by Rufus Offor
‘I’ve got an inkling!’ he said wiping the blood from around his mouth and nose.
‘I have been very patient with you Mr Stain. You have received the highest possible treatment, have been nursed back to health by some very competent people and still you remember nothing. I was going to give you one more week and then I was going to personally make sure that the rest of your life would be spent in no small amount of discomfort. But you have violated my office without being invited, which means that unless the reason for your actions is anything but memory related I will not wait for the week to play out. I’ll damn well kill you with my bare hands right here.’
‘I remembered!’ said Justin.
The Boss’ jaw dropped. He hadn’t really expected the revelation to come at all. In fact, he’d become resigned to the idea that the hunt was well and truly over, that Mr Winkle had won.
‘Tarquin,’ Said the Boss once he’d regained his composure, ‘break out the champagne… and I mean the good stuff.’
The Boss’ phone rang, ‘Yes…’ there was a pause while the person on the other end of the phone spoke, ‘well I suggest that you find your way down here, we’re about to open a very choice bottle of bubbly and it’d be wonderful if you could join us and tell us all about it.’
The grin that spread across The Boss’ pale, pasty, damp skinned face made Justin feel a little sick. It had malice in it that made the air smell like run over skunk, rotten carcass and burning flesh mixed with a little putrid bile. Hell was dripping from his intensions. His pleasure was hateful.
‘Sir?’ Ventured Justin.
‘That was Cat, she just had a phone conversation from someone very important to our cause. Someone who knows a little about Mr Winkle’ Said the Boss, and then hissed under his breath, ‘I’ve got you, I’ve damn well got you now you bastard!’
Justin Stain found The Boss’ expression gut wrenching.
‘It appears that we now know where they are heading Mr Stain. Combined with the proper frequency for the tracking device, we should be able provide a nice big welcoming committee for the snivelling little shit!’
Chapter 29
The Sphere Agent in the Opium Den
Carl was doing one of his favourite things, he was lying in an opium den and whiling away the hours between bouts of violence in a smoke filled stupor when someone he recognised walked in.
The room he was in was the only one in the building. It was fairly sizeable, at least thirty foot square and had a number of yellow stained silk screens partitioning off the dozens of bunks. The bunks were littered with blankets and cushions, designed to induce the highest level of horizontal comfort that the single roomed bamboo hut could supply while the air bled thick plumes of reality altering smoke, paralysing its inhabitants with a deep joyful daze.
Carl, due to the chip in his head that turned him into a super soldier, took a great deal more opium than anyone else in the room and was still not completely stupefied. His wits were still very much with him; they pierced the catatonic daze no matter how vehemently and greedily he sucked on his opium pipe. For the most part the drug’s job was to keep his propensity for bad judgement and psychotic behaviour to a minimum, it was just a bonus that it got him a bit stoned.
The person that had just entered the room was the kind of person that Carl would have much rather not bumped into, but as fate would have it the encounter was one that he would have hated to have missed.
The man was lead across the room by one of the hosts, a small Thai woman who carried an ornate wooden box in which the tools of the opium distributor were arranged with almost religious reverence. The man’s eyes suspiciously scanned the room as Carl watched him through a crack in his silk and wood partition. There was no way that the man had seen Carl but he couldn’t risk it. He would have to be eliminated.
The man was a mercenary, just as Carl was but unlike Carl he was still very loyal to the Sphere of influence. If he was in the area then others from the Sphere might be. Carl had to find out who was close by and then make sure that the man never told anyone that he’d seen him. It would almost definitely mean that he’d have to leave the area, which disgruntled him somewhat as the looting was good and the opium dens were second to none.
‘So be it!’ He thought as he scowled through the screen, preparing himself for the confrontation. He would have to be careful, nobody could be allowed to see what he was up to, which wasn’t much of a worry as ninety nine percent of the people in there were completely incapacitated.
