by Kunego, Chad
Frank paused as he raggedly sucked in a breath.
“This case though… This case is so far outside of anything that makes sense, I feel like I’m trying to swim through quicksand. No matter how hard I struggle, I just feel like I’m sinking deeper and deeper into a mess that I’m not going to be able to survive. And, by all rights, you didn’t survive tonight. But something intervened and brought you back to me. I’m not going to let that gift be in vain. So yeah, we’re off the case. If you want to continue chasing it down, then you’re going to have to do it without me. I’ll put in a request for a new partner if I have to, but I done with this. You should think strongly about leaving it alone as well. I’m sorry if you feel like I’m letting you down, but I’ve hit my limit.”
Cora stared at him as he got up and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. If he’d looked back, he would have seen the tears that started streaming down her face as well.
§§§§§§§§§§§§
As she thought about it, Cora got angry.
How dare he do this to me? Behind my back even! He did it without even asking me! For that matter, where does he get off trying to guilt me into dropping this case?
She stewed for a bit before buzzing the nurse. A few minutes later, a nurse came in.
“What can I get for you? Do you need something for pain?”
“No, I’m good. What I’d really like is a notebook and a pen if you have one?”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll be back shortly.”
As she waited, she alternated between being pissed at Frank, going over in her head everything they’d learned, and everything that’d happened to them over the past few days. One thing she was sure of now was, the library was important. It was no coincidence that, shortly after her visit and run-in with that guy, Sybil should pop up and hop in her car. Her thoughts were interrupted by the nurse coming back into the room.
“Here you go miss. Is there anything else I can get for you?”
Cora could tell that the nurse was either stressed out from work or was just annoyed with her for bothering her for such a simple request, but she really wasn’t in the mood to apologize, not after her blow up with Frank.
“No thanks. This’ll be perfect. Thanks again.”
“No problem. You already know how to use the call button, so if you need anything else, don’t hesitate to buzz me.”
Cora nodded, already lost in thought as the nurse left the room. She started scribbling out notes of what she already knew. Then she scribbled out what she suspected. Her third list was for questions she didn’t have answers for. That list took significantly longer. When she was done with it, it was a lot more confusing than the previous two. The final list was a time-line with locations for all the events leading up to tonight.
She tore the pages out and spread them out over the little table she managed to pull over from the side of the bed. Looking them over, she started to scribble out more notes.
“Why is the warehouse so far outside the area of where everything else happened?”
There just wasn’t enough info to work from. A majority of what she had was from the inferred movements of Samuel, so she wasn’t sure how much weight to give them compared to the overall picture.
“Damn it… I need my map. I know I’m missing something, but what?”
She could feel herself getting tired again as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Stifling a yawn, she looked back at her lists. She kept tapping on the library. Every time she came back to it, the library seemed to become more central to everything that was going on. She had nothing to base the feeling on, but somehow it just felt right. Another yawn forced it’s way out, nearly bringing tears from the intensity of it. Rubbing her eyes, she started to write another list of things she needed to check out once she was discharged from the hospital, regardless of Frank’s threat. The primary thing was to go stake out the library. Maybe she’d get lucky and spot one of her suspects there. Then she’d be able to either call for backup or possibly even get a warrant to investigate the premises.
She kept going over her notes as her eyes started to droop. She tried to follow her hazy thoughts, to make more connections, but against her will, she drifted off to sleep again.
§§§§§§§§§§§§
Cora woke with a start. It took her a minute to identify what had woken her. Glancing to her left, she found Frank sitting in the chair, shuffling through the small stack of notes she had compiled before she passed out. She sat there without speaking, watching him flip back and forth through the papers, his furrowed brow the only indication of how hard he was concentrating. She tried to repress a smile when she noticed he had gotten out his own notebook, comparing his notes to the ones she had made, glancing back and forth between the two sets. Occasionally, he’d shake his head and either jot something else down in his notes, cross something out, or add to the notes Cora had written down earlier. His sudden voice startled her as he glanced up at her.
“I guess it’s safe to assume that, based off all these notes you wrote down, my threat of getting a new partner didn’t change your mind about continuing to work this case. Since you’re going to be so pig-headed about it, I guess I’ll come along for the ride and watch your six. I haven’t ever abandoned a partner before, so I guess it’d be kinda stupid to start now. So tell me, oh seeker of the hidden mysteries, what exactly do you plan to do once you get out of here?”
Cora tried her best to hide her smile, but it suddenly hit her how much she really wanted Frank to be with her on this case. She realized that, in hindsight, she might not have been able to continue following this case if she didn’t have Frank protecting her back. There wasn’t anyone else in the squad she trusted more than him. Meeting his stare, she gave a slight nod.
