Pandora's Succession

by Russell Brooks

  There were massive cheers and outstretched arms in the air that went on for several seconds until Hashimoto raised both his arms and held them there until the room became quiet again. Hashimoto was about to continue when Marx stepped up to the rail of the upper deck.

  “The systems are online,” said Marx as she stood at the rail on the upper level.

  Fox looked at Parris, who seemed too choked up to even whisper. She looked through the window to Pandora’s chamber. The cracking sound grew louder and its rich blood-red cloud in the cylinder was reflected in the Op-Center.

  “Pandora’s growth is at 100 percent, now at 150 percent, at 200, 400, 800 percent!” called out one of the white-coats. “It’s ready.”

  “Release Pandora!” yelled Marx.

  The red cloud exploded through the cylinder in a thunderous roar. For about half a minute the cloud shot from Pandora’s Box straight through the tube.

  Dr. Marx watched the monitor, marveling at her creation. When the last of it had passed through the cylinder, the control room lost its red glow.

  Marx walked slowly and stood between Fox and Parris. For the first time, Fox watched her as she became ecstatic. “Watch as Pandora’s succession begins.”

  Fox sweated heavily as he watched the events unfold on the plasma screen. He didn’t bother to wipe off his forehead and he was too distracted to notice the throbbing pain that he felt in his chest, shoulder, and foot.

  “Have you ever seen anything like it? It’s so beautiful.” The redness of the sky became denser for a few moments. Fading spots began to appear. A few moments later they became growing dark patches. The white-coats whispered to each other. “Something’s wrong.” Marx was fixated on the screen as she tried to make sense of what she saw.

  Hashimoto’s mouth hung open as he stared at the plasma screen. “What’s happening? Why’s the color changing?”

  Parris’s jaw dropped as she tried to make sense of everything. She hadn’t succeeded in neutralizing Pandora, this she knew. “Fox, what’s going on? I didn’t do it.”

  “I know you didn’t.” A smile slowly appeared on Fox’s face.

  Marx spun around in such a rage and shoved both Fox and Parris aside as she made her way over to the white-coats. “You said that the contaminant was removed!”

  “It was. There was no trace of it in Pandora’s Box,” said one of the white-coats.

  “Then how do you explain that!” She swung her arm in the direction of the screen, where all traces of red had completely evaporated, leaving a gray sky.

  “I don’t know, Dr. Marx, I-”

  “Shut up!” The other white-coats remained silent as she glared at each of them.

  Fox watched her. She’s lost her cool again.

  “I can tell you what happened.” Fox then looked down to the audience and raised his voice. “This is your justice, only one you didn’t expect.”

  Hashimoto’s eyes widened. “You did this?”

  “No, that’s impossible. He was under our supervision the entire time!” yelled Marx.

  As Fox watched her, he noticed something snap in her, and she immediately turned to Tanaka. “You were the last person with Fox…and that power outage…I don’t recall seeing you until a few moments after the generator came back on.”

  There was silence. Tanaka looked over at Hashimoto, then at Fox, then back at Marx and gave his trademark chuckle. “You’re right. Fox helped me break free from the effects of the Clarity drug, told me what needed to be done and gave me the contaminant. As for the power outage, I was responsible for that, too. It was the only way I could access the ejection cylinder above Pandora’s chamber without being detected.”

  Not another moment passed before Marx pointed her Beretta at Tanaka and fired, striking Tanaka below the left shoulder and flooring him.

  Parris was about to rush to his side but was grabbed by the ninjas who held her in place. Tanaka lay on his back, the bullet appearing to have passed right through him. He still breathed.

  She’s lost her cool again-a third time on top of that. She’s panicking. Fox faced the young recruits. “Hashimoto’s prophecy has come true! Justice has been served and is currently being served as we speak.”

  “You dare to twist my words!” Hashimoto yelled back.

  “You speak of execution and here on the floor is one of your brothers. Who’ll be next, the rest of us?” Fox’s intention to start a small commotion was working when the cultists began talking to each other.

