Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (57 page)

Paro sighed and tried not to feel pity for the
well-meaning Kazou. “I know you did, Kazou. If I thought you acted
for any other reason, I really would have thrown you out of a
window. But, I can no longer trust you. Kazou. You’re off my
team.”

In one of his rare moments, Kazou’s emotions
came through, and they were powerful. At first his eyes grew moist,
and then his lips quivered, until the man who almost never cried,
bawled like a newborn.

“
Please,” he begged, “I have no one
else. I don’t have any friends, and my brother is the only family I
have, and he’s on an Op. team—I never get to see him. Without this
team I have nothing. No reason to live, no reason to go on. I don’t
do this job just because of the importance of it. I do it because
of the people I get to be with. I … I love all of you, even the
annoying Harris-kid.
Onegai shimasu!
Do not make me leave,
Paro. Please, I can’t be alone again.”

Paro had to bite his tongue to stop himself
from forgiving him. Paro needed to be strong. He needed to act like
a team-leader. As a friend, Paro would take him back no matter what
he did, but as a Captain and team-leader, there was only one choice
left to be made.

“
Get out of here,” Paro commanded.
“Get out of here!”

Kazou went to his knees and continued to beg,
the biggest display of emotion Paro had ever seen from the man.
“Please, I beg of you. Don’t make me be alone again! Without the
team I have nothing.”

Paro forced his last bit of willpower into his
voice and eyes, narrowing them on Kazou. “I said get the hell out
of here—now!”

Kazou trembled as he stood, walking out of the
room with his head held low. Paro knew he’d feel the guilt of his
actions later, but for the time being he had to put them aside.
There was a meeting he needed to attend, and he had to be
focused.

The ride to the top floor was a quiet one. Paro
was alone in the H.Q elevator. When the elevator beeped and the
doors opened to the General’s wing, Paro almost forgot about his
ordeal with Kazou. It was a magnificent place.

So, this is what it looks like?
Paro
thought.

There were windows everywhere, providing
three-sixty degree views of all of Manhattan. It was beautiful.
Buildings shorter, and some taller, could be seen in every
direction. Paro didn’t have time to take in the sights. It was only
a short walk to the first room on the left, where he’d make his
meeting. He knocked.

“
Come in.”

Paro walked into the room. Sitting at a large
glass desk was General Deven Moore. Standing beside him was a woman
Paro did not recognize. She was of average height, but dressed in
an extravagant red kimono, and Paro realized it must be General
Rose. It was said that the woman wore the clothing of a different
culture every day.

Her eyes weren’t visible. They were hidden
behind a book she held in front of her face with a steady
hand.

“
Have a seat, or stand if you like,”
the General said. “I’m not much one for formality.”

“
I’d like to stand, if possible.
Thank you, General Moore.”

“
Please, call me Deven.”

It was a massive breach of protocol, but Paro
nodded and smiled. “Okay then, Deven.”

“
Normally I’d make small talk, but I
don’t have much time. There’s a flight I need to catch. So, Paro,
there’s two things we need to talk about. First, I want to know
what happened between Jack Harris and Andy Leonell at the terminal
in Anker. Don’t look surprised, did you really think all those
recon officers would remain quiet about something like that? I’ll
forgive you this time, but if it happens again, I’ll sic Rose here
on ya.”

Paro shuddered at the thought of the memory,
yet he did as commanded. For this he took a seat. Over the next ten
minutes Paro told them all about the incident. He even admitted how
it was the single most frightening thing Paro had ever been
through, in a life filled with horrors. General Deven’s face tilted
with interest during some of the darker parts, but Rose seemed
content to continue reading her book.

“
May I ask you a question,
sir?”

“
Deven.”

“
Ah. May I ask you a question,
Deven? It’s something that I doubt I’d be privy to. So, if you’re
unable to answer in the interest of security, I
understand.”

“
Go ahead.”

“
Could you do what that boy did?
Using Telepathy, I mean. One of the things a member of my team
suggested was that perhaps we only thought what Jack did was
impossible because none of us had ever seen it done before. We were
wondering if perhaps he’s not a freak, and just really powerful,
like a General.”

