The Others Agency

by V J Lee

  “I should have made her stay with me. I just thought if she weren’t out in the field, she would be safe. I can’t stand the thought that the last conversation we had with each other was one that upset her.” He put his face into his big hands.

  “Don’t you dare assume that was the last conversation. We are going to find her, if we have to turn this world upside down,” Cosmo barked.

  They continued watching the video, the way a bunch of teenage boys would watch the video cam of a sorority. They observed Rissa in her living room, opening her laptop and unwrapping her muffin, typing for a while between bites of her snack. Then, she abruptly stopped and brought the computer closer to her face, taking her feet off the coffee table and planting them on the floor in front of her.

  A look of confusion was apparent in her features, then resignation and finally, conviction. She typed, then waited, then typed some more, then read something on the screen, before she got up and walked out the front door. She wore only a pair of shorts and a sports bra, both black. Her feet were bare, and her hair was in a ponytail, so it bounced a little as she headed for the door. She took nothing with her. She didn’t even look back, before she walked out into the night. And Trevor’s heart bottomed out.

  “It looks like someone was messaging her. Is there any way we can see that communication?” Jones asked.

  “Well, that depends on if she used her work link to get online. If she did, I could tap into it from here,” Draco said, moving to turn the computer to face him.

  “Wouldn’t they have already deleted the messages by now?” Steve wondered out loud.

  Titus, Cosmo and Draco laughed conceitedly, confidently. “There’s nothing my boy Draco can’t find. If it ever existed, it’s traceable. Isn’t that, right?” Cosmo said.

  Draco lifted his soft blue eyes to the other man and beamed at him. It seemed like something was going on between Cosmo and Draco, and possibly Cosmo and Ethan, and Rissa and Cosmo, but that was the least of Trevor’s concerns right now. He had failed Rissa horribly.

  Trevor watched as Draco slipped a small, blue, glowing USB drive into the computer. His fingers flew across the keys so fast, human eyes could not track them. A few seconds later, he said, “Got it.”

  Draco turned the machine so everyone could see the screen. There was a message screen up.

  Rissa, Rissa, I wanna kiss ya

  Who is this?

  We don’t have him, but we could very easily obtain him.

  What do you want?

  You. It’s quite simple. Your life for his. If you turn yourself over to us without a fight, we will never go after him or his mother again.

  How can I trust you?

  You can’t. But what choice do you have? Would you want a small child’s disappearance on your conscience? What about his death? But we will be happy to have you instead. The choice is yours.

  When and where?

  Now. Outside. We are watching you. If you so much as flinch, we will assume you are calling for help. Just get up and walk out like nothing is wrong.

  And that is exactly what she did. Rissa walked out into the night with nothing—not even her shoes—so she could save his son and Petra. His eyes automatically sought out the other woman, knowing full well that Petra would have never given herself up for Rissa. Hell, he suspected she wouldn’t have even done it for Jacob. The room was deathly quiet.

  The quiet gave Trevor time to remember the look that passed between Ethan and the Light Aliens after their guests had been frozen, then Jacob commenting on how bright Cosmo was.

  He hightailed it to the Vampire King to get some answers.

  Chapter 15

  Rissa was, once again, tied to a chair behind a two-way mirror, the same as she had been for the last four days … or was it years? Every day, they would get her out of the small, hospital-style room, tie her to a chair behind a mirror, and parade people through the other room, so she could tell them which ones were Other and which ones were human. Not once had she alerted them to the existence of an Other. Sure, there were plenty of Others who walked through that room, but Rissa never ratted them out.

  After every wave of people had left the room, she was electro-shocked within an inch of her life. Not recognizing the presence of an Other also meant that she would not get any food or water. She couldn’t care less. Going without water was getting harder every day, but there was no way in hell she would give those Others to these monsters.

  So far, the only Others she noticed working here were a couple of Trolls and a Siren. The Trolls couldn’t sense what Others were, so they couldn’t help these people. The Siren was kept muzzled, because if the beauty opened her mouth, they would believe anything she said. Most people couldn’t even look at a Siren for more than a few seconds, before throwing themselves at her and forgetting that anyone else in the world existed. So, the Siren couldn’t help them discover Others either.

  The chair she was bound to would soon electrocute her—from her upper back, all way down to her ankles. The chair itself was made of metal, and the whole damn thing would shock her wherever her skin came into contact with it. It hurt like hell … bastards.

  Rissa’s body rippled with shocks and drool fell out of her mouth. She slurped the saliva back into her mouth and swallowed it, to retain all the moisture she could, and let her head hang down to her chest. She could feel herself weakening.

  They told her that she would never leave here. She could either agree to help them and have some semblance of a life, or she could fight them and end up dying in agony. Rissa had spit at the guy who explained these options, and said, “Agony all the way, baby.” She was beginning to regret her choice, as the pain of the shocking was getting worse daily. She wondered if they let the humans go free once they were cleared as non-Others.

  What her captors didn’t know, was that she had their patterns down to a science. The night shift was lazy, ignoring protocol that she was sure higher-ups had set in place. They liked to eat and gossip until they fell asleep.

