Chapter Two

Chapter Two

 

                I needed a plan of some kind, a way to lure Eddie out. He would be my first target, since he was the first one I saw that night they came for my father. I still had no idea what went on when my father went to those ‘training’ sessions, so I would have to find out some of the finer points of those meetings before I killed anyone. I held my cell phone in one hand, debating a quick call to Eddie to set up a meeting. The man was about my father’s age, which would put him in his late fifties by now, at least. I assumed Gabriel to be a little older, maybe barely hitting sixty, but that was just a guess. I decided a personal visit to Eddie’s home would be better, so I put my cell phone back in my pocket and pulled my coat tighter around my shoulders to block out the autumn morning’s chilly wind. A gust of cold air blew my raven black hair into my face. Despite being trimmed, it was still long enough to hang in my eyes, so I brushed it back and walked toward the woods behind my house. My father had shown me a shortcut to Eddie’s house, hoping to make me like the guy more. His attempts had failed miserably, succeeding only in earning me a place in Eddie’s family if something bad ever happened. This qualifies as ‘something bad’ doesn’t it? I mean, the man was the reason my father got lost, so his death was his fault too, right? Shrugging to myself, I walked the mile or so through the woods to Eddie’s street with ease, coming out a few yards from his house.

                The older gentleman was outside, alone, working on an old Crown Vic I assumed was from when the b*****d was a cop. The cold steel of the knife in my pocket gave me a surge of energy. I wanted to kill him now, avenge my father without the details of what they did to him. It didn’t really matter if you looked at the bigger picture. They trained him for something, got him lost in the Labyrinth and he died a basically empty shell because of them. What else was there?

                Don’t let your rage overpower your sense, my father’s voice told me. It was a line he used frequently before he was lost. Whenever I got into a fight with one of the neighbors’ kids, he’d tell me to think first. Plan ahead, prepare myself for the fight, instead of going in blind and hoping I got what I wanted. Find out the truth first. I nodded to myself and walked down the street, moving my hands to the front pockets of my faded jeans to avoid the temptation of the blade in my jacket. I was silently planning now, trying to decide which way was the best to kill the two of them. I could stab them, I could shoot them, I could beat them to bloody piles of flesh and shattered bones. But all of that was just too easy. I wanted them to suffer the way my father had for years. I finally came up with the perfect way to make them pay: I would do to them what they did to my father. I would trap them in the Labyrinth, as they had apparently been training him to do against others.

                “Eddie, are you busy?” I asked, coming up to the right of the Crown Vic. It was apparent he hadn’t heard me approach when he jumped; my steps had been like a predator stalking its prey, not a friend. “Well, busy with something that can’t wait a little while, at least?” Eddie saw there was something wrong and put the tool he was holding on the edge of a toolbox, wiping dirt and grease off of his thin hands. He still looked ill to me, just like when I was a child and he’d been dressed in that impeccable suit, only maybe he had a little more weight in his stomach. Hell, he had a beer belly. There was no hiding that and no point trying to avoid the truth. The b*****d was a drunk now, working on his car, his home devoid of life.

                “What’s going on, kiddo?” he asked. He’d always treated me like a child, which drove me crazy, but I didn’t argue with him this time. The more I made him see the distraught son who had just lost his father, the less he’d expect the revenge I was planning. When I didn’t answer, he suggested that we move the conversation inside. With only a few windows, all of which were shut, there was very little air flow in the house, so the air was stale and almost sickening to breathe.

                “My dad,” I started, playing the role perfectly. Seven years of acting were finally about to pay off. I pretended to get all choked up, forcing crocodile tears to spring to my eyes. “He died this morning.” Eddie looked down, his drunken regret apparent. “He got out of the Labyrinth long enough to say good bye, though.”

                “I’m sorry, kiddo. I really am. Your father was one of my best friends. It was sad to see him get trapped like that. It wasn’t fair for you or your mother either. Neither of you deserved the pain that caused you two. Your father was a great man, you know that? He saved my life more than once.” And you got him killed! I wanted to scream it in his face, but I kept my cool, looking down as if to hide tears.  “Did you tell Gabriel too?” I shook my head.

