Chapter 74: Action!

I found Rene kneeling by his cot, praying in a language I didn't understand. I huddled quietly below the bunk and waited for him to finish. I don't know how long it really took, dream time and all that ... but eventually I heard a word I recognized, 'amen', and he began to rise.

"Amen," I said into the silence.

"Sebastian?" he said, turning to face me and sitting on the cot. "My friend, why did you not tell me you had come?"

"You were busy," I said.

"But I was only..."

"It was important," I said, interrupting. "Rene, my friend, have you made your peace?"

"Yes!" he said confidently. "I have spent much time in prayer and meditation. My future is in God's hands. What will come, will come and I face it boldly, for the Lord is with me."

"Then prepare yourself," I said. "Because I know what has troubled you of late. You know that I am working with others to catch you? I know what felt so different to you. He has indeed taken another, but not as a plaything but as a means to an end. He has kidnapped the sister of the agent that I have been assisting, to use her as bait to lure her sister from the safe house she was staying in. Before we go further I must ask you, do you know this woman?"

I created an image of Rebecca's partner. His reaction told me what I needed to know as he leaped to his feet and drew back defensively.

"Dahrinka! My God, Sebastian, what have you to do with her?"

"Then you do know her?"

"Yes," he answered. "Yes, of course I know her, we trained together. For a time I thought I was in love with her, but she..." he shook his head. "She is poison that one. From the beginning there was something cold and distant about her. Even in passion you knew ... there was the sense that she was ... toying with you, studying you. I spoke to Deryk of her once. He confessed to being with her. She had come to him late one night, long after the time we were supposed to be about. She had awakened him and urged him to silence, coaxed him, and mounted him. The thrill of the forbidden act gripped him and he let her take him. She was his first and only lover, for he died shortly after, but even so he regretted allowing it to happen, for it unnerved him the way she watched him throughout the encounter, staring into his eyes, studying him moment to moment, starting and stopping and always watching his eyes, until finally he spent his passion into her. Something in her terrified him, and yet still he could not deny her as night after night she came to him, each time watching him with that dark intensity."

Something about the way he said it told me this wasn't all second hand knowledge.

"And when she came to you?" I asked.

"I was ready for her. Having been warned by both Deryk and Lucia to be wary of her should she come in the night. Unbeknownst to her, Lucia and I had been lovers for some time and I was not unversed in the bedroom arts. Lucia had warned me that she would come, not that she may come, but as a certainty that she would for she had come to both of the others already. First Deryk, then Lucia. Lucia was at first grateful for the attention, finding it satisfying in a way that I was not, though she claimed to care for me and was always generous in her praise when we were together. Still there was a part of her, a separate part in a way, that craved something more, something that I knew I could never provide. Apparently Dahrinka could, speaking to that part of Lucia that I could not and bringing her a gift I could never bear."

"I understand," I said simply.

"No," he said emphatically. "You could not unless you had been with her. I was prepared; warned by Deryk and Lucia, and still, when she came to me ... I cannot describe it, but when she left, she took a part of me with her. It was how she got her nickname, how she became known as..."

"The Black Queen?" I offered, interrupting.

"Lord save you, Sebastian, you do know her!"

"Yes and no," I said. "She was sent to assist in your capture, in your other's capture, but a few weeks ago she disappeared. We thought she had been taken, but..."

"That is not possible!" he swore, coming to his feet. "No! He could not take her unless he did not know it was she. There was a hierarchy among us, and she was the leader. We deferred to her in all things lest we bring punishment upon ourselves."

Now we were getting somewhere! "In all things?" I asked.

"No," he said, his voice changing slightly. I thought maybe I detected a hint of humor in there somewhere. "In truth, not all. She was preferred by those who trained us, because of her insight and grasp of complex situations, especially politics, but still I could best her within certain established parameters. This drove her crazy and sometimes she would fall into the most destructive of rages."

"She hates to lose?"

"Yes, very much."

"And you were better than her?"

"In many things yes, but still she insisted on leading and I had no desire to push the issue. She led well and I preferred not to be responsible for the others."

"But she knew you were better and it irritated her because you both knew it?"

"Yes," he said and now I could hear the smile in his voice even though I could not see it through the mask. "But how do you know her?"

"Apparently, just as you did, she works for Interpol and she was sent to assist in catching you. She was the partner of the woman I work with. When I stole your money they put guards on both of the women in case you tried to retaliate. A few days later her guards were murdered and she disappeared. Due to the circumstances, everyone assumed that you took her. Shortly after that an attempt was made to kidnap me. The attempt failed and we caught one of them, but before we could question him he was killed. After that they apparently decided to study me, watching and testing. Eventually they were ready to try again. They abducted a girl I was seeing and used her as bait. That time we caught five of them. The leader was attached to a foreign embassy and we had to let him go. Well, they had to let him go. I had other methods available and after a few days I finally got him to tell me who had hired him. Normally it wouldn't have taken that long, but he was very afraid of whoever it was. He claimed he did not know her and never to have met her, and I believed him. All he knew was that she was known as the Black Queen and that she would kill him if he talked. Apparently he was right, because he's dead now."

