Authors: Philip Mcclennan
“It’s good to see you up and about again!” said Professor Milton. “Take a seat, my boy,” he said, gesturing for James to sit down on a small wooden chair directly in front of his desk.
The professor’s office was somewhat small for a man of his rank. He had always preferred to work in a relatively small area, finding he could always concentrate more in a confined space. James couldn’t help but think that this office would be better off suited to a schoolteacher rather than a prestigious professor of a special government agency. All around them were shelves loaded with books and manuscripts and on the table in front of him was a globe of the planet Earth. The professor had stuck posted notes all over the globe with the names of various agents. This was the professor’s way of keeping track of where all the agents were located. James thought this a little old fashioned.
Why doesn’t he just keep this all logged on a computer?
Still, this was the professor’s way. He preferred to rely on the power of the mind, rather than the power of a computer.
James took his seat, the wooden chair creaked a little as his weight transferred onto it. The professor followed suit and sat back in a large black leather chair. The chair looked old and parts of the leather was beginning to fall away. Still, this didn’t bother the man, who let his back bounce off the leather casing. “I do love this chair,” he said. “Do you have any idea how old this chair is?”
James shook his head.
“I bought this chair the day before we met for the very first time,” said the professor. James failed to see the relevance of this to the pairs meeting but nonetheless continued to listen.
“It kind of makes you think about things. You’ve been with us a long time my boy. Yet while this chair may have taken a turn for the worse, you have developed into a fine young man, and a top class agent if I don’t say so myself.”
“Thank you sir,” said James.
“Don’t thank me, you’re the one who has shown the heart to be able to achieve the great things you have. I knew I made the right choice by recruiting you.” Professor Milton reached into a drawer on his desk, taking out a file. On the cover page of the file read the words
Sydney Mission
. The professor threw the file onto the desk near to where James was sat. “Go ahead, read it.”
James picked up the file and began to read. It explained in detail the events of the mission in which James himself had led. He had no knowledge of what happened after he had been thrown off the building’s rooftop, so in reading the file, he learnt what happened during the aftermath of his fall.
“Quite a tale isn’t it?” said Professor Milton.
“Yeah,” answered James, who had a hard time believing that the mysterious white-haired man had disappeared into thin air.
“Tell me yourself what happened James,” asked the professor. He detested reading a report on something. Reports would often be inaccurate, or exaggerated. He preferred to hear events from the person who was at the scene.
“I engaged the target in battle, but his skills were incredible. His strength and speed were like nothing I’d ever seen.”
“Much like your own?” asked the old man.
“No, this was something more. His skills were far beyond my own. He reminded me of fighting Chad.” “Really?”
Professor Milton reached for the file and turned to one particular page that was of interest to him. “This part was most interesting. It says the white-haired man shot a flame from his sword into our helicopter. Care to elaborate on this?”
James began to explain exactly what he had seen during the fateful mission. “ I’ve never seen anything like it before. When the target caught sight of the helicopter, he paused for a moment. It was like he was concentrating or focusing on something. Then flames began to appear on the shaft of his sword. He pointed it at the helicopter and the flames shot out toward it. It was no mistake they hit the craft.”
Professor Milton sat back in his leather chair, rubbing the stubble on his chin with his hand. He was deep in thought, pondering on something. “Are you sure you’ve never seen anything like this before?” he asked.
“What do you mean sir?” asked James.
“Let me take you back to your childhood. I’ve read the reports of your stay in Bel Grave Orphanage. Tell me about the fire incident.”
