Million Dollar Gift

by Ian Somers

  I said nothing. I thought about taking the life of another human being. Could I actually do that? I was no killer, but I guessed that if it was a choice between her and me that Romand would get his wish. I felt suddenly responsible for Marianne in some way, as if higher powers had created her, but could not manage her madness, and so I was given the power to destroy her. It was a crazy notion, but I couldn’t get it out of my head.

  ‘She has to be stopped, Ross.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘I have only been tough on you these last few weeks because I had to be. I needed to get you prepared for what you are going up against.’

  ‘It’s okay, Romand. I understand it all now. I understand why you’re so serious all the time, you’ve had this heavy burden hanging around your neck for too long.’

  ‘You will help me when the time comes?’

  ‘Yes. Can I ask you a question though?’

  ‘Go ahead.’

  ‘Have you killed before?’

  He said very little and began walking to the training barn nearby. When we got there he went to the briefcase containing his paper on the true gifts. He didn’t open it, he carried to the house and led me to his room where he unlocked the case and took a single sheet and handed it to me.

  I looked at the page, which bore an unusual logo, a wolf’s head with sets of initials surrounding it.

  ‘What does this logo mean?’ I asked as I examined the page.

  ‘It symbolises the fifteen true gifts and it often represents those who use them for the good of mankind.’

  ‘It’s a kick-ass logo.’

  ‘It’s your own choice whether you read this or not,’ he said soberly. ‘I will understand if you leave this place if you do choose to read it.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR -

  An Uninvited Guest

  I took the sheet of paper to my room and locked the door before sitting on the bed and placing it on my lap. I could clearly read the heading of the page and I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to read on. I couldn’t turn away now though. I braced myself and went to the first paragraph.

  USING THE GIFTS TO TAKE LIFE

  By Marcus Romand

  It is with great regret that I admit to taking the lives of a number of people. My actions were never inspired by greed, hatred, passion or vengeance. It was always in self defence or at the behest of Paul Golding.

  When I first came to work for Golding, as a young man, I felt liberated from a life of secrecy and shame. The Golding Scientific centre was a bright new home for me. A place where I could openly display my gifts and meet others like me. I firmly believed my life was to be fulfilling and content.

  As the years passed by, my gifts were exploited more and more by Golding and his minions. By the time I realised their true nature I was already in too deep and could not break free of the corporation. I became a reluctant assassin.

  For many years I studied the works of military telekinetics / psychokinetics such as Ala-Qush, Roger McWilliams and Ali Homan, but also of warriors who used other gifts to take lives. I learned well from past masters. I was a reluctant, but efficient, assassin.

  I owe my escape from Golding’s clutches to the great electro-psych, Jonathan Atkinson. In my time with him, I learned of a way that is quicker and more effective than any other. Jonathan had incredible control over electricity and used it to send a small shock into the human heart, stopping it and killing instantaneously.

  I have adapted this technique to psychokinesis. First I summon all my strength into my upper body then in one fluid movement I channel it through my arm and direct it out of my body through two pointed fingers (index and middle). A modest but very concentrated dart of energy is fired directly into the heart of the victim. The energy cripples the heart and death follows instantly.

  It is the most efficient and humane way to kill. My only wish is that I never have to use it again. The true gifts should be used for the good of mankind but more often than not they are used by the corrupt and powerful of society to attain unnecessary wealth.

  I will never be the good man that I once was. As soon as I killed my first victim my soul was to be a tortured one for all time. Using the gift to kill changes a person completely and they can never return to the life they once enjoyed.

  I’d been very wrong when I said Romand wasn’t the killing type. He was a killer after all, but he was wrong about a person being changed for all time. Romand wasn’t a bad person, the fact that he regretted what he had obviously been forced into doing proved that to me. Would anyone have been able to do anything different if they had been in his shoes? I doubted it. I knew all too well how manipulative and influential Golding and his murderous puppet, Derek Shaw, were. Romand had actually saved me from a similar fate to his own by freeing me from Golding Scientific and all the evil people who were part of it.

  Romand probably expected me to run a mile once I’d read the page, but I was going nowhere. He’d saved me from an awful future and I intended to repay that debt. I was going to help him in his quest to save the world from the threat that Marianne posed.

  I took the sheet and left the room to find Romand in his, sitting by the window smoking a cigar.

  ‘Hey,’ I said as I entered. ‘You wanna put this back with the rest?’

  He turned to see me holding the sheet of paper out towards him.

  ‘You probably think I’m some sort of monster now.’

  ‘No, Romand, I don’t. I’ll never think that and I’ll follow you into hell when the time comes. I’m with you all the way.’

  I could see he was smiling, but he refused to turn away from the window. I knew there were tears in his eyes. A man like him wasn’t used to crying and I didn’t want to embarrass him. I placed the sheet on his bed and told him I’d see him in the kitchen for dinner then left.

