The Hidden Gift

by Ian Somers

  ‘What are they going to do? Kick me out of the club? They need me now more than ever.’

  ‘They can have you working on the worst investigations imaginable if you alienate yourself further. Remember the suicide missions they used to send you and Romand on? They only did it because the two of you constantly bickered with them.’

  ‘All right, all right. How about that cup of coffee?’

  ‘I’m not the butler here, Hunter. Get it yourself!’

  Hunter pushed himself off the couch with a groan and sauntered out into the hallway. Mr Williams took Hunter’s seat when he left and focused his studious gaze on me.

  ‘I can see by your face that you’ve found these last few months very arduous.’

  ‘That’s one way to describe living with Hunter. He’s a very difficult man, you know.’

  ‘There’s a warm heart under that prickly exterior,’ he smiled. ‘I am glad to see you, Ross. I want you to know we took no joy in exiling you to the wilderness. We did it for your own safety.’

  ‘I understand that. But I don’t want to go back there, Mr Williams. I’ve spent too much of my life hiding and I don’t want to do it anymore.’

  ‘I’ll accompany Hunter to the Council tomorrow. I will speak with them about your situation and ask if you can remain here for the time being.’

  ‘Thanks, Mr Williams.’

  We went to the kitchen to find Hunter raiding the fridge. I was famished and started stuffing my face. Mr Williams made a pot of tea and then the three of us went to sit on the benches outside on the patio overlooking the grounds. The mighty oak that stood over Romand’s grave was a couple of hundred yards down the sloping lawn and they had a wooden bench next to it. Cathy was sitting there watching Sarah running around chasing, then being chased by, a Jack Russell puppy.

  It was almost like I had returned to the summer at the Atkinson house. There was a feeling of normality in simply watching the two of them in the shade of the old oak. It had been so long since I’d seen people smiling and a child playing innocently. Finally there were no monsters lurking around the corner. No back-breaking chores. No depressing silence. I’d spent far too long in isolation. I made up my mind right then and there that I would refuse to go back to the cottage with Hunter. No matter what the Council decided. Hunter’s place wasn’t good for my soul. He was well able for the solitude, but I was different.

  ‘How is Cathy’s mum?’ I said to Mr Williams. ‘I heard she moved to France for a few months, with your wife.’

  ‘June is steadily improving, but not quite back to her old self just yet. I’m confident she will make a full recovery in time. Romand’s death, along with the destruction of her home, was too much for her mind to deal with. There was a breakdown. Slowly I have helped her to rebuild and to recover. My holiday home in France is a very peaceful place and it should be the perfect environment for her.’

  ‘And Cathy? How has she been?’

  ‘Cathy is as strong as any person I have ever encountered. You don’t need to worry about her.’

  ‘I wonder if the kid really does have a true gift,’ I said as I watched Sarah running around after the puppy.

  ‘We’ll know soon enough,’ Mr Williams replied. ‘I have a lot of experience with prophets and I know how to weed out the fakes.’

  ‘I hope she isn’t genuine.’

  ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘Because she said something rather disturbing on the way here.’

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘She said there was a dark shadow spreading across the world.’

  Peter Williams said nothing, but looked deeply troubled.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The Tin Man

  Mr Williams started preparing dinner and soon after that Hunter grumbled that he didn’t want any fancy food and went upstairs to get some much-needed sleep. Cathy and I stayed out back and kept an eye on Sarah, who was already very attached to the puppy, that she’d christened ‘Hopper’ on account of his ability to hop off the ground without ever getting tired. Cathy and I chatted very much like we had that summer, as if everything was right with the world. Everything had changed though, that much was obvious in her eyes. She had become a killer, just like I had, and there was no way of recapturing the innocence we once had. It still felt like heaven being close to her. I had missed that long red hair, the freckles on her nose, her emerald eyes, her smile, the way she laughed, the way she talked, the way she liked to hold my hand. It wasn’t difficult to miss perfection.

