Annihilation: Love Conquers All (21 page)

Tag moved into the row behind him without being seen and said, “You still haven’t told me what we were going to do.” The man spilled his drink and popcorn and nearly fell over the row of seats in front of him while exclaiming several expletives. “That language is not very becoming,” Tag said.

The man looked at Tag and his fear was real and palatable. “How— how— how did you find me?” he stammered.

“It really wasn’t hard. You just have to know where to look. I am surprised that you picked this terrible cinema to hide in. You could’ve at least picked one more enjoyable.”

“There would have been more people. Are you here to finish the job?” he asked.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether or not you meant what you said tonight,” Tag said. “You have done a lot of people harm and you should pay for your actions, but I don’t intend to be the one to exact the price from you.”

“Then why are you here if not to kill me?”

“Sit down,” Tag said. “I’m sorry about your drink and popcorn, but I think it would have been worse if you had seen me coming.”

“You’re right; I would’ve died of a heart attack.”

“I’m going to ask you some questions and I’ll know if you’re telling the truth. Just to show you that I’m able to do that, give whatever answer you want for the next few minutes and I’ll tell you when you lie.” Tag had discovered that after he had felt the truth field in his mind he was able to recreate the field around him. How, he didn’t know, but he could tell when he was being lied to. “What’s your name?”

“John.”

“That’s a lie. How old are you?”

“Forty-two.”

“That’s true.”

“What’s your wife’s name?”

“Ruth.”

“That also is a lie. How many children do you have?”

“Four.”

“That’s true. What’s your favorite color?”

“Red.”

“That’s also true.”

“Okay, okay; I can see you’ll know.”

“Now, your future depends on your honesty from this point forward. Do you understand?”

“Yes, but I thought you weren’t going to kill me.”

“I’m not. But I can tell security where you live and direct them to your little stash of disguises.”

The man said, “I’d rather you just kill me now than lead them to my family.”

“Then it’s important that you be completely honest. Why did you say you had to resort to robbery to support your family?”

“I’m a retired naval marine. After I retired I thought that my wife and I could support ourselves and our children on her job and my retirement, but she got sick. Now she’s not able to work and I can’t get another job, because my retirement would end if I go to work again. My test scores in school were average, so I’m not qualified for a higher paying job. I’ve looked, and most jobs that I can take pay less than my retirement. My family was hungry. We were close to losing our living quarters. I had to do something, and one of the men you killed in our first meeting offered to pay me if I would help him.”

“So you go out and kill people.”

“No, I didn’t. If you remember in our first meeting I didn’t attack you. My purpose was to keep you from running. I didn’t know that they were planning to kill their victims. Once they killed someone, then I was just as guilty, and they threatened to tell security about me and kill my family if I didn’t continue to help them. I never killed anyone, but that doesn’t excuse me because I was there when they did it and I prevented their victims from escaping. Tonight you killed the brother of the man who recruited me. Now there’s no one left to threaten me. I can stop now.”

Tag could tell that the man was telling the truth. He felt certain that eventually he would have to pay for his crimes, but maybe not tonight. “What will you do now to help feed your family?”

“I don’t know, but I won’t ever do anything again that would hurt another person.”

“What’s your name?”

The man hesitated a long moment, then said, “Do you really need to know that?”

“Yes.”

“What the hell. My name is Richard Wiseman.”

“Well, Richard, you and I have a common problem now. The enforcement committee is looking for both of us. They’re looking for me primarily because of the two attacks you and your friends committed on me. Even though I defended myself, they think I represent a real danger to be running loose in society.”

“I can’t say I blame them,” Richard said under his breath.

Tag continued, “They didn’t know who I was until your attack tonight. Now they do, and I’m going to have to hide from them probably for the rest of my life. Life as I know it is over and Richard, you had a major role in that.”

“How old are you?” Richard asked.

“I just turned eighteen. I haven’t even graduated yet.”

“Then how do you do the things you do when you fight? I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as you do or kill so quickly. Who taught you that?”

Tag thought for a moment then said, “Richard, before I answer that I think I need to share what I’m thinking about. You have a real problem supporting your family. I have to have a place to hide, and I also need to learn how to hide. I’m thinking that we can help each other.”

“Are you serious? I should be the last person you would trust after all that has happened, and I can’t help but think that you want to kill me. Besides,” Richard said, “How can you help me?”

“I can bring you enough credits to take care of your family, but only that and nothing more. I am not going to make you rich.”

“How would you get the credits?”

“I’ll steal it.”

Richard started laughing. “I thought you were being serious. Just what qualifies you to be a thief?”

“Well, perhaps I’m better than you think,” Tag said. Then he handed Richard’s wallet to him.

“How did you get that?”

“Pretty much the same way I’ll get you the credits you need to live. However, you also have a responsibility in this arrangement. You’re going to have to let me live with you and teach me how to hide effectively. If you need a larger place to live, I’ll get the money you need to move. I know you’re nervous about exposing your family to someone like me that you see as a huge danger, but you’re going to have to decide whether or not the risk is worth taking.”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m not going to give you my real name, and before you start yelling about fair play, remember, you have to use your real name around your family. Would you want your children going to school using my name? If you don’t know it, then they won’t. You’ll both be safer and can be honest in a truth field if asked if you know anyone with my name.”

