Foreboding Skies (The Skybreaker Saga Book 1) (21 page)

The neighborhood already looked better than the last time I was there. The streets and sidewalks were already patched up. The houses were looking better with fresh coats of paint along with any other repairs needed. The abandoned orphanage that Downs operated out of was well on its way to becoming a community rehab and job training center and the vacant lots would be filled with either new homes or needed stores. It was amazing what good you could do by pouring millions into a neighborhood. I didn’t care about money, thanks to Vladimir’s divine money management skills I didn’t need to be concerned with costs. It wasn’t unusual for me to spend my money cavalierly. What was unusual is that I was bothering with trying to improve the place where I was stationed. There were no established rules or practices in that regard. Quite the opposite, we were encouraged to make as little impact as possible on our territory. It was an unwritten rule that I made a habit out of following. At least until Detroit.

The taboo of what I was doing was mitigated by the fact that at least one Shaman had been heavily involved with what happened here. I felt an obligation to undo the damage done. But even this wasn’t enough for the people here or for me. Donald Glover, the Professor, and countless others needed to be avenged. Justice still needed to be done. I reflexively scoffed at the thought. Where was emissary of Justice when Donald was being murdered? It showed up to protect gangbangers but not a good man who tried to salvage what he could. Justice was a human invention and clearly possessed the same failings as its makers.

Besides, I wouldn’t be coming by any time soon. I was scheduled to leave the country that night. I informed the Council of recent events and the need for a replacement to be sent immediately, or rather Vladimir informed them. He correctly assumed that his words would be given far more weight than mine. The Council would be pissed but the old geezers cared about results more than proper protocol or procedure. If I nabbed the Shaman who was involved then all would be forgiven and forgotten. At least as far as the Community was concerned. The human authorities were chomping hard for answers. But I was too small a fry to handle the human authorities and wouldn’t be required to. Unless there were more like Goodwin, then they would come after me again. That was the real reason I needed to leave. The trail had only grown colder in the week I spent recovering and Detroit and only gotten hotter.

Goodwin mentioned that he had a plane to catch within the hour. It was a vague clue but Vladimir’s network picked up a slight anomaly. A search of all airfields both public and private revealed that a private jet owned by a dummy corporation took off minutes after Goodwin exploded. A full two hours ahead of what was officially listed. There wasn’t anything remarkable about that, until Goodwin’s history was factored in. The corporation was called Berserk Industries, Shamans who utilized rage were often called berserkers, and Goodwin did some consulting work there a few years ago. I felt it prudent to withhold that information from my superiors lest the enemy within my own ranks got word of my quest.

Berserk Industries was a thin lead but it was the best we had at the moment and I really needed to leave town. Thus, it was decided that I would be smuggled into Nicaragua, then make my way to the capital city of Managua, where Berserk Industries recently moved its headquarters, from where it moved was still a mystery. They were a leading security contractor whose clientele, according to Vladimir, included corrupt politicians, fugitives, and cartel bosses. Basically if you were a piece of shit and needed lots of guns, and had plenty of cash, then Berserk Industries had you covered.

From there I would seek out Vladimir’s less than reputable contacts and try my best to make some headway. I wouldn’t be contacting the Shaman in that region, Lucile Bartel, to tell her of my mission. She could have been involved and would remain a suspect until her innocence could be definitively proven. If there were a powerful rogue Shaman roosting in Central America then she either knew of him and did nothing or knew of him and did nothing. Either way, it didn’t look good for her.

As daunting as the task before me was at least I wouldn’t be going it alone. Alewyn elected to join me despite my objections. A reckless child like me needed someone to watch his back. He still hadn’t stopped talking about all the ways he could have helped me if he had been with me the entire time. He gave me a brief reprieve to observe the fruit of the labor of the people I was paying. He was speaking with Vladimir not twenty yards away behind the temporary trailer I was leaning against. Soon he would inform me that we needed to leave.

I said goodbye to everyone that counted save for the dynamic human duo and Izzy, who once again dropped out of contact. I felt conflicted about slipping away without as much as an awkward goodbye text. I was happy to leave that can of worms to Vladimir. Tracking down a rogue Shaman seemed easier than facing the man I had been deceiving for years and whose life I nearly destroyed. Not to mention his enigmatic partner whom Vlad took a heightened interest in. I would also have to take a raincheck on that date with red that she never agreed to. Her fate, and that of her companions, was far beyond me. I could live with it. I had to.  I didn’t need to worry about details like that.

I shook my head to derail my train of thought. One of Alewyn’s numerous tips was that I, like Vladimir, frequently overthought things. But unlike Vladimir I wasn’t smart enough to actually figure out an eloquent solution and would only drive myself mad. I was a doer, not a planner. It was the nicest way anyone has ever told me that I was an idiot. Alewyn possessed an abundance of tact. Much of which was surely being deployed against poor Vlad even if I couldn’t hear what was being said behind the cone of silence. Alewyn stepped up his security in light of recent events. He even took to carrying a stealth talisman at all times despite how annoying I found the damned thing. He said he was only evening the odds. Security was also why my hair was jet black and he was a brunette for the foreseeable future.

Alewyn would only take another few minutes but it still felt too long to me. Feeling the urge to move I cloaked myself and strolled down the street in the evening sun. Most of the workers were already gone and the residents wouldn’t be moving back in for a few weeks yet, they were staying in hotels on my dollar. It was even more deserted than the first time I visited. Unlike the first time, which had only been a little more than a week ago, there was legitimate hope for the future. That was a good thing. Even if not everyone who should have been there to enjoy it got the chance to. I stopped in front of the old man’s house.

