The Light Warrior Files
Chapter 2, Part 2: Captured Enemy
By Chris Ward
After attaching his phone to my belt, I crouched down and threw him over a shoulder.
Extending my invisibility to include him, I lumbered up the stairs until reaching my level.
Leaving the stair well, I dug out my keys as I reached the door.
Marita looked up as I let myself in; her face betraying her shock at seeing the door
apparently open and close its self. Only after the door latched did I allow myself and my
erstwhile tail to become visible. She sat bolt upright in the chair, her face draining of all
color. “¿Qué?” Her eyes traveled from my face to my shoulder, where she saw the burden I
was carrying. “¿Muerto?”
Stumbling to the sofa where I could drop him, I grunted that he was alive but unconscious.
Sitting down in the nearest chair, I began rubbing my shoulder. Walking up behind me,
Marita slipped my hand away and began massaging it herself. “What’s going on, Lucius?”
After letting her massage the shoulder for a couple minutes, I stood up. “I’m not sure, ‘Rita.
I’m really not.” Seeing the look on her face, I hurried on. “I wish I was. Listen, before we get
into this further, don’t we have a couple lengths of rope floating around here somewhere?”
“Sí, I think so, but why?”
“Because he should be waking up shortly, and I need some answers out of him.” As we
looked for the rope, I told her everything that had happened so far. After we found the rope
I took her into the kitchen and demonstrated the main uses of my ability, letting her know
precisely what I could and couldn’t do. Heading back out into the living area, I asked her to
grab a blanket out of the closet. While she was doing that, I stripped the stranger down to
his underwear and socks, and set the suit and shoes aside to be gone through. With that
done, I tied his wrists, ankles and elbows. When Marita came out, carrying the blanket, we
covered our captive. Doing this, we both noticed a strange mark on his right shoulder, near
the swell of the trapezius muscle. Bending down for a better look, I traced my finger over it.
It was a double slash scar, similar to what you would see if you hit the back slash key on a
computer twice in a row. Rubbing my chin in thought, I looked at my lover. I knew, without
asking, that the quizzical expression she wore was mirrored in my own face.
Standing back up, I finished draping the blanket over him, and crossed to the pile of
clothing. As I bent to pick up the suit coat, I remembered that Ishmael had pressed a small
card into my hand when he brought me back yesterday. Digging out my wallet, I slid the card
out and read it. It was plain white, with no typing on it. Handwritten in blue ink was For
Emergency Only and the phone number (212) 620-7193. Picking up the kitchen phone, I
dialed the number.
After three rings, the other end picked up. “No names. Who is this?”
“Light Warrior.”
The deep voice on the other end paused for a minute before speaking again. “Keep
talking.”
Shaking my head at this cloak and dagger routine, I continued. ‘I was followed today. I
managed to knock him out. He’s sleeping on my sofa right now.”
Marita’s voice called from the other room. “Lucius? I think he’s starting to wake up. He’s
groaning and moving a little.”
The voice, belonging to Ishmael, finally registered an emotion. Filled with shock, and what
sounded suspiciously like glee, he said, “You grabbed one?”
“Yes. Hold on one minute.” Carrying the phone, I walked to the door and looked at our
captive. Using my ability, I gave the light a little tweak and blinded him. “He can’t see
anything, even if he wakes up. What’s the next step?”
“Hold him for a little while, and try to keep him from getting away. I’ll be over within about
30 minutes.” With that, he disconnected his side of the conversation.
Hanging the phone back up, I walked back out into the living area and sat in our favorite
chair. Remembering the sack I had brought in with me, I dumped it on the side table, taking
the magazines and handing them to Marita. With a quick smile, she set them aside. “What
are we going to do about him?”
Absently looking at his face, I scratched my chin. “Again, I’m not really sure. I made the call,
and they’re on their way over. Hopefully they’ll have some answers.” Reaching down, I
grabbed the suit coat and started searching through the pockets, and feeling along the
seams. Feeling a slight bump, about the size of a credit card, I cut into the seam and
removed a unique identity card. Setting that aside, I continued the search. After completely
checking the coat, I grabbed the pants, which held a single wallet, as well as the usual junk
found in a man’s pockets. Searching the shirt yielded another wallet, and a couple pens.
Feeling along the tie failed to turn up anything, as did the shoes. When I finished going
through his clothing, Marita bent down from where she was seated beside me, and
curiously picked up the two weapons. “What are these, lover?”
Taking them from her, I looked them over. Setting down the one in the belt holster, I took
the other out of its shoulder holster. Turning it around in my hands, I looked carefully at it.
