Blackjack Messiah

by Ben Bequer

  “There were twelve pods, each holding one person. Six men, six women, but that’s all we got.”

  “Pretty fancy way to move a bunch of people destined to be fucktoys,” Bajeera said.

  “No way were those people being sold into the sex trade,” Nina said.

  “I agree, but the Feds have frozen us out of the investigation,” Terry said.

  “What a bunch of assholes,” Roy said. He looked haggard, and it was only then that I realized that he had pulled his stint of monitor duty on the heels of the mission. “We saved them a lot of trouble last night.”

  “What about the machine,” Dixie said. “I couldn’t tell what it was, and the Feds swooped in before I could get near it.”

  “It had some pretty heavy duty induction coils,” I said. “And I didn’t get a good look at that generator, but they didn’t buy it at a hardware store.”

  “So if you had to guess?” Roy said.

  “I think it some kind of matter transporter,” I said.

  “What makes you say that?” Nina said.

  “A hunch, mostly. We weren’t near the water, which means those containers came by truck with no other discernible way to move them except to load them on another truck.”

  “Which doesn’t make much sense,” Bajeera said.

  “Nope. So yeah, heavy induction coils, heavy duty generator. Matter transporter.”

  “You’ve seen tech like this before?” Dixie said.

  “I have, and it comes in all shapes and sizes.”

  “We have any angles to pursue on this,” Roy said.

  “Nothing legal,” Terry said shaking his head.

  All eyes in the room flicked to me, and I felt the first pricks of a blush rising. “Don’t look at me guys. I was a flashy bank robber. There is nothing subtle about me.”

  That drew a chuckle and Terry dismissed everyone, but caught me with a look. I nodded and waited for everyone else to clear out. I knew what he wanted to talk about, so I tried beating him to the punch. “Sorry about the mask. I’m not used to fighting in one; I didn’t even realize it was gone.”

  Nodding through my apology, Terry said, “It happens. We had no way to account for Wither’s weaponry.”

  “There’s not much that can shred Superdynamic’s cloth. I’m going to have to log that. I don’t know if he’s going to be disappointed or excited.”

  “Do you think anyone recognized you?”

  “Given that the Feds didn’t start shooting at me or screaming in panic, I think we’re good.”

  “What about the bads?”

  “No clue. I guess we’ll find out when Cyclonic wakes up.”

  “True, either way, they’re both going to deep lockup.”

  “We good? I want to get lunch with Madelyne before monitor duty.”

  “Yeah, go buddy. Oh, and good work last night.”

  “Man, thanks. I don’t know what to say. I’m glad to be here.”

  “You earned it.”

  Awash in praise, I made my way out of the firehouse. I sent Madelyne a text and mapped out the restaurant. It was a long walk, but I was feeling really good. Not even my hair annoyed me as I made my way through town. The people were friendly, and if I intimidated them, they didn’t show it. My phone buzzed and I was surprised to find Epic on the other end.

  “Hey man, didn’t expect to hear from you,” I said.

  “Heard you guys had a big night.”

  “Yeah, it was nice to get a win, but I don’t think that’s why you called. What’s going on, Ricky?”

  “Have you seen Armada, has she tried to contact you?”

  “Not since that last time, that was a week ago, maybe two?”

  “Shit, I was afraid of that.”

  “More weirdness? Did she stab someone else?”

  “We don’t know. We can’t find her.”

  “Come again.”

  “I got your message. We went out to the city to find her, and nothing.”

  “Shit, do you have any way of tracking her?”

  “She didn’t carry a phone, felt like they were intrusive. We have satellites and facial recognition going overtime on this, but I wanted to give you a heads up.”

  “Worried she might try to rape me?”

  “Or skewer you. Or both. Just watch your back, and call me if anything.”

  “Will do. Listen, man, she’s in a bad place. Find her before she gets hurt.”

  “I’m worried she might hurt someone else.”

  “I didn’t get that vibe off her at all. She’s confused, but not dangerous.”

  “I hope you’re right, buddy.”

