Untitled

CHAPTER SEVEN.

The journey to life.

October ninth, seven PM.

�Still seeing Jade?�

�� Her question caught him off guard and he snapped, �No, no way will she near to me come again!�

�� Whoops, sorry, I forgot about her little love bite...�

�� Who told you?� he snapped.

�� Peter did.�

�� Further conversation was stopped by a yell from Alment, �Sir, come here!�

�� Tzavros� head began to swim as he looked from the figure in the bound book to an identical one written on the scroll. Nutt kept saying he forgot, but did he really remember. Did he see something happen in the office? If Sukoloff could do it... Did someone else alter time and Nutt witness it? Was the man he saw plant the bomb the one written on the scroll? Could this part of the scroll read, �The spy is Peter...�

�� Sir! I don�t like to say this but... Well, this picture says this drawing is of PTah, spelt exactly like the last message. Do you think we should tell Mr. Henn?� asked Alment nervously.

�� Didn�t you notice this, Catline?� Tzavros said pointing to the drawings of PTah.

�� No, If you look on my notes I have only finished the first line and those two near the end.�

�� So what they say?� asked Tzavros.

�� I have traveled to Egypt. I am captive. Then at the end it says, �Life, strength, health and something else that I haven�t deciphered. Then I can read, �at dawn, 11�. That�s all at the moment.�

�� As Alment rambled in excitement, Tzavros tried to remember some of the stories Sukoloff had told him. Tales about old spirits who kept a watch on the past. Spirits called the Guardians of History. Was this a message from one of them? A warning that a Time Changer was loose within PIA? He had been reading other books and although parts of the scroll looked, as Catline had said, all wrong, it all looked like a warning. There will be flames� the enemy, and the symbol of a scarab, now Ptah. There were two names at the bottom, one of which was also written on a fragment of stone. Alment and Catline both agreed that one had been spelt wrongly, with two tees instead of one. Could this be another warning, Ptah and this other were in PIA?

�� You right, Alment, let�s go see Alex and Vacily.�

�Nutty! Where are you going?� shouted Sukoloff as he saw Nutt trying to hail a cab.

�� Leave me alone,� the young man said backing further away. �You see, they�re right in what they say. For a start, where�s me shoes? And I ain�t never been this scared before. I�m a yellow bellied coward.�

�� We all get scared at times. Come back to headquarters with me...�

�� No, you think I did something. I don�t know what, but you think I did it.�

�� Carefully, Sukoloff edged closer until he was able to grab Nutt�s wrist. He was disappointed to find that Nutt had no fight left in him. With a sigh Nutt began to walk back towards the Private Investigations Agency. Back to what would undoubtedly be his dismissal from the job he had once loved.

�� Hello, Mr. Steele,� said Nutt flatly. �Did they discharge you?�

�� No, I came to bring you back. Both of you.�

�� A shudder ran through Sukoloff as he looked at Peter Steele and it took him only a moment to realize what was wrong. �Run, Nutty!� he yelled.

�� Why?� came the casual reply.

�� Pushing Nutt behind him he whispered, �Because that�s not Steele. Believe me, Nutty. That man, whoever he is, has thrown up a screen around himself. He is projecting the image of Steele. But he got it wrong, the image is mirrored, backwards. Steele has a cut over his right eye, not left. This is a Changer.�

�� A what, Sir?�

�� Quite smart for a little Ibis, aren�t you. But not smart enough. What�s wrong, Sukoloff, that force field too strong for you?� it said laughing as it watched Sukoloff trying in vain to move. �The damage is already done. King�s Changers are taking over your world. I am like you, only better. Can you change shape? No, you can�t can you. Changers are within Pia, Changers are in the Whitehouse. Tomorrow they will burn the building to the ground.�

�� Why tell us this?� asked Sukoloff trying to send a telepathy message to Bayfield.

�� I wanted you to know. You�ve given us the chance to hurt you. Your spirits can�t protect you. I am the Cat. I know your weakness. Pia is doomed, with or without you. But we won�t risk you both interfering. So goodbye, little Ibis,� it said changing from Steele to Tanen to Alment then to Henn. Raising one arm a blue light span both men around so fast the world became a blur.

Cat to P-Tah... Continue with the changes.... Interferers have been

permanently removed... You remove those who know of you... Including the one I have infected.

Seventeenth July, one year previous.

Cursing his faintness, Sukoloff forced himself up, he had to get to his car�he must not pass out!

�� It was blind luck rather than sighted judgment that helped him to find his car and once back behind the wheel he began to relax. Even though still being pursued, the bullet proof glass offered some protection as he headed back towards New York and safety... Glancing back he saw four gunmen still chasing him, whilst ahead two more stepped from the crowd with guns blazing.

�� He sprinted towards the terrified crowd with yards looking like miles. His legs leaden�heart pounding and every breath agony as the sickening dizziness struck again. A noise...

Sukoloff felt himself being pushed to the ground and a familiar voice said, �God, Sir, that was a close� en.�

�� Nutty! Oh, no, what have you done?� Sukoloff said as he unsteadily rose to his feet and unconsciously moaning as he realized for the first time in over a year he could feel pain.

�� Sir, we have to get out of here. What the hell is happening? Those men were trying to shoot you,� said a confused Nutt.

