The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon

by Matthew Burkey

  “I take it that you haven’t found any of those missing from our own armories?” Ethan asked.

  “Not according to the computer systems, though it stands to reason that if someone could find a way to send out the schematics then they could also erase all traces of them removing items from the armory,” Marissa added.

  “Who could do that?” Tony asked.

  “Not many.”

  “Could someone make those things?” Gabriel asked. “I mean the rifles or the implants?”

  “No,” Marissa shook her head. “All of the really important materials have to be created here; there isn’t another place that we know of on the planet that could manufacture some of those parts. The lens for the pulse rifles alone would take weeks to create.”

  “That we know of,” Gabriel reminded her. “If he got the specs out to Daniel, who’s to say that he didn’t give it out to someone else as well.”

  “The only other organization that could come close to working with this tech is the Illuminati and they tend to steer clear of things like this,” Ryan frowned. “They know better than to get into a turf war over technology with us.”

  “That’s not the most disturbing part about this,” Cody grunted. “It means someone inside Aegis is working with Sainte-Pierre.”

  “A traitor?” Ethan asked, rising his brows. “Not possible.”

  “What do you mean not possible?” Gabriel asked, making a face.

  That kind of thinking seemed just plain stupid, at least to Gabriel. He didn’t care how well you checked out your people, there was always a chance that someone with less than stellar morals slipped through the cracks.

  “There hasn’t been a traitor in the Guardians...ever,” Elise said. “At least not that we know of.”

  “All evidence would suggest otherwise,” Everett sighed. “I hate to think of it but Cody does have a point, we have a leak in Aegis...a really big leak.”

  That thought did not sit well with anyone in the room. Most of the researchers, scientists, and engineers were former Guardians. The thought of one of them selling out to someone like Sainte-Pierre was disturbing and unsettling to say the least. What was even more disconcerting was the fact that the weapons schematics that Sainte-Pierre had been giving out where for weapons that could pose a serious threat to any country and government in the world.

  “Not everyone has access to that kind of material thought, right?” Gabriel asked. He had been spending a lot of time in the biotech lab himself and knew from experience that you needed clearance to access pretty much every part of the Aegis systems.

  “Also true,” Everett nodded. “We’ve already informed Jonathan that he’ll need to look at everyone that has access to those projects. Elise is helping him start that process right now.”

  “Well, as much as this sucks...any information on where Sainte-Pierre is holding up?” Ethan prodded again.

  “No,” Everett said, slightly annoyed. “But this is good information; the council will want to know about this.”

  “So, you’re telling me that you haven’t found anything at all that we could use to find him?”

  “Not so far,” Marissa said, shaking her head. “We have found some other important information though; we back tracked a lot of the emails and found that most were sent from around the New York City area.”

  “That’s a big area,” Cody grunted. “You know what that means, right?”

  “No,” Ethan snapped. “Keep looking for something.”

  And with that said he turned and stormed from the room.

  “You still think that we can get him to change his mind?” Everett asked.

  “We may not have a choice,” Ryan sighed. “I hate to go behind his back seeing as how technically he is the team leader but we need to find Saint-Pierre and fast. We might not have a choice but to talk to Valentine without him.”

  “He won’t like that,” Tony pointed out.

  “Then he better change his mind.”

  “So, what’s our next move?” Gabriel asked.

  “Wait and see if Ethan comes to his senses,” Everett said, his shoulders sagging even more. “In the mean time we’ll keep looking through the data and see what else we can come up with. I’ll let you guys know if we come across anything.”

  “Maybe you should get some sleep,” Gabriel offered. “The mind works best went fully recharged. I could explain the whole neurochemistry thing if you want me too.”

  “Good looking, a demon killer, and smart,” Marissa said, with a thin smile. “Too bad you play for the other team. He’s right; we should try and get some sleep. We could come back and tackle this again in a few hours.”

  “Let’s just get through this last file cluster,” Everett suggested.

