James ran through the hospital hallways, heedless of who might shout at him or the dirty looks he received from those he shoved aside. He ran straight to the ICU where several other A.E.C. agents hovered, all of them speaking to different doctors, nurses or eyewitnesses that only sustained minor injuries. They were not done collecting charred corpses out of the downtown library, the medical center or the aquarium. All three targets had been hit simultaneously - a detraction from the normal arson fires of late. The death toll would be astronomical. This was no longer a single arsonist hired by some sick Evolved piece of shit. This was now a coordinated effort with inside information that only A.E.C. agents were privy to. Things were getting worse. This time, witnesses identified one of the perpetrators - a young man with hazel eyes that controlled some of the fires.
“Where is she?” James interjected drawing the circle of attention to himself.
“Agent Falcon, now is not the time,” one of the suits said. James snarled and grabbed him by his perfectly pressed lapel.
“Where. Is. She, Duck?” he repeated through gritted teeth.
“In surgery, Agent Falcon.”
James stopped, letting Duck go. The idiot brushed his coat off as if he were contaminated with dust just by being touched. A short woman in her sixties approached the group with a stern look in her eyes followed by Zephyr in all her ‘haughty spunk’ and then some. The elder woman, Special Agent Gloria “Osprey” Marcus, ran the A.E.C. with a firm hand. She founded the PeaceKeepers and, rumor was, that she was one of the most powerful Evolved walking the earth. None of it mattered to James.
“I need your head clear, Falcon,” Marcus said evenly. James opened his mouth to argue but Osprey forestalled him. “She’s got severe burns that are taking their toll. She’s too weak, weaker than she should be. The Collector was there, we’re sure of it. There are more dead at the library than either of the other two locations, not all of them were burned. Autopsies should confirm our theories but that will take time.”
“He wanted the focus at the library,” Zephyr said. Her accent, he noted, sounded a little on the rough side, as if she’d not slept but still held hints of her high level of education and snobbery. It was mind boggling. “Everyone saw your boy, Agent Falcon. Everyone. What we’re now trying to determine is why.”
James frowned and shook his head. “Hadi is not a killer. If he was there, it was coincidence.”
“Isn’t it your job to follow that freak?” Duck cut in, folding his arms across his chest.
“I was on route to the hospital, per your orders, ma’am,” James said, directing his statement to Zephyr. She pursed her lips at him but did not argue. She had given him such an order. Valerie was already close to the library at the time so she took point there; James took point at the hospital, and one of the PeaceKeepers, Ronin - the woman all in black - took the aquarium. Something had gone wrong. Someone had to be feeding the Collector and whoever he had under his thumb information from the inside. It had to be. That was the only explanation. James refused to believe that Hadi would be involved with any of it, no matter what was at stake or offered.
“The good little soldier, always following orders,” Duck teased. James grit his teeth so hard his jaw clicked.
“My partner is fighting for her life, Angelo,” James snarled. Valerie had just lost her husband to cancer less than a year prior. She had three babies that needed her; three babies that were going to ask why their mommy wasn’t coming home that night. It broke his heart just thinking about them.
“The doctors will do what they can,” Zephyr said. “We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves as well. Neurophage is in there with them. Right now, I need you to focus. Something went wrong. I think you’re on to something with your first responder theory.”
“Agent Zephyr-” James began.
“Just call me Z. Agent never set well with me,” she said. He arched a brow but continued on.
“Fine, with no offense intended, what does my theory have to do with Sparrow or whatever the fuck just happened out there. In case you didn’t notice, three different buildings just blew up! At the same time! My theory be dammed! There is no way two Evolved could have pulled that off on their own.”
“Are you suggesting you think your man had something to do with this?” Zephyr said, cocking her hip to the side.
“No! I don’t know! Look, what I think very clearly doesn’t matter to anyone and right now he’s being hunted like some rabid dog! Whoever this is is still killing people, still out there wreaking havoc and no one is doing anything about it. She shouldn’t have been alone, not with the tip-off we got. She’s got kids waiting for her at home, dammit! Instead of looking for the correct perp, you’ve all been more concerned about harassing a bartender!”