Wiseman thought for a moment and then said, “That sounds reasonable. What do I call you?”

“Daniel Leach,” Tag answered. Tag was already missing Danielle but he knew he could never contact her. It would jeopardize her career and force her to choose between him and her job. This was another price to be paid for helping Leila. Was it worth it? If he hadn’t, he would have never met Danielle. He could still feel her inside him and the pain was just beginning. Yes, it was worth it. Short as it was, she was worth it. “Do we have a deal?”

“Yes,” Richard said. “Something you said lets me know that I can trust you, Daniel.”

“What’s that?”

“You told me that you would never intentionally hurt anyone. I could tell you were sincere under a high-stress situation. I believe my family will probably be safer with you around.”

“You have no idea how much safer they will be, Richard. I can see trouble from a long way off.”

“You’ve shown me that twice now.”

“I need you to help me. I have got to go and make sure my parents are okay. Do you have a transportation pass, and can you help me change how I look before I go?”

“Yes I have a pass, and I can walk home from here, and I have enough in my bag to make you unrecognizable.”

“Then let’s do it this way. I will go home and check on my parents. You go home and make sure it’s okay with your family if a new boarder moves in. You can tell them I’m going to help with the expenses. If everything is okay, meet me here in this cinema tomorrow evening at this same time. If it isn’t, then go live your life, Richard, and I’ll pray for your family.”

“Fair enough. Now come over here and let me show you how to look completely different.”

I
nspector Connor stood at the crime scene with Danielle. He had sent the injured attacker in restraints to be taken care of at a security medical facility. The attacker that had been killed remained where he had fallen. “Who was it that said, this looks like déjà vu all over again?” Inspector Connor thought. He glanced around and saw Danielle Ash talking with John Sinclair. He observed that she seemed to be holding up pretty well. “Let’s get this over with,” he said to himself, and walked over to where John and Danielle were standing.

“Good evening, Miss Ash, and hello, John.”

“Good evening sir,” they both said.

“Miss Ash, I have some questions.”

Danielle interrupted by saying, “Yes sir, I’m sure you do, but before you ask them I would like to tell you a few things first.”

Esa Connor was not accustomed to being interrupted and he started to shut her down, but then he remembered that without her insights they would have never uncovered their Superman. “I don’t want to lose this employee,” he thought. Then he said, “Go ahead Miss Ash.”

“Sir, I had decided three weeks ago that I was wrong about Thomas Gardner being our Superman. I could not find anything that tied him to the events that happened. Now I feel that perhaps I was eliminating him because I liked him. As I spent more time with him, I’m afraid it became more than just liking him. I became and am now emotionally attached to him.”

Inspector Connor interrupted, “Then you should have removed yourself from the case, Miss Ash.”

“It’s not as simple as that, Inspector. Remember, I had decided that he was not our suspect; however, by going out with him he gave me the opportunity to observe other students to see if one of them might be the one we were looking for. We were always going places that the other students would frequent. We would play games and I would look for someone who had outstanding coordination and eye-hand skills. Tonight I found someone that has those skills. I only discovered they existed because Thomas Gardner’s friend, Eric McAnn, announced that he had seen them. I then observed some of those skills in some games we played. I invited Mr. Gardner outside to talk with him in private about my observations, and it was during this discussion that we were attacked. The results of the attack only confirmed that he was the one we have been looking for all along.”

“Miss Ash, you made a serious mistake getting personally involved with Mr. Gardner.”

“Yes sir, I did. I realize that you should fire me and I’ll take whatever other action you think is appropriate.”

“Did you tell him you were with enforcement?”

“Yes, sir, I did, and I told him that I had called for help and that when they arrived we were going to arrest him.”

“What did he do then?”

Danielle turned beet red but looked Inspector Connor in the eye and said, “He kissed me and showed me that he loved me, and then he disappeared.”

“Miss Ash, do you love him?”

“Yes, sir, I do.”

“Is he the love of your life, or will you forget him and move on?”

“Sir, I wish I could explain what happened during those last few moments, but I saw into his soul, and I felt something that I’ll probably never experience again. There will never be another for me.”

“Are you sure about that, Miss Ash?”

“Absolutely.”

“I guess that means you will be immune to all of our future suspects so you shouldn’t repeat the same mistake,” he said and then smiled.

“Yes sir, I mean no sir, no one else will hold any interest for me.”

“I’ll just have to make sure you don’t work on his particular case then. You know we will do all we can to capture him?”

“Yes, I do. But there’s one thing I can tell you for certain, sir. He will never hurt anyone unless they force him to, and he will never contact me from this day forward.”

“Why not?”

“He loves me and he’ll feel that he’s hurting me.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“It breaks my heart. But maybe you’ll catch him, and then I’ll see him again, if it meets with your approval.”

“We’ll see, Miss Ash. Besides, if I fired you, I think Julie would leave me; she thinks quite a lot of you. I can’t afford to have her leave. But your training begins in the morning. I can’t hold you totally responsible when you’ve had no training on how to handle relationships while undercover. I have to accept part of the responsibility for this, so you get a free pass this time. There better not be another next time.”