by Gary Sapp
of woman are you?”
Serena answered only be planting her hands on her lean hips.
“I am the woman who is commanding the most lethal, efficient, counter terrorist unit that this country—that the world has ever seen, mister. I have been tasked with protecting this country’s way of life and values that you and I both enjoy. I expect nothing less than the best efforts from my subordinates in these urgent matters of state. Do you agree that Operative Bolton was your direct superior in this case?”
“What?”
Serena sneered as she tapped a toe in exaggerated inpatients. The look of pure dread in Penrose’s eye, the anxiety of the other operatives and even the hint of anxiety in Danielle Rohm’s face was exactly the effect this theatrical exercise was meant to accomplish.
“Are you deaf as well as blind to your incompetence? “ Serena asked, and jerked a long manicured index fingernail into the chest of Operative Penrose until she knew that it hurt. “Is Operative Bolton your direct supervisor? Did this man give you permission to leave the city in search of your family?”
“Yes,” Penrose broke down with tears. “Yes, his is. Tell her Alex. Tell her that everything was on the up and up. Tell her, please. I don’t want to die—not now—not after going through so much to learn what happened to my family. Tell her what she wants to know, Alex.”
“Mistress Tennyson,” Bolton cleared his throat. “If I could be allowed to speak on Operative Penrose’s behalf—I know this man to be of high character—
Serena interrupted Bolton.
“Well, of course he is, Operative Bolton. He would not be a member of my team if he were not.” Serena’s tone softened for now. She never took her eye off of Penrose, focusing on his thick mustache but spoke to Bolton. “I want you to step forward.”
“Yes, Oracle,”
Bolton arrived in six steps.
“I want you to hand me your side arm.”
“Sorry…I don’t understand.”
“Operative Alexander Bolton, you will hand me your sidearm, mister and you will do so immediately.” Serena said while still eyeing Penrose’s mustache.
“He acted under my consent, Oracle,” Bolton said. “Please forgive him—“
“I asked for you weapon, Operative Bolton, not for your opinion—and I will ask you for your sidearm only once more.”
Bolton handed it butt first.
Serena examined it quickly, checked the magazine’s clip for ammunition, released the safety and points the barrel at Operative Penrose at last.
Bolton gasps in horror.
Rohm unfolds her arms.
Serena watches the other Operatives shift in their stance while one female in the groups turns away from what she fears are the final seconds of Penrose’s life.
And then Serena chooses a new target—Operative Bolton—and squeezes the trigger at point blank range between the young man’s eyes.
Operative Alexander Bolton’s suntanned body is long dead before he ever hits the pavement.
Serena waited a heartbeat before speaking further, her theatrics nearing its end.
“Family is certainly crucial, Operative Penrose, especially in light of the events that have shined such a negative light on all of us in the past few days.” Serena said and even squeezed Penrose’s trembling shoulder. “However, Pandora—everyone here—is your family as well. By the end of this we may your only family left. The fault in the abandonment of your post is not yours, Operative Penrose that is why you still live. Operative Bolton was not killed because he erred in letting you pursuit the whereabouts of your family. Alexander was permanently relieved of duty because he failed to commit someone with equal experience in your place while you were away.”
“Yes, Oracle,” Penrose tried to steady his voice. “I understand.”
“Very well then; I want you to assume Bolton’s command and select a qualified candidate to serve Pandora in your own post and then I want you to retake our zone from Blackstreet.”
Penrose pointed a thumb as his own chest.
“Me,”
“Operative Penrose,” Serena softened her voice until she sounded as if she were another person. This wasn’t theatrics any longer. This was real. “I regret to inform you that it has come to my knowledge that your wife, your children and your in-laws were all killed when one of the aftershocks leveled that community just east of Athens where your family was.” Serena allowed Penrose to examine the official documents that Rohm had handed him while she spoke. “Minutes ago I spoke of Pandora as potentially your only family. You can honor your family—you can honor us by continuing to perform your duties to the best of your abilities.”
Penrose’s beady eyes brightened for the first time since this entire episode began. He wiped the snot that had leaked into his mustache on his sleeve.