"Yes," he said. "To cross her was a dangerous thing, very dangerous. And you say she was after you, why?"

"Apparently she learned of my abilities. We're not sure but we think she is hoping to be able to learn how I do it or force me to use my gifts on her behalf."

"Is this gift something she could learn?"

"I don't believe so, no. My greatest fear has always been that the wrong people would learn of it. As I'm sure you can appreciate, the potential for harm is..."

"Yes," he interrupted. "Forgive me, my friend, but I have often thought, in the quiet of my prison, that you would be a source of great evil should you desire it."

"I don't need to forgive you for thinking the truth. At any rate, it is now clear that Dahrinka staged her disappearance, arranging for the blame to fall on you. We think that, just as you did five years ago, she has gone rogue and is using this situation to cover her tracks. She has apparently been in contact with your other self, warning him that I would find him so that he was prepared when I did."

"You have been captured!"

"Yes, that is why I came to you. I think the time is near when we will bring this to an end and I wanted you to be ready. I am hoping that freeing you will provide enough of a distraction to allow us to escape and..." I didn't want to say it.

"Kill me?" he asked, filling in the blank for me. "Do not concern yourself with me, Sebastian. I have known since this began that to stop him would mean my death. If killing me would stop him, I would have done it myself years ago, but there is no guarantee that it would be successful. Kill him! If you can indeed free me from this prison, then I will do everything I can to regain control, but one way or the other, you must kill me or, sooner or later, he will take me again. Promise me, Sebastian, promise me you will end my suffering and I will help you."

"You don't need to explain, Rene, I have known all along that this was your desire, and that it was the only way to be sure he is destroyed. I promise if it is within my power, I will end your pain."

"Thank you, my friend."

"Don't thank me yet, but prepare yourself because I believe the time is fast approaching."

"I am ready."

"I wish I was," I said to myself as I returned to the van to see how Jamie was doing.

"You wish you were what?" she asked.

"Ready," I answered. "You're not free; I was hoping you had found something to pick these cuffs with."

"No, it's fucking bare to the walls back here. I'm thinking we need to plan better next time. I was thinking a pair of Mylar picks hidden inside the belt would have come in real handy right about now."

"And they wouldn't trip things like airport scanners. I like it, but it doesn't really help us right now. Sis, we have to be ready when he comes back. We don't stand a ghost of a chance of taking him with our hands tied."

"How did it go with Rene?" she asked, changing the subject.

"He's ready," I answered. "And he confirmed our suspicions about Henslith; she is the Black Queen."

"Great," she said sarcastically. "Just what we needed, not just one of the world's greatest killing machines, but two. We really do lead a charmed life. I think we've got one shot and it all comes down to how much of a distraction Rene is going to be able to provide. Here's what I'm thinking..."

We didn't have that long to wait. The back door of the van opened, as soon as he tripped the release for the second door Jamie kicked hard, driving my legs out from their tucked position, slamming the door open and catching him full on in the face and chest. As the impact drove him back I tore the mask from Rene's face, and the shit hit the fan.

It's hard to describe what it was like, have you ever seen those old black and white movies of the H-bomb tests back in the 50's and 60's? You know how they would show the shock wave hitting a structure and it would just sort of shudder? You could actually see the wave front move past it and then suddenly, WHAM! The whole thing just disintegrated from the force of the blast. It was sort of like that, like I was watching on a camera, safe from harm as the world fell apart around me.

Then I was back in the warehouse, where the Sandman screamed and fell to his knees, his body twitching and shaking. Blood starting to drip from his nose where the door had hit it.

Rene had warned me not to try and help at this point, "Whatever you do, do not fight him at this point. Do not try to help. If you do it will only make his control that much stronger as this is how we were conditioned to respond. The greater the threat, the more he will be in control. If I fail then you may do whatever you will for it will no longer matter to me.

So instead, Jamie slid out of the van and started hopping across the room to where Rebecca was tied up. It took about fifteen seconds just to hop there, and as I turned to reach for the knife the Sandman slammed into me, knocking me to the floor and scattering the contents of the table. I flipped onto my back to try and ward him off with my feet and found myself staring down the barrel of a nine millimeter as he stood frozen above me. I took a deep breath and tried to brace myself as best I could but the shot never came as suddenly he threw the gun away and screamed again, curling in on himself as if someone had punched him hard in the gut. Then his hands went to his head as the screaming continued.

