Love conquers all a-1

by Saxon Andrew

  “John.”

  “That’s a lie. How old are you?”

  “Forty-two.”

  “That’s true.”

  “What’s your wife’s name?”

  “Ruth.”

  “That also is a lie. How many children do you have?”

  “Four.”

  “That’s true. What’s your favorite color?”

  “Red.”

  “That’s also true.”

  “Okay, okay; I can see you’ll know.”

  “Now, your future depends on your honesty from this point forward. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, but I thought you weren’t going to kill me.”

  “I’m not. But I can tell security where you live and direct them to your little stash of disguises.”

  The man said, “I’d rather you just kill me now than lead them to my family.”

  “Then it’s important that you be completely honest. Why did you say you had to resort to robbery to support your family?”

  “I’m a retired naval marine. After I retired I thought that my wife and I could support ourselves and our children on her job and my retirement, but she got sick. Now she’s not able to work and I can’t get another job, because my retirement would end if I go to work again. My test scores in school were average, so I’m not qualified for a higher paying job. I’ve looked, and most jobs that I can take pay less than my retirement. My family was hungry. We were close to losing our living quarters. I had to do something, and one of the men you killed in our first meeting offered to pay me if I would help him.”

  “So you go out and kill people.”

  “No, I didn’t. If you remember in our first meeting I didn’t attack you. My purpose was to keep you from running. I didn’t know that they were planning to kill their victims. Once they killed someone, then I was just as guilty, and they threatened to tell security about me and kill my family if I didn’t continue to help them. I never killed anyone, but that doesn’t excuse me because I was there when they did it and I prevented their victims from escaping. Tonight you killed the brother of the man who recruited me. Now there’s no one left to threaten me. I can stop now.”

  Tag could tell that the man was telling the truth. He felt certain that eventually he would have to pay for his crimes, but maybe not tonight. “What will you do now to help feed your family?”

  “I don’t know, but I won’t ever do anything again that would hurt another person.”

  “What’s your name?”

  The man hesitated a long moment, then said, “Do you really need to know that?”

  “Yes.”

  “What the hell. My name is Richard Wiseman.”

  “Well, Richard, you and I have a common problem now. The enforcement committee is looking for both of us. They’re looking for me primarily because of the two attacks you and your friends committed on me. Even though I defended myself, they think I represent a real danger to be running loose in society.”

  “I can’t say I blame them,” Richard said under his breath.

  Tag continued, “They didn’t know who I was until your attack tonight. Now they do, and I’m going to have to hide from them probably for the rest of my life. Life as I know it is over and Richard, you had a major role in that.”

  “How old are you?” Richard asked.

  “I just turned eighteen. I haven’t even graduated yet.”

  “Then how do you do the things you do when you fight? I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as you do or kill so quickly. Who taught you that?”

  Tag thought for a moment then said, “Richard, before I answer that I think I need to share what I’m thinking about. You have a real problem supporting your family. I have to have a place to hide, and I also need to learn how to hide. I’m thinking that we can help each other.”

  “Are you serious? I should be the last person you would trust after all that has happened, and I can’t help but think that you want to kill me. Besides,” Richard said, “How can you help me?”

  “I can bring you enough credits to take care of your family, but only that and nothing more. I am not going to make you rich.”

  “How would you get the credits?”

  “I’ll steal it.”

  Richard started laughing. “I thought you were being serious. Just what qualifies you to be a thief?”

  “Well, perhaps I’m better than you think,” Tag said. Then he handed Richard’s wallet to him.

  “How did you get that?”

  “Pretty much the same way I’ll get you the credits you need to live. However, you also have a responsibility in this arrangement. You’re going to have to let me live with you and teach me how to hide effectively. If you need a larger place to live, I’ll get the money you need to move. I know you’re nervous about exposing your family to someone like me that you see as a huge danger, but you’re going to have to decide whether or not the risk is worth taking.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “I’m not going to give you my real name, and before you start yelling about fair play, remember, you have to use your real name around your family. Would you want your children going to school using my name? If you don’t know it, then they won’t. You’ll both be safer and can be honest in a truth field if asked if you know anyone with my name.”

