The Break (The Aesir Saga Book 1) (7 page)

              Marcus was tired of playing around with these kids. The suit was at Mach 1 and he was finally making progress toward them. His arms outstretched, ready to make the grab. He had zoned in on the girl, trying to get as close as he could. While giving everything he could to move closer, Marcus had stopped paying attention to the other kid. Just when he was finally in range, the target had pulled the girl out of the way, freeing him of her resistance.

Before he had time to kill the power to the thrusters, he smashed into the back wall and through another building. He tumbled as he continued through the buildings insides, destroying everything in his path. When he burst through the outside wall, he had no control as he spiraled toward the water. The last wall had jarred the Maiden enough to cause a malfunction. Marcus decided it wasn’t worth the fight, powering completely off as he hit the water, quickly sinking to the bottom.

              After ten minutes of running diagnostics he was finally able to get the suit powered up enough to use the radio.

“Maiden to HQ.” there was a long pause before he heard a response. 

“HQ here, go ahead Maiden.”

“Current location is the bottom of the ocean.

Target has escaped. The Maiden developed a fault, currently in safe mode. I think you’re going to have to come get me.”

“Where is the target at?” Williams broke in.

“Last seen at my location. No idea where they are headed.”

“Fuck!” was the last thing Marcus heard from the other side before a long pause of radio silence.

“I’m fine, thanks for asking. I guess I’ll just wait here. Whenever you want to come get me, I got nowhere to go.”

The connection was back to life. “Shut up Marcus, we’re headed to the docks now, should have you out in about thirty minutes. Please tell me you got an image of the girl that was helping him?”

“Oh yeah, I was face to face with her for a while. Got a real clean picture. As soon as we are back I can load it to the system, hopefully get some hits.” 

“Well, I guess it’s not a total loss. Like I said, we’ll be there in about thirty minutes. Hold fast.” The line went dead. Since he had some time before they were on site, Marcus decided to close his eyes and catch up on some sleep.

******

              Madison and Gabriel were at a dead sprint when they reached the final block. They stopped at the curb, looking for their pick up. It was already dark outside, and soon they wouldn’t be able to see anything. Madison looked around franticly as Gabriel tried to catch his breath. 

“Where are they?” She bit her lower lip as she looked around, finally seeing the headlights pull around the corner and stop right in front of them. Madison had the doors open and was already climbing in when Gabriel dove into the back seat, shutting the door behind them.

“GO GO GO” was all Madison said as they sped away from the city. Gabriel propped himself up and buckled his seatbelt, something he would be doing more since the run in with the COSMOS. Gabriel took a second to look over their driver. Even with him seated behind the wheel, Gabriel could tell he was tall. But that wasn’t the thing that Gabriel noticed first. This dude was jacked; the muscles in his neck gave him the look of someone who didn’t have one. He must have drank a gallon of steroids for breakfast every day. The only way to describe him would be to call him a Mr. Universe contestant, with his muscles obviously visible without even the tiniest bit of effort.  

“Hey bro, names Brock.” The driver said, his eyes in the rearview mirror on Gabriel. “We got a little bit of a drive, so why don’t you catch some sleep till we get there.”

“Yeah, I could use some rest after today.” Gabriel did feel tired, leaning his head against the door frame he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. After a few minutes, Gabriel woke up, and could hear Madison and Brock talking. Gabriel kept his eyes closed, listening to a part of their conversation before falling back asleep. 

“Dude, Caleb’s gonna want to talk to him when we get there.”

“Brock he’s unstable, he can’t control himself. He had just killed a guy when I picked him up.”

“Come on Madison, you’re telling me you never killed a dude before? Come on, I was there, we’ve all done shit, ya’ know. He just needs some help finding himself.”

“I don’t know.” With that, Gabriel slipped away into sleep.

              It was midnight when they pulled up to the house. Gabriel was awakened by a shaking, looking up to see Madison reaching back over the seat, her arm on his shoulder. “Gabriel, we’re here, we’re home.” Gabriel sat up, trying to bring himself back to reality from sleep. Luckily he hadn’t dreamed, his nap seeming to take no time at all.  He rubbed his eyes and wiped the drool from his chin. “Where are we?” He strained his eyes as he looked around outside. In the dark he could make out a house and what looked like a barn. There was a fence that ran off into the darkness, but Gabriel could see corn stalks behind one section. He was definitely on a farm. 

