by T. C. Edge
Ragan stood by, watching, thinking. Cancer, he thought. Martha has a daughter called Sarah, who has incurable cancer.
He scratched his chin, eyes down, thoughts tumbling forward. Could it be that…
“Ragan.”
The utterance of his name interrupted his thoughts. He looked up again and found Nadia looked at him, doubt in her eyes. She mouthed something - what do we do now? - widening her eyes as she did to display her urgency. Ragan looked to Cynthia, sobbing wildly, grabbing at her brandy and taking a gulp.
She was too loud. She was being too loud…
A voice suddenly crackled into the room, tinny, coming from his side. He looked down to the helmet in his hand. It was coming from there. From the comms link…
Shit.
He lifted the helmet quickly, and could hear Chloe’s voice hurrying down the line.
“Do you copy, Ragan! Nadia! Do you copy!” she was saying.
Ragan quickly fixed his helmet back on, Nadia looking up anxiously from the side.
“Yes…yes I copy,” whispered Ragan harshly. “What’s going on?”
“Guards!” said Chloe. “Guards are coming up the stairs!”
Ragan looked to Nadia.
“Time to go,” he grunted.
14
Chloe watched as the two guards came up the stairs, ordering Remus to stay utterly still and silent as he floated above them in the hallway. The men moved together, one behind the other, their posture careful as they advanced. While their rifles weren’t raised to shoulders, they were held tight to their sides, pointing to the floor and ready to spring to action if required.
They’d heard something a few moments ago - frantic words, wild sobbing, whispering voices; all muted by distance but still just about audible. It was the last that drew them from their positions in the lobby, ready to investigate.
They reached the landing and headed down the corridor, eyes on the room so recently vacated by the sick little girl. There was silence there now, no sounds coming from inside. They moved tentatively, though didn’t seem to be too worried. Chloe watched on, knowing they probably should be.
She had just shouted down the line, over and over, that someone was coming. It took a few moments for Ragan to answer.
“Guards!” she’d shouted. “Guards are coming up the stairs!”
To her side, out beyond the compound, Tanner - who’d spent the last few minutes in silent reflection - looked over with sharpened eyes.
“What’s going on?” he asked briskly, springing to his feet, fetching his rifle.
Chloe waved him away, much to his annoyance. Instead, he picked up his own helmet and put it on, gaining access to the hurried conversation going on down the comms link.
“Time to go,” Ragan was whispering, clearly to Nadia. “We’ve got guards incoming.”
Chloe, eyes shut, continued to watch the guards come from Remus’ vantage, hovering silently behind them. They were at the door now, knocking lightly.
“Nurse Hartley, are you in there? Is everything all right, Cynthia?” one of them asked.
There was no immediate answer. Then, a few sobs, and a trembling voice.
“I’m…quite all right,” came the soft, weepy voice through the door.
The guards frowned, looking at each other. Chloe zoomed right in to study their faces.
They don’t believe her, she thought.
Then she spoke it.
“Ragan,” she said down the line. “They don’t believe her. They’re going to come in.” She had a thought. “Shall I zap them with Remus?”
Ragan’s reply was a tight whisper.
“Can you do so without killing them?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Chloe confidently. In truth, it wasn’t quite so simple as that. The effects of sending an electrical charge through someone’s body tended to differ from person to person.
“OK, do it,” Ragan whispered. “We want to get out of here without any casualties.”
Chloe nodded, and began charging Remus’ current. It was often good for disabling a single foe, or distracting a whole bunch. Occasionally, when the need was great, he could take out two or more.
It took a moment only for Remus to begin to fizz and buzz, and a good thing too, because he was starting to make some noise. Though cloaked, the little flashes of electricity now zipping around his orb-like shape were perfectly visible, and the snaps and crackles they made were perfectly audible too.
He moved closer, just as the men turned, confused by the sudden buzzing sound. Their eyes flew open with surprise by what they saw - a barely visible, shimmering orb floating right ahead of them, little flicking lights of silver and blue surrounding it.