“This one appears to be a fairly standard .45. It may or may not have been modified, I can’t
really tell right now. If it has been, it was done to give it more stopping power.” Which was
odd, since a .45 is capable of stopping pretty much anything shot with it. Setting that aside,
I picked up the other one. “This I don’t recognize. It’s not quite like any gun I’ve seen
before… Wait a minute.” Suddenly, I was remembering a sale I had made some time ago. It
was a legal weapons sale, from a registered company to a government company. Careful to
keep my hand off the trigger, I turned it around and glanced at the barrel. “Yeah. See the
three holes here, instead of the regular single? I’m fairly certain that we’re looking at a
tranq gun here. It shoots out a trio of darts containing a fairly powerful soporific. Taken
together, they put almost anything to sleep in minutes. What I’m not sure about is why he
has this as well as the .45.”
Setting those aside, I picked up the thinner of the two wallets. Opening it up, we saw a
couple different identification badges. The first one was an employment badge for the
Primatech Paper Company down in Odessa, Texas. The second badge showed him as
employed by the Linderman Group, based in Las Vegas. Both badges listed him simply as
Daniel, with no last name. Further looking through the wallet revealed nothing hidden.
However, as I was reaching down for the other wallet, our captive tried to sit up and started
cursing. Getting out of the chair, I walked over to him and slapped his face. “Watch your
tongue, buddy, there’s a lady in the room.”
Turning his blind face toward me, swore for a couple more seconds before he got control
of himself. “What’d you do to me, rip out my eyes? I can’t see a damned thing!”
“Just shut up, we’ll deal with you soon enough.”
“I’ll be damned if I’ll shut up, I want an answer!”
Shrugging at Marita, I picked up his tranq gun from where I had discarded it, and shot him
in the stomach. Within seconds, he was silent and unmoving. After finding a steady pulse, I
sat back down with her and picked up the other wallet. Looking through it, I found yet
another form of identity. In this case, it was a New York driver’s license identifying him as
Daniel Mills. He had about $600 in cash, as well as several credit cards. Picking up the
change and the pens from his pocket, I looked at all of them. Two of the pens had
interesting additions. One of them hid a skeleton key inside the body. Another one
contained a small computer memory stick, probably containing some useful information,
although I wasn’t willing to trust it in our computer.
That left me with the single identity disk I had found in his suit jacket’s lining. Picking it up, I
saw only his name, the same marks I had seen on his neck, and an address in Kirby Plaza.
Marita saw that puzzled expression that crossed my face and asked about it. Before I could
explain, there was a knock at the door. Looking through the peep hole, I saw Ishmael, the
Dark Lady and Builder. Opening the door, we let them in.
Chapter 2, Part 2: Captured Enemy
By Chris Ward
After attaching his phone to my belt, I crouched down and threw him over a shoulder.
Extending my invisibility to include him, I lumbered up the stairs until reaching my level.
Leaving the stair well, I dug out my keys as I reached the door.
Marita looked up as I let myself in; her face betraying her shock at seeing the door
apparently open and close its self. Only after the door latched did I allow myself and my
erstwhile tail to become visible. She sat bolt upright in the chair, her face draining of all
color. “¿Qué?” Her eyes traveled from my face to my shoulder, where she saw the burden I
was carrying. “¿Muerto?”
Stumbling to the sofa where I could drop him, I grunted that he was alive but unconscious.
Sitting down in the nearest chair, I began rubbing my shoulder. Walking up behind me,
Marita slipped my hand away and began massaging it herself. “What’s going on, Lucius?”
After letting her massage the shoulder for a couple minutes, I stood up. “I’m not sure, ‘Rita.
I’m really not.” Seeing the look on her face, I hurried on. “I wish I was. Listen, before we get
into this further, don’t we have a couple lengths of rope floating around here somewhere?”
“Sí, I think so, but why?”
“Because he should be waking up shortly, and I need some answers out of him.” As we
looked for the rope, I told her everything that had happened so far. After we found the rope
I took her into the kitchen and demonstrated the main uses of my ability, letting her know
precisely what I could and couldn’t do. Heading back out into the living area, I asked her to
grab a blanket out of the closet. While she was doing that, I stripped the stranger down to
his underwear and socks, and set the suit and shoes aside to be gone through. With that
done, I tied his wrists, ankles and elbows. When Marita came out, carrying the blanket, we
covered our captive. Doing this, we both noticed a strange mark on his right shoulder, near
the swell of the trapezius muscle. Bending down for a better look, I traced my finger over it.
It was a double slash scar, similar to what you would see if you hit the back slash key on a
computer twice in a row. Rubbing my chin in thought, I looked at my lover. I knew, without
asking, that the quizzical expression she wore was mirrored in my own face.
Standing back up, I finished draping the blanket over him, and crossed to the pile of
clothing. As I bent to pick up the suit coat, I remembered that Ishmael had pressed a small
card into my hand when he brought me back yesterday. Digging out my wallet, I slid the card
out and read it. It was plain white, with no typing on it. Handwritten in blue ink was For
Emergency Only and the phone number (212) 620-7193. Picking up the kitchen phone, I
dialed the number.
