Tortured Souls
By Dee Allen
Part V – The New Organization
Midland Texas 3 miles, the green highway sign read. Hana Gitelman sped her
motorcycle down the highway. She made the exit at Highway 17 and drove through
town stopping her bike in front of Pizzeria Prima. She walked inside approaching the
man behind the counter wearing the horned rimmed glasses. He turned and looked at
her. His name was Bennett, former enemy turned ally.
"Everybody’s inside." He told her turning pizzas in the oven. "I’ll be there when Lyle
and Jeff get here to take over."
"Ok." Hana replied heading toward the back. "Hi Claude".
Claude abruptly appeared behind her. "How could you of possibly known I was there?"
Hana turned and glared at him.
"You may be invisible, my friend" Bennett taunted him laughing. "But when you get
around the pretty ladies your heavy breathing gives you away every time."
"Really!" Claude replied astonished. ‘I’m going to have to work on that liability if I’m
ever going to get a date again."
Hana walked into the back room. She entered the walk-in refrigerator and once inside,
she lifted a block of cheese to access a small panel. She typed a code into the panel
and two of the racks swung outward revealing a metal door. Hana typed in another
code. The door opened. She walked down a narrow hallway to another door. She
lowered her face allowing her retina to be scanned. The door opened.
Inside the room were six people:
Peter Petrelli – Super genome with multiple powers.
Mohinder Suresh – Genetics professor from Madras India. His father Chandra Suresh
was killed by Sylar.
Niki Saunders – Super Genome with super human strength.
Matt Parkman – Super Genome, mind reading abilities.
Hiro Nakamura – Super Genome, teleportation.
Audrey Hanson – Former FBI agent. Has been on Sylar’s trail for two years. Came to
work for Bennett after the company was reformed.
Claude walked through the door followed by Bennett.
Looking at the group in front of her Hana began to speak. "Thank you all for dropping
everything and coming. This is a matter of absolute importance."
Hiro spoke first. "Did you find Laura Ryan?"
"Yes." Hana replied. "I found Laura. She is alive and for the moment is unharmed. I had
a little trouble getting to talk to her. She is very intelligent and keeps her guard up. But
I could also tell she is very insecure. Her mother died when she was still a child, her
father died three years ago. She inherited her father’s company and real estate. She
became CEO of Ryan and Associates when she was just 24, only 2 years after
graduating from Stanford."
"Have her abilities began to manifest?" Bennett asked her.
"Indeed they have. She appears to possess astral projection abilities." Hana reached
into her backpack and pulled out a newspaper article about a bus accident and a
mysterious woman who saved the driver and disappeared.
"So she’s a little publicity shy.’ Claude responded sarcastically.
"I knew you were going to say that, so I brought these." Hana pulled out a folder of
photos. "I spent two days tracking her. I tapped into the security systems of the Bay
Area Rapid Transit stations for that morning. First photo is from day one. As you can
see she is boarding train at Oakland City Center, at 8:00 am. This would let her off at
the Embarcadero station at 8:30 am. But as you can see from this next photo, she is
sound asleep in her seat. However, this next picture was taken from the security
cameras at Ryan and Associates at 08:35 am and look who is sitting calmly in her office
preparing for a presentation with the staff. Now how can she have walked three blocks
and been there calmly in front of her staff when it is a 15 minute walk from
Embarcadero station and maybe 10 minutes if you run."
"I’m not sold so far. Maybe she woke up and got off at another stop." Audrey Hansen
replied, arms folded.
"Logical, but not possible." Hana responded. "She could have gotten off at the next
stop, but that would have taken her 5 minutes further from her building." Pulling out
another set of photos. "So now here we are at 10:00 am. Now watch, she is still on the
train. She awakens and begins to panic thinking she has missed the presentation. So,
she rushes back to her office only to discover she was already there."
Hana continued. "After the shock wears off, she discusses the matter with Greg
Andrews, her business associate who is the closest thing she has to a sibling."
"And this meeting prompted Mr. Andrews to call me." Mohinder Suresh spoke up. "He
called me three days ago looking for my father."
"Yes." Hana replied. "We will get to that in a moment Dr. Suresh. I have a lot to tell you
about."
"Please." Mohinder prompted her to continue.
