THE HELICOPTER TOOK US TO AN UNMARKED BUILDING somewhere on the outskirts of Knightsville. It appeared to be uninhabited, but as we approached, I could tell that it was some kind of government black site.
Inside, they immediately rushed Howie away to receive medical treatment. I was relieved to have found him, but I couldn’t rest easy until I knew if he was going to make a full recovery or not. I couldn’t help but feel responsible. No matter how much I had tried to convince myself that I did the right thing when I saved Jason instead of him, I couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that was grinding away at me.
After we changed out of our combat gear, two of Agent Wells' men debriefed Jason and me for around thirty minutes. When that was done, we were finally taken to the first floor of the building in order to see Howie. He was asleep in a hospital bed by the time we walked into his room. Jason and I stood beside his bed and stared at him in silence. He still looked a lot thinner than usual but I was glad to see that a bit of his color had returned.
“I'm sorry, Howie,” I muttered.
“This isn’t your fault, Reaper,” Jason said.
“Yes it is. I shouldn’t have left him,” I replied without taking my eyes off of Howie.
“You're the reason he's alive, Reaper. You saved him. You saved both of us.”
“Yeah well, if I hadn't left him on that rooftop I wouldn't have had to save him. If it wasn't for Agent Wells, we probably never would have found him. What if he had refused to help us?”
“And why would he do that?” Jason asked.
“Because I refused to help him. When they took me from 3D that day, Wells all but demanded that I abandon my pursuit of The Strangers and help him go after The Righteous. He wanted us to back off of The Strangers because they had men on the inside, but of course I didn’t listen. Maybe I should have. If I had listened to him, then I wouldn’t have almost gotten Howie killed and I wouldn’t be indebted to him for helping us save him either.”
“All that matters is that Howie is safe. If that comes at a price, then we’ll just have to pay it together, Adam. For as long as I'm alive, you never have to take on anything alone. You’ve got to stop beating yourself up about leaving Howie behind. If you didn't do what you did, Tango would have killed us both and then they would have killed Howie. Without you, we’d both be dead. I don’t blame you for what happened to us, and I’m sure Howie feels the same way.”
“I wonder what he's thinking,” I said quietly as my feelings of guilt began to melt away due to Jason’s kind words.
“He's wishing you two princesses would keep it down so he can get some sleep,” Howie muttered, unexpectedly. We all laughed at Howie's surprising joke as he opened his eyes and lifted his head slightly.
“You can get all the sleep you want, buddy. You’ve earned it,” Jason replied.
“I’m pretty sure that I’ve gotten enough sleep for all of us over the last four days,” Howie smirked as he sat up in his bed.
“It's good to have you back, Howie,” I chimed.
“It's good to be back. Thanks for coming back for me.”
“I never should have left you in the first place. I never-”
“Dammit, Reaper, there is nothing to apologize for. You could only save one of us, and you made the right decision. Your chances of saving Jason were significantly greater than your chances of saving me. I'm not bitter at you for leaving me. If anything, I'm the one who should apologize.”
“What are you talking about, Howie? You almost died!” I replied.
“And it would have been my fault if I did. I did this, Adam. I’m the reason they went militant. I’m the reason that PJ died.”
It was still hard to hear PJ’s name even though some time had passed since his death.
“I don’t understand,” I muttered, choking back tears.
Howie dropped his head in shame. “I took a contract job from The Strangers a year before the attack on Fox Valley State. They needed a program. I didn’t know how they were going to use it, but I should’ve said no. I should’ve-”
“What does this have to do with PJ?” My voice came out a lot harsher than I intended it to sound.
“The program can temporarily disable cell phone towers and land lines for up to a fifty mile radius. It’s the perfect tool for a terrorist attack. If I had said no, they wouldn’t have been able to move forward with their plans to go militant. I did this, Adam. I’m the reason they all died.”
I turned my back to Howie and Jason as tears welled in the corners of my eyes. I took a deep breath to compose myself and wiped the tears away.
“Adam, I’m sorry,” Howie said from behind me.
“It’s fine,” I lied but it was obvious that the memories of my older brother were raging throughout my mind, triggering the same emotions I felt on the day that I received the news that he was killed.