Deven grinned and nodded with approval. “A very
smart team you have. Well, I’m really not supposed to answer that
question, but I trust you, Paro. I think if it was life-or-death, I
could do what the Harris-boy did, maybe even for as long as he did
it. But,” he said with a pause. “It would kill me.”

Paro shivered, hearing his words. “So then
Jack—”

“
Is a freak,” Rose interrupted,
turning yet another page in her book. “He’s a freak that will
either destroy our world or save it.”

The words hit Paro like a truck. “I’m sorry,
what was that? Did you just say that Jack is someone who will … I
don’t even know if I can repeat that.”

“
You heard her correctly,” Deven
said. “Her visions are almost always true. When Rose sees two
paths, the world almost always travels one of them.”

Paro shook his head. He knew there were certain
Telepaths who could see beyond the ordinary, but this was absurd.
Jack might be the most powerful person Paro had ever encountered,
but saying the fate of the world rested on his shoulders was beyond
ridiculous. “Excuse me, General Rose, may I ask you a
question?”

There was an almost five minute pause, during
which Rose turned the page of her book four times, before putting
it down for a moment to meet Paro’s gaze. She was a striking woman,
with an almost omniscient set of eyes. Paro felt as if a single
glance from her would reveal his entire life. It was
unsettling.

“
Yes, go ahead,” she
answered.

“
Are you quite certain about what
you just said? That something as big as the world could be
destroyed by Jack, of all people? Or saved, for that
matter?”

She didn’t respond. Instead, she held the book
back to her eyes and continued to read. Paro looked at Deven in
confusion.

“
You’ll get used to it,” Deven said.
“Whenever someone asks Rose a question, she considers her words
very carefully. I’ve never once heard her say something she later
regrets. There are many people in this world that speak without
thinking. Rose is on the opposite end of that. It can be
frustrating, but you learn to deal with it. Once, I had to wait
forty-five minutes for a response when I asked her to pass me the
salt at a dinner-party. You get used to it.”

Paro wanted to ask why he didn’t just get up
and get it himself, but he thought the better of it.

Rose remained silent for almost ten minutes,
flipping through pages in what Paro figured was probably an entire
chapter. He was caught off guard when she finally spoke. At the
time, Paro was counting the number of words he could think of that
started with the letter ‘
A
.’

“
I am certain,” she said finally.
“Though in what capacity, I am not at liberty to say. One errant
word from me and disaster could befall us all. Just proceed as
normal for the time being. There are very bad things to come, and
you’ll know what to do well before they’re on their
way.”

“
What bad things?” Paro
asked

Rose brought the book to her face and continued
to read. Deven laughed. “You’re not going to get an answer to that
one, Paro. Come on, I’ve got a flight to catch but I can buy you a
beer on the way there.”

Paro grunted. “I’m not supposed to leave H.Q.
I’m pretty badly injured. I’d need a release.”

“
Here ya go,” Deven answered,
already removing a signed document from his white General’s
coat.

“
You have a document for everything,
don’t you? Can you even do that?” Paro asked.

For a moment he regretted it, he was speaking
to the General like he was a friend, an equal.

Deven only laughed. “That I do. And yes, I can
do whatever I want, I’m a freaking General!”

Paro shook his head and followed the man out of
the room. A bit of alcohol would do him some good after the
nightmare that had been his last few weeks.

“
Mr. Harris, I’m going to ask you
one more time—do you have your assignment or not?”

“
Yup, I do, Mr. Trinchard! It’s
right here somewhere. I’m just trying to find it.”

The teacher sighed, and rubbed his eyes. “Do
you mean that piece of paper that you’re writing on right now? For
five minutes you’ve been telling me, ‘I’ve got the assignment’ all
the while you’ve been writing like a madman on that paper. Mr.
Harris, are you trying to do your homework in front of me and claim
you’ve done it at home?”

The students in the class laughed, but Jack
ignored them. “Nah-uh, I’m just trying to exercise my wrist
muscles.”

“
Mr. Harris, you’ve got until the
count of three to hand in your assignment, or you’re getting a
Z-”

Jack groaned. “Wait, isn’t F the lowest thing
you can get?”

“
It used to be, until I got
you
as a student.”

Jack cried out loud, “Why is everyone so
mean?”