The Protector

by Stormi Lewis

  No one had spoken in the last twenty-four hours since Sophie left them. No one knew what to say. It was James who broke the silence. “We should head to Albuquerque,” he smiled as he began packing his things.

  “What for, exactly?” asked Ben confused.

  “We have to meet Sophie,” James said bluntly. His fingers lightly danced over the ring box before he picked it up and put it securely in his bag.

  Ben looked to Tina for help.

  “I’m not sure Sophie will be meeting us,” Tina said slowly.

  James just shook his head no.

  “No,” he said simply. “She will come. When she’s ready,” James declared putting the last of his clothing into the bag and heading for the bathroom.

  “I think she broke him,” Ben whispered his concerns to his wife.

  “Well, it doesn’t hurt to play along,” Tina said studying James with concern. “Whatever happened at the warehouse was clearly not good,” she whispered. “And we don’t know how Mario died.” Her voice cracked at the thought.

  Tina knew Sophie didn’t do it, although she didn’t know who did either. There was nothing to go off of, other than a headless body lying in a pool of blood. She didn’t think she would ever stop throwing up when Tina saw Mario.

  Ben had stayed with James, and Tina snuck out to see what clues she could find. Mario had sent her the message late that afternoon for Sophie to meet him in a warehouse in the West Bottoms. It was an odd part of town, just west of downtown Kansas City in an area that housed empty haunted houses and antique stores for the most part.

  The uber driver informed Tina that she had just missed the best haunted houses around. Tina preferred them over the horror that she was about to find.

  A table of instruments suited for torturing, and Mario’s dead body. The only clue that anyone else had been there was a set of size 8 high heeled red shoes strewed behind a metal chair, but no hint who they belonged to.

  “I wiped brain matter from her face,” her husband hissed at her.

  “Well aware,” Tina hissed back. “But until we know who else was there, it’s not safe to split up just yet,” she said more softly.

  “What do you mean it’s not safe to split up?” James asked curiously as he came out of the bathroom, only catching the end of the conversation.

  “James, Honey,” Tina said slowly. “We’re not sure who all the players are right now,” she tried to explain.

  “Sophie said never to travel together,” James said shaking his head and putting stuff into his bag.

  “Yes, but Sophie’s not here,” Ben tried.

  James stopped packing his bag for a moment. “She will be,” he shrugged and continued to finish packing.

  “Did someone come visit you?” Tina asked, trying to determine if it was shock or a ghostly influence pushing him at the moment.

  “Listen,” James said turning to face his friends. “Sophie has just lost her last parental connection,” he said with sorrow in his voice. “She needs to process, and then she will be back. We can’t let her down in the meantime,” he shrugged.

  Shock it was. Tina looked at Ben and shrugged. “Albuquerque it is. However, it will be together,” she added firmly. “You can still keep your distance. We’re riding the same bus,” Tina added with authority.

  James agreed and looked out the window as his friends gathered their things.

  “She’ll be back,” he whispered to himself. She had to come back. Right?...

  Sophie woke up with a full belly, and only a slight hangover. “Thank you,” she whispered to the ceiling of the cabin. She already knew the best way to figure out if Tina was actually on their side or if she had changed teams without them knowing.

  Sophie picked up the empty rum bottle and red wine bottle. She rubbed her finger over the gold symbol. She had seen it somewhere before. Her pounding head just wouldn’t tell her where.

  Sophie tossed the rum bottle in the trash. She got ready to throw the wine bottle after it, then something caught her eye. She carefully turned the bottle as she held it up to the light.

  There were numbers carefully etched into the glass just under the black label. If she hadn’t drank the whole bottle, she would have missed them completely. What were they?

  Her throbbing head started to pound louder. She went to the kitchen to find some aspirin. Two pills laid on the table next to a glass of water and a note in Mario’s handwriting.

  “Please take these, and don’t argue. Love, M”

  “Yes, Sir,” Sophie mumbled as she tossed the aspirin into her mouth and took a sip of water to help wash them down. She stuck out her tongue to the ceiling so he would know she swallowed them properly. There was no response to her childish display. Sophie turned her attention and squinted at the wine bottle. A piece was missing.

  Realizing she was standing in the living room in only her black lace bra and underwear, she grabbed her bag and emptied its contents onto the couch. The piece of paper with the sentences fluttered out and caught Sophie’s eye. She grabbed it before it touched the couch and opened it up.

  The tune of her father’s song suddenly rang in her ears. She hummed it as she read each sentence. Suddenly she froze. “Like Sparkling Wine,” she said softly and looked at the empty wine bottle on the table. They weren’t random sentences. They were song lyrics. Lyrics to THEIR song. And pointing at the now empty wine bottle with numbers etched inside.

  “Are you kidding me?” Sophie said to herself.

  She grabbed the wine bottle and stared at the numbers etched inside of it. Latitude and longitude coordinates and a code. Hiding here in the rendezvous location should something ever go wrong. That’s why the SD card didn’t have it. It was never meant to.

  The man with the cane was never to have the end product, but her father never could just not finish what he started, either. Jack didn’t know how. So, what now?

