G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic (17 page)

“When I start something, kid, I finish it,” he stated.

I couldn’t help but smile. Corny line or not, I could hear the weight behind Visine’s words. He was with me on this and we were going to see it through till the end. Because I’m me and I never like letting any serious moment hang in the air for very long, I had to respond.

“I knew you loved being my sidekick,” I said.

Visine scoffed and shook his head before ignoring me for the rest of the ride in the elevator. We’ll call that one a win for me.

Visine headed down to security to get things rolling with the troll while I checked on the team. It probably goes without saying that safely escorting a ten-foot tall behemoth down the hall is tricky. Hopefully the troll wouldn’t give him too much trouble. I stepped into sickbay and noticed that Carrot-Top-Doc was still working. He looked up from his paperwork and gave me a nod to let me know that it was all right to disturb the patients.

I looked at Freddy first, who glanced up from his laptop just long enough to give me half a smile. He immediately went back to his computer and continued working. I guess the easiest way for him to deal with the events of yesterday was to bury his mind in work. On the plus side, I was hoping that it meant less paperwork for me to do later.

Danny lay in the next bed, unchanged from the night before. All of the monitoring equipment looked exactly the same as it had last night. I also assumed that if his condition had changed someone would have told me. I looked over at Kara who was still sleeping. Her ribs were tightly wrapped and I could tell that her breaths were very shallow. There were several new bruises on her face to accompany the ones on her neck. She looked worse now than she did last night. It’s amazing how many small cuts, bruises, and scrapes don’t show up until the next day. As I didn’t want to disturb her, I kept walking down the line.

Erika was awake and in a new position. Her head was now at the foot of the bed, she was on her stomach, chin on top of one of her arms, which in turn was on top of her pillow. Several pillows were tucked under her waist and legs putting them into what I can only imagine was a more comfortable position. In her free hand she was holding a paperback detective novel, the title of which was too cliché to even mention. As I approached her bed I was greeted with her dazzling smile.

“How are you feeling?” I asked softly.

“Been better,” she smiled.

The death of a teammate and sustaining serious injuries was enough to destroy the morale of any team. But I understood better than most how important it was to keep your spirits high. Especially when things seem to be at their worst. So I defaulted to the branch of comedy that I seem to excel at, the flirtatious kind.

“I could tell you something that might cheer you up,” I whispered.

“Really?” she replied cautiously.

I glanced down the length of her body before meeting her eyes and answering.

“Your ass looks amazing at this angle,” I smirked.

“You jerk,” she smiled.

“Fine, it looks great at every angle,” I corrected playfully.

“You are such a pig,” she laughed.

“That’s true.”

Her laughing stopped abruptly as she forced the words, “Hurts to laugh,” through a painful grin.

“Sorry about that,” I smiled, “But in my defense, look at that thing, wow.”

She dropped her paperback on the bed and adjusted her position slightly before striking out with surprising speed. The punch was obviously meant to be playful, but she caught me square in the hip and I felt it. I couldn’t help but smile at the effort.

“I guess I deserve that,” I said.

“And more,” she replied with a mock anger look on her face.

“Oh, more you say,” I winked.

She hit me again which caused her to wince in pain. Unfortunately that made us both laugh, which resulted in a little more pain for her. To make matters worse we were attempting to laugh quietly, the suppressed laughter causing her body to shake even more than normal. We were in a vicious cycle where the laughter was causing pain, which in turn was driving more laughter. Every time it hurt her she laughed a little more. I avoided eye contact for a bit to help her get the giggles under control.
 

“So much for laughter being the best medicine.”

“Don’t make me hit you again,” she smiled back, “Now did you come down here for a reason or just to torture me?” she asked.

“I just wanted to check on you all. I’m heading down now to see what we can get out of the Troll.”

“Good luck. He’s one tough SOB,” she replied.

“Thanks. Now try and get some rest.”

“Will do,” she said and picked her book back up.

I turned and started back towards the door when her voice stopped me.

“Bruce,” she said.

