Into the Apartment He Goes

Agent Cartwright’s apartment complex consisted of a series of buildings spaced in an ordered manner. Each building had four separate apartments, spread between the two floors. Nick had an upper-apartment. Taylor silently crept up the stairwell, watching for any would-be-enemies. He paused before X’s apartment door and slowly turned the knob. It was locked. Taylor knelt down and picked the lock. He held his breath as he coaxed the door open and slipped into the room. The silence was eerie as he took in his surroundings. The dining room was to his left, with the kitchen connected to its far end. To the right stood the living room, with a hallway leading to the only bedroom and bathroom. It was dark; but Taylor didn’t dare to use any form of light, depending on his eyes to adjust to the darkness. From his crouched position, Taylor could not make out any living beings in the dining room, kitchen, or living room. However, he heard a slight murmuring coming from the single hallway. Taylor advanced to the noise, trying to discern the origin of it. As he got closer, he could hear two voices coming from behind the bedroom’s half-closed door.
“Mayhem and his games, I feel bad for this guy. Mayhem can’t just take what he needs, but he has to give this guy a personal hell,” said someone with a deep voice.
“Just be glad it isn’t you. Besides, that Cartwright fellow might never find out what happened. Think about it. He’s unconscious in an alley, covered with injuries, on a cold November night. He has a better chance of bleeding or freezing to death than getting up,” said someone with a Jersey accent.
Bleeding? They must have not seen him heal. Which means, he didn’t heal. Which means he’s in trouble.
“If I were him, I’d choose the first choice. I hope that guy at least looses a finger to frostbite though. My jaw still hurts from where he punched me.”
“Yeah, and my stomach isn’t doing so well; but, it’s nowhere near as bad as what Jackson got. He’s waddling like a penguin.”
Good for you, Nick.
“Poor guy will never be able to have kids now.”
“We better get going. Koven is probably getting impatient waiting outside for us.”
Koven?

CLICK

“Hey guys,” someone Taylor assumed was Koven said as he pressed the barrel of his gun against Will’s neck, “look who I found.”
The two men came out of the bedroom and looked first at Taylor and then Koven.
Koven continued, “Nixon is going to be ticked off when he finds out we did his job for him.” Koven let out an amused chuckle. “I can’t wait to tell him,” he said as he took out his cell phone.
“Wait,” the guy with the Jersey accent said, “how about we don’t tell him we have Taylor and let him stakeout the apartment until he finds out?”
“Even better,” Deep Voice said; and they laughed at the idea.
Koven relieved Taylor of his gun and pushed him down the hallway. Taylor knew that he had the best chance of overtaking his captors in the narrow hallway. Its size restricted movements, preventing the men from surrounding him; but once he made it to the living room, his chances of success greatly dwindled. Knowing this, Taylor turned on Koven and kneed him in the groin. He followed up by snapping his trigger finger, taking his gun, and knocking him out with a blow to the head. All this occurred in four seconds. By then, the two other men had drawn their guns; but neither of them shot.
“I don’t have any tranqs,” Deep Voice said.
“Of course not, Koven had them all.” Realizing his mistake, Jersey gave a sheepish grin to his partner.
Taylor smiled as he shot the two men. Then he tranquilized Koven for good measure. He pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed the number he wanted.
“This is Agent William Taylor. We have a missing agent, Agent Herbert Cartwright. I’m not sure of his exact location, but I know he’s in an alley in critical condition. I would search around West Schubert Avenue and the surrounding areas. Also check all the local hospitals. I also need a cleanup team on 738 West Schubert Avenue. On the top floor, apartment to the right, there are three people who need to be taken into custody.” He waited as the other person replied and continued, “Yeah, I have them tranquilized. It was done quietly, so the neighbors are probably unaware. They are Mayhem’s men, part of Bayer’s division. Make sure they’re put in the custody of John Astor. Ok, thanks. Bye.” Taylor entered the bedroom and found Nick’s keys, wallet, and cell phone lying neatly on his bed. Other than that, the room was in order. Taylor picked up the things and left the building.

