The Good Fight 4: Homefront

by Ian Thomas Healy

  Coop’s first call was to Rick. His second was to Isobel. It hurt to break a date with his new girl, but he knew he had bigger problems to solve. He made an excuse about one of his many odd jobs coming up, a white lie he wasn’t sure she quite believed. But she agreed to miss the date when he promised to make it up to her on Saturday night. It was rare for the two of them to have any kind of weekend together, so he hoped it would come without any suspicion.

  Of course, he probably lied about that as well. If he knew anything about his life, it was that something would always come up. He drew bad business to himself like a magnet, no matter how many times he tried to take it easy.

  As he hung up the phone with Isobel, Rick and his team already arrived. After he pulled a stack of hundreds out of his emergency fund and put it in Rick’s hand they made their way to the dock. He could at least count that one problem was solved.

  He turned his attention to Divina. “Sounds like you and I have a lot to talk about.”

  She turned away from him and walked from the kitchen into the living room. She dropped down on his love seat next to a duffel bag he didn’t recognize.

  “You’ve been in here already,” he said.

  “I certainly wasn’t going to wait out on the beach. My light-skinned ass would burn up.”

  “How? I have a set-up—an alarm.”

  “You mean you used your special abilities to lay a psychometric or two inside the house. Anyone that touched it or walked by it would set it off. I’ve got a few tricks of my own, Dad. I nulled the door handle out front and the one at your dinner table.”

  “It’s not possible. If you’re my kid, you could inherit what I’ve got. But there’s no one to teach you how to use them that way. Stargate closed decades ago. Grigori’s gone. The Russian program fell apart with the country. And the Chinese—”

  “—murdered millions to find some sort of super-man, and failed.”

  “Where did you learn all of this?”

  “I’m mostly self-taught though I’ve met a few others over the years that gave me a bit of the history. Mom knew what you could do as she started testing me when I was four. It all developed naturally from there. I maybe don’t have all the nuances that you did, but she seemed to think I was more powerful than you ever were.”

  “Your mom? Olee?”

  Divina smirked. “Her name was Melody Blanchard. Olee is just something she called herself as a rebellious teenager. But I guess I should be glad you remember her at all. She’s not just one of a million forgotten conquests.”

  Olee entered his life at a strange time, just as the elements of his old life before Flight 305 started to creep back into his world. She was a gorgeous woman, though she never quite believed it. Vitiligo left her skin a patchwork of white and brown, but it never took away from her beauty.

  Unfortunately, they met as a psychic marauder nearly killed them both. The relationship in the aftermath was fiery and passionate. But the attraction wore off almost as fast as the adrenaline of survival. After two and a half weeks, Olee packed her bags and flew back off to her home in Atlanta.

  He never heard from her again. He would have thought “hey, we had a kid” might be something worth a mention, but apparently not.

  “She never called. Never wrote. If she was pregnant, she could have told me. I could have helped—”

  “Why? You’re a loser with no steady job, no future and that almost got her killed by a psycho. Why would she want that? No, she settled down and had me. Raised me in Atlanta and taught me to hide my abilities.”

  Coop ran his hand through what was left of his hair. Divina wanted to push his buttons. He couldn’t really blame her. He doubted she wanted anything to do with him. She probably wouldn’t be here if not for the three men looking for her.

  “That’s fine. I’m glad Olee—Melody—raised you right. But how did you get in with the Yakuza? Why do they want you?”

  “Did you listen to your parents all the time? Or did you get a little rebellious?”

  Coop didn’t like to think about his younger days. “I get your point.”

  “I hung with a few kids on the street. When I got to know them, I told them what I could do. It helped us score some pot now and then. I was wild and free and all that. It all went downhill when I hooked up with Kendrick.”

  “You’ve been my daughter for thirty minutes now. I already watched you kill a man. Now you’re going to spill on your ex-lover. I’m not sure this is how these things are supposed to work.”