“Yeah?” I turned back.

“Thanks for swinging by,” she said sincerely.

“Anytime,” I replied softly.

And because you already know how I feel about serious moments, I glanced at her butt one last time and mouthed the word “wow” to her. She rolled her eyes at me and a small smile crossed her mouth. Like I said before, morale is an important thing. My humor might be a little childish, but she was smiling. After losing a teammate, I will happily take those small victories. Even if it means I get punched in the hip.

As I headed out the door Freddy looked up and wished me luck with the Troll. His body language made it clear that he wasn’t ready to have a conversation with me yet. I wasn’t sure if he was mad at me for not being there or mad at himself for leaving without me. The safe money was probably on the later thought. I had spent years mastering the art of blaming myself, so I understood what he might be going through. I debated on whether I should try and talk to him or let him have his space. The space plan won out, as I was excited to get to the Troll. I told Freddy that I would keep him in the loop and then I stepped out the door.

I headed down to the security level and signed in with the guard behind the glass before getting buzzed past the large metal door. I walked down the hall and stepped into the observation room. Visine was in there watching as the interrogation had apparently already started. I stood next to him and watched the proceedings through the glass.
 

“Good timing, they just started,” Visine said.

I looked into the room to see the Troll, in all his enormous glory, shackled at the wrists and ankles to large metal rings on the floor. The chair that he was sitting in was clearly oversized, but his massive form still made it look small. He was hanging his head forward, his shoulders slumped, and his large yellow eyes staring at the metal table. He looked like a man who had given up. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why, but something about his attitude struck me as odd.
 

There were two other people in the room, both human. They each wore dark suits and looked every bit the part of stereotypical federal agents. The man was sitting at the table across from the Troll. He was in good shape, probably in his early forties, with a completely shaved head. The lady stood behind him, sizing up the Troll. She had narrow features, a sharp nose, and an air of superiority about her. She looked to be in her early thirties and something about her attitude made me think that she was some kind of a head-shrink. I grabbed a stool, got comfortable, and Visine hit a switch on the wall that allowed us to hear what was going on in the interrogation room.

As the interrogators worked Visine was casually naming the techniques that they were using. I couldn’t have told you the difference, but he was obviously very well versed. The interrogators cycled through every possible method in the book, twice, all of which amounted to a silent Troll and me being bored out of my skull. I don’t know how long we stood there watching, but it felt like forever. Finally I snapped and couldn’t take it anymore. I stormed out of the observation area and made my way into the interrogation room. Visine followed my lead.

Both of the “expert” interrogators looked up in shock as I burst into the room. They met my eyes, the lady with much more hatred than the man. I didn’t flinch, and made sure that the expression on my face made it clear that I meant business.

“You two, out now,” I ordered.

“Yeah right,” the man scoffed.

“You have no authority in this matter,” the Lady snapped.

“Maybe not. But I’m the one who kicked his butt in the field,” I said pointing to the Troll, “And unless you two wanna be next, I suggest you give us the room,” I stated.

They held their ground for a minute, trying to stare me down. This was not a contest that they were going to win. If the eyes really were the windows into the soul, then my past was not something that you wanted to be looking at. I was a killer and unfortunately in those rare moments where I have to be serious, it shows. The look of someone who is willing to take a life is not something you soon forget. It didn’t take long before they both reluctantly walked out of the room.

“This isn’t over,” the Lady said as she closed the door.

Visine raised an eyebrow at me in response. I knew what he was thinking and he was right. Dutton was not going to be happy that I threatened the interrogators. But we had a case to solve and they weren’t getting anywhere. I figured a successfully interrogated troll would trump any discipline that was going to be handed out to me. Dirk and Timothy were dead and my team was laid up in the infirmary. I wasn’t planning to let anything stand in my way as I brought those responsible to justice.

I walked over and took the seat in front of the Troll, Visine standing by my side. I looked the creature over and couldn’t get past the sense of hopelessness about him, as if he had already been broken and given up. He refused to make eye contact with me, instead keeping his gaze down on the table. If I didn’t know any better I might almost guess that he was on the verge of crying. Something wasn’t adding up. This was more than simply being captured.

