The Corin Chronicles Volume I: The Light and the Dark (17 page)

“Look.” Andrew stood. “This is an opportunity to make use of my training and experience. I always thought the Bureau was the place for me after some of the things I had seen and done, but it appears it wasn’t. As long as you guys are serious about the importance of what you do, I’m all in.”

“Very well then,” said Karl. He walked around the room, turning the shutters until most of the natural lighting disappeared. Moments later, he turned on a projector, casting the image of numerous faces on the far wall of the conference room. “This is the scumbag we’re after.”

Andrew focused his eyes on the three faces displayed, each one, relatively young, no more than twenty years of age. The first had mousy brown hair and a goatee. The second had very long blond hair that covered most of his face. And the third had short-cropped blond hair and trimmed eyebrows with a clean-shaven face.

“So who are they?” asked Andrew.

“Not they,” replied William. “Him.”

“Him?” Andrew seemed baffled. “You mean they’re all one guy?”

“Exactly. All one guy, who is also a genius with disguises. Meet Mr. X, our code name for him. Of course he also goes by other names, but we’ll get into that later. For now, we’re calling him Charles Thomas.”

“So you mean this whole task force is to capture a single guy? The intelligence agencies around the world, all working with us to catch this one guy? He looks like a teenager, for god’s sake.”

“Don’t you ever underestimate him,” agent Hobbs interrupted. “If you do, it could be the last thing you ever do. This young man is nothing like he looks. He will be the most dangerous criminal you will ever face in your lifetime. He will haunt your dreams. Everything about him is nasty and evil, so please believe me when I say that he is deadly.”

Andrew fought back laughter and tried to maintain a serious expression. “Fine. I get it,” he said loudly. “So where is he now?”

“If we knew that, we wouldn’t be here,” replied agent Montgomery. “His last known sighting was Budapest, and we almost had him. But he got away. Until then, we had not found him for nearly a year.”

“So we’re paid to just sit around, waiting for him to turn up.” Agent Sharpe still had a puzzled look on his face.

“We never sit around,” growled Karl. “Every file we have on him holds clues…clues we may have missed the first time round. So we go through them over and over again. We work with intelligence agencies but only liaise with the people cleared to know about our operations.”

“So tell me this,” said Andrew. “If he’s always in disguise, how do you keep the false positives down?”

“There is one mark he can’t get rid of, no matter how hard he tries.” Karl placed his hands against the screen, on the face of the suspect with long, blond hair. “And that is this scar here, under his right eye. It is unique and one of the only ways we’re able to identify him.”

With both hands on his head, Andrew walked toward the door. “I just don’t understand why we have all this for one man,” he said. “What’s so special about him?”

Karl paused, unsure of how to describe the threat without giving too much away. “He’s not human,” he said finally.

Andrew’s eyes widened. “What?” he shouted. “What does that mean?”

Karl walked toward the window. “Look, I won’t bore you with what he is,” he said. “Besides, the truth is that no one really knows
what
he is. All I will tell you is that bullets won’t work against him.”

“Then how do we hunt him?” growled Andrew. He approached the window and stood next to Karl. “Why go after him if you can’t kill him?”

“We can injure him,” interrupted William. He also walked toward the window. “Apparently, only one type of dagger can kill him. There aren’t that many of them, so we analyzed and extracted the metal compound, which we use to make our bullets.” William paused for a few seconds, as Andrew seemed to absorb his words. “We can hurt him, but we must shoot from a distance at all times.”

“Why?” Andrew asked.

“His body is almost like a force field,” said Karl. He held Andrew’s shoulder. “Once any form of danger is around him, threatening his life, the force field triggers. Along with the dagger, our bullets can get through and cause pain, but if we shoot him at close range, we will end up getting hurt. And his wounds will just heal.”

Andrew retreated toward a chair. “What is this?” he gasped. “What kind of person is this?”

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” said Karl. “If you stick with us and do as we say at all times, we’ll be fine.”

Andrew turned around, studying the different faces of Charles Thomas, when Eve burst into the room. “It’s a call from the switchboard, and they said it was urgent.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Karl ushered her back out and stood right next to the phone. After a few seconds, the phone rang, and he promptly answered it. Eager to still understand how the whole process worked, Andrew got to his feet, desperately trying to overhear what was being said on the other end of the line. He did not hear many words from Karl other than the occasional “Yes,” “No,” and “Are you sure?” But he knew his job had truly begun when he heard Agent Hobbs say, “Under no circumstances should anyone approach him. We’re on our way.”

Hanging up the phone, Karl said, “We’re on, boys. Let’s go.” He quickly pulled down the blinds, making it impossible for anyone outside the room to peek in.

“Where is he?” asked William.

“He’s at Atrium Mall,” replied Karl. “You must be good luck,” he said to Andrew. “Not here an hour, and there’s been a sighting.”

Andrew nodded, still trying to understand what had just happened.

“This is for you,” Karl said suddenly. He gave Andrew a new-looking FBI badge with the name Simon Roberts. “You’re Simon today,” he continued. “We’ll work on your other aliases another time.”

Andrew followed his new partners out of the room, deep in thought.

“Rookie, you’re driving,” Karl said abruptly. He threw a set of car keys, which Andrew caught. Following that, he did not say a word.

3.3

T
HE
T
AKEDOWN

C
ongestion across town remained light, with the occasional traffic lights halting their progress. Andrew thoroughly enjoyed taking the helm, which somewhat distracted him from the oddness of the last few minutes. Occasionally glancing at his partners, he marveled at their level of concentration. Sitting beside him, Karl handed over a nine-millimeter pistol and a dark blue bulletproof vest. Andrew placed the vest on his lap, storing the gun in the glove compartment.

