The Rebirths of Tao
Page 31
Zoras
* * *
It didn’t take long for Jacob and his men to secure the betrayers. After all, they had arrived into Fort Bragg earlier that morning and had spent the entire day waiting for the boy and the girl to lead them to the Prophus safe house. He had found the Sign of Shamash in an alley next to the bus stop, and the instructions written in invisible ink on the wall told him to watch the main highway going through the town. Jacob was surprised when he found the two children walking down it instead of driving. That just made his job easier.
Jacob had to admit; the wait was longer than anticipated, and he was getting restless. Alex should have brought the boy down yesterday, and he had almost called off their reconnaissance of the street. However, Chiyva’s wisdom had prevailed.
The betrayers are in no rush to leave. We should not be in one to move in.
His guardian was correct, and now, after all these years, justice was at hand, and Jacob’s vengeance was almost complete. He looked at the woman and the boy. Roen Tan’s wife and offspring, and in the boy, the Prophus Tao, who had been with Roen when Grandfather was murdered. It was only fitting that Jacob was now Chiyva’s vessel. Fate had come full circle.
The priority is the scientist.
“Of course, Holy One.”
Rin was on her knees, arms bound behind her back. She was the only one they really needed. The others, Ohr and Vladimir, in many ways more despised than the Prophus, were Genjix in name only. These weak-willed, selfish moderates had only used the Holy Ones and the Genjix to enrich themselves without ever fighting for the cause. They were parasites that sapped the strength of the true believers. Then there was the girl, Alexandra, the one who had led Jacob here. She was standing next to her father, looking nervous. It was time to test her loyalty as well.
“How did you find us?” Jill asked.
He backhanded her casually, knocking her to the ground. The boy looked ready to pounce on him. Jacob smirked; he would welcome that. The group waited in silence until the last member of Jacob’s team returned from the trailer.
“It is clear, Adonis,” he said.
Jacob checked the time. The helicopter would be arriving shortly. There were five on his team, including him. Seven with Rin and Alex. That left room for one.
Baji is the logical candidate to bring back. She is a logistics expert, and her vessel is highly ranked. Tao is a rabid wolf, and the two from Vinnick have no value.
“Your will, Chiyva.”
Jacob pulled out his pistol and screwed on the silencer, then casually scanned the faces of the prisoners before shooting Ohr. He watched as Ohr’s Holy One left his slumped body and disappeared into the air. He had pondered using a flame on Ohr’s Holy One, but that was outside his authority. These were technically Genjix Holy Ones after all.
“Come here, girl,” he beckoned to Alexandra, and handed her the pistol. “Show me your worth as a Genjix. Do what must be done.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. For a second, Jacob thought she was going to refuse, and that he would have to kill her after all. Instead, she inhaled, opened her eyes and pointed the pistol at her father. “I’m sorry, Papa. You and Ladm betrayed the Holy Ones, an unforgivable sin. I will forgive you one day, and may we see each other in the Eternal Sea.”
“Alexandra, my precious girl,” Vladimir said in Russian. “Papa loves –”
She pulled the trigger, and he collapsed onto the ground, blood flowing from his a hole in his chest. She had given him a clean death, at least. She handed the pistol back to Jacob, her face devoid of emotion. He put a hand on her shoulder. He was sympathetic to what she had just had to do. How could he not be? It would have been difficult, even for a weaker Adonis Vessel. The Hatchery in Russia was a pale comparison to the real one in Costa Rica, but he still considered them brothers and sisters, though lesser ones. Now all that was left was the offspring of Roen Tan.
You do not have much time. Make it quick. Your justice and revenge are well deserved, but time need not be wasted. The transport is landing in five minutes.
“Your will, my guardian.”
“I need him to know,” Jacob said aloud, his voice barely louder than a whisper. “I need Roen Tan to know what his treachery and his cowardice have cost him, and he needs to know who exacted justice.”