It had been a long time since James had thought about his time at the orphanage, but he did know what the Professor was referring to. He knew Professor Milton was a smart man and had a knack of figuring things out, so he thought it best to tell him the true version of events. “Ok, this is what happened…”
Thirteen years earlier, Chad sat around a large dining table in the orphanage with his ‘Bel Grave Posse’, as he used to call them. The posse was ten in total. Chad was the leader, then there was James, Rodger, two brothers Peter and Paul and five other boys. In front of them were empty plates and a knife and fork either side of them. The boys sat patiently waiting for their evening meal. They were all ravaged with hunger, for they hadn’t had the luxury of any food during the day. Mrs Garner, the head of the orphanage had taken away their morning meal as punishment for leaving their bedroom’s untidy. However what Mrs Garner deemed untidy would differ from what you or I would think. The boys had cleaned their rooms thoroughly, but Mrs Garner was a stern and harsh woman, walking the large bedroom like an army lieutenant. She would rub her fingers over every inch of the room. If she were to find any hint of crumbs or dust, no matter how small, the boys would lose their following meal.
This time, it was Rodger, the youngest of the boys who was at fault. He forgot to hoover a small area underneath his bed. At this time, Roger was only seven years old and barely knew how to operate a hoover, never mind clear every speck of dust he came across. He had left a small area of dust, less than a few metres in length, underneath his bed. Mrs Garner pounced on it and took great pleasure in punishing the whole group for this. Some of the other boys were angry with Roger, but Chad had leapt to his defence. Chad looked out for Roger who was younger and more fragile than the rest of them.
“Anyone who’s got a problem with Roger has got a problem with me!” Chad had stated.
The rest of the boys backed down in an instant. They all looked up to Chad. He was their hero for the way he would stand up to the orphanage staff, and especially Mrs Garner.
The old woman paced back and forth, up and down the dining room, watching the boys closely as they waited for their food. Jack, the orphanage’s night man, took a watching brief from the far corner of the room. Finally, a female member of staff emerged from the kitchen with a basket. A look of despair began to appear on the boy’s faces as the woman placed a small piece of bread onto each of their plates.
Chad was furious. He didn’t like seeing his boys upset. “What the hell is this?” he shouted.
“It’s your evening meal boy! Count yourself lucky you’re getting that!” replied Mrs Garner.
Chad opened his mouth, preparing to unleash a rant in the woman’s direction, when, out of nowhere, he stopped. He looked lost for words. He sat back in his chair and folded his arms. The other boys were surprised. This was the first time they had seen Chad back down to Mrs Garner since they had known him.
Mrs Garner smiled, in recognition of her triumph. “You see, I told you you’d eventually learn your place, just like the others.” Mrs Garner turned her back on him and began to walk away.
Chad looked around at the other boys. He looked at James and then at Roger and then the rest of them. They looked tried, as if the life had been drained out of them. The boy unfolded his arms and looked at the piece of bread that sat on his plate. Chad looked at James and gave him a wink. James smiled, realising what was coming. Chad took the piece of bread and stood on the seat of his chair, then quickly threw the bread in the direction of Mrs Garner who was now at the far end of the room. The bread found its mark, hitting her directly on the back of her head. The woman screamed out, almost as if she had been shot upon impact.
The room erupted into laughter. All the boys could hardly breathe as they sniggered uncontrollably. Chad jumped onto the table, much to the annoyance of Mrs Garner, who now realised from whom the piece of bread had come from.
“Get him!” she shouted.
Several members of staff raced towards Chad, who ran quickly along the table to avoid them. He reached the end of it and jumped over Paul’s head (who was sat at the far end of the table) before running out of the room. All of the staff gave chase after him. The rest of the boys attempted to follow but Jack the night man stood guard at the doorway. James looked on in frustration.
Run Chad run.
Running at speed through several corridors, Chad easily avoided orphanage staff by weaving in and out of them. He ran behind the staircase and reached an old, wooden door located beneath it. This was the door that led to the basement. The boy was reluctant to go down but was quickly running out of options. The orphanage personnel were heading in his direction and, having no other choice he kicked the wooden door open and descended the staircase.
Mrs Garner led several members of staff to the basement entrance. She held out her arm, stopping a male employee from giving chase. “Everybody stay here, he’s mine.”
Back in the dining room, Jack the night man remained on guard at the door. James, desperately looking to get outside and help Chad, huddled the rest of the boys together. James whispered instructions to them, ensuring that Jack could not hear him.