He waited until the man had settled into his cot, had his pipe stocked and lit for him and the host had gone back to her seat at the entrance. He dropped from his cot and tentatively crawled on his belly through the maze of intoxication, slowly creeping up on the man. He drew a very large and nasty looking knife as he approached him from behind, slowly edging the blade around to point at his jugular.
‘Hello Kenny!’ he whispered in the man’s ear.
‘Hello?’ asked the man as if to the ether. His stone had well and truly kicked in, altering his perception, he didn’t have a clue where the voice was coming from and for a moment thought that he was on the phone, but then he realised that he didn’t even have a phone, then thought about how nice it would be to have a phone out in the jungle, you could call sex chat lines when you were bored or find out what time is was in Alaska.
‘Kenny?’ A voice brought him back from a little mental visit to Alaska.
‘Is there someone there or is this just really good stuff?’ Kenny asked the air.
‘I’m here Kenny, its Carl and the sharp thing at your throat is called “a bloody huge hunk of metal designed to cut things into little pieces” and we’d like to have a little word.’
‘Carl?’ said Kenny, ‘What… Carl Brown from North Berwick High school?’
‘No you pillock, Carl, nasty piece of work with a computer chip in his brain that turned him into a maniac killer!’
‘Oh that Carl!’ Kenny grinned widely as if very pleased with himself for enacting some super natural feat of memory but then his expression began to change as memories of blood and violence crawled into his mind, linking with the man standing over him. His face dropped slowly, ending in something not far off absolute terror, which is impressive as it’s quite difficult to be colossally stoned and terrified at the same time.
‘Holy shit,’ he said, ‘that Carl!’
‘Now we’re getting somewhere, I need to ask you a few things before I kill you. Now, you can answer and die quickly, or you resist and I can spend the rest of the night making you spectacularly uncomfortable.’
‘Oh man, look I just came in here to chill out for a while man, what’s with all the agro, here, let be buy you a big pipe.’
‘I don’t need a big pipe Kenny, I need you to answer some questions.’ Carl’s voice broke Kenny’s battered senses like a heart attack in the middle of a laughing fit. ‘How many other agents are there in the area?’
‘Agents? There aren’t any… hhhhmmmmmpppphhh!’ Carl’s hand had covered Kenny’s mouth as the stupidly large knife started carving the word “bollocks” into his collar bone.
‘Now… there are lots of bones in your body Kenny and I pretty much know how to get at them all in a very nasty way without killing you. So, I’ll ask you again. How many agents are there in the area?’
‘Come on man,’ pleaded Kenny through a wall of pain, ‘I saved your life back in school man!’
‘That’s a different Carl, we’ve already been through this!’ said Carl as he carved the word “wanker” next to the other word.
‘Jesus Christ man I’m telling you, they are no agents in the area!’
“Tosser” etched in the back of his skull.
‘Stop it, God stop it… look, just relax for a second, I’ve got information for you, something you’ll want to know, just stop that for a minute would man, please, for me, for high school!’ Said Kenny, in a strange mixture of extreme stone, terror and pain, too mashed to discern between old
school friends and psychotic mercenaries with very big knives.
‘Tell me and I’ll make it quick’
‘The whole organisation’s been on tenterhooks ever since Shoop Winkle disappeared.’ He rattled out, ‘The Boss wants him really bad, and you, and all the other guys that he hired but the Boss found out where he’s going next. He’s planning an ambush.’
Carl couldn’t believe his luck.
‘Where!?’
Chapter 30
Shoop is a Blur
The silence at the castle was palpable. The bustling hordes that had been lapping up the atmosphere surrounding the Shoop TV evenings had gone. Over the months more and more of them had taken up permanent residence there but the news that Shoop Winkle and his cronies were on their way, and that Shoop was displaying higher, more vicious powers than ever before, had forced Jill to ask everyone to leave.
Shoop’s sixth sense had gone haywire.
He was sharper, quicker, stronger and more brutal than anyone had ever dreamed possible. He was even surprising himself. His abilities had increased by a factor of fifty easily. His bones rattled, his teeth ached, his muscles were an odd mix of limber yet taught and sinewy. He was becoming something abnormal, unnatural. He was becoming exactly the sort of thing that he’d spent his whole life hunting and killing with such rampant abandon and he had no idea why.
