Unborn

by Daniel Gage

  “I’m not interested,” Cam said.

  “Let me present it to you first, then you can decide,” the dealer said, his voice remaining eerily calm.

  Cam glanced at the door, and began to wonder where the waiter had disappeared to. The dealers seemed to be in complete control of this situation, so he was likely being paid off to stay out of the main room. The only wildcard was Emma, and if she arrived with Dealer X and Alexandre still here, they might be able to finish this now.

  He just had to buy time.

  “All right,” Cam said. “What’s this offer?”

  “Your good karmic actions are causing Alexandre to suffer greatly, especially when he doesn’t have to,” the dealer said. “If you change your ways, commit a crime, it can reverse the damage that’s been done, and you can both go back to how things were.”

  “That sounds like an awful deal for me,” Cam said. “I’d rather let this scumbag die.”

  A noise started to emit from the back of Alexandre’s throat, but one of his escorts cut him off with a glare.

  Alexandre was just here for now, Cam realized. He wasn’t allowed to talk. And Cam knew he had to fix that.

  “That’s the catch,” Dealer X said. “It’s part of the karmic swap. A Benefactor cannot die unless his Unborn dies first. So you would be condemning him to a life in a hospital bed, unable to eat or control his own bodily functions. And there would be some perks in it for you, that wouldn’t interfere with karma but would greatly increase your situation.”

  “If my good deeds are so bad for him, why not just kill me?” Cam asked. “Seems like the easiest route. Why not just kill all Unborns?”

  “Karma is fickle,” the dealer said. “Unborns absorb all that bad karma, so Benefactors can benefit even further in life. If the Unborn dies, the Benefactor has to take the bad with the good. But, trust me, there are times when we do kill Unborns.”

  The last sentence sounded more like a promise than a threat, and Cam wondered if they planned to let him leave here alive if he didn’t agree to this deal. The Benefactor must really want a bad karma lightning rod, or else Cam was certain he would already have a bullet in his head.

  “So what’s in it for me?” Cam asked. “As I see it, my life has been shit. If my actions, or even my death, cause the prick that made it all happen to suffer, I’m okay with that.”

  Alexandre looked like he was about to speak, but instead ended up hacking blood into a new handkerchief.

  He was close to getting Alexandre to react. The man who stole his birthright was clearly not one used to being the submissive or weak person in the room, and despite his sickness, Cam could see that sitting there and doing nothing hurt him even more than his violent coughs.

  “For one, your friend Emma will get to live,” the dealer said. “She’s been fired, so aside from this last job, she’s no real concern to me. If you two walk away, or somehow fail, I won’t ever have to worry about her again. Two, your mother. She will—”

  “Don’t you dare hurt her!” Cam shouted as he jumped out of his seat. “She’s done nothing! She knows nothing!”

  The two escorts looked ready to fight, but Dealer X remained still and calmed his men by holding up his hand.

  “We’re not in the business of hurting people unless we have to,” Dealer X said. “No, we would make sure she gets the best care, and is always comfortable, with nurturing people taking care of her every need. My mother was also in an accident, so I know what you’re dealing with. Now, please, sit back down.”

  Cam took a deep breath and quickly assessed the situation before sitting down.

  “So that’s Emma and my ma,” Cam said. “What do I get? Or do I have to get shit on in this deal too?”

  “Hardly,” Dealer X said, and a faint smile creased his face. “I want to offer you a job.”

  “A job?” Cam asked. “Doing what?”

  “Being a Second-Life Dealer,” Dealer X said. “Like us.”

  Cam blinked twice, looking between Dealer X and Alexandre. Then he burst into laughter.

  “That has to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Cam said. “Why would an Unborn, a victim of birthright theft, want to help commit more birthright theft?”

  “Because every dealer is an Unborn,” Dealer X said. “We all are.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Cam said. “What the hell possessed you to do that?”

  “It allows us to live well,” the dealer said. “From a karmic perspective, it’s a terrible thing to commit birthright theft. So that pleases the Benefactors, and lessens the burden of bad things that could happen to us. Plus, the pay and benefits are excellent, and there’s plenty of field work. You seem to have an affinity to driving fast cars and leaping from tall buildings, don’t you, Cam?”

  Put that way, it started to make sense. Unborns had it rough, but if there was a way they could make their shitty lives better, that was one way to do it. Hell, Cam even had a talent for crime, and from talking with Emma, it didn’t sound like dealers got arrested much, if at all.

  They had a powerful network, and they were offering Cam a pretty sweet deal. Everyone would win, from Emma to his ma to him to Alexandre.

  Then why wasn’t it an easier decision to make?

  “I don’t know,” Cam said. “This is a lot to absorb. Hell, two days ago I thought this mark on my back was a scar from being premature.”

  “Premature?” the dealer asked. “You were premature?”

  “Yeah,” Cam said. “My mom and dad were in a car accident. My dad died, and I had to be cut out of my mom or we would have both died. It made me three weeks early.”

  “Three weeks,” the dealer whispered. “How … interesting.”

  “Why is that interesting?” Cam asked.

