Chapter 1: Fallout

There was only one thing on Tina's mind when she stepped out of the airport terminal and looked around the familiar parking lot. She had departed from and returned to this same place many times in her life. Paradise Fall's airport was practically her second home. It certainly seemed she spent more time there than in her actual home.

She had departed Africa so quickly she had barely bothered to pack what little belongings she carried around with her. Her guide and friend Rafi had been surprised at all she had been able to cram into her carry on before declaring that the rest wasn't important. She had requested he ship those back to her when he had a moment. It was mostly clothes and research papers anyway.

Papers she wouldn't be needing anymore since, technically, she was out of a job.

It was the only thing that had returned her home. It was the reason her mind was so focused.

Tina wasn't the type to take this laying down. She had returned to Paradise Falls with one thing in mind.

Revenge.

XXXXXXXXXX

Crispin had long since resigned himself to a life of loneliness. His mother and father had divorced when he had been young, a blow he hadn't enjoyed but that he had accepted. He was an only child, no siblings to help ease his solitude. The likelihood of ever finding a mate was incredibly low. Sure, there were women who enjoyed the supposed danger of sleeping with a siren, but none of them wanted to remain tied to one for the rest of their lives. It wasn't even likely that Crispin would ever have friends.

That he did now, was a blessing to him.

“Crispin?”

He turned at the female voice and smiled at Maddie, Jack's housekeeper. She was a slightly older woman but the years hadn't been hard on her. She was still lovely and her body had rounded quite pleasantly with time. There were no grays in her dirty blonde hair because she dyed them out and there were no wrinkles on her face because she took great care of her skin. She had been Jack's housekeeper for many years and was loyal to a fault. She could no more leave Jack now than Crispin could.

“Dinner is ready.” she told him. “Is Jack hungry yet?”

Crispin shook his head. “Prepare a small bowl for him anyway. I'll make sure he gets a few bites down.” Crispin used sign language to communicate. He was a siren, he could talk. However, his voice had the great and terrible power of being able to take over the mind of those who heard it. If the will of the listener was less than the will of the speaker, they could be made to do whatever the siren pleased.

Maddie nodded and turned to leave. She hesitated and turned back. “Crispin?”

“Yes?” he signed.

She smiled at him. “I'm just really glad you're here. That's all. I don't think we could have made it through this without you.”

Surprised, Crispin signed nothing as she gave him a parting smile and left the room.

Because he was a siren, Crispin had always known he would be alone. It was just the curse of his species. Humans and mythics alike didn't trust sirens because of their voice. It was a terrifying thing to know your will could be stripped from you at any moment. He knew that, it was why he never spoke. It was why he had always been alone.

Until Jack.

Jack was not only one of the reasons Crispin was even alive today, he was Crispin's first and dearest friend. The relationship was more master/servant at times, with Crispin in the role of servant, but Crispin always knew that Jack trusted him. That trust meant more to Crispin than anything.

That trust gave Crispin a job as the assistant to the head of the Criminal Division of MCRC, the once powerful and famed organization in charge of protecting, or prosecuting, mythics. That trust kept him in that position despite what others said to Jack. That trust was what kept Crispin here now that MCRC had fallen.

Thinking about it had Crispin's eyes hardening as he leaned against Jack's desk in his home office. He had his own house, but he spent a majority of his time here at Jack's home. He even had his own room. It was a room he utilized a great deal especially these days.

Barely a week and a half ago now, MCRC had been betrayed by their very own president. Their leader, Victor Ozera, was a murderous maniac in charge of a second group called Intrebari. Intrebari, which meant 'questions' in Romanian, was a powerful criminal organization. They were directly responsible for the deaths of over 60 people at least. Crispin knew because he had seen some of their bodies personally; because he had almost been one of them.

There was a disk, a recording, of his last encounter with Ozera in an evidence room somewhere. It showed their once charming leader torturing a friend of Crispin's named Brooklyn Meyers. She was pregnant which was exactly why Ozera wanted her. He claimed to be a scientist of sorts. He wanted to know the secrets of human/mythic reproduction and the resulting offspring called demis. Brooklyn was carrying a demi child and had, therefor, been of interest to him.