After three rings, the other end picked up. “No names. Who is this?”
“Light Warrior.”
The deep voice on the other end paused for a minute before speaking again. “Keep
talking.”
Shaking my head at this cloak and dagger routine, I continued. ‘I was followed today. I
managed to knock him out. He’s sleeping on my sofa right now.”
Marita’s voice called from the other room. “Lucius? I think he’s starting to wake up. He’s
groaning and moving a little.”
The voice, belonging to Ishmael, finally registered an emotion. Filled with shock, and what
sounded suspiciously like glee, he said, “You grabbed one?”
“Yes. Hold on one minute.” Carrying the phone, I walked to the door and looked at our
captive. Using my ability, I gave the light a little tweak and blinded him. “He can’t see
anything, even if he wakes up. What’s the next step?”
“Hold him for a little while, and try to keep him from getting away. I’ll be over within about
30 minutes.” With that, he disconnected his side of the conversation.
Hanging the phone back up, I walked back out into the living area and sat in our favorite
chair. Remembering the sack I had brought in with me, I dumped it on the side table, taking
the magazines and handing them to Marita. With a quick smile, she set them aside. “What
are we going to do about him?”
Absently looking at his face, I scratched my chin. “Again, I’m not really sure. I made the call,
and they’re on their way over. Hopefully they’ll have some answers.” Reaching down, I
grabbed the suit coat and started searching through the pockets, and feeling along the
seams. Feeling a slight bump, about the size of a credit card, I cut into the seam and
removed a unique identity card. Setting that aside, I continued the search. After completely
checking the coat, I grabbed the pants, which held a single wallet, as well as the usual junk
found in a man’s pockets. Searching the shirt yielded another wallet, and a couple pens.
Feeling along the tie failed to turn up anything, as did the shoes. When I finished going
through his clothing, Marita bent down from where she was seated beside me, and
curiously picked up the two weapons. “What are these, lover?”
Taking them from her, I looked them over. Setting down the one in the belt holster, I took
the other out of its shoulder holster. Turning it around in my hands, I looked carefully at it.
“This one appears to be a fairly standard .45. It may or may not have been modified, I can’t
really tell right now. If it has been, it was done to give it more stopping power.” Which was
odd, since a .45 is capable of stopping pretty much anything shot with it. Setting that aside,
I picked up the other one. “This I don’t recognize. It’s not quite like any gun I’ve seen
before… Wait a minute.” Suddenly, I was remembering a sale I had made some time ago. It
was a legal weapons sale, from a registered company to a government company. Careful to
keep my hand off the trigger, I turned it around and glanced at the barrel. “Yeah. See the
three holes here, instead of the regular single? I’m fairly certain that we’re looking at a
tranq gun here. It shoots out a trio of darts containing a fairly powerful soporific. Taken
together, they put almost anything to sleep in minutes. What I’m not sure about is why he
has this as well as the .45.”
Setting those aside, I picked up the thinner of the two wallets. Opening it up, we saw a
couple different identification badges. The first one was an employment badge for the
Primatech Paper Company down in Odessa, Texas. The second badge showed him as
employed by the Linderman Group, based in Las Vegas. Both badges listed him simply as
Daniel, with no last name. Further looking through the wallet revealed nothing hidden.
However, as I was reaching down for the other wallet, our captive tried to sit up and started
cursing. Getting out of the chair, I walked over to him and slapped his face. “Watch your
tongue, buddy, there’s a lady in the room.”
Turning his blind face toward me, swore for a couple more seconds before he got control
of himself. “What’d you do to me, rip out my eyes? I can’t see a damned thing!”
“Just shut up, we’ll deal with you soon enough.”
“I’ll be damned if I’ll shut up, I want an answer!”
Shrugging at Marita, I picked up his tranq gun from where I had discarded it, and shot him
in the stomach. Within seconds, he was silent and unmoving. After finding a steady pulse, I
sat back down with her and picked up the other wallet. Looking through it, I found yet
another form of identity. In this case, it was a New York driver’s license identifying him as
Daniel Mills. He had about $600 in cash, as well as several credit cards. Picking up the
change and the pens from his pocket, I looked at all of them. Two of the pens had
interesting additions. One of them hid a skeleton key inside the body. Another one
contained a small computer memory stick, probably containing some useful information,
although I wasn’t willing to trust it in our computer.
That left me with the single identity disk I had found in his suit jacket’s lining. Picking it up, I
saw only his name, the same marks I had seen on his neck, and an address in Kirby Plaza.
Marita saw that puzzled expression that crossed my face and asked about it. Before I could
explain, there was a knock at the door. Looking through the peep hole, I saw Ishmael, the
Dark Lady and Builder. Opening the door, we let them in.
