Finding Sage (The Rogue Book 1) (18 page)

31.

              “Salah, are you sure you want to do this?” Tariq asked.

              “Yes,” Salah replied.  “We don’t know how long they’ll stay out. We need to get somewhere safe fast and this is the only way.”

              Tariq scowled but nodded.  They were standing outside a large brick motel underneath a canopy that covered a drop-off point.  The U.N. flag was blowing in the fierce wind and despite the optimism of the shining sun, they had found themselves in a tight situation.

              After Silas single-handedly defeated the small army, he only made it a mile before he collapsed from sheer exhaustion.  Unfortunately, that meant that both he and Alice were incapacitated, practically speaking, leaving Eli, Salah, and Tariq to figure something out.  Salah came up with the idea to go into a motel and used his powers of persuasion to convince the attendant to let them in free.

              With a deep breath, Salah led his friends into the motel, trying to ignore the soldiers immediately inside the door, and confidently walked to the front desk. 

Standing on the other side was a young woman.  She looked European, presumably a London native, with subtly angular features and silky blonde hair that just touched her shoulders. Salah admitted to himself that she was very attractive.  Unfortunately, that only functioned to make him more nervous.

              Salah looked at her and smiled.  He awakened his sixth sense and tried to ease his warmth onto her.  He had to be careful, for if he pushed too hard or too suddenly, she would be alarmed at her sudden change in mood. 

Salah sensed empathy in her and felt an urge to let free a sigh of relief, but resisted for sake of their cover. 

              “What can I do for you?” the young woman asked.

              “Hi, my name is Tré and this is my brother Alex,” Salah said, referring to Tariq.  “This is our friend Tyler, his daughter Jill and his father Michael,” he continued, gesturing to Silas, Lilly, and Eli.  “We were driving into the city when we were carjacked, and we had all of our money in the car.  I don’t suppose there’s anything you could do for us?”

              Salah did his best to put on a pleading face while attempting to probe her emotions in order to provoke pity. 

              “No, I’m sorry I don’t think—actually, hang on one moment.”

              She walked back into the office behind her and they waited.

              “You realize your face isn’t part of your thing, right?” Tariq teased.

              “Shut up,” Salah snapped under his breath.

              The woman came back and gave them a small card with a black rubber strip on the back.  A room key.  She leaned in and spoke quietly to Salah.

              “This is the key to a suite on the fourth floor.  It was reserved for seven days, to start two days ago, but the man who reserved it never showed up.  I can put you down as him, but if he shows up, I will call the room and you must leave immediately.”

              Salah smiled.

              “Thank you.”

              She smiled in return.

              Salah took the card and led the group to the elevator.  Eli cast one last worried look at the soldiers guarding the exit as the elevator door closed.  Everyone was in total silence as they walked down the white hall and found the room number: 463.  Tariq inserted the key into the slot and pulled it back out.  They heard a small beep, a small green bulb lit up, and Tariq opened the door.

              The fresh smell of orange-scented cleaner met them with a subtle pleasantness.  Inside they saw a common room with three pristine couches colored with a light shade of tan surrounding a 32-inch flat-screen television that was mounted to a wall on the left.  On either side of the television was a peach-colored pot holding a 3-foot tall green stalk sprouting large leaves.  In the wall directly ahead of them was a large window overlooking the city. 

              They walked inside and carefully laid Alice down on one of the couches and Silas on another.  Eli closed the blinds on the window and turned the television so that it was facing the wall. 

              “They watch everything electronic,” Eli said to answer Silas’ curious expression.  “We can’t trust anything.”

              Tariq took out his gun, cocked it, and sat by the door.  Salah stopped dead in his tracks when he heard it, and a troubling thought emerged in his mind. 

              “Have you had that the whole time?” he asked Tariq.

              Tariq paused for a moment.

              “What, the gun?”

              “Yes, the gun.”

“Yeah.  So what?”

              “Why didn’t the soldiers check us at the door?”

              Eli jerked his head up and Tariq switched his gaze quickly between his companions.  They didn’t know.  Eli stared at the ground and  he relaxed his shoulders with contentment.

              “We made it; that’s what matters.” Eli said.

              “But why didn’t they check us?” Salah asked again.  “We have two unconscious people with us and they don’t even stop us to see if we were armed?  Why?”

              Eli responded to Salah’s insistence with indifference and shrugged his shoulders.  Salah sensed Eli’s nonchalant demeanor and grew frustrated.

              “Aren’t you the least bit concerned about this?  We could have been arrested.  We could have died!”

              “Chill, bro,” Eli said.  “We got dis.”

              “What?!” Salah exclaimed incredulously.

              “Haven’t you learned yet that Eli doesn’t make any sense?”