"Thank you. Now I would like to bring your attention to the newspaper article. There is
no mystery to who stopped that bus and rescued the driver. That was Laura Ryan
herself. But she told me herself that she was sound asleep in the back of the bus. She
does not recall the incident and panicked when the press showed up, so ran from the
scene."
Bennett spoke up. "Ok…so now we know all about her. What about Sylar? What did you
find about Sylar?"
Frustrated, she replied. "I’ll get to Mr. Gray in a moment. It is coming, believe me."
"Were you able to warn her about Sylar?" Peter asked. "He was last sighted in San
Francisco. That is where she works."
Hana sighed. "Ok…I was hoping to get through this, but very well…we’ll talk about
Gray." She took a deep breath. "I know exactly where he is and even where he
resides."
The group became angry and began shouting at her in unison.
"CALM DOWN!" She shouted over the crowd.
"Don’t tell us to calm down! You have known where he has been for four days and you
didn’t inform us?" Suresh shouted. "We put our faith in you to find her and warn her
about him and you know where he is? We need to go bring him in, NOW!" The group
agreed.
"If it was that simple, don’t you think I would have called you all to meet me in San
Francisco to take him out?" Hana continued. "Please. Let me explain."
"Go ahead Hana." Niki told her.
"Ok." She continued. "Three months ago a man named Michael Walsh from Chicago
Illinois up and moved his business to San Francisco. He sold his condo, then a few
weeks later he hopped in his sports car and headed west on Interstate 80."
"Here is where it gets interesting." She pulled out newspaper clippings. "Two days
after Michael Walsh left Chicago, in Rock Springs Wyoming a woman named Kimberly
Pearson, age 24 is found dead in her apartment." Hana put another newspaper clipping
on the table of a woman with her head opened and her brain was taken. "Witnesses
say Miss Pearson left a local tavern with a dark haired man in his early 30’s. Now the
interesting part about it was that Ms. Pearson was found in the nude in the middle of
her living room, there were two wine glasses found on a nearby table. There was no
sign of a struggle. I tapped into the Cheyenne Wyoming FBI database and found no
evidence of intercourse or rape. I am sure you can guess the DNA on one of the
glasses matched the DNA found on a beer bottle at the tavern and the DNA belonged
to Gabriel Gray. Also, there was saliva on Miss Pearson’s lips that was a match. The FBI
believes he got the victim intoxicated with the promise of a sexual encounter, but
before he sealed the deal, he killed her."
"Harsh." Parkman thought out loud.
Hana placed the next article on the table. "Boise Idaho. Antnony Fialdo, a 29 year old
lab technician is seen talking to a man matching Gray’s description in a local pub. The
other patrons recall the two men going out to look at Fialdo’s car and the next time
Fialdo is seen, he is dead behind the tavern with his head opened, brain missing.
Mohinder, I am fairly certain I saw this man on your father’s list, am I correct?"
Suresh pulled out a copy of the list and studied it. "Yes, right here."
"What about Kimberly Pearson. Hana asked. "Can you check?"
"Yes, there is a Kimberly Pearson. He replied.
"Sylar’s deadly trail ends in Elko Nevada two months ago. This time he killed a man
named Earl Thomas. He was a 46 year old surveyor who used to impress the town
residents with his knack for finding silver. Possibly his ability."
"And also on the list." Mohinder added.
"I thought as much." Hana replied.
"Ok, it makes no sense" Parkman began. He goes to the trouble of getting Ms. Pearson
to her home, obviously gets her all hot and bothered, then before he seals the deal, he
kills her! What guy does that?"
"Actually, it makes perfect sense." Audrey was looking at her laptop. "If Sylar killed
Michael Walsh, then he got an alleged ability owned by Michael Walsh. From what I see
here, it looks like he had a fetish for..ah…shall we say less than virtuous women. That
wasn’t his ability, but he seemed have a gift for luring women and they felt powerless
against him. If you look at this guy’s picture, this is not Sylar." On Audrey’s computer
screen was a scruffy, blonde man in his late 30’s. "Sylar isn’t interested in sex, only
power. But he can use his newfound ability to lure anybody his way. Seduction is not
just about sex. It is about control. And if he is impersonating Walsh, who is a
successful commodities trader, what better way to bring money your way than learning
a lucrative trade. "
"But why go to all that trouble?" Parkman said incredulously. "Why not just kill her
outside the pub like he did the other guy?"