“I think the first thing is to do a little more digging into that library for starters. There just something off about it, but I can’t put my finger on it other than the guy I cornered there. He pulled the same stunts as Sybil. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that Sybil found me so soon after my visit, so at the very least, they probably know each other. Either that or the level of luck going on makes me think I should get a lottery ticket or something.”
“Yeah, but I think you mighta used up all that luck surviving your crash, so I think the lottery ticket’ll be a wash.”
Cora chuckled before continuing.
“You’re probably right. Anyway, I also think we should go back to the warehouse and check it out again. If this Sybil chick is to be believed, there’s something more sinister going on than our original suspicion of homeless people being forced to fight to the death. What that might be, I’m at a loss, but it won’t hurt to check again and see if we might have missed something.”
“Sounds about right. I think the crime scene techs are done sifting and collecting all the evidence there. Since we know how weird all this is, maybe we’ll spot something they overlooked. In the meantime, might I make another suggestion since I can’t get you to stop chasing this fool’s errand?”
She cast a dark look at him.
“What?”
“Might I suggest wearing body armor and carrying more firepower on you. If these people are as tough as you’re saying they are, I think we need to go in armed for bear. And not a little tiny black bear or Winnie the Pooh. I’m talking the mutant, rabid grizzly bear that’d strike terror into Godzilla if he ever came across it.”
As another broad smile broke across her face.
“Ya know what, I think that’s the smartest thing you’ve said today.”
He replied by balling up a piece of paper and chucking it at her head.
Chapter 18
“That was unbelievable!”
Samuel glanced over at Blythe. He had to admit, he was pretty impressed with himself as well. He’d just spent the better part of an hour sparring against two, three, and at one point, four other partners. Even against such heavily stacked odds, he was still able to beat them without getti
ng hit. What surprised him more, however, was that he felt more energized and rested now than when he’d first arrived. With a start, he realized he also didn’t feel quite as hungry as he had since leaving the hospital.
“Yeah, I kinda surprised myself as well. Didn’t know I was that good with a sword, or even dual-wielding for that matter.”
“Yeah, Cliff said he’d never seen anyone handle two long swords like that before. Joe had experience with a sword and parrying dagger, but the way they went on and on about it, wielding two swords of the same length is pretty rare.”
“I’m not sure why, but wielding two blades seemed even easier than just the one. It somehow felt more natural than just using the one sword, although it did impair my ability to use my jewelry as a shield.”
“Well, you sure as hell looked impressive doing it. You flowed like quicksilver through them. It seemed like the more people you fought, the smoother you moved through them. I talked to your sparring partners when you took a break. They all said that it felt like you weren’t even there when they went to hit you. Your blocks, for the most part, were so soft that they didn’t even realize you’d deflected them until their blade missed you by inches. Speaking of which, did any of that jog your memories at all?”
Samuel shook his head.
“I wish. I could feel something rattling around just below the surface, but the harder I tried to remember, the further away it felt. I know that I can handle swords for obvious reasons, but I don’t know how I know. The less I thought about it, the easier it became. It was weird, like fighting with swords was more natural than walking or something.”
Blythe surprised him by giggling.
“What’s so funny?”
“You almost sound like the description from a book I read when I was younger about a village of swordspeople,” she said, getting a far-off look on her face. Shaking her head, she continued, “anyway, the main character was from a tribe or clan that basically taught their kids from the crib how to become expert sword-fighters. One of them was worth ten or more regular swordsmen. If they were real, you’d fit perfectly into their society perfectly.”
“Speaking of which, what about you? I couldn’t help but notice you repeatedly downplayed your skills. You pulled back every time you had an opening. I also noticed how you purposely let other’s hit you. Why?”
Samuel watched as she ducked her head slightly before looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
“What? No… You’re wrong. I’m just not that good is all…”
Samuel cocked his head slightly as he looked over at her again.
“Uh… Okay, if you say so.”
Samuel puzzled over why Blythe would purposely play down her skill level.
She’s obviously a much better fighter than anyone realizes, but she hides it in front of her friends. Guess that’s just one more mystery I’ll have to worry about later.
Leaning back into the car seat, he sunk into his own thoughts. With his skills at fighting in general, and sword-fighting in particular, he’d obviously had a lot of training. Even though he looked like he was in his mid-twenties, he was easily able to fight off people who’d been practicing sword-fighting for at least ten to twenty years. How does someone become so skilled with swords at such a young age. As he thought about it, he realized he was making an assumption. Namely, that he was in his twenties. Granted, that’s how old he appeared to be when he looked in the mirror, but since he lost his memory, there was no way to be sure exactly how old he really was. Maybe he lived such a healthy lifestyle that he was in his thirties, or maybe even early forties. There was no way to be sure until his memory came back.
“Samuel?”
