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Episode
131
“Here we are now, going to the Southside,
“He went where?” Everett said, still having trouble with the
early morning conversation.
“He left.” Ledger said, shrugging with forced indifference.
“He left the keys to his car, but that’s it. His bag’s gone, he’s
gone. He paid for the room and just disappeared.”
“You said someone knocked on the door.” Everett said, trying to
see through the conversation he was having, to the ideas it was
unpleasantly trying to present.
“Yeah, but I don’t know who it was.” Ledger explained as the
other knights and Marilyn stood around the two who had been present for
the exodus. “Morgan went outside, talked for a few minutes, then came
in. He told me to go back to sleep, which I was happy to do. I heard him
shuffling around and when I got up a little while ago, I just saw his keys
on the table.”
“Okay, that’s just weird.” Sydney scratching her head,
pushing her blonde bangs out of her eyes. “Where the hell could he have
gone?”
“Um, guys?”
Everyone turned to the outsider as Marilyn stood her ground against
their stares. “Is there a, you know, chance that he might have defected
or something?” Everett
looked back at the knights, but no one said anything. “Maybe there
is.” He mumbled, at a complete loss.
Morgan tossed his bag down to the ground, the sheathed Grosse
Messer standing out as it lay over the black, nondescript bag. He looked
up at the team of four knights that stood across from him in front of the
small cache of bags.
“You know Vincent.” Arthur said, putting his hands on the
shoulders of the shorter, but still stocky black-haired knight. “This is
Lilah.” He continued, moving along the line of the others, putting his
hand on the blonde dame’s shoulders. “And Jason.” He said, moving
behind the familiar, dirty-blonde figure of a knight.
“Morgan.” He said, his head staying up. “I’m apparently
recruited to help you guys out.”
“Our first target is tomorrow morning, in Knoxville.” Arthur
explained as he moved towards the large green car behind him. The others
turned, leading Morgan around them. “We need to head out. Is there
anything anybody needs to attend to before we leave?”
“I don’t know, dad. I think I remembered to use the little boys
room.” Vincent said, getting no response from the larger man who opened
the trunk.
“Well, then stow the stuff.” Arthur said, heading back towards
Morgan. “I’ll just be a minute.” He looked at Morgan and picked up
the former knight’s bag. “Just a quick word, please?” He said,
already heading back towards his opened hotel room.
“Okay.” Everett said as the group sat around the all-night
pancake house. With the empty table, they waited, speaking in hushed tones
over their assorted drinks. “I think the single most important thing we
need to do is find that plutonium that was stolen.”
“I’m just impressed that guy could lift it.” Roland said,
taking a swig of his soda. “Plutonium’s heavy.”
“Maybe it wasn’t a lot.” Marilyn tried, barely interested.
She looked at Edgar. “If it was plutonium, do you think they’d be
trying to make a bomb with it?”
“No, I really think it’s clear they’re making a reactor.”
Edgar said, stirring some coffee mixed in with his sugar and cream. “The
problem there is, if the plutonium’s here, where’s the reactor?”
“Solaritec is an energy company.” Armand offered. “Maybe
they’re building the reactor at the corporate site.”
“But that means they’d have to transport it.” Sydney chimed
in, a mustache of orange juice over her upper lip. “Transporting
something that large, and that blatantly illegal, is not an easy thing to
do.”
“But it is possible.” Everett argued. “And if the Brotherhood
can curb the efforts of an entire police force in a city, than I seriously
doubt they’d have that much trouble getting enough cops and highway
patrolmen to look the other way to get a reactor, especially one as small
as this one seems to be, from the mid-east to the mid-west.”
“Then what we need to do is get inside Solaritec and find out
where the reactor is, and stop it’s transport.” Roland said, looking
at Everett. “We can get in there tomorrow night and get whatever info we
need, and then get the reactor on Tuesday.”
“I couldn’t help but notice that you’re not wearing the
uniform.” Arthur said, as he stood in the doorway of the hotel room.
Morgan looked back at him, saying nothing. “Listen,” The knight said,
walking into the room, his larger size looming over the former knight. He
held out a red shirt. “You are going on this mission as a knight.” He
opened his hand, letting the shirt fall onto the single bed next to
Morgan. “Wear the red.” Arthur turned and walked out.
“What do you think?” Roland asked, looking at Ledger as the two
waited by the payphone. Neither was making a call. “You think Morgan
defected?”
“Not a chance.” Ledger said, the phone connected to his ear,
the calling card in his hand as he punched numbers. “Morgan’s a lot of
things, most of them a jerk and an ass, but he’s not a traitor.”
“It might not be a traitor.” Roland whispered. Ledger handed
the phone to him, then turned to head back to the table. The white knight
waited by the phone for just a second. “Hey mom.” He called into the
phone after a moment.
Morgan stared at himself in the mirror, his hairless chest seemed
to move too fast as he breathed. But he picked up the red t-shirt and
pulled it over his arms. The act brought to light a collection of scars,
but he ignored the old reminders.
Sliding the shirt into place, Morgan suddenly was staring out at a
new person. And in the mirror, he saw a knight that he had long ago hoped
he would never see again.
“I wish I knew where Morgan disappeared to.” Everett grumbled
as he and Marilyn sat next o Edgar’s car, waiting for the others. “I
don’t like the fact that he just disappeared. But then again, he’s
always kind of done what he wanted.”
“When did you first meet Morgan?” Marilyn asked, still dressed
in the black and red like everyone else.
“I’m going to let him tell that story.” Everett chuckled.
“I think he’d prefer to do what damage control he can.”
“What do you mean?” She laughed.
“Morgan’s a bit embarrassed of that story. I’m not sure why
but he is.” Everett shrugged, staring at the gray asphalt of the parking
lot, passing the time like the traffic that ignored the all-night
restaurant. “I don’t know.” He finally sighed. “I just wish he had
left a note or something. I hate to think what fool-hearty thing that
idiot might go off and do.”
“Like what?” Marilyn laughed, amused by the whole situation.
“When it comes to a former knight, the possibilities are
endless.” Everett said with a smile. But the smile slowly turned into a
reserved look of fear. “And that’s not always a good thing.”
When the former knight in the knight’s uniform stepped out of the
hotel room, the others were waiting. Five, dressed in black and red,
carried their weapons proudly. But not a word was said. In communal
silence, they turned to the large car and everyone moved around to the
sides. Arthur moved to the front, as Jason got in opposite him. Lilah slid
into the center of the car, with Vincent and Morgan on either side.
The big street yacht roared to life and the engine purred
professionally. Leaving the city behind, the car pulled out of the parking
lot and onto the street, heading towards the highway and out into the war. |