  Sophie turned to look around the cabin. Something had already gone wrong. Seriously wrong. Despite her finding it by drunken accident, didn’t mean that it could be left out in the open either.

  Although the mission had altered, it didn’t mean that this shouldn’t still be dealt with. That’s why her father gave her the necklace. He needed her to do what he never could.

  Throwing it in the fire didn’t guarantee success. She needed something else. Sophie flung open the front door and was greeted with snow and a body slicing cold wind. She shoved it closed immediately.

  “I really need to put some clothes on first,” she muttered to herself as she raced to the couch.

  “Please do,” she heard Mario beg in her ear. She smiled warmly; thankful he was still with her.

  Once she was properly layered, she set outside to find the tools she needed. Luckily, she was able to find them quickly and headed back inside to start a fire. As the flames grew, she took the empty bottle in her hand. “Opa!” she yelled for good cheer as the bottle shattered into pieces.

  Sophie carefully pulled out the shards that contained etched numbers on them and tossed the rest in the fire. She grabbed a wooden bowl from the kitchen and placed the shards in it. Then she quickly wrapped her hand with gauze and tape from the emergency kit in the bathroom.

  She sat at the table and took a deep breath, before grabbing the rock and slowly turning the shards of glass into dust. When not a single trace of numbers remained, Sophie carried the dust to the fire and watched it burn keeping the numbers in her memory for another day.

  “Good job, Kid,” she heard Mario whisper.

  “Well, we can deal with that another day,” Sophie answered putting her hand on her hip as she watched the flames dance in the fire. “I’ve got bigger problems to deal with,” she said.

  The man with the cane could wait. She had to figure out how to meet up with James and Ben and test her suspicions of Tina out. With final resolve Sophie moved to the couch, and picked out the burner phone.

  She didn’t trust Tina, and she didn’t know if James would even speak to her af
ter leaving him like she did. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and out before dialing a number.

  “Hello?” the male voice answered in confusion.

  “It’s me,” Sophie whispered. “Are you alone?”

  Ben was in the bathroom collecting their things when the burner phone he had left in his pocket started to vibrate. The number was Sophie. “Hello?” he answered slowly and confused.

  “It’s me,” Sophie whispered. “Are you alone?”

  “Yes,” Ben said slowly standing up and closing the door.

  “Everything alright?” Tina hollered at him.

  “Tell her yes,” Sophie instructed.

  “Yeah,” Ben hollered confused. “Just need a minute,” he added. “Are you okay?” he whispered to Sophie.

  “As much as can be expected,” Sophie answered honestly.

  “James has lost it,” Ben hissed at her.

  “I know, I’m sorry,” Sophie whispered back. He heard her guilt over the phone. “Ben,” she said slowly. “I need to know where you’re going next.”

  “James wants to go to New Mexico,” Ben whispered watching shadows of feet move outside the door. “He thinks you’ll meet us there,” he said frowning.

  Sophie smiled. James still wanted her to meet them. That had to be a good sign, right?

  “Ben,” Sophie ordered, “don’t tell anyone I called.”

  “Why not?” Ben asked confused.

  “We don’t know who all the players are yet,” she said with sorrow in her voice.

  “Tina said the same thing just a few minutes ago!” he exclaimed.

  “Ben!” Sophie hissed. “Promise me. Not a word.”

  “Fine,” Ben sulked.

  “And Ben…” Sophie whispered.

  “Yeah?” Ben replied.

  “See you in New Mexico,” she said with hope before the line went completely dead.

  Ben stared at the phone in his hand. Why couldn’t he tell anyone Sophie was coming? What was going on? Well, at least she didn’t sound as crazy as James currently was. Unless she already called him. Maybe that’s why James knew she was coming? Ben shook his head and flushed the toilet for good measure before heading out to meet his wife.

  “You alright?” Tina asked considering him suspiciously.

  “Yeah,” Ben said in a daze. “I wouldn’t go in there for a while,” he grinned at her.

  “You’re so gross!” Tina laughed at him and went to finish packing.

  Chapter 14

  C larice was pacing her room, furious at the information she had received the second she stepped off the plane. Eddie was alive. Her fool of a father had saved his pet, yet again. Despite her disclosure that Eddie had been conspiring the whole time to help Sophie escape their attempts to bring her in. No matter what Clarice did, the troll remained. How was absolutely EVERYONE else more important than his own blood to him?!

  Her furry had distracted her from giving him the news she knew he desperately wanted. Clarice just wasn’t sure if that was her only excuse at the moment. Jess’ words haunted her conscious.

  She honestly didn’t know what all her father had done to Jess until after she was dead. Not like she could have done anything about it anyway. At least, that’s what Clarice tried to convince herself was the truth.

  Clarice never went against her father, minus the one time she tried to walk out. He purposely used Sophie to bait her back in, and she would never be able to walk away again. They both knew it.

  Clarice’s mind wandered shortly at a life outside of the tunnels, smiling, and hanging out with Jess and Jack. Would their lives have been different if she had chosen to stand against him too?

