The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  It was a few minutes later when Marcia came in without knocking, looked at the walls and then waved at him.

  "I see you're back? We have some good news from Vancouver local IPB. They have some leads on your target Shaw. Tracked him to a hotel in Portland, Oregon." She moved in and put an arm around him, which was meant to keep him grounded he knew, having read about it in his file. It was nice enough though. He liked Marcia. Not in a sex way, most of the time, but as a friend, definitely.

  "See, that's how you do reunions. With a gift. What do you have for me? Just banged up office space?" She sighed and shook her head, making a small grimace.

  He actually did have something for them though, did he? Digging the large envelope from his bag, he asked if Marcia could shut off all the surveillance in the room, which she did pretty quickly, taking the tools for it from the Director's desk.

  "Five minutes, maybe less."

  Then he opened the envelope and saw that the first page had four names on it. His wasn't one, but Hobbs was. Rachel, Kevin and Marcia were the others. On the second page it said something far different however. It was a thing that actually surprised him.

  He read it off out loud for the whole group.

  "The second envelope is for Penny Cooper." It made some sense, being that Penny was well and truly invisible, but he just fished that out and held on to it. He could take it to her later after all. After about three minutes Marcia took a deep gasping breath and Scott looked bored, even as the others reacted with excitement.

  "Do you know what this is?" Marcia said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "It's an in-depth analysis of Braid's complete plan. It has safe houses listed, businesses owned... It even has the woman's banking information. Where did you get this?"

  Brian shrugged.

  "Would you believe that I got it from the girl I used to have a crush on before I popped Infected? It's the truth. Turns out that she was Trivia, from Alpha Squad? I know, kind of shocked me too. She's been working as a spy for nearly thirty years. For us. Um, never say that out loud though. It seems that Braid can't see me directly, in any future. If she's paying attention she can see the rest of you taking action, so we need to be extra careful here. We can use this information, can't we?"

  Marcia smiled. It was a sinister thing really, that spoke of bloodlust and the desire to kill some people.

  "If it's accurate, then yes, we can. We need to go carefully, it could all be a trap. Even if she thinks she's gone unnoticed, that isn't necessarily the case. How certain are you that Braid can't sense you in time?"

  "About fifty percent. She said so, but I overheard it, so that either means she really didn't know I'd be there, or she did, and it was all a trick to fool us now." It wasn't that helpful, but the pale brunette nodded at him, her hair still styled short, but the curl was returning.

  "That sounds accurate as a first level assessment. Let's pack this up and secure the data. I guess we should let Brian deliver that package to Penny? Just in case he can't be seen doing it?"

  They didn't have a lot of time to talk about it, since Marcia packed everything up in the drawer again, without talking. When she finished she pointed at the wall and measure it with her hands, then looked at Brian.

  "I suppose you could fit in there. How did it happen?"

  It wasn't he figured, a secret now, was it? Besides she probably needed to know about it all, being the second in command of the whole IPB. He always forgot that she was, but it was a real enough thing.

  "Um... It turns out that I'm actually Scott's dad and therefore Bridget's grandfather. She rather took exception to the fact with Rachel, who didn't inform her about it in a timely fashion. Also, um, Scott's adopted, so she isn't his bio-mom." He dead panned it, trying not to make it seem like a joke, but it didn't work. It took about five minutes for her to catch on that they weren't trying to play with her somehow and then another five to start making plans.

  "We should take Hobbs to see this Mary. He might know something about her kind of person."

  Marcia ran to make that happen, meaning they were all headed into town about half an hour later in two based owned cars. Hobbs rode with him and Marcia, while Scott drove with the director and Rachel. The idea was they could all talk that way. Without the others having him there, in case what they said was insulting. Brian knew he wouldn't want to have himself as a dad at least. Scott was probably going to have an issue with the new information too. Who'd blame him? Freaking deadbeat that never came to a little league game or whatever it was that Scott had done as a kid.

  In their car, luckily, they had Hobbs, who not knowing about the whole thing sat quietly, riding in the back as Marcia drove. That way if Brian traded out with anyone they wouldn't all crash. It made sense, but in the main he just didn't do that. Not on accident. Then he didn't ride in cars a lot either for that very reason. Hopefully the day would go well. He felt a little nervous about going to see Mary, but it wasn't that bad. Not until he remembered that he'd seen her about a day before, but it had been so much longer for her. What if she didn't remember him? Or didn't want to see him at least?

  Like it or not he'd bailed on her and left all the hard work for her to do alone. Mary probably had a right to hate him, didn't she? If nothing else she'd have changed. Everyone did eventually. Only he hadn't, because there hadn't been time for it.

  The place looked different, of course. The building was the same, but had been refinished in brown wooden shingles, and there was a new sign. Mary's Coffee. Underneath there was a little sign that said 'and donuts' that he hadn't noticed before, never having stopped there. He'd seen the place a couple times going past in a car, but most of those times he'd been busily watching out for the police. When they pulled in something strange happened though. Hobbs got out efficiently and walked to Marcia's window.