Duck tossed a glare at James for the comment about the bartender. It had been Duck’s assessment that dragged James out of Arizona to monitor Hadi in the first place. While he certainly enjoyed the young man’s company, it had been made very clear from the very beginning that he was not a threat and their resources in following him were being wasted. Even now, with the things the witnesses had seen, James had to believe that Hadi simply ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“The same could be said for you, Falcon,” Duck threw in, plucking invisible lint from his crisp overcoat. “That bartender has had an awful lot of your attention lately. I hope he’s put out for you.”
James threw the first punch, connecting solidly with Angelo’s jaw. Unfairly, the other two that always hovered around Duck retaliated on their ‘leader’s’ behalf, taking James back several steps so that he could not lunge forward and give Duck another fist to the face.
“Gentlemen!” Zephyr barked, placing herself between the two brawlers. “This is neither the time nor the place for petty squabbles. Pull your heads out of your asses and focus! Angelo, take a walk!”
“Are you blind! He hit me first!” Angelo argued.
“NOW!” Zephyr hollered, earning the ire of the nursing staff on hand. Agent Osprey backed her by arching a brow at Angelo and his crones, chasing them out with a single look.
“There is a traitor among us, Agent Falcon,” Zephyr continued after Angelo had gone. “As awful as it is to say, we’re lucky that the only one seriously injured was Agent Sparrow. This could have been much worse.”
That was not what James wanted to hear. They had flubbed this entire operation up, looking in the wrong direction from day one. First Hadi, now Valerie. James clenched his jaw, nostrils flaring in agitation. He wanted to see Valerie, wanted to find answers.
“Are you with us, or not, Agent Falcon?” Zephyr continued. “I need someone that I can trust.”
“I’m with you,” James growled under his breath. “Good. Find Hadi Shahir.”
James frowned at her.
“Do you trust him?” Zephyr pressed. James was not sure how to answer that, but nodded all the same. “He saw what Agent Sparrow did. I trust you. Find your bartender and we’ll have our answers.”
~
A somber gloom settled over the 13th Hour. Mondays were notoriously slow, but, for some reason, this particular Monday felt dead. Lindy wiped down the bar and the tables, even cleaned the vinyl seats of the chairs and booths. Greg sat in his normal seat, but he was the only one in the bar that night.
“Haze,” Greg slurred, already on his second bottle of bourbon. “Refill.”
“Haze, ain’t here, Greg,” Lindy said sadly. Hadi left a message for her earlier that morning, apologizing for any trouble he’d brought to her or Tam, to the bar. He put in his notice, effective immediately, and asked that she look after Amir. She’d finally turned the TV off when the only thing running were the tragedies throughout the city. Four days and that was all anyone talked about; that and the man that caught fire outside the library. Lindy sighed, thinking about Hadi, hoping he was safe. She refilled Greg’s glass, looking up hopefully when the bell above the door rang. Her hope shattered, replaced with livid anger w
hen she saw who walked through the door.
“He’s not here, Agent Kendall,” Lindy snipped.
Greg went so far as to twist around to look over his shoulder as if seeing someone new.
“Where is he, Lindy?” James demanded. Lindy shook her head at him, waggling a finger as she moved out from behind the bar to square off with the man they'd accepted as family; the man who lied to them.
“Nuh-uh, no, you don’t get to treat me like a criminal. I said he ain’t here and I don’t know where he is. Wouldn’t tell you if I did. So you can take your fancy title and your fancy dog and get out of my bar.”
James looked down at Gen who did not understand the complexities of human relationships. She glanced up at Lindy, her big brown puppy dog eyes begging for a treat or a pat on the head. James did not have time for sassy attitude. Lindy did not care.
“Lindy, I’m trying to help him.”
“You’ve got a real shitty way of showin’ it,” Lindy threw back. She waited for an argument, arms folded but he did not give her one. “Just leave, Agent. Ain’t nobody ‘round here what needs your kind of help.”