  Wiseman thought for a moment and then said, “That sounds reasonable. What do I call you?”

  “Daniel Leach,” Tag answered. Tag was already missing Danielle but he knew he could never contact her. It would jeopardize her career and force her to choose between him and her job. This was another price to be paid for helping Leila. Was it worth it? If he hadn’t, he would have never met Danielle. He could still feel her inside him and the pain was just beginning. Yes, it was worth it. Short as it was, she was worth it. “Do we have a deal?”

  “Yes,” Richard said. “Something you said lets me know that I can trust you, Daniel.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You told me that you would never intentionally hurt anyone. I could tell you were sincere under a high-stress situation. I believe my family will probably be safer with you around.”

  “You have no idea how much safer they will be, Richard. I can see trouble from a long way off.”

  “You’ve shown me that twice now.”

  “I need you to help me. I have got to go and make sure my parents are okay. Do you have a transportation pass, and can you help me change how I look before I go?”

  “Yes I have a pass, and I can walk home from here, and I have enough in my bag to make you unrecognizable.”

  “Then let’s do it this way. I will go home and check on my parents. You go home and make sure it’s okay with your family if a new boarder moves in. You can tell them I’m going to help with the expenses. If everything is okay, meet me here in this cinema tomorrow evening at this same time. If it isn’t, then go live your life, Richard, and I’ll pray for your family.”

  “Fair enough. Now come over here and let me show you how to look completely different.”

  Chapter 18

  I nspector Connor stood at the crime scene with Danielle. He had sent the injured attacker in restraints to be taken care of at a security medical facility. The attacker that had been killed remained where he had fallen. “Who was it that said, this looks like deja vu all over again?” Inspector Connor thought. He glanced around and saw Danielle Ash talking with John Sinclair. He observed that she seemed to be holding up pretty well. “Let’s get this over with,” he said to himself, and walked over to where John and Danielle were standing.

  “Good evening, Miss Ash, and hello, John.”

  “Good evening sir,” they both said.

  “Miss Ash, I have some questions.”

  Danielle interrupted by saying, “Yes sir, I’m sure you do, but before you ask them I would like to tell you a few things first.”

  Esa Connor was not accustomed to being interrupted and he started to shut her down, but then he remembered that without her ins
ights they would have never uncovered their Superman. “I don’t want to lose this employee,” he thought. Then he said, “Go ahead Miss Ash.”

  “Sir, I had decided three weeks ago that I was wrong about Thomas Gardner being our Superman. I could not find anything that tied him to the events that happened. Now I feel that perhaps I was eliminating him because I liked him. As I spent more time with him, I’m afraid it became more than just liking him. I became and am now emotionally attached to him.”

  Inspector Connor interrupted, “Then you should have removed yourself from the case, Miss Ash.”

  “It’s not as simple as that, Inspector. Remember, I had decided that he was not our suspect; however, by going out with him he gave me the opportunity to observe other students to see if one of them might be the one we were looking for. We were always going places that the other students would frequent. We would play games and I would look for someone who had outstanding coordination and eye-hand skills. Tonight I found someone that has those skills. I only discovered they existed because Thomas Gardner’s friend, Eric McAnn, announced that he had seen them. I then observed some of those skills in some games we played. I invited Mr. Gardner outside to talk with him in private about my observations, and it was during this discussion that we were attacked. The results of the attack only confirmed that he was the one we have been looking for all along.”

  “Miss Ash, you made a serious mistake getting personally involved with Mr. Gardner.”

  “Yes sir, I did. I realize that you should fire me and I’ll take whatever other action you think is appropriate.”

  “Did you tell him you were with enforcement?”

  “Yes, sir, I did, and I told him that I had called for help and that when they arrived we were going to arrest him.”

  “What did he do then?”

  Danielle turned beet red but looked Inspector Connor in the eye and said, “He kissed me and showed me that he loved me, and then he disappeared.”

  “Miss Ash, do you love him?”

  “Yes, sir, I do.”

  “Is he the love of your life, or will you forget him and move on?”

