Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (25 page)

“I
was only saying it’s a shame you can’t back out of the vacation plans you and
Jason made.” He paused for a moment to see if he’d struck a chord with her and
continued cautiously, “You two could have used the money to find someplace else
to live, or at least to help cover expenses, not that we won’t help, mind you.
All I’m saying it that it’s a shame it’s going to waste.”

Audrey
only nodded politely and hardly at all. Jason dreamed of taking her there and
it really was a shame all they worked and planned for would go to waste. They
made the decision to go nine months earlier and Jason dedicated himself to the
plans; he budgeted and made all of the arrangements and often told her how
excited he was to surprise her with the events on their holiday. The weeks
leading up to it only heightened their anticipation and eagerness to leave
their daily life for a while. But with the fire and Jason’s health the dream
seemed unreachable.

Jack
saw his sister’s expression and quickly started off on some of his son’s school
projects and after school activities in a vain hope to change the subject.

---*---

11:45
AM

Baltimore,
Maryland

Chief
Martin Johnson and Detective Chuck Felton chatted quietly with a doctor about
Ryan’s situation. Ryan lay asleep in the bed but suddenly shot up and screamed.

“Sage!
Sage calm down!” barked Johnson as he, the doctor, and Felton all held him down
until he calmed. Ryan asked what had happened and Johnson continued, “You were
attacked yesterday and now you’re in the hospital.”

Ryan,
who was then soaked in cold sweat, looked about his room. Everything was as it
should be, the lights on the ceiling, a window mounted into a wall that did not
open, simple brown chairs, his bed, the machine next to him, an open door, a
colored tile floor, and the absence of a ceiling fan. He took a breath and
relaxed.

“Mister
Sage, I’m Doctor Grayson,” the man introduced himself. “Your partner told me
you were attacked yesterday on patrol and were taken here.”

“Why
am I here?” he asked.

A
voice, separate from all those in the room, whispered to him, “Don’t panic.”

“Your
left leg,” the doctor continued, “from the knee down was severed during the
incident.” Ryan paled. “Later we will need to discuss prosthetics.”

“Don’t
worry,” the voice told him.

“What?”
Ryan asked.

“Prosthetics,
Mister Sage, a replacement limb.”

Ryan
blinked and looked about the room and calmly spoke, “Alright, okay…Alright.
Ah,” he looked at the Chief and Felton and asked if he could speak to them
alone and Doctor Grayson agreed. Once he left he looked at the two of them and
asked, “What happened?”

“First,”
Felton began, “Evanston was killed. We checked and the mark was burned into him
too.”

Johnson
cursed, “Now how many days are there until the next stiff turns up?”

The
voice returned, “Five.”

“What?”

“What?”

“No,”
Sage stopped and thought for a moment. He looked about the room and quickly
asked for a pad of paper and a pen, which the Chief gave him. Sage looked at
Felton and asked if he remembered when each of the victims died so he could
cross check his numbers with what he just theorized. He wrote eight numbers
down and showed it to them. “This is the pattern,” he said with a weak smile.
“Four days, then six, then five, five, eight, two, one, and nine; after that it
restarts at four and works its way down,” he told them.

Felton
looked at him and frowned, “How can you be sure?”

Sage
explained the gaps between deaths and how recently the pattern had resurfaced.
“Caroline Reynolds died four days after Brett was killed, Angela Walsh was
killed six after that, and Mario Evanston was just killed yesterday which makes
five.” He looked at them both and reiterated his point, “The pattern loops
through like that.”

Johnson
nodded, “Alright, so we’ve got five days including today to locate the next
target.”

“How
did he know where to find Evanston though?” Felton asked.

Ryan
shook his head, “He could have simply kept an eye out to locate him throughout
the week and noticed he wasn’t at his job or home and came looking for him.”

Felton
agreed. “Though since he’s invisible isn’t there a chance he could have been in
the station while we talked about our plan?”

They
all thought on the possibility and realized it wasn’t too outlandish. “Fine,
we’ll put infrared cameras throughout the station to locate him if he tries to
listen in anymore.”

The
voice whispered, “The car.”

“The
car?” Ryan repeated.

“What
car?”

“No,”
he stopped and thought intently and realized what the voice meant. “The car,
Angela Walsh’s car. When Cladis shoved her car into Evanston’s, the airbags,
the seat belt, and the brakes all failed. Maybe that means he can disable or
disarm electronics?”

Johnson
followed his thought process, “Meaning infrared cameras would be a waste of
time.” He swore, “These cases aren’t supposed to be so insane,” he muttered.
“What happened to the days when we dealt with gangs?”

“We
still do,” Felton reminded him, “They’re just not on the forefront of our minds
at the moment.”

Johnson
nodded. “Oh, Sage, we heard back about Agent Ryuzaki Miyaza. There’s no
information about who that man was. The Federal Bureau of Investigations has
never heard of him nor do they recognize anyone who even roughly resembles
him.”

“Either
way it was a waste of time,” Ryan mumbled. He looked at them and changed the
subject, “I know that you guys need to get back, but bring me my computer and
I’ll do my part here.”

“Yeah
right,” Johnson smirked. “We’ll let you do that once you’re better. Until then
we’ll handle everything.”

“Get
better soon,” Felton told him as they left.

Shortly
thereafter Doctor Grayson returned, “I don’t want to talk to you for too long,
but I need to know if we should contact anyone else.”

“No,
there’s no one else,” Ryan told him, “I’m single.”

“What
about family?”