              All three of them turned their attention to the couch, where Lilly was crouched behind Silas, who was now awake and sitting up.  Eli walked to the couch to check on him.

              “How are you feeling?”

              “I’m fine. Check on her,” Silas responded, nodding to Alice.

              Eli put his head up to her mouth.  He could hear her breathing, but barely.  She had a gash on her head surrounded by some dried blood as well as other various cuts and bruises, but no clue as to why her breathing was so shallow or why she was so weak. 

              “She feeds off of life,” Eli said.  “That’s what her gift is.”

              Silas slowly stood and brought one of the plants beside the television to her side.  He carefully placed her left hand over the stalk.  He waited.  Nothing happened.

              “It isn’t real,” Tariq said. 

              “She’s dying,” Salah said.  “Somebody do something!”

              “How do you know she’s dying?” Silas asked.

              “Because her signal is fading.”

              Silas was afraid of that.  He had also realized that her consciousness felt weak, but he was hoping it was because he had just woken up.  Sadly, he was not so fortunate.

He removed the plant from her hand and held her hand firmly between both of his.

              “Come on, Alice, don’t give up on me now,” Silas said. 

              He watched her closely and willed his life to enter her hand as much as he knew how. 

              “Come on, come on.”

              Eli, Tariq, and Lilly joined Silas and Salah at Alice’s side.  They all watched with concern. 

Salah bit his lip and his eyes fluttered, tears threatening to emerge. 
I’ve already lost my brother, I can’t lose her too
, he thought. 

Lilly clung to Silas’ leg with fear, not wanting to witness anymore death. 

Eli held his breath as he watched her.  He remembered the day she came to him and displayed her gift.  He remembered watching in horror as the soldiers descended upon them.  He watched her like a concerned father, afraid for the life of his little girl. 

Tariq stood slightly behind his brother, attempting to look slightly more indifferent than the rest, but even he felt connected to Alice, enduring pain every moment that her life hung in the balance.  They were a family now.  And they could not let allow their sister to die.

              She still was not responding.  In a last ditch effort, Silas focused on one simple thought, one simple command, and pushed it onto Alice’s consciousness.  He had no idea if she could hear him, or even if she could respond, but he did it anyway.

             
Pull.

              He waited.  Hoped.  Believed. 

              Every muscle in Silas’ body tensed.  He fought the impulse of his body to fall and convulse.  What he felt was not pain.  It was something far more invasive.  He felt blood rush to his hands, although he was not sure that it was really blood.  He felt like all of his physical form was leaving, a sensation far worse than any pain he had ever experienced.  To keep from withdrawing his hands, he pulled back into his mind, and the sensation numbed enough that it became bearable.  He started to become drowsy and released his grip on Alice’s hand. 

He immediately started to collapse and braced his fall with his hands.  He wheezed, taking in several deep breaths, and coughed several times.  He picked up his head and to his relief saw her chest rising and falling rhythmically. 

              She slowly began to open her eyes.  She saw everyone around her and recoiled in surprise. 

              “Wh-what happened?”

              She looked at Silas, who was still on all fours looking up at her.  She understood what he did and tried to find the words to thank him, but they didn’t come.  A tear escaped her right eye.

              “Thank you.”

              Silas found it difficult to speak and simply nodded.

              Alice lay back down and tried to sleep.  Despite the tragedy of the day, she found herself able to rest peacefully.  For the first time, she truly felt like she was a part of the group.  They were concerned for her, and Silas, the one who had acted like he was repulsed by her, sacrificed himself in order to save her. 

She slipped into a peaceful sleep with a smile on her face, knowing that she had found friends strong and true, something that she had begun to fear she would never find.

32.

              Jax looked at his two cards and looked across the table.  Grayson smirked without so much as glancing at his own hand.  Jax looked at his modest stack of chips and then at Grayson’s equal stack.  There was a large pile in the middle of the table.  Jax closed his eyes.  No flashes. 

Luke watched them closely, having lost by the third hand.  He wasn’t a good poker player.  It didn’t take a rogue to catch onto his tells.  He only rubbed his thin beard when he was about to bluff, and didn’t know when to call it quits, which was why Grayson pushed him to going all in with a 2 of spades and a 3 of diamonds.

              Jax opened his eyes and stared at Grayson. 

              “Make a move, kid,” Grayson taunted.

              He was good, but the twitch in the left side of his mouth gave it away.  Jax smiled and curled his navy blue hair behind his right ear.

              “I call.”

              They both revealed their cards.  Jax was right.  He smirked and raked in the chips. 

              “Alright, I give,” Grayson said.  “I’ll do the dishes.”

              “You’re not going to play it out?” Luke asked.