It wasn't true, according to Brooklyn and Crispin believed her. There was just something dark and malevolent about Victor Ozera. He was using science as his excuse to himself and others to justify killing. Killing was what Ozera truly enjoyed. Crispin could see it in the look on Ozera's face when he watched the tape back and saw the enjoyment come into his eyes as he caused Brooklyn pain.

And, because Ozera was the leader of MCRC, once the evidence had piled up against him, it didn't take long for MCRC itself to fall. Not only was its leader corrupt, but so were three of the four division heads. All of MCRC assets and properties had been seized by the government that was quickly trying to clean up the mess MCRC had left behind. MCRC employees found themselves without jobs and the one remaining head found himself under investigation.

Jack Cross, head of the Criminal Division of MCRC was the only man innocent in the Intrebari affair. He was a good man, an honest man. MCRC was Jack Cross's life. He had practically been married to his work and happy with it. Knowing that it had all crumbled down around him, knowing there was not a thing he could have done to stop it, knowing he had been so cruelly betrayed had broken the man's spirit.

Which was why Crispin had practically moved in with him. Jack hadn't been doing well since discovering their boss's treachery. Crispin, loyal and dedicated, had just naturally began taking care of him.

Crispin kept the press from the door, Crispin kept the phones from ringing off the hook, Crispin dealt with all the legal nonsense. The legalities were dealt with by tedious paperwork but he press had needed a bit firmer of a hand. Crispin didn't like using his voice but for Jack he would. There was a sign on the gate leading to the road that warned trespassers of the siren within. There was a new message on the machine recorded by Maddie promising that if people kept calling, a siren would answer the phone. The threat of losing their minds was enough to drive most people away. Those who weren't deterred were given a very simple suggestion by Crispin to return to their homes. After a few days, Crispin found that Jack's house was a very peaceful place for the older man to rest.

It wasn't such a bad situation anymore, especially since the recording damning Ozera helped clear Jack's name. However, the situation wasn't ideal. Crispin knew he couldn't let things continue on as they were. Victor Ozera, wherever he had disappeared to, could not be allowed to escape his crimes unpunished. Jack would want Crispin to hunt him down, even if he didn't voice the command in the state he was in. So, that was exactly what Crispin would do.

“Who are you?” an unfamiliar female voice demanded to know.

Crispin looked up from his contemplation to see a familiar face glaring at him from the doorway. True, he had never met the woman who was eying him so distrustfully, but her pictures were all around the house he was currently staying in.

Tina Cross resembled her father a great deal. Both of them had the same dark coloring, the same hardness to their features. Her face was all angles, sharp and without softness. Her black hair was the same, unforgivably straight and right down to her shoulders. Her eyes were a harsh steel gray and her skin was tanned from the Egyptian desert Crispin knew she had recently been in. Her body was no different from her face, long and lean with hardly any soft curves. She would be, Crispin could tell with a look, just as strong and honest a person as her father had been.

“Crispin.” he signed wondering if she knew sign language. “You must be Tina. Nice to meet you.”

“Crispin, huh?” Tina looked him over, unimpressed. It had been a long time since she had been home and she had yet to meet the famous siren that had become her father's assistant. Rumors throughout MCRC said that he was a powerful siren that never spoke. Judging from his mastery of sign language, Tina could see the second part of that was true. However, just looking at him, she had trouble believing the first.

He was a pretty boy, it was as simply as that. He had curly blonde hair that bounced in his face and crystal clear blue eyes. He was handsome, there was no question. He smiled at her calmly, like she was an expected guest. A smile that was set in a classically handsome face. He had a nice body too, toned and tall. It was a body Tina could appreciate were the circumstances not as they were. He looked like the boy next door that cooked for his mom on weekends. His smile was sweet and unoffensive. He didn't even try to accentuate his good looks which only heightened them more. He was plain. A plain pretty boy.

And, to Tina's annoyance, he looked entirely too comfortable in her house. He looked at her like she was the one who didn't live there.

