by Stormi Lewis
“Hello, Jessica,” the old man sneered.
“You cannot have her,” Jess hissed.
“But can’t I?” he asked with a creepy declaration that made Sophie’s blood run cold.
“She’s not what you desire her to be,” Jess said flatly.
“I don’t know what you are referring to,” he shrugged innocently.
“You know exactly what I’m referring to,” Jess roared, letting her anger escape into her voice. “She’s just as normal as I am.”
“I highly doubt that,” the old man said studying her carefully.
“You will have to kill me before you can have her,” Jess said sticking her chin out definitely.
“That can be arranged,” the old man said, with nothing behind his eyes and a complete lack of emotion. Sophie shivered at his behavior.
“Bring it on,” Jess said with her wicked smile and taking stance.
“Mom, no!” Sophie yelled, but no one acted like they could hear her.
“It’s a memory,” Jack whispered sorrowfully coming to stand next to Sophie.
“You’re going to attack a helpless disabled man?” he laughed a creepy laughter as he tilted his head at her. His eyes remained blank. It was clear that this man had no conscious or soul.
“Not at all,” Jess said, tapping into her ability to hunt prey.
Jess’ eyes changed too. The breathing that was showed by the rise and fall of her chest became almost nonexistent. Sophie held her breath as she watched her mother turn into a stone-cold predator before her very eyes. Sophie felt her blood turn cold within her, and wondered if this is what she looked like when she lost control.
The man suddenly rolled his eyes in boredom. “You fool no one,” he sighed dramatically.
“Never underestimate a mother’s love,” Jess replied hauntingly as she waved for the man to attack.
“I’m not fighting you,” the old man laughed at her.
“Then you will die,” Jess said matter-of-factly.
“I hardly doubt that,” the old man laughed. They all heard several footsteps heading their way. He had clearly brought back up, or a team to simply take her out altogether.
Murderous laughter escaped Jess’ throat. Sophie looked at her dad who stared at the floor unable to see whatever was about to take place. Jess was quickly surrounded by several figures dressed in black attire.
Sophie was not prepared to see what came next. Every single person, minus the man with the cane, came at her mother all at once. Sophie wanted desperately to not watch, but she couldn’t seem to move her head. Now, she understood why her father couldn’t watch.
Jess, ever so gracefully, took off each team member one by one. She grabbed the arm of the person that went in for a punch and pulled them past her while she gut-kicked another that charged her. She quickly broke the arm she held in her hand and tossed them aside as if they were a simple rag doll. While the first two fell back, three more went in for an attack.
Sophie stood still, holding her breath, as she listened to bones crack and necks snap. She had no idea how lethal her mother truly was, and quickly made note to always keep herself on Jess’ good side. Sophie absorbed every action like a sponge, as excitement coursed through her veins like acid. Jess was amazingly graceful, despite leaving a pile of bodies in her wake.
Sophie noted that the old man simply backed away, but never took his eyes off her mother. She saw the look of pride and excitement for every life that Jess took. Thriving on it, as if it were the only reason he lived and breathed.
Sophie quickly grew sick to her stomach. She looked back at her mother and was disturbed to see the excitement that reflected in her own eyes. Jess had always instilled the importance of every life mattering, yet as Sophie watched her mother not hesitate to take the lives around her, she began to realize that her mother also had a darker side to her. A side that even Jess feared to nourish, and Sophie knew nothing about.
Sophie tried to convince herself that depending on how long the man with the cane had her in his possession, it was something he had instilled in her. But she wasn’t entirely sure, because she knew a dark monster grew within her as well. Sophie had felt it take over when she watched Clarice torture Mario before her. Did evil reside in all of them, or had he made sure each of them carried it so he could exploit it? Sophie quickly turned her head to throw up at the scene playing before her.
“You’re missing the point,” Jack whispered suddenly staring down at her.
“And what point is that?” Sophie said a little irritated as she wiped the leftover vomit from her mouth. “Mom was a badass?” she retorted sarcastically.
Jack’s face quickly went from sorrow to anger, and even Sophie took a step back from him to put space between them.
“I didn’t raise you to be so ungrateful,” he said with his voice mixed with frustration and disappointment. It cut Sophie to her core.
When she looked back at her mother, there was a pile of dead bodies behind her and she breathed heavily as she stood once again before the man with the cane.
“You. Will. Not. Have. Her,” Jess stated once again.
“That’s not your decision to make,” the old man shrugged.
He held up his cane, and a dart shot out the bottom of it. Jess spun and ducked just in time to miss it before she grabbed some sort of liquid and a lighter from her belt. She quickly squirted the liquid on the old man and tossed the lit lighter onto him. Half his face was suddenly in flames, and he screamed in agony as his skin quickly melted off.
“I WILL stoop to your level if I have to,” Jess said hauntingly lacking any emotion before she turned her back on him and walked away. The man with the cane ripped off his suit jacket and hurriedly put himself out.
