by Stuart Jaffe
Finally. The relief overcame him, and he lost all awareness other than the sheer satisfaction of being whole once more. So, he never noticed the second guard come up from behind until he felt a bullet pierce his skull.
He flopped forward. Clenching his eyes tight, he tried to hold onto the second soul, but it left him. Then the pain came. The bullet in his shoulder and the one in his head burned their way back out. Growling, Nathan stood, and as the two bullets plunked to the floor, he turned to face the petrified guard.
“H-H-How?” the guard managed.
Nathan clicked his tongue. “You should have learned who you work for.”
He raised Maggie but the guard raced off down the hall. Nathan wanted to give chase, but gaining another second soul was not the mission. Besides, the guard headed off toward the sound of Octavia’s gunfight. Not a direction Nathan wanted to pursue.
He headed back up the hall. Light seeped through a closed door at the end. Nathan built up his momentum and slammed into the door. It smashed open.
Inside, he found a large bedroom, king-sized bed, paintings covering the walls, and a television playing a science-fiction movie with the sound muted. On the opposite side of the bed was a door — presumably to the bathroom — and next to the television, an archway led to the outside balcony. Thick curtains had been drawn.
He held still in the doorway as his eyes roved the room. “Crystal?” He held Maggie at attention, ready to strike. “Crystal? I’m not here to hurt you.”
From the bathroom door, he heard a gasp. The door opened, and Crystal stepped out. She wore a full gown and diamond earrings dangled from her lobes. In her hands, she held an AR-10 A2 semi-automatic rifle. But her eyes held no malice. If anything, she looked confused.
“Jake?” she said.
“Not anymore. I’m Nathan, now.”
Her mouth formed a hard line, and she pointed the rifle at his head. “That’s not good for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
A torrent of gunfire erupted down the hall. Crystal’s eyes darted toward the door than back at Nathan. In that glance, he whipped Maggie up and aimed for Crystal’s head.
“Please,” he said. “I didn’t come here to hurt you.”
“I suppose Larkin discovered he had a heart and wanted me to be happy, then he had Jake killed, threw you into his body, and sent you and Octavia to kill everybody here so that I could walk away in peace. Is that what you want me to believe?”
“Jake killed me. He didn’t have a choice. He was dying. But when Russo killed him in front of you, I fought to stay. And I won. I didn’t know anything about any of this. After my training, when I learned what the Larkin Group was all about, I left. I came here to get you away from them.”
“You think you can replace Jake? Is that it?”
Nathan tried to find some tell in Crystal’s behavior to clue him in on an angle that would calm her down, but he couldn’t lose focus or she would start firing.
Though she hadn’t yet. Why? She could have killed Nathan right when he entered the room. Why wait? “I’m Jake,” he said as he thought it. “You’re in love with Jake.”
Her jaw trembled. “I was. Since you’re here, though, it means he’s dead now.”
An explosive pop echoed from the hall. A grenade, most likely. Not much time left. “That’s Octavia. She’s the one after you, not me. I want nothing to do with Larkin. But she is here to take you back.”
“She doesn’t want me. Just this body.”
“And I want to set you free. How about turning that rifle off me, and you and I get out of here?”
He heard the click of Octavia’s weapon as she spoke. “Sorry, lovebirds, but you lose.”
Crystal flashed her rifle over and shot a short burst. Octavia jumped back as bullets ripped open the door frame. She re-entered, slower this time, with her gun out and ready.
“That wasn’t very friendly,” Octavia said. Her face lacked any sense of humor.
“Come on, you two,” Nathan said. “Stop this now. Look at where we’re at. We keep going like this, and all of us are going to end up dead. Real dead.”
“No, just you. Crystal and I have our second souls intact.”
Crystal took a quick glance at Nathan. “You’re down to one soul?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“If you kill him,” Octavia said, “I’m sure Mr. Larkin will take that as a sign of good faith. Look, we all get itchy feet at some point. You know that. It’s not a big deal that you wanted to get away. But now it’s time to come home. That guy there is not Jake. He looks like him, that’s all.”
