New Page 1

CHAPTER TWO

October sixth.

�Because of your action this organization is again under threat of closure. Good God, man, how could you? You of all people!� PIA�s controller Alex Henn vented his fury at Steele. Although the facts were unquestionable they were difficult to accept.

�� He was armed. He was going to shoot the Senator. It was my brief to stop him.�

�� Armed, Mr. Steele? Where�s the gun? Good God above, he's a child. How could you?�

�� Believe me! He had a gun,� shouted Peter Steele pacing angrily back and forth. �I don�t know where it went, but he was armed!�

�� A child, a small, skinny little boy and you shot him.�

�� Alex, can�t you understand...�

�� It�s Mister Henn!� He thumped the table in anger. �What is there to understand? I understand that you have...�

�� I was doing my job. There was a threat. I didn�t shoot to kill. Christ! I didn�t even shoot to maim him. I thought you of all people would understand.�

�� Understand? I�m finding it very difficult to understand. You are our chief enforcement officer. You know more than anyone the principles of what we stand for. Every agent is trained to bring down a suspect with the minimum of violence.�

�� There wasn�t time for that...�

�� Don�t give me that. Not time? I have a stack of eyewitness reports here,� stormed Henn flicking the papers under Steele�s nose. �Each one says that the boy took just two steps toward you and you instantly drew and fired your weapon. The public are in uproar. Every paper has headlines about another secret agent killing whom he pleases.�

�� I didn�t shoot to kill!� Steele�s voice trembled as he spat the words.

�� There has to be an inquiry. An external inquiry! You know that, don�t you? No matter what I personally think of you, the people think you are shit and want justice. I can�t cover this up, Peter, so please, give me a good reason why you shot a thirteen year old boy.�

�� Christ! I don�t know why...� he shouted as he loosened his tie. �Christ, you had to be there to understand. It was the way he looked at me. Christ, I don�t know. Everything was wrong. He wasn�t a child... He was...�

�� Peter, sit down a moment,� Henn watched him obey, saw the dark circles under his eyes, the stubble on his chin and he sighed deeply. This wasn�t the Peter Steele he knew. Gently he asked, �Peter, think before you answer me. Did that boy look like a Kijac agent?�

�� Ha! I knew that was coming,� Steele shouted as he leapt to his feet. �I am not, no I am not suffering from post combat stress. I know what I saw.�

�� All right, let�s calm down. We won�t go into that at the moment. But I�m sorry, I have to remove your license...�

�� My what!�

�� I have to have your gun, Peter.�

�� I�m out?� Steele�s face paled, he ran his hands through his hair and suddenly he looked much younger than his 33 years. �Just like that? One minute I�m a hero and the next a criminal?�

�� At the moment you are still an agent because you haven�t lost your anonymity. If this goes to public trial and you become known��

�How? I�m in the secret��

�Believe me, they will have your photo in every newspaper no matter what we say. If that happens, then you know the secret service can no longer employ you, in any form. For the moment, until we know what is happening to you and this organization, I must go by the book and revoke your license to kill.�

�� There�s one up the spout,� said Steele dropping his gun on the table.�

�Peter, how many times have you been told about leaving a bullet�� Henn stopped as Steele turned and left the office. He sighed deeply. Once again life was being unfair. They had all struggled so hard and overcome so many difficulties to bring PIA back from obscurity. Now one man�s act might have undone that. Henn wondered if this could have been expected, a man was only a man after all. Were all these young agents expected to witness death without blinking? He knew the answer was yes and he knew the unfairness of it all.

�� Just six months before, his top men led a band of young rookies into the face of death. They fought against unspeakable evil and even the rookies became leaders, but what now? They had won the battle yet were still suffering wounds. They had all been trained to avoid killing, but had been forced to do just that. All were trained for their own death, but not trained to watch their friends and colleges being blown apart. Even his special team had it driven home to them that even the dead can die.

