Agent in the Dark (The Agents for Good)

by Stanton III, Guy

  “Why?”

  “It must’ve been terrible to go through all that as a boy!”

  He put his head back on the floor, “Yeah, well, I’m over it now.”

  ‘Yeah right!’ Asia thought to herself. She scooted off to the side and began to kneed the cheeks of his bottom. This was very intimate and she could feel her face flush hot with blood, but thankfully he didn’t look back around.

  “What changes did they make to you?”

  “They genetically tuned up some systems, mostly hormones. They were trying to make a more elite soldier. They stopped the research, when it became clear that the test subjects, while strong and intelligent, lacked the consistent ability to obey orders or stay controlled.”

  “The changes, do they give you the headaches?”

  “Yes. I have about, as much testosterone flowing through me, as a boy at the height of puberty does. Sometimes my hormone levels crash and I get the headaches. The way I am causes me a lot of problems. My temper is very short and easily riled. I can be completely unreasoning in my anger. I do stupid things like attacking grizzly bears with nothing but a spear or sword just for the heck of it. It’s hell to be me! I never feel like I’m in control of myself. I crave things.” His voice trailed off.

  Asia softly interjected, as she worked the back of one calf muscle, “Sex?”

  He nodded and said, “All the time.”

  Asia glanced up John’s long form. It just went to show you that you really never knew a person till you walked a mile in their shoes. He wasn’t the big scary monster that she had thought him to be at all. The more she found out about him, the more she understood what she saw on the surface. In some ways she was actually beginning to like him as a person, at least in this present mood that he was in. To like the person that you were in a relationship with, according to her father, was as important as loving the person.

  Asia contemplated all that she had just learned. It was a lot. He said he had no control, but control over himself was all she had seen him manifest, ever since she had woken up his captive. Her eyes fell to his powerfully articulate hands that lay beside of him and a daring thought occurred to her.

  She wanted those hands on her, but therein lay a hazard. She’d have to see how far she could trust him.

  “All done.” She said her breathing picking up a notch.

  He rolled over onto his back, “Thank you! I’ve never had someone do that for me before.”

  She smiled, “You’re welcome. Now could you do me a favor?” She lay down on her front with her head propped up on her arms. “Want to give me a massage?” She asked trying to keep her voice even, so it didn’t betray how nervous she felt at the prospect of such a thing.

  I blinked and then blinked again, as I felt my blood pressure kick up a notch. She lay there watching me with a mysterious smile. My eyes trailed down her and seemed to focus on her pertly rounded bottom.

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea.” I said thickly.

  “I trust you.” She said softly.

  I shook my head, “Well that makes one of us then.”

  She turned her head downward and seemed to lay there expectantly awaiting a massage despite what I had said. She was a fool and a merciless torturer all in one.

  I rolled over onto my knees beside her. There was no way I was going to straddle her like she had me. I started with her shoulders and neck area. It wasn’t long before I heard a small moan, as I was squeezing her neck firmly in a repetitive fashion. I was glad to make her feel good. She’d given me one of the most pleasurable experiences of my life by first taking away one of the worst headaches I’d ever had and then lavishing me with a massage I hadn’t even had to ask for.

  My hands moved to her upper back. She turned her head on her arms to face me and watched me as I worked.

  “What does sex do for you other than the pleasurable aspect of it?” She asked.

  “Helps take the edge off for a while and I feel more normal.” I responded honestly. Then I added, “I don’t have as many headaches either.”

  I glanced at her, “Why do you ask? Are you considering on speeding up our get to know each other plan of yours?”

  “I’d still like some more time please before things come to that.” She said softly.

  I sighed loudly with drama. Of course she did. She wanted more time by which to torment me. All and all though I didn’t regret going with Option B. She’d already proven to me that it had been the better of the two options. So I would give her more time, because she was worth the wait and she had my respect.

  “How long were you on this island of yours?” She asked.

  “Five years.”

  “How long was it before that you um……..”

  “Two years.”

  “That’s a long time for a man that suffers like you do.”

  “Testily I commented, “Do you really think you have to remind me of that?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She didn’t sound sorry though.

  “Was she pretty?”

  “Yes.”

  “Prettier than me?”

  “No.”

  “What happened to her?”

  I met her gaze point blank and said, “I killed her, after I’d raped her for several days.”

  Her eyes remained enigmatic in concern to hiding her thoughts from me. She wasn’t shocked like I had expected her to be.

  “You’re lying.” She said softly, her gaze never leaving mine.

  I looked down to my hands busy at work on her lower back, “What makes you say that?”

  “I just know. You shouldn’t lie, it’s a sin.”

  Time went by, “What really happened?” She asked.

  “I’m not talking about it!” I said roughly.

  She turned her head to the other side before asking, “Could you massage my bottom again. It feels really good what you’re doing.”

  My hands returned and grimly I acknowledged that her bottom did feel really good.

  “You are deliberately messing with me aren’t you?” I said testily.