"Well, that fits in with the rest of my story." Hana continued. "Coincidentally, the day
after Earl Thomas is killed, Michael Walsh rents an apartment in a large Victorian style
home in the Jack London Square district of Oakland, CA. The original owner of the
building is listed as George Ryan, who is the father of…, anybody?"
"Laura Ryan!" Hiro exclaimed. "He knows about her and is waiting for her power to
manifest before he kills her."
"This is what I thought. I believe that was the original plan. He found her on the list,
she was where he was going to be; he needed a place to lay low for a while. But this is
where things get complicated." Hana took more photos out of her folder. "These
photos were taken three days ago. I got these photos from the surveillance cameras
Ms. Ryan had installed in the apartment building. As you can see, there is Sylar, AKA;
Michael Walsh walking into the building at 10pm. But as you can see, he has a duffle
bag and looks exhausted, like he is coming home from someplace. He goes into
apartment 3C, the unit being rented by Walsh. Ten minutes later he comes out after
changing his clothes. He walks down the all to apartment 3A which is occupied by
Laura Ryan. He uses a key to get inside the door. Not forced entry."
"Now here I am both intrigued wondering how he was able to gain access to her
apartment, and panicked...is he in there killing her. I was able to tap into the
surveillance from the third floor of the bank building across the street and was very
shocked to find them in the throws of passion." She passed the photos around.
"Let me see those…." Claude grabbed the photos.
Peter angrily snatched the photos and handed them back to Hana. "We don’t need be
looking at these. We have made it our mission to protect this girl and others like her.
What she does in the privacy of her home does not need to be distributed among us."
"It does if the other party in this is Sylar." Audrey challenged him. "Is this the day
Laura…astral projected herself the first time?"
"Yes." Hana replied. "Earlier in the evening I tried to contact her by instant message,
but she would not believe me. It wasn’t until I met her face to face the following day
that she was willing to talk to me."
"Ok, but still." Niki added. "He killed that other girl and did not sleep with her. It is
obvious that he is sleeping with this woman, but he has not killed her yet. It doesn’t
make any sense."
"No. It makes perfect sense." Peter said thoughtfully looking at one of the pictures.
"He loves her." He said holding up a photo of the two of them outside of her apartment
holding each other. "Look at the way he is looking at her. He is in love."
The group studied the photo. "You’re right." Parkman agreed. "He’s got it pretty bad."
"And the feeling is mutual." Hana added. "You should have seen the look on her face
when she talked about him yesterday. She thinks she has found her prince charming. I
talked to some of the other tenants in the building and they all concur the two of them
have been inseparable since the day he moved in. And oddly enough, he is well liked
by the other tenants. Mrs. Gardner, an elderly widow in 2B says he is always coming to
help her with something; carrying her packages, fixing a leak, killing a spider, he
always comes running when she asks him for help.
"Oh common!" Bennett began angrily. "This is Sylar we are talking about. He is a
predator, a killer, not an Eagle Scout. He is not capable of loving anybody."
"Well, no matter what he has done, he is still a man." Peter interjected. "Messed up as
he is, his blood runs red as yours and mine. And…well…look at her. She is beautiful."
"If she just got her powers and he has been there for two months, something kept him
from moving on to the next victim." Niki added
"Yes. He is a lost soul." Hiro replied thoughtfully. "He had done many awful things, but
deep down, he is a frightened child. I am the only one who has seen this side of him.
There may some good left in him."
"No there is not!" Suresh agreed. "The man is a murderer and someday he is going to
turn on her and kill her too!"
"I don’t think so." Audrey said calmly.
"What do you mean?" Niki asked her.
"The last killing was two months ago." She explained. "There are six other people on
the list that live in a 200 mile radius that he surely has easy access to, but he hasn’t
made any attempt to even visit them."
"So, are you saying he has turned over a new leaf?" Parkman asked disbelievingly.
"For the moment." She answered. "As long as he has her in his life, he will be a model
citizen. But he will do whatever means possible to keep her." Audrey got up and
grabbed a bottle of water.