�� Some of the young men had left PIA to take on safer jobs. Some were sticking it out, but fell face down as soon as a light bulb exploded. Post combat stress, that was what the experts said it was. Somehow he had thought his elite were immune to it, after all they had witnessed death before. They had killed and their own had been killed, why then had his top agent Peter Steele been affected so badly that he had shot an innocent child? Henn banged his hand onto his forehead, there had been warning signs, how had he, the so called leader ignored them? PIA�s physician had warned him that Steele was twitchy. His belief was that Steele might be frightened of being shot again, but Henn had never dreamed it would go this far.

�� Vacily, what are you doing?� Henn said sneering at his ghostly friend.

�� Just looking to see who�s where and why. Why?� said Sukoloff with the hint of a grin.

�� Why can�t you come in the main door? And I thought your hair didn�t grow? If it gets any longer you�ll have to have ribbons. Get it cut!� As there was no answer from the Russian apart from a shrug of his shoulders, Henn�s thoughts returned to Steele and he called his top agents into the office. They must be told the truth.

�� Quiet! Thank you gentlemen. I don�t want to hear any arguing or speculating.�

�� But the rumors, Sir?� someone asked.

�� You all know that a young boy was shot yesterday by one of our agents...�

�� Well I don�t believe it,� shouted the giant of the group.

�� Bayfield, quiet! I�m afraid the rumors are true. What you don�t know is that the agent concerned is Peter Stee...�

�� Bollocks!�

�� Mister Tzavros!�

�� Zav�s right, Sir, Peter just wouldn�t... He couldn�t,� agreed another.

�� All of you quieten down. I don�t know why, but Steele shot that young boy. Because of it we are all in trouble...�

�� Alex? Is he suspended?�

�� Not yet, Vacily, but I had to revoke his LTK.� Silence finally came to the office, the deep silence of mind numbing shock. They all knew PIA had been skating on thin ice as a law enforcement agency before the war with KIJAC, but now? How could the officials forget they had saved the world? It was PIA and its young men who had prevented King and Bajac in their insane attempt to overthrow the government.

�� Is the kid dead?� Tretow dared to asked.

�� No, but they say he might as well be. Steele says he aimed over the boy�s right shoulder. He must have done that shot countless times before. But this time he was way off target and the bullet struck the boy on the side of his head. The boy remains in a coma.�

�� But he expected to recover, yes?� whispered Steele�s partner and friend Kurt Tzavros.

�� No, I can�t tell you all the medical details. He is breathing, that�s about it. He might die tomorrow or live another few years. But only as a vegetable. The life he knew has been removed.� Silence fell until Henn changed the subject to that of the usual daily business of PIA

�� Tzavros, explain to me why you took Mr. Nutt on a search mission without base clearance... Vacily! Where are you going?�

�� Back shortly,� he said as he walked towards Henn�s washroom.

�� Vacily! Elevators are out of bounds. Use the door... Forget it.� Henn said sighing. �Tzavros, explain.�

�� I don�t know where he going... Okay, before you purple go again. Nutt is not wanting to be active agent and I think he good leader. He say he doesn�t like killing and with knocking people about so I take him out to make him recover...� Tzavros rushed the words to cover the inevitable accent. This didn�t go unnoticed by Henn who smiled to himself, young Tzavros might try to show his cold Russian side, but everyone who knew him also knew his worry and fear for Steele.

�� Slow down and start again... Vacily! What are you doing?� he shouted as Vacily came out of the washroom and preceded to ransack all the drawers in the office.

�� I�ve lost teddy.�

�� Over there by the building bricks,� Henn answered as a wave of sniggers drifted up from the other agents. This behavior must stop. He did not mind so much when only the SEPIA specials were in the office but it happened any-time, anyplace. Sukoloff would go into Henn�s private washroom and come back out again with a baby slung over his left shoulder, he would then proceed to search for teddy or rabbit. If it wasn�t Sukoloff carrying the Angel then it was Tzavros or Bayfield. The shoulder holsters replaced by a baby sling and guns carried cowboy style. A smile played over Henn�s face as he remembered, he was just as bad. The Angel wasn�t just Vacily Sukoloff�s baby, she was PIA�s.

