<Episode 22>

Rachel could only remember one other time she felt like this, when Jack went into that cave to face the rebel leader. Just like before the fact she didn’t know what was happening to him was getting to her. But he wasn’t just facing the rebels, Anderson’s men were there too. Kind of like last time too. Not for the first time tonight she was thinking that she have talked him out of going, find another way to mend bridges as Dusty put it. Dusty, on the other hand, was sitting in his chair watching TV. The only sign she could see that he was worried was his tapping foot, something she never seen him do before. Rachel got off the couch and looked out the window before walking the floor, “Where is he?”

“Jack’s alright,” Dusty said. “No point in thinking otherwise. Bad vibes and all that crap.”

“I should have gone with him.”

“No offense little lady, and do what exactly?”, he asked her. Rachel opened her mouth but nothing came out. She sat back on the couch, not sure about what to do. “Didn’t mean to burst your bubble but I’m pretty sure you would have done more harm than good.”

“I’m not used to being left behind,” she ended up saying. God, that even sounded lame to her.

“If you say so,” he replied. The way he said it told her that he didn’t exactly believe her. Fortunately he decided not to push it and left it alone. After a few moments she got up and started walking the floor again. “Remind me to pick up some wood to fix that hole you’re gonna make in my floor.”

She ignored that comment. “Are you even sure that phone is even going to work? I mean how would we even know that Jack was the one calling?”

“I told you it was one of my special builds. And see that phone right over here?”, he pointed to phone by his coffee maker. “It has two lines that I built into it. A regular phone line and a dedicated line connected to the one I gave Jack. If that second light starts blinking it’ll be him.” Right then it started flashing, she wasn’t sure but Dusty looked like he relaxed a little too. He gave her a grin, “Speak of the devil. Here I’ll put it on speaker phone for ya.” There was a click before Dusty said, “Hello?”

“Yeah,” Jack voice came over the phone, “I’m gonna miss curfew by a bit.” She was glad to hear one of his stupid jokes.

“Well son, I won’t ground you this time since you called,” Dusty said with a chuckle.

“Did everything go alright Jack?”, she asked.

“My God, both of you are still up? You got nothing better to do?”

“You just caught her getting a late night snack,” Dusty covered for her with a wink.

“Oh,” why did he sound strange? Then he went back to normal, “The whole thing was a trap by Anderson. His guys jumped out of the woods, set off a few bombs, one of them was a Drakan stuff like that.”

“Are you alright?”, she asked him. “You’re not hurt or anything?”

“Nothing a couple of aspirin and a night rest won’t cure.” He paused, “That punk kid from the woods was there.”

“Wait a second, he’s still around?” To Dusty she whispered, “I’ll explain later.” He nodded in response.

“Yeah, and if it wasn’t for him I might have went a couple of rounds with the rebels too.”

“Not exactly what I had in mind when I told you about this,” Dusty said looking a little dismayed.

“What can I say, that’s been my life now a days,” he said plainly. “I’ll be back soon enough. I’m going to wait a bit and go back for my helmet before heading back.”

“You’re gonna risk your neck going back for a helmet?” Dusty asked in disbelief. “That’s a bit nuts son.”

“That was my Dad’s helmet,” he explained. “My Mom would kick my ass if she found out I left that behind.”

Rachel looked over to Dusty, “I met her, she would.”

“Whoa,” he said suddenly, “this phone just beeped. This thing got call waiting?”

“Sounds like the battery is getting low,” he answered. “Hmm, could have sworn that it had a full charge when I gave it to you.”

“Anyway, don’t wait up,” he told them.

“I’ll put the aspirin on the kitchen table for you,” Rachel told him. “See you in the morning.” Dusty ended the call and Rachel fell back into the couch letting out a huge breath. Dusty chuckled as he got up.

“Told you he’d be alright. You can stay up if you want. But if you will excuse me this old man is going to bed.”

“Night Dusty,” she called out. Jack was alright, now why couldn’t she stop smiling.

