Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (73 page)

Twelve
looked around and admitted that the city was in turmoil but added that if those
people could be found and apprehended, then communications could be released.
“This is important Mia. Trust me and get moving.”

The
ragged man vanished in a murder of crows as the two officers retreated into
their vehicle and started off toward Mia’s home. Bryce couldn’t help but glance
back at where the fight he had aimed to stop was. The gang had fled and two
bodies remained motionless where the fight happened moments earlier.

---*---

11:27
PM

Baltimore,
Maryland

“Are
you sure we should be doing this?” Mithra asked nervously. “Can’t you hear
what’s happening down there? It’s madness.”

Mizuno
took a breath and told him to be patient. “I know this is causing a bit of a
mess right now, but we needed to cut off communication, otherwise we could
possibly have been caught by the Baltimore police by now. And we need to remain
in one place if Cladis is ever going to find us.”

The
group of five, Mizuno, Afifa, Melanie, Mithra, and their captive James Resnik,
stood on the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in Baltimore. The rooftop
was rather unremarkable. It had a satellite dish positioned near the center of
the roof, a plain white railing that surrounded the area, and a large set of
generators and air conditioning units (which Mizuno disabled shortly before
Melanie began her broadcast, to lessen the overall noise in the area). Afifa
remained close to Melanie, who leaned casually against the railing at the edge
of the building. Mithra sat cross-legged on the ground with James Resnik, and
Mizuno stood with two polished Glock seventeens readied in his hands. Mizuno
kept his eyes fixed on the opposite end of the rooftop where a slightly
concealed access point hatch remained closed.

Melanie
used her ability to broadcast their conversation, as well as everything that
happened on the rooftop, across the greater Baltimore area. She jammed all
wireless transmissions at Mizuno’s request shortly after their group kidnapped
James Resnik from the Baltimore Police Department. Since then, she had grown
bored and eagerly awaited the inevitable conflict with their foe.

She
glanced over the edge of the building and down at the streets below and asked
Mizuno why they even bothered with the broadcast. “You’re just going to kill
whoever this Cladis guy is, so why are we doing this? For the credit?”

Mizuno
massaged the bridge of his nose and told her it was simply to offer their
community a sense of relief when the effort was over. “This city, and the
world, is not fully aware of the situation here. Cladis has remained hidden for
a very long time and he needs to be stopped. I want this broadcast to reach the
people of Baltimore first, so they are aware of the threat that lurks in their
own home, but I also want the world to know that there are many unchecked
threats that need to be stopped. But most importantly, I need to prove that
Cladis is real.”

“Okay,
but where is he?” Mithra asked. “We’ve been up here for hours and I don’t know
about you, but I’m starving.”

“Why
don’t we just leave and grab a bite back in Seattle?” Melanie suggested.

“I
wouldn’t mind grabbing a burger,” James chimed in.

“No,
we are going to stay here and finish this.”

“But
he’s not coming,” Mithra complained.

“Yes,
he is,” Mizuno flatly told him. “This guy has not once failed to follow the
strict pattern he started back in July, so why would he start making mistakes
today?” Mizuno waited a moment before he frowned and let out a breath. “I guess
the answer is simpler than I thought. He doesn’t know we’re on the roof of the
Transamerica Tower.”

Melanie
cursed and demanded to know why he sold them out. “Now everyone knows where we
are. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I
realized something about our opponent,” Mizuno said with a smirk. “He had no
idea where we are.”

“Yes,
and now he does.”

“That
isn’t the point.” Mizuno told Melanie. “Cladis must have typically followed
whoever he aimed to kill next for days at a time, simply until he decided to
kill them to fit his pattern. That part is not what I find interesting. What
intrigues me is how he discovers his next target and how he finds them.”

“Wouldn’t
he have that planned out ahead of time?” James asked.

Mizuno
shook his head, “No. For some reason this pattern exists where when one person
is killed, another, somewhere within the city, gains an ability seemingly at
random. Cladis shouldn’t have any idea who that person might be. And unless he
has been extremely lucky and found each and every target by pure happenstance,
which I doubt, I would wager that Cladis has an accomplice who aids him in
finding new targets.”

“What
are you saying?” James asked him.

“What
I’m saying is that Cladis only knows where he’s headed or who he’s going to
kill because someone else is solving the riddle for him.”

James
looked at him with a perplexed look and asked, “Cladis doesn’t have a vendetta
against me?”

“I
highly doubt it.”

“Then
this is random?”

“I
would almost say it is, except there’s a pattern,” Mizuno reminded him. “Other
than that, yes, it is random, to a point.”

“But
who would help him?” Mithra asked.

“It’s
probably someone who knows him extremely well. I’d even go so far as to say
it’s someone who already knows a lot about this guy and the murders here in
Baltimore.”

“So
you really do want to lure him here?” James asked Mizuno. “Why don’t you just
teleport me out of the city and foil his plan that way?”

Mizuno
told him it was simpler to solve the problem than dance about the issue. “If we
leave he could just kill someone else and restart the pattern. But even that
isn’t a sure guess as to what would happen if we left, seeing as this is an
unstable enemy, which needs to be handled carefully.”

“And
killing him is the careful approach?”

He
looked at James and asked how Cladis was supposed to kill someone if he was
dead. “I’m not saying this is the best approach to all matters, but it is to
this one.”

“Is
your group usually this tactful?” James asked sarcastically.

Mizuno
ignored him and told his team to ready themselves.

