Something Sad

  “We’ve got another hit, Sandton City” said the Colonel.

  “Something’s wrong, he wouldn’t risk it this early, not after yesterday,” said Ian.

            He was driving along the highway, speeding in truth, on his way to the location. He had gotten the warning on his way to the Scorpion HQ. The other agents were also en route.

  “Well, it’s a lead, so we’ll follow it,”

  “This isn’t going to end well,” said Ian and ended the call.

            A few minutes later he pulled up to the huge mall. He got out of his car and started in the direction of a small park where a few people were gathered, trying to see if any of them could possibly be Thor. Then his phone rang.

  “Yeah,” Ian answered.

  “The Dragon, at last,” said a deep, muffled voice.

  “Thor I presume,”

  “Good guess, personally I would have thought it a call from some deity lesser minds chose to believe in,”

  “Come now, I didn’t take you for an atheist extremist,”

  “I am not. I don’t have any religious inclinations at all,”

  “Then you are an atheist,”

  “Even atheism is a religion, Dragon, surely you can see that,”

  “What do you want?” asked Ian looking around. Almost everyone around him was busy on their phones, but Ian doubted anyone on ground level would be Thor. Instead, he focused on the tall skyscrapers across the street.

  “I want what you took from me yesterday. You took a kill from me, so you owe me a life. I am curious though, why save the life of one of the Others?”

  “What?”

  “You didn’t know? I thought by now you would have figured it out, especially after yesterday, the man thought he knew you, and he did,”

  “All of them were Others,” Ian said, with sudden realization. He spotted Monroe in the crowds and signed to her to be on the lookout.

  “I cannot understand why they have had such a problem dealing with the three of you. Yes, Dragon, I know about everything. I know about Pakistan, Paris, Russia, and North Africa.

  “I must admit, yesterday’s little stint did set me back a bit, but then you fall for such an obvious trap like this. Now I’m disappointed again,”

  “So, what’s your plan? Kill me out here in the open?”

  “No, that would be a waste of a great mind. Today I just wanted to prove that I am still the better coder. You owe me a life, Dragon, and I know exactly who I’m going to take. It’s a shame Isabelle is going to grow up without parents. Monroe is looking exceptionally lovely today, remember her like that,”

            The call ended and Ian lowered his phone. For a split second he was in a trance, then he turned to find his partner.

  “Monroe,” he shouted and she turned towards him, “Run!” he shouted and she just looked at him, “RUN!”

            Thunder resounded and then a loud crash. In an instant a rod impaled Monroe in front of Ian’s eyes. He stood, frozen, as people started to scream and run in fear.

 

            Ian barely remembers any of what followed. He vaguely remembered being back at HQ and the Colonel telling him to take forced leave until the funeral which would be held next week.

            When his memory finally cleared up, Ian found himself on an open field, his two swords in his hands and a training dummy in front of him. He took a deep breath before assaulting the dummy. He slashed at it with all his might, each blow cleaving deep gashed in the wood and soft metal. He spun round, as if dodging a trust and hacked at the neck, then followed up with three devastating stabs before he slashed outwards with the swords.

            As his arms moved away from his body he turned the blades in his hands, so that he held the hilts in reverse, and then brought his arms back in. The force and speed of the blows cut the training dummy in half. Ian barely broke a sweat, but felt a drop of water fall from above. It would rain soon.

  “Impressive,” said Danny.

  “How did you find me here?” asked Ian, sheathing the two swords.

  “Ed told me you’d be here,” she said moving closer. “I saw the news. Your partner. I’m sorry,”

  “It’s not me you should be saying it to,” said Ian.

She took his hands in hers and smiled at him. He smiled back at her then looked down. He saw his two sets of tattoos. On his right arm the numbers read ‘Remember the Fallen’ in binary ASCII, on his left, ‘Fight for the Living’.

            The words weren’t particularly unique, but they were his words, forged from a past he would like to forget but knew he couldn’t. He needed to remember all of it, and he did.

  “Come, I’ll take you home,” she said as it started to rain.

  “No, not just yet,” Ian said, leaning in to kiss her. Then he took her, there in the rain.

 

            Again, that night Ian could not sleep. Danny lay next to him, her body warm against his. She was smiling in her sleep, something Ian was sure he never did anymore. All three of them had learned not to dream, now they just entered a meditative state.

            Ian got out of bed, threw on some pants and headed upstairs.

  “Dé Javu,” he said as he seated himself next to Ed.

  “Can’t sleep?”

  “No, I see them again, tonight, all of them,”

  “Me to,”

            They sat in silence for a long while, just staring out at the night sky. It was still raining and in the distance there was the flash of thunder.

  “What are you going to do about Thor?” asked Ed.

  “What can I do?”

  “You make it sound like you have no choice,”

  “Well, he is killing off the Others,”

  “True, but they-”

  “If you say innocent people, I’m gonna moer you so hard all the other Ians in all the other alternate realities will feel it,”

  “They are people, following order like we did. But that’s not it. The little girl, Ed, if I hadn’t sabotaged Betsy, one of two things would have happened, either she would have seen her grandfather die, and trust me, it isn’t a pretty sight, or she would have been killed as well. How can I let a man that would allow that run free?”

            Ed had no answer. In truth, he wasn’t a ruthless man, but he and Ian saw somewhat differently on this subject. To Ian, every life was valuable, and no one should be allowed to hold another’s life in their hands. Ed also valued life, but when it came to those that would harm him, it was them or him, and he wasn’t planning on dying any time soon.

  “So what happened to killing all of them?” asked Ed after a few minutes of silence.

            Ian didn’t answer right away. Ed saw something in his eyes that scared him, something he hadn’t seen since North Africa. Ian’s jaw twitched, he swallowed heavily and answered.

  “I’m still going to kill them all,” said Ian. And with that he got up and headed back to his room where he climbed back into bed and embraced Danny as she slept, holding her close to him. “Every last one,” he whispered and fell asleep, dreaming of all those he knew that had died, and all those he had killed.