Chapter 38

Isaac was furious. The night’s events had rapidly devolved into a state of utter chaos. Death, destruction, and rampant confusion ensued and Director Isaac Lockhardt did not like any of it at all. He had acted fast to block investigations into the murders at Exclusive, especially of Subject II’s girlfriend, Anna Cook. The last thing he needed was for local law enforcement to involve themselves in Section 3’s business. It left too much room for them to dig up evidence of the secret organization’s existence as well as the secret project Dr. Tiberius had been working on for them.

His mind drifted back to the subjects again, wondering what to do about them. He briefly considered the idea of attacking them with any bladed weapon he could get his hands on, but he turned it down. His agents were good, extremely well-trained men and women, but going up against the super-powered subjects was too risky. Even if they went into the fight carrying weapons that could actually hurt the two men, they still had no real defense against the other laundry list of abilities they’d ended up with. He’d effectively be leading them to their deaths or worse. Not only that, but he also had to consider General Armstrong. He’d never liked the way the man had been so interested in the project or the way his eyes flashed with greed every time he was brought up to speed, as if devouring the information sated some unknown hunger inside him. Something inside his head shouted at him not to give the man any knowledge that could be used to overpower the subjects. If he sent his agents out to confront them using mere blades, the General would ask why. He couldn’t risk that.

“Sir?” Agent Escher asked, not liking the distracted anger on his boss’s face. The Director looked like he wanted to tear someone’s head off.

Isaac blinked and stared up at Escher, as if seeing him there for the first time. The crushing guilt of failure was stamped on his agent’s face as plain as day, but Isaac mostly ignored it.

“Tell me again what happened,” he instructed his uncomfortable-looking agent. “From the beginning.”

“Subject II arrived and forfeited the money they stole without a fight. He wasn’t interested in that. All he wanted was the woman, Anna Cook,” he stated in a professional tone. His body language, however, suggested he would rather be anywhere else. “Quentin Marks executed her right in front of Subject II. Marks ran after killing her. It was at that time I drew my firearm and took aim at him. I managed to hit what looked like his shoulder. The bag dropped out of his hands and was subsequently left behind. Marks got away. After that, I went to try and talk Subject II into coming with me. He was uncooperative.” Escher showed him his right arm, now wrapped in a white, fiberglass cast. A blue sling cradled it close to his chest. “I was knocked several feet away. I went back over to him and finally managed to get him away from the girl’s corpse before the police got there. He raced past me after that. I’m sorry, sir, but he was too fast and too strong. I couldn’t stop him.”

“Any ideas as to where he went?” Isaac asked, his voice calm despite how angry he was. Logically, Escher had no way of stopping Subject II, yet he still wanted to blame someone for the chaotic mess.

“It appears he’s gone underground,” Escher replied simply, looking his boss in the eyes as he said it. “The only sign of his presence thus far were two bodies found in an alley downtown. A security guard found a man lurking on a rooftop. When he went to investigate the man threw himself off the building. Thankfully, he went inside to call the police. As far as the guard knows, Subject II committed suicide. When the police arrived, however, all they found were the two bodies. Both of them died of severe trauma to their necks. One body was thrown with extreme force into a wall and the other body had his head twisted almost completely around. Subject II, of course, wasn’t in sight.”

“Anything else?” Isaac inquired.

Escher looked at the pages in his hands, double checking the information there to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. He found something in the back. Subject II’s bank records.

“Yes, sir,” he told Isaac. “Bank records indicate Subject II withdrew money from his checking account from an ATM downtown.”

“How much?”

“A thousand dollars,” Escher answered, quickly.

“Has he accessed his accounts since then?” Isaac asked, not surprised when Escher told him no. He looked thoughtful as he considered the information. “That tells me he doesn’t plan on coming back from wherever the hell he went.”

Escher didn’t say anything else.

“I sent you undercover with specific instructions to protect the girl at all costs. Was that order unclear?” Isaac asked, unable to hold back his frustration any longer.

“No, sir.”

“Then why is she dead, Agent Escher? I should think a highly trained agent of the federal government would be more than capable of stopping a lone gunman.” Isaac stared at Escher flatly, his eyes cold and emotionless.