"You see, she represents his ideal." She continued. "Gabriel Gray, the geeky
watchmaker from Queens, probably couldn’t even get a woman to talk to him, let alone
sleep with him. But then he meets Laura and something changes inside of him. She is
good, kind and beautiful. She probably would have talked to him or been kind, but
would she enter into a relationship with Gabriel Gray? I have my doubts. He wants to
protect her and keep her safe. Likely even from him. To her he is handsome, charming
and probably has a mysterious quality about him. Women love that. Believe me." She
added slightly embarrassed. "He has what he really has wanted all along. Love,
approval, and security. And if the textbooks are right, he won’t ever want to kill her. In
fact, he would let himself be killed before he let anything happen to her."
"My God…" Niki said thoughtfully. "She thinks she has found her knight in shining
armor. But he probably would have killed her if circumstance been just a little
different. And now we have to take him away from her. How can we do this?"
"Oh common Niki!" Parkman shouted. "This is Sylar! He has tried to kill everybody in
this room at least once."
"I’m with Niki." Peter said. "This girl is an innocent victim in all of this. I know this is
Sylar and he has to pay for his crimes, but I don’t feel right about ruining her life this
way."
"Am I the only one here who doesn’t see a problem with this?" Claude asked the
group. "This is Sylar we are talking about. He’s a murderer! And we don’t know this girl.
In the long run we’ll be doing her a favor taking him out of the picture. Someday she is
bound to find out what he is. So, the answer is simple. You said it yourself, Agent
Hansen. He will do anything to protect her, so we get to her and use her as leverage.
Of course we won’t hurt her, but he doesn’t have to know that. He comes to rescue her
and we grab him and lock him up! Problem solved!"
"And what about her?" Peter shouted at him. "Are you forgetting she is a human being
whose only fault here is falling in love with the wrong guy?"
"Peter is right." Hiro said thoughtfully. "We have to remember why we are protecting
her. Or have you all forgotten?"
Everyone was quiet for a moment.
Hiro said starring straight ahead. "She is the one the prophesy told me would one day
carry power greater than ours."
"No offense Hiro," Bennett started in. "But didn’t that same prophesy tell you that she
is the one that will save us from Sylar?"
"Maybe she already has." Hana said thoughtfully.
"Are you people listening to yourselves?" Audrey shouted in disbelief. You do
remember who we are talking about, don’t you? This man is a KILLER! Hiro! He killed
Charlie! Hana, he tried to kill you! And Peter do you even remember how many times he
has tried to kill you and your brother. And your niece!" Turning to Bennett. "I know I
don’t have to convince you. Claire for all intents and purposes is your daughter. And
he tried to kill your wife. I am sorry I am having a little trouble thinking of him as a
sappy romance hero. We all know what he is and we have to remember that!"
"Hey believe me…I have no problem letting that son of a bitch rot in a cell until the day
he dies." Peter shot back at her. "I know better than anybody what he is capable of. I
don’t think any of us are saying he should not be brought to justice, and if he dies in
the process, even better. But he has most likely deluded this girl that he is a prince or
something. To learn what he really is will be painful for her and I guess I am not feeling
too good about that."
"Ok, we’re all just spinning our wheels." Claude interjected loudly. "We need a plan.
Not a debate on Gabriel Gray’s love life. Since nobody likes my idea of using her for
leverage to bring in Sylar, if you have a better idea, lets hear it."
All were quite for a moment.
"Well, since she could be the most powerful of all the people on my father’s list, I
would like to travel to California and pay her a visit and run some tests on her."
Mohinder offered. "She needs to know her lover is dangerous. The worse thing we
can do is to not tell her. Of course it will devastate her, but would you all rather she
finds out the hard way?"
"I like it." Audrey agreed. "I’m for it."
"It’s a good plan Dr. Suresh," Hana responded. "But she is very guarded. She was not
receptive to me at all."
"I think he should go." Niki replied. "No offense Hana, but sometimes your approach
is…I don’t know…intrusive. Getting instant messages and text messages just out of
the blue from somebody you don’t know is creepy."
"Well, I didn’t hear you exactly volunteering to go in my place." Hana replied
sardonically.
"Mohinder is the right choice to approach her." Bennet said matter-of-factly. "You
have already made contact with her friend, it would be logical that you follow through."
"But how are you going to tell her about Sylar?" Peter asked thoughtfully.
"That my friend is going to be the difficult part." Mohinder answered.