Seeing an opportunity I slid forward and kicked out as hard as I could at the nearest knee. There was satisfying pop and he crashed to the ground next to me, but as he hit the ground his head came up, eyes focusing intently on me and suddenly he rolled forward over my outstretched legs his elbow slamming into my abdomen, knocking the wind out of me. My body instinctively curled around the blow and stars danced before my eyes as his next blow landed on the side of my head. Once more I found myself helpless and defenseless, waiting for death when again he screamed. Before the scream died he had rolled clear and was once more twitching on the floor.

As I lay gasping for air I noticed the knife only a few feet away and began slowly inching toward it, keeping a constant watch on my enemy.

"Okay," Jamie said. "No more hitting the bad guy or doing anything to attract his attention. If he looks at us, freeze and try to look as helpless as possible. Apparently all he needs is the perception of a tangible threat to regain almost total control. As soon as we are helpless again, Rene rushes in and stops him but we're not helping."

As she was speaking his body convulsed and suddenly he was curled up facing away from us. Instantly I rolled over on top of the knife and then froze as the sound of my movement caught his attention and he spun once more toward me. I moaned loudly and made a show of trying to curl away from a blow and suddenly his eyes lost focus once more as the inner battle resumed. As I lay there trying to relax and wait for the next chance to move I started catching images of the struggle going on within him as the two halves battled for final supremacy. Rene wasn't doing well. It was a titanic struggle, resembling one of those Saturday afternoon Kung Fu movies, all blocks and missed punches and kicks except that you could see the strain on the combatants faces. See the pain and blood when a blow got through. Suddenly something changed, perhaps he knew he was losing and decided it was all or nothing, but Rene suddenly went totally on the offensive, forgoing any pretense at defense he landed a flurry of blows on his opponent. Several got through but then apparently his enemy realized what he was doing and tucked in just long enough to look for an opening. It didn't take long before he apparently saw what he wanted and as Rene threw yet another kick at his head he dropped and swept Rene's feet out from under him, causing him to crash hard on his back. The wind exploded out of him and he lay momentarily defenseless at the Sandman's feet.

"Now Jimmy!" Jamie cried. "You have to buy him some time."

Holding the knife in one hand I rolled and pulled my cuffed hands over my tucked feet so that they were now in front of me. Flipping the knife open I made one quick slice through the duct tape binding my feet, splitting it neatly. Before I could do the back Jamie rushed forward and threw us into a roll to the side. As the foot that was aimed at my head sped past my perspective changed and the battle started in earnest.

As she rolled to her feet Jamie slashed through the remaining tape, freeing her legs. My hands were still cuffed but now at least I could move. Without hesitation she threw the knife as far away as she could and dropped into a half-crouch, waiting for him to make the first move. He had the experience but we had the better perspective. I still wasn't sure how it worked, but somehow Jamie was able to take advantage of my outside perspective. She could see the muscles tense as he began to move and was well prepared for the weak kick that came flying toward her head. Even before she blocked it she was moving to duck the second kick that was the intended to do the actual damage.

Maybe facing a sixteen year old high school kid made him over-confident but he was not prepared when she didn't just duck but squatted and kicked hard at the knee that was now holding his weight. It was the same knee I had kicked previously and this time something gave and he went down hard. He recovered quickly but Jamie was already moving to the next attack, stomping hard on the closest hand, trying to make him to lose his balance as he instinctively pulled it back. Instead he turned the fall into a roll, using it to put some distance between us. He surged back to his feet. His balance was off as he now favored the damaged knee and he was shaking his hand in a pained motion. The look in his eyes said he had learned from his mistake and would not be taking us for granted again. Jamie used her cuffed hands to block the crane kick coming straight at her but it was a feint and a fist crashed into the side of my face. Pain exploded above my left cheek and I momentarily saw stars. Hours spent sparing with Carter Malloy told me where the next blow would logically come from and I blocked it automatically, feeling his hand hit the steel edge of the cuffs as my wrists blocked his punch. That had to hurt, slamming your hand into the edge of the hardened steed cuffs.

That gave me time for my vision to clear and I stepped away to buy a little more time and a better view of the next attack.

"Time to try something else," Jamie said, and suddenly my view changed again and I was looking a killer in the eye as he stepped forward for the next attack.

He was choosing a more conventional attach, playing to his strength and my handicap. You can't box with your hands cuffed together so as soon as he threw his first jab I blocked and snapped a kick at his midsection.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

The kick was a mistake, he was ready for it, blocking the kick upward, causing the leg to extend and then sweeping my support leg from underneath me. I did my best to roll with the fall but it still hurt like hell. The kick that caught me in the ribs as I tried roll away hurt even more and I was pretty sure that was a rib breaking. This was not going well.