***

Lance agreed to join her as she questioned Arron and the others about what happened. Arron looked nervous standing there before them. He reminded Melissa of when he was trying to ask Chris if he could stay on. Chris wasn’t sure if having the son of one of the area’s most powerful alphas was a good idea or not. Emily convinced him some how that it was. Emily convinced just about everybody that it was a good idea. She was good at convincing people if something was a good idea or not. Thoughts for latter, right now she had other things to deal with. “OK Arron, why don’t you tell us what happened last night.”

“Keep in mind”, Lance added,” that we already talked to the others.” The youth nodded.

“Well we we’re following the tip we were given. Everything was quiet then somebody shouted ‘look out’. The next thing I knew Anderson’s men were coming out of the woods, shots were being fired and there was an explosion behind us.”

“Is that how it began?”, Lance asked as he started circling the youth.

“I’m pretty sure, everything happened so fast it was hard to keep track.” Lance glanced over to her looking annoyed. Not that they thought he was lying to them. Out of the seven she had sent who were there they had four different stories on how it started. The only thing consistent with each story was the shout out.

Now for the big question, “Do you have any idea who gave the warning?”

“No clue,” she closed her eyes before he answered. Sometimes she could get a feeling off a person and she was now. Fear, anxiety, nervousness. Everything she learned to associate with one thing.

“You’re lying.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Kid,” Lance said, “if she says you’re lying, you are lying.”

“If you don’t know who than you have a good idea who it was. Tell us who you think it was Arron. We’re trying to figure out what exactly happened.”

He didn’t look at them as he whispered, “I think it was the Drakan Killer.”

Lance looked up at the ceiling and groaned, “Why him of all people?”

“He did help us out during the mess afterwards,” he mumbled. Melissa and Lance looked at each other. That was the only other constant part of each story, the Killer fighting Anderson’s men and one of his Drakan soldiers.

“So do you have idea why he decided to help you?”

“I don’t know” She knew he was being truthful.

“So why did you help the Killer with the crab?”, Lance asked him.

“He was helping us out so I figured I’d return the favor.”

“That’s all well and good.” Lance stopped walking and got in his face, “So why did you let him go?!”

Arron looked away, “I owed him.”

“You owed him,” Lance cried in disbelief.

“Lance,” Melissa said to make him back away. “Arron, I understand thinking you owe him something.” Oh Lord did she understand that. “And most of us wouldn’t fault you for trying to repay your debt, but the other thought you were trying to give orders.”

“I wasn’t….”

“Did you tell the others about that debt of yours,” Lance demanded. Arron didn’t answer.

“Arron, why do we stay in our human forms when were in the habitat?”

“Because we don’t know who is in what class when we’re human.”

“Right that way we can remind ourselves we’re all equal. Even then we have to be careful about the choices we make, particularly us greens. You might have thought you were repaying your debt but the others thought you were falling into old habits. No matter what you stepped out of bounds when you decided to let him go. What do you think an appropriate punishment would be Lance?”

“Two weeks hard labor in the garden center sounds about right,” he said after thinking about it for awhile.

“That sounds good to me too. Arron report to the garden center in the morning. I’m sure Frank has some dirty jobs he needs done.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said and left them alone.

“Like the situation wasn’t bad enough,” Lance groaned while pinching the bridge of his nose. “Now the Drakan Killer not even sure what side he’s on.”

“Nothing is never simple Lance,” She told him. “Friedman said Davidson left World Inc. on rather bad terms.”

“He also said he attacked Anderson,” Lance reminded here, “but that was according to the company rumor mill. The only people who know what really happen are Anderson and the Killer. And that’s if he really broke off from World Inc. This could be an elaborate trap for all we know. Hell nobody could know what’s really going on.”

Maybe not nobody, she fingered the folded up paper in her pocket that Emily gave her. “We got to take things one at a time I guess and hope everything comes out for the best. So when are you coming back?”

“In a few days for the next meeting. There were a couple of things that just started brewing in my cell when I left. I have to see if anything needs my attention so I’d better go.”

“Lance, do me a favor would you,” she pulled the paper out and handed it to him. “Read this and let me know what you think about it. I don’t want an immediate reaction, think it over for those couple of days. I really need somebody else’s opinion on it.”