  “You shut up right now.” Marx walked up to him, raised the gun close enough that he stared down its barrel. “I don’t know how you did it, how you undid the effects of Clarity on Tanaka and Parris.”

  As she spoke, she pressed the barrel into the center of his forehead. Fox didn’t show any hint of fear because he knew that’s what she wanted. His life was about to end and he was determined to go out strong.

  “The only thing I’ll do now is what should’ve been done a long time ago,” Marx said.

  He felt the heat of the barrel burning him as he watched Marx in what was her last moment of humiliation and defeat. Any second now she’d pull the trigger, and then do the same to Parris. But instead she did something Fox hadn’t anticipated-she yanked the weapon away. “No, I won’t do this. I’ll let the ninjas do it instead. My gift to both of you-death by the sword.”

  Marx backed away and gave a hand signal. Two of the ninjas stepped aside and the other two jostled Fox and Parris to the top of the stairs at the platform’s edge where they were both forced down on their knees with their backs to the two ninjas. There they both saw their audience. The young people looked confused and scared.

  Fox looked at Parris, and she glanced at him, too. “So it ends here, for both of us.” Behind him, he heard the sound of metal being pulled from its sheath. From the shadows cast in front of them, Fox guessed how high the swords were raised above their heads. A loud noise startled them both-it was an alarm.

  “There’s been a breach,” yelled one of the white-coats.

  “What?” said Marx.

  Fox, although his hands were still tied, threw himself into Parris to knock them both down the stairs. As he hit the bottom of the stairs, a surge of pain shot through his dislocated arm and through his ribs, but that was the least of his concerns. All he wanted to know was if the ninjas were after them. When he looked back, they were all staring at the entrance to the Op-Center. The executioners were no different, and they both lowered their swords simultaneously. Then they ran down the stairs, past Fox and Parris, to join the other ninjas.

  Parris stayed on the ground as she looked over at Fox. “You had this planned all along? Were you ever going to tell me?”

  “I had to improvise.” Fox looked back at her. “I’m just glad that it worked out. The cavalry’s picked up the signal from your phone. Oh yeah, there’s one more thing.”

  “What?”

  “Stay low. This is going to get ugly.”

  Parris’s eyes widened in panic as she looked past Fox. “Look out!”

  Fox turned his head the other way and caught a glimpse of Marx aiming her Beretta at both of them. In a spontaneous reflex, Fox pushed hard with his legs to throw himself on top of Parris. But he was too late-the shot had already been fired. Fox didn’t feel anything hit him, and it horrified him. Parris was already on her back, her eyes shut.

  “Oh, my God! Parris. Parris!” No, this can’t be happening.

  Parris blinked repeatedly before they opened, and she coughed a few times. He stared down into her eyes, his face only inches away from hers.

  “I’m all right. I’m not hit,” she muttered.

  A huge tension unleashed itself all over his body and he rolled off of Parris. It then occurred to him-Dr. Marx was still armed. When he turned around to look at her, she struggled to maintain her balance. Her legs then buckled under her, and she collapsed to the ground. To Fox’s disbelief, he saw Tanaka on one knee, half conscious, struggling to maintain his own balance when the Si
g dropped from his hand. Then he too collapsed.

  Parris crawled over and untied Fox’s hands. The first gas canisters fell around them and burst into smoke. Fox again threw himself on top of Parris. Screams erupted from everywhere, but most frantically from the corner where the cultists were. Gunfire soon followed. Fox cried out desperately to the cultists to get on the floor and to lie still. How many of them heard him he didn’t know.

  Parris crawled over and held onto Fox tightly, burying her head into his chest.

  Chapter 37

  “What are you thinking of now?” Fox turned to Parris, as they sat beside each other in the doorway of one of the four Japanese army helicopters parked beside the Hexagon helicopters.

  “Huh?”

  “You seem deep in thought.”

  “I am…I mean…I was. So much has happened.”