  “No,” Clarice answered herself, knowing the only result would have been two dead girls instead of one. She survived by keeping her mouth shut about her mother’s murder. She did nothing to stop him from murdering Jess and Jack. She helped in the quest to capture their daughter. Clarice did whatever he asked like the loyal dog she was, because it was easier than dealing with the fact that he only knew how to use her and nothing more.

  The old man never gave her enough credit. Clarice was smarter, savvier, quicker, and stronger than anyone else he had on staff. She may not know as much about computers as Eddie did, but that didn’t make her any less valuable. Clarice could manipulate any person that crossed her path. Well, anyone excluding her father. And Jess.

  Jess was the one person Clarice never had to try to manipulate. They had grown up training together and were well aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They worked together often.

  Even when Clarice got so frustrated with her father about the constant comparison, Jess never hesitated to remind her that she was just as valuable. She really did like Jess. Sophie, however, was a different matter.

  She wasn’t sure why Jess felt the need to come to Clarice to save her enhanced spawn from her father. Jess couldn’t possibly love her like she had claimed if she was asking Clarice to sacrifice herself for her damn daughter!

  Her anger grew as she tried to convince herself that Jess was just manipulating her to her death, but a part of her knew exactly what Jess was really asking of her.

  Not just to save her daughter from being hunted even more. Rather, not to be a lab rat like Jess, herself, had been. Clarice wasn’t willing to accept it, yet deep down she knew Jess wasn’t asking her to sacrifice herself for someone she loved more. Jess was asking for history not repeat itself, with Clarice doing nothing.

  The stakes were higher, because the test results were not dormant in Sophie like they had been in Jess. Neither subject asking to be different at all, but rather forced to be something they weren’t. Something Clarice was all too familiar with. Jess knew it too and was guilting Clarice with her past.

  She picked up a book laying on her desk and screamed as she threw it against her door. “I can’t help you!” Clarice shouted to no one.

  She had survived this long by doing what was asked of her. Not by Jess. Rather by her father. A ghost wasn’t going to take her life for going against it. Her father, on the other hand was a different story.

  The image of him reprimanding her in front of everyone about trying to kill Eddie flashed before her eyes. Everyone in the lab had smirked at her being scolded like a child before them. It was degrading, and he knew how much that would hurt her more than physically abusing her, which is exactly why he had done it. To remind Clarice that she was nothing without him. Nothing.

  “I can’t help you,” she whispered trying to convince herself, but her feet didn’t move towards the door either. For the first time in her life, Clarice questioned which side she was going to choose…

  Albuquerque, New Mexico was proving to be quite warmer than Kansas City. The trio watched the sun welcome them as the bus crossed state lines. They each kept to themselves and made it look like they were not traveling together. It was ingrained at this point; they were experts at the dance.

  Ben checked in first, while Tina and James scouted the town a bit to collect more supplies. He tossed his bag on the bed and went to look out the window. They had one room this time, double beds.

  “Hello, old friend,” Sophie said coming out of the bathroom. Ben jumped in surprise.

  “Give a guy a heart attack why don’t you!” Ben hissed at her while clutching his heart.

  “Sorry,” Sophie giggled.

  He eyed her cautiously. “You seem to be doing well,” Ben said slowly.

  “Grief was a faster process than expected,” Sophie smiled, knowing his concern. “It helps when the ghosts follow you through life,” she added winking.

  “Still. Tina went to the scene. She said it was definitely horrific,” Ben said staring at the floor. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said looking into her blue eyes.

  “Thank you,” Sophie whispered back.

  “The others are getting supplies. I’m not sure how long they will be,” Ben stated. “So why don’t you tell me what’s really going on?”


  Sophie hesitated. She wasn’t sure she could tell him she thought his wife was on the other side. Not until she had some proof of course.

  “Mario didn’t send us those messages,” Sophie settled on.

  “Yeah, we’ve figured that out,” Ben said. “Any idea who did?”

  “Not yet,” Sophie answered honestly. “But I’m working on it,” she added. “Did Tina get the second message alone or was she with you?” Sophie tried to ask casually.

  “I think she got the second one alone, because it came while she was in the store and she came out to show it to me,” Ben said thinking back. “Why?”

  “Just trying to track down the timing to limit the options,” Sophie shrugged. She sat down on the bed and put her feet up. “How is he?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Scaringly well,” Ben said, knowing she was asking about James. “I don’t know if it was shock or what, but he always knew you would meet us here. Told us to pack up and get here and wait,” Ben shrugged. “Didn’t faze him a bit,” he said watching her carefully.

  “Did you know?” Sophie whispered softly.

  “He didn’t tell us,” Ben stated clearly. “But, yeah, we knew he had it.”

  “What made him think to do that?” Sophie asked softly looking to Ben for answers.

  Ben walked over and sat on the bed next to her.

  “He’s been in love with you since the first day you met,” Ben said softly. “When you’re a guy and you find the love of your life,” he said, “you really want to get a ring on her so you can declare to the world that the girl that knocks your socks off is yours,” he added with a soft shoulder bump. “We don’t know anything else.”

  “But me?” Sophie asked. “I mean, I love the guy. I just don’t exactly have a life that allows me to walk down the aisle right now,” she added softly.