  “Consider that the fourth part of your offer,” the dealer said. “We can get the rest of your questions answered. For example, I’ve seen your ability. Tell me, did it just awaken?”

  Cam’s eyes narrowed. “How did you—”

  “We all go through it,” Dealer X explained. “Take Zeke here for example. He was a firefighter, and after saving a child, he found he couldn’t be burned. But that set him against his Benefactor, so we had to intervene. You’re not the first, Cameron. We’re well aware of what you’re experiencing.”

  Cam glanced at Alexandre, who seemed to be attempting to glare at him. Instead, the squinty eyes only made him look exhausted and close to passing out. Cam had to push him, just a little farther…

  “I don’t know,” Cam said. “I just don’t know. This is too much, I need time …”

  “Accept the offer,” Alexandre said, his voice hoarse and dry. “Accept, damn you!”

  Dealer X slowly turned his head to Alexandre, silencing him with a look.

  “Maybe I should hold off,” Cam said. “Make this piss pot suffer. I owe him for three and a half decades worth of it.”

  A high-pitched noise started to form from Alexandre’s mouth as he tried to push himself forward toward Cam.

  “Enough!” Dealer X shouted, his face instantly turning red.

  The dealer reached back and struck Alexandre across the face with an open hand, the dealer’s strength making a sickening sound against Alexandre’s boney cheek. The sickly man fell back into his chair, his expression a mixture of surprise and fear.

  “I told you to keep your mouth shut,” the dealer hissed. “Or do you think clawing weakly at your Unborn will fix your problems? Cam has every right to wish pain and suffering on you, you idiot.”

  Dealer X’s phone beeped, which brought him back to the situation at hand. He read the message on the device, then scowled.

  “She’s on her way,” the dealer said. “You don’t have long to decide, Cam. We’ll be in touch soon.”

  Dealer X stood and swiftly headed for the door, leaving the two men with Alexandre to carry him to a side entrance that Cam only just noticed. They moved quickly, and seemed to cause Alexandre a significant amount
of discomfort.

  And when none of the men were watching, Cam palmed the knife on the table and headed out the side exit.

  Alexandre deserved to die. And Cam wanted to find out if he could, or if Dealer X had just been bluffing.

  But when he silently sneaked out behind his Benefactor, Cam saw that Alexandre was now practically being carried, and the trio had put significant distance between themselves and Cam.

  There was no way Cam could catch them now, not without drawing their attention. And all he had was a table knife, and he felt he could safely assume that the two men with Alexandre had guns. Even with his abilities, he didn’t want to risk that fight. A well-placed bullet would still end his life.

  However, he saw something else, something that might end up being very useful in their endeavor.

  Frustrated in more ways than one, Cam walked back into the café and waited for Emma to arrive.

  It was time they had a talk.

  CHAPTER 30

  When Emma saw the look on Cam’s face, she knew something had gone terribly wrong.

  He was standing alone in the café. There weren’t any other patrons around, or even restaurant staff. Not that it mattered. Cam’s eyes screamed with silent rage, and he was holding a small table knife with white knuckles.

  “Cam, what—”

  “Tell me, Emma, what’s an Unborn?” Cam asked.

  “Oh. Oh, shit,” she said as her jaw fell open. “Cam, I—”

  “Tell me.”

  “Where did you hear that?” she asked.

  Cam didn’t answer, but held his fierce stare on Emma. She was terrified, and wasn’t afraid to show it. Not that he would hurt her, but that he was lost. That she had been exposed, and that Cam wasn’t pleased with what he now saw.

  “An Unborn is the casualty of birthright theft,” Emma said. “But I get the impression that you knew that.”

  “You’re right,” Cam said. “Do you also know what they’re cursed with? That they are shoved from their intended lives, and forced to suffer for someone else to thrive?”

  “Only rumors,” she said. “Nothing confirmed.”

  “Did you know that I’m an Unborn, Emma?” he asked.

  Emma closed her eyes to shield herself from the expected verbal onslaught when she answered.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I was scared.” Emma pulled out a chair and sat down, her legs suddenly weak. “I didn’t know how you’d take it. I just learned Michael had been sabotaging the program we used to locate Unborns. You were the first we found in years, Cam. I couldn’t risk losing you.”

  “Losing me?” Cam’s body shook with rage as he spoke. “You thought lying would keep me around longer than the truth? I’m still a person, Emma! Was I going to be locked in cage if I didn’t like what you told me? Or do you just not understand people in general?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, fighting the urge to cry. Cam was right. She had spent so long working, so long having to manipulate everything and everyone around her that she had forgotten how to relate to people.

  The alternative didn’t even cross her mind, that if she had told him the truth from the beginning, he could have been better equipped to handle what was happening. Cam took it all very well, from the fight with Dealer X to everything else being thrown his way.

  Let alone that he deserved the honest truth about what he is, and his situation in life.

  “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I … I don’t know, Cam. I’m so sorry …”

  “I’m not some pawn, Emma,” Cam said. He was still tense, but his words weren’t as fierce. “Though between you and these fucking dealers and Benefactors, I’m starting to think that’s all I am.”