Pop Goes the Weasel

Taylor contemplated the day’s work as he got into his car. He whistled as he saw the time light up on the car’s clock. 3:28 in the morning. This has to have been, the busiest day of my life. He stifled a yawn as he started to back out of the parking lot. I didn’t even get to buy some more coffee, with all this excitement. No pick-me-up in the morning. Oh, look at that, it already is morning. I wish I could just take the next couple of days off and sleep. After driving idly, letting his mind wander, for a few minutes, Taylor’s compassionate nature got him thinking about the mysterious Agent X again. After a few minutes of debating, he finally decided to give Nick a call. I’ll just make sure he got home safely. For all I know, he could have fallen asleep behind the wheel and rear-ended an old lady. Taylor let the home phone ring until the answering machine picked up and then tried Cartwright’s cell phone. No answer. He must be really out of it, or in serious trouble. Oh, come on, Will. Paranoia is setting in from lack of sleep. Nick’s just really tired like me. Probably didn’t even bother to take off his shoes before he plopped into bed. Uh, then why do I feel like I should check on him? Alright, I’ll just do a quick check and make sure. I won’t even get out of the car. Just see if his car is there and leave. Taylor changed his direction for X’s apartment complex and reached it in a couple minutes. Great! His car’s not there! It doesn’t mean that he’s not okay, but where else would he be this late? That’s when he saw the car. I recognize the license plate from the hotel. It was parked close to us when we were getting Matthews. I remember because I studied all the cars to make sure nobody was in them watching us. Taylor slammed his fist into the dashboard and started dialing his cell phone.
“Come on. Pick up,” he muttered to himself.
“Taylor?”
“Astor! Are you still at work?”
“Yes, why?”
“I think Mayhem found us.”
“What?”
“I just stopped to check on Cartwright. His car’s not here, but somebody else’s is. Somebody from the hotel we were staying at.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. We’re going to have to move Jean sooner than we thought. They might even have guys coming to get her now.”
“I’ll get a team ready for transport. You don’t want to go home Agent Taylor, not if they have guys at Cartwright’s.”
“I don’t plan to.”
“No, I know what you’re going to do; but you know as well as I do that going in there alone is like wrapping yourself up and giving an early Christmas present to Mayhem. Wait for backup.”
“You know as well as I do, Astor, that if Nick is in there, a five-second delay could mean death for him. I’m going in now.”
“Be careful.” and with that Astor hung-up.
“Don’t worry. I will.”

**********

Jean had decided to get some sleep and had successfully done so for the past half-hour. Now, her beauty sleep was interrupted by her cell door opening. After she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, Matthews saw two guards walk into her cell.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We’re moving you early, Miss Matthews. We just got word that Mayhem sent off a crew to come get you. Follow us to the van. The rest of the transport crew will be waiting there.”
Jean followed the men into the corridor and followed them toward the end of the hall. They were three-fourths down the corridor when the door at the end opened up and out stepped a distinguished-looking man with a bullet-proof vest on over his shirt, followed by five more guards. The guard on the right of the distinguished man took out his gun and shot the two guards next to Matthews.
“That wasn’t Tom of Kevin,” he said.
“Now it’s nobody,” said the distinguished man. “Miss Matthews, are you all right?”
Jean nodded her head, not knowing what to think.
“Good, Lansky, you said Tom and Kevin were supposed to be here?”
“Yes sir.”
“Can I see your radio?”
“Yes sir.”
“Control base, this is Astor. Give me whereabouts on Tom Lyndon and Kevin Lassiter.”
“Roger that. Security cams show Lyndon and Lassiter posted right outside the cell door of jail block A.”
“That’s impossible. We’re standing right in front of where you say they should be, but we are the only ones here.”
“Sir, I don’t see you or your team showing up on the cameras. Something is wrong with the—There! Right there! It’s a loop sir. No telling what’s in that hallway.”
“I want this place on high-alert. We don’t know how many enemies could be in here. Some might be dressed like our own. We already killed two in here. Search the premises and find the source of the loop.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Astor,” Jean said, “the men mentioned a van outside with a transport crew.”
“Control, send men outside and look for a van that’s not supposed to be there.”
“Roger that.”
“Alright men, our job is to get Matthews out of here. Lansky, is—.” Before Astor could finish his sentence, the power turned off, sending the corridor into darkness. A few seconds later, a faint humming sound could be heard as the lights turned back on, dimmer than before.
“That would be our back-up generator,” Lansky said. “They must have gotten into our power grid.”
“Let the games begin,” Astor said.