  I tried not to let the call dull my good mood, but I was looking over my shoulder the whole way to the restaurant. Regardless of what I thought, Armada was dangerous. That spear could kill me, and she was a better fighter than I was, despite my superior strength. I should have told Terry, but I didn’t, just as I resolved during my walk that I wouldn’t tell Apogee either. She opened with some good news, her people managed to get Bubu extradited to England. He was still in jail, but not in a damned gulag. If she knew about Armada, she didn’t mention it at lunch, nor did she make a big deal about how my attention seemed to wander. Armada out in the wind. That did not bode well.

  ——

  The sun hung in a clear blue sky, but a slight breeze kept it from getting too hot. It was a great day to barbecue. Terry’s backyard was packed with people. Roy and his wife, a tiny Filipino woman who was one of the most feared attorneys in the state were there along with their teenage sons. Nina was there with a woman named Amelia, who she introduced as a friend, but there was more going on than that. I thought about the emergency room doctor who tended to her injuries and wondered if that was also a thing.

  Bajeera was there with a woman he didn’t introduce, but everyone seemed to know. He spent most of his time with the kids, organizing games of touch football or teaching them how to throw a frisbee. Roy’s boys and Dixie’s sons played well together, and I could tell they all thought Bajeera was awesome. He tried to pull me in a couple of times, but I wasn’t up for it. With my luck, I’d hurt someone or break the frisbee or throw the football into orbit.

  Dixie made the rounds, spending most of her time with the civilians, who made up most of the party. The whole neighborhood was there, along with at least a dozen people I’d never met, with their families and their kids. They mingled comfortably with one another, and though it probably wasn’t entirely true, I got the impression that most of the people in that backyard had known one another for a long time.

  Roy and Terry manned the grill with the same level of conviction and organization they used to run the team. It wasn’t just burgers or dogs either. Thick brats sat on their own rack along with foil-wrapped fish steaks that Roy smeared liberally with lemon juice and seasoning. Large ears of unshucked corn had their own space as well. They rotated that with chicken wings thick with salt and pepper to complement the three mason jars full of Roy’s homemade sauces. One was teriyaki, another was barbeque, and the third was a sweet and spicy sauce of his own creation that disintegrated the top layer of skin in my mouth.

  Apogee left the evening after the mission, a couple of weeks earlier, and had been off the grid ever since. Try as I might, old habits were hard to break, so I ended up doing what I usually did at social functions, ate and hid. I gorged myself on meat and sides; corn, potato salad, chips and salsa, and something called pancit, which was spicy noodles with chicken and other stuff that was delicious. I drank beer and found a corner where I was just close enough to be at the party without actually participating in it.

  I watched the football game and nursed my drink. Bajeera played quarterback for both teams, zipping the ball with the barest flick of his wrist. I liked that he had restraint. It would be easy for him to really put some mustard on the ball and mess with the boys. I saw Esther approach and thought she was going to offer a refill on my drink, but she stood next to me for a moment before saying, “Are you ha
ving a good time, Gary?”

  My cover name still felt weird to me. The team all knew who I was, and just used my actual name most of the time, and my duties with the team had kept me from interacting with people outside my immediate circle. Graveyard shift monitor duty suddenly took on a different light, and I could only applaud Terry’s savvy. The man was sinister.

  “Yeah, I’m having a good time. Why do you ask?”

  She cocked an eyebrow at me, then slid her arm through mine. I stiffened at the gesture and she laughed. Leading me into the fray, she started introducing me to people. I was Gary, an intern on loan to Terry’s engineering firm from some partner company I’d never heard of. I’d be in town for a bit but might stay longer if Terry decided to poach me. That last bit was always said with a wink and met with a laugh.

  I met Stan and Doris who both taught at Dixie’s high school. They loved how much she connected with the students. Bob worked at Terry’s firm but hadn’t noticed me around. Fully invested in Esther’s game, I told him Terry had me out doing a lot of errands and learning the ropes from the ground up. Bob took all this in with a solemn nod as if Terry’s wisdom was unimpeachable. His wife Linda was a homemaker, their oldest girl was off at Ohio State, their boy was throwing a frisbee to Terry’s younger daughter, who was clearly in love.