  ‘Still thinking about what happened?’ she asked after a moment of silence between us.

  ‘Hard not to,’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘Still can’t believe I killed her.’

  ‘Did you mean to do it?’

  ‘No. I lost control and my powers increase tenfold when that happens. I worry what might happen if I ever lost my cool when people I care for are in the way.’

  ‘We all lose our temper, Ross, and according to Hunter she was preparing to kill you and the others! Look,’ she nodded at Sarah running across the lawn with Hopper right behind her, ‘she’s here and safe because of what you did. Ania chose her own path. She didn’t have to chase you into that street. She didn’t have to try and kill you. You did the only thing you could.’

  ‘I’ve come to terms with that. But it’s just that she was so young …’

  ‘I know what you mean.’

  ‘How do you feel about what you did to Edward Zalech?’

  ‘It makes me feel sick that he forced me to kill him. I realise his actions led to it, not mine.’ She moved close and rested her cheek on my shoulder. ‘I’m just glad that he’s gone and I hope we won’t have to deal with people like him and Marianne again for a long time.’

  ‘Me too.’ I kissed her forehead and wrapped my arm over her shoulder. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we would soon be up against another psychotic killer. The world of the gifted seemed littered with them. It was only a matter of time before the next one emerged from obscurity.

  ‘I don’t think this is the life for me, Ross. I’m not a killer. I don’t ever want to take another life again.’

  ‘I know, Cathy. Hopefully they won’t send us out to fight again for a long time.’

  ‘I hope not.’

  I watched Sarah playing with the puppy and she looked like any normal kid, but there was something sinister lurking in her mind. Although the others were uncertain of her gift, I was sure she had caught a glimpse of the future, and according to her it was very, very dark. I didn’t really want to know what she’d seen. I didn’t want the others to know either. That would mean we would have to deal with it.

  At 7pm we were called inside and sat at the long and rather formal-looking dinner table. It was a contrast to what I’d gotten used to while living with Hunter and I felt a little awkward in such fine surroundings. There wasn’t much said over dinner, and there was absolutely no talk of Guild business. I think we were all glad to have some time away from it.

  Hunter still hadn’t appeared as we were cleaning up. I was hoping Sarah and Mr Williams would go away so I could spend some time alone with Cathy, but Sarah had grown quite attached to her and followed her wherever she went. It seemed like we were in for a night of babysitting until Mr Williams suggested that the three of us go with him to his private animal sanctuary which was only a twenty-minute drive away. Cathy, an animal lover, jumped at the chance, and Sarah seemed excited by it too. I wasn’t all that crazy about animals, but I needed a distraction so I went along with them.

  Mr Williams took us there in one of his cars, a Mercedes, that he described as ‘vintage’, but it was just an old banger to my eyes. It was a short trip, thankfully, and he parked in one of three spots outside a property surrounded with tall fences. We passed through the entrance and a security guard gave Mr Williams the keys to get into the main area.

  We went strolling around the pathways as the flood lights powered up for the night. I’d been expecting it to be like a zoo, however there wer
en’t too many enclosures and I didn’t see any animals in them either, which made the visit seem a bit pointless to me.

  ‘Where are all the animals?’ I wondered. ‘Are they light-tuners?’

  ‘Very funny,’ Mr Williams replied. ‘Most are watching you as if you were a giant, walking hotdog.’

  ‘Yeah, right.’

  He whistled as we neared one of the plexiglass barriers and within a flash there were three grey wolves only yards away sniffing at the air and staring back at us.

  ‘Where the hell do you get these from? Aren’t there laws banning them?’

  ‘There are, but many wealthy and bored people flout these laws and when the animals reach maturity they realise it’s too dangerous to keep them and they disregard them. Most end up in zoos, but some come my way and I am glad to look after them.’

  ‘And then they come under my control,’ Cathy laughed wickedly. ‘I spend endless hours here. My control over my gift has doubled in the last three months. You should see the tricks I can do with the spiders!’

