by R S Penney
“I'm countermanding those orders!” she insisted.
The officer glanced over his shoulder with his lips peeled back. “Your authority doesn't count for much around here, Agent Lenai.” He returned his attention to Kevin, but thankfully, he did not shoot. “That boy is a menace. If we don't bring him in, he'll tear this whole damn city apart.”
“You're frightening him!”
“What the hell is wrong with you, girl?” That came from the second cop, the one who still stood in front of the cruiser. He directed a thin-lipped frown toward Anna. “We tried using the kid gloves, remember? Every single time we do, the boy just slips away. Your methods don't work.”
Anna hissed air through her teeth, tiny drops of spit flying from her mouth. “I'm ordering you to stand down,” she said. “You disobey, and I'll have you both on report.”
A glance over her shoulder revealed the blurry image of Kevin hiding behind his force-field. The first cop took a few steps forward. “Kid's getting tired,” he said. “When he loses concentration, we take him.”
“No!”
“Don't get your panties in a bunch, Agent Lenai,” he said with obvious disdain in his voice. “We'll try to take him alive for you.”
This was getting her nowhere. Any moment now, Kevin would lose the ability to maintain his force-field, and then…Well, it would play out one of three ways. Either the poor kid would end up shot, or he'd lash out with the device in some unexpected fashion, or he'd just wind up on the run again. She had to do something. “Hey!”
The second cop spun to face her, lowering his weapon.
Anna jumped, turning belly-up in mid-air. She kicked out to slam both feet into the man's face, the impact driving him backward until he was sprawled out on the hood of the cruiser.
Anna back-flipped through the air, then dropped to land in a crouch with the other cop behind her. In her mind's eye, she saw him whirl around and point his pistol in her direction, aiming for the spot where her chest would be if she were standing.
He fired without looking.
Bullets whizzed right over her.
She slapped her hands down on the pavement and brought one foot up to strike the underside of his wrist with her heel, knocking the gun away. The cop let out a yelp as he stumbled backward.
Anna stood.
She spun around to find him standing there, empty-handed with a look of pure rage in his eyes. His features were twisted into something feral, his brow glistening with the sheen of sweat.
Baring her teeth with a soft hiss, Anna winced. She turned her face away from him. “Still think guns are the ultimate weapon?” she asked. “Still feel secure in your ability to dominate any situation with violence?”
The man growled, his face twisting with unbridled fury. He pulled the night-stick from his belt and strode forward, lifting the weapon high above his head.
He swung for her.
Anna leaned to the side, the baton whistling through the air next to her shoulder. She slipped past him on the right, then kicked out behind herself to strike the back of his leg. The cop fell to his knees.
Her elbow slammed into the back of his skull, knocking him senseless, and then he was down on all fours, groaning. In her mind's eye, she saw the other man on the hood of the cruiser getting to his feet.
Anna spun around.
She seized the man she had just incapacitated by the shoulders and lifted him until he was standing. Then she gave a quick shove and sent him stumbling head-first toward his partner.
They collided like a pair of drunken college boys staggering out of a bar, then fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Grunts and moans were the only things that either man could use to communicate.
Violence. It was a terrible thing – damaging to the soul, in her opinion – but there were times when the use of force was necessary. Whether or not it was justified was a whole other philosophical quandary. The necessary thing was not always the right thing. Now she just had to-
Despair came over her when she turned around to find that Kevin was nowhere to be seen. The boy had run off again, using the distraction Anna had provided to escape. Bleakness take it all!
After all that work, all that struggle – not to mention the pain of taxing herself and her Nassai – she had lost him again! For a moment, she just wanted to sit down on the sidewalk and cry. Maybe later, a small voice whispered. She could deal with the fallout of all this stress later. Right now, she had to find the kid before someone else attacked him.
Kevin ran through the space between two houses, then doubled over with his hands on his knees in the dirt that would one day be someone's back yard. None of the lots had been fenced off yet, and he could move freely between them.
The streets were off limits to him for the time being. If he went out there, he would be cornered by another pair of ambitious cops, and then he would either have to let loose with the device or…Or…He wasn't sure what.
The strange piece of alien technology sang in his head, whispering promises of the power he could wield, urging him to stay away from anyone who might try to take it from him. It was his! He couldn't let them-
No!
This thing was a danger, and it was killing him. The terror he felt whenever anyone spoke of removing it, the urge to lash out: these were not his impulses. They were only the product of an alien mind trying to influence his thoughts. He was Kevin Harmon. He had a life of his own, and he wasn't going to let some thing take that away from him.
I have to go back to Agent Lenai.
That was the rational thing to do. He just had to keep calm and make his way back to her. She would take him to the space station, and he would finally be free of this thing. Amanda, he thought. If he made it through this in one piece, he was definitely asking her out, and damn whatever her stupid father thought. That would be his motivation. He had to make it through this. For her.
Harry drove along the dusty street lined with unfinished houses, doing everything in his power to ignore the crushing sense of helplessness and the rage that threatened to flare up whenever he let himself think on it for more than a few seconds. The driver's-side door was mangled, but the car still worked.