  “True, but at least you still have all your functional body parts.” Fox motioned with his chin, towards his right arm in its sling. He had been given another shirt, that he left unbuttoned, leaving his bandage-wrapped torso exposed.

  Parris looked at his bandages, the sling, and his single crutch. She reached up to his head and brushed down a few strands of his hair to cover the bruise on his forehead. “There. That’s better.”

  Just then, three corpses were wheeled by on stretchers. Fox watched the three military emergency medical technicians as they went by. One of them looked directly at him and nodded, and Fox did the same. It was only after he passed, that Fox had the odd feeling that he had seen him someplace before.

  “I’m going to miss Levickis’s sarcasm,” said Parris.

  “He didn’t die for nothing. It’s hard for me, too. Dobbs was a great guy once you got used to him, and who would’ve thought that Walsh would turn? The things money can do to a person.”

  “People don’t necessarily change…we just get to know them better. Take you, for instance.”

  “What? You didn’t think I was a nice guy before you got to know me?”

  “Well-”

  “Mr. Fox, Dr. Parris,” a man from the Japanese army interrupted them. “I’m Captain Isao Sugisaka of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. It’s an honor to meet both of you.”

  “Same here,” they replied simultaneously.

  “I almost gave up hope that you’d arrive on time,” said Parris.

  “I apologize,” Sugisaka replied. “We were a bit delayed. Tanaka wasn’t the only one in the Boeisho that Marx got to. That slowed down our response time, after Tanaka contacted us with this location. We also received intel from your people who gave us the exact location of your cell phone.”

  Fox looked around him. “Speaking of Hashimoto, I didn’t see him among the captured.”

  “He was one of several who resisted. You probably didn’t see because of the smoke, but he was armed. My men had no choice but to shoot him.” As Sugisaka said this, several more stretchers with black bags were wheeled by. “Fortunately, all of the cult members, and Tanaka, were among the survivors, but none of the ninjas made it. They fought honorably to the very last man.”

  “How’s Tanaka?” Fox asked.

  “I’m quite alive,” came a reply.

  All three of them looked over and saw Tanaka being rolled out on a stretcher. Tanaka raised his left hand slightly as they came in front of the helicopter, and the EMTs stopped rolling him.

  Fox grabbed his crutch and slid out of the helicopter. He limped over and stood beside Tanaka. “It’s good to have you back.”

  “No.” Tanaka shook his head briefly. “ Thank you for bringing me back, or else we wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

  Fox smiled. “True, and no more sake either.”

  Tanaka smiled and was carried away. Captain Sugisaka went with him to one of the Air Self-Defense medical helicopters.

  Parris got out of the helicopter and walked up to Fox. “So, how did you bring Tanaka back?”

  Fox smirked. “The ringtone on your cell. Tanaka was at a Tchaikovsky recital when he got news that his daughter had died. I was hoping to run into him first, so I searched through the ringtones of your phone and set it up to play Tchaikovsky. After he made me walk ahead of him at gunpoint, I reminded him that he had forgotten the Beretta in my ankle holster. What he didn’t expect was for me to hand him your cell phone instead, and I made it ring. Of course, it still took some talk to break him, just as it did you.”

  “He must have been clarified recently,” said Parris. “Or else you would’ve had more trouble bringing him back.”

  Fox reached into his pants pocket and handed Parris her cell phone. “Here you go. Still in one piece.”

  “Thanks.” She took her phone and dropped it in her pants pocket, since she no longer had her belt clip. “Oh yeah, thanks for shielding me back there.”

  “Huh?”

  “You don’t remember? Marx was about to shoot at us and you threw yourself on top of me.”

  “Oh yeah, that. You scared me for a second when you didn’t move. I thought I lost you.”

  “Of course I didn’t move right away-you knocked the wind out of me.”

  “Sorry about that. It was a reflex.”

  “A reflex, eh.” Parris smiled as she focused on Fox’s eyes. “By the way, back at the tea house. The noteworthy composer you spoke of, was it you by any chance?”

