by Caleb Meeks
The captain stepped up. “Mr. Judas, my name is James Tradere. I hear you have something you’d like to speak to us about.”
I immediately straightened my back and made myself look more like my previous then I’m sure I looked with the red, inflamed face. “That’s correct.”
“Excellent.” The Captain said. Cadman stood behind him looking angrily defeated.
“Newman, you can go.” Cadman said.
Newman confusedly looked down at me. “No, he can stay.” I asserted.
“Look, I will make the decisions here. If I tell him to go, he goes. Don’t act like you have any authority here, unless you want to go another round, that is.”
“Alright Detective Cadman, I understand that you don’t like me, but you need understand that the only reason I let you beat me like you did was because I didn’t want anyone getting shot. Specifically, your partner. I won’t let it happen again.” I turned and looked at Matthew. “Sit down.” He took a seat in the chair next to mine.
“Alright, now that we’ve got that covered, what is it that you would like to discuss?” The captain said.
“I’m aware that you all have me slated as the most dangerous criminal in the world. FBI, most wanted, all that. I own up to everything I’ve done, and it hasn’t been good. What you, and you, Detective Cadman, need to understand is that there is someone far more dangerous than me in this world. I know that because I used to work for him. After I broke ties with him, he disappeared. Everyone, including me, thought that he had died. Four years went by, and we didn’t hear anything from him. Recently, however, he’s decided to resurface. I’m assuming you are both aware of Hank Barnaby’s murder? Detective Cadman, I’m aware you were even at the scene.” Both men nodded. “I know you all had me as the prime suspect, what with my name being smeared in blood all over the window, but I had nothing to do with that. Now, the money, and the criminal history that came out was me, but I didn’t kill him.”
“Why should we believe you?” Cadman quipped.
“I guess you have no reason to. But, you have been covering my case for a couple months now, and I’m sure you did your research into the past seven years. Have I ever left something that so blatantly links a crime to me? It took a year to even make a case against me because no one connected the dots. Does that really sound like something I would do?”
“That’s fair.” He conceded, some of the initial disgust and anger rolling off his shoulders.
“What’s this guy’s name?” The captain asked.
“He goes by Abaddon.” I responded.
“Alright, and what is Abaddon planning?” He seemed oddly calm about what I was telling him. Even Cadman’s disposition had changed from anger directed at me to curiosity about him.
“I don’t know, exactly. I got a message this morning from an old contact. He works with some of the bad guys, but he’s good at leaking solid intel. I’ll play it for you.” I pulled my phone from my pocket, readied the message, and set it in the middle of the table. Everyone, even Matthew, focused intently on it. I watched their faces as he talked about Abaddon’s plans. They all looked up at me when he said that Abaddon’s plans were directed at me and looked at me even more sharply when he said I was the only hope for saving them. Cadman himself looked stunned. The way he looked at me had completely changed, too. No one had gotten to say anything when someone pounded on the door.
The captain’s eyes shot up from the phone on the table to the door. “Who is it?”
The door creaked open, and a young man stepped in. He both looked and spoke like he was new. “Sorry to bother you, but there’s someone here asking for him.” He pointed at me when he said him. The four of us exchanged confused glances.
Cadman was the first one to stand. “I’ll handle it.” He heroically walked out of the room, the new officer in tow.
I stood up second. “What are you doing?” Matthew asked.
“Someone came here asking for me by name. Call me paranoid, but I don’t feel like that’s harmless.” He stood up after me, and we both followed after them, trying to be as quiet as possible. The captain did not follow, as far I as I could tell. We walked to the edge of the wall, but I stopped before I was out in the open. I could hear Cadman talking to the man. The voice immediately brought an image to mind. I edged the side of my head around the corner, just enough to get a glimpse of him. Just as quickly as I stuck my head out, I pulled it back in, sighing as I leaned it against the wall. “Great.” I moved to step around the corner, but Matthew grabbed my arm.
“What are you doing?” He coaxed, concern on his face.
“I’m going to try and save your partners life.” He loosened his grip, which gave me the ability to complete my step around the corner. My hands were up in the air, not that it mattered, but it gave the impression of innocence. “Alright, I’m here. What do you want Dimos?”
His face instantly lit up. “Lovely.” In one motion, he had pulled a knife from behind him, and had Cadman locked in his arm. The knife was pressed into his throat. “Judas, it’s good to see you. You look…mediocre.”
“I wish I could say that it was good to see you too. What do you want?”
“Always been a man against small talk. I got a call that you were here, and well, I’m sure you know that the big man is looking for you. It’ll look pretty good for me to be the one to deliver you to him, don’t you think?”
“I think it’s sad that he needs someone to bring me to him.”
“Oh, no. You don’t understand. Abaddon isn’t the one who sent me out for you. One of these people called me.” He gestured around the room.
My mind immediately started searching for the person who did it. “Okay, well if you want me, then why do you have him?”
“Oh, Judas, you have to be alive for me to get rewarded. He doesn’t.” I saw the muscles in Cadman’s neck tense. “You used to be so much fun, I don’t know what happened.”
