Swan Song (Book Three of the Icarus Trilogy) (30 page)

“You know, I didn’t think it would, but I think .... I think Ed leaving is what hurts the most.  I didn’t want to do this alone and-” she started, but she was interrupted by a growl just half a meter away.

“I’m sorry, Ed did
what?
” Ryan asked, feeling a rage that seemed to pour out of him.  He had only meant to console this colleague and friend, but when Jessica had mentioned the Englishman he almost couldn’t think straight.  Abrams looked at him in confusion and stammered as she continued.

“He left after I told him that it might not be his.  I thought everyone knew.  He’s sleeping with some other girl.  Fuck, I don’t even know who she i-“ she was saying, tears starting to form in her eyes, but as she looked at Ryan at the end of her statement she could feel the fury building in him.  “Ryan, what’s wrong?”

“He left you because you’re pregnant?  He left?” he asked again, unable to believe his fellow soldier.  The Crows had a solid sense of family and honor, they had fought and died and killed together, and Ryan thought nothing could overcome that.  To Ryan, it was completely unthinkable that Norris could have abandoned any one of them, especially the woman whose bed he had shared for years.

“Well, yeah.  I mean, Norris isn’t the best guy,” she said, but she stopped when she saw Ryan rise to his feet and breathe hard before pacing around the room.

“Who the fuck cares if he’s the best guy?  He has no right to abandon you like that!  You’re fucking pregnant, Jess!  I don’t even care if it’s not his, to think that he has the nerve to leave you like that,” Ryan said, anger flowing out with every word.  It was too close to home.  His father had left him alone so quickly, abandoned him without a second thought.  It had taken him decades and five deaths to find someone even close.  Ryan had thought better about Norris.  He thought the jester had honor, even if it was entirely twisted.

“Ryan, stop it!” Abrams shouted from her position.  She dragged herself upward against the wall with difficulty, unable to pick herself up with her right arm.  Jessica was heaving from the effort when she got to her feet.  But soon she walked up to the furious messiah figure and grabbed his shoulder with her good arm.

“He’s
allowed
to leave.  Ed
doesn’t
have any responsibility for me or this kid.  We used each other on Eris, and even though we might have had something, it’s allowed to end.  You have to let this go,” she demanded, but Ryan shook his head and breathed out hard.

“I can’t, it’s too much,” he said, but the woman slapped him and then glared into his very soul.

“You
have
to.  It’s not your responsibility, your problem or duty.  All that shit belongs on me.  You don’t need anything else.”

“Bu-”

“You don’t need another
goddamned
thing,” she said, tears forcing their way out of her eyes, but her voice strong.  “You have way too much on your plate.  The future of
humanity
has been put on your shoulders.  Atlas gave you his burden, and trust me I would kick that motherfucker’s ass for doing it.  But the thing is, Ryan, you took it.  You took that burden and every time I see you it looks like you’re hungry for more.  You’re always looking for another problem to take on and it’s time for you to stop,” she commanded, but Jenkins shook his head again.

“I can take it,” he said, looking off to the side, but Abrams grabbed his face and turned it to look at her.

“I know you
can
, but you
shouldn’t
.  And I know it’s because of Gregory,” she said, seeing the messiah figure’s face distort into confusion and surprise.  “You’re not the only one he’s told that “echo” crap to.  And it’s amazing and I envy the both of you for getting involved in it, but you’re allowed to stop at some point.  Hercules gave that shit right back to Atlas, you know,” she said with a smile, hoping to convince the messiah in front of her.

Ryan’s thoughts were a blur and it was hard for him to make sense of them.  Abrams was exactly right; he had been doing this for those echoes.  Feldman had made it a point; his existence was defined as being the absolute best that he could be.  All he had wanted to do was inspire someone to do the same and Gregory had chosen Ryan as that man. 

At the time Ryan Jenkins thought he had failed, but he had decided to devote his life to rectifying that failure.  He had taken on every assignment, every burden and every pain so that others wouldn’t have to suffer.  Ryan had done what he could to be Feldman’s echo, and perhaps to inspire his own.  For Jessica to see it meant that he was on the right track; she might not understand, but this was exactly what he needed to do.

“You know,” he said, his anger having melted away and tears falling out of his eyes in his shock, “that’s not my code name.”  He gave her a soft smile and the pregnant woman laughed before rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, I know it’s Hamlet.  Back when they were working the Shakespeare,” she started, but he just laughed and shook his head.

“No, no, they changed it again.  I don’t really need a code name because of, well, the messiah thing, but they gave me one when they switched over to the Greeks,” he said, pursing his lips and watching Jessica raise an eyebrow.

“Really, what?”

“It’s.... uh, Achilles, now,” he said before smiling.  Abrams sighed in disgust before turning to the side.  She turned back and put her hand up to the side of her face.

“Do those fuckers know how to make you a code name that isn’t a tragic hero?” she asked, but he just laughed at that.

“Trust me, I don’t like that part, but .... it’s appropriate.  It’s more about how I started this whole thing by swearing vengeance.  They told me that Achilles had this friend Patroclus, and, well, I think you get the idea,” he said before crossing his arms and looking at the floor.  Goldstein was far too clever for his own good.

“Still,” Abrams said before pacing the room and then looking at her desk.  She still had plenty of work to do and this drama wasn’t helping anything.

“So,” Ryan said before turning towards the doorway.  “I’m gonna go find Ed and kick his ass,” he said as he started towards the exit, but Abrams interrupted him.

“No, you’re not.  You’re gonna get back in that room and plan for this little cease-fire.  That’s your job.  Kicking the English bastard’s ass is mine,” Abrams said, watching as the messiah figure turned slowly during her statement.  He looked at her in resignation and sighed.

