37: Rose

Paro was alone with Kazou in the planning room. For almost twenty minutes neither spoke, content to simply stare at each other with a fierce intensity. Paro was not going to speak the first word, of that he was certain. Even if he had to wait all night, he wasn’t going to make a sound.

It hurt to sit up straight, and in all honesty, he should still be in the med center. He’d broken quite a few ribs. Thankfully, he’d make a full recovery. Even breathing hurt, and Paro’s body begged him to lie down. Paro knew he couldn’t, though. He would show no weakness in the face of his Reinforcer.

Kazou tried to hide his emotion, but Paro knew him too well. There was worry in his eyes—a great deal of it, and as the twenty-minutes turned to twenty-five, sweat began to drip down the Japanese man’s forehead. By a half-hour, his face was drenched. Finally, after close to an hour, he opened his mouth to speak.

“Paro,” he whispered, “I know what you’re thinking, but there’s more to it.”

“You know what I’m thinking, do you?” Paro said. It still hurt to speak. “Choose your words carefully, Kazou, because if you tell me anything that isn’t true, I’m throwing you out of a window. And no, that isn’t a joke. So help me God, I am serious.”

Kazou looked down at the glass table, refusing to meet Paro’s eyes. “I …” he said. “I was the one who called the Op. teams, and I was the one who gave them the files.”

Paro forced his face to remain free of emotion, and he succeeded. What Kazou couldn’t see was Paro biting down on his inner lip until he tasted blood. It wasn’t nearly as painful as the wounds to his body.

Paro stood up from the chair and paced around the room. “Kazou,” he said. “Do you realize that by doing so, you brought upon us a problem even greater than the two Psychs we were after? You almost got Alana Harris, Jack Harris, and Melissa Sayre killed. Cemmera Wilson, as you’ve no doubt seen for yourself, was an even bigger basket-case than the murderers we were chasing.”

Paro watched as Kazou swished his mouth, struggling to gain the moisture to form words.

“They’d killed so many people, Paro. I never wanted to hurt the team, I swear it. It’s just that every time I saw another person die, I felt like there was more I could be doing. Please, I’m so, so sorry. I swear to you, upon my life, my honor, and everything that I am worth, that I only acted in what I believed was the team’s best interests.”

Paro sighed and tried not to feel pity for the well-meaning Kazou. “I know you did, Kazou. If I thought you acted for any other reason, I really would have thrown you out of a window. But, I can no longer trust you. Kazou. You’re off my team.”

In one of his rare moments, Kazou’s emotions came through, and they were powerful. At first his eyes grew moist, and then his lips quivered, until the man who almost never cried, bawled like a newborn.

“Please,” he begged, “I have no one else. I don’t have any friends, and my brother is the only family I have, and he’s on an Op. team—I never get to see him. Without this team I have nothing. No reason to live, no reason to go on. I don’t do this job just because of the importance of it. I do it because of the people I get to be with. I … I love all of you, even the annoying Harris-kid. Onegai shimasu! Do not make me leave, Paro. Please, I can’t be alone again.”

Paro had to bite his tongue to stop himself from forgiving him. Paro needed to be strong. He needed to act like a team-leader. As a friend, Paro would take him back no matter what he did, but as a Captain and team-leader, there was only one choice left to be made.

“Get out of here,” Paro commanded. “Get out of here!”

Kazou went to his knees and continued to beg, the biggest display of emotion Paro had ever seen from the man. “Please, I beg of you. Don’t make me be alone again! Without the team I have nothing.”

Paro forced his last bit of willpower into his voice and eyes, narrowing them on Kazou. “I said get the hell out of here—now!”

Kazou trembled as he stood, walking out of the room with his head held low. Paro knew he’d feel the guilt of his actions later, but for the time being he had to put them aside. There was a meeting he needed to attend, and he had to be focused.

The ride to the top floor was a quiet one. Paro was alone in the H.Q elevator. When the elevator beeped and the doors opened to the General’s wing, Paro almost forgot about his ordeal with Kazou. It was a magnificent place.

So, this is what it looks like? Paro thought.

There were windows everywhere, providing three-sixty degree views of all of Manhattan. It was beautiful. Buildings shorter, and some taller, could be seen in every direction. Paro didn’t have time to take in the sights. It was only a short walk to the first room on the left, where he’d make his meeting. He knocked.

“Come in.”

Paro walked into the room. Sitting at a large glass desk was General Deven Moore. Standing beside him was a woman Paro did not recognize. She was of average height, but dressed in an extravagant red kimono, and Paro realized it must be General Rose. It was said that the woman wore the clothing of a different culture every day.

Her eyes weren’t visible. They were hidden behind a book she held in front of her face with a steady hand.

“Have a seat, or stand if you like,” the General said. “I’m not much one for formality.”

“I’d like to stand, if possible. Thank you, General Moore.”

“Please, call me Deven.”

It was a massive breach of protocol, but Paro nodded and smiled. “Okay then, Deven.”

