by Gary Starta
My quizzical expression encouraged Diggs to continue.
“There is something else you should know and it might be more unnerving than anything you’ve experienced in the last twenty-four hours.”
I laughed with sarcasm. “This, I’ve got to hear.”
“Caitlin, in this world, the FBI operates a preternatural crime division--a special unit created to hunt and capture demons.”
“Okay,” I said, bracing myself for what might come next. And here I was, hoping she was going to tell me chocolate is calorie free in this universe. I resisted a strong urge to roll my eyes and nodded for her to continue.
“But we don’t go on witch hunts… forgive the expression--sometimes I’m not the most politically correct detective. What I mean is that we only seek to arrest and prosecute the demons, or non-humans, we suspect are guilty of crime. Humans attempt to live in a peaceful coexistence with demons here. In other words, we don’t and we won’t--profile them.”
My anger bested me. “What!” I gasped. “Why aren’t you pursuing them all? And come to think of it, why are you so damn trusting when it comes to Manners?” I paused. “I’m sorry, Agent Diggs, maybe you’re just following orders, but when I worked as an agent I found orders to be…”
She rested her hand on my shoulder.
“Caitlin. We live in a very different world… here. We cannot go arresting every demon simply because it’s not possible. In my world, six out of every ten beings are non-human--meaning those six are either demons or a combinations of species we call hybrids.”
“So is that why you even deal with Manners? Because if you ask me, the lesser of two evils still adds up to evil, at least in my book.” She began to speak, but I cut her off. “Don’t you think when push comes to shove he’s going to side with his own kind?” Spittle flew from my mouth. I had shocked even myself, realizing that tirade sounded quite racist. “I don’t want to sound like a genocidal dictator here, but I’ve seen the man in action. His son is a murder suspect in my world. Manners aided his escape.”
“I know this.”
“And yet, you still trust him?”
“Trust is maybe too strong a word. I believe his intentions to be just.”
Hmm. She sounded a lot like me: the brazen open-minded agent who dared to bend the rules if necessary, never afraid to take a stand against bureaucracy. I began to wonder what was happening to me. Had I become the one-dimensional robotic agent I once abhorred?
“Agent Diggs, I’m just having a hard time acclimating here…”
“Hey, it’s only been a day. You’ll adjust.
“I’ll settle for getting through.” Before I had a chance to finish my thought or clench my teeth, the ring began to take shape…
~ * ~
They floated before us, across the creek, lights shimmering in a halo around them. Mollini’s arm firmly gripping his victim, an older man with silver hair whom I suspected posed little threat of escape to our fugitive, being that he looked quite fragile and most likely had been hypnotized to obey.
I spoke first.
“So what do you want, Mollini? What is so important that it justified killing dozens of people?”
Mollini spoke to me first, telepathically.
I know you want to know what will happen next. Why don’t you start by asking me about my hostage?
“Okay, I will.” Diggs turned to stare at me, perhaps believing I had lost my last shred of sanity.
“Why did you return to my world? Is this man a threat to you?”
This time, Mollini spoke aloud.
“I will again repeat what I said to you, detective, back in your world. I have no grudge against you. But I do have a score to settle with someone from my past.”
I could feel an emotion surfacing from him, faint but tangible. It seemed like he had a lot more to say, but was withholding it for purposes of subterfuge.
“Okay,” Agent Diggs answered. “We speak for the law in both universes.”
Mollini spoke telepathically again to me. But of the two of you, I seem to find you more desirable.
Agent Diggs frowned. “We can help bring this man to justice, if it’s warranted. Isn’t that what you want, justice? So why don’t you put him into our custody and we’ll decide his punishment.”
He spoke again to me only. Is she always this patronizing?
He then spoke aloud to both of us.
“What about me? Am I free to leave your world, then? Because if we’re speaking about the law, I haven’t murdered a soul here, and both of you are outside your jurisdiction to arrest me.”
“I can arrest you for kidnapping for starters,” Diggs shot back.
“You’re in no position to bargain,” Mollini countered.