  “Sir, I wish I could explain what happened during those last few moments, but I saw into his soul, and I felt something that I’ll probably never experience again. There will never be another for me.”

  “Are you sure about that, Miss Ash?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “I guess that means you will be immune to all of our future suspects so you shouldn’t repeat the same mistake,” he said and then smiled.

  “Yes sir, I mean no sir, no one else will hold any interest for me.”

  “I’ll just have to make sure you don’t work on his particular case then. You know we will do all we can to capture him?”

  “Yes, I do. But there’s one thing I can tell you for certain, sir. He will never hurt anyone unless they force him to, and he will never contact me from this day forward.”

  “Why not?”

  “He loves me and he’ll feel that he’s hurting me.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “It breaks my heart. But maybe you’ll catch him, and then I’ll see him again, if it meets with your approval.”

  “We’ll see, Miss Ash. Besides, if I fired you, I think Julie would leave me; she thinks quite a lot of you. I can’t afford to have her leave. But your training begins in the morning. I can’t hold you totally responsible when you’ve had no training on how to handle relationships while undercover. I have to accept part of the responsibility for this, so you get a free pass this time. There better not be another next time.”

  “Yes sir,” Danielle said meekly.

  “By the way, Miss Ash, could he have done what Colonel Ortiz said he did during the first attack?”

  Danielle looked at the body lying on the ground and said, “Inspector Connor, I could not follow him he was moving so fast. I wish I could describe what he did, but he moved faster than my eyes could follow and it was over in less than three seconds. To answer your question, yes, he could do what Colonel Ortiz described, and quite frankly, it would be incredibly risky for anyone to try and attack him even with a hand weapon. However, I know that he would not attack anyone unless he or others around him were threatened.”

  Inspector Connor thought for a moment and then said, “So you don’t think he represents a danger.”

  “Only to someone foolish enough to trap him where he could not escape. His first effort would be to try and avoid harming anyone.”

  “I hope you’re right, Miss Ash. We are going to have to apprehend him someday. Do you think he would attack us?”

  Danielle thought for a moment and then said, “I know he won’t attack us; however, he will do all he can to avoid capture. Quite honestly, I don’t think you’ll find him unless he makes a mistake or drops his guard. He’ll know when you’re coming and I think as he learns more and more about his abilities, he’ll be extremely difficult to find.”

  “Well, let’s hope we do find him,” Esa said and smiled, “otherwise, how do you intend to see him again? He might allow us to capture him just so he can see you again.”

  Danielle wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but she knew she was already missing him terribly.

  Chapter 19

  “G ood evening, Maggie,” Tag said. “Where’s Richard?”

  “Oh, hello Daniel, he’s out with the kids at the park. They should be home shortly. Dinner is ready and I’m keeping it warm in the kitchen.”

  “How do you feel?” Tag asked.

  “I’m having a good day today. I’ve been able to get up out of my mobile chair and actually stand at the stove.”

  “Great, you’ll be able to throw that thing away before too much longer.”

  “I hope so, Daniel. The doctors are helping a lot.”

  It had been three years since Tag had moved in with Richard and Maggie, and all of their lives had changed dramatically, particularly the Wiseman family. Richard was able to live on his retirement and stay at home to take care of the children. This removed a tremendous load from Maggie, who was suffering from a muscular disorder. Tag would go out once a week and take credits from the local casinos. He only took enough to support Richard’s family and pay for his meals. He made sure he didn’t concentrate on any one casino, but spread it out among them all. With his powers of concealment, he had little difficulty getting what he needed. He had decided from the beginning that he would take only enough for the family’s comfort. He had, however, taken enough to insist that Richard take Maggie for treatment of her condition. She was showing remarkable progress.

  Tag thought back to the day that he and Richard had decided to work together. Richard had disguised Tag so well that even his mother wouldn’t recognize him. He had added twenty-five pounds around his midsection with a plastic belt and put implants into his cheeks to make his face look fatter. He also cut Tag’s hair short and then dyed it black with a few strokes from the color brush. Tag had put on a blue jersey and left the cinema to go check on his parents.

