Mordechai set his son down and, still smiling, ruffled his son’s dirty blond hair.
“Good. Where’s Mom, Jonah?”
“She’s in the kitchen makin’ me a sandwich.”
“Okay, you wanna piggyback ride?”
Jonah jumped and shouted with excitement as his father knelt down and motioned for him to hop on. Jonah did so enthusiastically and Mordechai stood up, groaning in mock effort and eliciting a giggle from his son.
“Good Lord, Jonah, you’re getting big. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this for much longer.”
They both had a laugh at that, for both of them knew it wasn’t true, and Mordechai strode from the driveway to the house. As he stepped through the open front door, the smell of fresh fruit, particularly strawberries, filled his nostrils – a smell that Mordechai had long associated with his wife. He breathed deeply, savoring the scent.
God, Mordechai thought, I’ve been gone for way too long.
Smiling, Mordechai walked into the kitchen and quickly wrapped his arms around Alexandra’s waist. She yelped in surprise and Jonah giggled again.
“Mordechai!” Alexandra gasped. “Don’t scare me like that!”
Mordechai simply chuckled as he buried his face in his wife’s neck and held her tightly. It had felt like months since the last time he’d been able to do that.
“Happy to have me home?” he asked.
“Very,” she replied, twisting in his grip to kiss him on the lips.
Jonah took this opportunity to make a very loud retching noise.
“You won’t be making that noise ten years from now,” Mordechai teased.
“Yes, I will,” Jonah said indignantly as he hopped off his father’s back and walked into his room. After all, video games were much more fun than watching his parents be all kissy.
As the sounds of Jonah’s video game emanated from his room, Alexandra grinned playfully up at her husband.
“You do realize that I’m not letting you go anywhere tonight, right?”
“I would expect, nor accept, anything less,” Mordechai said, flashing a grin of his own as he kissed his wife again.
--<(0)>--
Seven hours later, Mordechai rolled over in bed to find his wife lying next to him. A single bed sheet gripped tightly in her left hand covered all but her head and shoulders, and her auburn hair lay in a tangled mess across her face. Mordechai chuckled to himself. No doubt she’d complain about it when she woke up, but the fact remained that she had no one to blame but herself.
Well, okay, Mordechai thought, maybe I should take at least some of the blame.
He chuckled and eased himself out of bed as gently as he could before putting his clothes back on. Mordechai considered leaving her something, his ring if nothing else, but he decided against it. Leaving her something to remember him by would only mean that he was setting himself up for failure. No, this way was best. This way, Mordechai was saying that he was coming back. No matter what it would cost, he was going to come back to his family.
Without making a sound, Mordechai moved toward the bedroom door. Suddenly, a soft groan passed through the lips of his wife and Mordechai froze in the doorway. He turned around and saw Alexandra pull the sheets closer to her.
It would be so easy, Mordechai thought. I’ve got friends in the B.D.C. They could erase us. We could start all over. Free from Dorigan’s insanity and Jin’s rage.
But Mordechai shoved that thought aside as violently as he could. He had never run from anything in his life, and he’d be damned if he was going to start now. Alexandra would understand, he’d explained the situation to her just a few hours ago. All that remained was to head back to Manhattan and wait for Jin. Apprehension gripped him and began to mutate into fear but Mordechai squashed it. Jin would come, and Mordechai would be there to meet him.
Where things would go from there would be for fate to decide.
Chronicles of the Apocalypse
--<(0)>--
Part 1: Revenge, Everything is Nothing
Chapter 6: Mordechai’s Truth
At two o’clock in the morning, most thirty-six-year-old people are either working late at the office or asleep in bed with their spouse, not crawling up fire escapes in dark New York alleyways.
But that was exactly what a thirty-six-year-old man named Jin Sakai was doing.