“No problem,” he looked a little confused. “I’ll let you know in a few days.” She nodded and watched him leave. She already had an idea on what she was going to do already. Melissa just wanted to know she wasn’t crazy just for considering it.

***

“Why wasn’t I informed there was a Drakan on my assault team?”, Perez demanded. Anderson looked up at him over some reports Taylor had given him. The man did look rather upset.

“Which team?’, he asked, allowing himself a small sly grin.

“What?!”, Perez slammed his hands down onto his desk. His grin quickly disappeared. “Exactly how many of those bastards Drakan are working for me?”

“For you, none,” he answered coldly. Perez backed off. He got his emotion under control after a moment. “However, there are several working for me. I kept quiet about it because of reaction such as yours.”

“Me and the men don’t like it one bit.”

“I don’t pay you and the men to like it, I pay you to follow orders. The rebels are a pain in the Drakan communities’ side as well as ours. With a common enemy an alliance, no matter how,” he searched for the right word, “uneasy, is only natural. Mitchell understood that and the sooner you understand that the smoother things will run.”

Perez crossed his arms and looked over him, “That worked great with Allen didn’t it?”

Anderson mood and features darkened slightly, “I suggest, Mr. Perez, that in the future you check all of your facts before making similar comments. There were factors involved in the Allen situation that only Mitchell and myself were aware of.” He rose from his chair and stared the other man down. Perez backed away even more. “You may not like it but that union is necessary, particularly now. Mr. Davidson is an x-factor in any plans we may have in dealing with the rebels. No one knows when he’ll show up next and what he’ll do. If you can not see the value of such an alliance than I will find somebody who can.” Anderson straightened out his tie before he sat back down, “Of course the big question is how Davidson just happened to be there last night. I am not a big believer in coincidences, so I would suggest you find out how. Dismissed.”

Perez said nothing as he left the room. Mitchell could not come out of the mark two program soon enough. Bastard Drakan indeed. On his desk the light on his intercom lit up, now what? He pressed the button, “Yes?”

“Mr. Taylor and a … guest are here to see you Mr. Anderson.” Finally some good news.

“Send them in.” Taylor came in first and held the door open. An older man, with gray hairs playing at his temples, wearing a brown trench coat and sunglasses entered. Anderson rose but didn’t smile, the other man wouldn’t see it any way. The older man held a white cane out in front of him, but he didn’t swing it from side to side. Instead every so often he taped it hard once on the ground in front of him. He stopped a few feet from the desk. “Mr. Logan, you are doing well I see.”

“I can’t complain,” he reached out with his right hand and found the chair and sat down. “It’s been awhile since I’ve heard from you.”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve had a target worth your considerable talents.”

“That never stopped you before Anderson. So who’s the unlucky bastard that crossed you this time?”

“I assume you heard of the Drakan Killer.”

Logan actually laughed out loud, “Now I know why you man seemed so shocked to see me.”

“I didn’t realize he be so unprofessional to say anything,” He said mainly to Taylor with a raised eyebrow. Taylor started looking nervous.

“He didn’t have to,” Logan gave him a small smile. “Perhaps he needs a little demo. What do you say Taylor? Do you think you could put a hand on me before I can stop you?”

“I don’t think that would be proper,” Taylor said.

“You might as well comply Mr. Taylor,” Anderson told him. “Mr. Logan will not leave until you do.” Taylor nodded and silently walked behind Logan. The older man lowered and twisted his head slightly. Taylor reached out with his left hand, he was right handed so it was a good ploy. Logan cane suddenly came up and smacked his hand away as he rose up and shoved the chair into Taylor. A straight palm shot to the chest knocked Taylor to the floor and Logan placed the tip of his cane into the other man’s throat. The choking sound he was making said the cane was being pressed in rather hard. Anderson rose up just enough to look at him. “Are you satisfied now Mr. Taylor?”

“Yes sir,” he gurgled. Logan let him go and stood there as Taylor got to his feet.

“So, Mr. Logan, about the assignment…”

“Why do you want the Drakan Killer dead?”, Logan asked. “Outside of the obvious reasons.”

