| Subject: The Dragonslayer, Chapters 1 & 2 |
Author:
Jaron
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Date Posted: 16:47:08 12/16/01 Sun
In reply to:
Jaron
's message, "The Dragonslayer" on 16:44:37 12/16/01 Sun
The Dragonslayer, Chapter One
by Jaron
10/98
The day began just as any of the other 5000-plus days he had spent in Section One.
A call from Madeline roused him from the first deep sleep he had had since he left
Rene and Grace a week ago. Each day of his stay with them had been heaven, a
heaven that he had despaired of ever feeling, given the hold that Section had on him.
Each night, he had slept a deep, healing sleep, from which he awoke each morning
knowing that the day would be spent with Rene, his son. He knew he was on
borrowed time, that Madeline had betrayed her Section persona in allowing him to
recuperate away from Medlab and Section. But he was grateful for the borrowed time
because he knew the times with Rene would probably be few and far between for the
remainder of his life, a life that could end from a sniper’s bullet, a terrorist’s bomb, or
the capricious nature of his superiors when they needed a sacrifice.
He had healed in body, mind, and spirit in the two weeks that he had spent with
them. Being with the child he thought he had lost forever made him feel immortal.
Even if something happened to him, Michael, he knew that Rene would go on and,
with him, the family that had been denied Michael. He knew now that Rene would
remember him and in some small way, Michael was happy. That surprised him,
because Michael couldn’t remember many happy times spent out of the presence of
his son. There were a few times that he had been happy with Nikita, but those times
were usually marred by the knowledge that he had hurt her more than he had made
her happy.
The parting from Rene and Grace had been tearful, with Rene pleading with Michael
to stay, but, in the end, Rene had finally understood why Michael had to leave. Grace
was a godsend, comforting both Rene and Michael in their inconsolable sadness and
grief at the leave-taking. Rene had said his good-byes, had embraced Michael and
had turned away from him and run back to his room so his father would not see the
rest of his tears. Michael was beside himself in his anguish over leaving Rene.
“Grace, I don’t know how to do this!” he said as he leaned into her embrace as Rene
had leaned into Michael’s earlier. She held him and murmured softly and soothingly
to him as she would to Rene.
“Michael, I don’t want you to leave either, but we both know why you must go. The
world out there always has need of a dragonslayer. You and I both know that the evil
queen will send her dark minions for you if you don’t return,” she said, smiling.
Grace had told Michael how she had explained his and Simone’s absence and
Simone’s subsequent death to Rene.
Michael laughed, feeling the tension of the moment lessen a little bit. “Well, the evil
queen is the one who sent the banged up dragonslayer to you in the first place. I
guess maybe a recuperating class five operative would have been underfoot at the
always efficient Section headquarters. Why waste Section resources when she can get
someone else to do it.”
“Maybe the evil queen is not so evil as I once thought her,” Grace queried.
Michael and Grace looked at one another and laughed as both said in the same
instant, “Nahhh.”
But both had to admit that the past two weeks had been a gift from Madeline even if a
gift of borrowed time. Michael hefted his backpack and opened the front door in
preparation to leave.
Rene, in his room, picked himself up off of his bed at the sound of the door opening
and sprinted down the hallway shouting, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”
Michael, turning toward his son’s voice, dropped his backpack, held his arms out and
caught his son as Rene launched himself at his father. Both held on to the other and
hugged one last time. Michael grimaced as some of his newly-healed ribs protested
at the sudden pressure on them, but he accepted the pain because saying this last
good-bye to Rene was worth whatever his body had to pay.
Rene felt Michael’s involuntary flinch and wiggled his way out of Michael’s bearhug.
“Daddy, I’m hurting you! Put me down, please!”
“You could never hurt me, Rene. I’m just fine. My chest muscles are just a little tight
from lack of exercise. I’m okay, really.” Michael sought Rene’s eyes to emphasize his
words.
Rene looked at his father and accepted his explanation. “Daddy, I’m okay with you
leaving, really I am. I’m just a little sad, that’s all,” he said, his eyes leaking a few
glistening tears.
“You take good care of your Mom, okay?” Michael whispered into Rene’s ear as he
gave him a last hug.
“Daddy, you know I will, but remember something, dragonslayers are pretty good at
taking care of themselves.” He smiled widely at Michael and with that big smile
burned into his brain, Michael hugged Grace and kissed her on the cheek. He turned
from his family and walked out the door, heading for his second family, Section One
and Nikita.
The Dragonslayer, Chapter Two
Michael walked into Madeline’s office and said, “You wanted to see me?” He stopped
in front of her desk with his hands clasped in front of him and waited for her to
speak.
“Have you seen this?” she asked as she threw a newspaper across her desk. It slid on
the slick glass surface of the desk and Michael stopped its slide by picking it up. He
unfolded it to see profile of himself in a picture below the middle fold of the paper.
He felt the chill race up his spine. He looked at the masthead and found it was a
Texas newspaper from the city where Grace lived. It was dated yesterday.
Michael looked questioningly at Madeline. “Someone did a bit of research and found
that your team perhaps wasn’t from the FBI. We have since covered for you, but the
picture might be enough to alert one of our enemies to the location of Grace and
Rene. I thought you might want to check on them. I have Birkoff checking with
Cooper, their Section shadow.” She stopped talking and looked at Michael. He was
speechless with concern for Grace and Rene. He knew what could happen if someone
unfriendly to Section found the two people that would make Section’s top operative
vulnerable.
Birkoff’s voice broke the silence. “Madeline, I can’t raise Cooper. He isn’t answering
his page.” Michael turned and moved quickly for the door, but not quickly enough.
Madeline saw the look on his face. She knew he was terrified in his concern for Rene
and Grace.
“Call Grace and tell her to get Rene out of the house now!” He shouted over his
shoulder at Madeline, but she already had the phone in her hand dialing.
Within an hour, Michael was sitting in the backseat of a F-18 on his way to the
airbase in Ft. Worth and by the fourth hour since he was called to Madeline’s office,
he was on the ground speeding to Grace’s house in a rental car.
While still in the air, Michael had learned of Cooper’s continued silence as well as the
fact that there had been no answer at Grace’s house or from the cell phone she kept
in her car. Michael tried futilely to quiet the terror screaming in his brain. Not again,
he thought, God, not again.
He tried to calm himself, telling himself that he would find them and they would all
have a good laugh at this false alarm. Then, he thought, he would explain to them
how it was necessary to move to a new city and make a new life for themselves.
Grace and Rene would protest, but he knew he could make them understand.
He drove slowly down the street where Grace and Rene lived. He pulled into the
driveway behind Grace’s car. As Michael walked slowly to the front door, he noticed
the blue pickup truck parked down the street. There was no one in the truck. As he
continued his careful walk to Grace’s front door, he scanned the street and other
houses on the block, looking for anything out of place. When he got to the front
door, he saw that it was ajar and all the warning bells when off in his head. Dread
filled his mind at what he feared he would find on the other side of the door. He
pushed the door open with his foot and crouched down and slipped inside. On the
wall to his left, was a bloody mark where someone had been slammed against the
wall and had slid down the wall leaving the bloody trail.
“Grace,” he called out softly. “Rene?” he whispered.
The only answer was a groan and a weak voice calling out to him, “I’m over
here....please help me.”
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