Sleep Depravity

John Astor stared at the report the two agents had handed him earlier. “Boy, those two can be a handful,” he thought to himself right as someone knocked on his office door. “Come in.” William Taylor walked in and handed Astor another manila folder. Astor flipped through Matthew’s new life. “You’re sending her to Montana?” he asked.
“I heard that she grew up on a farm,” Taylor replied.
“Well, it looks good to me. We’ll send her ASAP.”
“I’ve got to ask you, Astor, is Nick’s real name really Herbert?”
Astor couldn’t keep a grin from spreading across his face. “You looked him up. Yeah, yeah, it is really Herbert Cartwright.” They spent a while laughing, and then Taylor asked, “Why does everybody at the Bureau call him Agent X, then?”
“He is really touchy about that name. Why, I don’t know, but he likes being called by his last name. That and the fact that he’s so mysterious got people calling him Agent X. Why did you decide to call him Nicholas?”
“Oh, when I was in 12th grade, I had a classmate named Nick. He was always quiet, rarely spoke. At graduation, one of the kids pulled out a gun and started shooting. Nick took him down so quickly, we almost didn’t see him do it. We were all pretty shocked. No one knew Nick could do that. Anyways, only one person was shot, one of the teachers, and he lived. I guess our Nick just reminds me of him, quiet and overlooked until he snaps into action.”
“Will, you had a messed up childhood.”

**********

Nick groaned. Could the Volvo in front of him be going any slower? He fought off the temptation to blare his horn and the urge to sleep. Mmmm…..wuh? I almost did it again. I should have just asked Taylor to drive me home, me and my pride. Nick watched as the black Volvo turned on to a side street. His mood improved until he realized that the only reason the Volvo had turned was because there was a roadblock ahead. He followed the black car onto the narrower side street. Nick started to drift into sleep when he realized that the Volvo had stopped. Stupid Volv—two cars swerved out of the alley behind him and blocked off any escape route. A trap! If only I wasn’t so sleepy, I could’ve seen this coming. Nick unbuckled his seatbelt and clicked off the safety on his gun, but it was too late. They had the element of surprise. Two of them had already reached the car and disarmed him with three more coming closer. Nick leaped out of the car and struck the taller man that was trying to subdue him in the throat with enough force to collapse his trachea. Nick followed up with a powerful kick to the other man’s groin. The others were on top of him now, striking any part of his flesh that happened to be available. “Stand him up!” a voice barked. Two of the men held onto Nick as a distinguished looking man with sandy blonde hair and cold, blue eyes stood before him. The two men Nick had struck were still lying on the ground. The one he had hit in the throat was clearly dead. The other was whimpering quietly.
“Bayer,” Nick said as he spat out blood.
“Ahrens or Herbert. Figures you would have a wimpy name. Of course we found out who you are.” He paused long enough to punch Nick in the stomach. “You caused me a lot of trouble taking Matthew’s like that.” This time he punched his captive in the face. Then he grabbed Nick’s face gently but firmly.
“What? You want a kiss, Bayer? Sorry I killed your boyfriend over there.”
“Cute,” Bayer said as he tightened his grip on Nick's face, “you still have a little fight in you. Don’t worry; we didn’t come here to kill you…yet. We’ll have her soon. You might want to worry about Taylor though.” He chuckled as he kneed Nick in the groin. “Message from Mayhem: don’t play the game unless you know the rules.” With that, he struck Nick on the side of his head. The last thing he felt was being dragged into an alley, thrown onto something that was soft and hard at the same time, and having something pressed into his hands. “Sweet dreams,” came Bayer’s cold chuckle, and Nick finally succumbed to cold, deep slumber.