  “This still doesn’t make any sense,” Gabriel mused, shaking his head. “I mean what would Sainte-Pierre gain by attacking us and stealing our secrets? As far as he knows you guys want to keep him out there doing what he was doing, not behind bars.”

  “Again, he does have a point,” Cody conceded. “Why this sudden homicidal turn toward us?”

  “Maybe he was going after Daniel and we just got in the way,” Ryan offered. “That’s plausible.”

  “And cut off his source of money,” Cody frowned. “Plausible yeah but not very smart. Gabriel’s right something about this seems bloody peculiar.”

  “You mean other than the part about Guardians selling secrets?” Tony grumbled.

  Tony did have a point. Though he didn’t have extensive firsthand knowledge of Sainte-Pierre he did do his reading on the demon. He was mostly motivated by profit not the murder of other living things…at least not the direct murder.

  “And what do we do?” Gabriel asked.

  “I’d say we celebrate, bonfire at my house, later tonight. And that includes you two,” Ryan said, looking at Elise and Marissa.

  “We’ll be there,” Marissa smiled.

  “Sweet.”

  The rest of the day was pretty much the same as usual. They trained; first some cardio, then weight lifting, and finally martial arts and ranged weapons practice. Gabriel was getting better with both the Enforcer and the Hammer, although he still was best with his blade. After they showered and changed, they headed off to Ryan’s house.

  When they arrived, they found Tony already there, polishing up his bike. Apparently everyone made themselves at home at Ryan’s. He was starting to wonder how much longer it would be before he felt comfortable enough just to waltz through the front door.

  “Took you guys long enough,” Tony huffed. “You want to use the pit down by the lake?”

  “Sure,” Ryan nodded. “You guys want to go down there and get things started?”

  “No problem,” Tony shrugged. “Do you know how to light a fire?”

  “With a match,” Gabriel offered. “Do you know how to build a fire?”

  “Do I know how to build a fire,” Tony snorted. “Pft, clearly you haven’t been around for my Fourth of July spectacle.”

  “We really should not let him play with explosives,” Ryan sighed. “Try and not burn down the forest.”

  “Well I can’t make any promises,” Tony shrugged again.

  They took off around the house and down the same path that Ryan took Gabriel down almost four months ago. Then, he had been completely unprepared for the world that he was about to enter. He hadn’t known anything about magic, demons, or the advanced technology that Aegis used.

  “Remember the last time you were out here?”

  “Yeah, when I first woke after getting attacked,” Gabriel nodded. “It seems like a long time ago though, you know before I really got sucked into this world.”

  “You know you like it,” Tony smiled, as they came up to the fire pit. “Firewood is over there under the tarp.”

  Gabriel walked over to the pile and started gathering up several logs before taking them back to the pit, where Tony was hard at work laying them out and getting his kindling ready. It didn’t take lon
g before Tony had constructed a base and lit a match, prompting the fire to slowly build up around logs.

  “So, do you regret it?” Tony asked, warming his hands near the fire.

  “Regret what?”

  “You know joining us,” Tony shrugged. “Becoming a badass and all that.”

  Gabriel snorted. “You guys are the badasses, not me.”

  “Dude, you killed a demon, in my book that falls under badass,” Tony smiled. “And not some pansy demon either, one with a pink beam-o-death.”

  “When you say pink beam-o-death, it sounds a lot less impressive.”

  “Nah,” Tony said, shaking his head. “It was still awesome.”

  They stood in silence for a few more minutes.

  “You know it doesn’t bother me,” Tony said.

  “What doesn’t bother you?” Gabriel asked.

  “You liking guys,” Tony shrugged. “I wanted you to know that it doesn’t bother me...I mean like if you started dating a guy you could totally bring him around and it wouldn’t bother me. Unless he was a jerk or something in which case I am pretty sure that it’s in the bro code that I smack him around a bit.”

  Gabriel found himself smiling at that remark.

  “Well, I assumed you guys were cool with it...but I didn’t want to ever bring it up.”