                “You were closer and I just had to run. I couldn’t stay in that house. Not with my father in the next room. I figured it was the right thing to tell you.” That was a subtle hint toward the fact that my mother and I hadn’t known my father was lost until almost a week later. He would often disappear for days for his training, so we didn’t think anything was wrong until Eddie and Gabriel had shown up with fake apologies. She fell for their charade, believed it was all an accident, but I wouldn’t buy it. I’d screamed and attacked them, asking what they’d done to him, but my mother pulled me away and held me back until they offered their final condolences and left. “I figured you could call Gabriel and we could meet somewhere. If that’s okay.”

                “Yeah, sure. Did you have a place in mind?” I nodded.

                “I want to see where you two trained him. I want to see what he last consciously saw.” Eddie’s expression changed, taking on a sober darkness I’d never seen in him. He seemed about to deny the request, but then sighed, resigned, and pulled out his cell phone. When he walked to the kitchen, he started talking into the phone instead of to me.

                “Gabe, it’s Ed. Can we meet up somewhere?” I heard the hum of Gabriel’s voice on the other end, but couldn’t make out the words. “Yes, it’s important. It’s about Thomas and Adrian. Yeah, Adrian said he wants to meet where we trained Tom. Wants to see the place for himself.” Another pause. “Gabe, come on. Nothing’s there anymore. Nothing’s been there since Tom lost it.” I tensed, my fingers curling into tight fists, knuckles white. “So will you meet us there? Good. See you there. Adrian, does an hour from now sound good?” I nodded and he relayed the decision to Gabriel before thanking him and hanging up.

                “So in an hour, I’ll get to see where he got lost helping you two.” My words were sharp, each syllable like a razor tearing at his flesh. I wanted to add that I would get my revenge there too, but I didn’t. I had to get the two of them together, get my information, then take them out. I had to be patient. Eddie winced at what I said to him, but didn’t speak again. “I am going to go for a walk or something. I can’t be inside for so long,” I added. He nodded silently, so I walked outside and went into the woods, right across the street to watch if he did anything. I had a feeling he would end up driving over to wherever we would meet later, to talk to Gabriel ahead of time and get their story straight and to clean up anything they’d left there. He wouldn’t have said anything about it on the phone with me right there, but the message was implied. Eddie had gotten a little spooked while he was talking, like a child when his mother goes to check his room and he knows there’s something there she should never see. He was trying to rush to his room and get rid of what she shouldn’t see before she got there. Well, before I got there. I was right. For the next fifteen minutes, Eddie worked on the Vic, but as soon as it was done, he jumped into the driver’s seat and floored it, speeding out of the driveway and down the street at an easy speed of sixty miles an hour. I smirked and went back across the street, searching through his house for anything that would prove what I suspected: my father was targeted for these men to die, not selected for some mission because he was the only one capable. I always thought that was a load of crap. He wasn’t picked to catch this guy because he was the only person able to handle it, he was chosen because he was expendable. If he got lost doing this, it was no big deal. He wasn’t part of the government group that walked in the Labyrinth to find murderers and trap them there anymore. He took some time off when he got married to my mother, then officially left the team when I was born. If I was right, my father getting lost may have been an accident when it happened, but they didn’t care what happened to him. He was a casualty of some stupid war that he never wanted to be a part of in the first place. And now I was involved in that same war, a vigilante seeking revenge on either side of the pointless battle.

                Digging through one of the cabinets, I found a small string tied to the back, the tension on the string obviously not from the spotty glasses resting on it. I didn’t care about the mess it would make. I simply knocked all of the glasses down and pulled the string, a handle of sorts for a small compartment Eddie had built into the wood himself. A few papers and a flash drive rested beneath the little door; I took everything that was there and bolted, vanishing back into the woods. I knew this flash drive contained all I needed, all the details, the reason my father was dragged in. This little thing held all the information I could ever want on what had happened to my father. I just needed a safe time to check everything out. I would have to do it within the hour so could still meet up with Gabriel later, though the mess I’d left in Eddie’s home may spook him and cause the meeting to be cancelled. I didn’t want to risk anything, so I decided to sit across the street with an alarmed look to wait for Eddie, to explain the fabricated story of some robber or something like that. The old drunk would fall for it, I was sure of that.

Author's Note

Some people don't like lengthy chapters, so this isn't a lengthy one to me.

Reviews

[Anonymous Girl]

OOOOO!! Nice! Will wait for next one :):):)
100/100