Auron, still stood at the doorway, listening on with interest.
“What is it that troubles you my child?” asked Zeris. He put a caring hand on her cheek, touching it softly.
“I saw a boy being taken away, a small boy,” Kara said.
“What boy? What did you see?” asked the king.
“His name was Valentine.”
The king’s expression changed instantly when hearing that name.
Kara could tell he knew whom she was speaking about. “I also saw this boy as a man, the same age as I. Who is he father?”
“You’re tired child, rest for the moment.” The king stood up and looked to the maid who was in the room. “Look after her,” Zeris said as he began to leave.
“Father? Who is he?” Kara demanded.
The princess tried to get up from her bed but was too weak to manage it. The maid rushed to her and attempted to make the girl more comfortable. Kara called out again to her father.
The king, who had reached the door of the chambers, glanced back to her briefly. “Rest my precious, I will speak to you later.”
A look of surprise was edged on the face of Rokk at the king’s willingness to leave his daughter’s side. As the king took his leave, he shared an awkward lock of eyes with Auron, who still stood outside the room. The king then left, making his way hastily down the hallway. Auron watched the king take his leave. It was clear that something was on the mind of both men, but neither wished to share their feelings.
#
Since the battle with Lucius in Sydney, every agent had been withdrawn from duty and summoned to the World Order’s headquarters, which was located in the city of London, England. It was hidden inside the confines of one of the largest skyscrapers in the entire city. To the inhabitants of London, the building was home to a large and popular electronics company. The World Order even set out the first five floors of the building to promote this, having electronic goods sold from the shop on the lower floors. However the structures true purpose was to act as a point of call for the agents stationed all over the world. The organisation had hundred’s of agents stationed out in almost every country, and every one of them had been called in.
It was very rare for the organisation to pull all of their agent’s from active duty for a briefing at headquarters but since the failure of the Sydney mission, the powerful leaders of the faceless organisation, The Patriots, had not been happy. They saw this white haired character as a threat to the world’s security. More worryingly for the World Order was the fact that their intended target, Lucius, had seemingly vanished. There was not a trace of his whereabouts anywhere.
On this particular day, Sergeant Cooper and Professor Milton were addressing a group of around ten agents, including those that were involved in the failed mission to capture the white haired man. A notable absentee was James, who since crashing down off the top of a fifty-story building, was in the medical centre inside headquarters. He had slipped into a coma as a result of the fall, of which many had thought it a miracle he was actually still alive.
However Chad, and even to a certain extent Professor Milton, knew of James’ unique strength. His body had been able to absorb the impact of the huge fall, that would have shattered every bone in a normal man’s body. Rumours were going around the camp, with agents speculating amongst themselves as to how James had survived such a fall, even if he was in a coma.
Ten agents stood in a large assembly room, gathered around a glass table. The assembly room was vast, over one hundred feet in size, and was on the upper level of a wide-open space in the main control room. Down below, other members of the organisation were working on highly advanced computers. An electronic global map of the world was set up on the wall of the assembly room. The technology was much like the agent’s touch screen computer tech that they all had in their safe houses, only much larger and far more advanced. Those in attendance included Chad, Sophie and Cody. The latter was covered with cuts and bruises following the crash of the helicopter. It was the same craft that Lucius had shot down with a bolt of fire. Boris, the older Russian agent had died in the crash and Cody was thankful to still be alive. Also amongst the group, was Chad’s old friends Rob, and twins Jade and Rachel. They were all happy to be reunited, however now was not the time for catching up.
Chad caught the sight of Stacey, who watched the briefing from the far corner of the room. Although not officially an agent, as the sergeant’s daughter, Stacey was not prohibited from sitting in on such meetings. Since she and her father lived full time in the headquarters, she arguably had as much right to be there as anybody else. The two forbidden lovers discreetly acknowledged each other’s presence with a small smile. Chad wanted nothing more than to go and kiss her, however, that would not have gone down well with her father.
Sergeant Cooper now began the briefing and from the tone in his voice it was clear he wasn’t happy. “What the hell happened out there?” barked the sergeant. “I have my superiors on my arse because of the failure of this mission! How did one man evade capture from five of the most highly trained professional’s in the world?”
Chad was tempted to start off on a rant in reply. He was angry at the fact he was not assigned to the mission in the first place. He bit his tongue, however. He thought it best that someone who wasn’t even supposed to be there should not be the one to talk about how events unfolded.
All the agents looked around at each other, waiting for someone to speak up. After a few moments of awkward silence, it was left to Cody to be the one who would eventually speak. “Sir we underestimated the target it would appear…”
“You don’t fucking say!” answered the sergeant. His anger was evident for all to see. His face was bright red and the vein in his neck pushed out as he spoke. “This was one man, on foot, and you couldn’t get the job done?”
“It wasn’t as simple as that sir,” said Sophie, who bravely interrupted the sergeant midway through his rant. “We were overmatched. I engaged the target myself. His skills and fighting style were like nothing I’d ever seen.”
Professor Milton listened on to the Irish girl’s words with interest.
