The Light Warrior Files
Chapter 1, Part 8: Coming Clean
By Chris Ward
He was invisible? At least that explained why nobody but me could see him. “How much can
you stand before you become visible again? How much pain? I swear to God, if you don’t let
us all see you right the hell now, I’ll start with your nads and move on to your legs. I won’t
stop until either you’re dead or everybody can see you.”
“Jesus, mate! Don’t leave many openings, do ya? Suppose I made a run for it?” I was tired
of playing around, so I changed tactics. I located his eyes, and blinded him. Then I shot him
in the thigh, just below the tenderest region, and made the beam hot enough to give a
small burn. “Bloody hell, mate! I’m done. See, you can see me now, I’m out in the open, aren’
t I?”
When Ishmael touched my shoulder, I closed my eyes and relaxed. When I had shifted my
vision back to the normal spectrum, I opened them again. Crouched on the floor, holding
himself and looking at me with a slight look of fear, was a man of about 35 or 40. His
unkempt hair and beard were showing signs of grey, and his rumpled outfit looked like it
had been worn for several days without being washed. I risked a look behind me, and saw a
rare look of rage in Ishmael’s eyes. I had the distinct impression he wouldn’t have minded
had I rendered our visitor down to ash. Mostly to avoid unneeded violence, I asked,
“Ishmael, could you help our guest to a seat?”
With barely controlled anger, he said, “I guess.” He stalked over to the man, nudged him
with a foot and said, “On your feet. Either I support you as you walk, or I grab a leg and drag
you.” As the stranger rolled to his knees, he reached out a hand for help getting up.
Ishmael grabbed the proffered arm. However, instead of taking the hand he grasped the
wrist. Even as he jerked our visitor to his feet, he started putting on the pressure. As soon
as the man was standing, however, Ishmael whipped him around into an arm lock and
propelled him into the room, increasing his pressure on the wrist all the while. While this
was happening, I waved Builder over and had him start disconnecting me from his machine.
At the same time, I looked at the Dark Lady, rubbing my head with my free hand. “I don’t
suppose you happen to have any headache medicine, do you?” As she left the room, I sat
down and glanced over at our reluctant guest. After I restored his vision, he sat up from
where Ishmael had dropped him on the sofa and looked around, rubbing his wrist and
muttering under his breath.
After I swallowed the pills the Lady brought back, I waited a couple minutes until I felt the
headache lessen. Then I decided to deal with this guy. “Now I want some damned answers.
Who are you? What are you doing here? Most importantly, who the hell sent you?”
“Hold on a minute there, pal. You got it wrong. Nobody sent me here. Hell, nobody sends
me anywhere.”
“Then explain just what your limey ass was doing here!”
“Calm down mate. I was just walking around out there, seeing what I could see. You and
your bud with the iron grip come into the hall, acting like the stars of a bad spy novel, and
my curiosity was raised a bit, you could say. I tagged along when you entered, and spotted
the lady over there. I recognized her from some files I, shall we say, liberated from my
previous employer, and kept my head down, so to speak.” He paused for a minute, and then
gave me a short bitter grin. “Not long after I unofficially logged out those files, said
employer attempted to permanently retire me. That’s when I decided to just… disappear.”
As if that comment brought it back to his mind, he looked keenly at me. “You still haven’t
said how you managed to bloody well see me!”
“You’re right. I didn’t. Keep talking. Who are you?”
“None of your damned business, that’s who!’
“Wrong answer! You weren’t invited into this apartment, which means I have you for illegal
trespass. The fact that you turn invisible means nothing to me, since I can see you in that
form. I have the ability to burn you down to ashes, starting with the choicest bits first, if you
don’t start being honest. That is, assuming I don’t let Ishmael here have his druthers and
rip you into pieces. You have 30 seconds to start telling us the friggin’ truth!”
“Bugger! Fine. They call me Claude and I used to work for the guys you’re talking about
confronting. I didn’t completely approve of their methods, so I started hiding things from
them. Once they found out, they had my partner, a guy I thought was my friend, try to kill me.
He shot me twice before I managed to get away.
“How I came to be here is exactly what I told you. When the boy there started running you
through your paces, I decided I wanted to see for myself. That’s when you caught me and
decided to use me for target practice. Happy now?”
I risked a quick glance away when I felt a small hand take my shoulder. Looking down, I
noticed the Dark Lady concentrating. Finally she looked up at me and said, “He’s telling the
truth, Warrior. He is not working for anyone, and is wanted by the same people we’re
facing.”
“Are you positive about that?”
“Absolutely.” The look on her face guaranteed that there could be no question.
“All right.” Looking back at the man who called himself Claude, I made an instant decision.