All his life, he had been a man who believed in working within the bounds of the law, a paladin as Jack would say. He had waited for those officers, hoping that he could relate to them, one cop to another. They had barely acknowledged his presence.
So, now he was stuck, feeling useless and driving around a neighbourhood filled with half-finished homes, hoping that by some stroke of luck he could spot young Kevin before someone else did. The rational part of his brain said that he should just go back to his hotel room. Anna was a competent officer, and she could cover more ground than he could even with a car. What could Harry do? He was no Keeper. Just a middle-aged ex-cop with some good intentions and-
It was sheer dumb luck that made him glance through the passenger-side window as he was passing in front of two houses. Through the narrow gap between them, he saw a young man standing in the dirt.
Harry slammed on the brakes.
It took him all of ten seconds to park the car, and then he was running through that gap, panting as he got closer. Kevin seemed not to notice him. The kid just stood there, staring off into space.
“Hey!” Harry called out.
That got the boy's attention. Turning partway, Kevin glanced over his shoulder and froze when he saw Harry. “It's you,” he said. “Thank god. Can you help me get back to Agent Lenai?”
Harry closed his eyes, nodding to the young man. “I can,” he said hoarsely. “But we're going to have to be careful. This neighbourhood is crawling with police who seem to think you're a threat to the whole town.”
Kevin winced, covering his face with the palm of his hand. “Yeah, I know,” he said, spinning to face Harry. “Two of them came at me just a few minutes ago, but Agent Lenai fought them off. I…I ran.”
“That was smart.”
“Smart?”
&nbs
p; Licking his lips as he tried to calm his anxiety, Harry looked up to meet the boy's gaze. “If it's that or fight, run every time,” he said. “Violence is only going result in even more people thinking you're a threat to public safety.”
“I don't mean to be.”
“I know.”
Kevin kicked a clump of dirt with the toe of his shoe, sending it flying a good ten feet before it fell to the ground. “I controlled it, this time,” he rasped. “It takes so much willpower, but I used the energy field to protect myself. I didn't attack them.”
Harry clapped the lad on his shoulder and watched as the tension drained right out of him. That the boy was able to exert that much control…Resisting the influence of an Overseer device was not impossible, but it was incredibly difficult.
“You have to understand the song,” Kevin explained. “When this thing first bonded with me, I couldn't distinguish my own thoughts from the ideas it slipped into my mind. I wanted to protect myself. The device wanted me to do whatever was necessary to prevent anyone from taking it from me. But it wasn't what I wanted. So long as I remember that, I can control it.”
“Are you saying you want to keep it?”
Kevin shook his head violently, spinning around and turning his back on Harry. He laced fingers over the top of his head. “You don't know what it's like,” he said. “It's there all the time, singing in your mind. It's easier when I'm not under stress, but you never get a moment's rest. You have to constantly remind yourself that it doesn't control you.”
“Okay. Let's get-”
Footsteps behind him.
Harry spun around to find two uniformed officers moving through the gap between houses, approaching cautiously with weapons drawn. Each man wore a hard expression, the thousand-yard stare of someone who knew that he was going to have to do something very unpleasant. “Step aside, Mr. Carlson,” one said.
“I can't do that.”
The cop lifted his gun and frowned at Harry over the length of his extended arm. “You think I won't shoot you,” he said, arching a thick, bushy eyebrow. “I'd rather not have to, but we're bringing the boy down to lock-up.”
Harry felt his face burn, tears leaking from his eyes to roll over his cheeks. “Oh, I have no doubt that you'll shoot me,” he replied. “But violence is only going to make this situation worse. You've seen what happens when you resort to bullets over brains.”
Kevin was tense, and he clung to Harry's jacket with both hands, trembling. The boy was whispering something. If Harry strained, he could just pick it up. “You do not want to hurt them. You do not want to hurt them. You do not…”
“Please,” Harry implored them.
The second cop winced, jerking his head to one side as if he'd been slapped. “We don't want to hurt the kid,” he growled. “But he has caused an insane amount of property damage and put several people in the hospital.”
“It wasn't his fault.”
“That's for a court to determine.”
Harry bared his teeth with a vicious growl, then shook his head forcefully enough to make himself dizzy. “Let us take him to the space station,” he said. “We can remove the device and sort out the legalities later.”
“I'm not authorized to do that,” the first cop insisted. “You try to stop us, and you're aiding and abetting a wanted felon. Step aside, Mr. Carlson. If you force my hand, I will have to shoot you.”
Harry refused to budge, choosing instead to shield Kevin with his own body. Damn it, but one way or another, this kid was leaving here alive. “I get it,” Harry said. “You're scared. You've seen the kind of destructive power Kevin can unleash, and you've decided that enough is enough. No one should be allowed to terrorize an entire community. You'd be surprised how well I can relate to that.
“I come from a city that was terrorized by a single individual not once, but twice. Murderers running around with alien technology, blowing holes in the sides of buildings, leaving people afraid. You think I haven't seen this? You think I don't understand the urge to end the threat by any means necessary?
