by Jillian Neal
Rainer had no idea this could even be done, but he was excited to try to impress his new boss. Holding a complicated cast like that, however, was going to be rather draining.
“Ok,” he concentrated hard as he pushed the purple haze out from his hand into a circle that encapsulated their table. Logan, at least, looked impressed.
“Pretty good,” Vindico smiled, but then cupped his own hand and reinforced the barrier Rainer had created. Overwhelming awe washed through Rainer as he felt the sheer amount of power Vindico could wield with so little effort.
“All right, now hold it while we talk,” Vindico challenged. Rainer hoped he’d be able to carry on an intelligent conversation and hold the cast.
They all began eating. Rainer found the additional calories extremely helpful in holding the sound barrier. Vindico wiped his mouth, and studied Rainer and Logan.
“Well,” he began softly, “this is kind of a hell of a conversation to have over a burger and Coke on your first day of work, but I’ve never been all that good at drawing things out, so...” He shrugged. After he let his eyes close for the length of one heartbeat, Vindico drew a steadying breath. Rainer gathered that whatever he was going to share was particularly difficult for him to say.
“Logan, first let me say how sorry I am about Cal. He was an excellent Iodex officer, and I can’t imagine the loss for your family. Please know that we miss him every day, here, as well.”
Logan swallowed harshly and nodded, but was unable to respond verbally. Vindico smiled at him and then went on. “About ten years ago, just before I graduated from the Academy, I proposed to my lifelong girlfriend, Amelia.”
Rainer felt his stomach clench uncomfortably.
“Our families had lived next door to one another since we were both young, and we were inseparable until I went to Venton.” Vindico was certainly not married or engaged, so clearly something had happened; Rainer braced himself. “As you know, I was head of Ioses, as well.” He gestured his head in a bow to Rainer. “I went into special ops training my senior year, and then was selected for Elite Iodex. I trained and studied under Gabe Caddick. He was one of the most powerful and disciplined men I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. This was a few years after your father became Crown Governor, Rainer.”
“We used to call Gabe, Boomslang, because once he was after someone they always ended up in prison, no questions asked. He was relentless,” Vindico stated admiringly. “So I trained hard and began working with Boomslang to try to catch one of the most vile men in the Gifted Realm. I was consumed; I spent every moment edging closer and closer, but Amelia, my fiancée, wasn’t Gifted, and she didn’t understand my obsession.”
He swallowed harshly, and took a sip of his water.
“But, like I said, I wouldn’t give up. So one night she asked me to stay home instead of going back into the office after dinner, but I was hot on the trail of one of the men working closest to the man I’m telling you about.” Rainer’s stomach began to churn; he didn’t like what seemed like the inevitable end to the story. “So, just like every night before that, I left our home and went back to the office.” For a moment, Vindico seemed unable to go on. His voice choked, and he fought to control his emotions. “I left her alone and unprotected, and they took her.” He stared at the table and was unable to look into either Rainer’s or Logan’s eyes.
“Dominic Wretchkinsides is the head of Interfeci, the organization that ordered Cal’s death.” He glanced back at Logan. Rainer and Logan didn’t need any explanation of the Interfeci, but neither of them spoke.
“He took Amelia because I had gotten too close.” He blinked back tears that Rainer and Logan both pretended not to see. “But even after I knew he had her, I never doubted that I’d be able to save her. My ego was so overblown it never entered my mind that I couldn’t save her. I was a cocky asshole, and I hunted him down. I had him cornered in a matter of hours in a warehouse outside of town. It never occurred to me to call for back up, or even ask Boomslang to help me.” He shook his head in utter disbelief.
“I took down his men, one after another after another. I still had no doubt. I could see her; I could almost reach her. She was unconscious and bleeding badly. I moved to take down Wretchkinsides and rescue her.”
He tried to will away his tears again. One escaped as he clenched his jaw and refused to give in to the emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. “Wretchkinsides doesn’t fight. In a split second, he was in my head. He halted me instantly. I couldn’t even throw a shield over her. He only had to control a small portion of the energy in my mind to make me unable to move or help Amelia in anyway.”
