The Clearwater Chronicles (Book 1): Shadows in the Light

by David Barton

  It was a simple attack that just pierced through flesh. There was no risk of him escaping or dying. It was perfect. She turned to me after brushing her long hair from her face. “He’s all yours. For now.”

  “Thanks.” I walked forwards as she stood to the aside, crossing her arms to watch.

  Shade looked at me, his expression very different from the last time he stared at me. I was now in the position of power and he was the injured prey of this situation.

  “I want to know who you’re working for.”

  “I’m not telling you anything and there’s nothing you can do to make me talk.”

  The lady to my left kicked him, connecting just below his knee. I heard a nice crack as his bone gave in to the attack. I smiled at her before returning to my questioning. “Let’s try this again. Who hired you to take this hit?”

  He looked at me with a sick smile. “You will never know when he comes. You’ll never see the attack until the second before you die.”

  “I don’t see that happening. Now, are you sure you’re not going to talk because this lady has some unfinished business with you. If I’m not going to get what I want, I have no choice but to let her get what she wants out of you.”

  His eyes shifted to her, looking her up and down before returning to me. “What does she want?” His eyes flicking between the two of us, a hint of fear deep down in his pupils.

  I look to her, getting a nod in return. “Revenge for a family member.”

  He looked at her. “If you’re expecting me to tell you how they died and why, you won’t get any answers either. I can’t remember everyone I’ve killed.”

  The lady rushed forwards grabbing the assassin by his throat and squeezing. “Let me remind you. It was six months ago. She was walking to university, minding her own business when she came across a group of thugs. They decided to try and rob her. You killed all those men.”

  “Sounds like you owe me a thank you then.” He said with difficulty, a sick smile on his face.

  She squeezed hard. I could imagine his eyes popping out of his head if she tightened her grip any more. “You then decided to torture her. Eye witnesses that I’ve interviewed in a similar way to this have told me she was shot. It wasn’t an accident or a miss.” His eyes looked in my direction, pleading me to stop her.

  I just crossed my arms over my chest and watched. “First you shot her in the leg. Making her crawl away. Then you slowly shot up her body, getting closer to her head. But you didn’t end it. You let her bleed out. I’ve been to that alleyway and saw the bullet holes myself. I found the drops of blood the police missed. You left her there to bleed into the alleyway all by herself.” A tear fell from her eye.

  Then she sniffed and twisted her hand. I heard the crack from where I was standing. She let go of him, letting his head drop down. Retrieving her dagger from his shoulder the body slid down the vent to the floor. Crumpled up in a pile of limbs.

  She blew out a breath and suddenly seemed like a different person. Her mask might cover a portion of her face but she seemed happy. She was smiling and her eyes seemed to twinkle like it was a new life she could lead now.

  “Everything okay now?” I asked, a little dubious of asking the question in case she slipped into the grouchy bitch again.

  Then she looked at me, looking like a totally different person. “I’m all good now. My mission is over and I can go on to follow my own path.”

  “Okay.” I had no idea what she was on about. Maybe she had recently received a bump on the head. “What are you going to do now?”

  “I think I’ll go home.”

  “Okay. Let me know if you ever need any help.” I said it but was wondering what the hell just happened to her.

  “How would I do that?”

  I pulled out a card. It had only my number on it, no other information. It wasn’t even to a mobile that I carried around with me. “It goes to an answer machine back at my place. Leave a message and I’ll come at night.”

  “So don’t call it if I’m in immediate danger.”

  “Judging from things, you can look after yourself fine.”

  “I guess. Bye.” As she walked off to the edge of the building it was like I had been talking to a stranger. Her reaction seemed so confused. She didn’t seem confident, didn’t seem like she could kick someone let alone snap their neck. But then she didn’t bat an eyelid at the body on the floor or the way I was dressed. Saying this encounter was strange would be an understatement.

  I walked to the edge of the building as she dropped down to the alleyway below. She used her feet to bounce off of the walls. She was certainly still agile and athletic.

  I turned to the body on the floor. He hadn’t told me anything good so I’d have to find out a different way. He could use the shadows to his advantage but he still moved like a human. Which meant he had to have some kind of transport. I doubt an assassin as good as him would sit on the bus or the trams.

  Pulling the body over made the neck rest in a more awkward position. His lifeless eyes staring up at the night sky. Rifling through his pockets came up with a small black book and some keys. The little black book had addresses all of which had been crossed off except one. And that one was where the reporter lives. There was no information about payment or who hired him.

  I dropped the little black book back in his pocket and studied the keys. There was one key on it to a car. A small symbol that said Mike’s Taxis hung from the main ring. A taxi was a brilliant vehicle to use, moving around the city without anyone noticing him.

  I pocketed them and decided to search for a public phone. They all had a business book inside and taxis were a big section of that book.

  After traveling over rooftops I finally found one. It was in a dark area and I couldn’t hear or see anyone around. I dropped down and slipped through the sliding door. The blue business book hung from a thick chain.