  She ignored his attempt at humor. “Kenny and I dated. But he also helped pull all of us into a wannabe gang called the Tombstones. Only I didn’t know his gang was on the outs with the Yakuza.”

  “They can be a bunch of tattooed bastards, but they have a code. What did this Kenny do to piss them off?”

  Divina shrugged. “I never got the full story. But he tried to sell me to those bastards. Seemed if he could get them a real-life psychic, they would clear his debt. He asked me to do it and I said no. So the son of a bitch drugged me. I woke up in the back of an Escalade. But the idiots didn’t gag me, so I convinced them to untie me and let me go.”

  Coop nodded his approval.

  “But the car I was in was being watched by another one. I barely got away. I’ve been running ever since. Sneaking in and out of gas stations and truck stops, hitching rides with anyone alone and easy to dupe.”

  “What brought you here?”

  “Mom always said if I got into any trouble, I should see you.”

  “So you’re here. I guess it says a lot about my life that I don’t meet my own kid until she needs bailed out of a bad situation.”

  “Sorry it couldn’t be under brighter circumstances.” The venom was apparent in her voice.

  “No, this is about right for my life.”

  “I don’t know what to do, Dad. These Yakuza guys don’t know when to stop. Every time I think they gave up, they appear. It feels like I see them everywhere I go.”

  “The Yakuza keep quiet down here, but they’re everywhere. I can’t change that. But maybe I can work out some kind of deal. I know the boss in this neck of the woods, Mister Okamoto.”

  “A deal? How?”

  “I’ve helped Okamoto out before. He owes me a favor or two. Let’s just hope that’s enough to get you free.”

  Coop didn’t know what to do as she sprang from her seat and wrapped her arms around him. But he quickly recovered from his shock and hugged her back. He only hoped he wouldn’t soon walk them both to their deaths.

  * * *

  Finding a restaurant in Key West was never a problem, but Okamoto chose a strange little dive on the north of the island. A long way from restaurant row, it attracted a lot fewer tourists. At ten in the morning, the place wasn’t even open yet.

  Coop and Divina found the door open and walked inside to meet the maître d’. He ushered them to a table in the back corner of the restaurant, not far from the kitchen. It was set for three, but Coop saw no sign of Okamoto.

  He took a seat and scanned the room. Coop knew why Okamoto liked the place. It offered open sight lines throughout the restaurant. From here, he could survey the scene out front. But he could also see into the kitchen and straight out the back door. No one could sneak up on them—or Okamoto—here.

  The front door dinged. Coop looked up to see the short rotund form of Mister Okamoto. He wore an oversized Hawaiian shirt and a pair of dress slacks. His two bodyguards looked much like the thugs he saw the previous night, but they left their suit coats elsewhere. He guessed they kept their heaters in a pocket or ankle holster.

  One guard stayed by the door while the other escorted Okamoto to the table. The aging Yakuza don took the seat by the wall, his eyes darting towards outside.

  “Why so jumpy, Mister Okamoto?”

  “Konnichiwa, Coop. You have not called on me under the best of circumstances. But I am here. You need a favor and this is something I can do for such a loyal ally.”

  “I�
��m not that loyal. You just pay well.”

  Okamoto smiled, revealing a row of gold fronts on his teeth. “That I do. But you have never worked for my enemies.”

  “You and I have rarely found ourselves at odds. And I respect your sense of honor.”

  “And I yours. What can I do for you, Coop?”

  “Someone in your Atlanta branch learned of my daughter. Much like me, she has special skills.” Okamoto nodded. He knew of Coop’s abilities though they never spoke of them. “Her ex apparently tried to sell her to someone in the branch. She got away. They came after her and that’s brought her—and them—to me. I had to fight for my life last night.”

  “I am sorry to hear this. But I don’t how this is true. These men would have needed to inform me upon their arrival and told me their plan.”

  “Maybe they came without your knowledge.”

  “Come on, Coop. Nothing happens here without my knowledge. The Yakuza out west have reinforced my own crew, but they are here to hunt the assassin.”

