Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (17 page)

“Well
you just press the hooks together here,” she indicated to the underside of the
bracelet, “And the right side of the band swings out,” she demonstrated. She
handed them the bracelet, which was a silver band with two curved, thin bands
that hooked together. There was also a small thin emerald in the front of the
bracelet. “The inner side of the two bands has an engraving in it,” she told
them.

“What
does it say?” Pyotr asked her, as he analyzed the object.

She
shrugged. “My aunt told me it means something about finding true love, though
I’m not sure she knew herself.” Rachel glanced back at the front counter and
told them that she needed to return to work. Pyotr returned the bracelet and
they bid her farewell.

Both
Vladimir and Pyotr sat in silence while Pyotr enjoyed his drink. Once Pyotr
finished his beverage, he regretted how late it was. “We need to have these
gatherings more often.”

Vladimir
studied him. “What are you plotting?”

He
shook his head. “Again,” he said, “This isn’t my plan.”

“Alright,
fine,” Vladimir scowled, “What do you know then?”

Pyotr
became solemn. He frowned and said, “We’re running out of time Vladimir.”

“I’m
aware of that.”

Pyotr
shook his head, “No, you’re not.” He locked eyes with the Romanian and told
him, “We need to move swiftly and tread lightly in our matters.”

Vladimir
looked cross. “I would if I knew precisely why we are here.”

Pyotr
walked past him and murmured, “In due time my friend.”

Vladimir
stopped him and said to his friend, “You continue to say that I will soon
understand all of this though you are obviously keeping something from me. I
would rather know all you do when we run into the next obstacle, rather than
walk into something I am not apprised to.”

Pyotr
let out a small breath and told his ally, “If I could stay here and reveal all
to you I would, however we are both painfully aware of how pressed for time I
am, and seeing as I am already late for many other meetings, I cannot shed
light on anymore.”

Vladimir
cursed and asked, “How much longer do you plan to evade me?”

He
smirked once more. “As long as it takes for you to realize what this is all
about.”

Pyotr
then left the building with his friend close behind. They departed in opposite
directions and within moments were completely out of reach of the Calming Wake.

---*---

3:22
PM

London,
England

Jason’s
office wasn’t anything special by any stretch of the word. He did have a window
and the office was completely his, but it was hardly four square meters in all.
In fact, he wasn’t ever sure how they managed to fit his rather large desk
where it was. There were days where he felt claustrophobic and needed to get
out and find fresh air, but he generally had resolve enough to ignore it and
the towers of paper all around him.

His
office wasn’t glamorous either. All that decorated the space was a picture of
Audrey and himself from before their wedding, a mug she’d given him for the
past year’s Valentine’s Day, a pen holder, stapler, tape dispenser, his
computer, and a wall clock. Jason kept his door open to avoid stale air and to
allow him some form of vicarious human contact.

Five
o’clock seemed a distant hope to Jason as he wrapped up a billing assessment he
needed to complete by the end of the week. The assignment wasn’t anything
overly complex, yet Jason had difficulty remaining on task. His office door was
open and each coworker that passed by remained atwitter from the recent
assassination attempt on the United States President’s life, as well as the
savior of that same hour, Ghost.

Hard
to call an assassin a hero though, considering all of the men and women he’s
butchered. I don’t know why they’re all honoring him so well with constant
spotlight they’re giving him.

Jason
knew all of the commotion would dissipate in a day or so, but the cacophonous
chatter and noise from the office seemed deafening. The typing, laughter,
gossip, footsteps, printers, and the opening and closing of doors collectively
barred his focus entirely from his work.

“Jason,
are you alright?”

He
snapped back into place and the office quieted instantly.
What was that
Jason? Focus! Don’t allow them to derail you so easily.
Jason rubbed his
eyes and apologized, “I’m fine Hannah. It’s just a little headache.”

“Do
you need anything? Aspirin maybe?”

He
shook his head and told her he’d manage. “Did you need something?”

“Only
the stats for the quarter thus far.”

Jason
told her he’d email her a copy and asked her to close the door as she left. He
glanced up at the clock on the wall and let out a breath.
I’m never going to
make it out of here.
After a moment of contemplation he left his desk and
office for the break room for a quick rest before his last hour of work.
Only
a little longer Jason…

---*---

1:34
PM

Kenmore,
Washington.

He
warily climbed the ramp up toward a small blue house in Kenmore. Nick hadn’t
been there in months, but he guessed it might have been that long since anyone
managed to mow their yellow lawn too. He knew Jessica’s father was a hard
working police officer in Bothell, but he didn’t realize how hard. Part of him
felt he should offer to cut it for them, but he also believed they’d turn his
charity down.

It
took him quite a while to remember where she lived, as he’d only been there
twice to work on their Advanced Philosophy class project. In fact, without her
help he wouldn’t have passed the class (and in all honesty it was the highest
grade he’d ever gotten in a class because of her). The dead giveaway was the
rhododendrons in their front yard, the only thing he’d remembered that no one
else in her neighborhood had.

Nick
took a breath and rang the doorbell. Not even a second later it opened and a
pudgy child in a worn Thundercats tee-shirt and khaki shorts stared up at him.
The dark-skinned boy smiled and said, “You’re going the wrong way,” and with
that he shut the door on Nick.

A
moment later the door flung open and the little boy asked, “Y’know…we’re almost
out of sand, do you know where we can get more?”

“Michael,”
the young boy’s elder sister quickly joined them and proceeded to scold him,
“Don’t answer the door like that Michael, you never know who’s there.” She
looked up from her wheelchair and saw Nick, “Oh,” she turned her attention from
Michael and asked, “What’re you doing here?”

