Friday, September 23, 2005
Shadow Soldiers15: A Difference of Opinion
Today is the final posted episode of Shadow Soldiers. The book can be purchased in hard copy from
Jeri Massi's Bookstore.
"Have you forgiven me yet?" Rolande asked as they strode down the hall towards the parking lot.
I'm not sure," Carrie said briefly. The gray eyes turned to her. She realized that he was hiding a certain amount of embarrassment and humiliation behind his mask.
"I never intended to hurt her."
"You cannot mean to say that you did not know that blow to her neck would stun her."
"Of course I knew! She's a martial arts master! It was nothing to her!"
"She's a child, and you know it!"
"Well you saw what she did to him!"
"And now you know what she could have done to you, but she let you win rather than hurt you!"
By habit, he opened the door and let her pass through first, but he followed immediately after. "You know, I never took you for the maternal type, Carrie. Taking orphans into your care."
The pain that seared through her at his callous remark startled her. But she rose to do battle. "Why? Because I'm an intelligent women? Is that supposed to make me unfeeling?" She stopped long enough for one glare at him. "Because I'm a scientist, does that give me the privilege to walk away from a young woman unjustly arrested and not think about her condition?"
"A young woman who killed a man with one strike!" he countered.
She climbed in on her side and folded her hands in her lap, her back ramrod straight. He climbed in behind the wheel. "I never said you were unfeeling."
She did not answer him. In her brief relationship with Rolande, Carrie had learned one thing about him: he could not bear to have other people think him wrong. He would bully, wheedle, coax, and charm people to get them on his side. He started the engine and pulled out.
"She's not the child you think she is!" he called as the engine roared into life. "She has tapped into something extremely powerful and extremely dangerous. And we're about to find out how dangerous it is." He pulled up to check for traffic before exiting the parking lot. "And she knows more about this Fighting Dead group than she lets on. Protecting you wasn't the only reason she had for killing that man!"
* * * *
It was not really unusual for Rolande and Carrie Drake to be annoyed with each other, but they both fell into their habit of closing ranks against outsiders as soon as they entered the police morgue, a separate building about three blocks from the Law Enforcement Center. Certainly the annoyance they felt with each other at the moment was not even comparable to the annoyance that the police felt for the both of them.
At the morgue, they were greeted coldly. They were led to a gowning vestibule where they slipped into paper gowns, head covers, and shoe covers. From there they entered an examination room, where the draped body lay waiting. Their silent escort simply leaned against the wall and watched them. Both of them recognized the snub, but neither was especially intimidated by it. One good thing about Rolande, Carrie thought, was that he knew how to fight for his own side. Having received the cold shoulder, Rolande became cooperative with her and patient. Their ethic of team work radiated out from them.
They took turns scrubbing at the sink and donning gloves. Secretly, Carrie knew that Rolande had already assessed the cause of death and that he understood the mechanics of how the blow had delivered energy into the dead man's skull and nerves. Even as Anne had been hustled out of public view after the attack, Rolande had shown the presence of mind to peel back the dead man's eyelid and run a cursory exam on the neck.
But now he undraped the head and shoulders of what had recently been a very rude and threatening young man. Carrie did a quick exam of the top of the spine. "Not a broken neck," she said after a moment's probing. "Not that I can feel." He already knew this but nodded as though following along carefully.
One of the difficulties of dealing with Rolande, Carrie thought ruefully, was that when he wasn't behaving in an imperious and impatient manner, you knew that he was deliberately slowing down and exercising patience so that his companions could keep up with him and think things out for themselves. She had often accused him of being too impatient, but actually he was probably the most patient creature on earth. And when he did slow down so that normal people could catch up, he pretended that he wasn't slowing down, that he was following along as well.
She realized that she was looking at him over the body. Unexpectedly, Rolande smiled at her. "Forgiven?" he asked.
She could not resist smiling back at him. He had charmed her again. "This time," she told him. "But no more sparring."
They went back to work. The examination did not take long because they knew where to look, and the body had already been fully prepared and examined once.