“He was far too skilled, in terms of speed, strength and technique. Even despite our training, we weren’t prepared for such a fight,” continued Sophie.
The Irish woman’s explanation seemed to do nothing more than infuriate Sergeant Cooper further. He was not used to failure, and truth be told, he had a huge problem handling such an outcome. “Overmatched?”
The Irish girl stood her ground. She knew she was in the right. “Sir, even James couldn’t take the target on. I’ve never seen him fight anybody he couldn’t handle before. This man beat him down with ease. It didn’t even seem like he was trying.”
Chad had heard enough and decided to interject. “It sounds to me as if the World Order didn’t do their homework before dispatching its agents.” I should have been assigned to Sydney.
Sergeant Cooper directed his full attention towards Chad. The tension between the other agents in the room began to get uneasy. They all knew that there was only one way this was going to end. No one took the sergeant on in a verbal confrontation and won, although, at this point, Chad didn’t seem to care.
“The only thing you cared about was a quick capture. You didn’t research this man properly, you just recklessly sent a team in who were totally unprepared.”
Sergeant Cooper looked far from amused. He didn’t like his authority being questioned, especially at his own base. “Excuse me?” The tone in his voice was not pleasant.
Chad chose not to reply, not wishing to say something that would get him into further trouble.
“You’ve got nothing more to add? This is charming coming from you! I suppose patience is a virtue of yours? The need for tactical analysis…since when did you employ such things?” Sergeant Copper said angrily.
Stacey was becoming increasingly uncomfortable at the escalation of the conversation between her father and her boyfrie
nd. She knew that Chad was never one for patience. He would be the first to run into battle holding nothing back. At times, he was short tempered and reckless. The World Order knew this, and Sergeant Cooper knew it most of all. This was one of the main reasons he didn’t trust Chad. The sergeant thought both Chad and James were dangerous. He agreed to them joining the organisation to utilize their skills for his own benefit whilst also keeping track of them. He saw the pair as a potential threat and wished to keep a close eye on both of their movements to ensure the world was secure. It was his sworn duty as leader of the World Order after all.
Chad had figured out the Sergeant’s motives some time ago and began to angrily speak up. “Why wasn’t I assigned to this mission? With a threat of this magnitude, they could have used my help!”
Cody recognised that Chad was doing himself no favours by continuing to answer back and tried to calm the situation. “Chad, maybe you should back off a little man.”
Chad turned and looked at the young Texan with a look of disdain. Cody cut a weakened figure. He was covered in cuts and bruises and several stitches and plasters covered some of the nastier cuts on his face. These were the only injuries visible, although he had much more beneath his clothing. He realised instantly he should not have spoken.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Chad said, his voice ever rising by the second. “Don’t forget who dragged you out of that burning helicopter and carried you to safety you little chicken!”
This much had been true. After the battle in Sydney, Chad had pulled Cody’s broken body from the wreckage of the helicopter after it had been shot down. Only moments later, the helicopter had exploded into flames. If it had not been for Chad, Cody would not be alive. This was a fact Cody knew only too well, and despite the pair not really being the best of friends, he was thankful to Chad for it.
Sergeant Cooper wasn’t as thankful for Chad’s actions however. He was angry that Chad had dared to show up on a mission he was supposed to have no knowledge of at all. “You had no business even being in Sydney. You jeopardised the entire mission!”
Sophie was next to run the gauntlet and speak up. “Sir he’s right. If Chad hadn’t of turned up, the casualties would have been much worse.”
Her interruption incensed the sergeant even more. “No one else is to speak other than me and Chad, do you all understand?”
No one else dared respond.
“There was a sniper on the building next to the hotel where the roof battle took place. The same sniper who you knocked out before you arrived on the scene. We knew the target had a reputation for being a slippery bastard so the sniper was to shoot a tracking device onto him in order for us to track him. You messed all of that up when you engaged the target yourself. Now he’s gone!”
“I thought the orders were to seize and capture?” asked Chad.
“They were to begin with, however in the event that we were unable to reprimand the target, we were to hold him at bay long enough to lock on the tracking device,” replied Sergeant Cooper.
Chad began to realise he may not have been totally right after all. Still, he had saved lives, and that was worth something.
“This is why you weren’t assigned. James knew all about the backup strategy, and although things didn’t quite go to plan, he was attempting to carry it out. Then you showed up!” The sergeant said angrily.
Chad became furious and slammed his fist down on the glass table. The table cracked a little at the force of the impact. Stacey, who was still watching from the back of the room, was slightly startled at the impact.
“You know what, you should be kissing my arse right now!” shouted Chad towards the sergeant.
Several of the other agents looked at each other in shock, others gasped, whilst the rest simply stood open mouthed. They couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Never before had they witnessed such blatant defiance towards the leader of the World Order.
“Excuse me?” said Sergeant Cooper, in a surprisingly calm manner, given the situation.
“I stopped that Lucius guy, whoever he is, from killing everyone else that was on site,” said Chad.