Crystal shrugged. “Maybe that’s enough.”
“Oh, come on, now. Don’t try to bullshit me. I’ve known you for over eighty years. You think I don’t know how much you fell for Jake. This guy — Nathan — he doesn’t even come close to measuring up to Jake.”
“Hey,” Nathan snapped.
“Maybe in a hundred years you’ll have the experience to be as good as Jake, but I doubt it. He was a special man. They don’t make ‘em like him very often.”
Crystal’s lips broke into a smile that she strained to keep up, but seconds later her mouth formed that cold line once more. “He was a great guy.”
“See? I understand. You think Nathan’s going to understand? Or anybody else? We’re a tight family because nobody else in the world has a clue what our lives are like. Nathan’s been an immortal for one year. That’s it. He has no idea what he’s doing. So, come on home, honey.”
In a dead monotone, Crystal said, “I don’t care what happens to you.”
Octavia started to say something but halted. She cocked her head, looking over Nathan. “She didn’t shoot you?”
Nathan grimaced. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“And she didn’t shoot me. She should have hit me, but she didn’t.” She looked at Crystal. “Look at her. She’s fighting. Oh, no. Russo. I should have seen it.”
“What are you talking about?”
Octavia lowered her weapon. “You can holster your cannon. She won’t shoot. She’s too strong for Russo.”
Nathan kept his weapon up. “What does that matter?”
“Russo is a rare breed — rarer than us immortals.”
“He’s not immortal?”
“He is. But he’s also a puppeteer. He can control souls, and he’s got control over Crystal. I knew something was off from long ago. I just never thought of it.”
Nathan looked closer at Crystal. Her eyes twitched and glistened. Her chin continued to tremble. Her finger kept slipping toward the trigger, then readjusting to the side of the weapon.
“Russo’s doing this?”
“He’s controlling a lot of the guards, too.”
“The undead? That’s him?”
“I think so. Puppeteers are so rare that I never encountered one before. I wasn’t even sure they were real. I certainly didn’t know they could move a body without a soul, but apparently they can.”
“Not well, though. You see the way those things walked?” Nathan didn’t like any of this — bad enough he had to accept immortality as a reality, but puppeteers? That complicated matters. “So, what now?”
“We find Russo, of course.” Octavia lifted her handgun and pointed it at the curtained balcony. “Then we convince him to let go of his hold on Crystal. Or we kill him.” She fired.
Nathan stared at the curtain. After a pause, he heard Russo. “You missed.” The curly-haired man stepped out from the bathroom. “You didn’t think I’d really be standing right there as an easy target.”
“I hoped,” Octavia said.
“Hope is for losers and fools. I don’t gamble with my life. I make sure every step is calculated to perfection. You would have learned this a long time ago if you had joined me instead of that lunatic.”
Nathan thought Russo sounded just as nutty as Larkin. He also thought Octavia had wasted an excellent opportunity to take out her enemy. He wouldn’t be so fooli
sh. He turned his weapon on Russo, and …
He turned his weapon on Russo …
He turned …
But every time he tried to move, his arms remained still. Russo chuckled. “Oh, this one is cute. He thinks I would walk into a room full of gun-toting immortals unprotected.” He strolled in front of Nathan and winked. “You can’t shoot me no matter how badly you want to. Understand? Right now, I control your body.”
Nathan sneered. “Not as well as you’d like, though. You couldn’t get Crystal to shoot us. And you can’t stop me from calling you an asshole.”
“Sadly, I’ve never been too good at making my toys speak the way I want. I keep thinking someday I’ll come across another puppeteer who can show me that trick, but alas, no such luck. Not yet, at least.”
Octavia held her weapon on Russo. Beads of sweat broke across her brow.
Russo shook his head. “Straining won’t change anything.”
