Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (59 page)

Nick
wasn’t even aware that they were even that far in their lectures yet. He never
paid any attention in class and since Mizuno did all of his homework and test
work for him he never needed to do anything but follow Mizuno’s orders in
regard to their mission.

“How
are you and Amy doing?”

“Fine,”
Nick mumbled. “Why’re you asking?”

“I
was just curious.”

Mizuno
leaned against one of the desks next to Nick and appraised his demeanor,
melancholy, and lack of engagement and asked him what was wrong.

“Why
is Strom staying with me?”

“He’s
out of money.”

“No
he’s not.”

Mizuno
said that was true. “I’m not sure why Dalton’s even in the picture to begin
with, which is why I wanted Strom to stay with you, in case I overlooked
something and you happened to be endangered.”

Nick
looked at him and asked what he meant. “You said you didn’t understand the
situation, yet you think I’m at risk?” Nick scowled and asked him what he knew.

Mizuno
crossed his arms and said he still wasn’t sure. “I’d rather not tell you
something I don’t believe myself, yet I want to ensure nothing goes awry if I
missed something.”

“But
what do you know?”

Mizuno
didn’t say another word about it. Instead he got up, headed for the front of
the room, retrieved a thin pen from the tray at the electronic white board, and
wrote three words on it. “I had the opportunity to speak with the author of a
book called
Origins
.” Mizuno stopped briefly to ask Nick if he’d ever
read the book, though Nick said he’d never heard of it. “You should look it up
sometime, it’s…enlightening, to say the least.”

“What’s
it about?”

“It’s
a memoir, but it’s really about human potential…but that isn’t important right
now.” Mizuno took a step back and revealed the words ‘capability,’
‘limitations,’ and ‘achievement’ on the board. “I posed a hypothetical question
to the author though. Something precious was stolen from a man named Adam.
Adam, his family, friends, and the police all searched for the item and the
thief, but the culprit was never apprehended and the item wasn’t found.
Everyone gave up, friends, family, cops, but Adam couldn’t let go of it. He
continued to look for the bandit, but Adam couldn’t achieve his goal because he
didn’t know where the crook was and didn’t know how to go about searching for
the burglar. I asked the author if Adam could accomplish his goal or not.”

“What
did he say?”

“The
author told me Adam needed to find some way to surmount his own inadequacies;
otherwise he was doomed to fail.”

“So
Adam needed help?”

“Yes.”

“Meaning
he needed his friends again?”

“Yes
and no.” Mizuno folded his arms and rested against the board as he explained
Adam’s situation. “Adam could use his friends to aid him, but he could also
manage by simply learning to handle the situation on his own. However there is
something else that Adam can’t control that still hinders him.”

“What?”

“It’s
the thief. This thief is unknown to Adam, which allows the individual to
disappear entirely without Adam’s knowledge. The bandit has already succeeded;
all he has left to do is escape. Adam’s fighting a difficult battle, seeing as
the crook holds all of the cards, knows the victim, and has the ability to
vanish for good before Adam figures out who he is.”

“So
does Adam ever find the thief?” Nick asked.

Mizuno
only shrugged, “It was a hypothetical question, so no.”

“Then
why did you bother telling me this?” Nick questioned the man.

Mizuno
stared at him and told him he needed to figure it out on his own.

The
bell rang and students slowly began to trickle in. Amy was one of the first.
She took her seat next to Nick, said hello and asked how his day was, and
retrieved her books for their class.

“My
day’s been alright,” he routinely told her. “How about you?”

“It’s
been alright.” Amy stopped briefly and told him they wouldn’t be able to hang
out over the weekend. “I’m going to Oregon with my mom so I won’t be back until
Monday or Tuesday.”

Nick
was honestly relieved that he wouldn’t need to find an excuse for the time he’d
need to execute Mizuno’s plan, but he still felt a twinge of concern and asked
if everything was alright.

“Yeah,
she just wanted to visit her brother.”

“Oh,
I thought that maybe something had happened.”

She
only smiled, apologized for her lack of clarity, and said everything was fine.

---*---

8:49
PM

Baltimore,
Maryland

The
task force assigned to the Cladis investigation didn’t manage to find anything
over the past three days. Bryce informed the group about the blood pattern, but
it didn’t lead to any breakthrough or further revelation. All they managed to
do was limit their search to a defined category, although that category was
miles wide.

Bryce
left the station later than he usually did simply because he didn’t want to
give in; he knew Cladis would kill someone with O positive blood on the
following day and wanted to do everything he could to possibly save them. It was
hopeless though. He carried his uniform, a spare change of clothes, his shoes,
deodorant, and a few other odds and ends in a duffle bag he slung over his
shoulder and only paid enough mind to it to ensure he didn’t hit anyone else on
the street with it. His mind was gone though and remained on the case and the
relatively improbable chance he had of saving the pending seventeenth victim.

“Could
you spare any change?” someone asked him.

Bryce
snapped out of his trance and looked at the ragged man who blocked his way with
a paper cup in his outstretched hand. Bryce looked at what the man managed to
gather on his own and felt sorry for him, (seeing as he hardly had five dollars
to his name). He fished his wallet out from his pocket, retrieved a ten dollar bill,
and told the fellow to take care of himself.

The
beggar thanked him with vigor before he discarded the ruse, took hold of Bryce
by the shoulder, and swept him off the street and up high to a sky scraper
above the city.

Bryce
took another look at the homeless fellow and realized who it was. “Twelve, what
do you want?”

Twelve
wrapped his blanket around his shoulders and asked how much progress Bryce had
managed to make on the case.

“None,”
Bryce admitted. “You haven’t given me very much to work with.”