His real name was Joshua Jackson Jr and he wouldn’t get to see what became of the children he protected or the community he refused to abandon. But without his death I wouldn’t have bothered trying to clean the place up.

“They always return to the scene of the crime.” A voice both mild and severe startled me from my dismal thoughts. “It’s a cliché for sure, but it holds true. People love to see the fruits of their labor.” I didn’t bother to glance at the plucky human who stepped up beside me or look for the talisman that enabled her to sneak up on me.

“Does everyone have one of those things now?”

“Vladimir is making quite a few of them. Not that you need them since you already excel at sneaking around and slipping away.” It was as mild a rebuke as she would ever give me. I didn’t feel like taking her bait and executed a rapid conversation change instead.

“What is your deal Gousie? I had you pegged as a conformist stickler through and through. Why did you go along with everything we did instead of blowing your whistle? Or have you blown your whistle? Is a spec ops team in position to try to snatch me?” I was sure she hadn’t said or done anything Vlad disapproved of or she wouldn’t be standing next to me.

“I suppose you were wrong then. Most people who know me well wouldn’t call me a conformist. Quite the opposite actually.”

“Did you grow up in a free love commune?”

“Something like that.” I glanced at her then. Her tone said there was much more to say but her face ruled out any possibility of going further. “And as for snatching you, well I have seen first-hand how well ordinary people fair against you.”  Awkward.

“Is Detective Hemmingway here?” Running into Gousie on the way out was bad enough. Seeing him at that time would have been painful.

“He is not. He is dealing with yet another debriefing session.”

“How exactly are you spinning this to the government at large?”

“Agent Goodwin went rogue by backing Jeffery Downs and his drug operation. Goodwin protected Downs in return for a cut of the profits. Downs decided to branch out and make explosives to sell on the black market, and keep all the profits. Goodwin didn’t like that so he tried to have Downs killed but it got ugly and the authorities caught on. He came here personally to clean up the mess. In the process of covering up his connection to Downs he committed numerous civil rights violations and broke even more federal laws, including smuggling in foreign mercenaries. ”

“What about the fight at his headquarters? That was a serious brawl.” There was only so much bullshit you could spew before the wrong people got curious.

“Stop Interrupting. He prepared to detonate a biological weapon as a distraction while he buried the last traces of evidence.” She smirked before continuing. “When I discovered this I led a raid on his headquarters where we engaged his mercenaries in combat before disarming the WMD. Several corrupt agents were arrested or killed and Goodwin himself committed suicide rather than be captured. The villain is dead and peace is restored.” 

“Conveniently making you a hero. What about Hemmy? Does he get a slice of the pie?”

“Of course, he and his unit were instrumental in uncovering Goodwin’s schemes.”

“That’s nice.” We lapsed into a semi-awkward silence as we both let our eyes roam over the neighborhood. I didn’t have much time before departure but there was still more I wanted to ask. “What about the Community? What does the FBI and the government at large know about our role in what happened?”

“No. As far as anyone else knows, even the people who already know about the Community, this whole messy affair was a corrupt agent covering his tracks. At least that’s what we’re telling them. I can’t account for what they found out through other sources.”

“What happened will cause serious changes on both sides for better or worse, probably for the worse.”

“Isn’t there a powerful oracle or soothsayer you can ask?

“There are, but they probably won’t have anything useful to say.”

“Why not?”

“The future is too chaotic to reliably predict right now because the present is too chaotic. Countless players are going to be making countless decisions that will shape the future. Once the waters have calmed you’ll get better readings.

“Humph. When we actually need to know what will happen next prophecies can’t do the one thing their supposed to do.”

“More or less. They could give you a general idea of the future if you’d be interested in what amounts to a blurry photo.”

She let out a long sigh before changing the subject. “How long will you be gone?”

“No idea. It could be decades before I set foot in the United States again, much less Detroit.”

“Decades.”

“Yeah.”

“Not such a long time, for you.” The implication was clear. It wasn’t long at all for a Shaman who measured his life in centuries, but significantly longer for an ordinary human.

“I’m sure I’ll be in touch through Vladimir. Once you’re in the clear of course.”

“We aren’t graduating high school here. You are fleeing the country to search for the monster responsible for what happened here and I will be drowning in a bureaucratic shit storm. Hell, you may spend the rest of my life hunting down those responsible and we’d never get to meet again.” There was far more bitterness in her voice then I would have imagined. She had reason to be upset that she couldn’t continue the hunt but I couldn’t guess as to why she was distressed to see me go. If anything she should be glad a source of trouble like me was leaving.

Then I went and said something that proved even a man who had lived for more than a century could still say something insensitive and piss a woman off with little effort. “It’s not like we are good friends or anything. A week ago we were perfect strangers and a week from now it will be the same.” I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that I should have kept the thought to myself. I think my intent was to emphasis the short duration of our relationship so she wouldn’t be upset by its termination. It did not work.

Her face tightened and her eyes grew hard. A few wisps of sadness and rage appeared but the dominant emotion was fear. This utterly confused me. Why was she frightened at the prospect of never seeing me again? I was certain she had no romantic interest in me.

“You’re right. It doesn’t matter at all since were strangers.” She executed a perfect spin and walk away without another word. It felt like I kicked a puppy for some reason. The only comfort I could find was that as time went on I would rapidly fade from her memory. In a few short weeks she simply wouldn’t be thinking about me at all. It would be better for her that way. If only Joseph Hemmingway could forget he had ever met me.

Someone sighed from behind me and I turned to find Alewyn starring sadly at Gousie’s retreating form. I never did ask what Exo meant. “Do pay any attention to the people around you? As a Shaman isn’t understanding emotion in your wheelhouse?” I didn’t understand what had just happened but I knew I didn’t want to talk about it. I blatantly changed the subject.