by Jobe, David
“Mr. Lockhart, I believe you know Mr. Wolfe.”
The man raised his head, revealing one eye and one empty eye socket. The empty socket still had blood trickling out of it. “You’re dead.” He spat blood at Brian, but it missed. He turned his gaze to Dr. Patton who stood off to the side watching with a placid look on his face. “You. You will pay for this.”
Dr. Patton shook his head. “No. You have that wrong. You’re here for the debt that you owe.” He turned to look at Brian. “You see, Mr. Wolfe here had been hired to help facilitate bringing you to me. We had an arrangement that he would bring you to me, instead of your ill-fated press conference. Now, I don’t know if Mr. Wolfe knew the grim fate that awaited you, but I do know that several news cameras caught him refusing to help you after your shooting. He said something along the lines that you deserved what you got.”
“He did.” He spat again, but this time at Dr. Patton. A glob of red struck the man’s shoes.
Dr. Patton backhanded Mr. Wolfe hard enough that the chair made a grinding noise as it moved across the concrete. “Mr. Lockhart’s just deserts are not the matter of discussion here. Your failure to live up to our agreement is.”
Wolfe shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts. “You can’t do this to me. I’m an officer of the law. They will be looking for me.”
“The only person looking for you is your wife, but not for the reason you think. This morning she discovered your Dear Jane letter, telling her all about the mistress and that you were starting a new life with her. Your bank account was cleaned out and your car found at Indianapolis International Airport long-term parking. Later, they will find your corpse in Las Vegas, beaten to death in a manner befitting someone who owed a lot of money to the wrong people.” This time Dr. Patton dodged the spit aimed at him. “Your department did a quick look into the matter and found all those private emails and texts to a one Miss. Templeton. Seeing as she quit her job dancing last night, via a phone call, and has now vanished with her savings account, they determined that you were not missing. You were off living the dream. In fact, your best friends are at the Blue Line right now toasting to your bravado. It’s rather touching.”
Wolfe’s shoulders slumped. “All of this for that freak?”
Dr. Patton shook his head. “Not at all. Who you were sent to get is immaterial. That you were sent and opted to ignore your obligations is the issue here. Though our agreement was supposed to be confidential, there are people out there that will undoubtedly know that you and I had made an accord. Now those people will see the fate that befalls someone who crosses me. I doubt I’ll have this issue with the next person I hire.” He glanced at Brian before turning his attention back to Wolfe.
“And Susie?”
“Miss. Templeton is already dead of an overdose of her favorite drug in a seedy Las Vegas hotel. They will find her corpse around the same time as yours. Unfortunately, the batch she got had something extra that has distorted the pristine body she had cultivated for her profession. Your wallet is at the scene. They will believe that you watched her die an agonizing death and then went out on the town, only to meet your fate when you couldn’t pay up immediately.”
Wolfe began to sob.
Brian felt tears in his own eyes.
“And my wife?” He looked up at Dr. Patton, his remaining eye pleading.
Dr. Patton gave a smile that chilled Brian to his core, but he said nothing. Instead, he walked over to a corner and picked up a long lead pipe. “Brian. You’ll want to stand by the door.” He began to press buttons on his gauntlet. After a moment Brian could swear that the doctor appeared to swell, the muscles in his neck standing out as if he were straining.
What followed next was the most savage beating that Brian had ever witnessed, even with his extensive viewing of horror movies. Dr. Patton started by slamming the end of the pipe down on Wolfe’s knee, shattering it under the thin brown pants. A dark stain began to creep out from that spot. Another stain appeared on the man’s crotch, though the doctor had not hit him there yet.
Brian tried to cover his eyes, but the sound without the visual made it that much worse. It continued for several minutes until he heard the metal of the pipe strike the metal of the chair. Brian didn’t even want to imagine what that meant. Brian opened his eyes and immediately turned to vomit. What remained of Officer Wolfe was recognizable as human only by the twitching hand and the untouched shoes.
The clang of the metal pipe hitting the concrete floor brought Brian’s attention back to the presence of the doctor. Looking up, Brian found the man standing before him, the entire front of his body coated in blood and grime. His blood-soaked face appeared calm and collected. “Do we understand each other?”
Brian nodded, but then decided he had best speak. “We understand each other perfectly.”
Chapter Nine
All on the Table
Machiavelli Patton stood over a wooden workbench covered with various electronic parts and several sheets of drawing paper. He rubbed his temples while staring at the chicken scratches on the largest paper before him. The ideas had seemed so clear when he etched them out, but as he read they had started to make his brain hurt.
The sweet scent of her perfume wafted over his shoulder before she spoke. “What are you working on, Mac?” Allison slid her arms under his and then kissed him on the neck. “Look at this! My arms can go all the way around you. How much have you lost?”