“What the…” one managed to whisper, but no more.
Remus unleashed his fury, surprising the men even more. As the tendrils of lightning went reaching out, their eyes widened to an unnatural degree, drawn open by both shock and pain. Their bodies began to tense, tremble, and fix into place, wrapped up by the electrical current hugging them so dear. For a moment they just stood there like statues, before tumbling to the floor with two loud thuds, one after the other.
As soon as the second sounded, the door opened, and Ragan and Nadia came hurrying out, stepping over the men with barely a look and moving down the corridor. They didn’t get far before they were accosted by a loud, ear-piercing scream - from another one of the rooms, an old maid had appeared, taking in the sight of the convulsing guards on the floor, and the black clad intruders rushing towards her. Her wail of shock and alarm spread right through the house, and out into the grounds, reaching as far as Chloe and Tanner, hunkered down beyond the perimeter wall.
Chloe opened her eyes out there and looked at Tanner. Then both of them looked over to the gate, where the four guards - who’d been casually sitting around and playing cards within the small office by the entrance - suddenly came hurrying out into the moonlight, rifles gripped tight, eyes darting towards the mansion down the track.
“OK,” Tanner sighed wearily. “Guess I’d better get to work.”
Chloe watched on as he stood, rifle to shoulder, and began moving off in a crouched stance in the direction of the gate. Three guards had already rushed off and out of sight, leaving only one to man the exit.
Poor guy, Chloe thought, as Tanner crept towards him.
Knowing the man from the Spectre Squad would be just fine on his own, she shut her eyes again and returned to Remus, her mind taking a split second to link to his perception. When it did, she found that he’d moved - he sometimes did that when she withdrew from him, especially if he sensed danger - and was now following behind as Ragan and Nadia worked down through the corridor and headed for the main stairs.
She wondered briefly why they were going that way, rather than leaving the way they’d come in, and then realised the pretence was up. That old maid had stepped out right in front of them, and they were perceptive enough to realise that her scream will have been heard all over the estate. Better to get to those two guards stationed out front first, they were probably thinking.
She had no real fear as she monitored their progress from Remus’ view, the drone following behind and a little above. Least not for them. This all felt very familiar - the three of them out there, engaged in battle; her a little way off, using Remus as lookout, all alone. Completely alone…
A sudden thrashing pressed at her chest, and she found herself drawing back from Remus, and returning to her true sight. She blinked, her focus taking a second to return, the darkness of the thicket of trees around her suddenly so foreboding. She glanced to the gate, and noticed that the remaining guard was on the ground, unconscious or dead she couldn’t tell. Tanner was gone, nowhere to be seen, likely rushing down the track towards the mansion.
She was alone.
She could hear rushing voices in her ear, the other three calling their positions. It all turned into a blur as she stared out, heart pumping loudly, eyes shifting from one tree to the next. All went
quiet for a moment, the leaves rustling gently, the voices in her ear fading.
Mikel, she thought. Are you out there…
Her instincts brought her hands to life, warming blue, dancing with silvery light. They glowed brighter, crackling. She held them up and forward, illuminating the dark grove ahead. The trees lit up, their leaves shining. Suddenly they didn’t seem so daunting anymore.
She drew a long, deep breath.
I’m just being stupid, she thought. There’s no one out there. There’s no one here but me.
A sound made her jump.
It didn’t come from ahead, from the trees, but away over the wall. It was distant, and yet loud in the suffocating silence, breaking it apart with a crack that echoed across the estate. A gunshot.
More followed. Dozens of them, hundreds. The world was suddenly alive with noise, busy and bustling, chattering loudly as bullets sprayed. Chloe took another look into the thicket, her hands still glowing, and then shook her head.
I’m alone, she thought again, this time with conviction.
Slowly, she began to relax, an odd feeling to have when a raging battle was burgeoning in the distance. She drew a calming breath, shut her eyes, and returned to Remus. The battle came into view below, Remus adopting a high position to avoid any errant gunfire.
