03-04-2019, 12:27 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-04-2019, 12:33 AM by Jay Carpenter.)
The road ticked by. Lines and lights. A highway mostly abandoned of other travelers. Darkness drenched the horizon with a familiarity that was strangely peaceful. Another road, but the journey was one he traveled before.
Any fatigue that might wrench his shoulders low was abandoned to the city limits. Suburbs, with all their pockmarks of light, made up the dark sea through which the vehicle glided. Normal, happy people slept at this time of night. The kinds that curled in beds with feet sticking out the edges of plush blankets. Probably engaged in some sort of eternal battle over cover-sharing with whomever else was in the bed. The kind of battle Jay would give his hand to fight forever. Metaphorically anyway. Probably not ready to relinquish a whole hand to the cause. His were pretty firmly attached.
He turned on a bit of music as Natalie’s motions steadied with the doze of sleep. He couldn’t help but glance at the shadowy planes of her face, aglow with the neon lights of the dashboard. Then to where her hands propped her head in place. He reached across and adjusted the fan to blow comfortable breezes while she rested, but bypassed a tempting graze over her knuckles. It was a bad idea to rouse someone with unexpected touch. That was the kind of thing to get you shot (not metaphorical).
They had plenty of time before the meet. So he settled into the seat, hands tapping lightly on the wheel along with the music. Just enough to keep him distracted from his own thoughts. He devoted enough to the plan for the day. Now was the time to wait. Action would come soon enough.
Which led him down a path he probably shouldn’t go. If he focused too much, he’d talk himself out of the whole ordeal. It was a mad idea. But then again, he never claimed sanity. As soon as he saw Axel, he hoped to take advantage of any nefarious connections the man wielded. He really was a good guy, and Jay hated to use his own darkness against him, but war didn’t craft men into better creatures. In fact, war pulled all the worst of your soul to the surface, like filth slicking the surface of purity beneath.
If anyone knew about Amengual’s bounty on Jay, it would be Axel. Guessing that an ambush awaited was a gamble. Either way, Jay was leaving tonight with something he wanted. He’d keep dangling the bait in that filthy lake until something was hooked.
Natalie’s voice punched all thought from his head.
His own shot toward hers. ”What? That familiar pulse of danger pushed heat through his veins. Everything tensed. Poised. He searched for the danger she sensed.
Dust kicked clouds high when they stopped on the shoulder. Natalie jumped out, and Jay followed, power brimming awareness to senses already on high alert. Disbelief froze Natalie in place. The little ball of a girl huddled nervously. He just stared at her. Globes of eyes peering out from the abyss of her hood like the first time he saw Shredder. So innocent and vulnerable. Sitting there in the grass, hoping to not be trampled to death, but hoping someone would notice. Just wanting to be loved. Missing its family. Lost. Frightened.
Jay turned away and rubbed his eyes. He might actually throw up. A storm welled inside. Rage throwing cracks down the damn that held back those churning waters. He knew how she got in there. He knew who.
He punched a wall in the casino like it was paper. The car found itself a new dent. Jay’s hand flared white hot. But it was the power inside that wanted to rip the metal to shreds. To pick it up with chains of power and throw it to the dark fucking horizon.
As it wasn’t his first experience being stranded in the country without a car, he climbed into the drivers’ seat and pulled back out on the highway without demolishing anything. His hand hurt, but at least the pain pushed away memories he’d rather not conjure at the moment. They had to turn back. Cayli could not be with them. He knew he was walking into the fire, and he couldn’t protect everyone. He was trying to bait Amengual. Not give him everything he ever wanted.
Their words filtered like ghosts on the periphery. Natalie’s suggestion was the first indication he heard any of it. Jaw tight. Hand gripped hard on the wheel. He met her eyes, and reluctantly nodded.
The truckstop was a neon oasis.
Brakes squealed to a stop in the parking lot. He turned to face down Cayli, but all words of rebuke died on his lips. The frightened little girl looked back, and he wondered what of her brother she actually saw. The monster that he took such care to hide from her? The honorable warrior was far from his expression. A hero on the mantle corroded? A uniform lost?
It was all he could do to speak with Natalie, but his voice was tight as his guts. ”Watch my wallet tracker. You’ll stay here. If I don’t check in with you in thirty minutes, call Jensen.”
Axel, he might actually kill. The man crossed a line bringing Cayli into this. Brothers, warriors. Whatever he wanted to fight could be kept with those ready to handle the battle.
