|
Episode
140
“Don’t think cause I understand,
The neon light of the Pennsylvania Parkway Hotel sign flashed its
green brilliance over the roadside motel. Isolated in the dark night, the
black hours of the world sat on the motel as the empty parking lot stood
before the rooms, with only the single car before them.
Morgan sat in the car, his arms crossed as he glared out at the
door in front of him. “This is ridiculous.” He mumbled to himself. He
shook his head and looked away, glancing out the passenger window. “Why
in the world did I let that idiot talk me into this? He’s as bad as
Ledger. He’s worse.”
Morgan resigned himself back to stare at the door. Across his lap,
the Grosse Messer kept him company.
“He saved our lives.” Vincent said, as he stood before Arthur,
with Jason and Lilah both on the twin beds. Standing before the leader of
the team, Vincent tried to speak clearly, tried not to let Arthur’s
intimidating presence curb his efforts. “He saved us and he saved the
mission.”
“Maybe.” Arthur admitted, his words twisting the obvious into
the possible. “But he isn’t one of us. He’ll tell you that himself.
He renounced the Oath or whatever it was he did. Make no mistake, he’s
not a knight.”
“But he did come.” Jason piped up, his red shirt now changed
for a simple tank top. “He obviously believes enough to help us out.
Otherwise, why didn’t he just steal the car and leave us with the Police
in Baltimore?” Arthur didn’t try to rationalize the question.
“I think we should put him at point for the next mission.”
Vincent said, his words eliciting a strong look from Arthur. Braving
through the glare, the knight kept talking. “He seems to have the
training for this kind of thing. And good training at that. And, well, we
haven’t been doing so hot so far. Let’s put him out to pasture and see
what he can do.”
“He isn’t one of us.” Arthur repeated. “And for all we
know, he could be a traitor.”
“Then why’d you ask him here?” Lilah chimed in. “You
obviously know enough about him, or you did, to ask him along. You
obviously trusted him.”
“What I know about him is second-hand.” Arthur admitted,
turning to the three. “And I trusted the sources of that knowledge, but
the knowledge itself is dubious to me.” Arthur took a deep breath and
sighed. “Look, guys. I simply do not trust him enough to put the outcome
of an entire mission in his hands.”
“Just give him a chance.” Vincent tried. “Oak Ridge was
probably the most important of all the missions. We’ve handled that. If
he was going to mess things up for us, he would have done it by now.”
“Perhaps.” Arthur said, not willing to give an inch.
Morgan leaned against the car in the spring heat, his cell phone in
his hand. He turned the device on, but almost immediately the screen came
up, assuring him pleasantly that he was out of range. “Useless piece of
. . .” He just grumbled inaudibly and shoved his phone back into his
pocket.
Up above, the stars glittered in the highway silence as late night
slowly shifted into early morning. In the darkness, displaced from
civilization, Morgan just stood in the night, feeling the warm breeze as
it lifted up from the distant Pennsylvania forest.
“When’s this going to be over?” He asked. He laughed without
the sentiment, already knowing. “Two more days. Three more missions.
Then it’s done.” He sighed, pulling his arms tightly around him.
“Two more days.” He repeated to himself.
“The way I see it,” Jason said, as he stood now, leaning
against the wall that separated the bathroom from the bedroom. “We can
either just leave him in the morning, which I think would be fair enough
if you really hate him that much, Arthur,”
“I don’t hate him.” The black knight argued. “Where do you
guys get this stuff?”
“Or,” Jason continued. “We make him point on at least the
next mission. But I’m with Vincent. I think a change in the plan is in
order.”
“I’m for making him point.” Vincent said, looking to Arthur.
“Are you willing to give him the chance?”
“If it means exposing the group to unnecessary danger, then
no.” Arthur maintained. “The group’s set up this way for a reason.
We trained for this. But if you change it up in the middle of the mission,
we’re going to be courting disaster.”
“I think we’re courting disaster either way and we’ve been
lucky so far.” Lilah touched in, standing up. She looked over at Jason,
then to Vincent and Arthur. “Look guys. It’s late. Let’s argue about
this in the morning, on the way to the site or something.”
“It’ll be a short argument.” Jason said. “The place is
right down the street.”
“Great.” Lilah sighed. “I’ll sleep better tonight.”
“What do you think?” Vincent asked, looking at Lilah. “Make
him point or kick him out?”
“Point.” She said without hesitation. “He genuinely seems
that good.”
“I disagree.” Arthur defended uninterestedly. “He did one
good save on one mission. That’s good, but not that good.”
“Look, guys.” The dame said, moving towards the door. “I’m
going to go talk to him. Let me know when you’ve got a decision.” She
turned and headed out.
The three knights watched the door close, then they turned back in
to each other. “I know she’s a dame,” Vincent said in a low voice.
“But I think we can all agree with Morgan went in, she’d be the
driver. And we’d all like her to be out of the line of fire.” Jason
nodded. Grudgingly, so did Arthur.
“But she’d kill us if she found out that was the only reason we
changed up was to keep her out of the action.” Vincent chuckled.
“She’ll get over it.” Arthur said, not amused.
Morgan looked up from the backseat of the car, his bleary eyes
fading slowly as the door shut. He shook his head, trying to think
clearly, but it wasn’t until the passenger side door opened and Lilah
slid into the back seat next to Morgan that his exhaustion disappeared
completely. The
dame closed the door and the stale, silent darkness of the car encompassed
both knights. "They're in there now,” She said after a moment.
“Deciding what to do about you." She said, focusing her eyes on the
motel room.
"Makes sense." Morgan cast aside indifferently.
"What are they talking about doing? Firing me? Suing me?"
"I think the plan is to either leave you in the morning, or to
make you the new point man." She said, looking at Morgan.
"I'm not sure which I'd prefer."
"Well, with how much you've been going on us about our tactics
since the Police Depot, I think you'd be happy to take point." She
said.
Morgan didn't say anything. He watched the door to the motel room
from the back seat. He sighed loudly, then looked over at Lilah.
"What are you doing out here?" He asked. "Shouldn't you be
in there, voting?"
"They know where I stand on the issue." She shrugged,
looking at Morgan with half-opened eyes.
"I see." He nodded. "Then you're just here as a
distraction, to keep me from going in."
"Now you're getting it." She said, smiling.
"Right." He said with vicious stoicism, looking back at
the door. He sighed again. Lilah
smiled at Morgan, then she reached back to her shoulders, sliding her long
black jacket off, revealing her bare shoulders with just her tank top to
keep her warm. She sat up in the back seat of the car, then reached over
and took Morgan’s sword to lay it over the trench coat. "I've been
wanting to do this since we met." She whispered, moving close to him
to straddle his lap. |