“I was not prepared for Marks' response to the situation,” Escher replied, finding it hard to restrain his own rising ire. After all, letting the girl get taken in the first place so they could use her as a lure for Subject II wasn’t his idea. And…he had never expected the insanely stupid drug lord to murder the girl after he got his money back. Escher knew it was only a matter of time now before Subject II went after Marks. When that happened, he was sure the drug lord wouldn’t survive. No matter how hard he might try to prevent it, Subject II would eventually get him. “I fully expected him to deal with Subject II in good faith. Marks knew how dangerous he was.”

“You should’ve expected that kind of response from a narcissistic idiot!” Isaac suddenly yelled. Escher tried not to let the lashing get to him.

“Yes, sir,” he replied, still keeping his eyes firmly locked onto Isaac’s.

“You really think a man like Marks would let Subject II go without incident?” Isaac asked, his voice still harsh and cutting.

“Sir, I thought he would realize what it would mean if he killed the girl,” Escher protested. “By killing her, he’s signed his own death warrant. Subject II will get to him and kill him. I have no doubt about that.”

“Yes, well thank you for that brilliant assessment,” Isaac said, his voice filled with scorn and sarcasm. “You’re dismissed.”

Isaac jerked his head to the door, his anger draining away. It was replaced by a look of disappointment that the agent didn’t much care for. He may have dropped the ball on protecting the girl, but the fault was not wholly his to bear. Others were to blame as well and he felt that he didn’t fully deserve the anger or the disappointment.

Escher got up stiffly from his chair. The hand not bound in a cast clenched so tightly that the knuckles turned white. His nails bit painfully into the flesh of his palm. He nodded slightly to the Director who simply chose to ignore him as he returned to the paperwork littering his desk.

Escher walked out with his face starting to turn red.

Despite his broken right arm, he headed to the exercise room, not even bothering to change into more comfortable workout clothes. He saw Ronnie in there, sparring on the blue mats with another agent named Steve Underwood. Two other agents, Liv Holston and Jamie Wright, stood just outside the mats, watching the fight. There was a heavy sound of impact and a startled gasp of pain. When Escher looked to the source of the sound, he found Steve lying on the mats, flat on his back. Ronnie was standing over him with a cocky smile widening her mouth. Her bangs were plastered to the side of her face with sweat and she reached down a hand to the male agent lying on the mats. He breathed harshly, his pretty sizable chest heaving, whereas Ronnie hardly looked out of breath at all.

Escher passed them by, not even bothering to return their gestures of hello as he passed them. He wound up at the punching bag and started pounding it with his left hand. He put precise, measured jabs into it that caused it to swing back and forth on its chain.

Nobody bothered him.

“So you lost Subject II?” General Armstrong asked, his bushy gray-white eyebrows raised in speculation. He sat comfortably in the high-backed leather chair in his Washington D.C. office, far removed from the recent drama at Section 3. “And Subject I? What about him?”

“He is well covered, Robert,” Isaac answered, trying to be patient with the fool. “I believe, however, that Subject I is not our primary concern.”

“Is that right?” the General responded, a faint trace of anger coloring his words.

Isaac, despite telling himself not to, was starting to lose his patience. Most of the problems he had with the subjects was because of that man.

“And why is that?” the General asked.

“Subject I, at the present time, does not pose a threat. He is being closely watched and hasn’t shown any more aggressive tendencies. In fact, surveillance shows that he deeply regrets his recent actions,” Isaac explained. “Subject II, however, is a bigger threat. His current mental state has grown unstable. Signs of its presence showed up even before the drug lord, Quentin Marks, murdered his girlfriend. He is a man with enormous power and has shown little ability in restraining himself. We know he’s killed two men already and we are positive the dead men found in the alley tonight were his doing as well. He is out for blood, Robert.”

The General flipped through several pages in two different folders before looking up at Isaac again. There was a total lack of concern on his face that caused Isaac’s patience to slip several more notches. He cracked his neck, rolling it on his shoulders, to relieve some of that pressure.

“According to the files that I acquired.” A subtle emphasis on the word. “The two men in the alley were low-life, career criminals. Burglary, arson charges, assault and, most notably, counts of rape on both men’s rap sheets. I doubt the world would weep for them. In fact, it would seem Subject II did it a favor by removing them from it.”