“This is a public place,” he argued feebly. She glared at him and pointed her middle finger at the sign above the door. It read ‘We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.’
James sighed and left the bar. He stopped outside, popping a bottle of extra strength Tylenol so he could toss back four of the tiny white pills at once. Every part of him hurt for more reasons than one. He’d been splitting his time and attention between work and Valerie’s kids. Explaining that to them was one of the most difficult things he’d ever done. He was not sleeping well and still needed to find Hadi. Then, suddenly, it struck him. He glanced up to the windows above the bar, moving around to the door at the rear of the building where the entrance to the apartments was. He took the steps two at a time, Genevieve following after him with a jingling collar, before stopping in front of a closed door.
“Amir!” James called, pounding on the door to Hadi’s apartment. “Amir! I know you’re there, kid. Ami-”
The door opened, cutting James off mid-holler. Amir stood in the door looking less than impressed. James couldn’t blame him. The smell of incense and ramen wafted out into the hallway. Despite knowing Hadi for several months now, he’d never been to the kid’s apartment. It was small, cozy, and in desperate need of a maid.
“He’s not here, Agent Kendall.”
James silently cursed the day he accepted recruitment from the A.E.C.
“Please tell me you know something about where he might be, Amir.”
Amir shook his head, turning to go back into the apartment. He left the door open, so James followed. Music played in the background, too soft for James to tell what kind, only that the melody was soothing. There were pictures on the wall and three mismatched barstools against the kitchen. The layout was not all that dissimilar to James’ place, if a little more cramped and dingy. The incense masked the heavy smell of pot, and the counter had a tiny dish of questionable white powder that James was positive was not used for washing dishes.
“I dunno,” Amir sighed. “Give it time, you have everyone in Chicago hunting him down.”
“It’s standard operating procedure after something like that happens. I didn’t put the order in. Please, Amir.”
“You still think he blew up the library?” Amir questioned. James opened his mouth but then sighed and shook his head. He flapped his arms helplessly. He didn’t know what to think. The evidence was damming but James had severe doubts; it just wasn’t in Hadi’s nature. “Let me show you something.”
James followed Amir back to a bedroom piled floor to ceiling with books and magazines, charts, or miniature pieces of artworks. There was a small record player on the dresser and a stack of vinyls on the floor beside it along with more questionable paraphernalia that James chose to ignore. Everyone had their demons. “Is this your throne room?”
“It’s not mine,” Amir said gently. He spoke in softer tones than Hadi, his accent a little thicker but no less alluring. “It’s Hadi’s. Any book, any page, ask him to tell you what’s on it and he will tell you word for word. Any record, he can sing for you or play on that stupid keyboard he keeps under his bed after hearing it only once. He is the smartest man that I know. Do you really think he would do something so awful as blow up knowledge?”
James felt like an ass. He hadn’t known this part of Hadi. There was nothing in the files about a young man with eidetic memory, or a thirst for knowledge. It was not random knowledge either. There were books on religion and philosophy, science, and history. He had full fantasy series, or historical fiction, even a few romance novels. The music was just as varied, from Mozart to the Beatles, and Marilyn Manson.
“I need to talk to him, Amir. It is so important. The only other person I trust is fighting for her life right now. Hadi saw what she did. I need to know what he saw; who he saw; what happened at that library. No one will give us a clear answer. And… I need you to talk to Lindy.”
“Lindy? Why?” Amir asked, walking back out to the living room. James followed feeling oddly like an intruder.
“I need to talk to her boyfriend.”
“You think her boyfriend did this?” Amir asked incredulously. James shook his head, rubbing his face in exasperation.
“No, no… Hadi said something about it the night he stayed at my place. He said she was dating a fireman. It’s been nagging at me ever since. I think… I think the guy setting all these fires is a first responder; a firefighter. Which means, Lindy’s boyfriend has probably talked to this guy; probably a lot. He might know something, have seen something that could indicate an Evolved. But, she won’t give me the time of day.”