  Fox looked away for a moment and then looked back at her. “Perhaps.”

  “I see.” Parris nodded. “And what motivated this mystery person to compose piano music?”

  “I’d say that it was composed for a friend…” Fox smirked, “…a friend who eventually became his partner.”

  Parris crossed her arms and smiled.

  Fox’s attention shifted to the last set of body bags being loaded onto one of the Hexagon helicopters-one that appeared to have suffered the least amount of damage. Several army personnel from the Air Self-Defense Force were present, but he still couldn’t figure out why that one individual stuck out. He knew that he had seen him somewhere.

  The side door closed and the Sikorsky’s rotator blades started. With the aid of his crutch, Fox limped a bit closer to the helicopter as others scurried the opposite way to save themselves from the dust cloud that would begin shortly. He stopped when he was close enough to see the pilot and his co-pilot. There he was, the same man he had recognized earlier-and his co-pilot looked familiar, too.

  As the dust cloud grew under the spinning propellers, Fox shielded his eyes with his good arm, but still remained fixated on the helicopter as it rose in the air, hovered overhead, and lifted away. Fox kept watch on it just as he saw it disappear over the hills. Then it came to him, and the more Fox thought about it, the more stupid he felt.

  “Damn it!” Fox yelled. He couldn’t run, but managed to move very quickly by leaping forward on his crutch. “Sugisaka…Parris, someone answer me!”

  Parris was the first to cross his path and ran up to him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Everything! How could I be so stupid? I knew I recognized them and I still let them slip right past me.”

  “What do you mean? Let who slip past you?” Parris grabbed his left arm, and a worried look grew on her face.

  “The data you stole had pictures of all the Clarified individuals. Two of the EMTs that passed us with stretchers, were among them.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m pretty damn sure.”

  Just then, Sugisaka ran up to them. “You wanted to see me, Fox?”

  Fox turned to him. “The last Hexagon helicopter that took off-you need to alert Air Self-Defense to scramble some jets to intercept it.”

  Sugisaka’s eyes suddenly widened as though he were surprised. “Scramble jets? But-”

  “I’ll explain later. Just do it!”

  Sugisaka got on his satellite phone, hit a few buttons, and barked out orders in Japanese. Fox limped away, paused, and threw the crutch on the ground.

  Parris caught up to him. “Fox, what do you think happened?”


  “She slipped right past us. I can’t believe it.”

  “She? Who? Do you mean Dr. Marx? Fox, Tanaka shot her. We both saw that.”

  “All we saw was her falling to the ground. Her wound might not have been fatal, she could’ve survived.”

  Sugisaka came back to them, still holding onto his satellite phone.

  “Two jets have been scrambled to intercept. Now, can I know why I had to put in that request?”

  “Did you actually see Hashimoto’s body? How bad were his wounds?”

  Sugisaka looked at him, perplexed. “I saw his body. If you really need to know, he’s dead. His chest was riddled with gunshot wounds.”

  “What about Marx?”

  Sugisaka was silent for a moment, as though thinking. “I didn’t see her. The EMTs told me she died from a gunshot wound.”

  Fox turned to Parris. “Any guesses who those EMTs might have been?”

  Parris didn’t answer-she just gave him a look of understanding.

  At that moment, Sugisaka’s satellite phone rang, and he answered it. He spoke for a bit and then turned it off.

  “Any news?” Fox asked.

  “The helicopter disappeared from radar. Another search has been initiated, this time focusing on the possibility that it crash landed in the sea.”

  “Crash landed? Oh come on. You’re talking about two intelligence agents helping a fugitive escape!”

  “Fox.” Parris grabbed his left hand.

  He looked down into her calming eyes.

  “There’s nothing more you can do for the time being,” she said. “I wish there was more I could do right now, but there isn’t.”

  “Parris, she planned this. She prepared for this contingency.”

  “Would you rather get in a helicopter, fly out on your own and search every bit of the Sea of Japan until you run out of fuel? It’s out of our hands right now.”