Xen Episode One (4 page)

“Officer Rodriguez, I assure you I am fine.
It is best that you leave before anybody sees you here.”

“…
Sorry?” I
stiffened.

“It is best that you leave before anybody
sees you here,” she repeated.

“Ma’am, are you in some kind of
trouble?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, you cannot help. But do
not worry, I am more than capable of dealing with it myself.”

“Look, Jenny, I need you to tell me exactly
what’s going on.”

She opened her mouth, then paused. I watched
her head tick to the left, her eyes slicing towards the window.

And that would be when I heard it too – soft
footfall.

My hand went to my side, but goddamnit,
there was no gun.

I heard the person outside slowly shift
around the house, practiced footfall giving out hardly a noise.

My heart beat in my ears, a cold wet feeling
traveling through my chest as adrenaline pumped through my
blood.

“Get back,” I whispered to her as I turned
to the door, body seizing with tension, mind ready for action.

As sweat collected over my top lip, I faced
the open front door. A light breeze kept pushing it back and forth
on its hinges, the aged mechanism creaking like arthritic
joints.

I couldn't hear the soft footfall
anymore.

“He's coming through the window,” Jenny
suddenly announced, volume normal as she made no attempt to hide
her presence.

I had just enough time to jerk my head
around.

Then a 6'5 brick of a man threw himself
through the lounge room window.

I'd never seen anything like it.

No one used a window, not unless they wanted
to be minced.

This guy did. With a barely audible grunt,
he rounded his shoulder right into the glass, his move so quick he
landed on the carpet and rolled to his feet before I knew what was
happening.

I didn't have time to swear.

The guy thrust towards Jenny.

Panic pulsing through my chest
and arcing into my arms and legs, I threw myself in front of her,
one arm locking around the guy's neck as I used my momentum to pull
him around. “Run!” I screamed
at Jenny, voice a clipped, choked mess as I
struggled.

The guy was massive, dense knotty shoulder
muscles giving way to a neck built like a tree trunk. With one
enormous heave, he locked a hand on my wrist, twisted, and pulled
me off him. Before he could use the momentum to pitch me into a
throw, I threw myself into one willingly, using my own momentum to
hit the floor, tug my arm free, and roll to my feet.

Jenny stood there. Watching. Her expression
as impassive as if she were watching nothing more lively than
mid-day TV.

With a grunt that tore through my throat and
rattled my goddamn tonsils, I threw myself at the guy.

Huge. He was huge. He looked like he'd
escaped from a growth hormone experiment. Or the army, more likely.
Though I couldn't be sure, it looked as if there was body armor
under his loose-fitting brown T-shirt.

I grappled with the man, but he was far, far
stronger than me. Brawny, built like he was more of a tank and less
of a man, he wrapped two arms around my middle and pivoted on his
hip, throwing me to the floor.

I landed with such a thump, the dressing
table to my side jostled, all the trinkets along the top falling to
the carpet around me.

I scrabbled forward, latching a hand onto
the guy’s leg.

He went to kick my face, but I pushed his
leg, forcing it to change direction. Then I swung around, and
collected him on the back of the knees.

He buckled forward, but he didn’t fall.
Felling this guy would be as hard as toppling a redwood.

With a grating groan that pierced the air,
he shifted back, pushed to his knee, then lurched towards me.

I didn’t have time to stand. I didn’t even
have time to raise my hands in defense.

He wrapped his hands around my neck.

Just as fear pumped through me with a
lightning blast, I saw Jenny move behind the man.

She slammed something across
the back of his
skull.

With a thunk, he fell, eyes rolling into the
back of his head.

With a grunt, I kicked him off me and
staggered to my feet. I swore, the word cutting through the room
like a shot.

Pressing two sweaty fingers into my top lip,
I turned and cast my gaze over Jenny before I could assess my own
injuries.

She stood there in
the middle of the
room, a heavy-looking statue in one hand, an impassive look on her
face.

Without a word, she let the
statue
drop
to the carpet with a thump, then she moved around me, got onto one
knee, and gave the home invader a cursory glance.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” I stuttered,
staggering on my feet.

“I am clearly uninjured, Officer – I had
little to do with that altercation. I simply finished it.”

I forced a blink. Sure, she’d
been the one to smash the guy across the back of the head, but to
be fair, I tackled him
first.

I kept that observation to myself.

She pushed
to her feet. “He will be fine
with sufficient medical assistance.”

“What are you, some kind of doctor or
something?” I looked at her quickly.

“I have some medical training,” she said,
dodging the question.

I shrugged. Then glanced at the guy who had
almost killed me. He had to be some kind of special ops or
something. Never in all my years had I faced somebody with so much
training. Plus, he'd used the goddamn window when there'd been a
perfectly good door.

I took a raggedy breath, pressing a sweaty
hand into my ribs with a wince.

“They are not broken,” Jenny replied
coolly.

“They sure feel broken.”

“They are bruised. You are fine,
Officer.”

I turned on her, incapable of keeping my
surprise and confusion in check. “Just who the hell are you,
anyway? What kind of business are you into? Did you know that guy?”
I gestured to the guy with my shoulder as I kept a hand firmly
clutched around my ribs.

She glanced at him and shrugged. “I did not
know him personally, but I can guess who sent him.”

“…
This is screwed up,” I
commented to myself before turning on her. “Jenny, you need to
accompany me to the station and tell me exactly what’s going on
here.” I looked at her directly, meaning everything I
said.

No more games.

“I’m—” she stopped suddenly and
looked at
the guy.

He was getting to his feet.

Crap.

I threw myself forward, but didn’t get there
in time. The guy grabbed one of the numerous objects we’d knocked
off the dresser in our fight, and threw it at my head.

