Judas

by Caleb Meeks

  Matthew came out of his room as I was pulling the phone from my ear. I was surprised to see him awake at the same time as me. “Hey, sorry, did I wake you?”

  “No, not at all. Just couldn’t fall back to sleep. Is everything okay?” He asked, noticing the concerned look on my face.

  “I don’t know.” I said, gripping my phone harder than I had intended.

  “What’s going on?” The tenseness rose in his voice too.

  “I just got a message from an old contact of mine. One of the most reliable in the business.”

  “What did they say?”

  “He said that Abaddon is moving. He doesn’t know what he’s planning, but he knows that something is happening, and he thinks it’s safe to say it’ll be directed at taking me out.”

  “What are you going to do?” His voice was shaky, but he was clearly trying to keep it under control.

  “I don’t think you’re going to like it.” I stated.

  “Try me.” He stoically responded.

  “I think it’s time to tell your people. I can leave you out of it completely, though.”

  “No, no way. There is no way you’re leaving me out of it.”

  “Matthew, I appreciate the superhero bravado, but standing up and saying that you were harboring not just a criminal, but me, is suicide. You could jeopardize everything if you do that.”

  “I know, but I don’t care. I’m part of this now, whether I like it or not, I’m involved. If they try to take you down, and they will, you will need someone to vouch for you. Cadman, the guy you shot back when we first made contact, is going to be there, and he has a vengeance against you. If I’m not there, he is going to rip you into pieces before you can even say that you are there to help them. That’s how it went the last time, and even though I know that you didn’t do it, and he does too, he doesn’t know you, or trust you, like I do now. I can’t let you walk in there alone.”

  By then, I had stood up, and my hands were resting on my hips. “I don’t like it, because I know how wrong it could go. I also know that I can’t convince you to not side with me, so if you decide to side with me, you have to know that you could end up far worse than you think.”

  “I know. Like I said, I am a part of this. But, you need a mediator between your story and the one they have come to believe. That’s why I have to be there. I’m not going to let you go down. I don’t fully understand what’s going on, but it’s far too important to be taken as lightly as they are going to take it.”

  “Then get ready. We’ve got some people to talk to.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven.

  I sat in the passenger seat next to Matthew. We hadn’t said a word since we left his apartment. It wasn’t out of anger, but both of us were lost in thought contemplating how this would go. We both had a lot riding on the success of this, and if they decided to arrest both of us, it would be hopeless.

  I could see how tense Matthew was just in the way he was holding the steering wheel. His hands had been white for the past five minutes from gripping it so tightly. “You can still change your mind, Matthew. I wouldn’t blame you.” He snapped out of his daze.

  “I know I can. It probably would be smarter to let it all fall on you, but I can’t do that. We both lost the most important person in our lives because they looked at us at our worst and saw what we could be before we even saw it. This may be the only time, for both of us, to make sure they didn’t die in vain. Yeah, I’m terrified of what’s going to happen, but nothing good ever happened from sitting back and doing nothing.”

  “Alright, then.” I said, an impressed smile across my face. He looked over at me serious faced, but when he noticed my smile, one spread across his face too.

  We continued to drive in silence, but the silence was less tense. There was something empowered between the both of us, and a presence that seemed to cover the stress. “What does your partner know? And the rest of the station for that matter?” I asked, looking to further understand what I was going to be walking into.

  “Leo Cadman, my partner, knows you didn’t have anything to do with the attack four years ago. That doesn’t mean he trusts you yet, though.”

  “Rightfully so.” I interjected. “That’s not the only thing I’ve done to justify my reputation, so I don’t expect anyone to believe I’m innocent just because of that.”

  “Good, because everyone in there knows you as the man who’s been at the top of the FBI’s most wanted list. Most of them in there don’t even really know who you are. There are entire teams dedicated to keeping you out of the media, and even in this station, most people haven’t been exposed to any details of the case. Cadman gave some big speech about it right before I got back, but I don’t know how much he gave out. Most likely, you are going to walk into a room full of people who are going to want to drop you. It’s our job to give them a reason not to.”

  “That’s the hard part.”

  “Right. Are you armed?”

  “No, I left everything back at your place.”

  “Good, they won’t react well to you being armed. Like I said, they still think you’re the guy who is capable of taking down fifteen guards in under a minute.”

  “Well, in their defense, I am.” He looked at me with a sarcastically amused expression.

  “I can’t argue with that, but hopefully it won’t come to it.” He hoped.

  “It won’t. I know that we’re going to be walking on thin ice already, and if I react like I normally would and take everyone down, that ice will break.”

  “Right. I’ll try my best to keep everyone off of you, but I make no promises. There are a few people who will, quite literally, want a piece of you.”

  “I know, I’m ready for that. I guess this is the part where we pray it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Yeah, this is that part.” There was clearly strain in his voice, but we were both ready…at least as ready as we were going to be.

  “How far?” I asked.

  “A couple minutes. You sure you’re ready for this?”