“That’s a good question, Dimos, but I get the feeling that you’re not here to listen to the answer.”
“Always did love your intuition. So, basically what’s going to happen is that you are going to come with me, and if anyone in this room so much as itches their nose, I’ll kill everyone. Sound good?”
“Sounds good.” I agreed.
“Then let’s get on with it, I want to get out of here.” I started towards him, making sure to not aggravate him enough that he decided to kill Cadman. There was still the possibility that he might kill him for fun, but I tried as hard as I could to keep that probability as low as possible. I walked until both were directly in front of me. “Great, but I think I want to kill this one.” He gestured to Cadman, and I saw the fear raise in his eyes.
I reacted instantly. As Dimos pulled his knife back, simply to get momentum so he could puncture Cadman’s throat easier, I kicked Cadman’s thigh. Because his knee was locked, his leg buckled, and he dropped. Dimos looked up at me with a look of pure shock. Clearly, he didn’t expect me to try and fight back. I dropped my hands and reached out, grabbing the arm that had the knife in it. He tried to push against me, but I had the momentum advantage, so his arm bent back away from the both of us.
His grip on Cadman had loosened, which gave him the ability to step out of the headlock. Dimos noticed that Cadman was stepping away and took a swing at him. I took another kick at Cadman, this time hitting the back of his knee, which caused him to drop to his knee. Dimos’ knife slipped just over him as he fell to the ground. With his arm in front of me, I took the opportunity to wrap mine around it. He looked me in the eyes, realizing the error in his ways. In one fluid motion, I jerked my arm down, and felt the bone in his elbow crack. He screamed in pain, dropping the knife at his feet. I stomped my foot down on top of it, making sure he wouldn’t be able to pick it back up. While he recovered from the bone breaking, I pulled him towards me, slamming my fist into his face. He stumbled backwards. I bent over, grabbing the knife from under my foot.
He came barreling back t
owards me. He grabbed hold of my arms, which stung the still healing slit down my arm, and with the force he had, pushed me down onto the ground. He landed on top of me, but in a way that gave me the control. The knife in my hand slipped into his stomach, and he stopped fighting immediately. His eyes glazed over. With one arm, I pushed him over to the ground next to me. Everyone in the room couldn’t believe everything that had just happened.
Much to my surprise, the first face that walked up to me was Cadman. He held a hand out to me. I took hold of it, and he pulled me back to my feet. “Thank you.” He said, squeezing my hand. I gave a single affirmative nod to him.
The captain walked around the corner, past Matthew. He looked horrified when he saw the bloody outcome. “Alright, I’m getting really sick of you being here.” The nice, interested man that was just in the conference room changed. He pulled his gun from the holster on his hip, pointing it at me. “Seriously, you’ve been here for thirty minutes and you’ve already killed someone.” He changed his audience to the people around him. “This is Judas. He’s the one that Detective Cadman was spouting about on the desk. His kill list has more people than any of you could imagine. And, to top it all off, Officer Matthew Newman, as well as Detective Leo Cadman have clearly decided to side with him.”
Matthew stepped up. “Alright, look. Yes, Judas did all the things that the Captain said that he did, but that’s not why he’s here. That’s not why I’m here with him either. There is something bigger than all of us at work here. There’s even a security tape that shows Judas knows what he’s talking about. Leo, where did you put the tape?”
“It’s in the Captain’s office. We watched it the night you picked Judas up.” Matthew walked into the office just behind them. He was in there for a few minutes but came out empty handed.
The captain smiled in victory. “See, they’re delusional.” He spoke to the officers in the room. They all were still trying to process everything.
Cadman took a few steps forward. “Matthew, how much faith do you have in this guy?” He asked, now standing right behind me.
Matthew looked at his partner, trying to figure out why he was asking. “I have total faith in him.”
The Captain watched everything like it was a movie plot he didn’t understand. Cadman coyly removed his firearm and put it into the hand I had behind my back, so that no one would see it. “Don’t miss.” He whispered.
“Really? After beating him nearly to death, you are actually going to side with him? Your mistake.” He readied the gun to take a shot. I pulled the gun Cadman had just planted and pulled the trigger before Tradere could. The bullet flew into his leg. He wailed in pain, giving me just enough time to dash towards him. I kicked the gun out of his hand and put him on his knees.
“I said don’t miss!” Cadman said confusedly.
“I didn’t. One already died today. It doesn’t need to be two.” I reached into his jacket pocket and dug out his cell phone. “His last text says, ‘he’s here’. If I dial the number, let’s see who answers.” I clicked the button to dial the number. From across the room, a phone started ringing, right from the pocket of the man I’d just put a knife through. Everyone’s faces changed. They didn’t know what was going on, but they knew that had been swearing allegiance to a two-faced traitor.
Two men in the back of the room stood up. They walked up to me, still holding the captain down. “We’ll take him for you.” They said, surprisingly steadily. They nodded, almost like I was a peer. Part of the team, even.