�� Right, young Man. You were about to tell me about Mr. Nutt.�

�� He good. When removed Kijac�s headquarters he led his men well. I think he feeling guilty about some his men dying. Or maybe he can�t face another gun being pointed to him. Well, for heck�s sake, who can?� he said addressing all in the room with animated, over elaborate hand actions. �Not me for heck�s sake... Okay dokey, Sir?� he said with his head tilted. Receiving a nod from Henn, he continued. �I think he feels inadequate. So I took him out.� Tzavros paused to touch the Angel�s soft curls and a smile lit up his usually so solemn face. �We saw that Musshurren nut-case, so I thought, better to catch him.�

�� Right, for a start, Kijac�s leader�s are dead and without them I feel that an idiot like Musshurren is of no threat. What was wrong is that both of you burst into an art gallery and proceeded to terrorize the night-watchman. That poor man was nearly seventy, so explain that!�

�� We saw Musshurren go in. He not come out. I felt that watchman must be hiding him. So... I questioned him.�

�� By bending his thumb backwards?� he said flinching as he saw the light dance in Tzavros� eyes and the facial expression of an innocence. �This has to stop. You�re all still suffering withdrawal from war. Kijac has been destroyed. King and Bajac are dead. Musshurren is not top of our list. So, let�s get back to the more mundane tasks of this organization without conjuring up monsters.�

�� We don�t know for certain that it is over. Before King died he said, �We are immortal. Kijac are immortal.� He said he had brought spirits through with his machine that would take over the world. Changers he called them. What if he has?� asked John Bayfield placing one large finger onto Angel�s tiny arm.

�� We don�t know if that was just a threat. All we know is that King and his horror Sasam were destroyed. That reminds me, I have a report here that says you thumped a fellow agent. Why?�

�� He was acting funny. He looked different, Sir. I thought he�d been taken over.�

�� By what, body-snatchers? For goodness sake, the poor man had just crashed his car.�

�� No excuse, we do that all the time...�

�� That�s enough! I won�t have any more of it. Vacily, any news about those intercepted codes yet?� Henn shouted as Sukoloff lay back on the couch with Angel.

�� ... Who cut up their tails with a carving knife... Nasty woman, daddy will get her with his big tickling feather...� said Sukoloff ad-libbing nursery rhymes again, but as Henn took one step further he added, �Okay, Alex, working on them. I�m working on them! Try bit of patience,� Sukoloff replied, clearly annoyed about having to be asked for something. �We got every code breaker working on them but no luck yet. We intercepted another this morning.� He threw Henn a small piece of paper fashioned into an airplane and snarled. �Here, see if you can break it.�

�� A smile crossed Alex Henn�s face, the mocking evident in his voice. �Who did the original intercept?�

�� Zav did.�

�� Aha, Mr. Tzavros. I might have guessed. Right, I think firstly it could be a prank played by two Russians.�

�� No, it not!�

�� No? Then secondly I think it could be a prank. First message reads; Peter to Cat Woman... Hello. And the second reads; Cat Woman to Peter... Hello. Now this new one reads; Cat Woman to Peter... Ring the Changes. Vacily, haven�t you thought that it could just be two young Batman fans chatting on an obsolete frequency?�

�� Of course I thought that. You think I amateur? I... No, we think it worth trouble we take.�

�� Okay, cool it, Vacily. But let Tzavros finish the codes, you�ve got other work to do.�

�� That�s more like it, back to future activity! Daddy like that film, Angel.� The twinkle in Sukoloff�s eyes dimmed with Henn�s answer, �No action. Luckily we have had no world domination threats since Kijac was destroyed. I want you to take Mr. Nutt with you to the training block. If he has lost confidence that doesn�t mean we won�t need him any more. I think that man might make a good teacher. And, Vacily, don�t take the Angel onto the range. One other thing before you go. What do you know about ancient Egyptian?�

�� I�m old, but not that old. Why?�

�� I�ve been sent a parchment by The Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities of the British Museum. They think there is a very clever forger around and want to know what we think.�

�� Let�s see it then,� he said grabbing at the parchment.