To Nathan, she said, “Be ready. He has to work to control all three of us and his men outside. At some point, he’ll slip, and we’ve got to take him down right away.”
“Or,” Russo said, “you could continue on the path you’ve chosen with a little help from me. After all, Nathan, you left Larkin and his merry band, didn’t you? So did Crystal. And you came here to save her from Larkin’s gopher. I ask you, how are you any different from me? All I’ve wanted to do is live my life free of the rules Larkin tries to impose on all of us. Isn’t that what you want? Your freedom?”
“Crystal doesn’t look too free to me. And I’m not feeling all that free either.”
Russo walked over to Octavia and leaned his elbow on her shoulder. “Unfortunately for Crystal, I need her at the moment. After, though, I promised her that I would set her free, and I am a man of my word.”
“You’ve had her for a year.”
“That’s not my fault. It’s taken Larkin that long to make his move.” He paused, reading Nathan’s expression, and then he tapped his temple with one finger. “You starting to figure all this out? No? That’s okay. When time no longer matters, the moves of immortals can be stretched over long periods. But whether we act in days or decades, it doesn’t change the fact that you are caught in the middle of a war. And you have a choice to make — you can join me and claim victory over the world, or you can stay here and fight me, in which case, you’ll end up dead. Everything here has been as I set it up to be.”
Despite Russo’s cocky swagger, Nathan caught a slight hesitation. “Not everything. You weren’t expecting me.”
“Very astute. I admit Larkin did an excellent job of keeping you a secret. But you are nothing but a minor shift in things. No matter. In war, all plans change as new factors develop.”
“You know, if you really want me to join you, freeing me to move would go a long way in establishing trust.”
“I think I like you where you are.”
Octavia tried to shuck Russo off her shoulder. “You better kill us, or you’re going to be sorry.”
“Why? Should I be worried about Larkin’s great strategic mind? I doubt it. He sends you in to take on my house guards and nobody else. As if I would be so unaware that you were coming, that I would have such a poorly-trained team. Come now. That’s idiocy.”
“If you knew we were coming, then why did you allow me to get up here? You could have killed me earlier. You still can kill me now.”
“How quickly you forget your training. Perhaps Nathan can help you. He’s a fresh recruit. He might still remember the rules. Well, Nathan, tell your teacher why I haven’t killed you all.”
Nathan thought for a second. “Because we don’t kill our own.”
“Exactly.” Russo crossed the room and thrust open the balcony curtain. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t have an entire army roll in, ready to destroy you. And that is the true answer. I held on to Crystal until Larkin sent in his best people — well, person. I left you a small force to deal with so it wasn’t too easy, and now that you are here, my real army has surrounded the house. They think you’re terrorists and that they’ll be helping save America. They’ll come in to finish the job.” Over his shoulder, he added, “That is a well-calculated, well-executed plan, and that is why I will always win.”
The sound of gunfire and shouting burst from below. Russo frowned.
Octavia’s lips rose into a wide grin. “Oh, did I forget to mention? I didn’t come here alone. Thought I might need a little insurance against you.”
“What did you do?”
“I brought the Cardinal.”
Russo’s face drained of all its color.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Russo hunched over the balcony before dashing back into the room. Soldiers screamed while bullets raged, dogs barked, and voices bellowed orders. To Nathan, it sounded like nobody followed. Two grenades went off, but the battle never ceased.
Russo looked about the room as if searching for an answer on the walls. But nothing came, and he shivered. His mouth moved while he drove his mind through one possibility after another.
Nathan had seen that look many times. Fear. Desperation.
He had no doubt that if looked in a mirror, he would see much the same on his own face. Once more, he tried to move his trigger finger and his hand. Nothing. He tried to shift his leg. Still nothing.
A loud crash came from below followed by the tinkling of thousands of glass shards. The chandeliers.
Octavia said, “Russo, you better hurry up and do something. Sounds like the Cardinal has already finished with your army. Unless you ordered them to trash your house.”