  They weren’t worried about her after they would strap her to the bed inside the hospital-looking room. During the day, they would give her a brief break from being electrocuted and hang her upside-down over a large, dark pool. In all her years working with Others, she had never seen anything like the creature that lived in those waters. The first few times they held her over the pool, she was terrified almost to the point of telling them she would work with them forever. An abomination they must have created, it looked like a shark at first, but had big, black bat wings and human arms. The weight of the shark body didn’t allow the wings to carry it to flight, however, they were just enough for it to hover at eye level, so she could observe in its green, human eyes, a heartbreaking pain.

  The “Shark Boy,” as she started calling him, acted aggressively toward her at first, snapping its human teeth and making horrible growling sounds, making Rissa jerk up toward the chains holding her from the ceiling. The guards would laugh and then leave, to let the shark terrorize her alone. The guards didn’t know that, as soon as they left, the shark boy would talk to her telepathically.

  His brain was human, so Rissa could relate to Shark Boy’s mind, but as his body was a combination of several freak-show pieces, he was incredibly miserable. When the guards left, he would jump up to her, fluttering his black wings. Eventually, he became comfortable enough to reach up and tenderly stroke her hair or her face with his strong, muscular hands. It scared her at first, but the loving way those green human eyes looked out from gray sharkskin made her see him as he wanted to be: tender, loving, sweet, and oh, so lonely.

  Shark Boy started telling her things about the way the facility ran. The voice she heard in her head was deep and exotic, even sexy.

  * * *

  Today, as she hung from chains with blood rushing to her head, his voice entered her mind.

  “Rissa?”

  “Hmm?” She tried not to talk too much, but worked to push her thoughts into his mind the way he did he
rs. Sometimes, she could make it work, but today she was tired and didn’t think she could.

  “Promise me that if you get out of here, you will come back for me.”

  “Of course, I will,” she mumbled. She didn’t want the guards to hear her or the cameras to see her communicating with him.

  “I don’t think you understand. I want you to come back and kill me. I would not wish my life on anyone. I can’t see how it could ever get better.”

  “Oh, Shark Boy, I don’t know if I can do that. I have friends who may be able to help you.”

  “Are they anything like me?”

  “No, but they are powerful.”

  “The only power I need is a bullet to the brain,” he projected into her mind. There was not even a hint of sadness in him about his death.

  “I can’t promise to kill you, but I will promise to help you.”

  Her mind became quiet, as he ceased pushing anything else into her mind. The guards returned and began pulling her up and out of his reach. The silence was broken by one final thought, before she was removed from the room.

  “If you will not kill me, I will die trying to rescue you.” The determination in his words broke her heart. She knew he wouldn’t get out of this alive, nor did he want to, but it didn’t stop her heart from hurting for him.

  After she had been beaten again for not picking the Others out of a crowd, she was bound to her bed. Being without food, water and sex was getting to her. Of course, she should be happy they weren’t sticking it to her that way.

  Her mind found solace in the memories of her and Trevor rolling around naked together. The time away from him made her understand how absence really did make the heart grow fonder. She loved that man so much it hurt, even worse than her beaten, neglected body did.

  * * *

  Rissa was relaxing her muscles one at a time to try to get some sleep, when the lock on her door clicked. Someone had unlocked it, and it slowly opened. She had wondered how long it would take, before someone thought to use her for sex, as she braced herself to fight off the intruder.

  The Siren stepped into her room quickly and quietly, shutting the door behind her. There would be no confrontation if the Siren wanted sex. All she would have to do is open her mouth and tell her to. Her angelic voice could bring anyone to their knees, and worse.

  The Siren was beyond beautiful; there was no need for her to mask her appearance from Rissa. Her hair was a pale, opal pink with pearl highlights gleaming throughout. Her eyes were the color of abalone shells, a swirling mix of blue and green, outlined with silver. Her lips were lush and the color of coral. Tall and curvy, she was breathtaking. She wore a simple blue bathrobe and white slippers.

  Approaching Rissa’s bed, she made quick work of the bonds on her hands, feet and middle, then slipped out of her room like she had been just a sweet dream. Not really knowing what to make of the act, yet not one to look a gift horse—or, a gift Siren—in the mouth, Rissa attempted to jump from the bed. It didn’t work as planned, and she fell flat on her face. Her muscles ached and her head spun. She laid there for a moment and waited for her vision to come into focus. She didn’t know if it was a trick, or if the Siren was really helping her escape.

  She crawled to the door and used the handle to pull herself up. She opened it a crack, looking through the small slit into the dark hallway. No one and nothing moved. It resembled a dark hallway in a hospital. It was scary as hell, and her heart began to beat audibly in her ears, but slipping out the door into the hall seemed like either the best plan ever or the worst.

  Rissa pressed her back into the wall as she silently sidestepped down the hall. She didn’t know where she was going, or how the hell to get out of there. All she knew for certain was that she couldn’t leave this place, until she had answers and had saved Shark Boy.