“I’ve
given you everything I know,” Twelve reminded him. “If I knew more, so would
you.”

Bryce
took a breath and asked if he needed anything specific. “I’ve tried to figure
out who it could be, but Sara Knowles met a lot of people in her line of work.
Not to mention, she attended parties religiously.”

Twelve
gazed out over the city and asked when Bryce last attended church.

“What?”

“I’m
trying to make a point.”

“I
don’t know.”

“Then
she doesn’t attend religiously by your standards,” Twelve told him.

“Does
it matter? It’s just semantics.”

Twelve
took a moment to reply. A single crow flew past him, his line of sight followed
after it, and it wasn’t until the bird vanished into the night sky when Twelve
finally asked, “How devoted are you?”

“To
what?”

“To
saving this city?”

Bryce
said he didn’t understand the question.

“I
simply want to know how far you’d go to save someone,” he clarified. Twelve
turned and faced him with a tilted head, and asked, “What are you willing to
sacrifice?”

Twelve
transported the officer to a dank alley where two young men held a man at
knifepoint. Bryce realized he was suddenly in uniform with his gun at his side.
He hadn’t attracted the attention of any of the three men though.

Twelve
landed at his side and whispered softly in his ear, “Show me what you’re made
of.”

Bryce
felt his heart race and his hands shake, but he called out to the young men
anyway and walked toward them. One of the boys turned with gun in hand and shot
Bryce through the throat.

Bryce
opened his eyes and saw that he hadn’t taken a step from where Twelve left him
in the alley. The young men and their victim still didn’t see him, Bryce was
fine, and Twelve returned to his side and repeated, “Show me what you’re made
of.”

Bryce
walked forward, with beads of sweat on his forehead, as he slowly grabbed his
gun, took aim at one of the boys, and barked, “Drop the gun and the knife,
now!”

The
two whipped around, the one with the knife didn’t relent and his comrade with
the handgun only took aim at Bryce again. Neither of them made a single move
though. Bryce repeated his order and midway through the last word of his
command the boy shot him in the head.

Bryce
opened his eyes and saw that he hadn’t taken a step from where Twelve left him
in the alley. The young men and their victim still didn’t see him, Bryce was
fine, and Twelve returned to his side and repeated, “Show me what you’re made
of.”

“What
am I supposed to do damn it?”

Twelve
didn’t answer though. He only repeated, “Show me what you’re made of.”

“What
do you want from me?”

The
two boys heard him and shot him for a third time.

Bryce
opened his eyes and saw that he hadn’t taken a step from where Twelve left him
in the alley. The young men and their victim still didn’t see him, Bryce was
fine, and Twelve returned to his side and repeated, “Show me what you’re made
of.”

Bryce
finally retrieved his gun, walked over to the young men, and pressed his gun to
the back of the gunner’s head and told him to drop his piece. “I swear if
either of you screw with me now I’ll blow your damn head off.”

He
opened his eyes and found himself back on top of the sky scraper with Twelve,
who looked at him sideways and asked if he really would have killed the young
man.

“Wasn’t
that what you wanted?”

“I
didn’t want anything other than to know how much you love this city.”

“Then
why didn’t you just ask?”

“I
did, twice actually.”

Bryce
looked away from him and asked who he really was. “How the hell do I know
you’re not Cladis or that you don’t work for him?”

“I
would have killed you by now and been on my merry way.” Twelve looked Bryce in
the eye, “I’m not your enemy.”

“Then
why are you so damn secretive?”

Twelve
gripped his cape tightly and muttered that things weren’t as safe as he’d
originally thought. “You need to watch yourself too. Don’t mention these
meetings to anyone.”

“Why?”

“Because
I’m Deep Throat and you’re Woodward,” he told him. “Things aren’t what they
seem and I don’t trust everyone.”

“Then
why do you trust me?”

Twelve
looked him in the eye and said he knew he was incorruptible. “I need someone
like you to keep things in perspective.”

Bryce
only looked at him, perplexed.

Twelve
returned him to the street, resumed his guise as a beggar, and vanished into an
alleyway.

---*---

7:32
PM

Bellevue,
Washington

Mizuno
trained Nick, as it was the final opportunity to do so before their mission the
following day. Mizuno cut their session short though, which Nick believed was
to allow enough time for him to make it to Drake’s house for the small
gathering Drake had planned.

They
walked out to Mizuno’s car and Nick’s motorcycle where Mizuno stopped him. “Do
you think you’re ready Nick?” he asked.

Nick
only shrugged and asked if Mizuno thought he was.

Mizuno
didn’t say. They only continued on in silence until they arrived at the car and
motorcycle. Nick was ready to leave without another word, but Mizuno stopped
him and asked, “What are your thoughts on all of this?”

“All
of what?”

“What
are your thoughts about the plan to counter the Dáfù tomorrow?”

Nick
said the mission sounded fine to him.

Mizuno
rubbed his eyes and muttered that it wasn’t. “The plan, the original plan I
pitched to the group was flawed, and I knew it. I wanted you, or David, or
Kyle, or anyone for that matter to realize that it was a terrible plan and to
at the very least voice some concern, if not offer a better plan. None of you,
with the exception of Bruce, could manage that.”

“What’s
wrong with your plan?”

“The
whole plot Nick! I mean, how the hell are we supposed to remove, carry, and
transport over two dozen nineteenth-century paintings without damaging them,
causing wide-spread panic, and alerting the Dáfù to our presence? And even
then, how were we supposed to return to the museum dressed in costumes and
‘apprehend’ or kill any of the terrorists that did show up? They wouldn’t be
waiting outside dressed in anything that would give them away; they’re too
intelligent and ambiguous to do something that stupid.”