Chloe could see Ragan and Nadia, outside the house now, two guards lying still on the steps. A couple more had appeared, perhaps drawn from their patrols by the commotion, and were firing from behind statues or fountains. Further down the track, Tanner was visible, still rushing onwards. He’d clearly taken out another guard on his way, a human-shaped lump contaminating the otherwise pristine, perfectly manicured track. The other two men from the gate were a little further ahead, also taking cover and firing at Ragan and Nadia.
They didn’t see Tanner coming.
Two shots to the back of the head, and they toppled. The other guards seemed to notice the withdrawing of two roaring weapons, the battlefield suddenly growing a little quieter. They turned to see their allies down, which gave Ragan and Nadia plenty of time to zip from position, thus disappearing from the guards’ sight as soon as they looked back around.
With Tanner closing in from the rear, they seemed to realise that the game was up. They split, hurrying off into the safety of the gloomy grounds, disappearing from sight. A quiet fell as Ragan and Nadia hurried off towards Tanner, meeting him on the edge of the courtyard.
She heard Ragan’s voice barking down the line.
“Did you kill those men?” he asked sharply. Chloe could see he was looking at the guards from the gate.
“Pfft, what do you take me for?” said Tanner. “They weren’t threat enough to kill. It’s fine. I was using non-lethals.”
“Good.”
“Why do you care so much anyway?” asked Tanner. Chloe could hear the prickliness in his voice.
“I don’t, really,” said Ragan. “I just don’t like killing unless it’s necessary. Like you said, these guards were no true threat to us…”
“Yeah, and like I said, I didn’t kill them.”
“Right? So what are we arguing about?” queried Ragan.
Chloe could see Tanner shrug.
“I dunno. Your self-righteousness, I guess. You just assumed I’d killed those men. That sort of thing gets under my skin, Ragan.”
A weary sigh came down the line. Nadia, Chloe thought. That would be Nadia.
“Is this really the time?” she said, exasperated. “There are more guards out there, and who knows if the staff have called in for backup. Here’s an idea - maybe leave your infantile bickering for the jet? How about that?”
She shook her head, and began rushing off towards the gate. The two men locked eyes with a stare, before following on.
“Nice one, Nadia,” said Chloe down the line. “Someone needs to mother these two.”
“Tell me about it,” said Nadia, panting as she ran. “They’re like brothers, always at each other’s throats.”
“It’s only because we love each other so much, right brother?” joked Tanner. Chloe saw him wrap an arm over Ragan’s shoulder as they jogged down the track towards the gate. Ragan didn’t shove it off immediately. That was progress.
Still, the sight was a little jarring, and incongruous with the setting. With guards strewn all over the place - dead or not didn’t really matter - it wasn’t necessarily the time to be playing around and making jokes. Then again, that was Tanner’s nature. The greater the tension, the more he seemed to feel the need to cut it. It spoke volumes of the group that something like this could be taken on with such calm; just another night’s work, and an easy one at that.
They soon reached the gate, hurrying around to greet Chloe outside the wall. She opened her eyes for a final time, Remus flitting forward and first to meet her. He swept around her head a few times, changing to a bird, before forming back into a drone and retaking his vigil above. The others caught up a second later, Chloe’s eyes keen as they arrived.
“So what happened in there?” she asked eagerly. “You weren’t in the room for long. Did you find out anything?”
“You didn’t hear down comms?” asked Nadia.
“Well, I heard bits. You took your helmets off, so I couldn’t hear too well. And I was watching the hall through Remus. It’s hard to do both at once sometimes. Sooo?” She leaned in expectantly.
“We’ll talk about it on the falcon,” said Ragan, voice a little hollow. He seemed troubled, unsettled by something. His eyes drifted towards the woods. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
The group continued on, moving quickly and without hindrance back to the falcon. The first suggestion of dawn was being considered by the horizon, the faintest glow reaching up from the depths of night. Chloe hustled along, studying Ragan, noting that pensive look on his face. They reached the jet and boarded, gunned the engines, lifted skyward.