Sophie stopped breathing. She couldn’t believe all the things she had witnessed in just a quick few minutes. The scene disappeared before her eyes, and only Sophie and her father remained in the emptiness.
“She went against everything she stood for to keep you safe,” Jack said looking straight ahead to nothing at all. “Maybe it’s time to put that anger back where it belongs,” he added before walking away from his daughter.
“What if I can’t control it?” Sophie called out with a much more disturbing thought weighing on her mind.
Jack hesitated but kept his back to his daughter.
“Then you might as well be his,” he shrugged before flipping his hand and pushing Sophie out the door.
Sophie gasped as she sat up.
“Hey,” James whispered. “You okay?”
Sophie reached over the side of the bed and began violently throwing up into the trashcan next to her. James sat up immediately to help hold her hair back.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in alarm.
Ben and Tina sat up to the sound of Sophie hurling her guts out, and Ben rushed to inspect her at once. Tina eyed her carefully.
“We did too much today, didn’t we?” Ben mumbled as he waited for her to stop throwing up. “Get a glass of water and cool rag,” he ordered Tina. Although she hesitated, she did what her husband asked.
James gently rubbed Sophie’s back. “What happened?” he asked her softly.
“Bad dream,” Sophie mumbled as the memories continued to flash before her eyes.
Ben felt her forehead and quickly grabbed a thermometer. “You have a fever,” he declared concerned and confused.
“I just need to lay down,” Sophie said weakly, passing out before her head ever hit the pillow.
Chapter 18
“A re you ready to tell me?” the old man asked forcing Clarice to jump. He had entered her bedroom without her noticing because she was still thinking about Jess.
“Tell you what?” Clarice asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
“What happened in Kansas City?” he asked hauntingly while sitting on her bed.
Clarice was immediately alarmed. Not once, in her entire life had he come to her room to sit on her bed and talk to her. Forty
plus years of her life told her this was a blatant set-up, but she couldn’t fight the urge to see how this was going to play out.
“I killed Mario,” Clarice shrugged, not giving any emotions or anything else away.
The old man looked up at her and studied her. “You know,” he said slowly. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you, but I was always glad between the two of you that you’re the one that remains.”
Clarice couldn’t save the shock from crossing her face. She was pretty sure her heart stopped beating all together. Alarms were going off inside her head, but warmth began to flood her body.
A smug smile crossed the left side of his face. He had her.
“You handled this matter nicely,” he added for good measure. “Minus Edward,” he added with a warning.
Clarice was too busy basking in the first compliment he had given her since the day she was born to be irritated with his favoritism for Eddie.
“I did gain intel while I was there,” Clarice blurted out eagerly.
“Oh?” the old man asked casually.
“Yes,” she said with a wicked knowing smile. “Everything you thought about her was true,” she whispered with excitement.
“Oh,” the old man said in a bit of shock.
He wasn’t sure what Clarice had been hiding exactly, but this was definitely not what he suspected. He reminded himself that getting mad and torturing her simply for keeping it from him was not going to get him the end result he desired.
“How so?” he asked trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.
“The strength is definitely not dormant,” Clarice stated, grabbing her side in remembrance of being thrown against the pillar. Her voice was just now starting to get away from being so raspy.
“Anything else?” the old man asked raising his good eyebrow at her.
Clarice thought for a second.
“Speed,” she stated as she replayed the scene before her eyes and thought about how effortlessly Sophie had blocked Clarice’s most powerful punches.
“Interesting,” he replied deep in thought.
“Her anger is strong,” Clarice warned.
“Aren’t all of ours?” the old man chuckled as if he found this very amusing. He went to leave her room.
“We can utilize what she already has,” Clarice found herself begging as she chased after him. He simply turned and patted her on top of her head as he would any other loyal dog before he turned to walk out.
“What have you done?” she heard Jess whisper in despair within her head.
“He loves me,” Clarice whispered to herself, despite her head knowing very well that it was a complete lie. There was no response from the ghosts of her past. “He loves me,” she whispered again. Only this time it was more out of desperation to convince herself that what she had just done would be worth it.
“Something’s not right,” Sophie heard Ben whisper in concern.
“What is it?” Tina asked curiously.
“She has a fever,” he stressed.
“So?” she asked.
“A fever is a sign of your body fighting off an infection,” she heard Ben state bluntly. “Roger made sure she would never get sick.”
“So, what if she’s fighting something else?” James asked in a panicked realization.
Sophie couldn’t open her eyes. She couldn’t move. She waited for the wooden door to appear, but it never did. She remained on fire and in complete darkness.
Clarice was headed to her father’s office when she heard voices coming from the other side of the cracked open door.
“Do you think she’ll actually be an asset?” an unfamiliar voice asked.
“She’s as close to Sophie as possible. She’s perfect,” the old man said with satisfaction coming through his voice.
“What are you going to do once she’s brought in?” the stranger asked.
“There will be tests, of course,” the old man stated excitedly.
“Don’t you worry she will not survive?” the stranger inquired.