�� I�m looking through the records for someone competent to read it,� said Henn with great pleasure. �But whoever wrote this is clever. It was found in the possessions of a deceased archaeologist, carefully wrapped around a stone bearing similar inscriptions. The museum have carbon dated it at about 1000 BC. I think it would prove fun to decipher it.�

�� Might be a treasure map!� said Bayfield with excitement.

�� Or instructions on the best way to change a diaper,� sniggered Tretow.

�� Oh, yes, you two,� Henn said squinting at the two young men. �You are to leave immediately for England on a very important mission.� Two faces beamed at the thought of another great spying mission. �There is an elderly lady who has been having vivid dreams...�

�� A cuke?� The beaming smiles vanished. �You want us to go and listen to silly dreams? No way...�

�� Mister Bayfield! You are supposed to be a member of SEPIA.�

�� I am, Sir.�

�� Then tell me what that stands for!�

�� Specialists in Extraordinary and Paranormal and all that. But an old lady, Sir? God, it will be Vampires next.�

�� Bayfield, this lady is a respected member of a small community that just happens to be the home of the Chief of police who also happens to be a personal friend of mine. She has been known to have premonitions before and these dreams are frightening her. You and Tretow are our Psychic consultants. It�s your job, so do it,� he said trying to look angry.

�Sir, why do we teach Latin and history?� asked Clive Nutt timidly.

�� Baby sitting an agent who was fast becoming a conscientious objector was not Sukoloff�s idea of fun and he replied flatly. �You never know when an extra language or a good knowledge of history will come in handy. We try to teach everything.�

�� Are the rumors true, Sir?�

�� I doubt it, rumors seldom are. What are they this time?�

�� That Pia is going to become just a training facility.�

�� That�s what we are. We train men and women to become bodyguards. Some become agents for secret service. If they choose to stay with Pia all the better.�

�� Nutt said no more after the Russian�s withering look and wished Henn would find other work for him. Anything, even car cleaning would be better than working with the Great sullen Sukoloff.

�Why we both are sneaking about like thieves? Henn will blow his top up again.�

�� You never used to worry about things like that until I shot that kid,� snapped Steele. Tzavros bit his lip. He had said this kind of thing before and usually Steele retaliated with some clever repost, this time there was a harsh� bitterness in the answer.

�� Who got you up on wrong side of bed then? Or is it lady trouble? Want to tell uncle Zav all about it?�

�� Shut up! I haven�t any problems. Do you understand?� The conversation, if it was one, abruptly ceased. The situation was worrying Tzavros, for over two weeks he had noticed a difference in Steele. Not only was there the lack of the usual verbal one-upmanship, Steele had always been a proud character but lately even this was absent. Tzavros scrutinized him, saw the trembling hand twist the tie around his fingers and saw fear within his dark eyes.

�� There�s Musshurren! I knew I�d seen him. Come on, Zavvy, my boy. In we go.�

�� He smiled, no, Steele was not that different, the same as him he had been trained for continuous action and without it boredom set in. There are very few jobs an agent can do apart from sneaking and spying.

�� Can you him see? Watch it, Peter! You and your flat feet. I wonder how much that cost before you kick it?�

�� Shut up! Where did he go? Search this blasted place. He must be here somewhere.�

�� Yes, Sir... Peter! What you are doing? Henn won�t with you be happy. Don�t anything else touch for Christ�s sake. I try stick head back with gum or something... Now that one I like!�

�� What are you talking about, man?�

�� That painting, I like that,� he said running across the room.

�� Typical Russian, take him out shopping in an antique store and he picks out the most modern piece of junk he can find. What would you do with a large picture of noughts and crosses?�

�� Tzavros began to explain the hidden meanings within all abstract paintings but quickly followed Steele�s example of run for cover as the sound of a police siren came closer.

Some of the trainees he knew well. Despite their youth and inexperience they had conned their way into the fighting teams when KIJAC Headquarters had been removed. These men were miles ahead of anyone in the group. They seemed misplaced as trainees, out running and out thinking even some of his best long standing agents. They constantly begged for action and pestered about the qualifications needed to join the SEPIA team despite being told it was for top agents only.