“I need you to be a leader now. I need you to retake what’s ours. Peachtree Street served as a major listening post between our current position and the heart of Midtown Atlanta. We are currently blind in that respective and I don’t like being blind, Operative Penrose.”
“I understand.” Penrose said and seemed to find his footing again. “And I will retake that zone. You have my word on that.”
Ten minutes later after the group had disbanded, Serena heard Rohm calling her by that particular name as she strolled down the other end of the street. The wind was howling and whipped both women’s hair into an unkempt frenzy.
Serena had been walking towards a mobile weapons depot to pick up two guns from its wide and varied arsenal. She slowed her long strides just enough for the younger woman to catch up to her.
Danielle Rohm struggled to match her pace and Serena could feel Shooter looking up at her.
“You have a query for me, Rohm?”
“More of an observation perhaps,” Rohm replied after a prolonged thought. And then she did something unexpected…Danielle Rohm reached out and squeezed Serena’s arm at the elbow and spun her around until the two women faced each other. Rohm glanced down the street they had been facing and then to the one behind them and then dismissed the driver of the mobile weapons carrier.
Any anger or resentment that the younger woman had experienced after Serena’s proclamation of her leading role in the Peacekeeper’s murder of James Carter and the maiming of the man’s wife years ago was subsiding.
Serena softened her stance as well as not to appear unnecessarily confrontational. She would admit to no one—not even Rohm—that the confrontation with Penrose and Bolton had been emotionally draining. Serena wasn’t completely comfortable with all of the emotions running through her over the past weeks but somehow it felt right somehow to need this woman’s approval somehow.
Perhaps Rohm was her family.
“Look, I can’t say whether I completely agree with how you handled the James Carter or this Bolton situation or not. But I can save that I disagree with your decision since that you should be leading this assault yourself proves nothing. Blackstreet would have fortified their hold on that zone by now. They have more than Pandora to worry about. We also don’t know if any of the other battalions of APD officers have joined them. Even if even one of them did it would make their stronghold nearly invulnerable to any incursion we could muster.”
“You’re knowledge of tactics and military strategy never fails to astound me, Rohm. You are quite the student of combat.”
Rohm ignored that.
“I’m asking you to stay behind, Serena. I’m asking you not to do this.”
“My dear, Rohm, are you actually trying to protect me.”
“I am. You spoke about family earlier. You are the mother; you are the father of this family especially with Raymond Rice no longer amongst us. If you should fall…” Rohm let her voice trail off while she still had strength in it.
Serena looked up and glared into the smoky haze and the nothingness that existed well beyond it.
“I will, as you say, fall, Rohm.” Serena would not allow herself to look at Rohm. She thought neither
of them possessed the strength to engage in such an emotional stare down. “I’ve seen it in the flames, Rohm. I’ve looked into the fire and saw my reflection there. But I do understand that my end is not here, it will be soon, but not now. I may not deserve your trust, Rohm, but I need it unconditionally.”
Serena smiled at Rohm wand resumed her march towards the mobile weapons unit when the younger woman halted Serena’s progress once again.
Rohm said: “There is something dark about to happen to you…to me…to all of us who have been involved in this since the introduction of the 411 Campaign. I can feel it, Serena.”
“Have you peeking into my flames, Rohm?”
“I’m serious, Serena.” Rohm said. “And this comes from someone like Raymond Rice who once told you that he did not believe in your flames. I don’t believe in them or you’re Dragon. I do believe in you, Serena. I always have. And I’m asking you—I’m begging you to stay behind. Nothing good comes from you going any further with your plan. I can feel it, Serena.”
Serena touched Rohm’s face.
“I’m sorry, Danielle but I have to. I listen to Dragon within those flames. And the flames tell have instructed me to walk this path. I must obey. There is something within that zone that I was meant to see.”
The battle finally turned in Pandora’s favor 45 minutes into it. The majority of the operatives who had led the initial incursion with Penrose had been killed in the first half hour including Penrose himself. Still, the man had served his family, both old and new, with distinction