Jenny caught it, snapping her hand out and
snatching it right out of the air.

Lucky. If she hadn’t, it would have clocked
me right on the head.

I had time to think that just as the guy
turned foot and ran for the door.

I don’t know how he could still
walk, let alone run, considering the blow Jenny had struck across
the back of his
skull.

I threw myself towards him, stumbling for
the door, but by the time I reached it, he’d already ducked down
the path.

I swore into the night.

Jenny walked onto her porch, crossed her
arms, and narrowed her eyes. She did not shake, she did not cry. A
very violent, very trained home invader had just tried to attack
her, and she looked bored.

“Who the hell was that guy?” I asked as I
pressed my hands onto my legs, angling my head out into the night
to stare at his departing form.

“A warning,” Jenny said ominously.

“What?” I half turned to her. “What kind of
trouble are you in, lady?”

She didn’t answer.

“Right, that’s it, you’d better come with me
to the station. Now.”

“The police will be unable to help me. It is
unwise for you to bring me in at this stage.”

“No more excuses,” I said directly, “we’re
going to the station,” I ordered her.

She nodded. Strangely, she stopped arguing.
Instead, she walked over to the coat rack by her door, grabbed a
large woolen jacket, and pulled it over her shoulders. She reached
into the pockets, pulled out leather gloves, put them on, clasped
her hands in front of herself, then looked at me with a bored
expression. “Then let’s go.”

I had to shake my head. Anyone would have.
This old lady was weird. But I had a job to do.

…

Xen

Adam had acted quicker than I would have
expected.

I'd thought he'd grown soft. I was
wrong.

I turned back and glanced at my house one
last time as I followed Officer Rodriguez down the path.

The fight was now on.

I turned back to note Rodriguez glancing at
me. It was obvious from the look of concern flashing across his
brow that he was worried about me.

I would have to alleviate his fear by
leaving him as soon as possible. Though I understood and
appreciated his duty as a police officer – to serve and to protect
– there was nothing he could do here.

“My car is right here.” He opened the
passenger door and shrugged me over.

His car was simple. At least 15 years old,
judging by the model and license number, it was dented and warn
out.

“Sorry about the mess.” He leaned in and
swiped a hand down the seat, removing several empty trays of take
away. “It'll get us to the station in one piece though.”

He turned around, hooked
an arm on the door
and smiled.

I stood there and stared at him blankly.

He cleared his throat, shook his head
lightly, and then tried harder to smile. “Just hold on a sec, and
I'll get my gun from the safety locker in the trunk. We can't run
the risk of more company.”

I watched him walk around to
the trunk of his car. He was light on his feet, demonstrated amply
by the fact he'd been able to stall Adam's soldier. And he had been
no ordinary soldier. Riddled with devices to increase strength,
agility, and speed, he was
a super soldier by Earth standards.

Not by my standards. If Rodriguez hadn't
been there, I would have dealt with Adam's warning on my own.

Why Adam had sent such a curt and
to-the-point warning, however, was a curiosity. It was brash. He
must have known such a soldier was no match for me. Even with the
devices strewn through his body, that man was nothing but cannon
fodder.

I had known Adam for over 70 years now, yet
it suddenly struck me that I had hardly interacted with him for the
past 50 years. The Adam I had once known as the loyal XO of Captain
X'hanthol had clearly changed.

He lacked the diligence, courage, and
foresight he'd once possessed.

Now he was crude and ignorant enough to send
a warning right to my suburban door.

There was nothing more
important than our secret. Chandler had stressed on every occasion
that we could not let the humans find out who we were. So why was
Adam now
ignoring that?

More to the point, why had that soldier been
outfitted with enhancement devices? Was it a logical extension of
this current time period's technology? Or had Adam helped create
them with his superior knowledge?

“Ah, Jenny, you okay?”

I flicked my gaze over to Officer Rodriguez.
He stood with an awkward look, eyebrows peaked, half a lip lifting
into his crinkled cheek.

He'd hooked a holster over his shoulder, and
his gun was now safely tucked inside.

“I am fine,” I finally managed as I smoothed
an indifferent expression over my face.

“Sure you are. Okay, let's get to the
station.” He moved to walk around to the driver's side after fixing
me with a careful look.

I blinked back at him.

He opened the door and paused with one arm
on the hood as he looked across at me. “Whatever's happening,
Jenny, we'll be able to help you,” he promised.

“You will not. It is inadvisable to get
involved,” I commented as I sat in the passenger’s seat, did up my
seat belt, and closed the door.

Then I pressed my hands onto my
knees,
looked forward, and wondered who would have to die for
Adam's betrayal.

I would not kill, not unless it was
absolutely necessary. Such was the decree of the Peacekeeprs. Adam,
however, was not bound by that iron-clad tradition.

Officer Rodriguez started the car, checking
carefully in his mirrors before pulling out into the street.

He drove proficiently.

And quietly. I could tell, however, that
whenever it was safe, his gaze slid towards me, his brow crumpling
with clear confusion.

For my part, I sat still, back pressed into
the seat, hands locked on my knees, head directed forward.

My thoughts centered around one fact: why
would Adam risk so much in sending that man to my house? I was of
course simply assuming that Adam had sent him, but it was a logical
conclusion. I required little more evidence. It coincided too
neatly with Adam's warning, and honestly, there was no one else on
this planet who knew my secret. The man had been no simple home
invader, so only Adam would have sent him after me.

Had Adam forgotten what I could do? Had he
assumed that my real body had aged along with my appearance? Had he
been under the false belief that his soldier could best me?

“So, Jenny, wanta tell me what's going on
here? You don't have to say anything until we reach the station,
but—”

“I have been betrayed by someone I assumed
was a close comrade.”

“…
O-kay. Ah, who, and
why?”