I knew this would quickly tire Mollini; eventually he would work some mojo to escape with his hostage in tow. At this instant, I saw Diggs from the corner of my eye. Perhaps, she knew this as well and had been only trying to stall the inevitable. That’s when I began to panic. I tried to stop her from doing the unthinkable. It’s what I should have done from the beginning.
She began to walk towards Mollini, heading straight for the creek. Her right hand dug into her jacket and retrieved a pistol. She promptly tossed it into the creek as my hand lunged for her. I caught the lapel of her jacket, but instead of impeding her progress, I came away with only her ID badge in my quivering hand.
“Agent Diggs, no!” Now would have been a good time to practice my telekinesis, I realized. I willed her to return to me, to rescind her foolish offer. How many demons had she dealt with before? Did she think Mollini would honor a trade--herself for the hostage? I didn’t have another second to ponder this because my eyes were too busy focusing on the river which had transformed from murky brown to obsidian black. Diggs’s body began to tilt, backwards. I started to pursue her, fearing the bastard would drown her, but I heard a stern no in my head. He warned me to back away. I railed at him in my mind. What makes you think I will? I remember our last meeting. It seems you had little or no hypnotic powers over me.
He countered in thought. Don’t test me. Not unless you want to witness my first kill in this world.
I stopped. Frozen with dread, I watched Diggs now float horizontally across the creek.
Would Mollini play fair? I nearly shouted it in defiance, but stifled when I saw Mollini release his hostage, sending him on a similar course, floating him horizontally across the creek toward me. I could feel deception, despite his allegiance. Why would he relinquish this man so easily? What could he possibly want with Diggs? Bad feelings conspired in my stomach. I felt sick. My mind raced for options. Pull my gun as a last resort. Maybe it wouldn’t kill Mollini, but perhaps it might disrupt his magic. This had to be magic. No world operated as such.
Then I felt an eerie silence. A calm… before the storm.
No. Not calm, just a pause for even more bizarre occurrences.
Others joined Diggs and the hostage in their journey. Turtles, frogs and fish rose from the creek, suspended in animation above the water. A cacophony of frog croaks echoed throughout the woods, providing a bass undertone for a tenor of screeching birds, obviously intent on taking the quickest flight out of New Jersey possible. The option of flight crossed my mind for a nanosecond. I looked up involuntarily at the mere thought of it to see cumulus clouds gathering, blocking sunrays. Darkness descended upon the black stream of water, the blue reflection of the portal the only light allowing me to still see. Then I jumped with a shriek. Rain! Droplets of water began to pound down on me. Rain, my brain reasoned: it’s just rain. Get a grip. But was it? Because when I looked onto the creek, purple pinkish droplets were melting into it. Purple rain! I tore my eyes away from the magic show, inspecting a droplet in the palm of my hand. Clear. Apparently only purple while falling. Still, I bet Prince, the pop genius of my world, would have been impressed.
The silver-haired man had nearly crossed during the interim. I heard Mollini speaking again to me, and me only. In my h
ead again, I shook it, cupping my hands over my ears-as if that would help. I knew it wouldn’t, but I had to protest the vile defilement of my being. Get out of my head, damn you!
I will, the voice answered. As soon as you take my friend to higher ground and promise you’ll keep him safe for me. He laughed to add insult to my injury.
And then you’ll tell us what the hell you’re up to. I don’t believe it is simple vengeance against this man. You wouldn’t give him up so easily if it were.
Astute observation.
“Okay,” I said aloud. “I’ll go to higher ground if you’ll begin negotiations.”
“What negotiations?” Mollini asked aloud, his voice cascading eerily over the water.
“This is still a hostage situation here, in case you need reminding. You’ve just traded one person for another. So since you are in possession of my colleague, I think it means you still want something from us.”
“You cannot provide that for me. You just stepped into this universe. How could you even begin to understand?”