After Mordechai’s assistant had stonewalled him, Jin had gone around the outside of the building and studied every possible inch of it. Just like with Mark’s shop back in Pine Lake, it appeared that the fire escape would be Jin’s most viable way in. Satisfied with that, Jin rented a hotel room and caught some sleep, so he’d be able to function properly. Once he’d woken up, Jin had left with his sword and two Desert Eagles in tow, and now he was climbing over the edge of the roof of Mordechai’s building in search of a skylight or some other way inside. As he did so, the sound of a car pulling up grabbed his attention, and Jin swiftly melted into the shadows. He peered over the edge to see who it was and was slightly surprised to see Mordechai getting out of the driver’s seat of his very shiny Audi R8. Jin leaned forward to get a better look, and Mordechai turned his head in Jin’s direction. Jin instantly threw himself backward, and Mordechai continued on his way.
A mere handful of minutes later, Jin stared through a large skylight located over the vast living area as Mordechai walked into view. He seemed exhausted, and as Jin watched, Mordechai walked over to his couch and let himself fall down into it. Jin continued to watch Mordechai for some time, and when it became very clear that Mordechai would not be moving any time soon, Jin resumed his search for an entrance. He found one soon enough in a roof access staircase. Still crouched, Jin quickly slid through the shadows of the roof and stood by the door. He pulled out one of his Desert Eagles with his left hand, and with his right he turned the knob. In truth, Jin was surprised to find the door unlocked, but he did not let such surprises affect his state of mind as he descended the stairs. At the bottom, Jin gingerly opened a second door and stepped into Mordechai’s flat in full.
He instantly centered his attention on the couch Mordechai had been in, only to find that Mordechai was no longer there.
Instantly suspicious, Jin’s eyes narrowed, and he became suddenly mindful of everything around him. He crept slowly towards the center of the living area, staying under the balcony of the second floor, but he was stopped in his tracks when Mordechai’s voice called out to him.
“Why don’t you move out to where I can see you, Jin? You’re getting me all nervous sticking to the shadows like you are.”
Glaring with his emerald eyes in the direction of Mordechai’s voice, Jin stepped out of the shadows and into the center of the flat to see Mordechai standing on the second floor between the two spiral staircases looking perfectly at ease. Even under Jin’s hateful glare, Mordechai smiled easily.
“I can’t believe you took the bait,” he said amusedly.
Snarling in fury at being mocked thus, Jin snapped up his Desert Eagle and fired off a handful of rounds, each intended to strike Mordechai in the chest. Yet just as Jin began to move his arm, Mordechai dove backwards and the bullets pinged harmlessly off the balcony’s wrought iron bars.
Not missing a beat, Jin instantly sprinted for and up the spiral staircase to his right, only to have Mordechai instantly reappear and slam his foot into Jin’s abdomen. Jin let out an explosive grunt, and in the split second his guard was down, Mordechai drove a powerful uppercut into Jin’s chin. The force of the blow was so great that it sent Jin tumbling back down the staircase and caused him to drop his handgun. To beat him down to the floor, Mordechai nimbly leapt over the balcony and landed solidly on his feet, rolling with the impact to pop right back up. It took Jin an extra second to do so, and when he did, he viciously tore his sword out of his leather coat and charged Mordechai.
Crap, Mordechai thought. I was afraid we’d have to do this dance.
Mordechai grimaced slightly as he leaned to his left to do
dge Jin’s opening overhead chop. He then ducked under the next wide slash meant to remove his head. This left Jin wide open to counterattack, and Mordechai wasn’t one to miss such an opportunity. He lunged forward, and threw all of his strength and bodyweight behind a single, double-fisted strike to Jin’s stomach. Jin was knocked backward, off his feet and onto his knees, and when he looked back up, Mordechai was staring down at him with an almost sad expression on his face.
“Jin, stop this. Please. You’re just embarrassing yourself.”
Jin stared at Mordechai with murder in his eyes and charged. Mordechai made no move to defend himself, and Jin plunged his left hand into his coat and drew his second Desert Eagle. Still Mordechai did not move and Jin thrust the gun at his face, as though trying to stab him with the barrel. At this, Mordechai finally leaned to the side just as Jin pulled the trigger. The shot left Mordechai’s ears ringing, though the bullet itself missed completely. Before Jin could make another move, Mordechai grabbed his gun arm and twisted it. Jin dropped his gun and shouted in a mix of surprise and pain, while Mordechai took advantage of his momentary distraction to plant two lightning fast kicks into Jin’s stomach. As Jin doubled over, Mordechai finished off with a leaping roundhouse kick to Jin’s face. The blow was so powerful that Jin was knocked flat on his back.