**********



“I brought you some food,” Agent Taylor said as he came into Matthew’s holding cell, “You look like you can use it.”
Jean turned around and smiled when she saw what Taylor was holding. “Chocolate, how did you know?”
“My sister always said that she didn’t need my sympathy; she needed my chocolate. Look, you don’t have to be afraid. We’re going to get through this.”
“How can you be sure? What if relocating me isn’t enough? I’m surprised that Mayhem hasn’t found me already—“Worrying never helped anyone, so calm down. Bad things can happen, but you have to keep fighting for the good. Now, eat up. I’ll be here to check up on you in the morning, and there will be two guards posted outside your cell at all times,” Taylor said as he got up to leave.
“Agent Taylor?”
“Yeah?’
“Thanks. I just never want Mayhem to get his hands on my work.”
“Me either, Miss Matthews.”

Of Conflicts and Plans

“Imagine what Mayhem could do with that information,” Astor said. We were in Astor’s office, giving him the report and getting our orders.
“Probably sell it to China or North Korea,” Taylor replied.
“Yeah, but he can’t do that until he perfects and collects the formula, and for that, he needs Jean.” I said.
“And you, Nick. If he knows about you, he’s going to carve you like a Thanksgiving turkey to discover the secret of rapid healing.” Taylor paused and continued, “I think both you and Matthews should be placed in witness protection.”
“Now wait a minute! I don’t need to be protected, and we don’t even know if Mayhem knows about my “incident” yet. As a matter of fact, we should place you in protective custody. If Mayhem finds you, you won’t be able to pee without someone helping you!”
“It’s not the same thing and you know it!”
“Gentlemen! Settle down.” Astor shouted. We stopped and looked at him. He continued in a soft voice, “Look, X, Taylor was just looking after your safety; and, Taylor, X has got a point there too. You, Jean, and X are all in danger, but that’s what the job’s about. You are protecting this country. Alright? Now, the only one going into witness protection is Jean; but if she’s captured, which she won’t be, X will be placed into witness protection too. We have to assume that she’ll tell Mayhem everything.”
“Don’t call me, X.” I said quietly.
“Sorry, Cartwright.”
I sighed and tried to calm myself down. I know I’m not happy about the idea of being placed in witness protection, but I’m usually not this irritable. Suddenly, I started feeling woozy. My head felt like lead as I lowered it into my hands. My eyelids felt droopy. The only thing keeping them open were my stiff fingers.
“Are you okay?” Astor and Taylor asked simultaneously.
“Yeah,” I said, “just a little tired. I think I’m going to go home and take a nap.”
“Do you need someone to drive you?” Taylor asked?
“Naw, I got it.”
“Alright, just be careful.” Astor said. “Taylor and I will finish up here.”

And Now You Know Continued...

“Yeah, right. The FBI will protect me from Mayhem. I’m sure you’re aware of his capabilities. He’ll find me and you two before the week ends,” Matthews said.
“Well, what do you want us to do? We can’t just let you go. Mayhem will definitely find you then.” I paused to collect myself and started again. “Look, the Bureau, Agent Taylor and I, are gonna do our best to keep you safe, alright? Just trust us.” I replied.
Matthews stared silently at the table that was in front of her.
“One thing I want to know, Miss Matthews,” Taylor began, “is how did you heal?”
“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure. I have a pretty good idea, though.” Matthews sighed and continued, “I was the first person to be tested on; but it didn’t work. The cut I gave myself didn’t heal any faster then it usually would. We thought that it had been killed by my immune system, but --I don’t know-- maybe it was just dormant. Oh, the cut that I got while removing your watch is gone.”
I looked at my wrist and realized that it was gone.
“Well, like Agent Cartwright said, Miss Matthews, trust us. I would die before anything happened to you.” Taylor contemplated what he had just said, “That was a poor choice of words.”

**********************

Somewhere in the recesses of a place I can not name, a meeting was being held. One that a person wouldn't want to find himself attending, for the room had an eerie feeling that hung about it.

"These are the two men who took Matthews." said a man in a suit as he slid two manila folders across the table to another impeccably dressed man who was seated at the other side. "We haven't identified them yet, but we're getting close."

"When you find them, give the dark-haired gentleman the warning. Something about him tells me he's a mystery worth solving."

"What about the blonde?"

"Take him, along with Miss Matthews. He seems rather amusing. He might even make a good henchman."

"Yes, sir."