  “Why not?” Tony asked. His face was one of confusion. “It’s a part of your life and as your friend, even if I don’t get it, I’m still going to support you. No one deserves to be alone.”

  “Yeah,” Gabriel sighed, tossing a twig into fire. “Assuming that I can find a guy.”

  Tony crossed his arms and looked at Gabriel. “Are you serious? Really, if you can find a guy? Come on man, are you kidding me! You’re smart, funny, nice, and even I’ll admit not bad looking, you should have no trouble landing a dude.”

  “Thanks,” Gabriel said. “I just hope that the other guys are cool with it.”

  “Ryan doesn’t give a damn,” Tony shrugged. “And Cody...well I’m not entirely sure about him. You get some alcohol in him and he’s been known to do some pretty strange things. Everett doesn’t care either.”

  “And the girls?” Gabriel asked.

  “Neither one of them is that close minded, I mean look at what we do.”

  “And Ethan?”

  “Ethan?” Tony asked. “Oh that’s right, you have a total crush on him.”

  “I don’t!”

  “Sure,” Tony nodded. “You don’t have a crush on him at all.”

  Gabriel wanted to refute that fact vehemently but he knew that it was true. If Tony picked up on it then it was a good bet that others had too, possibly Ethan.

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Tony shrugged, clapping Gabriel on the shoulder. “Ethan knows he’s hot and he flaunts it every chance that he gets. You wouldn’t be the first guy to fall for it.”

  “Gee, way to make me feel better,” Gabriel grunted.

  Tony only smiled.

  “I’m impressed that you have managed not to burn the whole field down,” Ryan said, striding up to them. Elise, Cody, and Marissa were in tow. “Everett and Ethan are on their way, they stopped off to grab some snacks.”

  “Cool,” Tony nodded. “I was just telling Gabriel here that we don’t care if he started dating a guy and brought him around.”

  “Way to be tactful,” Ryan grunted.

  “Really, you don’t think that you could have phrased that better?” Elise asked, taking a seat. “I swear Tony, sometimes your only redeeming quality is your ability to kick ass.”

  “Hey,” Tony snapped. “And my ability to woo women, you forgot about that.”

  “You aren’t as good as you think you are,” Marissa smiled.

  “I know several women that would disagree with you.”

  Ethan and Everett soon arrived afterward, carrying bags full of chips, candy bars, and all sorts of other junk food. Generally speaking Gabriel avoided most junk food these days, but he figured the occasional exception couldn't hurt.

  “So,” Gabriel asked, as he tore into a bag of nacho cheese chips. “What made you guys want to become Guardians. I mean, I know from all the lore lessons that just because you are born into a clan doesn’t mean that you go on to become a Guardian.”

  Cody was the first to speak up. “My da was a good for nothing wanker and my mom was gone in the head. My aunt always took care of me; she was a Guardian so I followed in her footsteps.”

  “What in the hell did he just say?” Gabriel asked.

  “See,” Ethan pointed out. “No one can understand you!”

  “His dad was a lazy good for nothing dolt and his mom was crazy,” Ryan responded. “Did I translate that well?”

  “Good enough,” Cody nodded.

  “And you?” Gabriel asked, looking at Ryan.

  “My father was a Guardian and so was my mother,” Ryan shrugged. “I always like the idea of fighting evil and where else do you get to play with all these cool toys.”

  “And the girls,” Tony added.

  “Oh yeah and the girls,” Ryan nodded.

  “Oh come on,” Elise said, rolling her eyes. “Girls just don’t throw themselves at you.”

  “You did,” Ethan shrugged.

  “You are such an ass,” Elise growled.

  “Yes but it’s oh so fine.”

  It was evident in Elise’s face that she was fighting down the urge to leap over the fire and throttle Ethan right there.

  “Most of us have family members that are Guardians,” Elise explained. “Most of my family members have been Guardians since the order was first conceived. It’s not for everyone though; my brother was evaluated at an early age and didn’t make the cut.”

