by Caleb Meeks
“Right. So, it’s hard to help you understand him better when I don’t even understand him very well.” The three stood in silence for a minute, just staring at the table.
“Okay, Judas, you said you were some kind of an apprentice to him, right?” Matthew remembered.
“That’s right.”
“What can you tell us about him from those days? How you got involved, how he works, strategies, things like that.” Leo stood back, proudly listening to Matthew taking authority.
I took a deep breath, trying to bring those memories to the front of my mind. “When I was starting to get into this, he found me. I don’t even know how he found me, but he knew who I was, and he came and found me. I was sitting in a warehouse…”
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I was sitting on the cold floor of a dirty warehouse in the middle of the city. Safe to say, it wasn’t the place I thought I’d end up. After what I’d just done, it almost seemed pathetic to go back. Dominic would be waiting up for me, and just like every time I walked back into that house, I’d have to let him down again. I felt like I was alone in the room, but there was something dark hovering over me.
“Feels good to kill, doesn’t it?” A voice rang out through the silence. I picked my head up from between my knees. The voice sent chills down my spine, but I couldn’t tell where it had come from. “You don’t know me, but I think you might want to.”
I kept looking around the room, but from where I was sitting, it was just a disembodied voice. I started wondering if it was just in my head, it wouldn’t even surprise me at this point. Then, from around the corner, I saw a pair of shoes emerge. Slowly, the rest of the body stepped out from the shadows. It was a man’s body, but he stopped just short of the shadows, so his face was still in the dark. He was wearing a perfectly measured, solid black suit. Under normal circumstances, I would have seen him as a simple businessman. Here, though, there was something off. “Who are you?” My face was red and puffy from the emotions that had been running through me.
“I’m a man whose been watching you very closely. You’re impressive, Judas, I have to say. I know you’re new to this thing, but I’m very interested. You’ve got serious potential, kid.”
I looked up at him, trying to make more out, but I still couldn’t see through the veil of shadows covering his face. “I killed someone. That’s not potential.”
“Oh, but you see, it is. When you are a man like me, that’s a very valuable skill to posses.” He sounded genuinely intrigued.
“Yeah? What kind of man are you?” I looked down at my hands, fixating on the small drops of blood splattered on them.
“Well, some people would call me a dealer of the dark…I prefer to believe the opposite. You, however, can call me Abaddon.” He took one more step forward. “I’d love to continue this conversation elsewhere, are you interested?” He continued his stride, taking one more step towards me. His face was no longer shrouded in the shadow, and I could finally look him in the eyes. They were surprisingly dark, but far too enticing. He stuck his hand out, an offering for help up. Every part of me was urging my legs to get up and run away, but in a momentary decision that I knew I would regret, I reached out, grabbing hold of his hand.
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“From there, everything becomes a blur. I agreed to work with him, and he used me to do everything he wanted done, but he did it in a way that didn’t feel controlling. Even though, at first, I didn’t want to do it, he made me believe I did until I truly believed I was doing things because I wanted to do them. That’s how he gets people. He doesn’t force anyone into anything, he manipulates them until they believe they are doing it for themselves. I wish I had realized how much power he had over me, before it got as bad as it did. He makes you feel comfortable doing whatever he has you doing, and he makes you feel like you are valuable to him, but he only thinks of you as a pawn. That’s his strategy.”
“How do we fight that?” Leo said, trying to control the shiver in his voice.
“We don’t. It’s a fight everyone has to have on their own when he mounts his attack on them. We can fight the physical battle, and believe me, I think we’re going to, but there’s something else to this entirely. Even after I had broken from him physically, I continued living the way he had taught me to live. That’s just a testament to how powerful his influence is.”
“Why did he choose you?” Matthew questioned.