“I watched him kill her, and then disappear. Boomslang followed me that night and got me out. I was obviously a disaster.”
Rainer could hardly breathe. It took everything he had to maintain the sound barrier around the table, as he tried not to think of what it would be like to watch Emily be brutally murdered.
“I’m so sorry,” Rainer managed as Vindico gave him a genuine smile and a slight nod.
“Yeah, me, too,” he choked. “Anyway,” Vindico forced himself to go on, “this is the man who ordered Cal’s death. He’s murdered or had a hand in the murder of hundreds upon hundreds of people all over Europe and North and South America. That list includes your mother, Rainer, and Governor Haydenshire didn’t want you to know this, but he ordered the hit on your father, as well. The man who killed your father didn’t work for the Interfeci, however.”
Rainer swallowed down the bile that rose quickly in his throat.
“He plays evilly in the Non-Gifted world, always after a large score of cash. Adding to his massive bank accounts drives Wretchkinsides. Drugs, gambling rings, and illegal weaponry are his main sources of income,” Vindico’s voice normalized. “As soon as I was able to even get out of bed, after what happened to Amelia, which took quite a while,believe me, I turned what little evidence I had on Wretchkinsides over to the German government, and he was caught and imprisoned on tax evasion and fraud for a few years. But he was released a year ago, and has moved his family here to wreak havoc in America, and to piss me the hell off.” Vindico drew another steadying breath.
“I have spent my entire career putting bad guys in Felsink and Coriolis, mainly members of Interfeci who worked under his partners and from his orders from prison, but I want the man. I want Wretchkinsides. I want to end the terror that he and the Interfeci put on the Gifted and Non-Gifted alike.”
Vindico looked morose as he studied Rainer intently for a long minute.
“Lawson, I, know that Governor Haydenshire spoke with you about Emily’s safety.” Rainer shivered slightly as he felt the blood in his veins begin to run ice cold.
“She’s of great interest to the Interfeci,” Vindico said the words that had Rainer certain he was going to vomit. “Just listen,” Vindico soothed in a tone calmer than Rainer had ever heard out of his boss’s mouth. “I won’t let you live what I’ve lived through, Lawson. I will keep Emily safe, and I will teach you to keep Emily safe. But the only way for all of us to go on and live even a remotely normal life, one where you don’t have to be afraid to let her out of your sight, is to end him and take down the entire organization piece by piece. Wretchkinsides and Pendergrath, the man I arrested in Virginia Beach the night you were at Mick’s,” Vindico reminded Rainer and Logan. “They’re both excelled mind-casters, which is, of course, illegal.”
Both Rainer and Logan had studied mind-casting and ways to prevent it at the Academy. To tap into the electronic synapsis and energy of a person’s mind was extremely difficult. It was impossible to hold a mind-cast over more than one person at a time. The easiest task for the mind-caster would be to make the person they were casting halt any activity, to force them to shut down their brain slightly, which was precisely what Wretchkinsides had done to Vindico.
If the mind-cast was held for any length of time, the caster could suggest repeatedly that the person being casted do any number of
things. Generally, it couldn’t be anything too outlandish, as something extreme tended to end the casted powers. Convincing someone to commit a murder, for instance, would be next to impossible. Getting someone to change a will or insurance policy wouldn’t be terribly difficult, however, if the caster convinced the person that it was in the best interest of himself or his family.
“Double Predilects are mind-casted more easily,” Vindico lamented. Rainer and Logan nodded as they both recalled that information from their studies. It was the fatal flaw in the exceptional power.
“Because your energy spins in double rhythms constantly,” Rainer recalled.
Vindico looked pleased that Rainer knew the reasoning.
“Right, so if either one of my streams is taken over, then my mind is casted; my energy is much more potent, which makes it easier to be intercepted.”