“Huh…? Sorry, lost in thought. You were saying?”
“Oh… no problem. I was, uh, asking if you planned on staying at the shelter tonight?”
“Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it, but since I don’t really have a lot of options, it’s either there or the street. So yeah, probably going to crash there.”
He glanced back over at her, watching her drive. From the expression on her face, he could tell she was trying to make up her mind about something. Appearing to come to a decision, she looked over at him.
“Well, I was kinda wondering… I know we don’t know each other very well… but…” she paused for a moment, her breathing increasing slightly. He wasn’t sure because of the low light, but he thought her face was getting flushed. Turning back to him, she suddenly blurted out, “would you like to stay at my place? You know… Until you get back on your feet and your memory returns?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, her eyes snapped forward to stare at the road they were driving on. Her breathing was coming in short, rapid inhalations and exhalations, like she’d just finished a short sprint. She had said it so fast, and without any warning, it took moment for him to process what she’d said.
“I mean, I understand if you don’t want to and everything. We really just met and all. So if you wa—”
“Honestly, I would love to stay at your place instead. I’m going to hazard a guess and suspect it smells a tad bit better than my other choices, to say the least,” he said lightly, trying to put her at ease.
She blinked a couple times, her mouth hanging open in mid-word. Her jaw worked a couple times before any sound came out.
“Oh… OH! Um, sure. Cool… Well, I live not too far from here, so we’ll be there in a little bit.”
Judging from the look on her face, Samuel realized she was severely flustered. If he had to guess, he suspected she hadn’t expected him to say yes, so when he did, she wasn’t sure what to do.
“Thank you for such a generous offer. You didn’t have to, but I really appreciate it.”
“Uh… no problem… I mean you’re welcome…”
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, “you seem to be a little tense about the situation.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” she blurted out, her face getting even more flushed, “I’d love to have you stay the night… I mean… Oh… that didn’t come out right.”
She took a few deep breaths before she continued.
“What I meant to say was, you seem like such a nice guy, I’d feel bad about you having to sleep down at the shelter. Not that it isn’t a nice shelter and everything, but I would hate myself if I just left you there when I could do something about it.”
Samuel looked smiling as he responded, “As long as you’re sure about it, I’d be glad to uh, stay the night.”
He had to quickly grab the door handle when she nearly swerved off the road.
§§§§§§§§§§§§
Blythe nervously fumbled with the lock for a minute, but Samuel pretended not to notice. Instead, he made a show of looking around the hallway as she finally unlocked her apartment door and went inside. He heard the lights click on as he followed her inside.
“I know it’s not much, but unfortunately it’s all I can afford right now. I’m still going to school, so between that, a couple part time jobs, and volunteering at the shelter, it’s the best I can do.”
Samuel glanced around the apartment quickly. It was a pretty cramped space, with a small kitchenette that flowed into the tiny living room. The couch looked well-used but in good condition. As he looked around, he noticed Blythe trying to covertly clean the place. Noticing his look, she hid some clothes behind her back.
“I didn’t get a chance to straighten up before I left this morning,” she said, trying to kick something under a small desk. “It’s usually not this messy.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” he said, purposely turning away from her. He could hear her trying to stuff the items she’d been trying to hide into some nook or cranny that was close by.
Glancing back at her, he noticed her still trying to stuff more stuff into nearby crevices.
“If you can point me in the general direction of sheets and blankets, assuming you don’t mind, I’ll go ahead and make up the couch for tonight.”
“Blythe?” he said, stopping in front of the sword.
“Yeah?”
He reached out, almost touching the blade before pulling his hand back. He admired the sleek lines the blade cast. Without knowing why, he knew this sword was wielded differently than the longswords he’d been practicing with earlier.
“Is it okay if I touch this?”
“Sure, go for it. It’s not near as heavy as the ones you were playing with earlier. Not really wielded the same way either…”
She trailed off as Samuel pulled the sword off the wall and started using it in a way that felt most natural to him. He instinctively used the red tassels dangling from the pommel to blind an imaginary foe as he gracefully swooped and pivoted with the blade. For some reason, he felt it was normal to point the first two fingers of his off-hand like a secondary blade as he continued to glide across the apartment.
“How do you know that form? I’ve been studying it for nearly a year and I don’t look anywhere near as graceful as you do performing it.”
Blythe’s voice snapped him out of near-trance he’d been practicing in. With a sigh, he hung the sword back up on the wall.
“I wish I knew. Like earlier, I just flowed into how that sword felt like it should be handled. For some reason, I just knew it wasn’t used like the swords from earlier. What kind of sword is it, anyway?”
“Well, depending on whether you use the Cantonese or Mandarin name for it, it’s called a Gim or Jian. Most people just call it a Tai Chi sword though.”