fear for Bai.

  “Now who will I use as an object lesson in our next meeting?” Xian asked, voice still jovial.

  Terror crashed over Bai, his vision wavered under it; the world got darker. But Bai’s voice was neutral when he spoke, “I of course have the full video mission logs.” He said, voice perfectly cold, “A picture speaks a thousand words.”

  “Indeed, Bai. But the smell and the feel of the real experience is a lesson not easily forgotten.”

  Another pause as Bai simply showed conversational passivity. It was what Xian liked, the feeling of leaving others speechless and helpless.

  “Head or gut?” Xian asked finally.

  “Yes.” Bai responded, forcing a cold smile into the words.

  “Belt and suspenders, eh?” Xian said conspiratorially.

  “Yes sir.” Bai said, “Cleric Jing appealed to my mercy at one point. The two remaining Clerics just got the bodies into the freezer.”

  “Well, that will have to do.” Xian said, an edge of petulance in his voice. “Get the two remaining teams to the coordinates I’m sending to you now, and make sure their Clerics are clear on the particular dangers and importance of this mission. We’ve now got at least two members of Phoenix on the board, though they are not yet acting as a team. We will want to prevent that particular eventuality. Stay sharp, Bai.”

  “Yes sir.” Bai said

  “If you need to replace another cleric,” Xian said, “Be ready to step into his place, Bai.”

  “Yes sir.” Bai said again, but Xian had already broken the connection.

  ***

  “I don’t see how else to play it.” Jackie said reasonably, putting the priest’s old blue Nissan into park in a remote corner of the fourth level of the parking garage two blocks from Jeremy’s apartment. “Come with me to Jeremy’s, if it’s just him and Jo, I’ll insure Jeremy won’t do anything stupid.”

  “And when it’s not just him and Jo?” The priest asked his smile genuine, his eyes sharp.

  “Then I will explain and they will understand.” Jackie said with all the conviction she could muster, which wasn’t much.

  The priest shook his head. “I will not leave Ash’s fate in the hands of an unknown threat.”

  “But you left her fate in our hands when you left her with me… when you didn’t kill me in that stairwell, when you didn’t just take her away.” Jackie paused, she’d been so busy surviving that the question hadn’t yet occurred to her, “Why did you let her fall back into our hands then?”

  “That was different.” The priest said simply, “Primarily because I was still free, still there, unknown, watching—ready to act to protect her; from you if necessary.”

  “Ah.” Jackie said, nodding, “You could still step back in to finish the job if necessary… after you saw more of how deep our defenses were around her.”

  The priest nodded, “It wasn’t safe to take her before.” He gave her
a direct look, “I needed to know how clearly she was seen, how tightly she was held. When I found your monitoring device, then the machine it was monitoring in her chest, I knew that I didn’t have the ability to take her from you cleanly or directly…”

  “Directly?” Jackie’s eyes widened, “Are you saying you called the Dragons to remove our protection around her?”

  “No.” The priest stated simply, then he shrugged, “Well yes, indirectly. How do you think the police got word of the attack in the stairwell so quickly?”

  “You called it in?” Jackie’s mouth pinched, somewhere between anger and disgust, “Good people died.”

  “Yes, your air cover.” The priest said, his voice gentle, and for a moment Jackie could see him consoling a mourning widow in his day job. “But you have to understand the situation before you judge me too harshly.” He paused, “I hurt you… set things in motion that caused your friends to be killed. Should I just apologize and let you grieve, or would you like to understand.” The priest’s face was earnest, his eyes clear.

  Jackie thought that she had already expended all the amazement she had, but clearly she was now living on credit… he was actually concerned for her feelings, trying to respect her grief, trying to help. She took a second to find, then compose her voice, “Yes. Please, I’d very much like to understand.”

  The priest nodded, “Then please understand that I still do not know your friends, and when I formulated this plan, I didn’t know them or you at all.” The priest’s clear eyes looked at her, imploring. “Everyone was a threat. So when I found that I couldn’t take her cleanly, I called the police, even sent a few pictures of the ‘victims’ with an anonymized crime report. I made sure that Jo’s face was prominently featured in the pictures. When the initial police incident went out, those pictures likely tripped whatever daemons my old masters are using to watch for their missing Falcons…”