  My mood changed once I reached the kitchen, where Cathy and June were chatting and giggling. They seemed so content in that moment, the way all families should be. Cathy looked at me when I entered and I knew she was the one for me. She had everything I could want in a girl: beauty, intelligence, creativity, humour – and of course one of the true gifts. I could fully understand Romand’s attitude and why he was worried. There was so much to protect in that house and so much danger outside of it. I’d already lost my mother, and then been cut off from the home and family I had left. I wasn’t going to let anyone take this new family from me.

  I sat and watched and listened to them while dinner was prepared and tried to simply enjoy the moment. It was such a perfect evening. The patio doors that led to the back garden were wide open and a pleasant breeze blew inside to cool the kitchen after the stove had been on for the previous hour. Romand appeared as the sun was setting and darkness was creeping over the countryside.

  He sat next to me and the atmosphere between us was calm, not like it had been before, when he was always so strict and secretive. I finally saw him in the way that Cathy did, as a big brother.

  We shared no words as the dinner was placed on the table. Two bottles of wine were uncorked and a pot of hot tea was made. We were all set for yet another lovely evening together. I wished it would stay that way forever. The only thing that was wrong was Pepe who was sitting behind me panting and drooling. His breath was atrocious.

  ‘Pepe, do you always have to breathe on me?’

  He panted faster and barked loudly in my ear, which made the others laugh. I was half deafened though.

  I was about to give out to the big, loveable mutt when he shuffled forward and licked my face, as he was very fond of doing. This made the others laugh even harder. Romand even managed a smile.

  ‘Okay, okay, we can’t have dinner with these two hanging around,’ said June.

  She left her chair and led both dogs out to the front yard and shut the door on them. Finally we could have our meal in peace.

  When we were all seated and ready to eat Cathy decided to share one of her funny stories with us.

  ‘I was in t
own this morning…’ she laughed hard and covered her face.

  ‘And?’ June asked.

  ‘I got even with Martin Brown!’

  ‘Who’s Martin Brown?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh, he is the world’s crankiest man!’ June replied, ‘He makes everyone’s life a misery in the town!’

  ‘He owns a pet shop,’ Cathy told me, ‘I sat outside there today and switched my mind into one of his parrots and started talking to him.’

  We all laughed, trying to imagine what the owner of the pet store was thinking and how white his face must have gone.

  ‘Once I got inside the parrot’s head,’ she continued, ‘I told him the sweater he was wearing smelt like …’

  Cathy paused and her mother slowly stood up and turned to the door to the hallway. There was an awful sound creeping through the house; the kangals were growling at something. Romand leapt to his feet, knocking over his wine glass as he stood. The dogs were baying loudly.

  It got louder and louder until they were in a frenzy. We all knew something was terribly wrong. Something or someone unfriendly had arrived.

  June instinctively turned to Romand for guidance, but he seemed stunned and for the first time I saw fear in his eyes.

  Cathy, the only one still seated, dropped her chin and snapped her eyes shut. She’d switched her mind from her body. We all stared at her for a moment and the kitchen went dreadfully silent.

  Suddenly she snapped out of it and crashed from her chair to the floor. She was utterly terrified by what she’d seen. Romand and I raced across the kitchen and lifted her up.

  ‘What is it, Cathy?’ Romand asked. ‘What did you see?’

  ‘She’s here…’ Cathy gasped. ‘She’s outside, Romand!’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Marianne!’

  June started crying and grabbed hold of Cathy. Panic was spreading in the kitchen and it got worse when we heard the terrible yelps from the front yard. I’d grown attached to Bebe and Pepe and it broke my heart to hear them being attacked. Cathy and June were growing hysterical; they loved those dogs as though they were family.

  The cries of the kangals grew louder and more intense. It was hard to comprehend that any one person could fight, let alone hurt, such large dogs.

  I felt frozen – one of the worst killers in history was right outside the house and I knew she’d come for me.

  ‘What are we going to do, Romand?’ June said, almost out of breath with worry. ‘We have no way to get out!’

  ‘To the attic, take Cathy and Ross with you.’

  June pushed Cathy out of the room then turned and screamed at me to follow. I wasn’t one for hiding though. I never backed down from a fight.

  ‘I’m staying here with Romand!’

  ‘No, Ross!’ June shouted. ‘Come! Now!’

  ‘I’m staying right––’ my words were cut short when Romand grabbed hold of my arm and flung me across the room like a rag doll.

  ‘Protect Cathy and June,’ he shouted. ‘I’ll try to draw her away from the house, when I do I want you to get out as fast as you can. Don’t look back and don’t stop for anything.’

  ‘No!’ I demanded as Cathy and June raced along the hallway and up the stairs. ‘It’s not going to end like this, Romand! It can’t end like this!’

  We heard a loud bang from outside the house and one of the dogs was silenced.

  ‘Go, Ross!’

  ‘You need my help. You know you can’t do this alone.’

  ‘Go!’

  ‘Romand … I’m sorry … I called Dad and Gemma last night from the phone in the sitting room.’ It had just dawned on me. It was I who had given our location away. ‘I did this, didn’t I?’

  Romand stared at me and I knew he was fuming, but he simply nodded.