Afifa
trembled slightly, partly from the chill of the evening and partly from her
anxiety for the impending situation. Mithra and Melanie were both irritated
with Mizuno for making them hide out in Baltimore for the whole day, and
Melanie was even more wroth because Mizuno made her use her abilities to block
all radio transmissions throughout the city for the entire day, which exhausted
her. James remained where he was and hoped no one would arrive, though he
doubted his fortune would be so great, as the killer had yet to fail. Mizuno
stood still, with his eyes glues to the rooftop access hatch, while everyone
else looked elsewhere.

“When
can I stop doing what I’m doing?” Melanie whined.

“Once
this is over,” Mizuno muttered.

“This
isn’t even going to matter after you kill this guy, assuming he even shows up,”
she complained. “So why bother with this?”

“Because
what if we do fail?” Mizuno asked rhetorically. “Then the people of this city
need to have as much information on why we failed so they can work to stop him.
Now please, be quiet and pay attention.”

The
building’s rooftop was quite empty, which left the group with nowhere to hide
and nowhere for Cladis to suddenly attack from. Everyone within the group was
worried about the emptiness of the area when they first arrived, but since they
had sat there for hours without so much as a single bird landing there next to
them, the whole lot, with the exception of Mizuno, lowered their guard.

“He
isn’t coming Mizuno.”

Melanie
hardly finished her last word when the steel hatch at the other end of the roof
flew open and into the air, freed from the hinges it had previously been fixed
to. The airborne hatch came hurdling down toward the group and cause them to
split their ranks quickly to avoid the object. Mithra and Melanie dove right
while James and Mizuno (who pulled Afifa along) evaded to the left.

“Where
is he?” Resnik asked them.

Mizuno
paused for a moment, searched the area, and asked Mithra to play his part. After
a moment everyone within four city blocks lost their sight.

The
unseen assailant cleared his throat and asked if the trick was supposed to
impede him at all. “Or are you simply trying to even the odds, considering you
can’t see me?”

“It’s
something along those lines,” Mizuno told the man as he silently and swiftly
dashed around the individual. His voice carried and echoed out from different
places and in no seemingly traceable pattern as to where he came from or where
he moved to next. “I’d say first things are first; are you Cladis?”

The
man admitted that he was. “Why do you ask?”

“I
need to know to make sure I kill the right person.”

“How
do you know I’m not lying?”

“Oh,
I already assumed you might, but thus far you fit the basic description.”

“Which
is?”

“Invisibility,
super human strength, electronic manipulation, and an odd little trick that
allows you to brand your enemies,” Mizuno rattled off. “Tell me though, does
that stem from another power, or is it a simple parlor trick?”

Cladis
gave a slight laugh and said it was nothing he should concern himself with.
“So, am I the individual you hope to kill?”

Mizuno
said he was as sure as he believed he could be. “Now let me ask you this: why
are you killing all of these people? It’s obvious you’re not collecting
abilities, so what’s your motive?”

Cladis
told him it wasn’t his business. “Why on earth should I tell you anything?”

Mizuno
admitted that it wouldn’t benefit him, but said it was strictly curiosity. “If
you don’t want to talk about that, can I ask who you’re working with?”

The
invisible man asked what he meant. “I work alone.”

Mizuno
called his bluff and told him he knew he worked with someone. “This pattern is
extremely complex, so complicated it’s nearly on the verge of impossibility,
seeing as there is no way I’ve seen for a chain of people who happen to cross
paths to gain some sort of super human ability one right after the other,
especially within the same city.”

“Do
you expect me to tell you everything?” Cladis asked him. “I’m well aware of the
transmission you’re making right now.”

“Of
course you are, otherwise you wouldn’t be here and James Resnik wouldn’t be
endangered and your little chain of events would breakdown.”

“It
isn’t that simple.”

“Explain
that to me.”

“I
gather you’ve followed this with more than a mild interest?”

“Yes.”

“Then
you’re aware of the discrepancy with the twelfth murder.”

“I
am.”

“Then
you can realize that there is not always a single target, but multiple
possibilities.”

“Then
who was the true twelfth victim?” Mizuno asked him. “Was it Jenna Bell or Ryan
Sage?”

“Does
it matter? They’re both dead.”

“True.”

“How
much more of these meaningless questions do you intend to subject me to?”
Cladis inquired as his interest in the situation waned. “You seem to me to be
quite intelligent, so you should know what’s going to happen here.”

“And
what’s that?”

“I’m
going to kill James Resnik and then each and every one of you here.”

“I
highly doubt that.”

“How
do you expect to kill me if you can’t see me?”

Mizuno
chuckled and told him he was more than capable of hitting a target in the dark.

Cladis
lunged toward where James Resnik stood moments before total blindness overtook
the entire area, but his effort was foiled as Mizuno shot him twice in the back
and once in his lower left thigh. Mizuno rushed at the man through the
darkness, seized him, and threw him off the edge of the building.

Mithra
let his power go so they all could see while Mizuno walked to the edge and
looked down to see whether his efforts were successful. All he saw at the
bottom was a large crater in the street below.

“You
got everything, right?” Mizuno asked Melanie.

She
didn’t answer.

The
foundations of the building shook so violently that Mizuno nearly lost his
balance and fell over the edge. He looked at the group and realized he’d made
an uncalculated error. Mithra, Melanie, James, and Afifa were huddled together
away from him near the center of roof. He told them to scatter, but no one
managed to move before the area they stood on was destroyed and a broken,
scarred, and bleeding man resurfaced.