Agent in the Dark (The Agents for Good) (2 page)

Chapter Two

Crazy Man

The cold winds blew the scent of my prey to me. He’d taken the bait and I felt a thrill of adrenaline at the knowing of it. Today, at least, would have some challenge to it.

I waited a moment longer before standing up from my concealment directly in the path of the adult male Kodiak bear. It reared up on its hind legs with a roar of challenge at my sudden unexpected appearance. I laughed, as the thrill of danger swept through me and I chucked the spear in my hand hard at the bear.

I could’ve killed it with a well aimed throw, but I didn’t want the excitement to be over so soon. The spear lodged deeply into the bear’s shoulder and its roar turned to a rageful blast, even as a hate filled wrath entered the bear’s eyes.

“Well come on big boy! Give it your best shot!” I yelled out in defiance at it.

I ducked off to the side, as the bear lunged forward. I took off down the path running easily letting my stride widen out. I could feel the bear closing in on me from behind. I ducked off to the side of the trail suddenly and the bear, in an effort to halt its rolling bulk and follow down the divergent path I had taken, smashed sideways into a tree and roared at the pain of it. Before the bear could gather itself I claimed a spear I had left along the path and jabbed it deeply into the side of the bear twice.

With one mighty paw strike it snapped the offending spear in half and I took off running again. It was time to end this fight. I ran into a group of tightly grown together trees and grabbed up the homemade long sword that I had left there.

The bear’s speedy pursuit was slowed down by having to dodge in and around the tightly packed trees. There was a small open area within the pack of trees and that was where I waited for the bear, sword in hand.

Yeah, I was crazy, and what I was about was entirely foolish, but who cared anyway. I didn’t. If they all thought I was cr
azy, then so be it, I would be crazy in all its glory. At least I was having a moment of fun and a test of challenge to liven up my otherwise boring monotony. It was my island anyway and I could do whatever I wanted, which included fighting bears in single combat.

The bear reared up snarling and swung at me with either long talon tipped paw and I swung back with my sword, as my screams of war match the bear’s roars for intensity of feeling. It was close a few times, but in the end the bear fell forward ponderously its throat sliced away.

I approached its fallen bulk and Crusader style I jammed my sword down through the back of the bear’s neck affixing it to the ground. Resting a foot on the bear’s large head I threw my head back and roared my own cry of victory. Make no mistake of it that I, John Kilroy, had killed this day and remained king of my island.

The bear meat roasting on the fire was a welcome relief from the fish and other small game I typically had to survive on. The bear had swam ashore from a neighboring Aleutian Island two days ago. It had been a fatal decision, but now all the excitement was over. Back to my humdrum existence, I thought to myself, staring sourly into the flames of the fire.

I didn’t much mind being alone on an island by myself. Ha
ving a woman along would have been a relief in some ways, but not so much in other ways. They talked too much. I was here till I died so what did it matter anyway.

The bear meat was done so I pulled it away from the flames. I had just torn off a bite of the steaming meat with my teeth, when I heard the sounds of a whisper soft chopper. My head turned in the direction of the slight disturbance of air, as my keen senses picked up on every clue to identify the source of the noise.

It was an expensive technology that rendered the rotary beats of the chopper virtually soundless. It was an expensive item such as what the Agency could both afford and likely would employ. So they had come to visit me on my island prison.

Why?

My internment here had been for forever with no chance of parole. Had they come to kill me?

A savage joy at the prospect of them even trying to do that surged through me. The coming confrontation would be far better than any fight with a bear. I had a few old scores that I wanted to settle.

I started to pick up my sword, but thought better of it. That would be too obvious and put them on their guard too much. I’d finished them off with my knives, if my hands weren’t enough to do the job. One way or another I’d make their visit to the island a memorable one.

C
hapter Three

The Beast

“I don’t like this one bit Chantry! We should not have come here!” Flint said testily.

Chantry patted Flint’s hand consoling, “I fully appreciate your reservations on this matter, but it has to be. He’s the best and perhaps only candidate suited for the job at hand.”

“He’s nothing but a brutal animal that would be best off taken out in the street and shot like a mad dog.” Flint responded hotly.

“And yet he is your brother, perhaps he deserves a second chance.”

Flint gave Chantry the full heat of his gaze, “He’ll burn you Chantry! He’s not to be trusted! He only looks out for himself and what he wants!”

“I’m not planning on trusting him Flint, rather I intend of manipulating him to do my will.”

“He’s too cunning for that Chantry!”

“I
know, which is why when it comes down to it I’m going to be relying on his finer qualities to do the right thing. I just hope that there still buried somewhere yet inside of him.”

Flint looked away out the window of the chopper, “Cha
ntry I won’t deny that at one time my brother was different, more controllable at least, but all that’s gone now since they twisted him up inside. He can’t be reasoned with!”