**End of Chapter V **
By Dee Allen
Part V – The New Organization
Midland Texas 3 miles, the green highway sign read. Hana Gitelman sped her
motorcycle down the highway. She made the exit at Highway 17 and drove through
town stopping her bike in front of Pizzeria Prima. She walked inside approaching the
man behind the counter wearing the horned rimmed glasses. He turned and looked at
her. His name was Bennett, former enemy turned ally.
"Everybody’s inside." He told her turning pizzas in the oven. "I’ll be there when Lyle
and Jeff get here to take over."
"Ok." Hana replied heading toward the back. "Hi Claude".
Claude abruptly appeared behind her. "How could you of possibly known I was there?"
Hana turned and glared at him.
"You may be invisible, my friend" Bennett taunted him laughing. "But when you get
around the pretty ladies your heavy breathing gives you away every time."
"Really!" Claude replied astonished. ‘I’m going to have to work on that liability if I’m
ever going to get a date again."
Hana walked into the back room. She entered the walk-in refrigerator and once inside,
she lifted a block of cheese to access a small panel. She typed a code into the panel
and two of the racks swung outward revealing a metal door. Hana typed in another
code. The door opened. She walked down a narrow hallway to another door. She
lowered her face allowing her retina to be scanned. The door opened.
Inside the room were six people:
Peter Petrelli – Super genome with multiple powers.
Mohinder Suresh – Genetics professor from Madras India. His father Chandra Suresh
was killed by Sylar.
Niki Saunders – Super Genome with super human strength.
Matt Parkman – Super Genome, mind reading abilities.
Hiro Nakamura – Super Genome, teleportation.
Audrey Hanson – Former FBI agent. Has been on Sylar’s trail for two years. Came to
work for Bennett after the company was reformed.
Claude walked through the door followed by Bennett.
Looking at the group in front of her Hana began to speak. "Thank you all for dropping
everything and coming. This is a matter of absolute importance."
Hiro spoke first. "Did you find Laura Ryan?"
"Yes." Hana replied. "I found Laura. She is alive and for the moment is unharmed. I had
a little trouble getting to talk to her. She is very intelligent and keeps her guard up. But
I could also tell she is very insecure. Her mother died when she was still a child, her
father died three years ago. She inherited her father’s company and real estate. She
became CEO of Ryan and Associates when she was just 24, only 2 years after
graduating from Stanford."
"Have her abilities began to manifest?" Bennett asked her.
"Indeed they have. She appears to possess astral projection abilities." Hana reached
into her backpack and pulled out a newspaper article about a bus accident and a
mysterious woman who saved the driver and disappeared.
"So she’s a little publicity shy.’ Claude responded sarcastically.
"I knew you were going to say that, so I brought these." Hana pulled out a folder of
photos. "I spent two days tracking her. I tapped into the security systems of the Bay
Area Rapid Transit stations for that morning. First photo is from day one. As you can
see she is boarding train at Oakland City Center, at 8:00 am. This would let her off at
the Embarcadero station at 8:30 am. But as you can see from this next photo, she is
sound asleep in her seat. However, this next picture was taken from the security
cameras at Ryan and Associates at 08:35 am and look who is sitting calmly in her office
preparing for a presentation with the staff. Now how can she have walked three blocks
and been there calmly in front of her staff when it is a 15 minute walk from
Embarcadero station and maybe 10 minutes if you run."
"I’m not sold so far. Maybe she woke up and got off at another stop." Audrey Hansen
replied, arms folded.
"Logical, but not possible." Hana responded. "She could have gotten off at the next
stop, but that would have taken her 5 minutes further from her building." Pulling out
another set of photos. "So now here we are at 10:00 am. Now watch, she is still on the
train. She awakens and begins to panic thinking she has missed the presentation. So,
she rushes back to her office only to discover she was already there."
Hana continued. "After the shock wears off, she discusses the matter with Greg
Andrews, her business associate who is the closest thing she has to a sibling."
"And this meeting prompted Mr. Andrews to call me." Mohinder Suresh spoke up. "He
called me three days ago looking for my father."
"Yes." Hana replied. "We will get to that in a moment Dr. Suresh. I have a lot to tell you
about."
"Please." Mohinder prompted her to continue.
