<Episode 32>

He stared at the report in his hands for a long time, trying to comprehend what he was reading. It was a standard ambush, everything went according to plan. They were even able to capture the mole Perez had detected. The rest of the rebels were able to get away, but the mole was the primary objective. Still there was one thing that was not making any sense. He looked at Perez, who was standing in front of his desk, from over the folder. Raising an eyebrow slightly he asked, “He dropped to the ground?”

“I saw it myself Mr. Anderson,” he answered. “Davidson was midway through activating the system, then he just dropped to his knees.”

“Was he hit by one of our shooters?”

“That was my initial thought too. I even had even had the men search for any trace of blood. But I knew they wouldn’t find any.”

“And why were you so sure of this Mr. Perez?”

“It was the way he fell sir. He didn’t drop like he was shot from a bullet. He just dropped to his knees. In fact from what I saw he stared staring at the back of his hand.”

“His hand,” Anderson asked slowly. His head of the assault team just nodded in response. Anderson closed the report and leaned back into his chair, concentrating. What happened to Davidson? Perez coughed to get his attention. “Yes Mr. Perez?”

“I was wondering how soon until we can start interrogating the mole sir.”

“Ah yes, him,” he leaned foreword a bit. “I’m having medical fix up his leg a bit first. No point in giving the rebels a chance to paint us as barbaric after all. Torturing a helpless, injured captive and all that. We have a very tenuous relationship with the Drakan community as it is Mr. Perez. So don’t put any undo stress on it.”

“In other words,” Perez stated, “don’t target the wounded leg when we finally get the ok for the interrogation.” For a human he caught on pretty quick.

Anderson nodded, “Exactly Mr. Perez.”

“It’d be easier to get something out of him if we did.”

Locking his fingers together he told him, “Think of it as an opportunity to be creative Mr. Perez. Mr. Taylor will let you know when it’s your turn with the captive, so you may want to start thinking of ways of making him talk.” Perez said he would and left the office and him alone with his thoughts.

Anderson stood up and faced the window behind his desk. Clasping his hands behind his back he looked at the people below. Slowly his head turned and his gaze came upon the file on his desk. Once again he was left with the question, what happened to Davidson?

***

“They’re treating him pretty well,” she heard Friedman say beside her. “Anderson ordered he be given full medical care. He actually looked really surprised he was being treated so well. Well surprised but a little cautious,” he amended. Then he was quiet for a few moments. “If you want I can try to get a message to him. Security is pretty tight around him but I think I can do it without being caught.”

“I appreciate the offer Dr. Friedman,” Melissa said absentmindedly, not looking at him.

He nodded, “That being said, security has been amped up all over the place. You can’t even walk two feet without a security guard eyeing you. Anderson sent down an order that you had to stay in your sector unless needed elsewhere. If you’re caught somewhere you’re not supposed to be you will be taken in for questioning. I’m not sure when I’ll able to get you any information again. They found one mole, now they’re shaking the place down trying to see if there is another one.”

“Thank you for letting me know Dr. Friedman,” she said softly, still not looking at him. “But I hope you understand if we have more than one concern at the moment.” He nodded sadly and looked at the other behind them. Dusty, Lance and Sparky were looking at the same thing she was. Friedman started looking too. In front of them was a pane of glass. On the other side was a brightly lit room. Usually the room wasn’t used, more times than not those who were really sick were kept in here to keep them from contaminating the others. She wished that was the case this time around, it would explain everything.

No, right now they were looking at Rachel kneeling down trying to look calm and doing everything not to freak out. She was trying to talk to Jack who was sitting as far as he could in the corner. Sweating and shaking slightly, a blank and wide eyed stare currently replacing his usual expression. Melissa had talked to just about everybody involved in the fiasco and nobody could tell her what happened. Now she had to deal with the effects of what whatever happened. Not that there weren’t plenty of signs that something was wrong. But she never dreamed that something like this could happen. After a few more moments Freidman spoke up again, “Are we sure it’s a good idea to let her stay in there?”

“I know where you’re coming from Harry,” Dusty answered him. “But right now I’m convinced Rachel’s the one person he won’t hurt,” he paused before adding, “at the moment.” She could tell how much trouble he had saying that. “Besides, it’s gonna take a team of wild horses to drag her out of there.”

“I’ve seen something like this before,” Lance spoke up. “In the middle of a fight, every so often a guy just stops. There’s no rhyme or reason, they just get tired of fighting. Sometimes there was a sign sometimes there wasn’t.”

“I think that’s only part of it,” Friedman said.

“I gotta agree,” Dusty added. “Jack might have gotten tired of fighting, but there was something else messing around in his head long before now.”

“Why did we ignore it for so long?”, Melissa asked, mainly to herself.

Dusty answered anyway, “Probably because it was easier to believe it wasn’t something worse than he was letting on.”