  “Assassin? What’s going on, Oh?”

  “It’s the damn Cubans. They want us out and that means they want me dead. But I have top men from California assigned to hunt this killer. You can see I’ve picked up some protection as well.”

  “How many men did they send?”

  “Three. Talented gentlemen, but they didn’t know how to dress for Florida weather. They—”

  Coop’s attention turned from Okamoto to Divina. It felt like a lead weight appeared in his gut as she gave him a lopsided grin. Coop moved to stand and stop her, but she moved faster than he thought possible.

  Her body was little more than a blur as she threw out her hand and drove her fingers into Okamoto’s windpipe. Coop only caught sight of the end of the motion as she pulled her bloody hand away from the hole in the throat of the Yakuza boss.

  Okamoto’s eyes grew wide as blood poured from the wound. A moment later, he slumped forward onto the table.

  Coop reached his feet as Divina pulled the clips that held her hair back free. Her body blurred again as she threw them away from her. He realized they were headed towards each of the bodyguards.

  She caught the closer one in the throat, much like his boss. Her aim wasn’t as true towards the man at the door. The blade caught him in the eye instead.

  “Divina—”

  She showed no sign of hearing him. She ran across the room towards the injured bodyguard. Despite his obvious pain, the Yakuza pulled a gun from his pocket. He brought it up to fire even through his blood blurred vision.

  Her body sped up for another second. She hit him with a high-speed kick that shattered his gun hand and his shot wildly towards the back of the room. Her arm wrapped around the thug’s throat as she flipped up and over him. The bodyguard’s head twisted unnaturally as Divina snapped multiple bones in his neck and spine.

  A sharp gasp came from the maître d’ as he stood in the kitchen. Divina reached down and picked up the Yakuza’s gun. Two shots later, the maître d’ would be saying nothing else.

  Divina rose to her feet and dusted herself off as though she hadn’t just killed four men in the space of a minute. She met Coop’s eyes.

  “Why?”

  “It was a job, Dad. And it paid handsomely. No one ever gets close to Okamoto and a very rich man wanted him very dead.”

  “Are you even my daughter? Or did you invent that story just to get in the room with Okamoto?”

  “Come on, old man. You would have known if I’d told an outright lie. But don’t play this holier than thou act. You’ve killed your fair share. For pay even.” She laughed. “You were Mom’s big mistake. But I’ve never complained. The powers sure are worth it.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

  “The docs back home called it biokinesis. I can speed up my muscles for about a second by sheer force of will. Handy when you need to make someone dead quickly.”

  “Home? What do you mean? Stargate?”

  “I told you already, Dad. They call themselves the Tombstones. There’s an entire group of us. Stargate is long dead. But private enterprise stepped in where the old guard failed. We’re not just experimental CIA assassins. We’re the best in the world now. Maybe you’ve been out here hiding a bit too long.”

  “No, that couldn’t be true. I would know. Someone would have told me—”

  “Your heightened sense of self-importance is showing, Dad.”

  “Why would Olee agree to any of this?”

  “You still don’t get it, do you? Olee worked for the Tombstones even then. They wanted your genetic blueprint. She and her friends were supposed to all jump your bones together and make sure they got knocked up. Only things got messier. Now are we getting out of here or are you waiting for the police to come here and arrest you?”

  “We’re not going anywhere. I’m going to put my boot up your ass. I only wished I’d been there to do it years ago.”

  “You don’t want to fight me, old man.”

  He could feel her push into his brain. Her powers were strong and a weaker man wouldn’t have resisted her nudge. But he had forty years of defenses against psychic attacks. She wouldn’t break him that easy.

  He met her eyes. “You want to slow down and give me a chance.”

  “I want to—” She growled as she realized his play. She came at him, but she didn’t move as fast as she did against Okamoto and his men. Even knowing about the nudge hadn’t been enough for her to overcome it.