“We have to stop him, Adam. We have to stop him before he strikes again.”
“You’re damn right we do,” I said as I turned and rejoined Jason at Howie’s bedside.
“No, you don’t understand. We have to stop him now. He threatened to attack my family and blow up our school because I didn’t reveal your identity.”
“Your family is safe. Agent Wells moved them to protective custody three days ago.”
“Protective custody? Where exactly are they? When will I get to see them?” Howie asked.
“You just worry about getting well, Echo.” Agent’s Wells’ voice rang out from behind us. He was standing in the entrance of the room wearing his standard issue black suit and dark sunglasses.
“Your family is being guarded around the clock by some of my best men. They’ll be fine.”
“What about the school?” Jason asked.
“We dealt The Strangers a crippling blow tonight. I doubt their forces are strong enough to organize another attack any time soon, but we’ll look into it anyway,” Wells replied, nonchalantly.
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Howie muttered.
“I usually am,” Wells smirked as he turned his attention to me. “Reaper, if you’d care to join me, I’d like to discuss a few things with you.”
“Sure,” I said as I nodded at Jason and Howie and walked over to join him.
Here to collect my soul, I thought begrudgingly as the two of us exited the room.
MINUTES LATER WE SAT AT A CONFERENCE TABLE IN A room on the opposite side of the facility. The large glass table dominated the center of the moderate sized room.
“You want anything to drink? Soda? Water? Beer maybe?” Wells asked.
“I’m 16,” I grumbled.
“Alright, sport. Fair enough,” Wells replied as he leaned back in his comfortable office chair. “So have you had enough time to reconsider my offer?”
“You can’t expect me to just forget about The Suspect.”
“He’s a small fish, Reaper. You have to forget about him.”
“He killed my brother!” I shouted, slamming my fists down on the table as I spoke. Deep cracks in the glass spread outward around each fist.
Wells stood and glared at me. “This isn’t just about you anymore, kid! Do you understand that? While you’re wasting time trying to satisfy your piddling vendetta, people are out there dying. People that only you have to power to save.”
“I’m just a kid!” I fumed.
“Tell that to the 400-pound soldier that you put in a body cast earlier!”
“That wasn’t my fault! He attacked first. And you should have told me that he was working for you!”
“It was your fault! You deviated from the plan! You were supposed to use stealth, not force! He had to attack when you came barreling in like a wild rhino, otherwise he would have blown his cover! Look, you have to grow up, son, and you’ve got to do it quickly. Sooner or later you’re not going to have much of a choice.”
I stood and glared into his eyes. “Are you threatening me?” I asked.
“If I was threatening you, you wouldn't have to ask. But I am not the e
nemy, Adam. The Righteous is the real threat and if we can’t stop him, this country and everything that you know and love is finished. Do you understand that? This isn’t some game that you can decide to pick up and participate in later. We need to move on this and we needed to do it yesterday.”
“What makes me so special? Why can’t you just use the Army or the Navy or something?”
He paused for a moment before replying. “You have a particular set of skills that we believe will be very effective against our enemy,” he said carefully.
“How do you even know about what I can do? What aren’t you telling me?”
“I can't tell you that right now. You’re still a civilian and it's classified,” he said firmly.
“Then I can’t help you. I’ve got a reason to go after The Suspect. He's real to me. The Righteous is nothing more than a fairytale.”
“If you need a reason, I'll give you two. The Righteous is the reason why you are the way you are and he's also the reason she's dead.”
He caught me off guard with that. Whose death had he been responsible for and why did Wells think it would compel me to join his cause? And how could The Righteous, a person whom I didn’t even believe to be real, be responsible for my condition?
“Wh-what are you talking about? Who are you talking about?” I demanded.
I could have sworn that Wells’ eyes were tearing up as he suddenly turned his back to me. “Forget it. I shouldn't have said anything. It's classified.”
“You can't expect me to just forget that! What aren't you telling me?! How much do you know about my past?”
“Sorry, sport, but I've got to run. I’ll be in touch, though.”
“You can't just leave after that!” I shouted after him, but Wells didn't reply as he hurriedly exited the room.