  It took two hours of solid talking, but finally, Esther set me free. I still didn’t feel comfortable, but everyone was just so god damned nice, I couldn’t force myself back into a corner. I was even able to weave some truths into the story of Gary the engineering intern. I’d spent most of my life believing people like this were dull. Little people, living little lives, doing not much and accomplishing less. I don’t know if it was jail or spending months at a time nearly dead, but I found myself appreciating everything they were trying to do. Live their lives and raise their families. It was a yearning I didn’t know existed until I saw it laid out in front of me.

  Terry caught me in a rare solitary moment, leaving Roy to man the grill. “I see you made some new friends.”

  “Your lady friend made it impossible to be a hermit.”

  “She was the new person at the barbeque for a long time. She’s one of the family now.”

  “Sounds like a keeper to me.”

  He looked up at me, a flush of color rising on his face. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

  We both looked at her as she shared a laugh with Nina and Amelia. It turned out Esther and Amelia were cousins, which was how she came to work for Terry in the first place. “I’d get on that,” I said.

  Dixie joined us, fresh bottles of beer in hand. We each took one and toasted. Terry looked out over his backyard and I could feel the joy coming off him in waves. Dixie’s attention was on the football game, and she pumped a fist as one of her boys made a catch. “Every time I think that man is beyond redemption,” she said. “He reminds me why we keep him around.”

  “Huh, who?” I said, drawn out of my own reverie.

  “Bajeera. He’s an asshole or at least he wants to be.”

  “I never really noticed.”

  She bumped me in the arm. “That because you’re an asshole, too.”

  “You won’t get an argument from me.”

  She shook her head but kept her attention on Bajeera as the game finished and he went inside the house. Her sons ran up to her, one of them was twelve, tall and slim, all arms and legs. The other was ten and still flush with that wild, immature energy that probably kept Dixie on her toes. She slipped an arm around each of them and pulled them in tight. Giving the taller one a shake, she said, “This is Raheem.” The little one giggled as she tickled his sides. “And this is Drevante. Boys, this is mister Nesbit. He’s mom’s work friend.”

  Raheem shook my hand, careful in that adolescent way to make sure it was a firm grip and to look me in the eye. Drevante was a little under five feet tall and scared to see his small hand disappear into my huge, scarred mitt. After our introduction, I ceased to exist as Drevante bombarded his mother with questions. Can I have more food? We’re not going home, soon, right? Is there school this week? They were endless and I could see Dixie wearing down under their weight, but there was a bang across the yard and we both looked toward it.

  Bajeera stood half in the doorway leading into the house. He was pale and his mouth was drawn thin, eyes wide. I had moved half a dozen steps before my brain caught up, but Terry and Roy were already through the door. I was in just after them, Nina and Dixie on my heels. Terry had a big flat screen TV mounted on the picture wall of his living room. We didn’t watch for long before piling into the minivan and driving away. I didn’t catch much detail, but there had been a lot of smoke and a headline on the screen read, “Disturbance at Denham Park.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  A Minor Disturbance

  Our boots thundered as we raced across the asphalt, their resounding echoes the only sounds we could hear besides screaming and gunshots in the distance. Ahead of us lay the empty ticket stall to admit entry to the park, and a few stragglers running in our direction. They got a look at us, running into the mess they were escaping and took a sharp turn into the parking lot, which was a jumble of abandoned cars, some overturned and smoking.

  The place had an eerie stillness, a calm usually reserved for a quiet park or seafront. The first emergency call had come in over an hour ago. We'd driven as fast as the van could go, but the distance between the incident at the fairgrounds and the firehouse couldn't be managed any faster on the available roads. A bigger name team would've had a hover transport, like Superdynamic's Cicada, which could travel beyond Mach four.

  We ran past the burnt husk of a downed helicopter, flames eating at the “NEWS 4” decal emblazoned on the fuselage. It had crashed into a chair swing ride called “Chair-O-Planes,” and the ride had collapsed on it. There were bodies trapped in the there, and a small group was huddled behind the wreckage. They must have recognized our costumes because they ran right to us. "They're on the other side of the arcade," one man said, holding an injured companion. "After the overpass."