Russo pointed a shaking finger at her. “Stop this. You don’t know what you’ve done. You don’t know what he’ll do to us all.”
“Then release us from your control, and we can help each other to get out of here.”
“I don’t need your help. My thoughts were of saving Crystal and my home. But none of that is important enough to die for. Nathan, I say this for your edification — preserve thyself. If you want to succeed at immortality, get used to giving everything up to protect your soul.” He gave Crystal a soft kiss on her cheek. Though she could not recoil, her nose wrinkled as though inhaling an awful stench. Russo sighed. “I’m sorry, my dear, but Octavia has made it impossible for you to live. For any of you. Not that I had planned for the rest to survive, but you were meant to join me. Oh, well. As it is, I must leave now. When the Cardinal gets here, you all will die.”
“You won’t survive,” Octavia said. “Not if you’re going to keep trying to control all three of us.”
Russo hesitated again, never taking his eyes off Crystal. His hands dropped to his side. “She’s right. So as my parting gift, Crystal, my sweet dear, I’ve planted my commands in you now. It’s usually best as a surprise, but I think you deserve better. Here’s what will happen — when I leave this room, I want you to count to ten. Then, if the Cardinal has not killed you all, you will shoot Octavia and Nathan and then yourself. When you and Octavia return, you’ll shoot her and yourself again. Nathan only has one soul right now, so don’t worry about him.”
A tear trickled down Crystal’s cheek.
“No need for that,” Russo said, wiping it away with his finger. “No need for any of you to be upset. You’ve all lived longer than you should have. Some far longer. But your extra days are over. Now you can rejoin the human race as a mere mortal. Granted it will only be for a scant few seconds but enough time to take a mortal breath and feel mortal pain as you die.” Russo entered a walk-in closet, and when he returned, he sported a gray derby. “Goodbye. Safe travels to whatever lies beyond this life.”
And he strolled out the door.
Crystal readjusted her weapon and pointed it at Octavia. “I’m sorry.”
“Fight it,” Octavia said. “Put everything you have into fighting his will.”
“That’s right,” Nathan said. “Hold on as long as you can because he’s either going to move out of range or the Cardinal will kill him a
nd you’ll be free.”
“I-I can’t.” Crystal’s finger rubbed the side of the trigger.
Nathan’s body still refused to move, but he tried anyway. The three of them stared at each other like statues of gunfighters in a standoff. As long as Crystal could stop herself from shooting them, the standoff might end peacefully.
“Listen to me,” Octavia said. “You don’t want to do this. You know that. Focus on that idea — you don’t want to do this.”
“I’m trying.”
To Nathan, she sounded like she was failing. But her finger moved away from the trigger. At least, for the moment. “You can do this,” he said. “We’ll make it through.”
And then what? Octavia still wanted to take them both out and return their bodies to the Larkin Group. Crystal still didn’t trust that he wanted to save her and escape with them both free. The instant Russo’s grip on them disappeared, their standoff would probably turn into a shootout.
Crystal appeared to have come to the same conclusion. She wheeled her weapon to point at Nathan. “If I get rid of you, Octavia will have to get that body to Larkin fast. She won’t have time to bother with me.”
“That’s right,” Octavia said. “I’ll leave you alone.”
“Shut up. You’ll be tracking me down the second you hand off that body.”
Nathan said, “Not that body, Crystal. It’s Jake. You can’t shoot me. What if Octavia is too slow? We’re out in the middle of nowhere. If she takes me away, she’ll still have to deal with what’s left of the army downstairs and then go through mile upon mile until she can reach whatever support she brought. And you know her — she didn’t bring much of a support team. Always the loner, right? So, the chances are pretty high that if you shoot me, you kill Jake. For good.”
Her finger eased down to the trigger. “I only wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want to go around killing people.”
“I know. That’s why I left, too. I want to do good.”
“I don’t want to be an assassin.”
“Then don’t start now. Fight Russo. Don’t shoot me, and you win.”