“Let’s just say he’s a mistake I want rectified.”

“Hmm, I may have to raise my asking price for this one.”

“Now wait just a minute,” Taylor said before Anderson quieted him.

“The price is yours to name, within reason of course. We have audio feeds you can listen to of the killer in combat. I’ll have somebody help you go over them if you want for your research.”

“That will do for a start,” Logan told him

Anderson raised an eyebrow, “For a start?”

“For a target as large as the Drakan Killer I’d rather witness him in action live.”

“That might prove to be a little difficult Mr. Logan.”

“If you want him gone bad enough I’m sure you’ll find away.” Logan headed for the door. He stopped just long enough for Taylor to open the door for him.

“He’s asking for too much,” Taylor said after they were alone. “There is no way we can arrange that.”

“Mr. Taylor,” Anderson sat back in his chair, “if we want this done we have to find away.”

***

After talking with Dusty Jack found out there was a vehicle paint shop on site. Apparently the old Drakan was trying to expand his customer base a couple of years ago, it didn’t go well. But he kept it up and all the equipment still worked, so Jack decided to paint his bike. Surprisingly Rachel agreed. Anderson’s men did know what the bike looks like she said. Maybe a new paint job would buy him a little time. He took a couple of days and right now he was carefully spraying a coat of red paint. Putting the spray gun down Jack waited a couple of moments the carefully peeled away some of the protective paper he taped on to the bike earlier. Now instead of a black and gray motorcycle it was blue with black and red highlights. Of course now he was suddenly reminded of his armor color scheme but it was too late to do anything about it. Jack pulled off his face mask and took a moment to admire his work, “Not bad.”

“Nice work son,” Dusty said coming into the building. “I’d barely recognize that ride of yours.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna let this dry then put a protective coat over it.”

“Looks like you did this before,” he said examining the paint lines.

“I used to work at a paint shop before it closed down.”

“Huh,” Dusty muttered. Then he glanced over to him, “What do you think Rachel is going to say about this?”

“I dunno,” Jack said. “I don’t think she would care.” He went outside to get some fresh air, Dusty followed.

“You sure about that? She seemed kinda interested that you were interested to me.”

Jack looked at him funny, “You implying something there Dusty?”

“Not at all son, just stating some observations I’ve made. Old doctor’s habit I’m afraid.”

“Well your observations are a little off,” even he thought he sounded a bit defensive. “Me and Rachel are just friends. If something was going to happen don’t you think it would have happened by now?”

“Who said I said something was gonna happen between the two of ya?”, he said evenly and with a grin. “Besides who are you trying to convince there?” Jack found he couldn’t answer the question. About then a shout could be heard.

“Rachel,” he said getting worried. He ran off toward the source of the scream, almost knocking Dusty over. They found Rachel on the ground holding her right leg. She removed her hand and looked at it, a hint of blood could be seen on her fingers. He was kneeling down beside her in the next moment, “What happened?”

“I got stupid,” she told him. Rachel pointed to a stack of cars, “That car there on top over there looked like the one my Dad used to have. So I climbed up there to check it out. I lost my footing on and fell. My leg scrapped against that one.” Jack looked at the car, a rusty jagged edge of the door had a bit of her blue jeans hooked on to it.

Dusty examined her leg, “It looks worse than what it is, you scraped it pretty good. But I will say you are one lucky little lady, a little closer to that door and I’d be taking you to my operation room for some stitches. Then Jack would have to be my nurse, and I know you wouldn’t want that,” he grinned.

“Nobody wants that Dusty,” he told him. Rachel couldn’t help but laugh.

“Either way it’s pretty minor,” Dusty looked like he had an idea and looked at him, “Think you can handle this one Jack?”

“Not a problem.” He helped Rachel to his feet, “Come on.”