  I laughed. “No, but if I’ve learned anything, sometimes you’ll never be ready.” We were quiet for the next few minutes. When we turned on the street that the station was on, both of us tensed up. We pulled into the parking garage and sat in the car for a solid minute before either of us moved. I made the first move. Opening the car door felt like lead in my hand, but there was no way I was stopping after coming this far. I had my doubts, but it was a long time coming. There was something coming, and it was time to let it out into the open.

  I stepped out of the car and closed the door behind me. Matthew did the same a few seconds after. We looked at each other, and with a silent nod, we walked towards the elevator. There wasn’t anyone in it, except for us. Normally there would be irritating elevator music to accompany the ride, but there was nothing. It was totally silent, with the exception of our heavy breathing. I felt a hand grip my shoulder. Matthew stood behind me, a smile on his face. “You’ve got this.”

  I smiled and nodded. The doors opened, and we were facing a woman sitting at the front desk. “Let’s go.” I mouthed.

  We stepped out of the elevator. I even recognized a few of the people in the room, but they would never recognize me. They’d never even seen me. A few people looked up, but considering it was a police station, they didn’t give any abnormal attention to us. Of the few that gave lingering glances, once they made eye contact with me, they looked away. For some reason, the reaction people had to seeing me now was less fulfilling. Being powerful has its drawbacks, I suppose.

  We had taken a few steps forward when a man I recognized turned the corner. I recognized him because I shot him. It was Leo Cadman. As expected, he recognized me too. He looked up from his folder, and locked eyes with me, and then with Matthew. He seemed to look past me for a moment, and only see Matthew, but then his eyes quickly darted back to me, and that’s when he stopped walking. His eyes locked into mine, and the folder in his hands fell to the floor.
I saw the bloody rage building up in his eyes. All of this happened in the span of two seconds, and Matthew had only been able to take one step past me before Cadman broke.

  I watched, almost outside of my body, as Matthew’s hand extended to try and calm the detective. He didn’t seem to even see the younger officer. Cadman lurched toward me, and when Matthew tried to grab him, he slammed a fist into his face. I watched Matthew fall to the ground as the blood slowly oozed from his nose and mouth. By now, people were standing up from their chairs to see what was going on, but they were just starting to stand when Cadman first grabbed hold of me.

  There were yells coming from the background, but they stayed in the background. The only thing I could focus on was the animal coming at me. I stopped seeing everything in slow motion when he slammed me into the back wall, though. He grabbed my shirt and had rammed me back as hard as he could. My head smacked against the wall. It was like the officer had become possessed by some carnal beast. His fists were slamming into my stomach so hard that I lost count of how times he’d hit me.

  Matthew had gotten up from the ground and vaulted himself at Cadman to try and get him off. Cadman let up enough to turn around, fling Matthew off his back, and slam his fist into his face again. In the time that he turned around, I had slid down the wall, and was almost sitting on the ground. He flipped around, still filled with more anger than I’d ever seen.

  He leaned down enough to grip my clothes and pulled me back up. Using the momentum from lifting me up, he threw me onto the ground. I landed on my back, still in shock from everything. I was aware that there was blood oozing from my mouth, but it was like I was watching from a different view. It felt different to not fight back, considering I knew that I could quickly have him on the ground in the same bloody mess that he was leaving me in. I knew that if I tried to fight back, it would end up a lot messier than if I just let him get it out.

  Just as quickly as I hit the ground, he was on top of me. At this point, people were crowded around trying to figure out what to do. Matthew was shaking himself awake just a few feet from us. Cadman did not let up and kept sending fists into my face. I could feel my face bleeding, and his hand was dripping. Whether it was my blood or not, I wasn’t sure.

  In between hits, I could see Matthew get to his feet. He looked just as enraged as Cadman, but for different reasons. Matthew launched himself at Cadman, landing on top of him next to me.

  “Leo, you need to calm down!” I could hear him screaming. There were people several deep around us, but no one had stepped close enough to do anything. They were all just intensely watching. I managed to pull myself a few feet from Matthew and Cadman along the ground, but Cadman pushed him off a few seconds after he got him away from me.

  Matthew stepped up and got in between the both of us. “What are you doing, Newman?” He seemed to be a little more human.

  “You need to calm down. He’s just here to talk. No one wants to cause any more bloodshed.” Matthew sounded authoritative, but I could sense the fear in his voice.

  “So, what? You’re working with him now?” Cadman’s rage started building up again.

  “Leo, of course not. I’ve spent the past month and a half working with you, trying to take him down, but there is so much more to this case than we could have ever imagined. There is so much more to Judas than we could have ever imagined. He has done awful things, but he is trying to help us here. You and I both know that he has done terrible things, but you need to listen to him.” I had managed to pull myself back to consciousness.

  “And why should we trust him? He’s put down so many people, how do we know that he’s not just trying to add a few to his list. This guy has built a life on manipulating people, and you brought him here. How did you even get him here?”

  “He’s been in my apartment for the past week.”

  Cadman gave Matthew a sickened look. “He’s been in your apartment for the whole week?”

  “I was on my way home last week, the night after he took me, and I heard something in an alley. I don’t why I decided to walk down it, but I did. I found him sitting in a pool of his own blood, hours away from dying, and I made a snap judgement call to take him back. I know we put guys like him behind bars, but I couldn’t let him die.”