“He deserves a second chance Flint. I’d do the same for you and you know it.”

Flint shook his head angry, but he was defeated by his mentor’s stubbornness to relent from this foolish quest. “Maria should not go with us and you know why!”

“That’s precisely why she should come to help distract him.” Chantry said calmly.

Flint’s jaw pulsed angrily, but he said nothing further.

Chantry turned to address Maria Christina his gaze co
ncerned, “Flint is right to be worried Maria. You need to use extreme caution and do not hesitate to shoot him if the situation warrants it. Above all do not try to fight him in hand-to-hand combat, you’ll lose.”

“I can handle myself!” Maria retorted back in an insulted tone. Maria wasn’t prepared for the sudden furious o
nslaught from the normally well-controlled Flint that erupted at her words.

“Do as he says! If my brother gets the drop on Temple and me you’ll wish you had never been born by the time he’s through with you!”

Maria stared at Flint shocked, she had never seen him so furious and wisely she remained silent.

“I’ve located where it appears that he lives.” Temple called out from the cockpit.

“Set us down near it.” Chantry responded.

With the aid of a walking cane Chantry made his way up the intricately inlaid flagstone pathway to the equally exquisite stone house. Maria commented on the beauty of the stonework, especially that of the house that appeared to have no mortar used in its construction.

“My brother was always good with his hands.” Flint commented grimly, in response to her praise of the ston
ework.

Chantry stepped through the open door into the one room space beyond. Beautifully cast-iron
windchimes tinkled in the breeze blowing through the tall narrow windows artfully crafted into the stone walls.

The beautiful artistry on display all around him helped Chantry quell the fears that he felt inwardly that he was about to make one of the worst mistakes of his life by co
ming here to recruit Flint’s brother. He honestly hadn’t expected to be back to this island, since five years previously, when he had dumped John out of a chopper into the waters offshore. It just went to show that you never knew what pathway life would take a person.

Temple asked, “What do we do now?”

“We wait.” Chantry said, moving a hand whittled chess piece several squares forward on a homemade chessboard.

Maria asked gazing around wonderingly, “You left him all this metal to work with?”

Chantry shook his head no, “He must have mined it out and made his own steel with the use of charcoal and some other ingredients he found on the island. Which means……”

“He has knives, perhaps even a sword.” Flint finished for him darkly.

Maria glanced from Chantry to Flint. She’d never seen Chantry so keyed up before and Flint had descended into naked hostility the closer they had gotten to this island.

“Just what did he do?” Maria asked looking between the two of them.

Chantry spoke up never looking up from the chessboard, as he played the opposite side against himself, “Among other things he killed a fellow agent.”

“After he raped her.”
Flint added pointedly.

Maria was truly shocked now.

“Why didn’t you just kill him for that?”

“He wasn’t entirely himself at the time and to be truly honest I’m still not sure that he is now.” Chantry said softly gi
ving the pristine interior of the house another glance.

“Why have I never heard of this?” Maria exclaimed.

“It happened a good many years ago and at the time we didn’t want to publicize it too much.”

“Who was she?” Maria asked
, shocked by all these Agency revelations that she knew nothing about. Maria continued on before her question could be answered, “You said you dropped him off here five years ago, but that his agency status was before my time?”

Chantry nodded, “He went rogue for several years and piled up a lot of destruction. Mostly against villains, which I didn’t mind, but when it became clear that he was a menace to society itself I brought him here so he couldn’t hurt an
yone. Now the world is different and you could say that savage people like him is what the new normal will be unless we break the Code’s grip on the world.”

Still curious Maria asked again, “Who was she?”

“She was my sister.” Temple said speaking up for the first time.

Maria gasped and stopped with her questions not sure if she wanted to know any more answers.

They’d made no attempt at stealth, as they’d sat right down in front of the house with the chopper. I’d already scouted around to verify if there were any snipers to worry about. There weren’t. Perhaps my execution wasn’t what they had in mind after all. How intriguing.

The door was open so I sauntered inside and immediately I didn’t like what I saw. Chantry hadn’t just brought any run-of-the-mill stiffs with him. He’d brought my self-righteous brother, a girl that was nothing but eye candy meant to distract me, and worst of all Lori’s brother.

I sat down opposite of Chantry and I met his calculated smile with one of my own. He didn’t intimidate me. He ne
ver had. Cocking my head to the side slightly I asked, “I don’t recall inviting you to my island.”

“No, I don’t believe you did. May I stay?”

Oh he was a cagey one he was, but two could play at that game.

“No.”

“Oh, well I’ll leave then, but an old man like me is going to take at least five minutes to get going.”

“Did I say that I’d let you leave?”

“I don’t believe you did, may I?” Chantry responded in kind.

Sighing, tired of the game, I slouched back into the chair, “What do you want Chantry?”

“I thought perhaps we could arrange a little holiday from your quaint little island for you.”