“Whatever. Where's my dad?” she threw her carry on onto the small sofa and put her hands on her hips. She already decided that her dad's assistant wasn't nearly as powerful as the rumors claimed. Most likely, he was just like any other man and would be easily cowed into submitting to her. Not that it would take much effort, all men did eventually.

“Jack is resting in his room.” Crispin signed, his pleasant smile not dropping in face of her attitude.

“No he's not.” Tina told him, totally sure of herself.

“I assure you, he is.” he shrugged as if he didn't care if she believed him which only agitated Tina more. She did not just spend over 13 hours on a plane to get lip from her dad's assistant, even if it was silent lip.

“Dad doesn't rest in the middle of the afternoon.” she practically growled at him. “Dad hasn't taken a day off in over twenty years. He's not resting in his room.”

“Jack has been a bit...off for the last two weeks.” Crispin signed, obviously unsure of how, exactly, to phrase it. “He hasn't handled the loss of MCRC well.”

“So?” Tina threw her hair back agitatedly. “What, he's in a bad mood? I don't care. I need to see him.”

“Tina?”

They both turned as Maddie walked back in, a tray in her hands, beaming in unexpected pleasure at the younger Cross.

“Maddie.” Tina finally smiled, capturing Crispin's attention.

She was harshly shaped but a smile lit up her eyes. It was beautiful. The pictures of her smiling did no justice to the real thing. He shook his head almost imperceptibly and forced himself to look away. This was no time to be admiring Jack's daughter's smile.

“I can't believe you're home.” Maddie set the tray down on the desk and turned to give Tina a hug.

“Well, I had no reason to stay in Egypt since I'm out of a job now.” Tina reminded her with a dark smile. Maddie had been the housekeeper for as long as Tina could remember. She had practically raised Tina while Jack worked. It was good to see her again.

Maddie laughed sadly and leaned away from her. “You look good.”

“Yeah, desert air is so good for the skin.” Tina remarked with a playful roll of her eyes. “Did you bring Crispin food?” They both turned to look at the tray which held a bowl of stew and a glass of cool water. For some reason, it was even more annoying to Tina to know that Maddie had accepted Crispin so easily.

“No.” Maddie sighed heavily. “That's for Jack.”

“He's eating in his office, huh?” Tina gave Crispin an I-told-you-so look that he merely raised an eyebrow at.

Maddie shook her head sadly. “No. I wish he was. All those years I used to get onto him about eating in his office and here I find myself wishing he would.

“Then, why...?” Tina asked, confused. If her dad wasn't eating in his office, which he did more often than not, why was the food here?

“Crispin is the only one who can get him to eat anymore.” Maddie wiped her hands nervously on her jeans. “I've tried but Crispin is just far more persuasive and persistent than I am.”

Tina looked over as Crispin who was smiling comfortingly at Maddie. She couldn't bring herself to believe that her father was resting in his room. He just didn't do things like that. It was impossible. Just the idea was almost laughable to her.

“I'm going to see him.” Tina announced and turned on her heel. She stomped from the room and didn't need to see the look that Maddie and Crispin shared to know it happened.

The large house was very familiar to her despite the fact that she had been gone from it for over a year and a half. She was surprised to find, as she charged through the same old halls she had always roamed, that she actually missed the place.

Everything was exactly as it had been before she left, nothing was out of place. For all the changes that had occurred, she might have walked out yesterday. The same pictures were on the walls, the same rug was on the hall floor. Her father's room was in the same place it had always been, the door was shut just as she always remembered it being. When she opened the door and stepped inside with the confidence of a person who knew they would be welcomed, everything was just as she remembered it. The room was still decorated in rich, warm wood colors. The green comforter was still on the bed, the old curtains she herself had bought for her father with her first paycheck still covered the windows, and the old radio in the corner was still squatting there silently.

The only difference was her father.

Jack lay in his bed, still in his night clothes, and was looking at her in surprise. He was propped up on pillows with a book on the bedside table. His hair was disheveled and he looked, there was no other word for it, broken.