  “What happens to them then? I mean does he even know what you guys do?” Gabriel asked.

  “A permanent block is placed in their mind and all memories of the Guardians erased,” Elise continued. “We want them to live out a normal life and as you can probably figure out, that’s a lot easier when you don’t know what goes bump in the night.”

  “It’s just me in my family,” Marissa sighed. “My parents retired as soon as they could and haven’t looked back. It was probably for the best though; to be honest they weren’t very good at it anyway. They got interested in the whole corporate world a while ago and couldn’t wait to get out and make millions. ”

  The regret that seemed to come along with those words surprised Gabriel, usually Marissa was nothing but pleasant, though clearly there was some resentment there. Maybe she was embarrassed that her parents had abandoned the exciting lifestyle of fighting evil for something as mundane as Wall Street.

  “My whole family has always been involved with the Guardians,” Everett said, shoving another handful of chips into his mouth. “I don’t think that we have ever done anything else, so it just sort of made sense for me to keep going. I have a sister and a brother that will be entering the academy next year.”

  “And what about you?” Gabriel asked, looking at Ethan.

  “Do you really think that they would be able to get along without me?” Ethan smiled. It was one of those stupid smug smiles too, one that probably had the girls falling all over him.

  And in this case, you too, Gabriel reminded himself.

  “I never wanted to do anything else and really, would you want me doing anything else but saving the world from the clutches of evil? Plus, in the words of the great Will Smith ‘I make this look good’.”

  “He’s super modest too,” Cody said, taking a swig of his pop. “Bloody hell man, your ego gets any bigger and we’ll have to build a fire for it too.”

  “Just stating the obvious,” Ethan shrugged.

  “What about you?” Gabriel asked, looking over to Tony. At the moment Tony was cleaning his Enforcer pistol, seemingly lost in the process and ignoring the rest of the conversation. He looked up, cocking his head to the side and thought for a moment before answering.

  “I like to blow stuff up,” Tony sm
iled. “And the ladies, this job always gets you the ladies.”

  “Oh for the love!” Elise snapped. “That is not true!”

  “Don’t act like you two haven’t used it to your advantage; remember a few years ago, at the Christmas Ball...”

  Elise blushed instantly. “Do. Not. Share that story if you want to live Irishmen.”

  “Aye,” Cody nodded. “But you just proved my point.”

  “Anyone know any good ghost stories?” Gabriel asked.

  “We live ghost stories dude,” Tony smiled. “Though I suppose some of our missions might actually fit that description, we can tell him about the time me and Elise went up against those Wendigos.”

  “You just want to tell him that story because you both got to use high powered explosives,” Cody said, shaking his head.

  “It still makes for an amusing story,” Tony smiled. “And you don’t have any better ones that won’t scare him, so just sit back and listen.”

  Ethan rolled his eyes. “Oh please like that was that scary, you want to make him wet the bed tell him about that time we fell into that zombie horde, I was scrubbing entrails out of my armor for weeks after that.”

  The next morning, Gabriel did everything like he usually did. He got up and went to Aegis, worked out, ran, and then got in some target practice before changing and heading out to his car for the trip back home. They had been given the rest of the weekend off and Gabriel intended to use his free time to catch up on a lot of reading.

  He pulled out of Aegis and turned toward home, maybe he could convince Sean and Tim go see a movie or something. Ever since he started training with the Guardians he hadn’t gotten a chance to spend that much time with Sean. He felt bad about that, mainly because for a while, Sean was the only friend that he had.

  It wasn’t as cold as it could have been for December in Nebraska, for which Gabriel was eternally grateful. He made a turn toward the highway, cutting through another part of the industrial district. It was mostly abandoned, although there were still a few businesses left. He wondered if Aegis would ever expand this far, effectively revamping yet another city block.

  A light rain started to fall and Gabriel eased off the accelerator slightly. It would be embarrassing to survive an attack by a demon and then end up slamming his car into a telephone pole or something. He made a right turn and headed toward the highway.