He got out of the car and stretched, his muscles felt cramped from riding in the car for so long. The barn was a typical two story that looked like it came out of a TV show. The house was a Dutch colonial farmhouse; the front was made of stone, with the parts that were added later, painted white. The roof came down over the front door giving it a large front deck were a bench swing hung unmoving. 

              Madison was already at the front door, pulling it open. “Come on Gabriel.” He ran up to meet her as she walked into the house. The inside looked like any regular house; the living room had a few couches, a flat screen TV, and video game systems. There were even pictures on the wall, nothing like family photos. These showed a bunch of kids his age hanging out at a bonfire, or were taken around the barn from outside. Madison led him into the kitchen which had two bottom drawer freezer refrigerators, an island with a sink and stove top, and almost any kitchen appliance you could think of. “Are you hungry or want something to drink?” Madison asked pulling open the fridge door.

“Have any soda?” She reached in and tossed him a can, going back in and grabbing a water for herself before she shut the door. 

“First thing first you’re going to need a room. This way.” Madison said as she walked out of the kitchen into the hallway where she turned right, heading up a set of stairs. At the top was another long hallway with several rooms on each side. Madison opened the door to the third room on the left, peeking inside first. After she was sure there was no one inside she opened the door all the way. 

              Gabriel walked into what was basically a college dorm room. The room was twelve feet long and ten feet wide, but was full of furniture. There was a bed with sheets and a pillow, an end table with an alarm clock resting on top. Across from the bed was a desk with three drawers down one side and a computer chair. Next to the desk was a tall dresser with five drawers.

“If there’s anything else you want for your room we can get it later. We have a lot of stuff in the barn. Drop your bag and we’ll go see Caleb. “

              Gabriel followed her back down stairs to the end of the hallway. Off in its own area, probably the master bedroom, they stopped. Madison knocked on the door and waited.

“Come on in.” came from the other side. Madison opened it and walked in. The room was the size of a small office, with maps of different city’s posted on the walls. This had clearly been the master bedroom at one point, but from the looks of it was converted to a headquarters.

One wall had pictures of different COSMOS platforms, all from different sides, and all taken from a distance. To the left of those were pictures of people, grouped in threes. Agent Williams’ picture was there, along with a plain looking guy, and a guy who looked like he could have played in the NFL, were it not for his prosthetic leg. Against the wall of pictures was a desk with a computer and multiple screens on top. Currently there was a city map unfolded across the desk, it was the kind you could buy at a gas station.

Sitting at the desk was a man in his mid-twenties with blonde hair that fell in front of his blue eyes. But that wasn’t his most distinguishing feature. What stood out most of all were the scars that ran over his skin. They looked like lightning bolts, snaking their way across his face and arms. Gabriel was sure that the scars were all over his body, seeing some snake down below his collar. When Gabriel and Madison had walked across the room and reached the desk, the man stood up. Gabriel noticed they were roughly the same height. The man extended his hand, offering a handshake to Gabriel. Gabriel didn’t hesitate and extended his own. 

“Caleb, this is Gabriel, Gabriel, Caleb.” Madison said, both men shaking hands, as she took a seat on the edge of the desk.

“Nice to meet you Gabriel, have a seat, and please don’t mind the mess.” Caleb gestured to the chair across from the desk. Gabriel walked over and had a seat. “I’m glad you decided to join us.”

“Didn’t really have an option.”  Gabriel said, relaxing into the chair.

              Caleb had a puzzled look on his face as he looked over to Madison. 

“Maybe I should talk to you in private first.” Madison said, looking back at Caleb. 

“That would probably be best. How about we talk in the morning Gabriel?”  Caleb stood, extending his hand again. 

“Sure” Gabriel said as he stood, walking toward the door. He walked out the door and started outside. Once on the deck, the cold night air felt refreshing. Gabriel wanted to walk around and take a look at everything, but there were no lights that were on. He went to the deck swing, rocking himself for a while as he started out into the night. The sounds of night were in full swing, with frogs making their croaking songs, while owls joined in for the chorus. Growing up in the suburbs, this was the most nature he had ever experienced.

