Misdirection

The first shall be last. And the last shall be first. The words echo through Eric’s mind. Slowly, he becomes aware of becoming aware. Then a brief wave of panic, as his mind reconstructs what happened. His eyes pop open. He’s in a dark room. The feeling of disorientation sends another wave of panic through his system. Furthermore, his hands are bound and he’s tied to a chair. He looks around, but it’s difficult. He still feels groggy from…and he tries again to remember what happened.

“Sorry about the tranquilizer and restraints. Gonna have to be this way till I get what I want. What belongs to me.”

The voice is female and comes from somewhere behind him. The chair he’s sitting in must be anchored to the floor. And he can’t turn his head enough to see who it is. However, he’s heard her voice before. Therefore, he has the feeling that he should know her. He knows it’s more instinct than misdirection, but the feeling tugs at him even more, as the woman speaks again.

“Wouldn’t even be in this fix except for that sonofbitch Laraby,” something slams against the wall behind Eric. “Arrested me at the airport and robbed me at the jail,” again something slams against the wall behind Eric. “The old man left me that money. It was my reward for years of faithful service,” the woman pauses and Eric can hear her walking into the room. To his right, she appears. And all at once Eric remembers. Eileen.

Emma sits quietly in the overstuffed arm chair. Her conversation With Mary Elizabeth foremost in her mind. She feels stunned. And she feels confused. It isn’t so much the news that she received, as it is the way she got it. On the one hand she feels overwhelmed. On the other hand, she feels slightly miffed. She lied and told Mary Elizabeth that she understood. When in truth, she didn’t understand at all. Who in their right mind would think anyone would want to learn these things via messenger?

Emma rearranges herself in the oversized arm chair. She is only just beginning to think of what it means. Of course, Eric helped her when she first came to this area. Then the house was destroyed. A short while later the containers came. During those months of discovery and uncertainty, and with Eric’s help, she learned more about her past than in all the years prior to coming here. Even through all the misdirection. But nothing came close to the bombshell Mary Elizabeth just dropped. Furthermore, it landed squarely in Emma’s lap.

No. This is too intense. And too life altering. There is no way she can contend with this. Not without Eric. Come to think of it, she hasn’t seen Eric since before Mary Elizabeth came to visit. She is still reeling from the conversation or it might have dawned on her earlier. It is rather strange that Eric hadn’t checked in on her, or asked for an introduction to Mary Elizabeth. Frowning, Emma rises from the plush arm chair and begins looking for Eric.

The Retrieval of Jupiter’s Heart

Laraby eases his way out of the Chief’s office. He can feel the eyes of the Mayor watching him as he goes. All things considered Laraby is lucky he still has a job. His ass was another thing altogether. He just had it handed to him. Again.

For thirty minutes Laraby listened to all the ways he screwed things up for the Chief, and the Mayor. Now they want him to do damage control. Furthermore, they have very specific ideas on how he, Laraby, is going to do that. And the more Laraby thinks about that, the less he likes it. For starters, no one ever said anything about people getting hurt. Laraby might be a cop with questionable ethics, but he was no two bit hood. He drew the line at hurting people.

That was a Chief Fred Jones, tactic. The only problem? Chief Fred Jones himself. Laraby knew what happened to those who tried to stand up to the Chief. It was dangerous. The Chief is inherently dangerous. And now Laraby faces the hardest decision of his life. One that very well could cost him his life.

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