  It didn’t take me long to find the advertisement for Mike’s Taxis. I picked up the phone and banged on the side. My super strength came in handy when knocking a phone into working order.

  Punching in the numbers brought a soft ringing. It clicked and a friendly voice spoke down the line, “Hello, this is Mike’s Taxis. Mike speaking, how can I help?”

  “Hi, I ordered a taxi the other week and the driver was really nice. I was wondering if I could order him again.”

  “Sure, do you remember what number cab he was?”

  I looked down at the key chain in my hand. “Number three-four-three.”

  “I’ll just give him a bell to see if he’s free.” I was betting he was since he still lied on a rooftop with a broken neck. “He isn’t answering the call but I can see he’s not far from your position.”

  “If you give me the street I’ll walk it.”

  “Sure.” There was a short pause before he came back on. “He’s on Willow Avenue. Only three streets down.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No worries.” I put the phone down and slowly made my way to the street by climbing up a fire escape and travelling the safest way I knew how.

  It didn’t take me long to find the taxi. It wasn’t the bright yellow of most cabs. It was black with a single white stripe down the side where the firm’s name sat. I checked the empty street and then slide down a nearby drain pipe.

  As I came to the car it gave a little beep, sensing the key in my jacket pocket. I decided to slip into the passenger side. Checking the glove box and all the little dips came up with nothing. I got out and popped the boot.

  Lifting it up I revealed a massive engine. I didn’t know much about engines but it looked powerful. If this was in the back then there was be something in the front. I leant into the car and popped the hood.

  Lifting that one up revealed the space. A space full of weaponry. Mostly knifes and other bladed weapons. A few small guns. Nothing big or too heavy to carry. Maybe his special ability wouldn’t work with something too chunky.

  I gathered it all up in a massive bla
ck bag that was clumped up in the corner. Leaving the taxi behind, the keys left on the seat. I didn’t care if it got nicked and the owner was dead. It was just an unwanted car right now.

  I climbed back up to the building’s roof. Shade was still lying there where I had left him. Pulling him up right I lifted him and slumped the lifeless corpse over my shoulder I carried both him and the bag to the fire escape. I peered over the edge, spotting a dumpster in the alleyway. I couldn’t hear anyone nearby so I dropped the body. Watching it sail through the air until it hit with a crash. I moved down to ground level. I double checked on the body before leaving it to be crushed by the morning trash pick-up.

  I moved to another alleyway. The one next to the reporter’s building. Hiding the bag I used the fire escape to scale the building. Using the window sills to climb around the corner and up to his window.

  Peering in showed he wasn’t in the living area. He had either gone to sleep or was busy writing an article in his bedroom. I couldn’t allow that. My hand slipped under the window sill and I used the same tactic to enter the place as before.

  There was no sign of the reporter to be seen. I crept around silently, finding the man lying in his bed, curled up under the cover. At least he wasn’t writing down what he had seen.

  At least he had listened to me. I was about to leave when I spotted a box of things on the coffee table. The items seemed like things you would keep at a desk. This must have meant he lost his job. That was too bad.

  I felt an emotion of sadness for him. There was no reason for it and no history of it happening before. Feeling sorry for him I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from a little desk by the door. I wrote down a note for him when he wakes up in the morning. Something for both of us.

  02/07/2014 AM

  The morning sunshine came in through my window. My eyes opened revealing my blurry bedroom. That’s when I remembered the dream I had that night. The two men in my apartment, the weird things I saw. I believed in superheroes so much I was now dreaming about them.

  Not saying it hadn’t happened before but this time it had felt so real. I almost fell out of bed as I rolled. I slowly walked into the living area like a zombie my ribs making me groan like one. My apartment hadn’t changed.

  I went to the kitchen and produced some quick food. Toast and a bottle of orange juice. As I headed back to the bedroom to laze about for most of the day I caught something out the corner of my eye.

  It was something that shouldn’t be there. Something new. I walked up to the front door where a piece of paper was stuck into the peephole. I slipped it out and unfolded it. There was a little message for me.

  I flattened the paper on the nearby table. It simply read.

  There’s a body that will be found in a dumpster on Howard’s Street. It will be found with the morning rubbish truck, probably as you’re reading this note. Write an article about it. Hand it in. You get an article published, you’re not revealing my existence and you’re also helping explain the body. Win, win. A friend.

  I stared at the note for minutes. Trying to take it all in. Not only the note but the fact last night wasn’t a dream, it really had happened. I slowly backed up to a chair and dropped down into it.

  My mind went to work to rerun through what had happened. The mysterious figure in the corner that didn’t seem to be there one minute and then was there the next. Not only that but the guy dressed like a superhero was in my apartment as well. Jumping out of the window and everything. I quickly turned at the window, seeing the broken hole in it where that thing had gone through it. How did I manage to miss that when I woke up?

  Then there was this note. Telling me to write an article about a dead body. Giving me a head-start on the other reporters. But only if I got to writing it now.

  I jumped out of the chair with new found energy and ran to my computer. Writing out an article with a rough account of the body being found by the morning trash truck.