  "Aye, I'll be going in first, to make certain there's no problem here. She's known to me and-" He stopped talking as Brian stood up and started walking in, not waiting for his explanation. It had been thirty years, so if she was "known" to Hobbs that could mean anything. He didn't care. It was his job to face this. Taking a deep breath he walked in noticing the whole place smelled of cinnamon and sugar. No clove at all.

  He found her tending the coffee bar, several other people in the place being waited on. When she looked up she looked the same. Not exactly, but the changes were cosmetic. A different hair style, with more body to it, shorter, but the same color. She was wearing a little makeup but not enough to be obvious. Then Prime had said that she didn't seem to age, hadn't he? Brian stopped himself and smiled at the woman. He needed to work harder to call him Scott. It would seem funny if he didn't now.

  "May I help you..." She stopped dead, just looking at him for a long time, then squealing and running around the counter fast enough to dump a cup of coffee sitting on the counter over.

  "Brian! There you are. I was just about to go looking for you. I figured it had to be close to time." The kiss she gave him made him glad he hadn't brought Karen with him. He returned it though, only feeling a little guilty. Mary kind of brought that out in him. It just felt right. That was the thing there, wasn't it? Karen was lovely and sweet and he'd never want to hurt her, but they couldn't have a real relationship. Not with Dharma in his head.

  That decided him. It wasn't fair to her to keep stringing her along, not when she had a lot of other options to explore. Making her stay with him was unkind and selfish. Even if it meant he had to be alone forever he needed to let her go. It was easier to think about with Mary in his arms, but even if that wasn't possible, he had to do it.

  "Hi. So, changed the place a little? Put in staff too?" He looked at the woman at the back counter, who seemed to be about thirty and had a plain, but sturdy look to her. She wore a dress, in a lovely shade of light blue, with puffy sleeves and a white lace apron.

  Next to her was a girl that looked about fifteen, who was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but didn't seem at home somehow. Uncomfortable and not really making ey
e contact with anyone. Almost as if she was shy. From the back of the space, holding a large metal tray came a young man that looked about thirteen. The kid stopped dead when he saw Brian hugging Mary, and looked angry suddenly. Brian wondered if he had the idea wrong, or if the kid was just in a bad mood, until he set the tray down and ran at Mary and him, flailing like a wild man.

  "Get your filthy hands off of her, or I'll kill you!" The accent was different than the one Hobbs had, more cultured sounding in a way he couldn't exactly define. He seemed serious enough about what he said, and picked up a chair to hit Brian with as if to prove his intentions.

  He wasn't Infected though, for all he seemed half insane and possessed. At least he didn't seem to have any powers of note. Maybe he could eat unlimited donuts or something? That could happen, a rough first mode paired with an ability that wasn't worth having. Or he could just be insane, or simply angry about something. People did that too.

  It was easy enough to take the incoming seat from the boy, first grabbing and then tugging the thing towards himself as he stepped back, which sent the boy stumbling. Then he set it down, understanding that the attack wasn't going to end that easily. Nothing landed, but there was no counter attack either, meaning it took a long time for the boy to get so tired he had to stop.

  Hobbs just stood there, smiling at the whole scene.

  "Ah, you've met. I was hoping to avoid that. Edmund, why are you attacking Advocate Yi? It seems rather rude."

  The boy wasn't going to be easily placated for some reason and tried to come after him again. It didn't work any better. He did manage to gasp out a reason though.

  "He touched Mary. In a familiar fashion!" To him that seemed to make sense, which told Brian that he wasn't from around these parts. A hug just wasn't something anyone should get that worked up about.

  "Brian is the father of my child Ed. He was gone for a long time, thirty years, and has only now come back. It seems fair that he do so without being harmed for it, don't you think?" Mary spoke gently to the room, not staring at the boy at all. She didn't even look in that direction, as if trying to not see what he was busily doing.

  From behind the donut counter both of the ladies there fussed a little, but neither came forward.

  The boy looked at Mary suspiciously however, as if she were lying to him.

  "You have a child?"

  That got a nod and a wave at Scott, which got him to walk forward, looking at her with a satisfied smile. He just looked at her for the longest time, Rachel standing near the front door, looking a little sad, as if she really thought anyone in the world could replace her. It was a moment, but Hobbs looked at him as if there was something wrong.

  "The Prime is your child? With Mary Wyrdcraft? The Wyrd family doesn't raise their own children... I see. I was unaware of the fact though. I missed the resemblance, truth be told." He stared then, smiling as if he could force himself to notice some link between them all, but the Infection had wiped that out, hadn't it? From a little ways back Marcia cleared her throat.

  "I know, I missed it too. Probably because it's totally insane. Brian is the Prime Daddy. Go figure. Well, stranger things..." There was a pause then, as she looked at the women behind the counter and shook her head. "No, wait... it doesn't really get a whole lot stranger than that."

  There was a huge grin on her face, so at least someone was taking pleasure from the whole scene. Mary moved to Scott and gave him a hug, but only a brief one, probably worried about the damage that Edmund might do to him. Or to himself. The boy wasn't a great fighter. He tried hard though, which counted for a lot most of the time.