“Are you done?” said the sergeant in reply, openly dismissing the agent’s opinion.
The look on the sergeant’s face told Chad he should really stop with his rant here and now, but for some reason he couldn’t control his anger. Suddenly, all of Chad’s emotions came boiling to the surface and he let loose his frustrations on his superior. “Ever since I joined this fucking organisation you’ve been holding me back! You keep me in Paris, isolated from everybody else. I don’t get assigned to important missions. Why? Tell me why? I’m the best agent this god damn place has!”
Chad had begun to walk ever so slightly towards the sergeant during his rant. Everyone in the room became a little anxious. They knew tensions were rising, and they also knew of Chad’s extraordinary strength. No one wanted to be the person to get between the inevitable confrontation. The only person who could realistically stand up to Chad was James, however, he was in a coma.
Recognising the need for intervention, Professor Milton decided to interject. “I think you should stand down at once chad!” The professor very rarely raised his voice, but this time he did. The old man’s words seemed to do nothing more than enrage Chad further.
“Shut up professor!” he shouted, pointing at him.
This took even the professor by surprise. He had been like a father figure to both James and Chad since recruiting them as youngsters, and Chad had never raised his voice to him before…ever.
“Let him finish,” said Sergeant Cooper, showing no signs of intimidation. “You’re pathetic, just look at you!”
Chad stood seething but didn’t respond.
“Do you want to know why you’re not chosen for important missions? It’s because you’re reckless. You’re a liability boy, nothing more!”
Chad’s breathing began to get heavier. He looked like he was ready to snap at any moment.
Stacey was genuinely afraid at this point. She had never seen Chad like this before, and the prospect of her boyfriend and father fighting it out made her feel violently ill. Please stop it, the both of you, she wanted to shout out but the words would not come.
Chad’s blood began to boil further still, his forehead began to drip with sweat. “I should be the greatest agent the World Order has ever known. It’s your fault I’m not! You’re Jealous, you’re holding me back!” Chad was now shouting at the top of his voice. He began edging closer to the Sergeant, and the tension between all could now be cut with a knife. Every employee in the control room now watched on in silence. Even those who were on the lower levels of the room had turned from their computers to look on at the verbal confrontation between the pair.
“Stand down now, that is a direct order,” said the sergeant.
“You know where you can stick your orders!” Shouted Chad continuing on towards him in the ultimate act of defiance.
“Chad stop it!” shouted Stacey from the corner of the room. She could no longer hold her tongue.
Chad didn’t hear her though for he was consumed with emotion. Suddenly, everything he hated about Sergeant Cooper come rushing to the surface. The fact he didn’t go on important missions, the fact he had to hide his relationship with Stacey, everything.
Then something strange began to happen. Chad started to hear a voice deep within his subconscious. He had heard it before in his nightmares, only now it spoke to him in the living light of day. “You know what you need to do. Make him suffer, make him bleed.” The sound of this voice began to make Chad shake. Part of him wanted to do it.
A flash of a middle-aged man in a dark room with old stone walls appeared before him for a moment deep inside his head. He wore strange robes, the likes of which the agent had never seen. He sat on a stone chair, the throne of a king. The words inside Chad’s mind were spoken from the man’s mouth. They left his lips calmly but with a hint of malice. “Kill him, kill him now.”
&
nbsp; Chad clenched his fist. He was debating it.
Sergeant Cooper noticed the agent clench his fist, which brought forth the man’s own aggressive nature. “Oh, you want to strike me is that right tough guy?” Showing no fear, he walked right up to Chad.
The pair now stood eyeball to eyeball. Everyone in the room held their breath, not knowing what would happen next.
“You haven’t got the guts to do it,” said the sergeant, who was not intimidated by Chad whatsoever.
Chad didn’t say a word, still distracted by the images and voices in his head. “He mocks you. He thinks you are weak. Show him how superior you are, show them all,” said the voice. Images and flashes of a dark castle with numerous towers and granite walls and a shadow world overlapped the voice as it spoke to him. Chad became lost in the images. He felt nothing other than hatred and bitterness in his heart, and this negative emotion was being targeted towards the sergeant who stood directly in front of him.
Sergeant Cooper looked Chad up and down, almost in disgust. “I always knew deep down you were a spineless coward.”
Shaking uncontrollably in anger, Chad launched his right hand toward the sergeant, grabbing him around the neck. Several agents rushed towards Chad. Several yelled at him to stop, whilst others tried to grab him off the leader of the World Order. Chad was far too strong for them, pushing them away with his left arm. One of the twins, Jade, who had been one of Chad’s best friends back in their training days, tried to make him see reason.
“Chad, let him go!” she pleaded.
Chad lost it at this point. He pushed the girl away with authority, sending her back several feet before she fell to the floor. He increased the pressure on the sergeant’s neck. He flung him around and slammed him against the glass table, which the agents had been stood around during the meeting. Several pieces of glass crumbled as the older man hit it.
“Chad don’t do this!” said Professor Milton, trying desperately to bring him back to his senses.
Clash Of Worlds Page 23