As they talked Jack expression finally changed. Looking frightened for a brief moment he snapped his eyes shut and put his hands on top of his head. Slowly rocking back and forth he was muttering, “Go away. Why won’t you go away?”

“Easy Jack,” Rachel said in a soothing voice trying to keep him calm. “Who won’t go away?” He just kept rocking. “I’m trying to help you, please tell me who won’t go away.”

He started hugging his knees as he opened his eyes and concentrated on a spot in the room. Finally he said, “Drakan. The Drakan I killed, they won’t leave me alone. I go to asleep they’re there. I stay awake they’re there. I can’t get away from them. There’s one here now. That spider I killed in the alley, standing right there. Staring at me. That’s all they do, stand there and stare. Staring right at me.” The frightened look on his face slowly turned to anger as he stood and stormed across the room. To nothing but the air he screamed, “WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!”. Tears falling down his face and dropping to his knees he sobbed, “What do you want from me?”

Glancing over at Rachel Melissa didn’t need her gift to know she was about to lose it, “Sparky…”

Nodding he entered the room in a flash. “Rachel,” he said softly, “the boss needs to see you about something.” She quickly left the room as Sparky sat next to Jack. “Hey there buddy, Arron wanted me to tell you that he’s not letting anybody near your bike.”

Rachel closed the door behind her and stood there shaking a bit. Nobody knew what to say to her. But as soon as Dusty took one step toward her she ran into his arms and started crying. “It’s alright darlin’,” he told here, “this is tough on everybody.”

“I saw something was wrong,” she said, “I should have made him talk about it.”

“Now, you may have known Jack longer than I have little lady, but even I know that if you would’ve pushed the matter eventually he would’ve started pushing back.”

Melissa walked over and put an arm around her and said, “We’re all guilty of letting this happen. So don’t go shouldering all the blame for this. Only thing we can do now is help him get out of this,” silently she added, if that was possible.

“Come on little lady,” Dusty said while moving her toward the other door, “Let’s get you some air.”

She backed away, “No I can’t leave him.”

“Nobody asking you too darlin’. It’ll just be for a couple of minutes so you can compose yourself a bit, alright?” Reluctantly she agreed and left the room.

Melissa looked back at Jack who sat there saying, “I tried to feel guilty I really did.”

Chewing on a knuckle as she heard that she mumbled, “Emily I pray this was part of that vision you had.”

***

News of Jack’s state of mind spread quickly. Sometimes she doubted she would ever stop being surprised at how fast that type of news would spread. Emily just assumed it was part of the natural behavior, Drakan or human. As she walked down the hallways she could hear them talking about him as she passed. Some came up and asked her if Jack was going to be alright. Answering them honestly she replied, “I haven’t been able to see his immediate future as of yet.” Some of her fellow Drakan looked depressed as she said that. A small testament to Jack’s character, he was able to establish a few small friendships here and there since he’s been living here. Not many, but a few. Some of the children seemed hurt by the news, especially young Jennifer who was holding her bear Polly tightly.

Of course there were those who were overjoyed at the new. Some celebrated privately, most openly, the fact the Drakan Killer, for lack of a better term, broke. Jason seemed particularly pleased at the news. They had to stop Arron from jumping him at one point. That didn’t stop them from exchanging some heated words. She shook her head sadly at those who were happy with the turn of events and continued walking.

“Drink this darlin’,” she heard Dusty say. Emily turned a corner and saw him try to give a cup of something to Rachel.

“I’m not thirsty,” she told him softly. Emily’s heart went out to her, she was taking this harder than anybody.

“Drink, you’re not going to do Jack any good if you’re depriving yourself.” He put the paper cup into her hands when she wouldn’t take it. Cupping her face between his hands he told her, “Now I don’t know what going through that head of yours, but I’m telling you now we’re going to do everything we can to get Jack back to the way he was. You got my word that’s my main priority right now.”

“As we all will child,” Emily said as she came into view. “Jack is too strong a sprit to do otherwise.”

Usually when she said something like that people looked grateful for the encouragement. Rachel just stared at her saying nothing. Emily was expecting this so she was already braced for it. “You knew this was going to happen,” she accused. “Didn’t you!”, Rachel crushed the cup in her hand as Emily simply lowered her head. “Why didn’t you tell us?!”, she demanded as she got in her face. “We could have been prepared for this! We could have stopped this from happening!”

“Rachel,” Dusty tried to calm her down. He even put a hand on her shoulder that she pulled away from.

“Why didn’t you tell us?! Did you want him to go through this crap?! Is this how you get your kicks?!”

“Rachel that’s enough,” Dusty told her sternly. She walked away cursing in French. Dusty rubbed his eyes, “I’m sorry Emily.”

“It is alright Dusty,” she told him. “The child just needed somebody to lash out at. Much like Jack did awhile back.”