The interrogators had left a folder on the table in front of me; it had the Troll’s name on it. I attempted to pronounce it as written.

“Ben-O-rith’skith?” I tried, “Yeah, that’s a mouthful. How about I call you Benny? Would that be alright?” I asked.

Again the Troll sat there unmoving. I thought back to the fight last night and how everything had turned out. It was clear that the sorcerer was playing for keeps. He was trying to kill everyone in his way and he succeeded with Timothy. But the Troll, while fighting viciously, managed to get through the fight without killing anyone. It didn’t make sense. Sure we almost lost Kara when he threw her into Erika, but that didn’t feel intentional. Especially when you consider that he had Kara in a death grip. With his incredible strength it would have been easy for him to finish her. I was very thankful that she was alive, but there still had to be a reason that he let her live.

“Okay Benny, just one question. Why didn’t you kill her?” I asked.

There was the smallest of shifts in his body, almost unnoticeable, but I could tell that he didn’t like my question. He smacked his lips, as if his throat was dry, and his huge tusk like teeth shifted in his mouth. He was an imposing sight. But I had a murder to understand and some psychopaths to catch, so there was only one way that I was letting this end. He slowly looked up from the table and met my eyes. I was already getting more of a response from him than the interrogators did. I wondered if the fact that Visine and I were the ones that took him down had something to do with it.

“I’ll ask again. You had her throat in your hands and all you had to do was squeeze. You could have snapped her neck like a twig. With your strength it would have been easy. But you didn’t do it. Why?” I asked.

He was giving me the angry frown, but slowly his huge mouth opened and he spoke.

“Not a killer,” he snarled.

“Right. You just help killers,” I sneered.

He huffed a few times, his chest moving with each breath. For a moment his expression turned angry before immediately shifting back to what I thought was sadness. He hung his head again as he responded.

“No choice,” he said.

“Exactly,” I smirked.

The Troll looked up at me, confusion all over his face. His eyes started darting back and forth between Visine and I, clearly looking for an answer. I let the silence hang in the air a moment, giving him time to worry about how much I knew. Then I leaned back in my chair, put a foot on the table to hold myself there, and looked Benny right in the eyes.

“See Benny, that is what’s been bothering me this whole time. You didn’t kill Kara when you had the chance. And in this room, everything about your posture tells the same story, like you’ve lost something. Like you’ve failed. At first I just thought you must have felt bad for failing your boss. But I don’t think that’s it. Which leads me to believe that you failed someone else. Care to tell me who?” I asked.

Benny’s expression turned from confusion to fear. He started to breath rapidly and I wondered if a Troll could hyperventilate. He answered between flaring nostrils.

“No,” he said.

His reluctance to share let me know that I was on the right track. Whatever they had on him, he didn’t want me to have the same leverage.

“Because you’re afraid I’ll use it against you?” I asked.

His body language answered in the affirmative long before he could even think of responding.

“Thought so,” I said before turning towards Visine.

“Do you know anything about Trolls?” I asked him.

“A little,” Visine responded.

“Are they normally violent?” I asked.

“Not this species,” Visine said.

I turned back to Benny, who had stayed quiet and pretended not to care about the conversation that Visine and I were having. I smiled at him, trying to look friendly.

“Okay Benny, let me tell you what I think is going on here. I think your boss, whoever that might be, has something on you. I think you’re working for them because you have no choice.”

Benny’s whole body slumped and it was clear that I hit the nail on the head. Whatever they had, it was good. Benny looked as if his life no longer had meaning. Like he had already lost the most important thing in his world. I could relate to that. Long ago something made me go against my better nature and now I was wondering if Benny had been dealt a similar hand. Perhaps I was recognizing something of myself in Benny. Although as far as I knew, he stopped himself before he took a life. If only I had been that strong. So I made a guess as to what leverage they had on Benny.