“You guys must be doing something right,” Andrew said after minutes of silence. “To be cruising in a ’69 Mustang. There are definitely worse ways to get around.”

“Yeah, it does the job.” Karl continued to focus on anything other than Andrew.

“You guys need to lighten up,” Andrew said. “If it is Charles at the mall, we’ll definitely nail him.” The lack of a response made him focus solely on the road ahead, maintaining a steady pace.

The immediate vicinity surrounding Atrium Mall was not a sea of police officers like Andrew imagined. Instead, there were only four squad cars and no more than eight officers, who did not seem particularly keen to be there.

“Well, this hardly seems like the way you should approach such a dangerous suspect, does it?” Andrew brought the car to a stop. “Eight officers? Come on. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Both William and Karl ignored him, as they exited the car and walked toward the officers, who were then aware of their presence. “What did I tell you?” Karl glanced back at Andrew. “Discretion. You get the whole force down here, and we’ll have a circus.”

Andrew quickly holstered the gun in the glove compartment and put on his vest. Stepping out of the car, he watched his partners flash their badges at the seemingly bewildered police officers. They looked out of their depth and did not seem like they even knew what they were doing there. He saw one of them, a bald, slightly chubby man, saying a few words to Karl before William walked up to join them. He assumed that Karl was being briefed on where Charles was, and the measures they had taken to contain him. By the time he arrived beside them, Karl had begun to speak.

“The most important thing here,” Karl said, “is that we don’t spook him. We can’t let him know we’re here, or he will disappear.”

“But how is that possible?” the bald officer asked. “There’s nowhere for him to go without bumping into one of us.”

“Sergeant Capps…” A frown appeared on Karl’s face. “I’ll do my job, and all I ask is that you do yours. Do you think you can handle that?”

“Yes, sir.” The sergeant frowned. “All right men,” he said to his fellow officers. “You heard the man. Spread out and keep your eyes open.” He nodded before walking away, with his men closely behind.

“They sure know who’s boss here, don’t they?” Andrew’s smile ensured that his comments were taken for nothing more than a joke.

Karl glared at him. “Do you always talk this much?” he asked. His raised hand cut Andrew off before he could respond.

William brought out a large map and handed it to Karl. Experiencing some difficulty with holding it up, he ran his fingers through different parts. “Right,” he started. “He’s somewhere around here.” Karl directed their attention to the eastern corner of the map. “It’s quite busy in there, so hopefully we should be able to blend in nicely. He’s already been there for an hour, and it seems he’s enjoying a read or two, so we have time.”

Andrew desperately wanted to make a snide remark but decided against it, although his smirk could not be hidden.

“You have something to add, Agent Sharpe?” Karl had stopped examining the map and was staring at Andrew.

“No, sir.” Andrew swallowed.

“Good. As I was saying,” Karl continued, “we’ll watch him from these two shops.”

Andrew nodded, and William looked toward the shopping mall before leading the way. The swarm of people all around them did not help matters, but Karl refused to take any chances, moving cautiously toward the eastern section. Occasionally glancing at the entrance, he could see the police officers doing a very bad job at being inconspicuous, but it did not matter, as the suspect was a great distance to the exits.

The sudden vibration of his phone startled him. He answered it quietly, almost like he was in a library. “Detective Jacobs, what’s the latest?” His voice never rose above a whisper.

“He’s moving,” the detective replied. “It looks like he’s going… Oh, no, he’s just going to another book. Don’t worry. False alarm.”

“Okay, hang tight. We’ll be there soon.” He returned his phone to his pocket and rushed up to the elevators, closely followed by his partners.

Moving through the crowd continued to be difficult. Families filled the entire center, children played with each other, and the mood was pleasant. Karl worried about the possibility of a chase and the impact it could have on the innocent shoppers, but the stakes were too high to let worrying thoughts distract him. Glancing at Agent Sharpe gave him increased reassurance. He was impressed with the way Andrew calmly moved through the crowd of people, easing women and children to one side. Although still concerned about Andrew’s inexperience and emotional ties, he had not yet seen his new partner do anything wrong.

As they neared the bookstore, Karl’s heart started beating faster at the prospect of coming face to face with Siroco. Unsure of how his emotions would steer him, he tried focusing his thoughts on the significance of the capture rather than his personal motivations.

“Agent Hobbs,” said a voice, slightly behind him.

He turned around to see Detective Jacobs just behind him. He had worked with Jonathan Jacobs in the past on some local intelligence gathering and knew him on a personal level, as well as a professional one. His large frame, chubby cheeks, and warm personality seemed to make him more likable than the others in his force. “Jonathan, it’s good to see you.” Karl smiled. He felt guilty, lying to the detective about working for the FBI, but the secret his organization protected was too great.

“Wouldn’t have minded it if it was over a beer though.” Detective Jacobs sighed. “This could be it, the day we finally nail him. I tell you what though. Terrorists like him make me sick.”

Karl exchanged a quick glance with Andrew, aware of what was probably going through his new partner’s mind. The continued lying to local law enforcement about who Siroco really was ate at him, but it was better than revealing the truth. He returned his gaze to Detective Jacobs and smiled. “Let’s not get carried away just yet,” he said before turning toward Andrew. “This is our new partner, by the way. Agent Roberts. I promise you, he’s sharper than he looks.” His smile broadened.

“Well, a partner of Karl’s is a friend to me.” Jonathan held his hand out for a handshake. “I’m Detective Jacobs.”

Andrew found the entire concept intriguing—the different identities, lying to local law enforcement about who they were hunting, a supernatural person who couldn’t die. None of it rang true in his mind. Following the handshake, he swiftly moved away from the introductions. “So where’s our man?” he asked.