  "Maybe someone should guide them back," Invictus said. "Huh, Powermaster?"

  Powermaster shook his head, "Can you guys manage?"

  The man who spoke nodded and led the group away. I kept an eye on the sky as they escaped, making sure they weren’t there to bait us out in the open. Not that bait was necessary. We hadn’t exactly snuck in. As they reached the exit, two uniformed officers were there to accept them.

  “What the fuck is going on, Powermaster?” Invictus said, scanning the area, gripping the tetsubo hard enough that his leather gloves creaked. Red Quiver had an arrow drawn, the point drifting across a field of fire, waiting for a target. Dixie had drawn into the center of our loose formation. Nina and Powermaster were running point a little further from us and flaring out to cover more ground.

  “Nothing good,” Powermaster said.

  The others moved at a brisk jog, but I hung back far enough to provide overwatch. I watched over the tip of an explosive arrow with enough payload to make any shithead wish they had stayed in cover. The arcade was littered with overturned concession trucks, most were still on fire. The hot day became sweltering, and the smell of burning grease and cooking meat was powerful. The bumper car ride was gutted, the cars were strewn about as if a large child had thrown a tantrum. Powermaster gave a silent gesture and the others fanned out, looking for survivors, but I kept my vigil. I knew there were no survivors.

  Past that was a shooting gallery on one side and a brightly lit series of games, like the one where you shoot water into the balloon and beside it the game where you knock over the milk jugs with a baseball. That led into a wide turn that opened to an overpass that spanned a small lake scattered with overturned boats and floating oars.

  Just beside the ramp leading up to the overpass was a figure, hunched over the body of a dead man. She faced us, tall, lithe, her posture said she was ready to fight all of us. She wore dark leather and a full
mask. A long tail of dark brown hair wound away with the breeze and at her hip was a detailed leather rig for a pair of long, curved daggers.

  I didn't have to wait for my onboard computer to run the scan. It was Whisper, a deadly villain. Literally a trained ninja, she wore a belt that allowed her to teleport, but the computer surprised me with some new information.

  She used to be Apogee’s partner.

  Originally called Perigee, she had actually shown Madelyne the ropes, and they formed a super duo called Ellipse. According to my records, they'd lasted a few years until something drove them apart, and in the next entry Perigee was already the villainess Whisper.

  "Crazy leather bitch about to get knocked the fuck out in one...two..." Invictus counted, but as he did, Whisper studied us one by one, until her gaze settled on Powermaster. Invictus howled a battle cry and rushed her, tetsubo held high, but I realized what she was going to do.

  “Everybody clear!” I screamed, shoving Nina aside to open a clear line of fire. She teleported away from Invictus, appearing behind Powermaster, drawing the daggers in a blur, trying to stab Powermaster in the same arc. She was too fast, light years ahead of me, but my arrow was fast as well. I let it fly, and she had a couple of options, discretion, valor, dismemberment. She made a wise choice, teleporting away as the arrow crossed through the space she had just occupied. It sailed through the empty space, its short arc carrying it away from us, the payload tearing a pothole the size of a small sedan into the asphalt walkway.

  “What the fuck,” Invictus said.

  “She’s a teleporter,” Nina said.

  “Everybody spread out,” Powermaster said. “Open some angles, try to catch her in a crossfire.”

  “Dixie, can you?” I said.

  “I think so, but it’ll take a second.”

  I was ready to fire again but didn’t have a target. Everything grew still and the tension was a twisted knot between my shoulder blades. I felt my eyes trying to look everywhere at once and took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled slowly. Her teleportation was silent, but I heard Roy’s grunting curse and snapped towards him. The red leather of his outfit was split, the gash in his abdomen was deep, a freshet of blood staining his pants and boots, pooling at his feet. Nina leaped at her, but she was gone. Invictus took a step, but Powermaster barred his path. “Did you get her?”