by Wolfe Locke
The hallway made a sharp curve. The architectural brilliance of the facility made it ugly but there was nothing Niles hated more than the long, curving hallways. What happened to simple floor and simple structures?
“That doesn’t make sense,” Marcus said and Niles nodded. He agreed. It would have been safer to run. If he had caught up with Marcus earlier, then he could have escaped already. “What do you want me to do, Chief?”
“Get the Colonel’s door open. It’s grade A tech, but you should be able to get into it. Heavy steel and heavy security. He won’t let me in, I know that because he wouldn’t even talk to me. I don’t know why he is still alive, but his implant is still on.”
“Chief? You know your seed works for about three hours after you die, right? His implant can still be activated even if he is dead.”
“He is not,” Niles said. “I am almost there, can you get it open or not, son?” Niles asked. There was silence as Marcus got ready.
“Yeah, sure, just give me a minute or two,” Marcus said. “Look, you have to be ready for whatever you meet in there. I wouldn’t be surprised that he—”
“He’s still alive., trust me. Just get the door open.” Niles said. He limped all the way to the office and when he got there, he waited for the door to open
“Anytime now?” Niles asked. He didn’t hear anything, the silence stretched for a while and then the door clicked and Niles hurriedly pushed it in. Theo was saying something but then he stopped, surprised by Niles entering with his side arm aimed at him. Theo’s gun moved from Niles to the Colonel, it ended back in the Colonel’s face. Grisham’s face was bloody, his lip had split somewhere and his shirt was stained with blood.
“You don’t want to do this, Theo,” Niles said. But Theo just glared. He pushed his glasses up, adjusting them on the bridge of his nose. The Colonel looked like he was going to pass out soon.
“You good?” Niles asked and Grisham gave him a bloody smile “Theo, I don’t know why you did all this, but I know it isn’t because you want to kill him. You’ve lost, can’t you see? You’re entire organization has been destroyed. This won’t save you, but stepping away and cooperating with us can.”
“Who the fuck cares about any of that?” Theo asked. Niles looked at the gun in his hand. His finger was curled over the trigger and all he had to do was squeeze. It was weird. Grisham’s life was hanging on the thread of one simple action. Just one movement of his finger and Grisham would die—something so simple, could create a great shift in life.
“Why the fuck did you do all this? Why did you go through all this turmoil just to kill him then? You could have just walked in here and gunned him down any of the days you have been here. So why kill so many innocent people? What’s the point?” Niles asked?
“The point? Can you honestly say you don’t have a reason to hate him? Can you tell me you don’t hate this old bastard sitting right there? He has ruined your life as much as he has ruined mine, so keep your good-guy speech to yourself, Chief. De’Santes.” Theo screamed.
Niles frowned. He could see the man was hurt. He didn’t know what happened, but whatever it was must have been bad. There was no talking him out of it. He could just shoot him. There was a lot of probabilities in that. But he could just kill Theo now and their problems would be over. But he didn’t feel good with that decision. Somehow, the anger fueling him since he knew who had been the mole in the base had dissipated.
“Look, this has to end, Theo. It can end now and everything will go back to how it was before. You can’t win this; I am sure you know. You kill him and what? You will end up somewhere beside him. But if you stop this, there is a chance of thing being a little bit better, a lot more possibilit—” Theo started to laugh. He shook his head and when Grisham tried to move, he pushed the gun to his face. Niles shook his head.
“Give me one reason you old fuck” Theo yelled. Niles had to make a decision. He had to shoot the man or wait for him to shoot Grisham and it seemed like Grisham knew those were the only outcomes because Grisham was staring at him. He turned to Theo.
“You still haven’t answered me, Theo.” Niles felt like the inevietable was coming. It reminded him of an old saying from when he first joined the team years ago. Sometimes the real journey is the people we killed along the way.
“Because he deserves it,” Theo said. Niles agreed.
“Surer he does. Grisham is a monster. He’s caused real pain in numerous lives, mine included. But you have too. Old Dominion killed about fifteen people already and those are the ones we’ve managed to verify. You hurt so many people and caused harm in the same country you swore to protect,” Niles said. “
Niles continued, “You have caused pain too, do you think you deserve death?” He knew Theo would never admit it.
Theo stared at him for a moment. He seemed to be confused. Niles waited. His side arm aimed and his finger hovering close to the trigger. The blast of the bullets would push him back like he was hit by something heavy and fast. That should save Grisham. If that didn’t, Niles looked at the man. he would pay his respects.
“You think this is all me?” Theo asked. “You think Old Dominion is mine? I’m just one of many.” he started shaking his head. Then he turned to Grisham and Niles caught the decision happen. He saw it flicker in the other man’s eyes right before he squeezed the trigger. The shots were faster than Niles thought, but still not fast enough. When he put his gun down, Theo was dead and Grisham was on the floor and there was blood everywhere—the chair, the floor and on his clothes.
Niles called the med guys and before they came, he checked Theo. There was a piece of paper in his pocket and on his uniform’s breast pocket, there was something. A data-block. Niles kept them. The med guys pronounced Theo dead and Grisham was taken in for the treatment. The bullet had hit his shoulder. Niles went to his room to clean up before going to check in on him. He watched the old man sleep. He sighed, wondering if he really wanted to be back in the life.
Late in the night, while he walked back to his room, he realized he hadn’t called Marcus and the kid had not called him. He sent a call request, thinking the kid deserved a real voice
“Are you alright?” Marcus asked as soon as he answered. Niles could hear the fear in his voice. “I thought you died, old man. I didn’t want to call you and realize your implant couldn’t connect us because you were dead. I’m glad you are alive. Did the Colonel die though?”
“No, but he is on the ropes.” Niles answered.
“Not a bad deal,” Marcus said. Niles grinned. “You guys find out why he didn’t run?”
“No, but I will.” He wasn’t alone.
“What are you going to do now?” Marcus asked.
“I’m going home soon, and drink myself stupid and then wake up tomorrow and move on with my life.” Niles said. “The job is done.” Niles said..
Maybe not done. Niles thought about what Theo had said. He had thought about it hard. It didn’t seemly likely.
“Marcus?” Niles asked. “I think there was someone else behind this. We have our mole, but a large part of the chain is there. I’m not sure, but all the evidence looks like it.”
“You told the old man?” Marcus responded.
“No, he is dealing with enough. Maybe when he gets out of Medical There was a brief silence and Niles told him he had to do something. He would have to get another place and he was sure Grisham was going to pay for his bombed house. He laid down, trying to sleep. He was still trying to when his implant beeped. Niles released the display and saw the message.
He opened it and sat up. At the bottom of the message were a bunch of signatures and names. Grisham’s too. Do I really want this? I did just tell the kid I was moving on with my life.
Theo’s words echoed in his mind. You think this is all me?
The words filled him up and made him shudder. If this was not finished, then his job was not done. He would have to stay. It was obvious he wanted to stay too. He was just wondering if he shoul
d. What he realized since he came back was that the world was not the same as he left it before. He thought of Grisham and then Marcus, then he sent a reply back.
I’m taking some time off, but I think I’m ok with it.
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