Jill knew though.
She knew, which was why she opted to stay behind at the castle and wait for him, much to the pain of all her followers. Especially Ben.
The sun poked over the horizon, painting the highlands island landscape blood red and orange. The snows had melted and the interesting little winter flowers that Jill had created for a laugh had all withered to make way for the spring blooms. The trees hadn’t blossomed yet as the last winter chills hung on for dear life and the entire vista looked barren, red and hellish.
It was going to be a very long day.
Jill stood on the ramparts of the castle with a good hot mug of herbal tea, scanning the view, absorbing it, taking in every moment as she knew that she wouldn’t be back there again any time soon, if at all.
She was feeling pretty positive though. She knew that she was about to die and was quite looking forward to it. Dieing was always really interesting; linking back in with the ether, the pull back to conscious reality. It was like no rollercoaster she’d ever been on and she’d been on a lot of rollercoasters. She really liked the way her tummy tickled when she plummeted down on them.
She was also looking forward to her new body. Whenever she got a new body it felt like the worlds biggest ever shopping trip where you look good in absolutely everything you put on. Loads of fun, and this time she was going for a hot blonde of Amazonian proportions, a look she’d never messed around with before and was thoroughly looking forward to it. She’d bought loads of sexy underwear for the occasion and was planning on prancing around to the soundtrack from cabaret. She’d even bought a bowler hat.
She’d made everyone leave the castle, but one person hadn’t. He’d hidden in a cupboard and waited for the rest of the house to vacate. He still had things on his mind and couldn’t leave without getting Jill on her own.
Jill heard footsteps behind her.
‘Hi Ben… how’s it going?’
‘How did you…’ the thought trailed off. ‘Never mind, I’m sure I wouldn’t understand how you knew I was still here anyway.’
‘We’ve spent enough time together for me to know when you’re planning on doing something sneaky.’ Said Jill with a cheeky grin.
Ben walked over to the ramparts where Jill was standing to watch the sunrise with her.
The land went from bloody red, pink and orange to light orange, yellow and then the sun poked it’s fiery head fully over the horizon, turning the sky blue and making shadows long. Freakishly, there were no birds singing. There was nothing but the sound of the wind brushing their ears. It was almost as if the island knew the wealth of carnage that was about to be visited on it.
Ben shivered.
‘Cold?’ asked Jill.
‘Not really… I don’t know what it is… something doesn’t feel quite right and I can’t put my finger on it but I know I don’t like it.’
‘Shall we go back in? They’re almost here and I suspect that we should have a little chat before they arrive. Anyway, I need a new cup of tea.’
‘Sounds like a plan.’ Said Ben, trying to sound light but with clear heavy undertones in his voice.
They made their way down the stone spiralling stairway and along the ancient corridors to Jill’s study where she put on the kettle and dropped some herbal tea into some mugs.
‘So,’ said Jill, ‘are you gonna tell me about it?’
‘What’s that then?’ Said Ben, still trying to sound light hearted but was soaked in the troubled undercurrents.
Jill simply looked at him and waited for him to drop his façade. He had no defence against her gaze and within seconds he saw the folly of pretending.
‘Jeez Jill, just once I’d like to be able to fool you.’
‘No you don’t’
‘Good point.’
‘So what’s going on Ben, why still here?’
‘You know already!’
‘Yeah but you need to tell me, otherwise you’d have left with the rest of them.’
Ben sighed, uncertain of how to start, ‘do you want to start, tell me what it is I’m doing here?’
‘No, love’ said Jill warmly, ‘I think on this occasion you should be telling me, but take your time though, we’ve still got a few hours.’
Ben stared off into the distance trying to arrange his thoughts. After a few minutes he piped up.
‘I couldn’t let it go. I just couldn’t go and leave you to face my brother all on your own.’
‘That’s part of it,’ said Jill, ‘but not the root.’