"No tattoos to identify him with any known cult," Rolande said. "No needle marks. He's not a drug user, at least not by needles. And no significant body piercings to brand him as a member of any gang or group."
"No visible trauma to the front of the skull," Carrie said at last. "The point where Anne's hand struck him is almost unaffected. But the notes confirm a massive internal hemorrhage in the brain. And I've found a tiny pressure fracture at the very back of the skull."
"She blew out his brains from the inside," Rolande told her. "That's the child you've taken into your custody." His voice was quiet.
"That child heard this man promise to assault and strangle me," Carrie told him. "Horror and a use of violence to prevent danger are not unusual in children."
"Do you really think she is an innocent child?"
"Do you believe that she is a cold hearted killer? That she's on the same level as he was?" And she nodded at the corpse.
"At the very least, killing this man would send a message to his peers. I'm not ready to discount that she could present a danger," he told her. He set his hands on the edge of the table and looked straight ahead, his eyes thoughtful. "She has her own agenda, Carrie. We've seen that. And she has the ability to carry out her agenda."
"She is not a member of this horrible cult. She was trying to protect me."
"We don't understand them, and we don't understand her--" he began.
"And they don't understand her," she snapped. "This man certainly didn't realize the danger he was in when he threatened me in front of her. She's not a part of them!"
"She understood him," Rolande said. "You think she wasn't interested in meeting up with this man, but I think you're wrong. She manipulated you, Carrie. She feigned disinterest because she knew you would work to gain her cooperation. She's worked her way into the heart of this matter, and she silenced the only person who could tell us anything!"
"She's not deceptive like that," Carrie said. "Not with me."
He shook his head. "She is far deeper than you think. You're getting too drawn into this. You're putting yourself, and possibly her as well, into danger. Whoever this man's allies are, they'll come back for revenge."
"Then we'd better find some answers," she snapped. "Now that we've got incentive. We have him," and she nodded at the corpse. "And now the police will have access to his identity and his materials. So let's get busy and track down this cult before anybody else gets killed."
A new adventure starts Monday! See you then, Lord willing, and thank you for reading!
Support Independent Christian Fiction! Shop the Bookstore.
|
Jeri Massi's Bookstore.
"Have you forgiven me yet?" Rolande asked as they strode down the hall towards the parking lot.
I'm not sure," Carrie said briefly. The gray eyes turned to her. She realized that he was hiding a certain amount of embarrassment and humiliation behind his mask.
"I never intended to hurt her."
"You cannot mean to say that you did not know that blow to her neck would stun her."
"Of course I knew! She's a martial arts master! It was nothing to her!"
"She's a child, and you know it!"
"Well you saw what she did to him!"
"And now you know what she could have done to you, but she let you win rather than hurt you!"
By habit, he opened the door and let her pass through first, but he followed immediately after. "You know, I never took you for the maternal type, Carrie. Taking orphans into your care."
The pain that seared through her at his callous remark startled her. But she rose to do battle. "Why? Because I'm an intelligent women? Is that supposed to make me unfeeling?" She stopped long enough for one glare at him. "Because I'm a scientist, does that give me the privilege to walk away from a young woman unjustly arrested and not think about her condition?"
"A young woman who killed a man with one strike!" he countered.
She climbed in on her side and folded her hands in her lap, her back ramrod straight. He climbed in behind the wheel. "I never said you were unfeeling."
She did not answer him. In her brief relationship with Rolande, Carrie had learned one thing about him: he could not bear to have other people think him wrong. He would bully, wheedle, coax, and charm people to get them on his side. He started the engine and pulled out.
"She's not the child you think she is!" he called as the engine roared into life. "She has tapped into something extremely powerful and extremely dangerous. And we're about to find out how dangerous it is." He pulled up to check for traffic before exiting the parking lot. "And she knows more about this Fighting Dead group than she lets on. Protecting you wasn't the only reason she had for killing that man!"
* * * *
It was not really unusual for Rolande and Carrie Drake to be annoyed with each other, but they both fell into their habit of closing ranks against outsiders as soon as they entered the police morgue, a separate building about three blocks from the Law Enforcement Center. Certainly the annoyance they felt with each other at the moment was not even comparable to the annoyance that the police felt for the both of them.