Once he was on the road again, he called Axel from the car’s system. To his amazement, the man actually answered.
“Jay?”
He was quiet for a second. Darkness of the road flaring black into the cage of his heart. “You know what happened to the last man that threatened an innocent girl.”
He hung up and took the exit.
Side roads kicked up dirt. The vehicle rumbled toward a basin of darkness lined with old chainlink. Enormous shapes gobbled up the shadows. An abandoned rail yard that once intersected all the major coal trains stretched like the cemetery of an entire industry. The iron rails criss-crossed the plain like veins on a corpse.
Fresh tire tracks scored the gravel. He wasn’t the first one to arrive. Good. He was ready to get this over with.
The car door slammed like an explosion in the silence. Only stars stretched above. Shadows scratched deep crevices below. But the power was alive inside like a demon looking out through his eyes. One that could see in the dark.
He was ready to let it out.
“You’re late,” the grizzly voice of a seasoned man scratched his ears just as a figure turned a corner of one of the train cars.
The voice wasn’t wrong.
Jay remained where he was and let the power give him a better picture. Male, about average height, but broad of shoulder. He wore a cowboy hat, black-dyed denim, and alligator boots. There were likely three places he carried a weapon, and Jay was willing to bet he wore more on his person.
He was Caucasian. Clean-shaven. Nothing outstanding that said he was either a druggie, broke, or desperate. No sign he was willing to betray a feared cartel just for the money. Then again, Jay never believed this was as simple as it was made out to be.
“Got my money?”
“Do you have information or not?” Jay replied. It wasn’t a lot of cash, but he wasn’t going to just throw away Natalie’s money for no good reason.
The man frowned, hooking two thumbs on his belt. He growled in frustration but took a step forward. Jay held his ground, eyes flicking around the tops of the train cars just in case.
“Yah I got information on that slick fucker.”
Jay gently retrieved his wallet. The other man watched the motion warily. “Money is ready to transfer. Just make it worth the while and its yours. Why is the cartel interested in Moscow?”
The guy laughed, “You don’t beat around the bush, do yeh, kid?”
Jay waited patiently, but his unease was growing. He thought something would have happened by now. Maybe the guy really was in it for the money, but people had bizarre vices. Who knew what this one was into.
“Seems he’s got business with ole-man Ass-candy. You see those videos?” Jay didn’t laugh and shook his head no.
“That’s not worth this cash. Tell me something I don’t know.”
The contact shrugged, “Well, seems he has a lot of business interests. Legit. Not legit. Also pretty close with our pretty governor. They’ve met plenty of times.”
Jay blinked. Jessika Thrice? Jensen’s wife? The holy church lady that took the state by storm on her wholesome campaigns and optimistic hopes for the future?
“Why is she meeting with a drug lord?”
“What’s to separate the drug lords from business lords except a state that decides one’s product is legal and the other’s illegal?”
Surprisingly deep. Jessika was more than she let on.
“Alright, when was the last time they met?”
“About a month ago. My money now.”
Jay nodded and came within range to make the transfer. He looked down. A sting pinched his neck like the wasps buzzing around Sierra Leone were resurrected in the Texan desert. “Fuck-“ he swat at his neck, wallet dropped, and yanked away something disturbingly stuck into his skin.
It took a second, or maybe longer, but the power drained away like the whole well of it dried up. He reached for it. But panic ascended instead. It was gone.
Memory pulsed his muscles, but an arm flew before he could reach his weapon. Arms collided. Blocked and deferred. Defense sprang, but he kept reaching for the power. Like those first futile attempts grasping it in Nox’s basement. Maybe he should question his sanity. Had he ever channeled? Was he really in Texas?
More arms appeared. Figures that seemed to rise from the ashes. Railroad tracks resurrected like some necromancer summoned their iron bars to life.
The panic circled as desperation for the power delved too deep to ignore. He could hear Amengual’s laughter in his head. Thank God he left Cayli behind… Someone connected. Heat flared his jaw. Then a punch to the solar plexus flared fire up his back, but he wasn’t down yet. He tried again for a weapon. Wielding instead the arm of an attacker, throwing his weight into another. But a boot to the knee collapsed his weight with a pained yell. Not as bad as the kid in Freetown. No sick snaps or crunches. But the pain of it was enough of the opening needed. The ground caught his body. Weights threw themselves down. It took four men to keep him there.