"Thank you. Now I would like to bring your attention to the newspaper article. There is
no mystery to who stopped that bus and rescued the driver. That was Laura Ryan
herself. But she told me herself that she was sound asleep in the back of the bus. She
does not recall the incident and panicked when the press showed up, so ran from the
scene."
Bennett spoke up. "Ok…so now we know all about her. What about Sylar? What did you
find about Sylar?"
Frustrated, she replied. "I’ll get to Mr. Gray in a moment. It is coming, believe me."
"Were you able to warn her about Sylar?" Peter asked. "He was last sighted in San
Francisco. That is where she works."
Hana sighed. "Ok…I was hoping to get through this, but very well…we’ll talk about
Gray." She took a deep breath. "I know exactly where he is and even where he
resides."
The group became angry and began shouting at her in unison.
"CALM DOWN!" She shouted over the crowd.
"Don’t tell us to calm down! You have known where he has been for four days and you
didn’t inform us?" Suresh shouted. "We put our faith in you to find her and warn her
about him and you know where he is? We need to go bring him in, NOW!" The group
agreed.
"If it was that simple, don’t you think I would have called you all to meet me in San
Francisco to take him out?" Hana continued. "Please. Let me explain."
"Go ahead Hana." Niki told her.
"Ok." She continued. "Three months ago a man named Michael Walsh from Chicago
Illinois up and moved his business to San Francisco. He sold his condo, then a few
weeks later he hopped in his sports car and headed west on Interstate 80."
"Here is where it gets interesting." She pulled out newspaper clippings. "Two days
after Michael Walsh left Chicago, in Rock Springs Wyoming a woman named Kimberly
Pearson, age 24 is found dead in her apartment." Hana put another newspaper clipping
on the table of a woman with her head opened and her brain was taken. "Witnesses
say Miss Pearson left a local tavern with a dark haired man in his early 30’s. Now the
interesting part about it was that Ms. Pearson was found in the nude in the middle of
her living room, there were two wine glasses found on a nearby table. There was no
sign of a struggle. I tapped into the Cheyenne Wyoming FBI database and found no
evidence of intercourse or rape. I am sure you can guess the DNA on one of the
glasses matched the DNA found on a beer bottle at the tavern and the DNA belonged
to Gabriel Gray. Also, there was saliva on Miss Pearson’s lips that was a match. The FBI
believes he got the victim intoxicated with the promise of a sexual encounter, but
before he sealed the deal, he killed her."
"Harsh." Parkman thought out loud.
Hana placed the next article on the table. "Boise Idaho. Antnony Fialdo, a 29 year old
lab technician is seen talking to a man matching Gray’s description in a local pub. The
other patrons recall the two men going out to look at Fialdo’s car and the next time
Fialdo is seen, he is dead behind the tavern with his head opened, brain missing.
Mohinder, I am fairly certain I saw this man on your father’s list, am I correct?"
Suresh pulled out a copy of the list and studied it. "Yes, right here."
"What about Kimberly Pearson. Hana asked. "Can you check?"
"Yes, there is a Kimberly Pearson. He replied.
"Sylar’s deadly trail ends in Elko Nevada two months ago. This time he killed a man
named Earl Thomas. He was a 46 year old surveyor who used to impress the town
residents with his knack for finding silver. Possibly his ability."
"And also on the list." Mohinder added.
"I thought as much." Hana replied.
"Ok, it makes no sense" Parkman began. He goes to the trouble of getting Ms. Pearson
to her home, obviously gets her all hot and bothered, then before he seals the deal, he
kills her! What guy does that?"
"Actually, it makes perfect sense." Audrey was looking at her laptop. "If Sylar killed
Michael Walsh, then he got an alleged ability owned by Michael Walsh. From what I see
here, it looks like he had a fetish for..ah…shall we say less than virtuous women. That
wasn’t his ability, but he seemed have a gift for luring women and they felt powerless
against him. If you look at this guy’s picture, this is not Sylar." On Audrey’s computer
screen was a scruffy, blonde man in his late 30’s. "Sylar isn’t interested in sex, only
power. But he can use his newfound ability to lure anybody his way. Seduction is not
just about sex. It is about control. And if he is impersonating Walsh, who is a
successful commodities trader, what better way to bring money your way than learning
a lucrative trade. "
"But why go to all that trouble?" Parkman said incredulously. "Why not just kill her
outside the pub like he did the other guy?"