“I don’t know. Maybe I was malleable because I was damaged, maybe it was something else. Either way, he believed me to be his perfect killing machine, and he turned me into it. At one point he decided I was getting too strong, even for him, and he put me back where he wanted me. It took me a month to heal from the damage he’d done. Even with that, I didn’t leave him. I tried to convince myself that he was just looking out for me, that there was no way he would treat something that he claimed was so valuable to him like that. It was impossible to wrap my mind around, but eventually I decided that he was doing it for my own benefit. Turns out he was just realizing that someone was getting too strong for his control, and he needed to stop it before it got out of hand.”
Matthew was about to respond when my phone rang. Both Leo and Matthew looked up at me, waiting to see what I would do. I pulled the phone out of my pocket. “It’s the same contact from this morning.” I scanned their eyes briefly, but they were looking for an answer just like I was. Almost unintentionally, I flicked my finger across the screen. “Hello?
“Judas?” The voice of my ally sounded through the phone. He sounded far more excited, and hopeful, than I thought he would.
“I don’t have a lot of time. What’s up?”
“It’s Abaddon. He’s moving a shipment of new recruits practically through your city. If you act quick, you can probably intercede.”
“Do you have an exact location?” The other two men were watching me intensely.
‘I don’t. I’ve heard the west side of the city, but that’s it.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“Hey, Judas, I’m glad you’re okay. There are a lot of people feeling hopeless right now, but it’s nice to know we’ve got someone fighting for us.”
“It’ll be over soon. One way or another. Thank you for the information.”
“Happy to help. Good luck.” He clicked off. I pulled the phone from my ear.
“What was that?” Leo and Matthew said almost simultaneously.
“Abaddon has a shipment of new recruits on their way from the west side of the city. Apparently, if we move quickly, we can stop it.”
“That sounds great, but how are we going to know where to meet them. The west side of the city is a pretty broad location.”
“Fortunately, I’ve got some pretty talented people at my fingertips.” I looked back down at my phone. After clicking a few buttons, I was calling another person. Anton, the man who helped me find Dominic, picked up the phone.
“Hello?” He skeptically said.
“Anton? It’s Judas.”
“Oh my gosh, Judas? Everyone thought you were dead.”
“I know. It’s a long story, one I hope to tell you one day. I wish I could say I was calling to catch up, but unfortunately, I’m not. I know the last time I called I said I was calling in that favor, but is there any way you could help me out again?”
“Judas, my kid is playing in the other room because of you. I’ll do anything. What do you need?”
I smiled, noticing the faint sound of clanging toys and giggling in the background. “It’s a steep task to ask, but if anyone can do it, it’s you. There is a truck coming in from the west side of my city. There will be an abnormal number of people inside it, but it won’t be a public bus. I don’t think you want to know why I need to know what it is, but it would be helpful if you could give me anything on it.”
“I’m on it. Give me just a second.” I could hear the clicking sounds of his fingers on a computer. “Alright, I think I found it. It’s an unmarked caravan traveling down the highway on the ro
ute you mentioned. Chances are it’ll be heading right towards you. Looks like there are about twelve passengers, not including the two in the front seat.”
“You’re amazing. What’s my time look like?”
“You’ve got about five hours, give or take. If your plan is to intercede in it’s path, I’d get going quick. It’ll be on the highway for about three more hours. Looks like they’re playing into your hand though, the highway’s almost deserted. Less hoops to jump through, at least.”
“Great. That’s everything I needed. Thank you so much, Anton.”
“My pleasure. And seriously, once this all blows over, the wife and I want you to come over. I’d love for you to meet my kids.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I’d like that. Tell her I said hi, and I’d love to take her up on it. I’ll be in touch.”
“Go get em’.” He instructed. I pulled the phone from my ear, touching the screen to end the call. Matthew and Leo were staring at me, waiting for information.
“Friend of yours?” Matthew asked.
“Yeah, guess so.” I hesitated. Calling someone a friend wasn’t normal for me, but I liked believing it might be true.
“What did he have for you?” Leo begged.
“He got it.”