I took the hostage’s hand as he landed on the shore. Mollini had the decency to land the man on his feet at least. I then watched with disgust as Mollini cackled. He had taken perverse delight at his new find. Diggs floated to him, as if she were a boat about to dock at shore. No resistance. I wondered if she was totally under this bastard’s control now. If she was anything like me she would have attempted to fight, however futile. I had to conclude her to be helpless. Now she depended upon me to save her. He took her into his arms. She remained as placid as a sleeping newborn. I had to look away, too angry and afraid to see what might happen next. I began to guide the silver haired man towards a slope of ground, which would take us towards the bridge. I couldn’t believe I was retreating. But it’s what Diggs wanted, to save the hostage, and use him for Intel. Nonetheless, I couldn’t cave in. Not with Mollini refusing to negotiate. I gasped in frustration.
“If you won’t talk now, let’s at least set up another mee--”
Before I finished my sentence, the blue light of the portal began to dim, the creek converted back to its natural muddy brown color, the last drops of the purple rain plopped harmlessly into it along with a horde of turtles, frogs and fish. As I watched a fish sink back into its home, I realized Mollini had floated a shark through the portal last time. Could fish somehow provide a means of opening it? Maybe if I could somehow use my telekinesis to levitate one, I could reopen it. It was a desperate thought from a desperate woman. My gift needed nurturing. I had barely managed to sustain it for a few seconds the last time I used it. I seriously doubted that would be a sufficient amount of time to levitate a fish in hopes of opening a dimensional gateway. Mollini probably knew I was little threat to him. I still scolded myself for not making the first move, however. At least if Mollini had taken me hostage, I might have had a fighting chance. I might have even been able to break the psychic tether he might have been using to float the bodies--might being the operative word, here. The truth was that I didn’t know what Mollini had used to float two bodies across a creek. It probably didn’t rank up with parting the Red Sea, but when you see something defying logic in person, it gives new meaning to the phrase: “seeing is believing.” Nevertheless, I had blown my chance and now my other self might pay the ultimate price for it. I knew Agent Diggs had no paranormal abilities, nor conventional weapon. I also knew if the portal were closing, Mollini would most likely be taking Agent Diggs through it, back to my universe. For what reason, I did not know.
I paused for a moment and nodded at the silver-haired man to do the same. We were almost halfway to the bridge. If we went any further, I would be giving Mollini carte blanche to do whatever he wanted with Diggs. I imagined some kind of torture would transpire until I saw something that froze me in my tracks. Mollini wouldn’t waste time on such matters. Right before he disappeared, he smiled at me with glee. With his hands placed on either side of Diggs’s head, he made a quick jerking motion. She looked at me with the soft surrender of a deer’s eyes. And with a snap, her head lolled to the side. Mollini had snapped her neck. And as soon as he did, he floated away from me, still holding Diggs’s rag doll body in his arms, heading back to my reality through the closing portal.
I snapped a branch from a nearby tree, dangled it precariously close to the hostage’s neck and made a demand.
“You’re going to give me the answers Mollini would not.”
He nodded in compliance just before his eyes sank to the back of their sockets.
I dropped the stick to balance the wavering man, realizing in that instant I still held onto something in my other hand. When I unclenched my fist, I found Diggs’s photo ID.
Twelve
I had seen people die in the line of duty before. As an agent I had been trained to deal with it, to move on and follow procedure for the purpose of securing the crime scene. Yet, I had never seen myself--or at least a person who could pass as my twin--expire before my very eyes. Not until today.
While the image replayed in my mind, I did my best to act like the trained professional I had once been. I found the fact of trying, disturbing. I really couldn’t say what had happened to me over the course of the last six months, the time that transpired since I quit the Bureau to become a private eye. At times, especially when I found myself in my comfy Victorian house, wallowing in a comatose languor, waiting for a case to emerge, I began to doubt if I could ever get my edge back. Had the downtime, or perhaps my newfound powers, possibly sapped my natural abilities?