“Normally I’d make small talk, but I don’t have much time. There’s a flight I need to catch. So, Paro, there’s two things we need to talk about. First, I want to know what happened between Jack Harris and Andy Leonell at the terminal in Anker. Don’t look surprised, did you really think all those recon officers would remain quiet about something like that? I’ll forgive you this time, but if it happens again, I’ll sic Rose here on ya.”

Paro shuddered at the thought of the memory, yet he did as commanded. For this he took a seat. Over the next ten minutes Paro told them all about the incident. He even admitted how it was the single most frightening thing Paro had ever been through, in a life filled with horrors. General Deven’s face tilted with interest during some of the darker parts, but Rose seemed content to continue reading her book.

“May I ask you a question, sir?”

“Deven.”

“Ah. May I ask you a question, Deven? It’s something that I doubt I’d be privy to. So, if you’re unable to answer in the interest of security, I understand.”

“Go ahead.”

“Could you do what that boy did? Using Telepathy, I mean. One of the things a member of my team suggested was that perhaps we only thought what Jack did was impossible because none of us had ever seen it done before. We were wondering if perhaps he’s not a freak, and just really powerful, like a General.”

Deven grinned and nodded with approval. “A very smart team you have. Well, I’m really not supposed to answer that question, but I trust you, Paro. I think if it was life-or-death, I could do what the Harris-boy did, maybe even for as long as he did it. But,” he said with a pause. “It would kill me.”

Paro shivered, hearing his words. “So then Jack—”

“Is a freak,” Rose interrupted, turning yet another page in her book. “He’s a freak that will either destroy our world or save it.”

The words hit Paro like a truck. “I’m sorry, what was that? Did you just say that Jack is someone who will … I don’t even know if I can repeat that.”

“You heard her correctly,” Deven said. “Her visions are almost always true. When Rose sees two paths, the world almost always travels one of them.”

Paro shook his head. He knew there were certain Telepaths who could see beyond the ordinary, but this was absurd. Jack might be the most powerful person Paro had ever encountered, but saying the fate of the world rested on his shoulders was beyond ridiculous. “Excuse me, General Rose, may I ask you a question?”

There was an almost five minute pause, during which Rose turned the page of her book four times, before putting it down for a moment to meet Paro’s gaze. She was a striking woman, with an almost omniscient set of eyes. Paro felt as if a single glance from her would reveal his entire life. It was unsettling.

“Yes, go ahead,” she answered.

“Are you quite certain about what you just said? That something as big as the world could be destroyed by Jack, of all people? Or saved, for that matter?”

She didn’t respond. Instead, she held the book back to her eyes and continued to read. Paro looked at Deven in confusion.

“You’ll get used to it,” Deven said. “Whenever someone asks Rose a question, she considers her words very carefully. I’ve never once heard her say something she later regrets. There are many people in this world that speak without thinking. Rose is on the opposite end of that. It can be frustrating, but you learn to deal with it. Once, I had to wait forty-five minutes for a response when I asked her to pass me the salt at a dinner-party. You get used to it.”

Paro wanted to ask why he didn’t just get up and get it himself, but he thought the better of it.

Rose remained silent for almost ten minutes, flipping through pages in what Paro figured was probably an entire chapter. He was caught off guard when she finally spoke. At the time, Paro was counting the number of words he could think of that started with the letter ‘A.’

“I am certain,” she said finally. “Though in what capacity, I am not at liberty to say. One errant word from me and disaster could befall us all. Just proceed as normal for the time being. There are very bad things to come, and you’ll know what to do well before they’re on their way.”

“What bad things?” Paro asked

Rose brought the book to her face and continued to read. Deven laughed. “You’re not going to get an answer to that one, Paro. Come on, I’ve got a flight to catch but I can buy you a beer on the way there.”

Paro grunted. “I’m not supposed to leave H.Q. I’m pretty badly injured. I’d need a release.”

“Here ya go,” Deven answered, already removing a signed document from his white General’s coat.

“You have a document for everything, don’t you? Can you even do that?” Paro asked.

For a moment he regretted it, he was speaking to the General like he was a friend, an equal.

Deven only laughed. “That I do. And yes, I can do whatever I want, I’m a freaking General!”

Paro shook his head and followed the man out of the room. A bit of alcohol would do him some good after the nightmare that had been his last few weeks.

*****

“Mr. Harris, I’m going to ask you one more time—do you have your assignment or not?”

“Yup, I do, Mr. Trinchard! It’s right here somewhere. I’m just trying to find it.”

The teacher sighed, and rubbed his eyes. “Do you mean that piece of paper that you’re writing on right now? For five minutes you’ve been telling me, ‘I’ve got the assignment’ all the while you’ve been writing like a madman on that paper. Mr. Harris, are you trying to do your homework in front of me and claim you’ve done it at home?”

The students in the class laughed, but Jack ignored them. “Nah-uh, I’m just trying to exercise my wrist muscles.”

“Mr. Harris, you’ve got until the count of three to hand in your assignment, or you’re getting a Z-”

Jack groaned. “Wait, isn’t F the lowest thing you can get?”

“It used to be, until I got you as a student.”

Jack cried out loud, “Why is everyone so mean?”