“I need her. She saved my life.”

John picked his clothes carefully, black jeans, black shirt, the darker the better. Ethan appeared at his door, wearing similar attire, his hands tucked in his trouser pockets.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

John checked the stun-gun: fully charged.

“If he has anything to do with this, I gotta know.”

“And what if things get out of hand? Going after him could have serious repercussions, for all of us.”

“To hell with the consequences.”

Ethan stood up straight and clenched his fists slightly.

“Alright then; let’s be bad guys.”

--

They don’t pay me enough for this, thought Ellison, as he approached his car. He’d spent yet another long day pushing papers and other related activities. Being an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation had its ups and downs, and this belonged to the latter.

Ellison held out his key and pressed the button, deactivating the alarm. Before he could enter his vehicle, however, a boy no older than seventeen stood in his path. Ellison paused for a moment before bursting into laughter at what he assumed to be an attempted mugging.

“I hope you’re not thinking about doing anything stupid here.”

“Why? Would that scare you?”

Ellison laughed even more, casually opening his suit to reveal the gun concealed there.

“Boy, you sure picked the wrong guy to jump. Now turn around and go home to your mother.”

The young adult started towards him, undeterred by the gun.

“My mother tried to kill me, you pathetic meat-bag.”

Ellison couldn’t believe what he was seeing; this youth was actually going to attack him. Upon reflex, Ellison drew his gun and the youth finally stopped; a mocking grin on his face.

“Go ahead lawman, take a shot.”

Ellison held his ground, but kept his finger away from the trigger.

“So you’re not afraid of firearms, but maybe you ought to reconsider that, cos’ this weapon can blow a hole through your head, boy. Believe me, I’ve seen it first-hand.”

It was the youth’s turn to laugh, a maniacal cackle that sent shivers down Ellison’s spine.

“Your gun isn’t the one I should be afraid of.”

Suddenly, something struck Ellison’s back and every nerve on his body was on fire as a thousand volts coursed through him, rendering the agent unconscious. Ethan approached Ellison and recovered his pistol, examining it with relish as John came out of the shadows, stun-gun in hand.

“Hmm, I really like these weapons. Machine guns are so… mechanical and cumbersome. Shotguns are heavy and inaccurate. But pistols… they're small and they get the job done. You can even silence them.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. But we need to get him out of here. Help me get him in the car.”

Ethan tucked the pistol in his belt and picked up Ellison without any assistance, dumping the agent in the trunk of his own car before getting in the drivers seat.

“Nice car. These FBI agents sure don’t skimp, do they?”

“Just drive.”

John’s irritable attitude was beginning to wear thin, but Ethan knew better than to push him, to do so would result in a fight, a fight that John would lose… in every possible way. So he just turned the ignition and did as he was told.

“You’re the boss.”

--

Ellison awoke to find himself tied to a chair and soaked through; apparently he’d been woken by a bucket of water being poured over his head. He shook his head, clearing his vision and felt his muscles ache, a side-effect of the stun-gun. As his vision became less blurry and more focused, Ellison realised that someone was sitting opposite him, a boy he recognised from an all-too-familiar case file.

“You… You’re… Why have you done this?”

“I have done this because I believe you have something that is of great value to me.”

“What? I don’t… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, course you don’t.”

John stood up and delivered a sharp punch to Ellison’s face, drawing blood with the first go.

“What… What the hell are you doing? We’re on the same side!”

“Oh, I seriously doubt that. Derek told me all about your little vendetta against the machines. That’s how I know you took her, and I hope for your sake she’s still in one piece.”

Ellison was incredulous, he had absolutely no idea who this ‘she’ was, but it sounded like whoever ‘she’ was, John cared about her a great deal. And that placed Ellison in a very difficult position.

“I’m going to make this easy on you; give her back to me or my friend here will do what he does best.”

“And I can guarantee it won’t be pleasant.”

Ellison recognised that voice, the youth. So they were in it together. No doubt John was the one who shocked him from behind. The youth was behind him, preparing a variety of sharp objects.

“Listen, I have no idea what you’re talking about. But whatever has happened, whoever has been stolen from you, I can help you find her. If you let me go, I swear; you’ll have my word as an FBI agent that I’ll do whatever it takes to find your friend.”

John punched him again, followed by a kick to the face.

“LIAR!!! You are the one behind this all. There’s no other explanation for her disappearance. It’s you, you’re behind it and you WILL tell me what you’ve done with Cameron.”

“Who?”

--

“Damn it, John. Not again.”

Sarah looked at John’s empty room with utter disdain. He’d done it again; gone on another one of his vendettas. She went to Ethan’s room to ask him if he knew where John had got to; only Ethan wasn’t in his room either. This was starting to get a little odd, though Sarah felt somewhat relieved that they were together, at least that way John would be safe.

“Derek? Charley?”

They both came from either side of the hall, slightly concerned by Sarah’s tone of voice, which spoke of worry.

