Alecto released her hold, her hands hovering in the air on either side of his head. She was still and quiet, as if frozen into place.
Croft’s head lolled to the side. His eyes were open but his body was still.
Jack felt his neck. “He’s still alive. But I’m not sure what you’ll be able to get out of him. He’s non-responsive. I think she short-circuited his brain.”
Anna’s voice was full of rage. “Alecto, why didn’t you stop when I told you? There were questions I needed him to answer. Not only about the anti-viral and Dr. Montoya’s stolen research, but about his plan and…And about my mother.”
Alecto wobbled on her feet and looked near to passing out. Jack helped her back to the couch to sit. He yanked the pack from his back, found a water bottle and handed it to her.
Her hand trembled as she drunk deeply. Once the bottle was drained, she said, “I know the location of the anti-viral.”
Anna’s hands were on her hips. She loomed over Alecto, her eyes two large, dark pools. “That’s something, but it’s not enough. I needed time with him. You ruined any chance I’ll ever have to know exactly what happened.”
Jack gently placed his hands on Anna’s shoulders and turned her to him. She turned her angry glare on him but he didn’t shrink away from her. “Back off, Anna. She did the best she could. I know you want answers, but remember the primary reason we came down here. Remember the people who need that anti-viral.”
The storm in her eyes blew away. A fresh fountain of tears welled in her eyes and she let out a ragged breath. “You’re right.”
Jack wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb and pulled her to him. “It will be okay. I’ve got you.”
She shivered beneath his arms. Long sobs wracked her body.
Alecto’s voice was hoarse. “I know answers to your questions,” she croaked. “I could not trust him to speak the truth. I had to go deeply into his mind. To bypass lies so large he believed them. You see why I had to do it, don’t you? He would have lied. But I found the truth buried inside him.”
Anna unpeeled herself from Jack’s embrace. “I’m sorry. I should not have snapped at you like that.”
“Human emotions are volatile. I am accustomed to humans acting in irrational ways.” Her voice held no bitterness or rancor.
“What did you learn about my mother?”
Alecto rose from the couch in a swift, effortless motion. “Your mother is indeed dead.”
Anna’s hand flew to her mouth as she gasped.
Jack put an arm around her shoulders and drew her into him.
Anna’s voice cracked as she spoke. “So what he said earlier was true. But I can’t believe she took her own life. Did he kill her?”
Alecto glanced at Croft, still slumped in the chair like a sack of flour. His eyes were open but he stared blankly. “No, he did not.” Alecto dispassionately recounted Croft’s memories. “They had been talking about your father. About how they both missed him. Croft apologized. He had not ordered Lizzy to do that. He referred to Robert Sturgis as his oldest friend.”
“That seems hard to believe, seeing as how his goons at the penthouse were pretty intent on killing your dad,” Jack said.
Anna nodded.
Alecto continued. “Croft promised your mother that he would take care of you, Anna. And Thomas. He turned from her for a moment and when he turned back, she drank her tea. He noticed a small empty vial on the table next to her cup. He watched her die.”
“He made her drink poison? So he did kill her.” Anna pulled the gun from her holster and aimed at Croft. “Vegetable or no, I’m –”
“He was surprised. He had no knowledge of the poison she had hidden. He cried. He loved her.”
Anna’s quaking arms slowly lowered. “I didn’t think this monster could love anyone.” She put her gun back in the holster and rubbed at her temples. “None of this makes sense. Why would she kill herself?”
“She told Croft that she wanted to join Robert.”
Anna fell onto the couch. “Tell me everything. From beginning to end of their last meeting.”
Alecto recounted the encounter as if describing a live action play. She described body language, recalled dialogue and Croft’s emotions. It would have been more entertaining if Alecto had not told it as if reading the stock market report. But Jack was glad Anna had the truth now. Any missing pieces of the story of her mother’s death would have haunted her for the rest of her life.
Anna knelt at Croft’s chair. She took his hand in hers. When they arrived he had looked virile and strong, especially for a man his age. But now he looked fragile and old.