“Hey, what are you lot up too?” asked the night man in a suspicious tone. The man took a step forward. James gave the final part of his instructions to the boys and they all came out of the huddle.
Jack took another step toward. “Whatever it is you brats are plotting you can stop it right now.”
James looked at each of the boys. “Now!”
The boys rushed towards the night man, who frantically tried to grab at them. They all ran around in front of him so the man wasn’t able to get a firm grasp on them. James, who had held back from the melee, began to rush forward. Peter and Paul had crouched down behind the man’s legs. James reached Jack and pushed him hard. The man tripped back, falling over Peter and Paul before hitting the floor hard. The other employees, who had been guarding the top of the basement, heard the commotion coming from the dining room. They noticed a group of boys run out of the room and up the staircase.
“Hey, get back here!” shouted one of them and they all gave chase.
As the last member of staff ran up the stairs, James emerged from behind the dining room door. He took a key out of his pocket and looked back at Jack, who was starting to get back to his feet. “See, we’re a lot smarter than you think,” said James. He walked out onto the hallway and shut the door, locking it behind him.
Jack banged on the door from the other side. “Open this door boy!”
James chose to ignore him, instead, advancing on down the corridor.
Mrs Garner crept silently in the shadows down in the basement. She had reached the bottom of the wooden staircase that led to the entrance and now stood at the foot of the bottom step whilst surveying the room for Chad. Cobwebs filled the room, along with numerous old white sheets that covered various items. In the corner of the basement was an old-fashioned looking coal fire, something that looked like it hadn’t been used for a very long time. Mrs Garner knew Chad was a slippery character, and she would have a better chance of catching him if she could bring some light into the room. The old woman took another look around and smirked. “I know you’re down here boy!”
Chad was hiding underneath a large rusty old table, behind several boxes. His sight was strangely perfect, given how dark it was, however, he gave this fact little thought for the moment because he knew Mrs Garner had cruel intentions. He knew he was in for a grim time if caught, so he remained silent and still.
Mrs Garner stepped onto the basement floor, wincing her face in disgust as she cut through a spider’s web in front of her face with her hand. She reached the coal fire, which on closer examination, was an old Victorian fire furnace. She lit the furnace, which shed a little more light over the room, however not as much as the woman had hoped it would. The extra light was still enough to send Chad diving down quickly behind the boxes where he hid. Mrs Garner caught wind of the slightest of movements from a dark area in the room’s corner as the boy ducked for cover. She smiled menacingly and began to advance forward.
“You know if you come out now, I’ll be easy on you,” she offered.
Chad knew this to be a lie. She had often promised to be easy on the boys in the past. In fear, the boys would usually surrender early, only for Mrs Garner to go back on her word. Chad wasn’t going to be fooled by the woman’s apparent olive branch. The old woman bumped into a couple of boxes to her left, which spilled onto the floor. She listened carefully for even the slightest of sound to where the boy might be and began to hear very faint breathing. The woman knew the boy was afraid, and she reveled in it.
She advanced forward, moving slowly, like a predator stalking it’s prey. “I’m going to make all of the others suffer for your disobedience, you know that don’t you?”
Mrs Garner now approached the boxes that Chad was hiding behind. He crouched his body as tight together as he could in order to make himself as small as possible. The boy closed his eyes, hoping that the woman would not notice him. He knew what would happen if he was to get caught.
The woman continued on with her taunts. “They’ll all hate you, all of your friends. I’ll punish them more than I punish you. They will hate you for it, and then who will you have to turn to? You’ll have no friends; you’ll be all alone. Poor little lost boy!”
Her words saddened him. He didn’t want to be alone. The boys were the only family he had known and the thought of losing them upset him. Mrs Garner’s words became louder. She was starting to grow in confidence but also; she was getting closer to where Chad was hiding. In fact, she now stood directly over the box that Chad was behind.