The two women and the boy exchanged glances, then Jill took a step forward. “I am the one in command. Take me and let the others go. Freeni is just a foot soldier and knows nothing. The boy is just a boy.”
Jacob chuckled. “Not just a boy, woman.”
“Take me and be done with it, Genjix.”
Jacob smacked her again. “Be quiet, betrayer. You are coming with us, but by my say-so.” He looked to his left at Freeni and then shot her in the knee. She howled as she collapsed. Freeni would live, though she would never walk right again. “You will be the messenger to Roen Tan.” He turned to Cameron and holstered his sidearm.
“What do you want?” The boy was wide-eyed, looking enraged and panicked at the same time. His eyes darted back and forth like a caged animal’s. The man holding his arms pushed him forward.
Jacob could see the terror in his eyes as the boy looked at him, and then to his mother, and then surprisingly to the girl. Interesting. Jacob took several steps forward, and the boy retreated. “You remember Taiwan, Tao? I thought twice justice was served, and you eluded me both times. Now we will see the son pay for the sins of the father.”
Before Cameron could open his mouth, Jacob launched himself forward and punched him in the gut, doubling him over. He followed up with a right cross that sent the boy sprawling onto the grass. Behind him, Jill screamed.
“Shut her up,” Jacob ordered.
One of his men came from behind and struck her on the back of the head. When she tried to take a step forward, he chopped her legs from behind and forced her to her knees. Then he grabbed her hair to lift her face up, so she had to see what Jacob was about to do to her son.
“Please, don’t,” she moaned.
Jacob moved casually toward Cameron. “Your first vessel was no match for me, Tao. Let me see how your second fares.”
Cameron picked himself off the ground and attacked. Jacob recognized the same movements that Roen had utilized over ten years ago. The same footwork; similar angled movements. Palming guards, chambered fighting lines; all the same. Those memories were still fresh in his mind. Every second. He had relived and relished them for years after they had happened.
The boy attacked, coming at Jacob from the side: palm strike, swing, side step, low kick, throw. Jacob dodged them all with ease and with a sudden change of direction, slapped the boy across the face with an open palm. The boy fell to the side, rolling on the ground clutching his cheeks.
Do not spend too long playing with him.
He had talent; Jacob gave him that. He was already almost as good as his father was in his prime, though if Roen had stood no chance back then, the boy stood even less of one now. In ten years, once he had grown into his body and had had his fill of battle, he might be formidable, but for now, he was too raw. Too much potential; not enough experience.
Tao’s vessel attacked several more times, throwing combinations, switching up tactics, even once trying to bite Jacob. Every time, the man toyed with the boy, emphasizing how superior he was to Tao’s host.
Jacob didn’t want to seriously injure him. It would be a pity to ruin his fun if Roen’s offspring was to die on him right away. He didn’t know how tough the kid was. No, Jacob wanted to break the boy’s spirit and humiliate Tao as much as possible before killing them both. Every time he slapped the boy and knocked him down, he forced Cameron to get up to try to attack him again. This happened a dozen times until finally, Cameron flinched and hesitated. He stayed down on the ground instead of picking himself up. That was when Jacob knew the boy had no more fight in him.
“Get up,” he smirked. “I haven’t even broken a sweat yet. Get up, or I will finish the beating on yo
ur mother.”
The boy got up once more, looking skittish, his legs noodly. His face was purple and swollen from the repeated slaps. Blood dripped down his nose, and he had a cut lip. Other than that, the boy was hardly physically injured. Mentally however, he could see in Cameron’s eyes that he had shattered the boy’s spirit. Jacob lifted his hands and Cameron recoiled in fear. Jacob relished the moment and took a mental picture. It was one he would revisit for years to come.
Then, something peculiar happened. Cameron’s eyes glazed over slightly, and he seemed to have relaxed and gained a second wind. When he approached Jacob again, it wasn’t with the same near-desperate jerking motion of his previous attempts. He seemed more assured and in-control.
The transport is within sight. Finish this now.