***

Despite her protest he put her left arm over his shoulder and helped her walk to the operating room. She was expecting him to say something like, “And you say I’m reckless,” but he said nothing. They entered the trailer and he left her to get on the exam bed as he washed his hands and looked for a first aid kit. Rachel looked around a bit as well and found a spare towel. Making sure Jack wasn’t looking she pulled her jeans down and got on the table. She used the towel to cover her under ware as he turned around with the kit and a tray. He put it down and held the tray by her leg. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Mom had us take a first aid class together,” he said. “I’m going to have to clean this out and I’m telling you now, this is gonna sting. A lot.”

She grimaced as he gently cleaned her scrap with some soap and water. “Aren’t you supposed to say it’s going to sting a little?”

“I thought you were big enough to handle it,” there was light tone to his voice as he waved his hand over it, creating some wind that took away the sting. Then he put some kind of ointment on it.

“What ever, I’m just glad it wasn’t closer to my butt.”

“That’s funny, I was just wishing it was closer to your butt.”

She shot a dirty look at him, “You perv.”

Jack got a tad defensive, “Hey, you’ve seen me naked. I’m just trying to even the score.”

“What are you talking about?”, right after she said that she remembered.

“Well for one thing when I first woke up at World Inc I had nothing but a towel covering the good,” he motioned around his waste. “So that told me I wasn’t wearing anything in that goop they had me in. And two you were there everyday checking in on me during my second trip in. I’m not just taking Anderson’s word for it, I asked around.”

She felt her face grow hot and looked away, “You were my key to steady employment.”

Jack snorted, “That made my lie about not wanting to be guilted into staying sound genius.”

She looked at him, “Your what?”

“My li…,” his face went red, “my line… my.. my line,” he shut up pretty quick. There was an uncomfortable silence as he finished dressing her wound. This was ridiculous, they were two fully grown adults. They should be able to talk this out with out any problems. Fortunately for her he changed the subject. “I’d been meaning to ask, how did you get involved in this Drakan mess?”

“You’re asking me now after how long have we been together?”

“Never had a chance to ask. I mean there was usually a mission we were sent on, we been on the run stuff like that.”

“Well it was kind of like you in a way,” she said remember the day. “A few years ago I was on a college campus doing some late night studying.”

“What were you studying?”

“Business management with a minor in psychology.” Jack nodded as he started taping some gauze to her leg. “Well I was going back to my dorm when a Drakan landed right in front of me followed by a couple of the guys from the assault team. Of course I didn’t know that at the time, so I freaked. They darted the Drakan and dragged him away and said I saw nothing and tell nobody. Like anybody was going believe me if I did. A couple of days after I graduated Anderson showed up at my house. He explained what I saw and offered me a job on the spot. I ended up working under Heather in the Drakan tracking center. She told me once that I’d be doing her job before either of us knew it,” she smiled at the memory. “Actually she’s the reason why I was made your mission operator.”

“Really?”, he said looking interested.

“Really. Mr. Anderson came into the Command Center one day and asked her if she could come up with any candidates for the job. She said she knew the perfect person and brought me into the conversation. The rest, as they say, is history.”

“I’m going to have to thank her when this mess is over with,” Jack said as he finished taping her leg up. “If she’s still talking to us that is. I hope she’s ok.”

“I’m sure she is.”

“Well, we’re done here,” he said. “Do you want me to head back to the house and grab you a clean pair of pants?”

“No need,” Jack turned around as she removed the towel and pulled her jeans up. She had to smile, that was kind of sweet some how. “I can do it when we get back.” She tested her leg, “Want to walk me back?” Jack got under arm and let her lean against him.

***

Things were kind of quiet for a couple of weeks. Jack and Rachel started helping Dusty fix up the outside of his house as payment for helping them out. One of the first things they did was replace the shingles on his roof. Rachel surprised him by being a pretty decent handy woman, according to her something her dad insisted on. One day Dusty said a load of siding was ready for him and he was going to need help getting it on “Bessie”. Luckily there was only one guy there so they could load the truck while Dusty talked to him keeping his attention. The last thing any of them wanted was to be recognized. On the way back Rachel rode with Dusty as he took the lead on his bike. A shadow on the road next to him caught his attention before a red shape flew down and buzzed him. Jack nearly lost control of the bike as he skidded to a stop. The truck stopped right next to him as Dusty and Rachel jumped out. “Did you see that?”, he shouted as he ripped his helmet off and looked into the sky.