I stepped back, handing him off to them. “Thank you.” Each man grabbed an arm, and they walked him away. I suddenly became aware of all the eyes on me, looking for answers. I made eye contact with a few of them, and was greeted by curiosity, but not fear. Something I wasn’t used to. I walked back to the front of the room, where Cadman was still planted.
He leaned in towards me. “I hear that the desk is a good place to give speeches.” I laughed, then decided to take his advice. Just like everyone said he had, I climbed up on the desk. Everyone’s eyes were glued to me.
“I know everybody is probably questioning everything right now. Even I’m questioning everything right now. My name is Judas, and like you have heard more than once in the past few minutes, I am a terrible criminal. I have done things you couldn’t even imagine. I won’t stand up here and try to convince you I’m one of the good guys, because there is no way I could do that yet. I hope, though, that we can work together and maybe work to remedy some of the things that I’ve done. There was an incident that happened four years ago that involved the death of fifteen officers, as well as two detectives. It was largely covered up because no one wanted to let details out. I was involved in that. I wasn’t responsible for it, but I think it’s important to mention, considering it’s the reason I’m here. Now, there is a video that shows everything I am about to tell you, but I don’t have access to it as of this minute. Your captain did something with it, and it could take some time to dig it back up. What this video shows, though, is a man breaking into this station, an entourage of guards behind him, killing those fifteen guards, and the two detectives. It also shows him taking me from the room, only after shooting me.” I lifted my shirt just enough to showcase the scar. “I’ve even got the scar to prove it. The man’s name is Abaddon. I could give you a list of things he’s done, including the Barnaby murder, but that would take far too much time, which we unfortunately don’t have a lot of. What’s important right now is understanding that Abaddon is making moves. I heard from a very reliable person just this morning that he is planning something. Abaddon used to be a business partner of mine. I was almost an apprentice of his. What happened four years ago was what happens when you try and walk away from him. I have more scars to prove that, too. Because I walked away from him, I’m his prime target, and if the intelligence that I received this morning is correct, whatever it is that Abaddon is planning is directed at me. I wish I could tell you that there was an easy way to fight him, but there isn’t. He is a purely evil entity, and he is far too good at what he does to underestimate how powerful he can be. I know that I am just a criminal to everyone here, and I haven’t really even given you any solid reason to believe me, but I hope that there is enough proof in this room, between the body on the floor, unveiling your captain as a traitor, and the support from Officer Newman to prove that I can be trusted.”
“Support from me too.” Leo said, flashing a smile up to me. “Look, you all watched me beat this man to a bloody pulp an hour ago. He didn’t have to let me do that. I very easily could have ended up like the hitman that just came to try and kill him, and me, for that matter. Because of Judas, I am alive, and he is not. I don’t care if you don’t like the idea of working with a criminal, you might be alive because of him. We are police, we protect people from the bad guys, and Judas has come to help us take down one of the bad guys. So, if you are in this, go ahead and stand up. I stood on the desk, stunned by Leo’s supportive speech. Turning my eyes to the crowd of officers, I watched as they all, one by one, stood up. “Excellent.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight.
I joined Matthew and Leo in the conference room we were just in with the captain. Leo had delegated tasks to the officers in the other room, everything from trying to triangulate Dimos’ phone, to tearing apart the captain’s office. While they were working, he said he wanted to discuss moving forward. The three of us stood around the table in the middle of the room.
“What are we going to do about all this?” Leo asked.
“Well, under normal circumstances, we would have a lot of paperwork to do, but I get the feeling we don’t have a lot of time to do any of that.” Matthew said. “I think head authority would pass to you, Leo, so you’re in charge here.”
“Well that may be, but this is new territory for all of us. I don’t even know what to do about this situation with the Captain. This station has practically gone rogue.” Leo admitted, rubbing his forehead.
“What’s your first in
stinct?” I asked.
Leo inhaled, setting his hands on the table. “My first instinct would be to bring in a team. I have some friends in the DEA, DIA, FBI, I mean I know that some of them don’t directly apply, but in a case like this, I think everyone applies.”
“Normally I wouldn’t disagree, but that’s too risky. Abaddon’s got eyes everywhere. If he hears buzz about some of the strongest government agencies sending out teams, he’s going to know. At this rate, we don’t have a lot of time. He doesn’t generally waste time, especially when it involves me. We probably don’t even have a lot of time before he catches wind of what happened here.”
“Alright, that makes sense.” He let out a sigh of fatigue. “Help me understand a little more about this guy.”
“I wish I could. I honestly don’t know a whole lot about him. There are some theories, but even those are subjective.”
“What kind of theories?” Matthew jumped in.
“The one that gets passed around the most is that he was one of the good guys. A Godsend even. He did a lot of good things, but eventually he got too power hungry, and ended up trading it in for this. No one knows where he’s from. Some guess he was an executive in one of those branches of government you just listed, but no one knows. Somehow, he ended up where he is now, but as far as everyone knows, he’s always been there. No one can really track down where he started.”
Both Leo and Matthew were trying to process the information. “I see why you say this guy almost doesn’t seem human.” Leo broke the silence.