“We’re going to let you go. You don’t switch to invisible until you leave the apartment.”
Crossing over to him, I grabbed his shirt in both hands and dragged him up until we were
face to face. “But I swear to God that, if I ever find you nosing in on our business again, I
will make it my personal business to finish what your previous employers started. Am I
understood?”
Gagging, Claude nodded. I dropped him and watched him stagger out the door, fading from
sight as he ran down the hall. Looking back at the Lady, I asked, “I don’t suppose you got
anything useful, did you?”
“Sorry. All I was able to really get, without digging, was that he lives in deathly fear that this
Organization will find him. The only thing I was able to get were three names, all of them
linked with either fear or hatred, or some mixture.”
“Names? Which ones?”
“Linderman seems to be the one he was most afraid of. The others were Thompson, who
instilled more hatred than fear, although both were present, and Bennet, who seems to be
causing most of the hatred.”
I knew the name Linderman of course, and but Thompson was completely new to me. On
the other hand, “Bennet? Do you suppose he means Noah Bennet?”
The Lady seemed lost in thought for a minute. “It’s possible, but he didn’t associate a first
name, so it’s impossible to be certain. Why?”
“There’s a Noah Bennet down in Texas, I believe he lives in or near Odessa. He’s the boss
at Primatech Paper down there. I talked with him for a while a couple years ago. He was up
here on business, and I arranged a few sales for him.”
“That’s him. The name was linked with Texas, and with Primatech.”
That was interesting. That also probably meant that it wasn’t coincidence that we had met
that time either. I looked at my watch and was more than a little surprised at how much time
had passed. I had gotten there around 8, and it was almost 1 now. “Listen, I need to be
getting back home. Is there anything else we need to talk about?”
Builder stood from where he had been working while we questioned Claude. He pressed a
video tape into my hands, grinning at my confusion. “It’s not exactly what it looks like. Don’t
get me wrong, it is a video. It’ll even play in most VHS machines. I think it’s a nature
documentary of some kind. The important part about it, though, is what you can’t see. The
case is a special design of mine. It contains a series of emitters which will force every
imaginable snooper to report that nothing is happening. They’ll disguise the handful of
telltales that you have when using your abilities. All you have to do is store it with your
videos when you get back, and it’ll take care of the rest.” I shook his hand and thanked him.
As Ishmael grabbed his car keys and headed for the front door, I received a quick hug and
chaste kiss on the cheek from the Dark Lady, along with a warning. “Be careful, Light
Warrior. They will be watching, and we need both you and the Maiden if we are to survive.”
After we left, we took a slightly more direct route to the car. Half an hour later, we pulled up
in front of my complex. Turning to me, Ishmael took my hand and, grinning, said,
“Remember, whatever happens, be honest with her. Tell her everything. She deserves to
know. More importantly, if she’s to be ready for whatever is going to happen, she needs to
know.”
“I know. I don’t know exactly how to tell her, but I guess I don’t really have much choice. It’s
the last of the real secrets anyway.” With a slightly forced grin, I left the car and headed up
to our loft. Letting myself in, I put the tape with the others, and looked around. “Marita,
honey? I’m back.”
Almost immediately, I found myself tackled by a gorgeous armful of Latina. If I hadn’t been
so close to our favorite overstuffed chair, I probably would have ended up on the floor.
After an extended, and extended, kiss, she lifted her lips from mine. “I wasn’t sure when
you’d be back, and I didn’t have to work today, so I did some shopping. I bought ingredients
for a tamale salad, and a red chili. I even bought a white Chardonnay to go along with
dinner. “For desert, I bought something I especially think you’ll enjoy.” That slightly naughty
grin gave me a hint about the dessert. “Now, come, get something to eat, and tell me about
your day while I prepare supper.” With that she gave me another quick kiss, hopped up and
walked back to the kitchen.
As I followed her, I tried to figure out exactly how to break the news to her. After we
entered the kitchen, I made a quick salad and poured some water. When I sat down and
started to eat, I realized that I was simply delaying the inevitable. I had been right earlier; I
didn’t really have much choice in the matter. I was involved, and she had the right to know
about it. Looking up I said, “Marita, could you sit down with me for a few minutes? There’s
something I need to talk to you about.” She looked a little startled, but willingly sat down
across the island in the middle of the kitchen from me. Taking a drink, I pushed my salad to
the side and began. “I don’t know, really, how to tell you this. I have a secret that I think it’s
time you knew about.”
I proceeded to tell her everything. I told her about how my father died, how I killed him. I
told her about the trick fate had played on my genetic code. I told her about the call that
morning, and about meeting Ishmael and his group. I even told her about that head case,
Claude. I held absolutely nothing back.