“Can you hear me?” she asked.
Croft’s eyes roamed lazily as if he was coming off of anesthesia. They finally landed on Anna. “I know you?”
Anna nodded. “Yes. I’m Anna.”
He frowned. “I don’t know any Anna. I…” Tears welled in his eyes. “I don’t know—I don’t know you. I don’t know anything.” His eyes were wide with panic. His hands flew to his head and his eyes scrunched up. “When I try to remember—” He groaned in pain. “It hurts. Oh God, it’s agony.” He wept. “Make it stop. Anna, make it go away.”
Anna rose. She wiped her nose on her sleeve and took the pistol from its holster again. She aimed at Croft’s head, holding the gun with both hands. Her arms trembled and the gun shook.
“I…I can’t do this.” Her arms dropped to her sides.
Jack put his hand at the small of her back and took the gun from her trembling hand. He wiped the tears and kissed her lightly. “You don’t have to.”
“But it’s not right to leave him like this. He’s suffering.”
“You don’t have to, because I will.”
Her eyes met his and fresh tears welled. “But Jack –”
“Go with Alecto. Find the anti-viral and Dr. Montoya’s research. Meet me back in the foyer.”
“Alecto could do this. Maybe she could even heal him.”
“The damage is not something I can repair,” Alecto said.
“And I need her with you in case you run into trouble.” He kissed her forehead. “Now go. I’ve got this.”
Anna kissed him again, more deeply this time, her hand at the back of his head pulling him to her. She held him there, their foreheads touching. “I love you.”
The three words he had said to Erika and she’d gotten scared and pushed him away. But Anna wasn’t scared of his love and she certainly wasn’t pushing him away.
“I love you too,” he said. He hoped it wouldn’t be the last time he got to tell her that.
She left with Alecto and closed the door behind them.
Alecto could have finished Croft off without expending much energy and they could have left together to retrieve the anit-viral. But he needed to do this. He’d once let Erika down when he hadn’t been able to pull the trigger. He wasn’t about to let Anna down too.
It would have been easier to pull the trigger though if Croft wasn’t an unarmed, severely injured man. And Jack had already done far more killing than he’d ever wanted. Hell, even one death was more than he’d ever planned on.
He’d shivered from the cold only seconds before but now he wiped nervous sweat from his brow. He tried to focus on his mom’s death. On how Croft was at least partly to blame seeing as how he backed the Conexus plan.
But even his anger, hurt and grief didn’t override the fact that the man slumped in the chair was not the same guy that had schemed with the Conexus. Alecto had already killed Croft. The shell of a man before him was only an old man in tremendous pain.
Croft looked up at him. His eyes were rimmed in red. His nose dripped and his face twisted in agony as he tried to understand who Jack was and why he had a gun pointed at him. “Robert. Is that you, Robert?”
Jack wiped his face with his shoulder. “I’m Jack. Robert’s dead.”
Croft cried in earnest then. “Dead? Oh, Robert.” His hands were at the sides of his head again. He looked up at Jack with wil
d eyes. “Whoever you are, please use that gun. I beg of you. I don’t know who I am. I don’t know.” He screamed out in pain, a long yowl like an injured animal. “Make it stop!”
Jack fired the gun. The blast echoed off of the high ceiling and plaster walls. He wiped the blood spatter from his face and walked out without looking back.
There was no feeling of relief within him. No weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt no satisfaction that the man who had caused so much suffering for so many was at last dead.
There was only the hope that he would never have to take another human life again for as long as he lived.
____________________
Jack closed the door behind him to the room where Croft lay in a pool of his own blood. He slid down the wall and sat on the floor, the wall behind him holding him up. He tried to calm himself; to get his breathing to return to normal.
He waited for nearly fifteen minutes and was about to go in search of Anna and Alecto when he heard footsteps coming from the upstairs landing. In the span of one heartbeat, he was on his feet, his gun drawn.