Mac tried to hide the goosebumps that spread over him like a wildfire. “Around fifty. I am not sure how much is just the reduced diet and how much might be my father’s robots.” He gave a loud sigh.
She peered over his shoulder, her bright smile appearing in his side view as she peered over his shoulder. “Is that Asimov?”
Mac nodded. “I am trying to find a way to get rid of his rotors and move him to something quieter. He’s supposed to be noninvasive, but that buzzing noise is distracting, not to mention it makes watching his recordings a little maddening.”
“Maybe you should work on his humor?” She giggled in his ear, bringing on another outbreak of goosebumps.
“I happen to like his humor. I did design him after all.”
“It’s very. I don’t know. British?”
Mac laughed. “I was raised by British humor. My nanny was Monty Python and my butler Dr. Who.”
“I thought Monty Python was a bunch of dudes.”
“They like to dress up as women sometimes.”
She giggled again and stepped away. “Lanton wants us all back in the, well, whatever you call that room.”
Mac nodded, making a gesture with his hand. The piece if paper floated off the bench and the crumpled into a ball. There it flew across the room into a large metal trash can. “I’m thinking we should call it the Command Center.” He began to hobble toward the main room, each step measured and carefully planted.
Allison fell in beside him, her arms going to assist him but then appeared to remember how much he hated that, she clasped them behind her back. “I really wish I could do something like that.”
“Naming things? It’s real easy. It doesn’t even have to be right. You could name something Philly Billy, and it would be fine.” Each step hurt, but he tried to keep it off his face.
“That must be British humor.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because it isn’t funny.” She pulled open the door.
They stepped inside just as Lanton moved to stand at the front of the room, a large screen television becoming his backdrop. Eleanor stood near the kitchen door, wiping her hands on her apron as she watched Mac navigate his way to one of the chairs at the long black table at the rear of the room. Detective Grimm stood near the table, leaning on the back of the chair. Julian fidgeted near the back of the couch, looking down periodically at the young girl who sat cross-legged whispering to her little blue bear, Sally.
Lanton gave a long sigh and clasped his hands before him. “At the advice of the love
ly Eleanor,” he gestured at her, receiving a small smiling nod in return,” I have something to tell you. Like most of you, I too have a power. In telling you this, I’m trusting you with a great secret. I’m not sure how the police department might react if they find out, so I’d appreciate it if for the time being you kept this in-house. Eleanor is right though, that I’m asking a lot of each and every one of you, and it wouldn’t be fair to not have all of my cards on the table.”
“What is your power? Is it why you could see the aliens and not me?” Grimm asked, his face stoic.
“Aliens?” The room asked in unison.
Lanton gave a nervous chuckle. “I think so. Truth is, I don’t have a handle on what it is, or exactly how it works. What I do know is that when I come to a crime scene, I see it happen in reverse. It’s as if someone hit rewind on a movie, and I get to see it play out.”
“Any crime scene?” Julian leaned back against the table, arms folded over his chest.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. So far, the only ones I have seen have involved a death. Though some were suicides, I think each had an element that might have made them homicides.” His gaze went to Allison and averted as he gave a soft cough.
Allison rubbed her neck, which still held the bruising from her suicide attempt.
Mac reached out and held her hand. She smiled back, sadness in her eyes.
“There is more,” Lanton continued. “As Grimm mentioned, when these creatures showed up-”
“Aliens,” Grimm interjected.
Lanton chuckled. “Fine. When the aliens showed up, it felt like they froze time, but it didn’t affect me. When Stephen tried to command me, it also didn’t affect me. Eleanor points out that when this happened, I became transparent in the videos. And finally, I see other things, like lights and shadows with people that have powers. Sometimes they give me an idea of the kind of power they have. “
Julian raised his hand. “What does mine look like?”
“Yours looks like a white ring around the top of your head.”
“Like a portal? Like in those games?” Mac looked at his newest friend, smiling.
“Like a halo.” Julian and Lanton said in unison, staring at each other in shock for a few minutes.
“Like a portal,” Mac replied and nodded. Julian threw him a look, but when he saw the smirk on Mac’s face, he smiled back. “What about me?”
Lanton stared at him for a moment. “Yours is a bit jumbled. You have a light and dark vortex at the center of you. It reminds me of those pictures you see of the Milky Way galaxy. And now, you have these small grey flecks floating all around you.”
“Now?” Mac looked down at his chest as if he might be able to see them.
“Yeah. You didn’t have them when I came to see you at the hospital the first time. When I came back after the attack, they were there.”
Mac sighed and nodded. He said nothing, not sure he was ready for that revelation yet.
The room sat in stunned silence for a while, until Eleanor said, “tell them the rest, Monty. They need to know.”
“Even?” He nodded to her.