  Maneuvering around the corner of the hall, she ran straight into a wall of muscle. Rissa was afraid to look up and cursed herself when she did. Towering over her was one of the humans’ henchmen—a freaking Troll. With their human masks, they were about as plain as could be. So regular-looking, in fact, that no one ever remembered them. Their true identity was disgusting, with oversized, bulbous heads covered in giant lumps and boils. They had a small patch of bright red hair that stuck straight out of the top of their deformed heads. Their eyes were small, approximately the same circumference as a pencil eraser, and they had ears the size of nickels. Their ears were never symmetrical, one was always higher than the other, and they constantly moved, flapping like little Dumbo ears. Trolls were freaks and as mean as they were ugly.

  The one she had collided with made a sudden, jerking motion, smacking a hand across her stomach and keeping it there, until she brought her hands up to his. He let go, pointed down the hall to her right, and took off in the opposite direction. She felt something in her hands, something the size and shape of a USB drive. She stuck it in her bra, then took off in the direction the Troll had pointed.

  Suddenly, bright lights began flashing overhead, and alarms started blaring in deafening unison. Armed men stormed the hallways with modified semi-automatic rifles drawn and at the ready. Rissa was barely able to slip into a stairwell, before they ran past her. She heard voices above her and footsteps in descent, so she ran down a couple of flights to remain out of sight. She heard them talking.

  “What the fuck is going on?” one man asked.

  “That freak-ass shark fucker jumped out of the pool, and they can’t get him back in. Everyone needs to get their asses down there to put him back in the tank. I bet it’ll take almost all of us to get that asshole back where he belongs. Fucking freaks.” The pair made their way out the door Rissa had used to enter the stairwell.

  Rissa walked back up the stairs, opened the door enough to peek into the hall and found it empty, then made her exit. Tiptoeing quickly to the other end of the corridor, she discovered a door that led to the outside world, and breathed a sigh of relief that its lock had been smashed.

  As the lights and alarms over the exit were already flashing and screaming, she pushed the door open and stepped through it without drawing any attention. Rissa watched the door as it closed behind her, wondering why the Troll and Siren had helped her. She couldn’t be sure that their assistance came with good intentions, and was wary of what awaited her in the night.

  Rissa made a silent vow that she would return for Shark Boy. He didn’t ask to be what he was. She would save him, even though he creeped her out a little … okay, a lot.

  The outdoor alarms rang loud, blaring in her ears. She kept to the shadows, though her skin was illuminated by the moonlight—a stark contrast to the darkness around her. She still wore only athletic shorts and a sports bra, and her bare feet were able to move silently on the ground. Her body trembled from the chilly night air, or the lack of food and water in her system, she couldn’t tell. The air felt good against her battered body, the way an ice pack soothes painful bruising and swelling, but it wouldn’t energize her enough to keep from losing steam by the second.

  Hearing the rush of nearby traffic gave her hope. She immediately thought of Jacob and smiled, joyous at the thought of holding him again and hearing his little voice. She would also be able to see Trevor again. He’d be eager to nurse her back to health and warm her in all the best places. Rissa stumbled toward the sound of the road, praying that a concerned civilian would pick her up and take her home, not a serial killer who would skin her alive and wear her like a suit. With her luck—and all she had just been through—the latter would be her guess.

  Rissa was trying hard to memorize her surroundings so she might find this place again. If only she were like Steve. The man had a photographic memory. He would see something once and never forget. However, her vision was blurry, and she felt her consciousness begin to fade in and out. She could see what looked like a parking lot off in the distance to her left. Or was it a row of boulders in a valley? She couldn’t tell.

  She tripped and fell more times than she could
count. She could feel a warm stream of blood start to trickle down her shin from her knee, pooling between her bare toes and making the dirt stick to her feet in clumps. She was pretty sure her ankle was broken, but she kept going. She had to keep going.

  Fueled by the final remnants of her dwindling adrenaline, she made it to the side of the road and waved her hands to flag down a passing car. The moment she observed an oncoming vehicle begin to slow down and pull to the side, her knees buckled under her, and she collapsed into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 16

  Two days. Two fucking days—going on three—had passed since they found out about Rissa’s disappearance. Not a single human or Other had a clue where she was, or if she was even alive. Trevor sat at her desk on his computer, crammed into the space with nearly a dozen Others and Agents, tracking her credit card information … or attempting to, anyway. Nothing had been used. She hadn’t purchased a tank of gas or stick of gum. Then again, how could she? She had walked out of her house with nothing. They had found her purse with all her personal effects sitting on the table next to her front door.

  The Agents were told to put every case on the back burner until Rissa was found, and they were more than happy to oblige. There was only one person in the Agency who wasn’t doing everything in their power to hunt her down. Petra was still venomous about Rissa doing all of this for attention. Rissa would never do that, Trevor thought. Then again, he had recently discovered things about Rissa that forever changed the way he would look at her, and not in a good way. He had been devastated after his brief talk with Ethan. But she still wouldn’t fake an incident like this for attention. That was Petra’s M.O., not Rissa’s.

  As Trevor turned the details of the tumultuous last week over in his mind, Jock burst into the room. “We’ve got her! She’s at Memorial Hospital North. A couple driving down from the mountains found her on the side of the road.” Everyone jumped to their feet, ready to rush to see her. Everyone, but Trevor. “I’ll keep an eye on the shop. You all go.”