“If I made one, I can make more,” the old man said with a shrug.
“Isn’t she worth more alive than dead?” asked the stranger with obvious concern in their voice.
“I guess we’ll find out,” the old man replied coldly.
Clarice’s stomach dropped. What had she done?
Tina was living at the library, trying to find possible answers to why Sophie was suddenly unable to respond for the last couple of hours. Ben continued to monitor her vital signs, and James found himself nodding off occasionally in the chair he had placed next to her as he held her hand.
When he went to force his eyes open, he found the wooden door standing before him. He shoved it open without hesitation.
“She won’t wake up!” James called out as he shielded his eyes waiting for them to adjust.
“I know,” he heard Mario declare gloomily.
“She’s not answering us either,” Jack announced.
James looked around to find Mario and Sophie’s parents all in the room together. Mario and Jack sat at a table looking over papers, while Jess remained distant in front of the fireplace on the other side of the room.
“She needs to move soon,” was Jess’ only response.
“It’s hard to move when she’s unconscious!” James exclaimed wildly.
“Do you think it was the tests?” Mario asked Jack.
“No,” Jack assured. “She was fine right before.
“You don’t know for sure, though!” James shouted in panic. “No one knows!”
“Sit down,” Mario said in a half order to James.
He knew the look of pure panic all too well, and James needed to get his focus back. Mario got up and poured James a drink.
“Drink,” he ordered before he sat back down.
James looked from the drink to Mario and glared. He knew Mario was just trying to help, but James couldn’t think of how drinking would help anything. He looked back at the glass and slumped into the empty chair before slugging the brown warm liquid before him. He felt his nerves slowly start to calm.
“Ideas?” Mario asked looking between Jack and Jess.
Jack looked towards his wife, but she kept her back to them all.
“We can’t just sit here,” James said frantically.
“We don’t have a choice,” Jess said softly staring into the fire.
“I don’t accept that!” James yelled in frustration.
“Let’s just talk this out,” Jack offered, but the look his wife shot him silenced him immediately.
Mario watched in silence as if caught in the middle of a nightmare. He shoved his chair back as he stood up in his own frustration and walked over to the shelves behind him. He snatched a bottle of wine and slammed it on the table.
“Tell him,” Mario ordered Jess.
She remained silent with her back to them all.
“Tell him!” Mario ordered again with more force.
James looked wildly around the room. Mario continued to stare at the back of Jess’ back, willing her to turn around, while Jack kept his eyes on the table in front of him.
“Tell me what?” James demanded as he turned to face Jess’ back with Mario.
After what felt like an eternity, Jess dropped her head and sighed heavily.
“Do you see the symbol on the wine bottle?” Jess asked softly.
James jerked his head back to the wine bottle and saw the gold infinity sign with a slash through it.
“So?” he asked in confusion.
“How much do you remember of your final training with the CIA?” Jess asked casually, still not turning around.
“All of it,” James mumbled, annoyed that they were still playing games with him when their daughter’s life was on the line.
“Do you remember the Daniel Cord case?” Jess asked giving no emotion.
James froze for a second at the name. Daniel Cord was the worst case that he had ever studied.
Daniel was a
sixteen-year-old boy that had a career as a narcissistic psychopath. He had started his journey as a child by being a fire starter and animal torturer. He was bullied often for his sexually inadequacies as a teenager and showed chronic low self-esteem. This eventually led Daniel to becoming a stone-cold killer before ever reaching adulthood.
No fear, and no remorse for the lives he took. Daniel believed that the victims knew the reason they were attacked, and he stopped at nothing to take a life in order to achieve his goal. No guilt. No conscious. No soul.
“I do,” James said slowly not sure where this was going.
“Algos is on an even higher level,” Jess said with a frown. “He’s obsessed with total control and gaining the power over life and death.” She continued to stare into the fire as she shared the history of the man that had raised her most of her life.
“He gave himself the name Algos Hersteller at the age of nine,” Jess continued emotionless. “Having already murdered his brother and father, and eventually moving on to his own mother. That symbol is his version of the family crest,” Jess said finally turning around to face everyone.
“He strives to break the line between life and death, and control it all,” she said blankly. “He believes he can achieve it through Sophie,” Jess stated finally blinking again. “And now that his suspicions about her have been proven, there’s nothing we can do.”
“What do you mean, there’s nothing we can do?” James asked madly. “Even psychopaths get caught,” he declared angrily.
“Not him,” Jess whispered before turning her back on them again.
“So, we’re just giving up?” James asked in outrage.
“Absolutely not,” Jack assured as he placed a hand on James’ to help calm him down. “It just makes things a lot trickier,” Jack said letting his own frustrations seep through.
“There are rules in death,” Mario inserted. “Algos is trying to break them. We’re just not sure how or when,” he said with a frown.
“Is he messing with Sophie now?” James asked in full panic.
It was bad enough he couldn’t physically keep her safe. How the heck was he supposed to fight a psychopath on a field he didn’t have access to?