Blurry eyes looked toward the north as they dragged him away almost able to make out the neon glow. At least Natalie and Cayli were safe.
Any fatigue that might wrench his shoulders low was abandoned to the city limits. Suburbs, with all their pockmarks of light, made up the dark sea through which the vehicle glided. Normal, happy people slept at this time of night. The kinds that curled in beds with feet sticking out the edges of plush blankets. Probably engaged in some sort of eternal battle over cover-sharing with whomever else was in the bed. The kind of battle Jay would give his hand to fight forever. Metaphorically anyway. Probably not ready to relinquish a whole hand to the cause. His were pretty firmly attached.
He turned on a bit of music as Natalie’s motions steadied with the doze of sleep. He couldn’t help but glance at the shadowy planes of her face, aglow with the neon lights of the dashboard. Then to where her hands propped her head in place. He reached across and adjusted the fan to blow comfortable breezes while she rested, but bypassed a tempting graze over her knuckles. It was a bad idea to rouse someone with unexpected touch. That was the kind of thing to get you shot (not metaphorical).
They had plenty of time before the meet. So he settled into the seat, hands tapping lightly on the wheel along with the music. Just enough to keep him distracted from his own thoughts. He devoted enough to the plan for the day. Now was the time to wait. Action would come soon enough.
Which led him down a path he probably shouldn’t go. If he focused too much, he’d talk himself out of the whole ordeal. It was a mad idea. But then again, he never claimed sanity. As soon as he saw Axel, he hoped to take advantage of any nefarious connections the man wielded. He really was a good guy, and Jay hated to use his own darkness against him, but war didn’t craft men into better creatures. In fact, war pulled all the worst of your soul to the surface, like filth slicking the surface of purity beneath.
If anyone knew about Amengual’s bounty on Jay, it would be Axel. Guessing that an ambush awaited was a gamble. Either way, Jay was leaving tonight with something he wanted. He’d keep dangling the bait in that filthy lake until something was hooked.
Natalie’s voice punched all thought from his head.
His own shot toward hers. ”What? That familiar pulse of danger pushed heat through his veins. Everything tensed. Poised. He searched for the danger she sensed.
Dust kicked clouds high when they stopped on the shoulder. Natalie jumped out, and Jay followed, power brimming awareness to senses already on high alert. Disbelief froze Natalie in place. The little ball of a girl huddled nervously. He just stared at her. Globes of eyes peering out from the abyss of her hood like the first time he saw Shredder. So innocent and vulnerable. Sitting there in the grass, hoping to not be trampled to death, but hoping someone would notice. Just wanting to be loved. Missing its family. Lost. Frightened.
Jay turned away and rubbed his eyes. He might actually throw up. A storm welled inside. Rage throwing cracks down the damn that held back those churning waters. He knew how she got in there. He knew who.
He punched a wall in the casino like it was paper. The car found itself a new dent. Jay’s hand flared white hot. But it was the power inside that wanted to rip the metal to shreds. To pick it up with chains of power and throw it to the dark fucking horizon.
As it wasn’t his first experience being stranded in the country without a car, he climbed into the drivers’ seat and pulled back out on the highway without demolishing anything. His hand hurt, but at least the pain pushed away memories he’d rather not conjure at the moment. They had to turn back. Cayli could not be with them. He knew he was walking into the fire, and he couldn’t protect everyone. He was trying to bait Amengual. Not give him everything he ever wanted.
Their words filtered like ghosts on the periphery. Natalie’s suggestion was the first indication he heard any of it. Jaw tight. Hand gripped hard on the wheel. He met her eyes, and reluctantly nodded.
The truckstop was a neon oasis.
Brakes squealed to a stop in the parking lot. He turned to face down Cayli, but all words of rebuke died on his lips. The frightened little girl looked back, and he wondered what of her brother she actually saw. The monster that he took such care to hide from her? The honorable warrior was far from his expression. A hero on the mantle corroded? A uniform lost?
It was all he could do to speak with Natalie, but his voice was tight as his guts. ”Watch my wallet tracker. You’ll stay here. If I don’t check in with you in thirty minutes, call Jensen.”
Axel, he might actually kill. The man crossed a line bringing Cayli into this. Brothers, warriors. Whatever he wanted to fight could be kept with those ready to handle the battle.
Once he was on the road again, he called Axel from the car’s system. To his amazement, the man actually answered.
“Jay?”