  She still moved fast though. Divina was on him in seconds, but as he blocked a strike he knew he’d fought better. Whoever these Tombstones were, they taught her to depend far too much on her abilities. He blocked a kick and drove his fist hard into her gut.

  She gasped in pain. He let her hurt slow his own attack though and she used his brief pause to drive both of her hands into his solar plexus. Then she was gone.

  A second later, she hit him in the back with a hard kick. He stumbled forward and away. He turned to face her. She leaped from foot to foot, her hands raised for another attack.

  “I’m not really into patricide, old man. Give up before I get rough.”

  “Why don’t you? Whatever these Tombstones told you, it’s a lie.”

  “They don’t have to tell me anything. They just have to pay me well.” Divina shot forward and struck him in the gut with a stiff front kick. “Sure as a heck a lot more than a paltry 200k.”

  He thought about the hijacking and his very public departure from Stargate. He wondered if his own sense of mortality would have broken this much if he hadn’t run all those years ago.

  “I’m going to have to talk to Olee. Clearly she never taught you to not bite off more than you can chew.”

  “My mother is dead, old man. I should know. I killed her myself.”

  Divina launched herself towards him again. Her elbow caught his chin, but he reached out and blindly caught her arm just beneath the shoulder. Even as he staggered, he turned to lock his own arm around hers. She tried to pull free but he held her fast.

  Her knee flashed towards his groin, but he expected the move. His leg turned to block her. He drove his free arm into the side of her chin. She slumped towards him and he dropped the control on her arm to wrap his arms around her neck.

  “Come on, old man! You got me. Do it. Kill your own daughter. I deserve it. Come on. Do it!”

  They both knew he couldn’t, even as he felt her attempt to nudge him into her own death. She might be an amoral monster, but she was still his child. He saw his face in her growling sneer.

  “You really are a sentimental fool, old man.”

  “And you’re someone I can’t let hurt anyone else.”

  He squeezed her throat tighter, but his focus was on her mind. Her defenses were strong, but he had manipulated minds for decades even before he met her mother. The walls shattered as he forced a deeper connection than he ever made with anyone’s mind before.

  “You think you can stop me, old ma
n?” Her voice seemed to echo in his own skull as their minds intertwined.

  “I can’t stop you, but I can end this path of destruction you’re on.”

  “You’re nothing! Nothing!”

  Coop reached deep into the paths that connected their brains. He felt the synapses fire inside her head. He could feel the pure malice directed at him. From here, he could reach and learn anything he wanted about her. But he didn’t have time for nuances. He never would.

  “Forget.”

  With a normal nudge, she might have resisted. But connected as he was to her, the defenses of her mind were broken. She couldn’t stop it. She couldn’t slow it. Her mind was his to manipulate and control as he saw fit. She fought, but it was already too late.

  “Wait, no—”

  The malice vanished as her mind went suddenly blank. He wasn’t sure if they disappeared into some mystical ether or locked themselves away in some deep hole of her subconscious never to return. But suddenly he was connected to a blank slate.”

  He released her mind and the arms around her neck. She crumpled into him. He helped her to her feet as she clutched her arms against her body and shivered.

  Coop heard the police sirens down the street. He ushered her out the back of the restaurant. She followed him without argument, though she still held herself and shivered as they walked.

  He stopped them as they reached a beach, still not yet fully heated by the daytime sun. He sat her down next to him and crumpled to the sand next to her.

  He was exhausted. Never before had he pushed his abilities to such limits.

  If only there had been another way . . .

  Coop wasn’t sure how long they both sat there. But after a time, she looked at him.

  “I don’t know what’s going on. Where am I? Who am I?”

  He reached up and stroked her cheek. “You don’t have to be frightened. Your name is Divina. Divina Barnes. And I’m your father, Coop.”

  “Dad, did something happen?”

  “I can’t remember—”

  He reached out and put his arm around her. “Shh. You had an accident, but it’ll be okay now. I’ve got you and I promise, I’ll never let anything bad happen to you again.”