  When that was finished Mary worked her way back toward Brian and held his hand gently as she stood looking into his eyes, it was a deeper feeling than what they'd had when he left, as if it had grown over time. It was nice, but after a minute of this, other people starting to talk, probably because it was getting boring. Brian noticed something about that time. It grew slowly, as if just coming into his awareness from a deep place that he hadn't known about before.

  There was a hum along his skin. At first he thought he was going to trade places, but it wasn't that. This felt different. It was coming from two places in the room, his body absorbing energy from those points. Somehow.

  One where each kid was standing. It took Brian a while to understand it, his body practically drinking in the waves coming of off them.

  "Oh... Are these the Elcampayns' then?" Looking at Hobbs he saw something equally strange, the normally happy look on his face fell off totally.

  "Aye... that they are."

  Brian nodded, then smiled himself, getting it.

  "Hobbs, did you... steal the last of your world's energy source, and bring them here?" It didn't really make sense, but somehow it did at the same time.

  "Oh... aye. I did at that indeed."

  Chapter eight

  Hobbs didn't look particularly upset, but there were subtle changes to the way he stood that told Brian the man was about to try and fight his way out, probably with the kids and the woman at the back of the room, who froze in place. Out of everyone only Marcia seemed to understand it, going into a ready state herself. Brian just sighed, making it an obvious thing and then shrugged, his hands spreading a bit.

  "Good. You mentioned how they were being treated in your world. This is a better place for them. We can keep them safe here." Then he went very still himself, not knowing if it would be enough for the man. He was an advocate from a very different place and that didn't mean he was a lawyer. Not exactly. It was more like the old fashioned term of "champion". Someone that would come and defend you to the death if need be, enduring trials of endurance or combat for those that couldn't possibly do it for themselves.

  If he felt that it was time to fight to the death it wouldn't be an easy thing at all. Oh, he couldn't win against the people in the room, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try really hard if that's what protecting his charges meant doing. It just didn't.

  At least not for Brian and as far as he was concerned no one else should have a problem with it at all. For all intents and purposes the Elcampayn kids were just regular children in this world. Young adults, not a threat.

  Hobbs grinned, his eyes going light and happy again. It was a sudden change that everyone got though.

  "Oh? You don't feel honor bound to send them back?"

  "Nope. Kind of the opposite, if truth be told. Even if I did think they should go back, which I don't, I couldn't do anything about it. I'm sure that everyone else here feels that sending a couple of kids to be horribly tortured to death just to further the political machinations of a few insane nut jobs isn't exactly a good thing anyway." He didn't add anything else, but the people in the room all nodded, including Scott.

  He looked at Edmund and the girl at the back of the room and nodded his golden colored head.

  "Don't worry, we'll protect you. No one will harm you with us on the job." It was filled with self-confidence, but seemed to work with these people pretty well. The women in the room, including Mary, all seemed reassured. Edmund stepped between Prime and them though, as if ready to fight again. This time he looked a little scared at least, which made sense. Scott was a class five Infected and famous for it. If they had a T.V. chances were the boy knew that.

  Plus he was huge compared to the kid, who was just average sized, and fairly thin for his age.

  The boy wiped at his brow, black hair a little matted against his forehead, sweat from having jumped around whaling at Brian starting to soak through his shirt a bit under the arms. He didn't move out of the way, but he did turn a bit to look at Mary and then eyed Hobbs for a few seconds.

  "This man is... Mary's son?" He indicated Prime by looking at him, not pointing, his hands held up loosely, not clenched in fists though.

  That got Mary to step forward and touch Scott on the arm.

  "That's right. And Brian here is his father." It sounded like she was offering gentle instruction, instead of calling the kid on h
is actions.

  "Oh... I..." He knelt down on his right knee and then bowed his head, hands going out to the sides, palms up, looking directly at Brian.

  "Forgive me if I overstepped in my ignorance, I sought only to protect the virtue of the lady, not to interfere in a reunion of the heart. I-"

  Moving forward Brian held out his hand, which got a shocked look from the boy. It was nearly scared for a second, until Hobbs spoke to him, voice calm and gentle.

  "This is the way they do things here, at least the best people. Take his hand and stand. I believe that the Advocate of this world has already forgiven you for the attack. It is his nature not to blame those who simply try to protect with good intent."

  That got the kid to take his hand and stand, the whole thing was a bit uncoordinated, but the boy wasn't some kind of super-soldier, he'd been raised to be a power source for a world that should have honored him and his sister for it, instead of wanting to part them out a cubic centimeter at a time to use as energy sources for their entire world.

  That let him get back to his meeting with Mary, who really did seem enthused to see him.

  "Does this mean you'll come and visit with me at times now?" It was said softly, into his ear, which still got a funny look from Ed, but no attempted beating this time.

  "I... I'd like that. I don't know what my schedule will allow, but if I can... Would that be OK with you?" It was a thing to ask. She might feel obligated to see him, but that didn't mean they'd be close again, did it? For the time being he wanted to have her around if possible, because he liked her. That was something he hadn't really expected, that strong of a feeling towards her. It wasn't stronger than what he felt for Karen, but it was different, because he could actually sleep with her.