“Your will, Chiyva.”
“Get the flamethrower out,” he ordered one of his men.
In the distance, he also heard the faint peal of police sirens. Someone must have seen what was happening and called it in. Jacob glanced up at the approaching black speck in the sky. His team would be long gone before the police arrived. Still, it was time to end the charade.
Jacob turned to Jill, who was still on her knees. Tears were streaming down her face. “Say goodbye to your offspring, betrayer.”
He saw a flicker out of the corner of his eye and raised his guard just in time to block a strike from the boy. Strange, this time he had covered ground faster than before. A flurry of strikes followed: high kick, low punch, spin, sidestep, trip, high punch. All the movements happened in a blur. The last strike hit Jacob on the bridge of the nose, causing it to bend sideways. He felt a sharp pain momentarily as he stumbled backward. How was this possible?
Something is different. He is moving much faster and hitting harder than before. His movements are more fluid as well. It is as if you are fighting another person entirely.
“I still owe you for Rianno, Chiyva, you bastard,” Cameron snarled.
Is that Tao speaking? How is that possible?
The boy attacked again, hitting Jacob from all sides, no longer moving as predictably as before. It took Jacob several seconds to adjust to this new speed and movement, but he was a veteran of thousands of fights. No matter what new trick Tao and his vessel had somehow pulled over him, it wasn’t enough. Cameron managed to hit him a few more times, once even cracking Jacob’s rib, but in the end, experience and age won out.
Jacob got Cameron trapped in a vice and grinned as he torqued the boy’s head. “Hell waits for you, betrayer!”
Before he could complete his motion, Jacob was blindsided from the back and knocked to the ground. He looked up in time to see Jill half-carrying, half-dragging her son toward the ocean.
“No!” Jacob screamed, drawing his pistol and firing.
It was too late. The two betrayers reached the cliff and tumbled over.
Jacob scrambled to his feet and ran to the edge. He could hear them crashing through the foliage, but he saw nothing in the darkness. It was a steep drop, thick with vegetation that hid their whereabouts. They could have fallen anywhere. Jacob took a step forward and began to climb down.
“No, Adonis,” one of his men said, grabbing his arm. “The transport is here, and the police are arriving. We have to leave now!”
He is right. The scientist is the priority. Vengeance can wait.
“No!” Jacob screamed, throwing his head back to roar at the sky. The fates were testing his patience yet again. He looked back over the cliff one last time, desperately searching for any signs of his prey as his men dragged him toward the helicopter waiting on the grass by the trailer. Then, he looked at his man picking himself up off the ground. The woman must have overpowered him. With a dismissive scowl, Jacob pulled out his pistol and shot him in the face. That was the price of failure.
“It isn’t over, Tao,” he said as he got into the helicopter. “The inevitable comes.”
36
Backup
Timestamp: 3389
Eventually, Cameron joined us, and we were a whole family once more. I would like to say that it was because he missed his parents, but it’s really because he was heartbroken over the death of Eva, his grandparents’s dog. Still, he was getting older and rapidly becoming the one thing I’d dread he’d become. There was nothing I could do to stop him. It had been inevitable from the day Tao had entered his body.
I decided then to just embrace the inevitable. Instead of trying to prevent my child from becoming a Prophus, which he would anyway, with or without my blessing, I decided to make him the best damn agent possible. Together with Tao, I began to teach him everything I knew.
* * *
The Frenchman Prie was a relatively poor patient, which was in line with Roen’s experience when it came to babysitting guys like him. He was demanding, obnoxious, arrogant, and was so high-maintenance that they had to allocate him a full-time nurse. Everyone except Marco drew straws; Elias lost. Actually, Sheck and Helen had rigged the straw-pulling so that Elias would lose. Fortunately, he was the most laid-back of the group and took the job in his stride.
The team had spent half the night burying Chase under a tree along the Malheur River. Roen had insisted on doing the majority of the digging. Now, Chase’s empty bed was a constant reminder to Roen of his poor decision-making and the price that came with his mistake.