Chapter 1, Part 8: Coming Clean
By Chris Ward
He was invisible? At least that explained why nobody but me could see him. “How much can
you stand before you become visible again? How much pain? I swear to God, if you don’t let
us all see you right the hell now, I’ll start with your nads and move on to your legs. I won’t
stop until either you’re dead or everybody can see you.”
“Jesus, mate! Don’t leave many openings, do ya? Suppose I made a run for it?” I was tired
of playing around, so I changed tactics. I located his eyes, and blinded him. Then I shot him
in the thigh, just below the tenderest region, and made the beam hot enough to give a
small burn. “Bloody hell, mate! I’m done. See, you can see me now, I’m out in the open, aren’
t I?”
When Ishmael touched my shoulder, I closed my eyes and relaxed. When I had shifted my
vision back to the normal spectrum, I opened them again. Crouched on the floor, holding
himself and looking at me with a slight look of fear, was a man of about 35 or 40. His
unkempt hair and beard were showing signs of grey, and his rumpled outfit looked like it
had been worn for several days without being washed. I risked a look behind me, and saw a
rare look of rage in Ishmael’s eyes. I had the distinct impression he wouldn’t have minded
had I rendered our visitor down to ash. Mostly to avoid unneeded violence, I asked,
“Ishmael, could you help our guest to a seat?”
With barely controlled anger, he said, “I guess.” He stalked over to the man, nudged him
with a foot and said, “On your feet. Either I support you as you walk, or I grab a leg and drag
you.” As the stranger rolled to his knees, he reached out a hand for help getting up.
Ishmael grabbed the proffered arm. However, instead of taking the hand he grasped the
wrist. Even as he jerked our visitor to his feet, he started putting on the pressure. As soon
as the man was standing, however, Ishmael whipped him around into an arm lock and
propelled him into the room, increasing his pressure on the wrist all the while. While this
was happening, I waved Builder over and had him start disconnecting me from his machine.
At the same time, I looked at the Dark Lady, rubbing my head with my free hand. “I don’t
suppose you happen to have any headache medicine, do you?” As she left the room, I sat
down and glanced over at our reluctant guest. After I restored his vision, he sat up from
where Ishmael had dropped him on the sofa and looked around, rubbing his wrist and
muttering under his breath.
After I swallowed the pills the Lady brought back, I waited a couple minutes until I felt the
headache lessen. Then I decided to deal with this guy. “Now I want some damned answers.
Who are you? What are you doing here? Most importantly, who the hell sent you?”
“Hold on a minute there, pal. You got it wrong. Nobody sent me here. Hell, nobody sends
me anywhere.”
“Then explain just what your limey ass was doing here!”
“Calm down mate. I was just walking around out there, seeing what I could see. You and
your bud with the iron grip come into the hall, acting like the stars of a bad spy novel, and
my curiosity was raised a bit, you could say. I tagged along when you entered, and spotted
the lady over there. I recognized her from some files I, shall we say, liberated from my
previous employer, and kept my head down, so to speak.” He paused for a minute, and then
gave me a short bitter grin. “Not long after I unofficially logged out those files, said
employer attempted to permanently retire me. That’s when I decided to just… disappear.”
As if that comment brought it back to his mind, he looked keenly at me. “You still haven’t
said how you managed to bloody well see me!”
“You’re right. I didn’t. Keep talking. Who are you?”
“None of your damned business, that’s who!’
“Wrong answer! You weren’t invited into this apartment, which means I have you for illegal
trespass. The fact that you turn invisible means nothing to me, since I can see you in that
form. I have the ability to burn you down to ashes, starting with the choicest bits first, if you
don’t start being honest. That is, assuming I don’t let Ishmael here have his druthers and
rip you into pieces. You have 30 seconds to start telling us the friggin’ truth!”
“Bugger! Fine. They call me Claude and I used to work for the guys you’re talking about
confronting. I didn’t completely approve of their methods, so I started hiding things from
them. Once they found out, they had my partner, a guy I thought was my friend, try to kill me.
He shot me twice before I managed to get away.
“How I came to be here is exactly what I told you. When the boy there started running you
through your paces, I decided I wanted to see for myself. That’s when you caught me and
decided to use me for target practice. Happy now?”
I risked a quick glance away when I felt a small hand take my shoulder. Looking down, I
noticed the Dark Lady concentrating. Finally she looked up at me and said, “He’s telling the
truth, Warrior. He is not working for anyone, and is wanted by the same people we’re
facing.”
“Are you positive about that?”
“Absolutely.” The look on her face guaranteed that there could be no question.
“All right.” Looking back at the man who called himself Claude, I made an instant decision.