  ‘You weren’t to know. This conflict has been coming for a long time; I knew I couldn’t hide forever. Do not allow guilt to overcome you, no matter what happens here tonight. Protect the others with your life, Ross. Go!’

  I turned away and ran through the doorway then up the staircase and onto the landing. Cathy had already pulled down the wooden ladder to the attic and was climbing the rungs. I helped June up the ladder then followed and slammed the door shut. The attic was cramped and black. June was sobbing and Cathy kept whispering Romand’s name over and over again.

  There was no more noise from the dogs to be heard from outside the house. Bebe and Pepe had fought as best they could to defend their home and family, but it had been a fight they could not win.

  I wanted to burst into tears, but I tried my best to stay composed and keep some measure of control. I had to do what Romand had told me. I had to forsake him and to protect Cathy and June – if I could.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE -

  Duel

  Marianne stepped over the broken and bloodied remains of the dogs then held out her hands. She sent a powerful shockwave towards the house and the front door smashed into a million splinters. She stepped through the open doorway and saw Romand standing, silhouetted by the light of the kitchen, waiting for her.

  The fight with the kangals had been unexpected and the animals had been difficult to kill. Marianne had barely broken a sweat, though, and her inner power had simply been stirred by the tussle. As she stared down the short hallway at her nemesis, Marcus Romand, she felt her inner power begin to sizzle. That old anger was rising and it was rocket fuel for her gifts. She maintained self-control as she took a step forward. There would plenty of time to unleash her rage upon her old colleague.

  ‘Good evening,’ she said plainly. ‘Hope I’m not imposing.’

  ‘You’ll regret coming here, Marianne.’

  ‘Where is Bentley? I know you’re hiding him …’ she craned her neck and gazed up the staircase to her left. She sensed panic. It was coming from upstairs and it wasn’t just Bentley. There were more people in the house. ‘You are hiding more than just him.’

  ‘This is between you and I.’

  ‘Only for the moment. After I kill you I’ll search the house and butcher the others one by one … after they’ve given me the information I seek, that is.’

  ‘So everyone with a gift is now an enemy, Marianne? Did they all kill Peter?’

  ‘You dare speak his name in front of me!’ she hissed. ‘After what you did to him?’

  ‘Read my emotions, Marianne. Search my thoughts. My mind is open. You will see the truth.’

  ‘There are only layers of lies in your mind, Romand.’ Energy was coursing through her body as she grew more and more angry. She was ready for the fight.

  ‘Let’s see how good you really are.’

  She stared at him, trying to read his emotions so she could guess his method of attack before he made his move. He had suddenly shut his mind though. Something Romand had always been able to do.

  He didn’t blink. He didn’t move. He barely took a breath. Marianne would have to fight without the use of her emotomagnet gift. This would be an old-fashioned duel: Romand’s telekinesis and light-tuning skills versus her telekinesis and metallisiring abilities. She knew his gifts were not as pure and strong as her own – this was going to be fun.

  She had fought the gifted before and knew the best method of attack was counter-offensive moves. That was why Romand was waiting for her to start the duel. She did, but not in the way he expected. She stepped forward then darted for the staircase, which forced Romand to act. He raised one hand and pointed his index finger at her.

  A concentrated burst of energy came shooting out, cracked the banister in half and tore a hole in the wall. Marianne was unharmed and leaped from the stairs and into the hall.

  She stared at him for a moment, as dust and debris fluttered around her. Marianne was naturally more powerful, but she knew Romand was very dangerous and was a skilful killer. They’d trained together many years before and she knew that only one would survive this battle. She had to be cautious until she landed a serious blow.

  ‘I won’t let you harm them,’ Rom
and growled. ‘Your days of killing the gifted end here.’

  ‘Save your self-righteous bullshit for someone who believes in it. You and your guild are the ones who need to be stopped. I’m on the right side, Romand.’

  ‘You are on your own side, Marianne. You care only for yourself. You’ve always been that way, even back when you were a child and we scooped you up off that street corner like a homeless kitten that no one wanted.’

  She knew he was trying to make her lose control. She wouldn’t give in to his taunts though. Her attacks had to be clinical yet powerful. It was time to put her old friend to the test.

  She released a terrible blast of power that tore the plaster from the walls around her and blew Romand across the kitchen and up against the counter by the sink. It was only the first exchange, but it was clear that was a serious mismatch. Romand winced as he staggered to his feet. Marianne grinned at him from the hallway. She knew she’d broken a few of his ribs.

  He quickly straightened himself and produced a strong defensive wave that swept the furniture in the kitchen towards the walls and pulsed into the hallway, keeping Marianne at bay for a few moments.

  It didn’t stop her for long. Marianne had a vast repertoire and quickly found a way of getting into the kitchen so that she could fight face to face with her old foe. It was a technique that only she knew, for she had invented it. She pulled energy into her body, up through her chest and cradled it in her arms. She caressed her hands in a circular motion and a sphere of psychokinetic energy was produced. When it was fully formed she flung it through the doorway and it bounced erratically around the kitchen, ripping a massive hole in the ceiling, smashing the tiled floor, cracking furniture and – most importantly – sending Romand darting for cover.