Jack eased silently toward a column and hid behind it. Alecto had said for all they knew, Croft could have more men hiding in an even deeper, more secret space. It seemed logical that if he had more men, he would have called on them when he was first in trouble. But Jack was on alert anyway. He peeked slowly around the column.
Anna bounded down the stairs taking them by two. Alecto had no problem keeping up with her.
Jack let out a relieved sigh and stowed his gun. He stepped from behind the column. “Were you successful?”
Anna raised her bulging backpack into the air. “We got what we came for.” She beamed.
Her smile faded when she got closer to Jack. She wiped at the dried blood on Jack’s cheek. Her voice was a whisper. “I’m sorry.”
He held her hand to his cheek then kissed it. “I’m okay.” He smiled at her. “We’ll all be okay. Eventually.”
She nodded. “But no rest for the weary. We finish one task but get called to another.”
They left the Croft house and entered the eerie town once again. The bright overhead lights were on again.
“Looks like you were able to get hold of your Aunt Lilly and tell her the good news.”
“Yes. And she had an interesting call while we were here.”
“Yeah? From who?”
“Dr. Randall, of all people. Apparently he needs her help. At the VLA.”
Jack kept walking.
Anna looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “And Aunt Lilly wants us to go with her.” She continued staring at him, waiting to see his reaction.
But Jack did his best not to give her one. The truth was he didn’t know how he felt about it. He was with Anna now, and wanted to keep it that way. But he didn’t relish seeing how Erika would react to him moving on so quickly and with a Sturgis no less. And for that matter, he wasn’t thrilled about seeing Erika with Tex. He may have moved on, but pride could still be wounded.
“So? What do you think?” Anna asked.
Jack wasn’t about to tell her the messy, complicated truth. He was far from an expert on women. Hell, he seemed to get it wrong most of the time. But he knew enough to know that Anna wasn’t likely to be thrilled about the whole truth of his thoughts on the issue. He settled for a truth that avoided the topic of Erika. “I think it will be good to get the hell out of his stinkin’ underground and back to hot desert sun. They need our help? Let’s not keep them waiting.”
Anna took his hand and the three walked as quickly as they could out of Apthartos. They left behind the dank rot of the place and plenty of bloodstained memories.
42
TEX
Avoiding Erika had been difficult but Tex mostly managed it. Every time he sensed her presence near, he found an excuse to go somewhere else. He locked himself in with a group of scientists and later General Hays. When she finally caught up to him on a gravel path leading from one building to another, her eyes shot daggers at him.
“You’ve been avoiding me.” She stood with her arms crossed over he chest, her lips pulled back.
He considered for a brief moment telling her the truth. But he thought better of it. Saying to her, ‘Yes, I’m avoiding you so I don’t have to tell you the truth’ didn’t seem like it would go over well.
He settled instead for hugging her to him. Her shoulders relaxed beneath his arms and she let out a deep breath. Her tears made his chest wet.
He had not expected her to cry. He had no time for her emotions today. He pushed back from her.
“I’m sorry, Erika, I know you want to talk but I must go see Dr. Randall right now. Time is of the essence and –”
Her eyes were rimmed in red and narrowed at him. “Fine. Go. I only sat in the cold, freezing my ass off for more than two days waiting for you. That M’Uktah creature attacked me. Did you know that?”
Tex shook his head. His mouth was open to apologize but he couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
“And even after the attack, I went back out there to wait for you. I was there when you landed. Did you know that? Do you even care?”
He hadn’t known that she had waited for him. Joy filled him. He wanted to hold her. To run his fingers through her air. To kiss the tears from her cheeks and the anger from her brow. But he had no time for a languid afternoon with Erika. He settled for an attempt to at least get a reprieve from her anger at him.
He softened his eyes, wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her. She was rigid at first against him but her muscles relaxed and she finally kissed him back.
He let her go and her eyes were still closed.
Her eyes opened languidly. “Don’t get into the habit of thinking you can kiss my anger away.”