  “Yes.” Was her only response, but I could hear her smile in that single word.

  “You’re crazy!” I said shaking my head, as I moved back down to her thighs.

  “That makes two of us then.” She responded.

  She had me there. Of the two of us I certainly wasn’t the one in control anymore, she was. How had that happened?

  Chapter Nine

  Jail Break

  I’d found a pair of binoculars in an office near the top floor. Some bygone businessman’s preoccupation of snooping into other people’s lives no doubt. I was putting them to good use though, as I scanned the city below.

  I wanted to get out of the city, but I just hadn’t seen an opening yet given the intensive ground search being conducted throughout the city. There was an intersection several blocks away and I watched a group of Code people stop there for a moment. The Code people were made obvious by their finer attire and well fed appearances, even from a distance.

  I watched the group. They just stood there, as if waiting on something. A little later several other small groups joined them. That was a curious occurrence. Five minutes later I saw the approach of a big chopper that began to descend between the buildings. All the waiting Code people boarded it when it landed on the street.

  The chopper took off and was gone. I caught glimpses of other choppers leaving the city too. The Code people were performing a mass exodus it would seem.

  I dropped the binoculars and they shattered off the floor, as the significance of what such an action by our hunters could mean, became all too real to me. I jumped out of the chair and was traveling down stories of the high-rise, as fast as I could go, within a heartbeat. I yelled for Asia.

  She looked up at me in alarm, as dread filled her eyes, “They’ve found us?”

  “No, but we’ve got to go now!”

  “Why?”

  “Questions later! Grab your pack!
”

  I grabbed my pack and my sword and with her following I made my way to the lower floor to my rope apparatus. It was broad daylight and the absolute worst time to be doing this, but the situation was unavoidable. I stepped into the loop and pulled Asia to me and she clutched at me desperately as we started down.

  I’d taken some weight off of the counterweight and together we fell down the side of the building in a quite rapid descent. I spared Asia from the jarring landing by picking her up some so I alone absorbed the shock of the landing.

  Rolling up to my feet I pulled Asia up along with me and shoved her towards the passenger side of a dust covered shortbread Ram diesel pickup. She stared at me as if I was stupid.

  “It won’t work! The computer chips are all fried!

  “Not this one! Get in!”

  While I had been hunting for Asia I had made fixing this truck a priority in my spare time. The fuel tank had been empty, but I had managed to find some diesel in an engine in a warehouse down by the pier. There had been enough diesel to fill the tank of the truck and a few spare cans. Chantry had left me several undamaged conversion chips to fix the truck’s computer. I’d started the truck up in the rain one night to confirm whether the chips would work or not. The truck had run a little rough at first, but not bad for something that hadn’t run for two years and had been left out in the elements.

  I turned the key to let the glow plugs warm. In relief I saw that I still had battery. I turned the key..... Nothing! I tried it again and got the same result. It wouldn’t even fire! This was bad!

  I turned to Asia and saw that her face reflected the panic that I felt inside.

  She laid a hand on the dusty dash of the truck, “Jesus we need this truck to work!”

  She turned back to me, “Try it now.”

  She couldn’t be serious to think that…….The truck fired to life sounding better than it had the other night. This one was going to be hard to explain away or better yet live down.

  “Did you cut the airbags out?” Asia asked hesitantly, as she stared at the ripped up dash before her.

  “Yeah.”

  Asia quickly put her seatbelt on, and come to think about it that wasn’t such a bad idea and I followed suit. The ride was bound to get a little bumpy. Asia was peering at something over the hood and to the side of the truck.

  “I strapped part of an I-beam to the front bumper.”

  At her blank look I added by way of explanation, “In case we have to hit something.” I’d also filled the back of the truck up with heavy iron pieces, which added to our point of gravity and reduced the shock of us hitting something.

  I was flying down the abandoned street at 95 miles per hour. All pistons were firing and the heavy cadence of the diesel engine was a beautiful sound that I had missed for years. I swore out loud suddenly.

  “I really wish you’d stop saying that!” Asia said heatedly.

  I pointed ahead. She looked and saw the people flocking into the street ahead of us intent on stopping us.

  “Oh God!” She exclaimed.

  “Now don’t take the Lord’s name in vain honey.” I quipped at her.

  “I wasn’t!” She fired back at me.

  “What are we going to do?” She asked panicked.

  I pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor. She had my answer.

  “You’re going to hit them!” She exclaimed in outrage.

  “If they’re too dumb to get out of the way than they deserve to go extinct!” I fired back at her.

  Asia covered her face and ducked down, but at the last possible moment people dived off to the sides, as they realized I wasn’t going to stop. Asia peered up over the dash, as I loudly hummed the tune of, ‘I will survive’.

  “You enjoy this kind of crazy stuff don’t you?”

  I glanced over at her grinning big, “Why do you think they sent me?”

  “Road!!!” She screeched out.

  I glanced back to the road swearing viciously, as I narrowly dodged around a vehicle left in the middle of the street.