“You’ve gotten too used to fighting against opponents far weaker than you,” Mordechai criticized as he bent to pick up Jin’s gun and stuffed it in the back of his pants. “Your moves are slow and sloppy, where they used to be fast and tight. Your rage isn’t fueling you, Jin, it’s crippling you.”
With a vicious snarl, Jin hurled himself back to his feet and flung his sword straight at Mordechai. Mordechai dodged it with a pained, almost insulted expression, but when he turned back to Jin, Jin was practically in his face.
Oh, was the first and only thing that went through Mordechai’s mind.
The next thing Mordechai knew, he was completely and utterly at the mercy of Jin’s furious assault. Jin smashed his right fist downward across Mordechai’s face and followed up with a vicious blow across Mordechai’s jaw with his left. Mordechai stumbled backward, but Jin stayed right on top of him. A thundering uppercut almost knocked Mordechai off his feet, but a swift kick to the stomach doubled him over. Finally, Jin raised his leg as high as he could and sent it crashing down into Mordechai’s back, sending Mordechai crashing face first into the floor. Jin reached into his coat for his other Desert Eagle, only to notice it wasn’t there. As he opened his coat and inspected the holster in confusion, Mordechai began laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Jin growled.
“You are,” Mordechai replied, getting to his feet and grinning.
“Oh? And how is that?” Jin hissed.
“Because you just passed up a perfectly good opportunity to kill me.”
Jin froze.
“When you threw your sword at me,” Mordechai continued, “you could’ve simply run forward and choked me to death, God knows you’re strong enough that I couldn’t fight you off. Instead, you give me the most merciless beating of my life to satisfy your blind, hateful rage.”
Jin’s expression remained impassive as Mordechai began laughing even harder.
“And even now,” he said, “you’re just standing there listening to me even though my guard is down and there is no way I could defend myself against you!”
Mordechai paused for breath, smiling in spite of himself as he stared at Jin.
“No offense, Jin, but if this is how you intend to fight against Victor and Dorigan, you’re a dead man. With the way you’re fighting now, you can’t even beat me!”
Jin growled and made a move as though he were about to charge again, but then Mordechai snapped his right arm behind his back and withdrew his stolen gun, holding it up for Jin to see.
“And you never noticed that I grabbed one of the guns I made you drop.”
Enraged, Jin took a single step forward but Mordechai shot his arm forward and pointed the gun straight at Jin’s face.
The thunderous gunshot that erupted from the barrel of the stolen Desert Eagle didn’t even register in Jin’s mind. He heard it as though from a great distance, but it nevertheless stopped him in his tracks.
He’d been shot.
The .357 Magnum round would have blown a significant hole in his back. He’d bleed out within a minute, and that was only provided Mordechai didn’t finish him with a second shot to the brain. Yet as the seconds passed, Jin never felt any pain, and Mordechai never fired a second shot. He merely continued to stare down the length of the gun at Jin with his coldly indifferent expression. Jin ran his hands over his chest, looking for an entry wound, but he never found one.
Mordechai hadn’t actually shot him.
“Bang,” Mordechai said. “You’re dead.”
Mordechai’s words finally shattered the shock that had otherwise paralyzed Jin’s mind, and the realization of what just happened started to sink in to Jin’s mind. Along with it, a staggering sense of humiliation burned in his cheeks.
“This is pathetic, Jin,” Mordechai said, his previously amused expression finally fading into a frown. “I just killed you, and I’m not anywhere close to being your equal. You’re stronger, faster, smarter, and far more skilled than I am; yet I just managed to kill you. Why?”
Jin looked away in shame, for he knew the answer but could not bear to admit that he’d been so petty. Without warning, a crack of thunder split the air and something white hot and tiny flashed across Jin’s nose. He jerked his head back in Mordechai’s direction and saw a tiny curl of smoke wafting from the barrel of his stolen Desert Eagle.