�� Yes, damn it. And would have succeeded if you hadn�t interfered.� As soon as the words left his mouth and he saw the look of not understanding on Nutt�s face he remembered. That�s what I�ve been doing. It was my destiny to die, Nutty has prevented that so now the future might have changed. Those men I prevented from dying, what was their destiny and will they feel as much anger towards me as I do towards Nutty?

�� Nutty, you must go to headquarters. Go to Henn and tell him to log an alarm in the computers for the ninth of October 2002. Tell him about the Whitehouse. Go on.�

�� I ain�t leaving you, you�re hurt. Hell, you look so damned old!� Nutt said suddenly looking closely at Sukoloff.

�� I thought you�d try the old sealed letter or computer trick, so I waited for you,� it said.

�� Cat, I presume,� Sukoloff said looking at the mirrored face of Tzavros. �Run, Nutty!� he shouted as he grabbed at the Cat.

�� Although his legs appeared to be moving, like some three dimensional cartoon, Nutt stayed in one place. The Cat raised its hand towards Nutt who yelling loudly began to spin. Calling in a language Sukoloff could not recognize it spat the words at Nutt, then spoke in English to Sukoloff.

�� You want to go to headquarters? Well so be it,� it said waving its arm again.

October ninth, seven ten PM. Present day.

He knew something was wrong the instant he entered the building when the receptionist handed him the green badge of a non active agent. He sighed with relief as on examination he found the small bar code that told him he still had access to Level One. Walking as fast as his unsteady legs would allow he made his way to Alex Henn�s office.

�� The strange faces along his route should have alerted him but it was not until the office door slid open that reality began to dawn. Only two faces were familiar to him and he staggered towards Peter Steele.

�� Where�s Alex?� he asked.

�� The shocked look on Steele�s face numbed him, Tzavros was frowning and shaking his head and a gruff voice shouted from the head of the table, �Sukoloff! When are you going to learn to smarten up. Get back to your office and come up with some new codes or something. Why we have to keep you I don�t know.�

�� Where�s Alex?� he asked again.

�� Come on, Mr. Sukoloff, come to my office where we can talk for a while,� Steele said in a voice that was far too kind, too patronizing.

�� The room was small and dark, not the one Steele usually occupied. A small bed, a table with an outdated computer and two chairs. Sukoloff ran his fingers through his hair that suddenly felt thinner. He ran his hand over his eyes that suddenly felt tired and sighed deeply as Steele spoke slowly and clearly.

�� We thought you�d got over that. We didn�t know him as well as you did, but we all miss him. We miss the young ladies he always had around him...�

�� You talk like he dead already,� snapped Sukoloff.

�� He is, you know he is.�

�� Sukoloff questioned further and slumped deeper into the chair as Steele told of a past he could not remember. Henn had been captured by a reformed KIJAC, no one really knew what had happened but after three days of fruitless searches Henn�s body had been dumped on PIA�s doorstep. A new strain of wasps were unleashed upon New York killing hundreds of people, as no antidote to their sting could be found high powered insecticides were used, killing the wasps and many more people. A state of emergency was declared and eventually KIJAC headquarters was unearthed. There had been rumors of some kind of monster roaming Arizona and many solders still talk about the day Hopi spirits gathered in their thousands to fight the monster after their sacred ground had been destroyed.

�� I suppose they had to destroy that beautiful land to save humanity. They said the place was protected by state of the art weaponry. But the rumor is that every soldier that fought that day has had a curse put on him by the Hopi,� Steele said sadly

�� You didn�t fight? Pia didn�t fight?� asked Sukoloff as if in a dream.

�� Pia is only a Private Investigations Agency, you know that. We look for cats and dogs, not monsters.�

�� Bayfield and Tretow, do they still practice TT? Does Zav still sing to my Angel?�

�� Sir, what has happened to you. Both Bayfield and Tretow died before Henn did. Burnt to death in a barn. That was the day you were shot in the arm, the day of the Massacre.�

�� The day I died,� whispered Sukoloff.

�� We all died a little that day. What do you mean about Tzavros singing. He never sings.�

�� Reality dawned, Nutt had saved his life. He had not died that day, he was not dead now. He was an old man who once had been one of the best agents within a PIA that fought for good. He was alive and if he was, what about his wife and baby? Horror began to flood every cell in his body. Panic caused his heart to flutter too quickly.

�� My Jodie! Oh, God, no!� he shouted, and as Steele looked on in sympathy at the senile old man, Sukoloff staggered from the small dark room.

One look into his apartment was enough, tears filled his eyes and a pain hit his heart. He was alive, but he was alone. All those he had grown to love were either dead, had never been or had not grown into the people he knew. All because he wanted to save as many lives as possible. He looked around at the disorder, his books scattered around and remembered how it had looked this morning. The sweet smell of flowers� � photos of his Jodie and the miracle baby, all gone. Angel�s toys scattered in organized mess throughout the room, now gone. He gasped as fear and grief hit him, no longer a Class One � he could not fly with a tiny child asleep in his arms or waltz through the clouds with Jodie � his soul was dead.

�� How do you like life, Ibis?� it said.

�� Take me back,� he begged. �Let me die again.�

�� And you won�t interfere with us again?�

�� He thought for a moment, tempted by the offer, then replied, �No, as long as I have breath left I will fight to prevent you taking away the world we love. Others have children and even though my little one has gone, you won�t hurt any more,� he said with great difficulty.

�� Then farewell,� it said waving its arm.

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