�� Peter? What are you doing here?� Sukoloff asked, then smiled as he remembered one of the trainees, Elaine Catline. Something about her made people gasp at first seeing her. Maybe it was her black waist length hair or perhaps the way her green eyes dominated her pale face. Even unemotional Tzavros had to be reminded it was rude to stare. This would be Steele�s reason for being on the range but he was in for a disappointment, she wasn�t in today.

�� Not you as well! Just because Henn took my gun doesn�t mean I can�t still practice. Just got back from a search mission and I�ve got a little spare time. Don�t worry, Vacily, I won�t steal the gun afterwards.�

�� The angry comment caught Sukoloff off guard and he turned away to give Nutt instructions on the safety rules of the range as the trainees watched in awe PIA�s top man and best shot.

�� Christ! He missed!� someone said.

�� Sukoloff swung around to see Steele empty the magazine, the bullets haphazardly scattered around the target. It would have been a poor pattern for a total beginner. This was all he needed, the rumors and the more than obvious jitteriness among the active agents was beginning to cause unrest among some of the trainees. They were wondering if this was the best place to be trained or maybe the rumors were true, PIA had only the riffraff the other agencies threw out.

�� Thank you, Mr. Steele,� Sukoloff said loudly. �All of you have just been shown some of most common mistakes made by someone unused to a firearm. Did anyone notice way in which he held gun? No? Never hold a gun as they do in movies with one hand resting on the wrist. If it backfires it will remove your fingers. At the very least! Hold gun with both hands locked together. Hold your arms away from your body. Splay your legs and slightly bend your knees. This way you don�t move when gun is discharged and are ready for next shot.� Sukoloff moved closer to Steele and whispered, �I don�t know what problem is, but it needs sorting. That way of shooting is not how the Peter Steele I�ve worked with does it. Ten straight misses? Your hand is shaking so much...�

�� Since when have you been perfect? It�s all right for you, if you�re shot all that happens is the wall behind you has to be fixed.�

�� Peter, I remember how it hurts even if it doesn�t now. Talk to Alex about it. He understands, he�s been there. What you�re feeling, everyone feels after war...�

�� I haven�t got stress. Now for the last time, leave it,� he shouted and hurriedly left the range amid murmuring voices.

�� Thinking quickly, Sukoloff ordered the trainees to set up their targets and reminded them that Steele had shown them every wrong way to shoot. He expected them to have at least one hole on the target. Having told Nutt to supervise he stood back to watch and to think about ways of helping the once imperturbable Peter Steele.

�� Brian, do you want to go first or let one of the ladies?�

�� Whatever, Nutty.�

�� Well how about ladies first? If that�s all right with everyone?�

�� What you doing, Nutt? This is ridiculous!� Sukoloff looked at the young man in disbelief. Six months ago he had taken men into war with the strength of a true leader. Now he was trembling and waiting for the trainees to take the initiative.

�� This is how to do it! Tanen, you go first. Never mind ladies first, they are as good as you because they are trained the same as you. They are one of you. The only difference between you and a female agent is she will not be allowed in war situation because of our tendency to protect opposite sex. But she will go on very dangerous spying sprees and has to be able to shoot and stay alive just as well as you do.� He was shocked by the anger in his own voice, if Clive Nutt was suffering the same battle stress as Steele, this was not the way to handle it. The question arose as to how many others were suffering. What about Chris Alment? He too had been in the thick of it.

�� Let�s start again,� he said trying to sound gentler yet knowing his voice still sounded sharp. �I think problem is that most of these people are your friends. But you must remember you are their superior and must show it. They have to respect you otherwise next time you take them into battle situation they will find it hard to take orders from you. Try again.�

�� Tanen, you go first. Ten rounds,� ordered Nutt, very nearly adding �Please.�

�� Sukoloff smiled with pride now as a much more together Nutt began to relax and instruct.

�� Alment, keep the gun at arms length... Hell!� The world seemed to stop. Sukoloff stood in the silence which followed and only moved when a scream brought him back to reality. He ran swiftly towards Chris Alment and dropped to his knees beside him as the range filled with raised, confused and shocked voices.