  It probably wasn’t the best but it was fresh and no one else would have it this early. I printed it out when I was finished and got dressed. The person I was bringing it to was Harvey. He might have fired me but he was still a good friend and this might get me back in his good books.

  I quickly found some tape and covered the hole in my window with a rubbish bag. It wouldn’t hold up to much including an intruder but I couldn’t worry about that now. I could fix it better later on and I didn’t have much worth stealing anyway. I took one of my pills as I got dressed.

  The trip to the office block was the shortest and the most happiest I’ve ever had. I had just found out I wasn’t crazy believing in superheroes. I had even seen one and spoke to one. I might not be able to share this with someone but I knew I was right.

  I came into the office, immediately noticing that Kevin’s desk was now empty. No more photos of random women or trophies from his stupid football games in the local tournaments.

  I walked straight past my friend, momentarily noticing that Felicity wasn’t at her desk. I pushed open the door to Harvey’s office. I didn’t say anything, just placed the article on his desk with a proud smile on my face.

  His eyes looked at me over his reading glasses before he dropped his newspaper and picked up my article. I stood there watching his reaction as his eyes went through my words. Taking in all the information before placing the piece of paper back on the desk.

  He slowly took his glasses off and looked at me. “This article isn’t the best written article I’ve seen.”

  “Right?”

  “However, the information is good and is actually to do with something I like putting into my newspaper. None of this superhero stuff.” I thought about telling him what had happened but the look on his face told me this was actually going in my favour at the moment. “I can actually put this in the current issue just before it goes for print tonight.”

  “That sounds cool.”

  “Cool indeed. Just one question.”

  “Yes?” I worried what this question was going to be. Was he going to criticise and make me do more work on it?

  “Where did you get the information from?”

  I paused as words didn’t come to me. His stare slowly turning more and more serious. I coughed and spurted the first thing I could think of. “I went for a walk last night after the wonderful day I had and found the body.”

  His stare held for a tad longer before he smiled. “That’s was good luck.” His eyes dropped to the article on his desk. Then they shot back up to me quickly. “Haven’t you got a lunch with your mum today?”

  My eyes shot to the clock on the wall and my mind dropped into my stomach and I uttered the word, “Shit.”

  “Late?”

  “Yep.”

  “There’s a surprise.” I gave him a look before he said, “Well, this article is going into the issue. At least you have some good news to tell her.”

  “If she’s still there.” I basically ran out of the office after thanking Harvey, checking my phone as I went. There weren’t any missed calls from my mum but I wasn’t surprised. She didn’t really know how to answer her mobile phone let alone phone someone with it.

  Luckily the little café we usually met at wasn’t too far from the building. I decided to run it since I couldn’t see any public transport close by.

  I stopped outside the little café, breathing in and out heavily. My eyes rose to the red letters above the door reading Café Blue. I had no idea the reason behind the name because the place wasn’t particularly blue. The owner didn’t have the last name blue. It had always baffled me.

  I got in and a lovely old woman welcomed me to the café. “How can I help you?”

  “I’m meeting my mother here for lunch.”

  “Oh, isn’t that nice.” She then proceeded to talk about how lovely it is that I was still having lunch with my mother at my age. All this time I was peering over her shoulder to the tables that dotted around the room. Finally I saw my mother, looking down at her watch.

 
“I’m sorry but my mother is waiting for me.” I squeezed past her making her moan about how ignorant and rude young people were these days. She should make up her mind how she felt. I ignored her moaning and sat down at the small round table where my mother sat.

  She gave me a typical motherly look. “You’re late.”

  “I know. I was chatting with Harvey about an article.”

  “Another one being turned down?” She rolled her eyes. She had never been a fan of my superhero ideas. “How is Harvey?”

  “First of all Harvey is fine. Second of all, he actually accepted my article and it’s going into the issue that is being printed tonight.”

  “Oh.” Her face suddenly changed from being annoyed to being happy. “That’s great. I’ll let you off for being a little late then.”

  I looked down at my phone. Twenty-five minutes wasn’t really a little late. Amazing what some good news could do to my mum. “So I’m still buying your lunch then.”

  “Of course, that’s our deal.”

  “Of course.” Our deal had been made many lunches ago. I would always buy her lunch whenever we met thanks to her paying for my education. My shame of not making anything of it always hung over my head. She was still paying them off eight years later.

  The whole lunch was mostly quiet as usual with an odd word here and there. The only reason we spoke so much this time was because of my article. She wanted to know what it was about and when it was coming out. I could imagine her buying many copies, trying to get my father involved in my accomplishment.

  He wouldn’t be interested because he hadn’t been interested in my life for the past twenty-two years. He wasn’t likely to be interested just because I got an article into the newspaper. Despite my strong opinions I didn’t express my thoughts to my mother. She still had contact with him and she seemed oblivious to the way he treated me.

  The bill came and I paid for it as usual. I didn’t tell her about losing my job. She didn’t need to know. As long as I kept looking like I was busy then she would be fine.