The pfft, pfft, pfft of helicopter blades interrupted their conversation. His recent history with helicopters caused him to instinctively search for a place to hide. He mentally chastised himself. It was likely Commander Sturgis arriving.
“Come. You will want to see this.” He walked briskly away, leaving Erika to jog behind to catch up.
Dr. Randall had not only been successful at convincing Commander Sturgis to bring Alecto to the VLA, but she arrived in a Blackhawk helicopter just under three hours after Tex had met with Dr. Randall.
And she brought Jack and a young woman named Anna with her. Tex felt a slight twinge of lingering jealously when he saw Jack. But it was clear from the moment he saw Jack with Anna that they two of them were a couple. That eased away his old, harsh feelings toward Jack. The guy had never done anything against Tex other than be the object of Erika’s affection. But their recent kisses showed that Erika was no longer thinking of Jack.
The arrival caused a stir for everyone at the tightly controlled compound. General Hays was in the middle of going ballistic when Commander Sturgis’ feet hit the ground. Once he saw her, the general’s mouth closed like it had been sewn shut.
Sturgis was decked out in Air Force blue, her blonde hair upswept into the French twist she had worn nearly every day of Tex’s life. Her Air Force cap was arranged on her head perfectly and must have been pinned tightly since the chopper blades did not even threaten to blow it from her head. She pulled her jacket down as she walked briskly toward the general with Alecto on her heels. Jack jumped out of the copter and held out his hands to help Anna Sturgis out of the black craft.
Erika stood beside Ian and Tex watched them watch Jack. Ian said something into Erika’s ear and he waved Jack over to them. Erika’s mouth was set in a thin line and even from thirty yards away, Tex knew that she seethed.
It was obvious, even to Tex, that Jack had a new love. The way he held Anna’s hand even after he had helped her from the chopper. The way she smiled up at him as her long hair blew away from her face in the breeze caused by the chopping blades.
Ian and Jack clasped hands and hugged briefly. He then stood in front of Erika and simply stared down at her smiling. Erika’s chin was tilte
d up, her lips in a thin line. It was clear she was trying to wear a mask of indifference, but from where Tex stood it didn’t seem that she was pulling it off very well. Jack said something Tex could not hear and he held his arms out to his sides. Erika rolled her eyes and gave him a brief hug. Jack then introduced the young blonde woman at his side to Erika. The two women shook hands briefly. Erika’s eyes were narrowed, her lips pursed. But Anna wore a wide smile, her eyes sparkling.
The brief happiness Tex felt that Jack Wilson was finally no longer in the picture evaporated as soon as he realized Erika’s anger was caused by jealousy. No matter how far they had come together, it seemed that Jack Wilson was a part of her that she was not willing to let go.
Erika must have felt his eyes on her. She looked over the crowd and directly at him. Her eyes caught his but her face still held anger. Tex looked away and hurried to the general’s side. He had no time for drama with Erika and Jack. He had a galactic portal to close and a meeting with his estranged family to attend.
____________________
Tex met the general back at the same conference table they had used before. Erika and Jack had angrily argued for their right to be at the table.
“I’m the one that brought him to you,” Erika had said.
But both General Hays and Commander Sturgis were firmly in unison that Tex was the only teenager they would allow at the meeting that they were deeming classified. As the doors closed, the last thing Tex saw was Erika’s face.
As the meeting began, it was clear from General Hays’ uncharacteristic deference to Commander Sturgis that they had history together. Tex would never know the story though he figured it was probably an interesting tale. At times it seemed that all of them—Dr. Randall, Commander Sturgis, Generals Hays and Bardsley—had long histories each with the other and many unspoken stories between them.
General Hays seemed genuinely flustered as they took their places at the table. Tex wasn’t sure if it had to do with his history with Commander Sturgis or due to Alecto’s shiny black eyes on him. Tex was in his more human form and though his eyes were still quite large, overall he looked more human now than Conexus.
H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS Page 33