At the morgue, they were greeted coldly. They were led to a gowning vestibule where they slipped into paper gowns, head covers, and shoe covers. From there they entered an examination room, where the draped body lay waiting. Their silent escort simply leaned against the wall and watched them. Both of them recognized the snub, but neither was especially intimidated by it. One good thing about Rolande, Carrie thought, was that he knew how to fight for his own side. Having received the cold shoulder, Rolande became cooperative with her and patient. Their ethic of team work radiated out from them.
They took turns scrubbing at the sink and donning gloves. Secretly, Carrie knew that Rolande had already assessed the cause of death and that he understood the mechanics of how the blow had delivered energy into the dead man's skull and nerves. Even as Anne had been hustled out of public view after the attack, Rolande had shown the presence of mind to peel back the dead man's eyelid and run a cursory exam on the neck.
But now he undraped the head and shoulders of what had recently been a very rude and threatening young man. Carrie did a quick exam of the top of the spine. "Not a broken neck," she said after a moment's probing. "Not that I can feel." He already knew this but nodded as though following along carefully.
One of the difficulties of dealing with Rolande, Carrie thought ruefully, was that when he wasn't behaving in an imperious and impatient manner, you knew that he was deliberately slowing down and exercising patience so that his companions could keep up with him and think things out for themselves. She had often accused him of being too impatient, but actually he was probably the most patient creature on earth. And when he did slow down so that normal people could catch up, he pretended that he wasn't slowing down, that he was following along as well.
She realized that she was looking at him over the body. Unexpectedly, Rolande smiled at her. "Forgiven?" he asked.
She could not resist smiling back at him. He had charmed her again. "This time," she told him. "But no more sparring."
They went back to work. The examination did not take long because they knew where to look, and the body had already been fully prepared and examined once.
"No tattoos to identify him with any known cult," Rolande said. "No needle marks. He's not a drug user, at least not by needles. And no significant body piercings to brand him as a member of any gang or group."
"No visible trauma to the front of the skull," Carrie said at last. "The point where Anne's hand struck him is almost unaffected. But the notes confirm a massive internal hemorrhage in the brain. And I've found a tiny pressure fracture at the very back of the skull."
"She blew out his brains from the inside," Rolande told her. "That's the child you've taken into your custody." His voice was quiet.
"That child heard this man promise to assault and strangle me," Carrie told him. "Horror and a use of violence to prevent danger are not unusual in children."
"Do you really think she is an innocent child?"
"Do you believe that she is a cold hearted killer? That she's on the same level as he was?" And she nodded at the corpse.
"At the very least, killing this man would send a message to his peers. I'm not ready to discount that she could present a danger," he told her. He set his hands on the edge of the table and looked straight ahead, his eyes thoughtful. "She has her own agenda, Carrie. We've seen that. And she has the ability to carry out her agenda."
"She is not a member of this horrible cult. She was trying to protect me."
"We don't understand them, and we don't understand her--" he began.
"And they don't understand her," she snapped. "This man certainly didn't realize the danger he was in when he threatened me in front of her. She's not a part of them!"
"She understood him," Rolande said. "You think she wasn't interested in meeting up with this man, but I think you're wrong. She manipulated you, Carrie. She feigned disinterest because she knew you would work to gain her cooperation. She's worked her way into the heart of this matter, and she silenced the only person who could tell us anything!"
"She's not deceptive like that," Carrie said. "Not with me."
He shook his head. "She is far deeper than you think. You're getting too drawn into this. You're putting yourself, and possibly her as well, into danger. Whoever this man's allies are, they'll come back for revenge."
"Then we'd better find some answers," she snapped. "Now that we've got incentive. We have him," and she nodded at the corpse. "And now the police will have access to his identity and his materials. So let's get busy and track down this cult before anybody else gets killed."
A new adventure starts Monday! See you then, Lord willing, and thank you for reading!
Support Independent Christian Fiction! Shop the Bookstore.