  Emma finally opened her eyes. The tears she struggled to control blurred her vision as she looked at Cam, who now appeared to be conflicted instead of irate.

  “What do you mean?” she asked. “What happened, Cam?”

  “Dealer X and my Benefactor were here, just before you arrived,” he said.

  “They were what?” Emma gasped. She attempted to stand but instead tripped over her own feet and nearly fell to the ground. “What did they do? Where did they go?”

  As the words left her mouth, Emma realized they were wrong. She was again on the job, focused on the goal instead of the man, the human, in front of her. Cam was important to her, and if she wanted to keep him around after this ordeal, she knew she had to change her priorities.

  “Cam, I … I’m sorry,” she said before he could reply. “I’m not used to this, not anymore. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  “Physically? They didn’t try to touch me,” Cam said. “But what they said, Emma, you should have told me when this all started.”

  Her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to find the words, any words, all while Cam just stood there, watching.

  “I didn’t know how,” she finally said. “I can’t remember the last time I told someone the complete truth. I always felt distant from my family, and having friends … that was never my thing. I liked books; I liked to study. Sports? I had to win, always. And work, I always gave it everything. The closest I’ve had to a friend at work was Michael, and I was never comfortable telling him anything. Hell, I didn’t even know he had a kid.”

  Spilling her life story wasn’t the plan when she started talking, but Emma found it came easy, so easy it surprised her. It was like it was bottled up inside for so long, and she used constant force to keep a lid on it. But now that her defenses were weakened, she found it easy to let it all spill out.

  “It’s also why I don’t go to reunions. My aunts and uncles always judge me, and my parents were only concerned about my latest achievements. My mom never even asked about my love life, which wouldn’t matter because it hasn’t existed in years. The job was everything, and now that’s gone. I’ve got nothing left. Even my dad went crazy before he died.”

  And it was true, she realized. Now it was finally setting in how much she had lost. People had died on the job, but she may have been the first to die on the inside from losing it. It wasn’t about the money, as most of her pay she didn’t even use. She could live for years on her savings.

  No, it was regret. Regret for giving everything she had to a job that cast her aside the moment things turned bad. Regret that she didn’t spend more of her time focused on herself, to have a life, to travel aside from work.

  Regret that she chose this as her life, and didn’t do something else with it.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered again, and now she didn’t fight the tears. “I can’t expect you to forgive me. I can’t even ask anything of you. You don’t owe me anything. I used you, Cam. Used you to fight the dealers, to protect myself. I’d understand if you never wanted to see me again.”

  She looked back to him and saw that he had turned his head away, his face softened from before but still expressionless. The seconds of silence were agony for her as he left the implied question hanging between them.

  “I’m sorry, Emma,” Cam finally said. “I can’t do this.”

  Without waiting for a reply, he disappeared out the side door, leaving Emma alone in the café with only her tears.

  CHAPTER 31

  As soon as Cam was out the door, his phone was in his hand and he was dialing one of his old contacts.

  “Hey, it’s me,” he said when his friend picked up. “I need you to run a plate for me, it’s French. Yeah, I’m in Paris. I’ll explain later. In a hurry. Also, I’ll owe you big for this, but I need my codes updated. Yeah, charge me double, I’ll even throw in some extra when I’m back in town.”

  He disconnected the call as he rounded the corner onto the street, his blood still on fire from his talks with Dealer X and Emma. His whole life he’d been crapped on, kicked aside, everyone taking from him.

  “Take, take, take,” Cam hissed. “It’s always take. So it’s time to take back what’s mine.”


  His phone buzzed, and a text message showed him the address that belonged to the car’s plates. Within a minute, a second message came through, indicating his car-hacking device had been updated.

  A grin spread across Cam’s face. Now all he needed was a car.

  **********

  The drive was longer than it should have been, considering Cam avoided major streets as he left Paris proper and entered the countryside. He knew Alexandre was wealthy, but until he reached the outer wall of the estate, he had no idea how much money one person could have.

  Once the car was stashed in a ditch behind some trees, Cam silently made his way to the outer wall, where he thought he’d have the easiest time scaling it. If Alexandre came home after Paris, he imagined he would have increased security, if only out of paranoia.

  The wall wasn’t difficult to climb, but once inside, Cam stuck to the bushes and shadows. He watched as armed guards circled the estate, making their way along well-groomed paths and in between gorgeous plants that likely received more care than Cam’s apartment. But, taking his time, Cam finally reached an open window without being seen by any of the patrols.

  He had only seen estates this size on television, and they were so glamorized that Cam thought they didn’t truly exist in reality. But as he eased his way inside, not only did he realize his perception had been made in error, he really began to understand what the dealers and Alexandre had stolen from him.

  Cam’s mind couldn’t comprehend the value of the curtains he slipped through, except that they were soft and smooth. They didn’t feel like the ones he’d gotten from someone who had moved out of his apartment building, or even the linens on his bed.

  Art hung on the walls, large, ancient-looking pictures that reminded him of those he saw in history books back in grade school. They all had nameplates beneath them, with what appeared to be the artist’s name and the title of the painting, but it was all in French.

  Would any of this have made sense to me? he thought. How much different would this life have been?