�� Oh, God!� shouted Tanen again and again, then he stood away from the bloody body and began to shout orders, calling for the medics and telling everyone to calm down. Sukoloff could hear him, yet his voice seemed to be from a long distance telephone call and far from real. This couldn�t be real, one minute a young vibrant life the next...

�� Mr Sukoloff, we have to get them out of here,� said Tanen still shouting, yet sounding so calm and uncaring.

�� Shut up! Shut up, I�m thinking.� The unmistakable tremble in Sukoloff�s voice did nothing to ebb the panic sweeping through the young trainees. It was the tremble of anger as he looked at the broken body. The gun that Alment had been clutching so tightly, exploded! His injuries so appalling that from the waist up he was no longer recognizable as a human being. Despite this, one more slow agonizing, wheezing breath came from what once had been his mouth. Sukoloff�s mind spun, this was wrong, any death in a young person was wrong. They had all had enough of death and Alment was someone full of life and plans. He was the laughter in the group, he was the safe cracker, no door or computer had been safe from this man. He held the ability to be the perfect criminal and everyone had been relieved that he had chosen law enforcement. This young man had so much potential to help others, yet now his life was ebbing away in an agonizing death. Mentally detaching himself, Sukoloff looked around at the other trainees and others who were rushing to the range. Alment wheezed again. Nutt sat on the blood soaked floor in a daze, Tanen shouted angry obscenities at no one in particular, while an unidentified high pitched voice screamed repeatedly, �Die, damn you! For God�s sake just die!�

�� Sukoloff knew that Class Ones had the power to catch souls and guide them to wherever they wished to go. He had also learned that he was not strong enough to do this. Even if he could, how could this be done in front of so many witnesses? Everyone would know Alment and him were dead.� They could never come back to PIA. He had seconds to decide. Any minute Alment�s soul would be forced to jump, abandoning both body and earth forever.

�� Mr Sukoloff, you can�t do anything for him. Try and bring everyone to order. Come on, Sir, pull yourself together.�

�� Shut up, Tanen, will you. I said I was thinking... To London, two seconds�to China, two seconds�from one dimension to another took�two seconds. That�s it! Thought! Surely that has to be the answer...�

�� Sir! Are you all right?�

�� Sukoloff looked at the smashed body�and smiled, he could fly from one end of the world to the other in minutes, he could change color, even if it was only to green. He could even produce a bolt of lightning from his fingertips! OK, so it was all of half an inch long, but he could do it. The gun had exploded only two minutes before, even if it did seem like hours. Alment was still alive, just. Could he, the Class One that he was, go back in time?

Sukoloff smiled with pride now as a much more together Nutt began to relax and instruct.

�� Alment, keep the gun at arms length... Hell!� The reaction came so quickly no one had time to blink. A flying drop kick hurtled the gun from Alment�s hand as the barrel burst. The follow through sent a stunned Alment into an ungainly but uninjured heap on the floor.

�� Sir! how ever did you know it was going to explode?� Tanen�s question voiced everyone�s thoughts.

��Intuition� And�� The mumbled answer was indecipherable, but inwardly Sukoloff smiled in secret triumph, �Yes!!�

Crickey, one second more and Chris�s face will have been off... Sir.� Nutt�s comment said it all.

�� Overjoyed at what he had done and the possibilities of what he might be capable of doing, Sukoloff went immediately to his fellow Russian, Tzavros, but received a cool reception, �I don�t know, Vacily. I don�t think you should this do. Is it right? Do other Class Ones this do?�

�� I expect so. Hey! I saved a life!�

�� Think for moment. How many Class Ones are on this earth? Say twenty, yes? Twenty five? Each one prevents death of someone by going back in time, once only by two minutes. Heck, Vacily, that forty lost minutes. That half a football match. You could alter all our futures.�

�� Rubbish.�

�� Also, think about this. If those twenty go and make two children each and their children did same etc. Allowing for normal life span of three score years and ten in standard American Bible then in one hundred years we have extra how many standard American peoples? Instead of saving people stop time for two minutes to work out sum! Because if there are really one hundred Class Ones� How many football matches, with full capacity crowd then? Scary answer, my friend.�

�� Okay, I thought you just might be interested in the fact that I can go back in time, even if it was only for two minutes. I happen to be proud that I can prevent unnecessary deaths.�

�� I not saying any more, Vacily. I just don�t agree this�this saving is good idea.�

The magnificent lightening crashing around the city saddened a subdued Alex Henn. A far greater storm, infinitely less beautiful, was growing within the vast organization which he was so proud to run. Agents murmured dissent under their breath. Unrest had mounted to such an extent that a large pile of resignations craved his immediate attention. Far off in Washington a similar storm was building. People, some very powerful people, were lobbying politicians for an explanation and demanding PIA be disbanded. Then there was the silly codes they were picking up. At first Henn thought they were some foolish prank, but now as more came in he had to take the matter more seriously.

�� Vacily, I just don�t like them. Listen to these ones. This morning we picked up this, �Cat Woman awaiting news,� followed by, �Peter to Cat Woman... Have begun to ring the changes.��

�� Still our batman fans. Not to worry.�

�� You think so? This afternoon brought, �Peter to Cat Woman... Bad smell in the air.� Answered with, �Cat Woman to Peter... Do not worry... Smell is expected... An Ibis always smells bad.��

�� Bird watchers. Not to worry.�

�� No? Just a few moments ago another came in, �Peter to Cat Woman... Ibis on the loose interfering.� Vacily, both parties are transmitting from inside this building!�

�� As he re-read the messages Sukoloff frowned. �Could still be a joke. Or a love message. But your hunches are usually right. I�ll get Tzavros to run histories on all staff with the name of Peter. Any name, Christian, middle or surname.�

�� Barely acknowledging Sukoloff, Henn spoke to Steele, �Need you to go out on a job.� He paused to pass a thin file to Steele. �We have been asked to investigate a dead rapist.� Steele�s laughter stopped further conversation and Henn asked for an explanation.

�� He was ninety, Sir. Look at his photo, is that a zimmer frame or what? How did a ninety year old have enough energy to kiss five women let alone rape them. And in the space of three days? It�s a joke.�

�� It�s not, what�s got into you. I for one don�t find it a laughing matter. Take Jade Bird with you. You might need a woman�s touch.�

�� And a woman�s gun,� Steele added bitterly.

�I know what you�re going to say and I don�t care. I�m right in what I did and Tzavros had no right to tell you.�

�� Paul Woods sighed and signaled Sukoloff to sit down, then calmly began his reprimand.

�� Vacily, Tzavros didn�t tell me a thing, but I know you are interfering with fate.�

�� How you know this? You spy on me?�

�� I have been sent by the African Continent Guardian of History. You are a baby spirit that has fooled with the delicate make-up of time and the balance of nature. You went back in time to prevent the death of a man.�

�� For a while he could only fiddle angrily with a variety of important looking test tubes then with one sweep he pushed the lot onto the floor. �So what! I�m proud of what I did. Guardians indeed.�

�� You are not God. You do not have the power of life and death. You can�t say who lives or dies. That man had lived his allotted life-span and it was his turn to die. By disobeying the laws of the spirit world you might have damaged the future.�

�� How can you say I am wrong? I wasn�t playing God and I have no intention of doing so. But I have been given powers. So why can�t I use them? I saw that young man die. I saw it happen, Woods! So I went back two minutes and prevented what I saw.�

�� I have been told to tell you that this is your first warning...�

�� Ridiculous, I have powers just like a doctor. Are they playing God or a gift from God? Are you telling me that every time they restart a heart, fight long minutes over a flatline child that they are going against your blasted books? No I think not, God gave them the will and intelligence to be doctors. If he didn�t want it then all heart transplants would fail. Maybe that�s why I�m allowed to be here, to save unnecessary deaths.� As Sukoloff finished he turned to see Woods fade gently away, his final words hanging in the air.

�� First warning, Baby spirit.�

Back to what's new.