“Dad...” Tina gasped in surprise. She almost didn't recognize him. Her father never sat in bed this late in the day. He never looked so lost. He certainly never needed to be taken care of.

But, as Crispin walked in baring the food tray, she knew that was exactly what was happening.

“Tina, what are you doing here?” Jack asked her, confused.

Tina walked into the room cautiously, unsure how to approach this man who couldn't possibly be her father.

“I thought you were in Africa.” Jack said then hesitated. He seemed to deflate in on himself. “Oh, that's right. You worked for MCRC, too.”

“Dad, you know it's past four o'clock, right?” Tina asked as Crispin set the food on the bedside table, moving the book out of the way.

“Already?” Jack looked out the window trying to judge the time of day by the angle of the sun. “I didn't realize...”

“You look better today.” Crispin told him, the same optimistic smile on his face. Tina wondered if it ever faded. “Are you ready to eat.”

“I'm not hungry.” Jack turned from the food.

Tina walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down carefully beside him. He looked thinner, like he hadn't been eating well and there were bags under his eyes. Tina had never seen him so dejected before. It was disconcerting.

“Have a few bites anyway.” Crispin signed. “Maddie went through the trouble of cooking it.”

Jack didn't respond. He looked over Tina and smiled slightly. “You look good. The desert was good to you.”

“Yeah. I've always thought I looked good with a tan.” Tina said flippantly because she wasn't sure what else to say. “But it's good to be home.”

“Don't lie.” Jack said softly, putting his hand over hers. “You've never liked being stuck here.”

“Maybe my wanderlust is finally drying up.” Tina suggested knowing it was a lie. The look her dad gave her told her he knew it too. “I wouldn't leave you alone now, dad.”

Crispin cleared his throat gently, bringing their attention back to him. In his hands was the bowl of stew that he was holding out to Jack expectantly. Jack had no choice but to take the bowl.

“I'm not hungry.” he repeated as he grabbed the spoon and turned the food over listlessly.

“I know but Tina insists.” Crispin lied without a change in his expression. “It will make her feel better to see you eat a little.”

Tina didn't bother to dispute Crispin's lie, especially since it got her father to lift a small spoonful of the stew to his lips, but she did give him a look over her father's head. He smiled back, unconcerned. Because she knew her role, Tina stayed and watched to make sure her father ate. She talked about menial things while he did so; the weather in Egypt, culture in Cairo, how close she came to finding a sphinx in the Sahara. It seemed to give her father strength to listen to her talk.

All the while, Crispin stayed by his bed. He watched how much Jack ate like he was Jack's mother. Tina was surprised that he didn't fidget or shift his weight like others would do after standing in one spot for so long. Crispin merely stood there, occupying space. He would make a great assistant, Tina determined. Unassuming, easy to ignore, yet dedicated to his job. Such people, though, she knew to be submissive and completely uninteresting.

When the bowl was half empty, Jack pleaded mercy and Crispin took the bowl away with a pleased grin.

“I'll leave the water here.” he told him. He set the bowl on the tray, left the glass, and took the rest away.

“He's a good man.” Jack sighed after the door shut behind him. “I'm being a burden to him.”

Tina looked away from the door and back to her father. He looked unhappy at himself. “If you know you're being a burden, get up and get dressed.”

“I've tried.” Jack admitted. How could he explain to Tina that he just didn't have the energy to move the blanket off of himself and stand up. He was just so tired. It was like all the years of hard work were suddenly converging on him at once and taking their toll out on him at the same time. The food he had been forced to eat was sitting heavily in his stomach for such a simple stew like even his body couldn't find the energy to digest the sustenance.

“Dad, this isn't like you at all.” Tina told him harshly. She wasn't the kind of woman to pamper and comfort, it was a trait she had inherited from her father. She was going to tell him to get his ass up and moving no matter what he or anyone else thought of it. “Get up. Get dressed. We have work to do.”

“I'm tired, Tina.” Jack mumbled like he couldn't hear her as he slid down in his bed so he was laying down completely. “I think I'll just sleep.”