“That may be,” Isaac pressed. “But how long will it be before Subject II’s thirst for revenge ends up hurting innocent people. How long before his actions expose Section 3? I’ve done all I can to contain this mess thus far, but my resources are not infinite. At some point, our options will run out.”

“If Subject II wants to run around the city killing low-lifes, then that’s his problem. Eventually, he’ll either kill all of them or they’ll be too scared to even attempt anything remotely criminal. Either way, the situation will resolve itself in its own time. So, Director Lockhardt, I would hardly call that a problem.” The General leaned back in his chair, smug.

Isaac’s control slipped completely. He was getting ready to offer an angry protest but the General cut him off.

“In the meantime, I want Subject I to be monitored even more closely. The effects of the serum are still largely unknown. I want to know everything. All surveillance on him is to be sent directly to me from now on, using heavily secured channels.”

“Fine.” Isaac said, biting down on his own frustration. “I’ll see it gets done.”

He let some of his anger come through in his voice. The General ignored the tone and simply switched off the video feed. The screen went black and Isaac got up from the chair thinking mostly about how much he wanted to sock the man in his mouth every time he did that. He managed to keep himself from slamming his fist into the wall, but it was close. The General was after information and was apparently so intent on gaining it that he didn’t care who got hurt in the process. He didn’t trust him or whatever reasons were fueling his obsession with Subjects I and II.

He let out a harsh breath as he opened the door to the satellite conference room and walked out. He headed toward his office, ignoring all the agents that tried to talk to him. He sat down at his desk and thought over everything he knew about the project, its subjects, and the man who had turned it into his own personal obsession. He was glad he never revealed the weakness the subjects had. That knowledge could provide leverage and leverage against those two could be dangerous to the rest of the world. Either that or it would open the two up to all sorts of unpleasant experimentations. With Dr. Tiberius gone and his research destroyed, reverse engineering their DNA from live samples was about the only way to duplicate the effect. The General, he was sure, would experiment on them. Why use only two when he can engineer more of the serum and have an army.

Isaac tried to imagine what that would be like. All the poking, prodding, and pain. Overwhelming amounts of pain. He was also quite sure that if the General ever got his hands on the two men, there wouldn’t be enough pieces left to identify the bodies. He shuddered at the grotesque mental images his brain conjured. It sickened him, which was somewhat surprising. He had no love for either of the subjects. He still believed them too dangerous to be allowed to roam free, but he wouldn’t wish that fate on any human, superpowered or not. He didn’t want that on his conscience.

He wasn’t worried about the information leaking, despite whatever contacts the General had within Section 3. He was the only one that had listened to that recording and he effectively obliterated it. There was nothing left for the mole to get. It was a relief that he had nothing to worry about.

He thought for some time that maybe the General had someone feeding him information from within Section 3. All the clues were there. Armstrong always seemed to be remarkably well-informed on matters before Isaac even had the chance to debrief him. That, added with the cryptic insinuations the General himself uttered on several occasions, seemed to prove there was someone on his team that liked their chances better with the General. He didn’t like it and didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t ignore it any longer. He trusted all his agents fully, most of them he handpicked himself, but he would be lying if he said the seeds of mistrust weren’t already sprouting.

There was a knock at the door, drawing Isaac out of his musings.

“Come in,” he said. He sat back in his chair, face impassive, as the door to his office opened.

Agent Walden entered, this time neglecting to take a seat. Instead, she stood at rigid attention.

“Ah...Cassie. Tell me good things,” Isaac said. He noted a bit of uncharacteristic nervousness in her that hadn’t been there before and she fiddled with her hands in agitation but he simply filed her peculiar behavior in the back of his mind and turned his thoughts to the mission he had assigned her. Hers was incredibly difficult, but she had done what she was ordered to do with expert precision and efficiency.

I trained her well, Isaac thought to himself, allowing for a bit of pride to seep in. She was perhaps his best agent and his most trustworthy.

“I saw Escher,” she said with eyes kept carefully devoid of emotion. “He couldn’t have known Marks would shoot the girl. You know him. He’s a good man. He would have died to protect her so don’t make him carry her death on his shoulders.”

Isaac sat silent for a long time before he spoke, as if trying to choose his words very carefully.

“You’re right. He is a good man and one of my best agents, but he failed in his assignment. Because of that failure, Subject II’s already crumbling state of mind has completely shattered. Two more people are dead because of it. Should I make excuses for him?”