“You know, you’re the one who deserves to do it anyway,” he said before walking towards the other room.  He stopped at the doorway and then looked back over his shoulder.

“Do you.... do you think I’m doing alright?  Do you think Greg would be ....proud?” he asked, his eyes watering at the question.  Jessica’s heart broke for the man.  She knew the kid held countless sorrows, but this one she could take away without question.

“Oh, kid.  He’d be the first one to say so.”

-

She didn’t look all that evil, but Edward supposed that was the point.  Those terrible people in charge didn’t want to shout from the rooftops that they were evil; they wanted to sidle up to the good old-fashioned folk and take advantage of them like blood-sucking leeches.  Jasper Montgomery wasn’t the only one who took pride in enslaving the human race; it was a public service, the way he thought about it.

Still, Edward had a nagging doubt that this was not exactly moral.

It was a change for the red-headed killer.  He had buried his morality away behind jokes and duty, but sometimes it was allowed to surface.  Every time he went for an unsanctioned hit, Edward made sure there were ties to criminal organizations and violations of human rights.  Norris wanted to be a good guy, even if he had to commit evil to do it.  It was one of those “ends justifying the means” situations.

However, Edward was worried about this particular assignment.  Cassandra had never bothered to tell him what he wanted to know.  Norris didn’t want to push it, hoping that he could trust the siren, but it was starting to wear on him.  Her choices for assassinations were worrisome, and this last one caused Norris to question his partner.

It didn’t help that he was entirely distracted.  This was the first assassination since he had broken things off with Abrams.  It was the right thing to do, the woman didn’t need the Englishman in her life, especially with her about to become a mother, but it left a bad taste in Edward’s mouth.  He didn’t show it very often, and he did what he could to sabotage it, but he really did want people to like him.

This wasn’t the time for it.  Edward followed the woman with his rifle.  Laurie Niedermann was a rather prominent council member for the local government.  From her votes it was clear that she supported the Trade Union and what law and order it provided with the EOSF, but Norris still didn’t want to kill her.  All government officials were partly responsible for this mess, but if it had been someone else who held her position it wouldn’t have changed a thing.  Since it was expected of the position, Norris couldn’t really blame the woman.

However, Cassandra swore up and down that she was dirty; that she had blood on her hands.  She had witnesses and had claimed to have been there for some of the councilwoman’s misdeeds.  It was all the proof the Mastodon had needed.

Edward still felt like this was a bad idea, but it was Cassandra’s turn.  He breathed in deeply as he watched the woman walking down the street, press agents stopping her from reaching her transport.  The woman walked over to a nearby stoop and then allowed the press to gather around her in a semi-circle.  Norris couldn’t hear her words, but he guessed that she was making some anti-EFI speech.

He breathed out and pulled the trigger.  The woman’s corpse flew towards the ground to her right and Norris could see he had almost decapitated the woman.  Something about this felt rotten, but at least she had died quickly.  And now the EFI had one less opponent to worry about.

“God, you’re good at this.  I’ll have a special treat for you when we get back, baby,” Cassandra exclaimed, positively purring by the end of the statement.  Norris heard the words and the sentiment, but he didn’t particularly care about any sort of reward.

He didn’t feel like he had earned it.

-

“What’s wrong, baby?” Cassandra asked as she pulled back from Edward’s face.  Norris looked down at the gorgeous woman and knew what was wrong, but he couldn’t admit that to her. 

“Not the biggest fan of the word ‘baby.’  Can we stop using that, please?” he asked as he took his arms away from his partner and turned towards the kitchen.  He had never liked that term of endearment, and really had detested all the pet names.  He recalled how Abrams had talked to him.  It was simply “Ed” or “Norris” to her.  He realized he missed that simplicity.

“Sorry, Eddie.  I’ll stop,” Cassandra said as she maneuvered over to the sniper’s side and gave him a lustful smile.  The former jester looked down and gave a forced smile before walking over to the refrigerator and looking inside.  There wasn’t much there, Cassandra didn’t seem to care about her health, so after pondering if he wanted to eat plain ketchup and deciding against it, Norris pulled back and closed the door.  He turned with a sigh to find Cassandra too close for comfort and staring up at him.

“You were amazing out there today.  It was the perfect time to kill that bitch.  Right in the middle of a speech?  Jesus, Eddie, I swear you were made for this kind of killing.  You really deserve that treat,” she said with a wink before she pulled him down into a kiss.  Edward tried to enjoy it, but it seemed that there was no joy to be had.  The curves were still there, the lips as soft as ever and those golden eyes still breathtaking, but Norris didn’t seem to care.  He closed his eyes in order to enjoy the embrace more, but as soon as he did he saw the woman with the curly hair.

As Cassandra withdrew from the embrace, Norris opened his eyes.  He tried to smile, he tried to embrace this life of his, but it all felt empty.  It all felt without purpose.  Norris has run out of possible targets and wanted to get back to doing real work.  This side business might as well have been over.

“You just stand right there, Eddie.  Here’s a little token of appreciation,” Cassandra said as she sank down to the floor, dragging her head along his torso as she kneeled down on the floor of the kitchen.  Norris looked at the woman with curiosity before she gave him a wicked smile and started to draw down his zipper.  He thought briefly about what was to come, closing his eyes, but then he saw the brilliant green eyes from his memory.  His eyelids snapped open and before Cassandra could continue he backed up to the counter of the kitchen breathing heavily.

“Eddie?  What’s wrong?” Cassandra asked, her golden eyes filled with worry.  Norris looked over the gorgeous woman in front of him and realized that he had made a terrible mistake.  None of this was supposed to happen.  This wasn’t the role he was supposed to play.  Edward Norris wasn’t supposed to enjoy killing and sleeping around with crazy women.  He had only meant to be a gambler.