“I didn’t see where it went,” Rachel told him while scanning the sky too.

“There!,” Dusty pointed. A red owl landed a few yards in front of them by a bridge. It folded its’ wings into it’s back started slowly walking toward them.

“Dusty,” he risked a glance back at the old Drakan. He was already getting Rachel behind him. Jack returned his attention to the owl and raised his left hand across his chest and the belt formed around his waist. He swung his arm to the side and brought his right arm up to his face. “Henshin!,” he shouted and slammed his right and on top of the belt. After his body was scanned he was wearing a black body suit with blue body armor. Jack got his hands ready to fight. At least with Dusty watching Rachel he wouldn’t have to worry about her getting hurt. He started at the owl through the red lenses of his helmet as it stopped and stood where it was. Almost as once they charged each other.

The owl threw a punch that stopped him in his tracks. It spun and aimed a kick at his head. Jack ducked and landed a right to its’ gut. He threw a left at its head that knocked it back. The Drakan spun and charged suddenly knocking him to the ground. The owl tried to get on top of him but he was able to push him off. Jack got to his feet and waited as the owl charged him again. He grabbed the red Drakan and threw him over his head. The owl flew through the air and crashed on the street. Too bad he threw close to where Rachel and Dusty was. He went to attack it from behind but the owl turned it’s head completely around and stared at him. “Gah!!,” he cried out in surprised.

The owl backhanded him hard and he fell to the ground. It grabbed him by the back of his chest armor and hauled him up. The owl unfolded the wings from its’ back and carried him into the air. Then it went into a nose dive and slammed him into the ground. The armor took the brunt of it, but damn that still hurt. It tried to do it again but he had enough of his senses to start throwing elbows back at the owl and it dropped him. Jack landed roughly on the ground and the owl dove at him. He jumped backwards whipping his right leg up. The tip of his boot caught the owl under its’ beak and knocked for loop. It lay on the ground stunned as he took a moment to clear the cobwebs from his own head before continuing the attack. Jack started pounding and kicking away at the owl who could barely block his shots. It spread its’ wings quickly knocking him back and it tried to fly away. The meter started flashing as it kept getting higher and higher, Jack wasn’t sure he could jump that high and not miss. He looked around and ran toward the bike. Jack got it on it wheels and popped out the lasers. Raising it up on its rear wheel he tried to aim them at the retreating Drakan and fired away. Two burst hit the owl and knocked it to the ground. A device of some kind dropped off it as it hit. Jack twisted the right pod up and ran at it. The charge went up his side and down his arm as the red Drakan got to its’ feet and looked at him. When he got close enough he threw an uppercut that hit it in the chest. The owl flew up from the charge and exploded.

Jack deactivated the armor and put his hands in his knees breathing hard. Rachel and Dusty ran up as he made sure the hood was still place. “Why didn’t you let him go?”, Dusty asked him.

“It saw what you looked like,” he said between breaths. “Even if Rachel and me left your place you still be in trouble with the other Drakan.”

“Didn’t know you cared,” Dusty said.

Jack looked at him and grinned, “I don’t, well not by much any way.”

“I feel the same way son,” and he slapped him on the back. Dusty walked over to the device the owl dropped and picked it up, looking it over.

“We better get out of here,” Rachel said to him.

“Best idea I heard all day.”

***

An hour after Davidson killed his man, Anderson’s limo pulled up along side Logan. His driver got out and helped him into the vehicle, sitting next to him. As they drove off he asked, “What did you think?”

“I heard the battle just fine from the bridge,” Logan told him. “Got a good picture of what to expect. Sacrificing your own man seems a tad brutal but it got the job done and the info I needed. Too be honest I was expecting somebody a little more dominate based on the stories going around.”

“I think that’s why he’s so successful, people keep underestimating him. Almost like an assassin I know. So are you still up for the job?”

“Of course, how many times am I going to get a chance to kill a modern legend?”

Anderson smiled, “Excellent Mr. Logan.”