“And now,” Vindico gestured his thumb back towards the Senate, “Wretchkinsides has purchased himself his own Summation team for his daughter, Marlisa. It’s a front, of course, he has to launder the drug and gun money somehow, but I’ll have to prove that before I can dismantle it. They’ll force their way into the Angels schedule, mark my words, which puts Emily on a Challenge field with Marlisa Wretchkinsides and copious amounts of energy available in the challenges,” Vindico shuddered slightly. “I wanted to tell you all of this because I would like you to help me bring him down. I’ve seen your stuff, and you’re both extremely talented, but there’s a lot I can teach you if you want.”
Rainer understood the inherent risk in going after someone with as much money and power as Wretchkinsides clearly had. He and Logan shared a glance as they both instantly decided that men like Wretchkinsides needed to be done away with, and they both wanted to avenge Cal and ensure Emily’s safety.
“We want to help,” Logan urged as Rainer nodded.
Vindico smiled kindly. “Thank you; you have no idea what that means to me. You can release that barrier now, Rainer. Pretend you were distracted because that guy’s been trying to ask you if you’d like a refill of Coke for several seconds now.”
He gestured his head to the side. Rainer’s eyes goggled as he released the cast and smiled.
“Sorry, off in my own world, I guess,” Rainer lifted his glass so it could be refilled. He took a sip of the Coke in an effort to settle his stomach. He was unable to eat anymore after Vindico’s disturbing story.
As they walked back to the Iodex office, Rainer was still distraught. He couldn’t imagine how Vindico went on after something like that. It was too much to fathom.
Rainer’s cell began playing I Got You Babe, and he smiled automatically.
“Hey there, baby, how’s the hottest Arlington Angel?” He reveled in Emily’s delighted giggle.
Rainer noted Logan and Vindico’s chuckle, but he didn’t care.
“I’m good. I mean, I’ve already learned so much from Fionna. She’s amazing. I’m just waiting on the joule meter guy to get me a new one,” she explained how she’d had time to call.
“I thought those were on your uniforms?” Rainer followed Logan down the sidewalk.
“They are, but mine keeps messing up
“Messing up, how?” As far as he knew, unless a meter was tampered with, the joule meters used in professional Summation were virtually a perfect science.
“Well, we were working with Piezoelectric disks, and Chloe wanted us to see how many disks we could transform and produce energy from before our meters were tapped. Anyway, mine would drop down to one bar and then, all of a sudden, it would shoot back up completely full. It’s so strange, because I’m completely exhausted and it’s still reading full. They had me put on a different practice uniform, but it just keeps happening.”
“That is weird,” Rainer climbed onto the elevator with Vindico and Logan. He casted his phone immediately so that it would keep the signal.
“Yeah, I hope they can fix it. I think that’s why I’m still so nervous. My receptors are feeling weird,” she admitted. Rainer’s heart seized. Emily’s receptors being off generally meant something bad was going to happen. She had been awfully nervous about her first day of practice. That had probably thrown her. Rainer reasoned with himself.
“Oh, he’s done,” Emily chanted, “I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”
“Love you, too,” Rainer replied before the line went dead.
“Be very cautious casting your phone, Lawson,” Vindico immediately instructed. “A casted cell phone can be cloned instantly and easily.”
Rainer nodded his understanding as he followed his boss back into the office still worried about Emily.
What are You Made Of
“All right, let’s do some training, shall we?” Vindico ordered.
Logan and Rainer followed Vindico, Portwood, Ericcson, Ramier, Tuttle, and Garrett into an impressive gym area just off of the Iodex offices.
“First of all,” Vindico began, “you can pull a hell of a lot more energy across muscle than you can across your organs or across fat.” He slapped Tuttle’s stomach, which was by no means fat, but it wasn’t as chiseled as Vindico’s.
“Hey,” Tuttle yelped as Vindico laughed.
“So, work out hard. The harder you work, the easier everything else becomes.”
Rainer and Logan nodded as they continued to watch Vindico.
“Ok, Lawson, throw a shield. Only summon from yourself, nothing around you. Give me all you’ve got.” His eyes lit with challenge.