              “You still need to clean the bathroom,” Jax said to Luke.  “You’d better get started.”

              Luke scowled.

              “Hey, this was your idea.”

              “Button it, kid.”

              Luke walked out of the kitchen and Grayson started filling the dishwasher.  Jax stood up and started walking back to his room, but was stopped by Grayson’s voice.

              “Are you getting sick yet?”

              Jax froze in his tracks.

              “Should I be?”

              “Jax, let’s be real here,” Grayson said.  “Do you really think that anything happens here without me knowing about it?  I know that you’ve been stealing the drugs and I know that you’ve stopped.  You’ve either been extremely conservative in your dosage, which we both know isn’t the case, or you quit cold-turkey and you’re about to be a very sick man.”

              Grayson didn’t turn around as he kept loading the dishwasher.  The dispassionate way that Grayson spoke of his addiction sent a cold chill down his spine.  He didn’t know if he should be frightened at the strange man’s knowledge or relieved that somebody knew about it.  His memory went back to his flashes of Grayson standing over a dead body with a smoking gun.  He was the last person that Jax wanted to trust.

              “I like myself better sober,” Jax responded.

              Grayson closed the dishwasher and dried his hands.  He turned around and cast a smile at Jax.

              “I never said I disapproved,” Grayson said.  “I just want you to tell me what’s going on with you.  Nobody takes a job like this unless they’re at the lowest point in their lives.  But you didn’t exit.  You didn’t quit when you decided to get clean.  Why?”

              “Why are you so interested in me?” Jax asked.

              Grayson shrugged.

              “I like you.  I think the world needs more people like you.”

              “Then tell me who you’re planning on shooting up.”

              Grayson took a step back, clearly taken off guard. 

              “What are you talking ab—”

              “Don’t give me that,” Jax said.  “You know what I can do.  You intend to kill someone.  I want to know who and I want to know why.” 

              Grayson gritted his teeth and exhaled heavily. 

              “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

              “I don’t care.  Tell me.”

              Grayson ran his hand through his hair and looked at the floor, then back to Jax.

              “It’ll be easier if I show you.”

              Jax had never been in Grayson’s room, but one step in he could tell it was far different from his own.  Grayson appeared to be a neat freak.  Nothing touched the floor that didn’t belong.  Grayson opened his closet door and even inside his closet, everything was neat and symmetrical.  Grayson pulled out a small cardboard box and set it on his bed.  He removed the lid and inside the box was a stack of manila file folders.  He picked up the top one and gave it to Jax.

              Jax looked through it.  It was a detailed account of documented U.N.-sanctioned assassinations of rogues. Detailed in horrific and gory descriptions, Jax read them with a heavy heart.  They made his step-father look like a jolly old man. 

              “This is who we work for, Jax,” Grayson said.  “This is what they do.”

              Jax didn’t say anything for a few seconds, then spoke.

              “What does this have to do with the man you want to kill?”

              “I’m an agent,” Grayson said.  “Now calm down, it’s not as bad as it sounds.  I grew up on the streets but I was recruited when I turned 16.  I thought it was my only way out; but I wasn’t naïve.  I’ve been gathering information ever since.  What you’re holding is only surface information.”

              “So what’s the deeper information?”

              “The Prime Minister is a purist,” Grayson said.  “She believes that all rogues are a danger to society; that equality cannot truly be reached until they are all dead.  So she plans to eradicate them all in one fell swoop.”

              “How in the world could she do that?”

              “By using your own kind against you,” Grayson answered.  “I know that there are two rogues specifically that they plan to use to accomplish that.  I don’t know who they are.  But I am looking for them.”

              “And then you’re going to kill them.”

              “No, not exactly.”

              Jax looked at Grayson, confused.

              “I don’t want to kill them,” Grayson said.  “I said I don’t know who they are; that’s only half-true.  I
think
I know who one of them is.  And if he’s who I think he is, then not only do they already have him, but he’s one of them.  I don’t think he’ll come willingly; and I’m afraid that I may be forced to do something drastic, because one way or another, we have to remove him from the equation.”

              “Hang on a minute, if you’re a U.N. agent, then why are you so determined to go against them?”

              “Because I’m fed up with the way things are,” Grayson said.  “I’m done working for them.  I’m done contributing to a society that dumps drugs into the water so it can control people through withdrawal.  I won’t do it anymore.  I can’t do it anymore.  So you can either help me or ignore me.  What’ll it be?”

              Jax needed no more convincing.  After longing for a reason to trust Grayson, he believed he had found it.  Longing for a life that made a difference, he made his decision.

              “Tell me what to do.”

              Grayson smiled.

              “Excellent.  There’s somebody I need you to contact.”