  Asia was giving me an accusing look and I responded hotly, “Hey, if you don’t like my language, you’re free to ride in the back and besides you’re the only one Jesus is worried about in this truck, not me! So don’t act like it matters what I say!”

  “He loves you as much as He loves me!” She retorted back passionately.

  “Oh yeah! Well He’s got a funny way of showing it!”

  “He started the truck for you didn’t He!”

  I pointed at her, as in reference to her being the significant part of that equation.

  “He gave me to you didn’t He!”

  “I kind of like to think I made that deal for myself!” I said affirmatively.

  She became really incensed at that and half turned in her seat to shake her finger at me, “Who do you think told me to give you Option B?”

  I glanced at her only to see that her face reflected nothing, but the sincerity of the truth. “He told you to say that?” I asked doubtfully.

  “Do you seriously think that being on the verge of being raped by a modern-day Hulk that I come up with the idea to pledge myself, my time and devotion and even my heart to said man and actually mean it!”

  She had a point there I had to admit. “Why would He do that?”

  She leaned over and wrote in the dust that lay heavy on the dash. “Because He loves you!”

  I glanced from the letters to her and shook my head, “Even if He does love me, why would He shanghai someone good like you with a mixed up jerk like me?”

  “How do you know that you’re not exactly what I need in a mate?” She responded in a softer tone.

  I glanced at her quickly, surely she couldn’t be serious! She looked very serious, which set my temper off.

  “Don’t build me up to be something that I’m not lady!”

  “That’s fine by me, as I’m learning to like you just the way you are, minus the bad language of course!”

  I looked at her then, when had my life become so full of commitments and faith of all things? I had been in the process of taking her against her will, when something unexpected had happened and now she was busy saving my soul, while I was busy falling in love with her.

  “I’ll work on the language.” I said grudgingly, in as close to a concession with another human individual, as I’d ever come to.

  “Thank you!”

  “Hang on!”

  Asia screamed and ducked down, as we slammed our way through several vehicles blocking our way. The truck stood up well to the task, as the steel I-beam forged the way through the stalled vehicles in our path, but it was hard to see through the cracked windshield now. I had to sit off towards the middle of the truck in order to see better through the windshield and surprised I glanced down at the presence of Asia’s touch.

  Her hand rested on my thigh and I glanced up to meet her eyes, which were focused on me intently, “Thank you for coming for me!” She said.

  I glanced back to the road, “You’re welcome.”

  We smashed our way through several more tight places and the truck no longer sounded too good. It was missing and I didn’t want to let off on the throttle too much for fear of it conking off, but it was still moving and getting us away from the city. We were running out of time though. Ten more minutes and I’d be far enough away, at least I hoped so.

  Fifteen minutes later with the truck going over 100 miles an hour and overheating I saw the missile trails coming off from the east from out over the sea. I felt relief at the sight of more than just one missile trail. Now we had a chance.

  “Oh God!” Asia screamed pointing at the missiles.

  I nodded grimly.

  “How did you know?” She asked turning to me.

  “I watched all the Code people leave the city together and figured out what could be coming next. I figured we had a 30 minute window to get out. Someone gave us an five extra minutes, which is good because we needed them!”

&nb
sp; The truck’s temperature gage was in the red, but I kept the throttle pressed down. Asia was looking behind and shrieked again, as the missiles hit the city behind us.

  “There’s no mushroom cloud!” Asia exclaimed in morbid relief.

  “Probably either biological or nerve gas. There’s still too much valuable infrastructure to completely obliterate such a city in the quest to nab one loan Code Breaker.” I commented bitterly.

  “All those people!” Asia said beginning to weep brokenly.

  I grabbed her by the front of her shirt and hauled her over towards me, “Listen!” I said brutally. “It’s not your fault! So get it out of your head right now that you had anything to do with someone pressing a button and killing so many people! Their decision! Not yours, understand!”

  She nodded, but she was still crying. I unsnapped her seatbelt and pulled her over against me and held her. Sometimes the truth of something didn’t really matter much. She had such a good heart in her. Here she was bawling her eyes out over a bunch of people, who’d only been too willing to deliver her head on a silver platter to the Code people. A person like her was worth protecting, even sacrificing oneself for. She was an example of something still worth saving about humanity.

  The truck lasted for another 100 miles, until it croaked and nearly wrecked us abruptly in the dark. I still had a 100 miles left to go before we reached where the plane was stashed at a private airstrip in the country. It would’ve been so nice and convenient to have continued driving on through the night, gotten to my plane, been safely back in the air before daylight, and on my way back to my island with fantasy girl firmly in tow.

  Nothing ever went that easy though. Always the……! In search of an adequate curse word I felt Asia’s reproving gaze in the darkness and I stifled it.

  “Get out of the truck!” I said gruffly already in a thoroughly bad mood.

  I pulled my pack out of the back bed of the truck and said, “We can’t stay near the road. It’s too dangerous. We’ll travel through the night across country and rest when the sun comes up.”