“Still doesn’t make it right.”

“At least she’s directing her anger at somebody other than herself.” Dusty couldn’t argue with that point. “Jack needs her to be strong right now.”

“You did see this coming, didn’t ya?”, Dusty asked while looking at her funny. “I have to agree with the little lady, you should have warned them.”

Sighing Emily told him, “It wouldn’t have made a difference Dusty.”

“You don’t know that Emily.” Then he closed his eyes and looked very sad. “Look at who I’m arguing with.”

“I know it is hard to hear but Jack was meant to go through this,” she explained. “It was just a matter of when, not if. No amount of preparation was going to stop it.”

“Might have made the blow a little easier to take if we did know.” He looked very tired as he sat down. “I know I told her I’d do everything I could to help him, but I don’t think I can get him back to the way he was.”

“I have faith that you will Dusty. You are the only person stubborn enough to believe he could do so.”

“Maybe, but I’m pretty sure his fighting days are pretty much done.” He expected her to agree, but she remained quiet. “You don’t honestly think I’m going to agree to let him do that again? That’s what got him in this mess to begin with. I’d be a damn fool to let that happen.”

“I want to agree with you Dusty,” she told him honestly, “but I know his part in this particular drama isn’t over yet.” She continued on her way adding, “And ultimately the final say on the matter doesn’t belong to you I’m afraid.” Emily felt Dusty stare at her but he said nothing in return. When she exited the room she sighed to herself, “Even I don’t know what choice he will make at this point.” As she remembered the vision that was responsible for him being here she added, “I don’t think I ever did.”

***

Standing outside the door leading to the room Jack was in Rachel just stared at it for a long time. She went to the cafeteria to grab him something to eat, but she couldn’t open the door. What was stopping her? She promised herself that she was going to everything in her power to get him through this, yet she was staring at the door. Rachel had to be honest with herself, it was hard to see him in that condition. He was so full of life, to see him like this…. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and relieved Arron, who looked sympathetic as he patted her on the shoulder and left the room. Alone with Jack huddled into the corner, part of her prayed that stupid little sly half grin of his would cross his lips and he say “Gotcha.” That part of her was disappointed real quick.

“I brought you a sandwich,” she said as she sat down on the floor and placed the tray in front of him. “They only had diet pop left, I hope that’s alright.”

Glancing at the tray he mumbled, “I’m not hungry.” At least she was able to get him to say something.

“Come on Jack, I know you have to be a little hungry.” She pushed the tray toward him a little. He was staring at it but he wasn’t pushing it away either. “Just half a sandwich… please.” Looking at her briefly he slowly reached out and took one of the halves. Rachel watched him as he ate. Every so often his eyes would flicker around the room. Seeing those Drakan he killed or looking for them she couldn’t guess.

After he finished the sandwich half she felt a little better that she got something on his stomach. Now for the hard part. Reaching into a pocket she pulled out a small plastic bag that contained a couple of pills. Like she thought his eyes locked on the bag. She might as well get this out of the way. “Dusty told me to give you these.”

“What are they for?” he asked looking a little more nervous, if that was even possible.

“He said they would help you relax,” Rachel told him. She didn’t see a point in lying to him. “Maybe you can finally get some sleep….”

“No,” he cut her off and tried to get further into the corner. “No sleep. They’re there when I sleep.”

“Jack calm down,” she said in a soothing voice as she could muster at the moment. Rachel knew this was going to be hard. “Dusty wouldn’t give you anything that would hurt you. Just take the pills and swallow them… please.” He didn’t look like he was going to do it. “I’ll stay with you the entire night. Please, for me.” Jack looked her right in the eyes then held out a hand that was shaking. Dropping the pill into his hand he popped them into his mouth and swallowed. “Jack I need to see if you actually took them.” Her heart jumped a bit as he got that annoyed look that crossed his face every so often. But he opened his mouth, he even lifted his tongue and showed her his hands, “Thank you.”

Rachel sat next to him and gently pulled him down until his head rested on her lap. Without thinking she started stroking his hair to calm him down. She didn’t know why she started doing it, it just felt like the right thing to do. After a few moments of silence Jack spoke up, “Rachel.”

“Yeah Jack?”

“Why… why are you doing this?”

“Because I…,” I love you. “Because you’re my friend and I care about you. Like you told me I take my friendships very seriously.” He nodded in response and was quiet for a couple more minutes before speaking again.

“Rachel, do you remember me asking why World Inc. needed something like me?”

She had to think for a bit but she remembered. He asked her that right before they left World Inc. and went on the run. “Yeah, I told you they needed someone like you.”

“Mitchell said they needed a thing like me.”

That made her a little angry. Rachel had a similar conversation with him bout Jack. The way Mitchell thought still made her blood boil. “Mitchell is an idiot,” she told Jack. “You are the most human person I know. Don’t you ever forget that, do you hear me?”