Rainer drew a deep breath and cast a green glow towards Vindico, who stepped back slightly. Rainer concentrated as he held the cast, while Vindico made several motions with his hand, cupped and formed several energy streams as he formed them into a swirling orb.
In just under two minutes, Rainer’s shield had dissolved, and Vindico was standing over Rainer, who’d collapsed on the mat.
“Are you ok?” Logan asked, just as shocked as Rainer. He helped him up off of the mat.
“Uh, I’m not sure,” Rainer admitted as Vindico laughed.
“Don’t worry; we’ll make sure no one can get through your shield. Just give me a few days’ time.”
“All right, Haydenshire, same thing,” Vindico ordered. After glancing at Rainer, Logan summoned and threw his shield. He held it several minutes longer than Rainer had been able, but still, in a relatively short amount of time, Vindico was standing over him as well.
“Now,why do you think you held it longer than Lawson? You’re both of about equal skill and Predilect, correct?”
Rainer and Logan nodded, and waited for the explanation. “Mr. Lawson held a relatively complicated sound barrier for our entire lunch, and then tried to shield against me. Part of being a good Iodex officer is the ability to not only use and transfer energy, but also to conserve it.”
“Officer Tuttle, there, will also be teaching you to suppress energy, both yours, which will make you unable to be identified by other Gifted people, but also to suppress enemies to make them unable to fight against you,” Vindico instructed as Tuttle gave them an expectant grin.
Vindico explained the rest of their training schedule, and then led Logan and Rainer back into his office. He shut the door behind them.
“I really do want to thank both of you for agreeing to help us take down Wretchkinsides. I can’t explain to you what it will mean to me to finally finish him. Tomorrow, I’m going to let you sit in on a questioning.” He hesitated. “I believe you know Mitchell O’Ryan?” He seemed to already know the answer to that. Logan and Rainer nodded ominously.
“Yeah, well, his father’s cut from the same cloth, trust me.”
Rainer raised his eyebrows. The last he’d heard, O’Ryan’s father was serving time in Felsink for tax evasion to the Realm and ties to insurance fraud.
“O’Ryan Senior’s sister, Lucinda, is married to Dominic Wretchkinsides.”
“What?” Logan gasped as Rainer’s mouth fell open.
“Yeah, so I was hoping if we pull O’Ryan Senior out of Fe
lsink for a few hours we might could work out a deal. I’ll make his sentence a little friendlier if he provides us enough information on Wretchkinsides,” he explained the plan as Logan and Rainer nodded.
“Ever been to Felsink?” Vindico teased with a wry smile.
“Uh, no,” Rainer shook his head. He tried not to sound frightened.
“I figured. Well, then, you’ll get to see it in the morning, and I’m certain you won’t like it any more than O’Ryan does.” Logan and Rainer shared a nervous glance.
All Gifted prisons were excruciatingly painful for the Gifted people. The harnessed energy from the earth’s mantle and core affected their abilities in erratic and often agonizing ways.
“So, head on home; tomorrow I’ll teach you how we deliver and retrieve prisoners from Felsink. Then you can help me interrogate O’Ryan Senior.”
Rainer and Logan stood to leave after they gave Vindico quick good-byes. As he moved back to his desk, Rainer noted that the sides of his and Logan’s desks, which faced one another, were now occupied by Garrett’s new desk.
Garrett would effectively become Vindico’s partner, as he was the next-highest-ranking officer. Vindico worked alone, however; that much was obvious. Garrett had been assigned to keep an eye on Rainer and Logan, and he was apparently taking it upon himself to personally train his little brother and Rainer.
“How about some burgers and a beer from Lesco’s?” Garrett offered kindly. “That’s kind of a hell of a story. I was a pall- bearer at the funeral, and I still can’t wrap my head around what he lives with day-in and day-out.” He gestured his head towards Vindico’s office door.
Immensely thankful for the reprieve, and for a little time to process everything they’d heard in their harrowing introduction to adult life, Rainer and Logan nodded their adamant agreement.
The Beginning of the End