She gave a brilliant smile back. “Of course. The point is full disclosure.”
Lanton blushed but nodded. “Eleanor has a power too, though we haven’t sorted out what it is yet. So far she can read emotions when someone she cares for is in her focus. And she is also pregnant.”
Allison squealed and clapped her hands. “That is great!”
Lanton coughed. “I gave her both.”
Grimm choked on his drink, sputtering as he tried to form words. “I’m pretty sure that breaks some forms of etiquette boss.”
Elanor giggled. “It’s okay, Grimm. His point is that you can get a baby in the same manner as a power.”
Allison blushed next to Mac. He could feel his cheeks redden a bit too.
Lanton stepped forward. “And miss Allison. You have a power too.”
“But Mac and I… We….” She looked at Mac and blushed even brighter. “We haven’t!”
Mac felt like his face was on fire.
Lanton chuckled. “That’s not the only way you can get it. I think it’s in an energy drink that’s out on the market.”
“Ohhh,” Allison said, now hiding behind her long hair.
“What is her power,” Mac asked. “Or what does it look like?”
“I don’t think her powers been decided yet. It was the same way with Elanor. I think there is a catalyst that makes it happen, but I don’t know what it is.” Lanton frowned. “There is still so much that we don’t know.”
“What about me?” Grimm stood tall.
“Your special ability is mismatching clothes.” Lanton appeared straight-faced as he said this.
“You’re not funny.” Grimm leaned against the wall. “What energy drink was it?”
Lanton shook his head. “Oh no. I don’t think you should run out and try to get anything. You’ve seen what it does to some people. Full-on physical transformations. Do you want to become a dragon?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Grimm appeared to be pouting. “If you see me acting like I took a speedball, you can blame him.”
“Mac,” Allison whispered in his ear. “I think you should tell them about the specks.”
Mac frowned but spoke. “I think I might have an idea about your powers, Officer Lanton.”
“It’s just Lanton.”
Mac went on. “I think it is time-based. I think your power centers around manipulating time on a small scale. It’s not like in the movies where you can rewind time. I don’t think that is actually possible, superpower or not. I think even freezing time like your aliens might be problematic. But I watched Asimov’s tape, and I did see you vanish for a second when the other guy commanded you to do things. I thought maybe it was just a glitch, but now it makes sense. I think you can see into the past and possibly a glimpse of a possible future. And maybe your ability works to protect you by, I don’t know, phasing you into a different time.” Everyone was staring at him.
Julian stepped up to the table. “Yeah, that makes sense. I remember in class they talked a lot about potential energy. Way I understood it, potential energy was energy that could happen. Maybe your lights and shadows are glimpses of potential futures. Our potential energy. Maybe your mind doesn’t know how to lay it out for you, so it uses symbolism.”
Mac smiled and nodded. “Right. So the portal-”
“Halo.”
“Is how your mind sees Julian’s teleporting ability. With mine, since it is gravity based, you see something that represents gravity to you. By the way, thanks for not going with an apple. I might have been offended.”
Lanton laughed. “Then why can’t I see Allison’s? Or why couldn’t I see Eleanor’s when I first noticed it?”
Allison spoke up. “Because I haven’t chosen yet. Or it hasn’t, whatever it ends up being. While Mac thinks we can’t change the past, I think the future is a bit iffy. Meaning that right now, my power could manifest in a few different ways. Once I get closer to the time it shows up, you will probably get to see it form. Maybe it was the same with Elanor.”
“Great. I’m the dumbest person in the room and the only one without a power. This sucks.” Grimm glared at all of them, though mirth showed in his eyes.
“I don’t have a power.” The little girl said.
“Riiiiight,” Grimm responded. He opened his mouth to say something else but appeared to catch the warning looks everyone was throwing him and closed his mouth. “Just saying. I want a superpower.”
“I’ve got money he becomes a real life Barney.” Lanton crossed his arms, mimicking Grimm.
“No. He’s going full brony.” Julian mimicked as well.
“Well, I say he becomes a were-furry.” Mac laughed.
“Bunch of comedians,” Grimm said, but he laughed.
“Look guys, I have to bail. It’s almost time for them to lock the front gates. You know my mom gets nervous wh
en I don’t get back in time.” Julian smiled at them all.
“Julian, you’ll be at the gym first thing in the morning, right? You are doing great with your training, but you have to keep practicing.”
Julian nodded to Lanton, “wouldn’t miss it.”
“Julian, before you go, can I have a word with you?” Mac stood up and began to walk toward the shop again.
“It’s a halo, dude.” Julian chuckled but followed along.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Mac handed Julian a card. “I have been meaning to thank you for saving my life back there. I just wasn’t sure how. Here is the card for my tailor. I’ve told him to set you up with two tailored suits.”