“Well” he thought as he let out a sigh, “looks like I get to learn how to live in the country.” Gabriel didn’t know what time it was when he decided to head in for the night, but as he unpacked his stuff he thought of his parents. He knew he couldn’t see them again, but hopped they would be ok without him. 

Agent Williams knocked on the door of the suburban home. With the sun already set, Williams knew that the family was home. He was greeted by a very nice looking woman. “Hello again Mrs. Daniels, I hope you remember me from the last time I was here, I’m Agent Williams.” He said pulling out his badge. 

“Of course Agent Williams, what can I do for you today?” Patricia Daniels said with the door still open only slightly. “Actually ma’am, it’s about your son. Could we talk inside?” Williams said, taking a step closer to the door. 

“Of course, please come in.” she said as she opened the door and led Agent Williams to the living room.

“Is Mr. Daniels home? I was hoping to speak to both of you together.”

“Yes he is, wait here a minute and I’ll go get him.” She left the room, heading upstairs, returning shortly with Mr. Daniels in tow.

“Hello again Agent Williams,” Mr. Daniels said, extending his arm to shake Agent Williams’ hand.

“Patricia said you wanted to talk about our son. Has there been a problem?”

“Actually there is a problem. When was the last time you saw your son?” 

“Well, he left us a note this morning that he was going to the mall if I remember correctly.” Mr. Daniels answered, leaning back in the couch.

“And you don’t find it odd that with curfew in place, your son still is not here?” Agent Williams asked, his face unchanged by their response. 

              Mr. Daniels gave a puzzled look and was about to answer when Agent Williams began speaking again.  “Please don’t lie to me Mr. Daniels, we both know he hasn’t come home tonight. I want to hear it from you as to why he isn’t here.”

              Mr. Daniels crossed his arms and looked to his wife then back at Agent Williams. “His friend said he had to leave, for his safety, and for ours. She told us that he was special, that he had an ability. She told us we probably would never see him again, but she was taking him to a place with people like him.”

“Did she tell you where she was taking him?” Agent Williams asked, this time he was the one relaxing into the chair. 

“No, she said that it would be better if we didn’t know, for when you came and asked us. She told us they had to hurry though, because there wasn’t much time.”

“I see,” Agent Williams reached into his suit coat and pulled out several photos, keeping the backs to Mr. Daniels and his wife. “Do you know why they had to leave so soon?” he asked, fingering the pictures. 

“She told us you would be coming to get him soon, that’s why they had to leave.”

“Well that’s true, but this is the reason we were coming to get him.” Williams passed the pictures over to Mr. Daniels. “That is Jacob Ballard, a kid from your son’s school. Your son did that to him. He basically cremated his head, leaving nothing above the neck. That’s why we came after your son. As you can see, he’s clearly dangerous, and not just to himself, but to everyone around him.”

              Agent Williams watched as Mr. and Mrs. Daniels flipped through the picture of what was left of Jacob’s body. Mrs. Daniels looked away in horror as her husband kept flipping through the photos.

“Gabriel wouldn’t do this, he couldn’t.” Patricia Daniels started saying. 

“Do you know where these photos were taken? That’s Amber Nicholson’s house, I believe she was your son’s girlfriend. She witnessed the whole thing happen, and now is going to need major therapy, all thanks to your son. So please, tell me what you know about where your son went.”

“Honestly, we don’t know where he went. His friend told us that we couldn’t know, for when you came to talk to us. But if he did do this, I think your right, he is dangerous, and he needs help.”  Mr. Daniels tossed the photos back at Agent Williams, “I’ll let you know the second he shows up. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but we just learned something terrible about our son, we would appreciate it if you would leave.” Mr. Daniels stood and walked to the door, opening it and waiting for Agent Williams.

“Do let me know if or when he contacts you in any way.” Williams stood, picking up the photos and putting them back in his jacket. He pulled out his business card and handed it to Mr. Daniels as he walked out the door. “Anyway at all.” He repeated before stepping outside, the door shutting quickly behind him. He walked back to his car, glad he had closed the option of the kid’s parents.