“But if you stop and think for five seconds, you'll realize there's a huge difference between a man who inflicts terror because he likes seeing people suffer and a kid who got in over his head. Kevin never meant to hurt anyone.
“So, I want you to look within yourselves and ask yourselves one question. When you look at this kid, do you see a scared young man or an animal on the verge of losing control? You might take note of the fact that he's not attacking you right now.
“Think long and hard on that question, Officers, because the answer will determine a lot more than whether or not you're the kind of men who let prejudice influence their decisions. It will determine the state of your souls; it will determine whether or not you walk out of here with a murder on your conscience.”
His heart was pounding, but Harry did everything in his power to keep his voice even. He took one step forward with his hands raised in the air. “I'm a human being,” he said. “Kevin's a human being. And your failure to recognize that fact doesn't make it any less true.
“So go ahead then,” Harry urged. “Put a bullet in my chest. Take the life of a fellow human being. Squeeze those triggers, and be all you can be. Or…if you'd prefer, you can put away your weapons, and we can solve this problem without anyone else getting hurt.”
The cop stood there with his eyes shut, tears glistening on his cheeks. “I'm sorry,” he whispered. “My orders-”
“Fuck your orders!” Harry shouted. “You've got a mind of your own. Use it.” In all his years, he would never have expected those words to come out his mouth.
The cop lowered his weapon, and half a moment later, his partner did the same. A sigh of relief exploded from Harry as he watched them holster their guns and turn their backs. “Call Agent Lenai,” the first cop said. “Bring the kid up to the space station. I'll tell the other guys you're already gone.”
They left without another word.
Harry spun around to find Kevin standing there with his face buried in his hands, trembling as he sobbed. The kid took one step forward and threw his arms around Harry, squeezing him like a long lost father. “It's over?”
“It's over,” Harry whispered. “You're safe now.”
Kevin shivered.
Harry returned the hug, patting him on the back. “It's okay, Kevin,” he said softly. “I won't let anyone hurt you. I promise.”
The End of Part 1.
Interlude
“So, you failed.”
The hologram of Isara stood before him: a translucent woman in a black dress with the hood of her cloak pulled up to hide her face. Her expression was unreadable, but there was no doubt in Slade's mind that she wanted to claw his eyes out.
He stood in the small bedroom of his apartment with his arms crossed, frowning at his errant servant. “You failed to recover the Inzari device,” he said, his eyebrows rising. “Your assassin failed to kill the professor.”
Isara stood there with her head bowed, the image flickering several times before it solidified once again. “A minor setback,” she insisted. “If necessary, I will travel to the Justice Keeper station and-”
Slade winced, hissing as he shook his head. “You would expose yourself before we are ready for it,” he said softly. “No, the device will have to remain with Lenai for now. It was not crucial to our plans.”
Isara took that in stride.
He turned away from the ghostly woman, sighing as he paced across the hardwood floor. “We will simply have to accelerate our timetable,” he went on. “I find it unlikely that Lenai and her friends will glean anything useful from the device, but that girl has surprised me in the past.”
Clamping a hand over his mouth, Slade narrowed his eyes. “We've scanned every inch of this planet's surface,” he muttered into his own palm. “Nothing…Nothing to give us even the slightest clue.”
“I can't hear you.”
He whirled around to find the hologram staring at him
from the depths of her hood. No doubt Isara was growing impatient. He couldn't blame her. Pennfield had spent over a decade searching for the Key before Lenai and Hunter frustrated his plans. A decade with nothing to show for it but useless data.
Four years ago, when Leyria had first made contact with this backward little world, Slade had held out some hope that the ability to use ships to scan the planet from orbit would result in progress, but that had ended in nothing but more failure. Even the Inzari did not know the Key's location. The ones who had hidden it had done their jobs well.
Slade leaned against the wall with his arms folded, tilting his head back to scowl at the ceiling. “There may yet be an opportunity to turn this to our advantage,” he muttered. “It's time we started playing to our strengths.”
“What does that mean?”
Grinding his teeth, Slade shut his eyes. “You never really did possess a thorough understanding of the game.” He took a few cautious steps toward the hologram. “Never act directly when you can force your opponent to act on your behalf.”
She looked up at him, and for a brief moment, enough light penetrated the hood for him to see a flash of irritation on her beautiful face. “We are influence peddlers, Isara,” Slade went on. “We were fools to act outside that arena.”
“So how shall we use influence peddling to our advantage?”
Slade chuckled. “I'm going to destroy Anna Lenai.”
The fence in his backyard would need replacing in another year or two. After two decades of harsh Canadian winters, the wooden planks were showing signs of wear and tear. Some were chipped and cracked.
Arthur Hunter paced through the damp grass with his hands shoved into the pockets of his brown leather coat. A tall man with a dark beard that was slowly graying and thick brown hair, he stopped in front of the fence.
He dropped to a crouch, then rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. Next, summer, he said to himself. It'll last until then.
Strange that he would focus on this tiny detail, as if fixing the battered old fence could somehow correct everything else that had gone wrong. He tried not think too much on that. Nothing would be accomplished by dwelling on the things you couldn't change. Crystal was gone. It was what it was.