He
asked if he could come in to talk to her, which she allowed. Nick followed her
over to their living room table and took a seat. Michael sat in the other room
with his eyes glued to the television. Once Nick felt that Michael was out of
earshot he told Jessica about his brother’s death and the events at Jordan’s
work.

She
frowned, “I’d heard about your bother, and I’m sorry about that by the way, but
I didn’t realize the murder in Lake Forest Park was such a big deal.”

“The
assassin left a-a credit c-card behind though,” he told her. “It belonged
t-t-to Victor.”

Jessica
looked at him and doubted what he told her. “You think this guy killed your
brother too?”

“Yes.”

“Because
he had your brother’s credit card?”

“W-Wouldn’t
you th-think that t-too?”

She
let out a sigh and admitted she thought the same. “So why are you telling me
this?”

“I-I
hoped you m-might be able t-to help me find this guy.”

Jessica
stared at him. “Nick, this guy sounds like a professional. What do you think
you could possibly do?”

Nick
faltered with his decision to come to her for aid. But he made up his mind and
told her, “I can’t j-just sit and d-do nothing.”

“You’re
not just sitting,” she told him, “You should be at home, with your family, and
you should be resting.”

He
brushed her off, “I-I need t-to do this Jessica. I can’t just l-let this guy
g-get away with killing m-m-my brother.”

“Sometimes
they get away Nick,” she told him. “Sometimes there’s nothing else to do but
allow them to get away so you can just move on.”

He
looked away from her and asked once more, “Could y-you just help me?”

She
relented and went to her room to get her laptop. Michael returned to Nick’s
side in the dining room and asked, “Have you seen the crows recently?”

Nick
shook his head, “What’s wrong with them?”

“They’re
missing.”

“All
of them?”

He
shook his head, “Nope. They’re just not all together right now.”

“What
do you mean Michael?” Jessica asked as she returned.

Michael
turned to her and whispered as if he traded a secret with her, “The doves are
flying together with bats now, but they vanish all the same, isn’t that
interesting?” He stopped his sister from answering by placing his index finger
to her lips. He turned to Nick and said, “It doesn’t have to end this way.” He
smiled, “All you have to do is stop falling down the road.”

Nick
frowned and told the little boy that he didn’t understand, but Michael failed
to answer. He only smiled, backed away from them, and then turned and darted
back to his spot on the floor in front of the television.

Jessica
apologized for his behavior. “He watches the news all day and all he sees is
what’s wrong in this world.”

“He
doesn’t watch cartoons?”

She
shook her head, “Just the news, from morning until night.”

“Why
don’t you t-turn it off then?”

“I
can’t,” she complained. “If we do turn it off he’ll just throw a tantrum and
scream until we turn it back on.”

“Does
h-he l-l-like to watch it though?”

Jessica
looked at her brother from across the room, “More than anything.” She set her
computer on the table, opened it up, and returned to their task at hand.
“What’s the guy’s name? Or what do you think it is?”

Nick
told her he wasn’t sure. “H-He used odd w-weapons though. CD’s with
sh-sharpened edges.”

Jessica
frowned, “That isn’t much to go off of Nick. But let me see what I can find.”

She
opened up a web browser and ran a quick search for crop circles in the Pacific
Northwest and selected the third option from the bottom of the fourth page.
Jessica typed her login information in a field on the right hand side of the page,
which failed, she repeated the process and the screen suddenly went black.
After she entered the login information once more (without any prompt to do
so), a single word came across the screen, ‘REFOIA.’ Once the program finished
loading, she ran a search for the murder of Crystal Valentine in Lake Forest
Park and came up with over a dozen results.

She
adjusted her glasses, “Well there seems to be plenty of information, my only
concern is that there’s an answer to who was behind the attack.” Jessica skimmed
a few articles, starting with the police reports and published news pieces, and
finally read an entry written by a fellow user who stated their theory on who
the killer was. “Let’s see…well according to this, the modus operandi matches a
well-known European assassin who calls himself the MP3 Assassin.”

“The
what?”

Jessica
shrugged and repeated the title. “Let me just check on this character…” she
searched for the man and came up with dozens of articles. She checked the main
page for the assassin and read her findings to Nick, “The MP3 Assassin is a
self-proclaimed title of a German-born serial killer who has spent most of his
years in Europe and Africa and mainly targets political and militant figures.”
She paused and skimmed more of the article, including most famous
assassinations, relations to the German government, and total confirmed kills.
“I don’t think this is your guy Nick; it doesn’t sound like this MP3 Assassin
has ever laid foot on American soil, or even set foot in the Western Hemisphere
for that matter.”

“Are
th-there any pictures of him?” he asked.

Jessica
told him there were and showed him a few. He frowned and admitted that he
couldn’t tell one way or another if it was the same individual. Jessica flipped
through a few more before she stopped, “Nick, it doesn’t sound like it was this
guy. I don’t know who it was, but they must have disguised themselves to look
like him. I mean look at this,” she showed him the most recent confirmed
assassination through the program. “It was in Kuwait less than two months ago.
I know this seems to match the MP3 Assassin’s method of operation, but I don’t
know why he would travel halfway across the world to kill the owner of a
sandwich shop.”

Nick
slumped in his seat and scowled. “I-I’d hoped th-there would have b-b-been
something else.”

“Like
what Nick?” Jessica asked while she logged out of REFOIA. “What would you have
done? Chased after a highly trained murderer? You wouldn’t have managed to find
him in the first place, but let’s say you did somehow locate him, what would
you do then? He would kill you if you even tried to stop him.”