That blush of dawn grew more clear as they rose, Chloe moving to the window, looking out. The blossoming light gave an outline to the lands below, the vast estates, the grand mansions. She turned her gaze towards Martha’s residence; it seemed even more wonderful, more vast from this height, the uniformity of the gardens becoming apparent, everything fitted and shaped with such care and symmetry. She could see figures now, nothing but dark shapes far below, hurrying out of the house and towards the unconscious guards. Chloe thought of the two Remus had electrocuted. She hoped they’d be OK. They didn’t deserve to die for Martha’s treachery.
The falcon continued its gentle ascent, lifting vertically as the city of Chicago began to appear to the south, a great network of lights giving shape to the buildings and streets. Chloe looked east, to the black mass of water that stretched into the unknown. The ambulance had taken off in that direction, she was sure of it. Why would they take a sick girl out there?
Eventually, with sufficient height gained, the falcon slowed and began to settle, hovering in place high up there in the heavens. Chloe never felt entirely secure just floating like this, particularly with a foreign capital city visible below. Thankfully, it was only Chicago, and only the MSA. Weak…apparently.
The group gathered within the belly of the jet, peeling off their combat gear and leaving them in their shorts and t-shirts. Tanner tossed his suit to the floor disdainfully. Chloe raised her eyebrows at the sight.
“Issued by the Crimson Corps, who betrayed us,” Tanner grunted, explaining. “And funded by Martha, who betrayed them. Leaves a nasty taste wearing that suit now.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Ragan, placing his suit more carefully on a shelf and moving towards the briefing table. “It’s just combat gear. Doesn’t matter where it came from or who issued it.”
“Just a reminder,” said Tanner.
“Of what?” asked Chloe.
“Of the fact that you had it right all along, little Phantom,” he said. “You can’t really trust anyone, can you?”
Chloe shrugged, looking down.
“We can tru
st each other,” said Nadia resolutely. “I’d trust any one of you with my life.”
Chloe looked up at her and smiled.
“Same,” she whispered.
Tanner grunted.
“Well, I wasn’t counting us,” he said. “That goes without saying. Anyway, fill us in on what happened.” He looked to Nadia, and then to Ragan, quietly standing at the briefing table. He’d drawn up a map of Chicago, and the area specifically to the east over Lake Michigan. The others moved over. To Chloe’s eyes, that lake was just an empty void, dark and endless.
“Honestly, not much happened,” said Nadia. “The nurse didn’t know much at all.”
“But the girl? You found out who she was?” asked Tanner.
“Yeah. She’s called Sarah. Martha’s daughter.”
Tanner raised his eyes, pursing his lips.
“Interesting.” Then he frowned. “Or, is it? Does that actually mean anything? Does it get us anywhere?”
Nadia didn’t have much of an answer. She made a noncommittal shrug, sighing, and turned her eyes to Ragan. He was still searching around the holographic map, scanning across the lake, apparently in search of something.
“Ragan?” asked Tanner. “What are you doing there, bud?”
“The ambulance went that way,” said Chloe. “You’re looking for a hospital or something, aren’t you?”
Ragan leaned back, seeming frustrated and a little distant. The shadow of distraction covered his eyes, darkening, brooding.
“The nurse said that Martha’s daughter has incurable cancer,” he said quietly. “That’s what she said, isn’t it Nadia?”
Nadia nodded, thinking.
“Yeah. She said that.”
“And she mentioned that this girl, Sarah, was being taken away for a procedure. A procedure she didn’t know anything about.”
“Um…correct,” said Nadia.
“So,” said Ragan, standing taller. “We have a medical professional who takes care of a girl she says has a form of cancer that’s incurable. And yet the girl is taken away for a procedure that the nurse has clearly never heard of. They don’t take the girl to the city, or to any known hospital in the area.” He referenced the map, which lit with all the hospitals and oncology treatment centres around Chicago. “Instead,” he went on, “they take her out over Lake Michigan, where there are no hospitals. None that are known about, anyway.”