“We’re going to let you go. You don’t switch to invisible until you leave the apartment.”
Crossing over to him, I grabbed his shirt in both hands and dragged him up until we were
face to face. “But I swear to God that, if I ever find you nosing in on our business again, I
will make it my personal business to finish what your previous employers started. Am I
understood?”
Gagging, Claude nodded. I dropped him and watched him stagger out the door, fading from
sight as he ran down the hall. Looking back at the Lady, I asked, “I don’t suppose you got
anything useful, did you?”
“Sorry. All I was able to really get, without digging, was that he lives in deathly fear that this
Organization will find him. The only thing I was able to get were three names, all of them
linked with either fear or hatred, or some mixture.”
“Names? Which ones?”
“Linderman seems to be the one he was most afraid of. The others were Thompson, who
instilled more hatred than fear, although both were present, and Bennet, who seems to be
causing most of the hatred.”
I knew the name Linderman of course, and but Thompson was completely new to me. On
the other hand, “Bennet? Do you suppose he means Noah Bennet?”
The Lady seemed lost in thought for a minute. “It’s possible, but he didn’t associate a first
name, so it’s impossible to be certain. Why?”
“There’s a Noah Bennet down in Texas, I believe he lives in or near Odessa. He’s the boss
at Primatech Paper down there. I talked with him for a while a couple years ago. He was up
here on business, and I arranged a few sales for him.”
“That’s him. The name was linked with Texas, and with Primatech.”
That was interesting. That also probably meant that it wasn’t coincidence that we had met
that time either. I looked at my watch and was more than a little surprised at how much time
had passed. I had gotten there around 8, and it was almost 1 now. “Listen, I need to be
getting back home. Is there anything else we need to talk about?”
Builder stood from where he had been working while we questioned Claude. He pressed a
video tape into my hands, grinning at my confusion. “It’s not exactly what it looks like. Don’t
get me wrong, it is a video. It’ll even play in most VHS machines. I think it’s a nature
documentary of some kind. The important part about it, though, is what you can’t see. The
case is a special design of mine. It contains a series of emitters which will force every
imaginable snooper to report that nothing is happening. They’ll disguise the handful of
telltales that you have when using your abilities. All you have to do is store it with your
videos when you get back, and it’ll take care of the rest.” I shook his hand and thanked him.
As Ishmael grabbed his car keys and headed for the front door, I received a quick hug and
chaste kiss on the cheek from the Dark Lady, along with a warning. “Be careful, Light
Warrior. They will be watching, and we need both you and the Maiden if we are to survive.”
After we left, we took a slightly more direct route to the car. Half an hour later, we pulled up
in front of my complex. Turning to me, Ishmael took my hand and, grinning, said,
“Remember, whatever happens, be honest with her. Tell her everything. She deserves to
know. More importantly, if she’s to be ready for whatever is going to happen, she needs to
know.”
“I know. I don’t know exactly how to tell her, but I guess I don’t really have much choice. It’s
the last of the real secrets anyway.” With a slightly forced grin, I left the car and headed up
to our loft. Letting myself in, I put the tape with the others, and looked around. “Marita,
honey? I’m back.”
Almost immediately, I found myself tackled by a gorgeous armful of Latina. If I hadn’t been
so close to our favorite overstuffed chair, I probably would have ended up on the floor.
After an extended, and extended, kiss, she lifted her lips from mine. “I wasn’t sure when
you’d be back, and I didn’t have to work today, so I did some shopping. I bought ingredients
for a tamale salad, and a red chili. I even bought a white Chardonnay to go along with
dinner. “For desert, I bought something I especially think you’ll enjoy.” That slightly naughty
grin gave me a hint about the dessert. “Now, come, get something to eat, and tell me about
your day while I prepare supper.” With that she gave me another quick kiss, hopped up and
walked back to the kitchen.
As I followed her, I tried to figure out exactly how to break the news to her. After we
entered the kitchen, I made a quick salad and poured some water. When I sat down and
started to eat, I realized that I was simply delaying the inevitable. I had been right earlier; I
didn’t really have much choice in the matter. I was involved, and she had the right to know
about it. Looking up I said, “Marita, could you sit down with me for a few minutes? There’s
something I need to talk to you about.” She looked a little startled, but willingly sat down
across the island in the middle of the kitchen from me. Taking a drink, I pushed my salad to
the side and began. “I don’t know, really, how to tell you this. I have a secret that I think it’s
time you knew about.”
I proceeded to tell her everything. I told her about how my father died, how I killed him. I
told her about the trick fate had played on my genetic code. I told her about the call that
morning, and about meeting Ishmael and his group. I even told her about that head case,
Claude. I held absolutely nothing back.