  ‘I like spiders,’ Sarah said. I got the feeling she didn’t and just said to impress Cathy.

  ‘Come on,’ Cathy said taking her hand. Obviously dying to show off her new skills to an eager audience.

  Peter and I continued along the path and we caught glimpses of a number of his exotic animals. There were hyenas, vultures, black bears, lions, jaguars, and I even spotted the familiar feathered pattern of the Steller’s sea eagle that had delivered Cathy’s letter to me while I was in Scotland.

  ‘You know, I was about your age when I joined the Guild,’ Mr Williams said, as we admired the eagle. ‘It was way back in 1957 and it remains crystal clear in my mind – for many reasons.’

  ‘Damn, that’s a long time ago. I’m surprised you can remember anything about it.’

  ‘I remember it like it was only yesterday. I joined the Guild in March of that year, I met my lovely wife, Maria, in June of that year, and I went on my first official duty in December of that year. I also killed for the first time in December 1957.’

  ‘Sounds like a familiar story.’

  ‘Yes. The similarities between my youth and yours have not been lost on me. I know of the remorse – the shame even – in taking a human life. Particularly the first human life you take. I tormented myself for many months after it happened until in the summer of 1958 I saw what happens when you hesitate in a life or death situation. That took away a lot of the remorse.’

  ‘This a pep talk?’

  ‘No. Just talk.’

  ‘Who was the first person you killed?’

  ‘I don’t know his name, and never will. He was a young man – similar age to myself – but he was on the enemy’s side.’

  ‘Which enemy? There seems to be many.’

  ‘They were based in Czechoslovakia at that time but were founded in Germany before the Second World War. They were known as ‘Gotteskrieger’ – roughly translated as ‘The Warriors of God’. But they were not doing the work of God. Far from it. They had infiltrated the Nazi party during their rise to power in the late 1930s and had worked their way into various positions of influence. They had an even more warped view than most Nazis: they felt that all humans were inferior to them, and that after the war, if Germany had won, they could seize control of the third Reich and then dictate to the world of the non-gifted.

  ‘They vanished after Germany lost the war, only to appear yet again in 1952 in Czechoslovakia under the guise of the Bojovnici Lidi – Czech for ‘The Warriors of the People’. The plan was a similar one: they would infiltrate communism, rise through the ranks and then in an unstable moment they would seize control. They never got that far, as their plot was uncovered in 1955 by the Statni Bezpecnost and they were chased out of Eastern Europe altogether. The Guild was aware of them for a long time. However they posed no threat to us until in the late 1950s when some of their operatives arrived in London. I was one of the younger agents in the Guild and I took part in the quest to hunt them down.

  ‘We’d gotten a tip-off that one of them was renting a flat in Tottenham and I was sent with my mentor, Kevin Watts, to remove him. I was to wait at the back of the block of flats in case the man made a run for it. He did. And I panicked and killed him as he tried to get past me. Panic is often a gifted person’s worst enemy. Later I learned that hesitation is even worse. I had to be sent away from London after what had happened. I spent six months in Devon with some Guild retirees as I struggled to come to terms with what I had done. When I was back to my normal self I was drafted back into the fight and on my first outing we came up against Lucas Skala, who was the last, and most desperate, member of the Gotteskrieger.

  ‘I was part of a four-man team – that’s what we called it but we were actually two men and two women – and we tracked Skala down to the docks. A colleague of mine, Stephen Kenny, had Skala cornered, but hesitated and was killed, as was one of our female colleagues, and seven civilians. I found Skala two days later and assassinated him. It could not bring back my colleagues. I’d learned the hard way how destructive hesitation can be.’

  ‘I won’t hesitate if I find myself in a scenario like that, Mr Williams. I’m not comfortable with killing, and I’m deeply sorry for taking the life of that girl, but if someone like Marianne or Zalech were to cross my path in the future I would not hesitate, not for an instant. I know they have to be stopped. And I know it’s my job to do it.’