“Great, I’ve got to get going then.” He said.
“You’ve got to get going?” I questioned.
“Yeah, you are a high value target. I don’t want you out on the frontlines.”
I laughed, smiling at him. “I appreciate the concern, but I’m not letting you walk into a situation that directly involves Abaddon without me being there. It’s not that I don’t think you can take care of yourself, but you’ve never dealt with Abaddon’s guys before. I have. I should be there.”
Matthew looked at me, and then at his partner. “Leo, considering everything that’s happened today, I think we should bring him.”
Leo shook his head out of contemplation. “You’re probably right.” He looked up at me. “One condition. We do it my way, and you stay in the car.”
I refrained from rolling my eyes. “Okay, we’ll do it your way, and I will stay in the car. I have one condition too, though.”
“What’s that?” Leo asked.
“The people in the back stay untouched. They are innocent in all of this. None of them will even know what they signed up for, or what they are on their way to. They will be a bunch of young people with broken pasts. That’s his primary target, but they haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Of course.” His demeanor had softened. “I’ll do everything I can to get all of them out.”
“Thank you.” I said. Both Matthew and Leo exchanged a supposedly subtle glance of surprise at my sudden value for life.
Leo nodded in acknowledgement. “Let’s go.”
The three of us strode out of the conference room into the main area. Dimos’ body had been removed, and there was almost no proof that there even was a struggle. They all watched us with nervous eagerness. Leo walked to the head of the room, while Matthew and I remained in the background. He explained the situation in impressively quick detail, while also managing to get everyone involved and prepared. He said that taking down the caravan was an opportunity to save a dozen innocent lives, and possibly hit Abaddon’s forces, too. Just as he was about to conclude his very informal briefing, one of the officers walked up to him, holding a station phone. “She says she’s the captain’s boss, and she needs to talk to you. Immediately.” Leo flashed a glance back to Matthew and me, then turned back and took the phone.
“This is Leo Cadman.” He stated as authoritatively as he could.
“Detective Cadman, my name is Deputy Director Rebecca Conway. I’m a few steps above your captain, James Tradere. I’ve been made aware of some things that have gone on in the last hour, and I would like to speak to you about them.” The sound on the phone was loud enough that everyone in the room could listen to what she was saying.
“Sure, I’ll fill you in. We have a very valuable asset that is willing to disclose very valuable information about a case we had absolutely no idea about. Not only did James Tradere call in a hitman to try and take out this asset, but he also destroyed evidence that would disprove him, and ultimately, he pulled a gun on my asset, my partner, and me. In short, that’s what happened.”
“I see. I just received a phone call from the detention center that was transporting Mr. Tradere, and he was just killed.” Everyone in the room silently gasped.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. He was toying with some very dangerous people. Failing to hold up your end of a deal with people like that often doesn’t end well.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Before she could say anything else, Leo jumped back in. “I’m sorry Deputy Director Conway, but I am on a very important time limit right now to save a dozen lives, as well as potentially gain some information that could very drastically change the case I’m working. Can we discuss this later?” His brazen candor shocked us all.
“Given that I have reviewed your file and seen that you would not be stupid enough to risk it on something you didn’t believe in, as well as the unexplainable death of Tradere, I will let you go. Understand that this is a huge risk on my end, too. If you mess this up, I’ll have your head on a plate.”
A smile crossed his face. “Understood.” He then hung up the phone and turned back to me and Matthew. “Ready?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” I confirmed. He exited the room first, and we followed close behind him. Together, we walked down into Leo’s car. He seemed to be on a high, and Matthew and I didn’t want to interrupt it, so we remained quiet. I had already given him the area we were to intercept the caravan.
It was a long car ride, but it seemed to go by exceptionally quickly. Whether it was the excited tension, or the fact that Leo was steadily going thirty miles over the speed limit, well, that wasn’t an important detail. Before long, we were on the lonely highway Anton had told me about. It clearly hadn’t been used, or maintained, in many years. The pavement was cracked, crumbling all around the edges, and the paint had mostly worn off. Every now and then, some dust would drift across the road, but not much else happened besides that.