“They
could care less,” he stated. “I pretty much disowned myself a while back.”

The
man apologized and left the room. It was colder than he thought it would be,
emptier too. He didn’t feel alone though.

The
voice returned. It was quiet, calm, and Ryan believed he was the only one who
could hear it. It spoke, “Twelve.”

“What?
Who,” he paused and looked at the open door and then whispered, “Who are you?”

“Rest.”

“Who
are you?”

The
voice didn’t speak again. Ryan sat there in anticipation of a response though
it never came. He called back time and time again but to no avail. Ultimately
he dwelled on the investigation all the while listening intently for the voice
to return.

---*---

2:30
PM

Bothell,
Washington

Jordan
sat with Rachel in the grass at the entrance to their favorite park. His second
chance at life began that morning with a drink, two cigarettes, and a joint.
The light which saved him remained unknown to the both of them, as Jordan for a
brief moment believed he might have saved himself, took a knife, pricked
himself, but failed to heal in any manner. His troubled demeanor from the past
few days left entirely as well. He couldn’t explain it, but since his
near-death experience he’d been at ease, peaceful even. Crystal’s murder and
the circumstances around it worried him, but he told Rachel he didn’t have a
nightmare as he had each night since the murder. He felt healed entirely, aside
from his continued conscious decision to drink and smoke.

Rachel
hadn’t slept well since the incident. In fact, sleep practically eluded her
altogether. Her thoughts surrounded the incident and though she wondered where
the healing light came from, her primary concern was directed to the mystery
behind the attacker. The only suspect she and Jordan could find was Vladimir,
though Jordan failed to recall the attack. Rachel tried her best to excuse all
thoughts of Vladimir’s role in the matter, though she held a troubling inkling
of the idea with her.

Rachel
held her wrist and felt naked. She hadn’t found her bracelet and that troubled
her as well. Jordan even noticed the change in her mood and noted how uneven her
makeup was, as well as her absence from their conversation.

“Rachel?”
Jordan spoke, “You there?”

She
blinked, looked at him, then smiled, “Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?”

“What
happened last night honey?” he asked her.

That
caught her off guard, “Honey? When have you ever called me honey?”

“Huh?”
he briefly shook his head, “Sorry. Well what happened last night?”

“I
don’t know. You left with Vladimir and then I found you dying in the alley
outside of the party.”

“What
do you mean by dying?”

“Jordan,”
she paused, “You…Your neck was slashed open and I think your ribs were
crushed.”

He
took a breath, “Wow…” he stopped for a moment.

Rachel
put her right thumb nail between her teeth and gnawed at it. Her hair wasn’t
the same as usual, which Jordan took note of as well. She hadn’t styled it at
all; it just fell over her shoulders, quiet and reserved. She lay back in the
grass and stared up to the heavens. Light shone through in tiny beams through
the leaves above them. Rachel let her mind wander as Jordan lay beside her and
picked at the grass next to him. He stacked it into a rough pile with little
regard for the lawn.

“If
I was about to die,” he started, “How come I’m alive?”

She
turned away from him, “I don’t know. I came out and found you there and then a bright
light came and saved you.”

“What
do you mean by saved me?”

“We
already talked about this; it healed your wounds,” she bluntly told him. “It
saved you.”

He
paused a bit before he asked, “Was Vladimir there?” She said he wasn’t and
Jordan scowled, “I bet he was the one who attacked me.”

She
shot up, “Why? Why would you accuse him of that?”

“Look,
I took him outside and then I’m dying and he’s gone? Don’t be so blind.”

“Don’t
be blind? What is it that I can’t see Jordan?”

“It
adds up. Don’t be so ignorant just because you’ve got a crush on him.”

“What
are you talking about?”

“You
two! You two danced like ten times!”

“We
danced four times!”

“Well
look who was counting.”

“Obviously
not you. You were too angry and all I was trying to do was be a good friend to
him by dancing with him a couple of times.”

“A
good friend? You haven’t known him for more than two weeks! How can you two be
such buddies?”

“We’re
just friends you idiot!”

“I
bet you remember every song that you two danced to last night.”

“At
least I remember one song we danced to, Jordan. Can you even name one song
we’ve ever danced to?” she asked.

“Hey
I’m not here for an interrogation!”

“And
I am?”

He
stopped. Jordan let out a breath and apologized to her.

“What’s
wrong with you?” she asked while she lay back in the grass.

He
shook his head again, “I don’t know. Maybe I was just worried you two might run
off together.”

Rachel
laughed, “You what? You seriously worry that that could happen?”

He
laughed as well. “I don’t know…maybe I’m just paranoid. I’m sorry.” He took her
hand and asked, “What do you want to do for dinner tonight?”

She
smiled, “Oh, you’re letting me chose tonight?” she asked sarcastically.

“C’mon,
I always let you pick,” he said.

“No.
You choose tonight,” she told him.

He
grinned, leaned in, kissed her, and said, “Italian then,” as he knew it was her
favorite.

She
smiled, “Good choice.”

---*---

5:34
PM

Baltimore,
Maryland

Doctor
Grayson sat in a chair in front of Ryan and explained the different options he
had for his prosthetic limb. He showed Ryan photos of the different models they
had for him; the doctor detailed which models were durable, which were made of
what material, and how they all worked.

“I
would recommend one of three models,” he showed Ryan the images of three limbs.
“These contain very advanced robotics.”

“Why
are they special?” Ryan asked, though distant from the conversation, as he
stared past the man and out the window.

“Don’t
worry about this,” the voice whispered.