Ben felt a small stab of resentment toward her. She was always so damn right, how did she do that? How did she know what was lying under the surface without even trying?
‘Look… it’s just…’ another sigh. He realised that his anger at Jill’s prodding was misplaced. He wasn’t upset with her at all; he just didn’t want to admit that he was feeling the way he was feeling. He just wanted to be left alone to do what he had to do and he knew that talking to Jill would almost certainly stop him.
‘…it’s just… HIM!’ His face contorted as he said it, ‘you’ve meant the world to me. You picked me up off the streets and you made me see another side to life, a side that isn’t eternally painful and messed up. You helped me become the person that I’ve always wanted to be but there’s something of the old me left. The scared me, the me that accepted that things always turn out bad in the end. There’s a drop of cynicism left that he put there and I can’t let it go. I can’t get rid of it.’
‘He’s the personification of your torment isn’t he?’ Queried Jill.
‘Exactly!’ Ben exclaimed. ‘I have to see him, to stop him. I have to put this demon to rest inside me, and if I manage to stop him doing you any harm in the process then that’d be a bonus. I only know you for the way you are now. Little Jill, the chilled, out cool as Christmas, black hippy lady. I can’t imagine you any other way and part of me doesn’t want you to change. Damn it Jill why does this have to happen?’
‘Why does what have to happen?’
‘Why can’t you be somewhere else for fuck’s sake,’ tears began to well in his eyes and his voice shook slightly. He fought to keep control but he’d held it all in for far too long and there was no stopping the floodgates from opening. ‘Why do you HAVE to stay here and be killed? It doesn’t make any sense to me.’ He was gushing now. Sobs shook him. ‘I don’t get it… I just don’t get it man. You know what’s going to happen and you’re staying here anyway. You should leave and let ME deal with the Boss. This is what I was meant to do, not you, not you damn it. Facing him is meant to be, I can feel it in here!’ Ben slapped his hand firmly into his chest, pl
eading with Jill with eyebrows that made a kind of upside down V shape, tears meandering down his face.
‘You can’t do this Jill, you’ve got to leave. You’ve got to leave him to me or I’ll never be whole. Please Jill, please don’t take this away from me.’
‘You’ll be killed!’ said Jill
Ben saw this as a sign of her weakening her resolve, ‘I don’t mind… I’ll be fine! That’s what you always say right? When people die… they’ll be fine! And I will be too but if you do this and leave me… without you… I won’t be fine for Christ’s sake… I won’t be bloody fine!’ Ben’s voice was strained with emotion, thin and bubbling from the phlegm in his throat from crying. He dropped to his knees, begging for her to understand.
‘You’ve got to do this for me Jill, you’ve just got to… it’s meant to be!’
‘Oh Ben… my dear Ben, how broken you’ve been.’
‘You can’t say no, YOU CAN’T!’
Jill lowered herself to her knees to face him, took one of his hands and stroked his face with the other.
‘Your time is coming Ben. Believe me but you can’t save me, do you know why?’
Ben made a gurgling sniff and his shoulders slumped. His pleading hadn’t worked and he knew it.
‘No! I don’t bloody well know why. It doesn’t make sense! Can’t you see me? Can’t you see what this is doing to me? can’t you see what I have to do? Why can’t you get it? This is meant to be the way it turns out. This is my fight and always has been, it’s got nothing to do with you. I’ll lock you up. I’ll lock you in the dungeon until it’s all over and you won’t be able to stop me damn it!’
Jill kept stroking his face, a movement that would’ve melted the hardest heart but Ben’s resolve was too firm. He wouldn’t budge, dejected and harassed as he was, his resolve stood firm.
‘You can’t save me Ben. You can’t save me because I’m already saved. There’s nothing that The Boss or Mr Winkle can do to me that’ll make the blindest bit of difference. You can’t save me because what you believe to be “meant to be” is just a product of the damage that your brother has done to you. It’s all just him talking through your mouth Ben. If you face him now you’ll do nothing but make him right. Your time will come Ben. It WILL come but it’s not now. Not today.’