  He boarded a public floater and started the trip north toward his home. Before he got there, he found that security floaters had the area around his house blocked off. He was stuck in traffic and could see his home two blocks over. While he was watching, he saw his mother and father taken out of the house in hand restraints by six security officers, placed in a security floater, and then taken away. With that event, taking Leila’s test assumed a cost that was too high. Now he was anguished over what he had caused to happen to his parents. He watched the floater disappear into the city with a heart that was broken. He considered turning himself in, but that would only cause three to disappear instead of two. He thought about contacting Danielle to see if she could help them, but he knew that by the time he reached her, it would be too late. He did not see his parents again. He would occasionally go by their old house, but a new family had moved in, and he knew they would never be back. After a year he quit looking. After a while, h
e eventually quit blaming himself, reasoning that the two attacks were not the real reason his parents were taken. It was just a matter of time until he was placed in a situation where he would have used his skills, and the same thing would have happened. If he had known that his parents would disappear as a result of his actions, he probably would have never taken Leila’s test. The price would have been too high. It was too late to change what had happened, but he could try to make up for it by helping a family that was doomed without his help. He had made a huge impact on Richard’s family. By providing the credits they needed to survive, Richard no longer had to take risks that could cause his family to lose him. With Tag tutoring the children, they began to exhibit much higher performance in school and their test grades were the best in their classes. And by getting treatment for Maggie, he gave the family heart to endure. It had been a good three years.

  There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t think about Danielle. He felt his loss of her was his punishment for what had happened to his parents. He still missed her. He thought he could feel her, even though he felt like he was just fooling himself.

  “Maggie, I’m going out for a while. Call me when Richard gets home.”

  “Sure, Daniel. Don’t go too far.”

  Tag went out, walked across the street, and sat down on a bench. It was a nice neighborhood and he enjoyed watching the children play. Some of them were very good at tag. He wondered if any of them had his gift, then dismissed the thought. The chances were remote. Tag liked sitting on that bench across from the building Richard’s family lived in. It was backed up to a stone wall and had a small hedge of blooming flowers in front of it that had a wonderful fragrance. It reminded him of Danielle and her perfume. He sat and thought about her and how much he missed her. He looked up the street and suddenly saw all the psychic shadows disappearing in a line moving toward him from north of the building. It was like a cloud moving overhead blocking the sun. All the psychic shadows were disappearing as that line moved toward where he was sitting. “Someone’s watching,” Tag’s thought as his inner alarm went off. “They’re not alone.” Tag was sitting in psychic shadows so he knew he had not been seen yet, but that line was moving closer. He got up and moved over behind the bench where there was some shrubbery along the stone wall. He sat down between the shrubbery and the bench against the wall. “Whoever it is, they can’t see me here,” he decided. He then closed his eyes and tried to feel where they were. He determined that two were overhead in a floater and one was moving down the street toward a bench next to the building. “Who are they looking for?” he wondered. Then he saw Richard and his four kids coming home from the park, and they were on the edge of the line where the psychic shadows were disappearing. Suddenly the man on the bench stood up and moved forward as the floater overhead dropped in front of the small group. The man from the bench pulled out a stunner and shot Richard in the chest, and he fell immediately to the ground. The two men from the floater gathered up the four screaming children and took them inside. The man that remained outside placed restraints on Richard and loaded him in the floater. The man totally ignored his surroundings, placing all of his attention on Richard, and Tag thought that he was being careless. Then it dawned on him that the man was probably inviting him to come and try to help his friend. Tag considered going to try to release Richard before the other two came out, but his body would not move. Suddenly, without knowing why, he rolled quickly under the stone bench, and all of the psychic shadows disappeared around him. Tag closed his eyes and then he sensed that there were others overhead scanning the street. After a few minutes the two men came out and talked with the man that shot Richard and then bordered the floater, lifted, and flew away towards downtown with Richard aboard. The man that had stunned Richard stood across the street and was talking into his com as he looked in both directions. Tag could see that there were no shadows around the Wiseman home; the house was being watched electronically.