There wasn’t really a police entourage. It was just us. Leo wanted to bring an army, but it was the same issue, having that many people around could tip Abaddon off, and it could end worse than we ever anticipated. The three of us remained in the car. From where we were parked, there was at least three miles of visible road. “Is this ever going to happen?” Leo said, angst staring to set in.
Just as he opened his mouth, my phone vibrated. I opened the message. I recognized the number as Anton’s. The message read:
Six minutes from your location.
“Six minutes out.” I said. Leo’s ears practically stood up.
“Finally.” He didn’t sound angry, but eager. He got out of the car and walked to the center of the lane the caravan would be coming down. A few minutes later, the moment we were all waiting for happened. The silhouette of a black caravan crested the very edge of the road that we could see. Matthew straightened up once he caught sight of it. He climbed out of the car, joining Leo in the middle of the lane. The caravan was rapidly approaching but began braking once it started getting close to the brigade of cars. As far as I could see, it was the only car on the road. It came to a nearly complete stop just a few yards from where Leo and Matthew were standing.
Something came into my mind. The woman on the phone mentioned that the captain had died, seemingly unexplainably, on the way to a detention center. Not that it surprised me, you can’t expect to live long when you get caught, especially when dealing with Abaddon. He probably didn’t even know who he was dealing with. The part that I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of sooner was simply that Tradere had been killed. That would be a call Abaddon would directly make. If Abaddon knew the captain had been compromised, chances were he knew we would be here.
In the time it
took me to come to this realization, a man had stepped out of the driver’s side, as well as the passenger side. The man from the passenger side looked like your stereotypical guard. Shaved head, sunglasses, and no semblance of an expression. The man on the other side, however, was different. He was very clean shaven, no sunglasses, and was wearing a far too excited smile. His teeth practically sparkled in the sun. The worst part? I knew him as one of Abaddon’s chief enforcers, and he would definitely remember me. He went by Damon the last time I saw him.
I sat there, frozen, as I watched him approach Leo and Matthew. There were memories of him standing over me in a dark room, beating me, per Abaddon’s orders. It was his ways of “strengthening” me. I guess I can’t say it didn’t work, but it did keep me from moving immediately.
From the angle I was at, I could see the knives, and gun, holstered inside his jacket. He crossed his arms, trying to bulk himself as much as possible, but also to grab hold of the gun as discreetly as possible. That was when I stepped out of the car. Leo had just opened his mouth to start explaining when I launched myself out of the car.
He briefly turned to look at the sound, and in the time it took for him to turn, Damon had pulled his gun, and I could see his guard reaching for a gun too. Neither Damon or his guard had seen me, but knowing him, he was going to kill Leo and Matthew even if I wasn’t there. Leo locked his eyes on me right before I reached them. Once I arrived, I reached into Matthew’s holster, and pulled his gun out. In doing so, I pushed him to the side. Leo looked absolutely enraged that I had disobeyed his orders, but he would thank me in a few seconds.
The sound of a gun shot rang through our ears, which changed Leo’s expression from anger to concern. His eyes traced the bullet as it tore through the side of Matthew’s arm. I didn’t give it any attention. The guard was poised to take a shot at Leo, so I raised Matthew’s gun. The sound of his gun rang over the other shot, and Leo watched the second bullet fly into Damon’s guard’s chest. I went to line up a shot at Damon, but I realized he had beaten me to it. I didn’t have time to line up a shot, and I needed to ensure he missed his. In a jerk reaction, I pulled my hand back, and hurled the gun at Damon’s face. It collided with his face just as a bullet was starting to discharge from the chamber. His head whipped back, which caused his hand to fly to the side. The bullet changed course just enough that it flew past my head and landed in a dirt heap behind us.