  “And why didn’t you call us after you decided to play savior? He could be behind bars, and alive.”

  “Because, I decided he was far more valuable outside of a prison cell.”

  Cadman took a deep breath and covered his mouth in contemplation. “Why should we listen to what he has to say?”

  “You shouldn’t.” I injected. Both men turned and looked at me, still laying on the ground.

  “I don’t want to hear anything out of your mouth yet.” Cadman barked.

  Matthew stuck his finger out and pointed it at Cadman. “Hey, you need to listen to him. He’s already proven that he’s serious about being here. If he wasn’t, there’s no way he would have let you beat him like that. And, on top of that, all those cases that we’ve been able to solve are because of intel he gave me. I think you should hear him out.”

  Cadman looked down at me, and I could see the disgust oozing out of him like the blood oozing out of my face. “You have no reason to trust me. In fact, you have every reason to put a bullet in my head or put me in a jail cell for the rest of my life. I can’t come up with any reason why you shouldn’t. I’ve done more awful things in my life than anyone in this room could even imagine, I’m not denying that. I own that, and believe me, I’ll be owning that for the rest of my life. But right now, I am trying to make something right. I know you don’t think I deserve a second chance, but even if you never stop hating me, I have information that will change everything.”

  Cadman looked like he had to make a choice between two impossibilities. He gently shook his head at Matthew, then looked down at the floor. After giving an exasperated sigh, he looked back up at me and Matthew. “Conference room. I’ll get the captain.” He turned and looked directly at me. “Try anything, and I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in you.” I was tempted to make a snide remark about the number I’d already had in my body, but I just nodded. He angrily stomped away, parting the crowd of people without even saying a word. Once he reached the other end of the room, he stopped, “You all have jobs to do. Get back to them,” and then he continued walking. The crowd immediately jumped back to their tasks.

  Matthew stepped towards me once Cadman was out of sight. “Well that didn’t go quite as bad as it could have gone.” He leaned down, helped me up, and braced me with an arm around my back.

  I laughed in response. “I guess that’s true.”

  “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up a little bit.”

  “I think it’s best to not keep your partner waiting.”

  “And I think it’s best you don’t drip blood all over our conference room. They can wait a few minutes.”

  “Alright, that’s fair.”

  We walked towards the station’s washroom while every single person in the building watched us. Even though Cadman told them to get back to work, as soon as he was out of the room, everyone split into groups, whispering theories about what happened. It became even clearer that no one really knew anything about the case. I heard my name get thrown around a few times, but not many facts were said other than that.

  Matthew had me sit down on a bench in the shower room. The few people who were in the room when we walked in quickly came up with a reason to leave, so we were alone within a few minutes. One man asked if I was alright, but it was a long story, so I just nodded my head and he left. Matthew grabbed a washcloth and started wiping the blood from my face. “So, Cadman seems like a nice guy.”

  Matthew laughed. “He actually is. If you knew him like I did, you’d see that he really is a good guy. He takes his job really seriously and considering people have been trying to bring you down for so long, finding out your partner has been hiding him from you is understandably upsetting.” We both were quiet. �
�His wife left him because of how devoted he was to his work. He’s passionate.”

  “I see. Does he always rough up your suspects like that?”

  “That is one thing I have never seen him do. Nice job not killing him, though, I know it was probably hard for you.”

  “I had help.” Matthew smiled. “Thank you for standing up for me like that. I know it takes some backbone to stand up to your superior.”

  “My pleasure. I mean, when you consider that you stood up to your superior and he shot you, this wasn’t that bad.”

  “Well, that’s true, but our superiors are a little different.”

  “Can’t argue with that. Alright, you’re good. How’s your stomach?”

  “Well, considering your partner practically drove a semi through it, I’d say it’s doing okay.” I stood up and walked to the sink. The water that came out was cold, but it felt good. I filled my hands, swished it around my mouth, and spit back into the sink. Bloody water swirled down the drain. My teeth didn’t seem to have been damaged, though. Most of the blood seemed to have come from my nose, a few splits in my lips, and a split over my cheekbone. I turned around and look at Matthew. “How’s your face doing?”

  “Not near as bad as yours. Though I will say, I didn’t expect him to hit me.” “You want to change? You’ve got some blood on your shirt. I have another one in my locker right over there.”

  “Yeah, that would be great actually.” He walked across the room to the locker he pointed to and pulled out a black t-shirt like the one I was already wearing. He threw it to me. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. You ready to go in there?”

  I put the new shirt on and threw the bloody shirt in the trash. “We’ve come way too far to not be.”

  “Let’s go, then.” I nodded at him, and we exited the room. The conference room was down the hallway away from the people in the common area, but I could still feel their eyes on us. I followed him silently through the hallways, and eventually we came to a large room with all the windows covered. We could hear two people talking inside, but it was impossible to make out. It didn’t sound happy, though. Matthew turned to me one last time. I gave him the silent nod of approval. He opened the door, and both Cadman and the Captain stopped their conversation to lock eyes with us. I entered the room first, Matthew right behind me.