“What’s up?”

“I’ll give you three guesses but you’re only gonna need one.”

“John’s snuck out again?”

Derek peered into John’s room and sighed.

“Maybe we ought to ask the metal, he might know where John’s disappeared to.”

“No, he’s gone too. I think they went out together.”

Charley crossed his arms, unaccustomed to his son-in-law’s new behaviour.

“Why would he do that? What is he after?”

“The question isn’t what he’s after; it’s who.”

Derek gave an expression that indicated a light switching somewhere within his mind.

“Ellison.”

--

Ellison cried out as Ethan applied more pressure to his fingers, slowly cutting off circulation and squeezing the bone beneath.

“Now are you gonna talk?”

John was leaning forward in his chair, a look of disgust on his face. He took little joy in watching the agent suffer, but considering the circumstances, he allowed himself a small amount of satisfaction. Kevin had detailed files on torture methodology, all of which were passed on to Ethan, who displayed his skill with merciless efficiency.

“I know what it’s like to be in your position. I was tortured once, by this guy here no less. So believe me when I tell you; I understand your pain. Now do yourself a favour and tell me what I want to know.”

Ellison just stared at him. John had been broken, something had twisted him inside, turned him towards hate. Ellison even entertained the theory that the boy was possessed by some form of demon, it certainly seemed that way.

“You… You’re crazy. I’ve told you over and over… I have no idea who this Cameron is or what happened to her.”

“You’re lying… again. Why must you continue to play difficult? Why can you not just admit to what you’ve done? Why won’t you give her back to me?”

“Because I don’t have her!”

Ellison’s outburst was born of frustration and anger, neither of which John had any time for, so he turned to Ethan, a look of resolve on his face.

“Escalate!”

“John… I’ve tried a variety of techniques, he’s resisted each one, and I doubt anything else I do would work.”

“Then try something else.”

“What do you have in mind?”

John considered for a moment before smiling to himself.

“Psychological. Show him what he fears.”

Ethan almost wished he hadn’t understood John’s meaning, but he obeyed regardless and dug the knife into his right arm and cut down to his wrist. He then cut a full circle around his arm, beneath the elbow, and tore the flesh from his lower arm, revealing the endo-skeletal arm beneath. Ellison stared at it with wonder, which soon turned to horror as he put two and two together, coming up with three.

“My God, you’re one of them? You work with the machines?”

“I work with this one, and technically he wasn’t a machine to begin with. But the other one I’m looking for, Cameron, she’s the real deal and a special one at that. So I’m going to ask you for the last time: where is she?”

Ellison eyed the mechanical arm warily and sighed.

“I told you: I don’t know.”

John had had enough and swiped Ethan’s gun, aiming it at Ellison’s head.

--

“Where the hell are they?”

“They could be anywhere in the city by now.”

Derek scanned the area, looking for any sign of John and Ethan. By chance, he spotted a familiar silver car parked outside an old warehouse.

“Well, that was a lot simpler than I imagined.”

--

“One last time.”

“How can I answer a question that I don’t possess the answer to?”

John pointed at Ellison’s shoulder and pulled the trigger. Ellison screamed as the bullet skimmed his collar bone, barely missing his body altogether. A flesh wound, but a painful one at that.

“TELL ME!”

“John I don’t think…”

John pointed the gun at Ethan and pulled the hammer back.

“Say another word and I’ll put one right in your eye socket.”

Ethan held his hands up and stepped away.

“Fine, kill him then, but it’s not going to help anyone.”

“It’ll help me.”

John aimed for Ellison’s head, who gave a silent pray before having his brains splattered. A voice called from behind him, and Ellison realised that John hadn’t pulled the trigger, and that he was still alive.

“JOHN! What the hell are you doing? He’s a federal agent, are you crazy?”

“I can’t make it stop, Mom. No matter what I do, I can’t make it stop.”

Ellison opened his eyes to see Sarah wrestling with her son for control of the gun as Derek pointed a gun at Ethan. Charley was also present, appalled at what he was seeing. He quickly untied Ellison and helped him off of his chair.

“NO! No, he has to tell me what he did to her. He knows… he knows… he… knows…”

“No, John, he doesn’t, okay? Cameron left you, that is the only explanation. She abandoned you.”

“But why? Why would she do this to me?”

“Maybe because she knew that staying with you would hurt you more in the long run, maybe she wanted you to have a chance at a normal life.”

“But… I’ll never have a normal life. She was the only… Mom, I loved her… I… NO!”

John fell to the floor in hysterics, Sarah having finally gotten hold of the gun and chucked it across the room. She now cradled her son as he cried into her shoulder, all desire for revenge washed away by his grief as he finally realised that Ellison was telling the truth.

And that meant only one thing: Cameron was truly gone.


Next: Chapter Eight: Angels & Demons
Previous: Chapter Six: Human Error (Contains explicit content, Mature readers only.)