“Answer me, Jin,” Mordechai said seriously, all humor gone from his voice and expression.
“Why?” Jin spat, every word wrenching the dagger of shame further into his system. “Just so you can humiliate me further? You have your victory and so your life. What more could you possibly want?”
Mordechai sighed. “I want you to listen to me.”
Of all the things Jin had expected to hear, that was not one of them.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because my life and the lives of my wife and son depend on it.”
“Why?”
“Can I trust you not to shoot me, at least for now?”
“No,” Jin scoffed.
Mordechai gave a small laugh and tossed Jin’s gun back to him. Jin caught it easily enough and stood back up, sliding the Desert Eagle back into its holster.
“You were going to shoot me if I said yes, weren’t you?”
“You would’ve been lying in the hope that I’d lower my guard.”
Jin gave a slight nod to affirm Mordechai’s speculation, and Mordechai chuckled as he walked toward his burgundy leather couch and sat down. Jin followed suit, taking a seat in the couch on Mordechai’s left.
“Why didn’t you shoot me anyway?” Mordechai asked.
“You killed me, remember?” Jin asked, his voice slightly pained. “A dead man is harmless.”
Mordechai nodded in understanding, greatly appreciative that though Jin’s rage had severely crippled his fighting abilities, it had not affected his honor.
“Jin,” he began. “I know I don’t deserve it, but I need your help.”
Jin snorted derisively.
“Well, you are damn right about not deserving it.”
“What could I do, Jin?” Mordechai asked. “Dorigan effectively put a gun to Alexandra’s head! If I didn’t go along with his plan, he’d have killed her, and my son! I’m not like you Jin, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I don’t have the abilities that you do, and I don’t have the courage you do. All I would have gained by challenging Dorigan would’ve been a nice comfy coffin, buried right next to my wife and son.”
There were a number of arguments Jin could have made in response. Indeed, under any other circumstances, he would have made them. But just now, having been so handily defeated by Mordechai, Jin didn’t have it in him to argue
. Besides, there was no denying the truth of Mordechai’s words. Even so, an intense anger, red-hot and searing, held Jin’s heart in a vice grip. No matter Mordechai’s reasons for doing so, by going along with Dorigan’s plan, he was just as guilty as the others. Nevertheless, some tiny thing had shifted somewhere in Jin, and his desire to murder Mordechai slowly, begrudgingly, evaporated. Jin knew it was because Mordechai had reminded him that he had a family as well, and Jin couldn’t bring himself to put Mordechai’s son through the same hell that he had gone through.
In that moment, Jin hated everything about Mordechai.
Fuming, Jin stood up out of the couch and marched straight up to Mordechai. Mordechai had a fleeting impulse to back away, but he’d seen the expressions of frustration that had played across Jin’s face. Whatever Jin was going to do, he wasn’t going to kill him.
Upon reaching Mordechai, Jin grabbed him roughly by the collar and lifted the man to his feet. There was a moment’s pause, and then Jin gathered all his hatred and anger at Mordechai and channeled it into a thunderous punch that knocked Mordechai back down into his chair.
As Mordechai recovered from Jin’s blow, Jin opened his mouth to speak, but his fury at Mordechai for rendering him unable to kill the man choked back his words.
Mordechai tenderly fingered his now bleeding bottom lip and looked up at Jin as though seeing him for the first time.
He smiled.
“Welcome back, Jin Sakai.”
Jin gave a half-hearted snort and helped Mordechai to his feet.
“So what’s this deal with your family?” Jin asked, sitting back down.
“Well,” Mordechai sighed. “After that day five years ago, I knew that you would come back for us eventually, whether it be in a day, a month, or a year. You aren’t the type to let something like that slide. And in the five years that you were gone, Dorigan began to do things. Sending us on risky assignments, hiding himself in his mansion, and constantly giving cryptic speeches about how the Black Dragon Clan was on the verge of attaining far more power than it had ever possessed before.”
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