None of the guys blamed him; they were too good people for that. They all agreed that things happen in the midst of combat that were outside anyone’s control, but he felt their judging eyes when they looked his way. Was he too careful with the enemy? Had his directive inadvertently caused Chase’s death? That thought weighed heavily on his conscience.
When they returned to base, against all their protests, Roen insisted on taking watch for the rest of the night. He grabbed a six-pack from the mini-fridge they had bought for the hole-in-the-ground and was walking toward the guard point before any of them could stop him. For the first hour, he stewed in his own guilt.
He sat down on the lawn chair in the factory alcove overlooking the roads and raised his can of beer. “Rest in peace, Chase Hoffman.” He downed the entire can and threw it at the oil drum in the yard below, missing by a mile. He scowled. “Tao wouldn’t have made that mistake.”
Your people come first; your objective comes second. Everything else is crap.
That’s what Tao would have said. He would have scolded Roen for caring too much about the safety of the enemy and not his own people. And he would have been right. Roen exhaled and picked up a second can of crappy beer. He rotated his shoulder, massaging the muscles up and down his arm and back.
“I’m such a screw-up,” he muttered, downing the second beer and chucking the can at a crate in the corner. He missed. Not surprising. He had been bad at ball sports ever since he tried to put the round peg into the triangle hole as a kid.
A short while later, he heard the clanging of footsteps on metal grating. Marco came up the stairs and pulled a lawn chair next to him. Roen took a can of beer from the cooler and handed it over. Marco clinked cans and chugged half of it before resting it on the ground next to his chair. He threw his head back and sighed, looking at the slowly-fading stars dotting the sky.
“You should get some rest, Roen,” Marco said.
“I told you I have the rest of the night covered. That dank hole creeps me out.”
“Well, I’m taking this watch now. That’s an order. You can chill out here with me if you’d like.”
Roen acknowledged Marco with a slight nod. He had realized over the past few days that he had the guy figured out all wrong. Under the ego was a man who cared as much for the Prophus, and in a way, for Roen’s family, as Roen did. He had heard gossip from the guys about Marco, just snippets here and there. There were very few hosts who had sacrificed as much for the Prophus as Marco’s family had. He owed the guy probably more than a few thanks and apologies. Maybe it was time to finally bury the hatchet. Roen yawned as they continued to sit in silence.
The sun was just coming up from the east, its burned orange rays splashing across the darkened factory yard. Roen caught himself dozing off again and slapped himself awake by putting the now only-cool can of beer to his cheek. He remembered the first time he had had to do one of these exercises. Tao had him watch a patch of water on Lake Michigan for hours. It was pretty soul-crushing. Like all things, though, he got better at it over time. For Roen, the trick was to keep alert with your eyes while forcing your mind to sprint over things that bothered you.
In this case, his mind wandered back to Chase, his now-flattened house, and his family. Doubt crept into him about every decision he had made over the past week. Hell, his entire life. There were only a few times in his life when he had felt self-assured. Not coincidently, it was when he was with Tao.
He wondered where Jill and Cameron were right now. He should have been with them, he shouldn’t have come on this job. He questioned being here even now. Marco had pleaded with him to stay and finish the mission, and out of a sense of duty, Roen had agreed. Again, was that the right decision? He didn’t know. Everything just felt so wrong.
You are being delusional and have gone over the edge. Cut it out.
That’s what Tao would say, but when Roen tried to repeat those words to himself, they felt hollow and useless. It was because he just didn’t believe it. The guilt gnawed at him. What if he had watched out for his men more than for the IXTF? What if he had insisted on staying at home with his wife and son instead of coming here with Marco? What if he had not listened to Tao and stayed with Jill when Cameron was small? What if he had not gone to that Decennial? Sonya would still be alive then. All those what ifs, these decisions that all led to his life now. Was he doing the right thing? Most undoubtedly. Would he have made the same choices? Undoubtedly not.