"Well, that fits in with the rest of my story." Hana continued. "Coincidentally, the day
after Earl Thomas is killed, Michael Walsh rents an apartment in a large Victorian style
home in the Jack London Square district of Oakland, CA. The original owner of the
building is listed as George Ryan, who is the father of…, anybody?"
"Laura Ryan!" Hiro exclaimed. "He knows about her and is waiting for her power to
manifest before he kills her."
"This is what I thought. I believe that was the original plan. He found her on the list,
she was where he was going to be; he needed a place to lay low for a while. But this is
where things get complicated." Hana took more photos out of her folder. "These
photos were taken three days ago. I got these photos from the surveillance cameras
Ms. Ryan had installed in the apartment building. As you can see, there is Sylar, AKA;
Michael Walsh walking into the building at 10pm. But as you can see, he has a duffle
bag and looks exhausted, like he is coming home from someplace. He goes into
apartment 3C, the unit being rented by Walsh. Ten minutes later he comes out after
changing his clothes. He walks down the all to apartment 3A which is occupied by
Laura Ryan. He uses a key to get inside the door. Not forced entry."
"Now here I am both intrigued wondering how he was able to gain access to her
apartment, and panicked...is he in there killing her. I was able to tap into the
surveillance from the third floor of the bank building across the street and was very
shocked to find them in the throws of passion." She passed the photos around.
"Let me see those…." Claude grabbed the photos.
Peter angrily snatched the photos and handed them back to Hana. "We don’t need be
looking at these. We have made it our mission to protect this girl and others like her.
What she does in the privacy of her home does not need to be distributed among us."
"It does if the other party in this is Sylar." Audrey challenged him. "Is this the day
Laura…astral projected herself the first time?"
"Yes." Hana replied. "Earlier in the evening I tried to contact her by instant message,
but she would not believe me. It wasn’t until I met her face to face the following day
that she was willing to talk to me."
"Ok, but still." Niki added. "He killed that other girl and did not sleep with her. It is
obvious that he is sleeping with this woman, but he has not killed her yet. It doesn’t
make any sense."
"No. It makes perfect sense." Peter said thoughtfully looking at one of the pictures.
"He loves her." He said holding up a photo of the two of them outside of her apartment
holding each other. "Look at the way he is looking at her. He is in love."
The group studied the photo. "You’re right." Parkman agreed. "He’s got it pretty bad."
"And the feeling is mutual." Hana added. "You should have seen the look on her face
when she talked about him yesterday. She thinks she has found her prince charming. I
talked to some of the other tenants in the building and they all concur the two of them
have been inseparable since the day he moved in. And oddly enough, he is well liked
by the other tenants. Mrs. Gardner, an elderly widow in 2B says he is always coming to
help her with something; carrying her packages, fixing a leak, killing a spider, he
always comes running when she asks him for help.
"Oh common!" Bennett began angrily. "This is Sylar we are talking about. He is a
predator, a killer, not an Eagle Scout. He is not capable of loving anybody."
"Well, no matter what he has done, he is still a man." Peter interjected. "Messed up as
he is, his blood runs red as yours and mine. And…well…look at her. She is beautiful."
"If she just got her powers and he has been there for two months, something kept him
from moving on to the next victim." Niki added
"Yes. He is a lost soul." Hiro replied thoughtfully. "He had done many awful things, but
deep down, he is a frightened child. I am the only one who has seen this side of him.
There may some good left in him."
"No there is not!" Suresh agreed. "The man is a murderer and someday he is going to
turn on her and kill her too!"
"I don’t think so." Audrey said calmly.
"What do you mean?" Niki asked her.
"The last killing was two months ago." She explained. "There are six other people on
the list that live in a 200 mile radius that he surely has easy access to, but he hasn’t
made any attempt to even visit them."
"So, are you saying he has turned over a new leaf?" Parkman asked disbelievingly.
"For the moment." She answered. "As long as he has her in his life, he will be a model
citizen. But he will do whatever means possible to keep her." Audrey got up and
grabbed a bottle of water.