He was quiet for a second. Darkness of the road flaring black into the cage of his heart. “You know what happened to the last man that threatened an innocent girl.”
He hung up and took the exit.
Side roads kicked up dirt. The vehicle rumbled toward a basin of darkness lined with old chainlink. Enormous shapes gobbled up the shadows. An abandoned rail yard that once intersected all the major coal trains stretched like the cemetery of an entire industry. The iron rails criss-crossed the plain like veins on a corpse.
Fresh tire tracks scored the gravel. He wasn’t the first one to arrive. Good. He was ready to get this over with.
The car door slammed like an explosion in the silence. Only stars stretched above. Shadows scratched deep crevices below. But the power was alive inside like a demon looking out through his eyes. One that could see in the dark.
He was ready to let it out.
“You’re late,” the grizzly voice of a seasoned man scratched his ears just as a figure turned a corner of one of the train cars.
The voice wasn’t wrong.
Jay remained where he was and let the power give him a better picture. Male, about average height, but broad of shoulder. He wore a cowboy hat, black-dyed denim, and alligator boots. There were likely three places he carried a weapon, and Jay was willing to bet he wore more on his person.
He was Caucasian. Clean-shaven. Nothing outstanding that said he was either a druggie, broke, or desperate. No sign he was willing to betray a feared cartel just for the money. Then again, Jay never believed this was as simple as it was made out to be.
“Got my money?”
“Do you have information or not?” Jay replied. It wasn’t a lot of cash, but he wasn’t going to just throw away Natalie’s money for no good reason.
The man frowned, hooking two thumbs on his belt. He growled in frustration but took a step forward. Jay held his ground, eyes flicking around the tops of the train cars just in case.
“Yah I got information on that slick fucker.”
Jay gently retrieved his wallet. The other man watched the motion warily. “Money is ready to transfer. Just make it worth the while and its yours. Why is the cartel interested in Moscow?”
The guy laughed, “You don’t beat around the bush, do yeh, kid?”
Jay waited patiently, but his unease was growing. He thought something would have happened by now. Maybe the guy really was in it for the money, but people had bizarre vices. Who knew what this one was into.
“Seems he’s got business with ole-man Ass-candy. You see those videos?” Jay didn’t laugh and shook his head no.
“That’s not worth this cash. Tell me something I don’t know.”
The contact shrugged, “Well, seems he has a lot of business interests. Legit. Not legit. Also pretty close with our pretty governor. They’ve met plenty of times.”
Jay blinked. Jessika Thrice? Jensen’s wife? The holy church lady that took the state by storm on her wholesome campaigns and optimistic hopes for the future?
“Why is she meeting with a drug lord?”
“What’s to separate the drug lords from business lords except a state that decides one’s product is legal and the other’s illegal?”
Surprisingly deep. Jessika was more than she let on.
“Alright, when was the last time they met?”
“About a month ago. My money now.”
Jay nodded and came within range to make the transfer. He looked down. A sting pinched his neck like the wasps buzzing around Sierra Leone were resurrected in the Texan desert. “Fuck-“ he swat at his neck, wallet dropped, and yanked away something disturbingly stuck into his skin.
It took a second, or maybe longer, but the power drained away like the whole well of it dried up. He reached for it. But panic ascended instead. It was gone.
Memory pulsed his muscles, but an arm flew before he could reach his weapon. Arms collided. Blocked and deferred. Defense sprang, but he kept reaching for the power. Like those first futile attempts grasping it in Nox’s basement. Maybe he should question his sanity. Had he ever channeled? Was he really in Texas?
More arms appeared. Figures that seemed to rise from the ashes. Railroad tracks resurrected like some necromancer summoned their iron bars to life.
The panic circled as desperation for the power delved too deep to ignore. He could hear Amengual’s laughter in his head. Thank God he left Cayli behind… Someone connected. Heat flared his jaw. Then a punch to the solar plexus flared fire up his back, but he wasn’t down yet. He tried again for a weapon. Wielding instead the arm of an attacker, throwing his weight into another. But a boot to the knee collapsed his weight with a pained yell. Not as bad as the kid in Freetown. No sick snaps or crunches. But the pain of it was enough of the opening needed. The ground caught his body. Weights threw themselves down. It took four men to keep him there.
Blurry eyes looked toward the north as they dragged him away almost able to make out the neon glow. At least Natalie and Cayli were safe.
Only darkness shows you the light.