“You should quit giving him a hard time. Berating Escher isn’t going to fix things that were already broken to begin with.”

“Berating Escher might save his life,” Isaac replied coolly. “Suppose Subject II had gone after him once he realized Marks fled. We’d be mourning him right now.”

Cassie was about to speak again but Isaac smoothly cut in.

“I understand that he’s your friend but it doesn’t change the facts. He screwed up and because of that an innocent girl was killed.”

The stony expression on her face didn’t change.

“It’s my job, my call, and I deemed it necessary. You don’t have to like it.” His voice was firm, even forceful. After a pause, she gave a slight nod in understanding. “I want a progress report on Subject I.”

Cassie started fiddling with her hands again in that uncharacteristic display of nervous body language. He stared, waiting patiently with his long fingers steepled beneath his sharp, jutting chin.

“There is nothing new to report,” she replied, voice pitched low and fingers still fidgeting restlessly. Isaac just continued to stare. “Subject I has been inactive since the Exclusive heist and its fallout. He’s returned to his studies and work. I have nothing further to report on the matter.”

“I beg to differ,” Isaac responded, putting up a hand to halt any objections she evidently wanted to share. “It’s not just his actions in question here, it’s his manner as well. His mood. What he believes in. All of these things have a direct connection with the powers we gave him. They will be the deciding factor of when, not if, he starts using them again and why. If he starts showing signs that convince me he is beginning to grow as unstable as Subject II, then we need to have as much advanced warning as we can get. This isn’t a game. Subjects I and II are dangerous.”

“I realize that,” she replied.

“Do you?” Isaac asked, his voice full of accusatory scorn.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Cassie asked, offended.

“You know what I mean,” he replied, his voice softening.

“You think I’m compromised?”

“He saved your life, Cassandra,” Isaac accused, and Cassie slumped slightly in her chair. Her hair hung in her eyes while a torrent of emotions swept through her. “You are the only agent we’ve been able to place that close to one of the subjects. It is imperative that you give us all the information we need to make sure he doesn’t decide that a killing spree suddenly sounds like a good idea.”

She was about to reply with some heated words in defense of Alex, but she stopped herself short. That wouldn’t help him and would only make Isaac more suspicious of her. She looked back up at the man in front of her, a man that she trusted, who had agreed to train her as an agent of Section 3. She shut away all her fears and doubts and came to the decision that he was no longer that man. Now, he was the man who wanted to lock Alex up in a cage. She stilled the frantic beating of her heart and forced herself to stop fidgeting with her hands. The diamond ring was gone from her finger. She needed to make sure her next words sounded as convincing as possible.

“Subject I,” she started, using the designation Section 3 had for him instead of his name. She did this in order to sound more detached. “Shows remorse for his actions. Additionally, he feels responsible for allowing Subject II to murder the men at Exclusive. As far as I know, he hasn’t used his powers except on the night he shielded me from Marks' sniper. At this point, I do not think he is willing to put them to use again.”

“You’re completely sure of that?” Isaac asked her. She nodded her head. “Then continue as you have. Dismissed.”

Cassie rose and left, waiting till she was outside his office door to let out a harsh sigh of relief. She walked quickly out of the office area and through the thick metal door that led into the underground parking garage. She hurried to her car and got inside. Once there, she pulled out the diamond ring and put it back on. She was so focused on her own thoughts, formulating different plans and trying to figure out her best course of action, that she didn’t bother to start her car at first. She wanted to run, taking Alex with her, but she knew he wouldn’t leave. Alex’s degree was extremely important to him and he wouldn’t want to leave his mother to fend for herself. That took running off the table so she switched tactics. Instead of running, she would stay. Her position at Section 3 would grant her enormous intelligence gathering ability, allowing them both to stay one step ahead of Isaac and the other agents.

She truly loved him. She hadn’t expected that to happen, but it had. It was overwhelming to her and she found herself constantly thinking about him. The way he smiled, all boyish charm with an undercurrent of shy reservation, or the way his blue eyes lit up whenever the sunlight touched them. She loved his sense of humor and how easy it was for him to make her laugh.

She latched onto those thoughts as she finally left, letting them form into a hard knot of raw determination.

She would protect him, whatever the cost.