Amir looked at him. His phone chimed twice, indicating a text. He looked at James, then at the phone. James shrugged, letting him answer the text.
“It’s Lindy,” Amir said. “Hadi’s coming to the bar tonight.”
“Amir…”
“I’ll talk to her.”
10
The 13th Hour was James Kendal’s second home. He knew it as well as his own one- bedroom apartment, even made suggestions for new scents to be placed in the bathrooms that were not as caustic as ‘evergreen dream’ or ‘cinnamon swirl’. However, standing in the dark hall that led back to those same bathrooms suddenly made him feel like an intruder. Zephyr - now known to him more casually as Z - stood beside him, idly tapping her fingers together. The rest of her team were positioned at various points around the 13th Hour or in locations nearby should Hadi try to run. Somewhere inside, James felt that the whole situation was wrong; Hadi was not a criminal, he felt that in his marrow.
“Penny for your thoughts, Agent Falcon,” Zephyr said, interrupting James’ brooding mind.
“You don’t have enough pennies,” he shot back. His voice was pitched low, a croaking whisper while they hid, waiting and hoping Amir did not lead them astray.
“This isn’t your cup of tea, is it?” she persisted. He gave her a sidelong glance but kept silent. He was not really in the mood for idle conversation. She was the type of woman who persisted until you wanted to scream, however, so he answered.
“I’m a soldier, Agent Zephyr,” he said, not comfortable with her insistence on being so casual. “I follow orders and don’t normally question. What I did - I regret. It wasn’t right. We’re chasing down an innocent man like he’s vermin - to what end? Our job is to protect the populace, to make sure the Evolved don’t get out of hand, not to cage them up like animals in a zoo. This entire thing has just.. I doubt you’d appreciate the situation as much if roles were reversed.”
She remained blessedly silent for a time then nodded. “No, I suppose I wouldn’t.”
James glanced at her but remained silent. He’d said his piece. His attention was diverted anyway by the sound of mumbled voices. He heard Lindy clear as day, but the others were softer, deeper. James dared a peek around the corner. Amir blocked some of his
view, but Virgil Krisken stood like a monolith above the smaller group. Lindy was there and, presumably, Hadi as well. It was Virgil that threw him off. James did not expect to see the large ex-con there.
“…’ana asif,” Amir said.
“For what?” Hadi asked, giving James his cue to stop skulking like a rat in a dark alley.
“For me, Hadi,” James said as he stepped out around the corner. “He’s sorry for me.”
“You little ass!!” Lindy screeched, slapping Amir on the back of the head. “You called them!!”
“We’re outta here,” Virgil said, placing a large, beefy hand on Hadi’s shoulder so that he could be tucked in front of Virgil’s very imposing form.
“Sit down, Crush,” Zephyr said, joining James in the main bar area. “Yes, I’m well aware of who you are. We’re only here to talk.”
“Girlfriend?” Hadi snapped, directing his ire at Zephyr though the question was meant for James.
“Hardly,” she replied evenly. “You can call me Z.”
Hadi’s eyebrow shot up, arms folded across his chest. Amir hovered nearby, as protective of Hadi as Virgil and Lindy, but less volatile than the other two. He, at least, maintained a calm exterior no matter what the situation presented.
“I need to know what happened at the libray, Hadi,” James said gently. Hadi frowned, practically sneering at James. “Please. I need to know what you saw; who you saw.”
“Ask the asshole with the eyebrows,” Hadi barked. “You know, the other pyro-Evolved that tried to torch that lady I took to the hospital.”
James frowned. This was not in the report.
Victims of the blast were all carried in by first- responders or treated in emergency triage tents. And the only Evolved reported on sight was Hadi.
“Who filed the report?” James said, looking at Zephyr in her business casual attire with a sword strapped to her back. His job was nothing if not interesting.
“Angelo,” she said through a heavy breath. And, suddenly, everything clicked into place. James could see it in her bright green eyes, the way she turned her head slowly to meet his gaze, knowing he came to the same conclusion. Angelo Gustavo was their mole and an Evolved.
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