After five years of surviving the harsh elements on this little island they wanted to give me a vacation? Yeah right!

“Chantry do you seriously think that I’m still on this island, because I don’t have the ability to leave it of my own free will?”

“Of course not!
A resourceful man like you could easily build a seaworthy vessel and sail out of here with confidence. It’s the very fact that you haven’t that gives me confidence that some part of you may be ready for the challenges of society again.”

The chessboard and its pieces went flying and I was lea
ning across the table with a knife buried in the table in front of Chantry. The blade itself was slid between the crease of two of Chantry’s fingers resting on the table. My actions had been so fast that only my brother had the impulse to start to step forward. Chantry never so much as blinked, my face was but inches from his older more fragile one.

“Did it not ever occur to you that perhaps all I want is to be left alone?”

“It has.” Chantry replied calmly.

There was no budge in the old man’s eyes and I saw what I had always respected about him most, courage. I sat back down contemplating him. I glanced around at the odd group gathered within my house. Temple was stoically unreadable as ever, my brother’s hard-won control over his temper was barely leashed and the girl? She was brave, but unsettled.

I drank in her sensuous form. It had been a long five years without the one pleasure I craved most in life. Seeing her made the ach ten times more severe, but that was what her purpose here was for, to be a distraction. She did a good job of it too.

I felt the sharp pulse of a headache beginning in the back of my head. I had just been playing with them up until now, but anger wasn’t far away now. I watched as Chantry worked on pulling the embedded dagger free with his arthri
tic fingers. Successfully, after much tugging, the blade came free and he turned it over in his hands admiring the liquid flowing design engraved into the dagger.

“Absolutely beautiful John, you missed your calling in life! You’re good at being destructive, but your even better at creating.”

I shook my head softly, “The world must be in an awful sorry state for you to be here knocking on my door wanting to play twenty questions.”

Chantry nodded, “It is, in fact it’s downright awful and I need your help setting something right. The job I have in mind requires someone with a particular range of talents and freedom of expression.”

“You mean someone who’s crazy.” I added dryly.

Chantry’s response was sharp, “I’ve never called you that John!”

“No, you haven’t.” I admitted softly.

“A wild force of uncontrollable nature would be a more apt description for you. John, the world that was before when you were brought here, is no more. In short it has co
llapsed in mass at the feet of a select few puppeteer masters and we’re not sure who they are. They engineered a Code that controls everything mechanical and linked wirelessly the world around. Nothing happens or gets done without their say so. They have a virtual monopoly on the world’s market and there is no freedom at all for those who oppose them. The United States opposed them along with Canada, Australia, Great Britain, France, South Africa, and Japan. As punishment the Code shut them down. Millions have died John and millions more are likely to soon follow. This has been the reality of the world for the last two years. I think you can full well imagine what has taken place in the absence of any governing order in the form of either local police or military presence. Many atrocities have been committed in these switched off countries and many more within the nations now serving the requests of the Code. Genocide of certain ethnicities is happening on a global scale. I said the losses are in the millions so far, but if this Code and whoever is behind it are not stopped the numbers could reach into the billions. We must stop and break the power of this Code so that order can be restored and the injustices stopped before any more innocent blood is spilled!”

As unbelievable as it all sounded Chantry wasn’t one to lie and his passion was testimony enough, as to the truth of what he spoke of. I couldn’t believe it in terms of one thing though. I gazed at Chantry incredulously and then at those around the room, I began to laugh harder than I had in years. Oh this was rich!

Chantry looked displeased at my outburst of mirth and eventually I quieted down into post mirth, still half shaking with laughter. I sat up wiping the tears from my eyes and met Chantry’s now angry gaze.

“The world needs saving so you come to me?” I said pointing to myself mockingly.

“Regrettably yes.” Chantry responded tightlipped.

My mirth fell away in an instance, as I leaned closer to Chantry, “The world can go to hell for all I care Chantry! I have what I need. The world never did anything for me so why should I do anything for it?”

The last part hadn’t really been a question, but more of a statement of how little I cared for the plight for survival that mankind now found itself mired in.

“I told you this was a waste of time Chantry!” Flint said speaking up harshly for the first time.

I turned to him, “So sorry to disappoint you big brother, but I simply couldn’t care less about whatever good objectives you Agency hacks are up to now. Speaking of now, I think it’s about time you got off my island!”

Flint started for the door, but stopped at a gesture from Chantry.

“It has become clear that you won’t help us for any inducement of honor or nationalistic pride. What then might I ask would be something of value to which we might purchase your loyalties for the mission I have in mind?” Chantry asked not giving anything away.

I sat back in my chair looking him over contemplatively.

“Well you know Chantry I’m not quite sure as to what could significantly motivate me to joining the side of pure moral authority, but give me a few days to think about it, as I enjoy your pretty little agent over there and I should be able to come up with an answer for you.”