"You see, she represents his ideal." She continued. "Gabriel Gray, the geeky
watchmaker from Queens, probably couldn’t even get a woman to talk to him, let alone
sleep with him. But then he meets Laura and something changes inside of him. She is
good, kind and beautiful. She probably would have talked to him or been kind, but
would she enter into a relationship with Gabriel Gray? I have my doubts. He wants to
protect her and keep her safe. Likely even from him. To her he is handsome, charming
and probably has a mysterious quality about him. Women love that. Believe me." She
added slightly embarrassed. "He has what he really has wanted all along. Love,
approval, and security. And if the textbooks are right, he won’t ever want to kill her. In
fact, he would let himself be killed before he let anything happen to her."
"My God…" Niki said thoughtfully. "She thinks she has found her knight in shining
armor. But he probably would have killed her if circumstance been just a little
different. And now we have to take him away from her. How can we do this?"
"Oh common Niki!" Parkman shouted. "This is Sylar! He has tried to kill everybody in
this room at least once."
"I’m with Niki." Peter said. "This girl is an innocent victim in all of this. I know this is
Sylar and he has to pay for his crimes, but I don’t feel right about ruining her life this
way."
"Am I the only one here who doesn’t see a problem with this?" Claude asked the
group. "This is Sylar we are talking about. He’s a murderer! And we don’t know this girl.
In the long run we’ll be doing her a favor taking him out of the picture. Someday she is
bound to find out what he is. So, the answer is simple. You said it yourself, Agent
Hansen. He will do anything to protect her, so we get to her and use her as leverage.
Of course we won’t hurt her, but he doesn’t have to know that. He comes to rescue her
and we grab him and lock him up! Problem solved!"
"And what about her?" Peter shouted at him. "Are you forgetting she is a human being
whose only fault here is falling in love with the wrong guy?"
"Peter is right." Hiro said thoughtfully. "We have to remember why we are protecting
her. Or have you all forgotten?"
Everyone was quiet for a moment.
Hiro said starring straight ahead. "She is the one the prophesy told me would one day
carry power greater than ours."
"No offense Hiro," Bennett started in. "But didn’t that same prophesy tell you that she
is the one that will save us from Sylar?"
"Maybe she already has." Hana said thoughtfully.
"Are you people listening to yourselves?" Audrey shouted in disbelief. You do
remember who we are talking about, don’t you? This man is a KILLER! Hiro! He killed
Charlie! Hana, he tried to kill you! And Peter do you even remember how many times he
has tried to kill you and your brother. And your niece!" Turning to Bennett. "I know I
don’t have to convince you. Claire for all intents and purposes is your daughter. And
he tried to kill your wife. I am sorry I am having a little trouble thinking of him as a
sappy romance hero. We all know what he is and we have to remember that!"
"Hey believe me…I have no problem letting that son of a bitch rot in a cell until the day
he dies." Peter shot back at her. "I know better than anybody what he is capable of. I
don’t think any of us are saying he should not be brought to justice, and if he dies in
the process, even better. But he has most likely deluded this girl that he is a prince or
something. To learn what he really is will be painful for her and I guess I am not feeling
too good about that."
"Ok, we’re all just spinning our wheels." Claude interjected loudly. "We need a plan.
Not a debate on Gabriel Gray’s love life. Since nobody likes my idea of using her for
leverage to bring in Sylar, if you have a better idea, lets hear it."
All were quite for a moment.
"Well, since she could be the most powerful of all the people on my father’s list, I
would like to travel to California and pay her a visit and run some tests on her."
Mohinder offered. "She needs to know her lover is dangerous. The worse thing we
can do is to not tell her. Of course it will devastate her, but would you all rather she
finds out the hard way?"
"I like it." Audrey agreed. "I’m for it."
"It’s a good plan Dr. Suresh," Hana responded. "But she is very guarded. She was not
receptive to me at all."
"I think he should go." Niki replied. "No offense Hana, but sometimes your approach
is…I don’t know…intrusive. Getting instant messages and text messages just out of
the blue from somebody you don’t know is creepy."
"Well, I didn’t hear you exactly volunteering to go in my place." Hana replied
sardonically.
"Mohinder is the right choice to approach her." Bennet said matter-of-factly. "You
have already made contact with her friend, it would be logical that you follow through."
"But how are you going to tell her about Sylar?" Peter asked thoughtfully.
"That my friend is going to be the difficult part." Mohinder answered.
**End of Chapter V **