“I wish I was still human,” he mumbled. Rachel heart broke but she said nothing. After awhile the pills took affect and Jack was asleep soon after. Rachel patted his head gently and tried to get comfortable. She also tried to find a position to get some sleep herself that wouldn’t wake him up. This could be a long night, but it would be worth it.

After a couple of hours Melissa came into the room. Rachel put a finger to her lips to tell her to keep quiet. She nodded and closed the door behind her as quietly as she could. Kneeling down a few feet away from her she softly asked, “Do you want me to watch him for awhile?”

Rachel shook her head a bit, “I told him I’d stay with him the entire night. I don’t want him to think I broke my word.”

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want you to run yourself ragged.”

“I know, but I owe it to him.”

“You and everybody else Rachel. I told you all of us let this happened. If anybody is guilty of anything it’s me. I had him do things that added to his problem.”

Both of them went quiet when Jack stirred slightly. When it looked like he wasn’t going to wake up Rachel said, “I’m going to have to apologize to Emily later.”

“She already told me about,” Melissa informed her. “She totally understands why you blew up at her.”

“It doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”

“Trust me Rachel if she felt insulted her cane would’ve let you know,” Melissa said with a smile. Too bad Rachel didn’t feel like returning it. Melissa started staring at Jack, but it wasn’t a look of concern. It was one of confusion. Before Rachel could ask what was wrong Jack started twitching slightly, almost like he was dreaming. She remembered seeing him doing this a couple of times when they were on the run. His twitches started to get a little more violent.

“Jack,” she said softly. A little louder she repeated, “Jack,” and nudged him slightly.

His eyes opened suddenly. A second later he got up yelling, “NOOOO!”. Scrambling away from them he turned toward them with another look she never seen on his face before. The look of somebody ready to fight for their very life if they had too. Melissa got between them and changed into a light green tiger with dark green stripes. Rachel tried to get in front of her when he lost the look and became more aware of his surroundings. “Please,” he said in between breaths, “please don’t do that.”

“That was my fault,” Rachel told him she approached, “I shouldn’t have startled you like that.” She shot a look at Melissa behind her as she reverted to her human form looking ashamed of herself.

“I over reacted,” she told her. “Friedman put something in my head… sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Rachel said as she put an arm around Jack. It took a few minutes but she finally convinced him to lie back down. “Could you hand me his coat over there?”

“Sure,” Melissa grabbed it from the corner and handed it to Rachel, who placed on top of Jack to cover him up. “I’d better go… something going to pop up that needs my attention before I know it.”

“Ok,” Rachel told her. She guessed Melissa was thinking the less people in here the better it would be for Jack. Rachel found herself agreeing with it. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

When Melissa left them alone Jack said, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she told him. “Just try to get some sleep.” Jack said nothing as he stared at the wall.

***

The next morning Anderson walked into the World Inc. lobby and found Taylor waiting for him. After saying good morning to the receptionist he motioned for Taylor to follow him. The elevator already had several people inside who held the door for them. For what seemed like an eternity listening to the humans and their small talk they were finally alone when the last one slowly exited. Making sure they wouldn’t be disturbed Anderson hit a secret switch the senior Allen had installed that would turn off the call buttons for this elevator on the other floors. “How did the interrogation go?”

“Not well sir,” Taylor said,” Perez and his… *ahem* ‘specialist’ worked on him the entire night. But so far he hasn’t been talking. He won’t even admit the name he gave us is his real one.”

Anderson smirked, “I would be highly surprised if that was his real name.”

“True,” Taylor agreed. “But Perez is asking permission to use some more, shall we say, persuasive tactics to get the information out of our guest.”

“He is rather impatient, isn’t he?”, Anderson commented. Taylor didn’t respond. “Mitchell would have come up with some more creative means before asking permission. Tell him to wait a couple of days before getting a little more aggressive, we still have to keep up appearances.” Taylor said he would pass it on. One more thing was still bothering him. “I’m assuming no one still has no idea what happened to Mr. Davidson.”

“No sir, we’ve been listen to the feeler we have to the rebels and so far nobody is talking.”

Anderson thought it over as the elevator doors opened. “I have often found money can loosen a tongue or two in some cases. Put an offer out there for Davidson condition, and only his condition. I have a feeling somebody will bite sooner or later.”

***

Rachel fell asleep before he did, again. He tried to fall asleep, he really did. But the nightmares kept coming back to him no matter what he did. Jack sat against the wall still shaking against the heat of the room. His eyes darted around the room as various dead Drakan came and went as they pleased and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. One of them did something different that caught his attention. The dolphin Drakan stood in the middle of the room and stared at Rachel who was still sleeping. Feeling an anger grow inside of him Jack stood up to confront the ghost. “Leave her alone,” he demanded. It looked at him and disappeared as Jack fell back to his knees.