I still wanted to kick myself in the butt for what had just happened--what I had allowed to happen. As I navigated the hilly slope that led back up to the bridge, I willingly let small branches whip at my legs as punishment for my failure. It seemed all my new abilities might very well have been a hindrance instead of an asset. I had frozen back there, depending upon telekinesis to get me out of the jam when I should have been behaving more like the agent I once was. Why didn’t I draw my gun as a last resort?
I resolved to stop the internal chatter and get to the matter at hand. An agent--more specifically the agent I had just let die--would be working right now to prevent further consequences. Protocol... I forced myself to follow procedure. For starters, I needed to plan. Just where would I be taking the silver haired man, the mysterious hostage, who walked just a few paces in front of me? And even more importantly, how would I get him there?
We--Agent Diggs and I--had left in such a hurry we had no time to plan a return back to DC. Manners, too weakened from transporting us, could not be depended upon to appear anytime soon.
We had just scaled a slope that led us onto the bridge that overlooked the stream when I let my frustration get the better of me--again. “What now?” I mumbled, absently, not expecting an answer. The silver haired man surprised me with a response.
“My car, it’s over there.” He pointed to a tan sedan, parked not quite ten yards from the bridge. “It’s how I got here,” he said calmly, matter of fact. Okay, so we had a means to get back to DC.
“Look, I apologize for my behavior,” I said. “It’s just that I wasn’t sure you were…”
He finished the sentence for me. “Human?”
He patted his chest with his hands. “Oh, quite human, quite frail and quite flawed, in fact.” He wore a half smile and a sad twinkle in his eye as if in reflection. “My name is Claude Brahms.” He started to offer his hand but withdrew, possibly still apprehensive over my earlier outburst. I gave him my name and showed him Diggs’s badge. I observed his reaction. Would this calm him or frighten him? He just pursed his lips, noncommittal. I still didn’t know if I could trust him. He somehow had the ability to shape shift and I couldn’t overlook the possibility that he still might do something rash. He had chased Mollini into another dimension, after all. I needed to consider the possibility that this man might not be mentally balanced. He made a small chortle sound in his throat and then spoke.
“I deduce that woman to have been your doub
le. You are not from this reality, are you?”
I explained how I had arrived here and that Mollini had killed dozens from my world. I hoped the disclosure might encourage Brahms to give me information in return. Like how he managed to change his appearance, but more importantly, I needed to know if he could control the portal. I decided to ask him point blank.
“Do you have the ability to cross worlds?”
“No. I managed to ride in on a wake like you did. I followed some kind of demon here and was pulled through. I would have been trapped on the other side… but… we all know what happened.”
“Not quite,” I said. “Why was Mollini chasing you? And why were you in pursuit of him?”
“Ah. So you know about my impersonation of Agent Grant.” He put his hands in his coat pockets. A gesture I found to be somewhat apologetic, even demure. So I allowed him to find some comfort or strength in those pockets believing he stowed no weapon or desire to physically threaten me. I couldn’t put my finger on his persona, but it was just so “parental” His mannerisms were those of a trusted teacher or guidance counselor you had in high school, the adult who you felt comfortable enough to share secrets or a joke with.
He continued in response to my nod. “I only engaged in the deception as a last resort, as a means to save lives. When I heard about a plan to free the man you call Mollini from your world, I panicked, both from fright and an innate need to reunite with family. You see I had hired a private eye to keep an ear out for such a return, I truly thought the day would never come, but to keep my sanity, I had to keep faith. And even though you might find my behavior vile, my need to reunite with a killer, I couldn’t ignore my biological needs.”
“I don’t understand. Are you telling me you’re Mollini’s father?”
“Yes. He had been taken from me as a youngster. For the first few years, I searched vigilantly for him, finally concluding someone had taken him through the portal to another dimension. That’s why I behaved so irrationally, so desperately, impersonating a law officer. I had hoped you would have told me his whereabouts. But I see deception runs rampant in your field. By the time I reached the destination you sent me to, I discovered no trace of my son and my disguise had worn off. Now I don’t know what I could have done differently even if I had found him. Nonetheless, I had to give it a try. And more over, I needed to find out why my boy had been taken from me.”