  ‘You are a wiser man than I was at your age,’ he gave me a pat of approval on the shoulder. ‘I do hope you will have time to reflect on the matters in the north-east before the Council allows you into a situation like that again. I also hope you will welcome the time to be an ordinary person again, and not throw yourself into one conflict after another, in the way that Hunter has done. I won’t like it if you become as cold and solitary as him.’

  ‘I can’t be solitary. I love Cathy too much for that.’

  ‘And she feels the same, I’m sure. You’re all she ever talks about.’

  ‘Can’t blame her really,’ I joked. ‘I am pretty awesome.’

  ‘Cocky too!’ He smiled.

  ‘I’m modest really.’

  ‘Your powers, though, are not. How have you been dealing with them? Have you noticed increased control or levels in the effectiveness of your gifts?’

  ‘I had more control until I killed Ania Zalech. They certainly are more effective and they seem to be increasing all the time. I’ve also learned about other gifts from Hunter.’

  ‘You need to learn more about them. I will give you some books that should help you. It will also help to take your mind off more sombre matters.’

  ‘Are you talking about Romand’s paper that I brought to your house after he died?’

  ‘No. I have an old book that was written by a talented psychokinetic who had mastered all the known techniques in combat, and also invented a few of his own. You’ll find it invaluable.’

  ‘I’ll look forward to it, I learned loads from the Ala Qush writings Romand gave me before,’ I said. ‘Mr Williams, can I ask a favour of you?’

  ‘Of course you can.’

  ‘When you visit the Council tomorrow, tell them that I didn’t set out to kill Ania Zalech. I want them to know that I’m not a maniac who can’t control himself. I want them to realise that I’m not another Edward Zalech.’

  ‘There’s no need for me to convince them of your sanity or motives, Ross. They have very high hopes for you.’

  ‘They do?’

  ‘Ross, I and those on the Council have precious few years left. And many of the active agents like Hunter and Ballentine have spent too much of their lives isolated or traversing the world in search of enemies. Hunter can barely use a mobile phone and Ballentine is not much better. They tend to act like cavemen at times. The Guild must have a secure future, and it needs bright young people like you and Cathy to take over so that it can keep up with the advances that society is making. Our enemies are innovative and evolve wit
h the world around them. The Guild must do the same in order to survive. The Guild needs a future. Many of us believe that you are an important part of that future. We are passing through a violent time right now. It’s not always this way. It’s only in the more peaceful times that the real spirit of the Guild comes to life.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Right now we must appear to a youngster like you to be a horde of gifted soldiers who bounce from one conflict to another. That is not what the Guild is intended to be. Our community is about knowledge and understanding. It is about preparation, too … one day the gifted will have to reveal themselves to the wider world. We must take a natural place in society – not as rulers or killers or thieves. One day we should become a foundation for mankind to better itself. That is the goal of the Guild of the True.’

  In that moment Mr Williams convinced me that my future was with the Guild. I believed the Guild could achieve its ultimate goal and I wanted to be a part of that achievement.

  We strolled around for almost an hour and he told me some of his old war stories before we reunited with Cathy and Sarah. The young girl was now full of chatter about dancing spiders. The excitement seemed to wear her out and she was fast asleep by the time Mr Williams got the ‘classic’ car to start.

  Before we reached the house, Sarah began to shudder like she was freezing and she was mumbling. Her fists clenched so hard her knuckles cracked and she began thrashing about.

  ‘Is she having a fit or something?’ I’d never seen anything quite like it before and was starting to think she was having a stroke or a heart attack or something. ‘Maybe we should get her to a hospital.’

  ‘No,’ Mr Williams said. He was surprisingly calm considering the racket the girl was creating. ‘She is having a premonition by the looks of it. I’ve dealt with prophets before and it’s always like this when a vision comes to them. The prophecies reach their minds while they sleep. She’ll wake any moment now.’